January in Review

Looking back at realized I haven't blogged too much this past month of our daily happenings. I will try to do better. As a result here is a longer post of our month.

This was Zachery's 9th month and it has been busy.

Zachery's top four teeth came in this month, all at the same time!! He did pretty well with this. A fourth came in on the bottom just broke through now he has 8 pearly whites.

With all this teething comes a lot of chewing. Zachery loves chewing on things, and we often his him crawling around with something hanging out of his mouth. His chew toy of choice are socks. I have had to make sure all dirty socks are off the floor and if we go out, Zach has to wear shoes or his socks get pulled off and go right in the mouth.

Another favorite chew item is this My Little Pony hat.

Zachery has decided he isn't interested in jar food as much. He wants the real stuff. We have been busy grinding our dinners for him. He has also enjoyed mushing food himself with this mesh feeding thingy. He loves eating apples with this. Another favorite food are bananas.

I fins this habit very cute. Every once in a while he'll lay his head down on the couch for a little 10 second rest.

And this month for Zachery's latest achievement is standing on his own.

He can easily push himself up off the floor and stand. He is enjoying this new trick, but he absolutely refuses to try taking a step. He'll only attempt walking if we hold onto both his hands instead of just one. We have tried to cox him to take a step or two and he always gets down on his knees, even if an object he desires is a half an inch out of reach. But that is ok, I'm not ready for him to be walking.


This month we took the kids roller skating for the first time. They had a blast. Savannah was extremely found of the sport. Both her and RJ did a great job with very little falls.

Savannah has been very much into wearing dresses lately. She has always loved too, but this month her love for them has seemed to increase. She gets excited for Sunday's when she can wear some of her "fancier" dresses. This one is a new favorite that she got for Christmas. The day I took this picture was a day when she picked out her hair style from a hair blog and she was very good during the long styling session.

Showing off her pink glitter shoes.

This month we started a Mommy and Me Preschool with Savannah and some of the other kids and mothers in the ward. She was so excited to start Preschool. We had it at our home for the first day. It was fun teaching and the kids all seemed to have a blast. We have four mother's teaching it and five kids. Just the right amount.

Here is a cute picture of Savannah and Daddy reading the Children scriptures before bed.

We made it this month to DC. We drove up on a Friday night and got a great deal on a fancy hotel using Price Line. Jared went through a session at the Temple late Friday night while I got the kids to bed. Saturday morning I met up with an old High School friend, Heather, and her husband and we did a session at the Temple while Jared took the kids to one of the Smithsonian buildings.

Heather and Chad are living in Pittsburg, they are also in the Washington DC temple district. So this was planned to met in DC which is about a 4 hour drive for each of us. It was fun visiting with her again, since we have only gotten together maybe a hand full of times since high school. After the Temple we all had lunch together at a really good diner called The Diner in downtown DC.

After lunch we went to the Air and Space Smithsonian building before heading home.

RJ was so excited to go to the museum. He wanted to see everything from the movie "Night at the Museum". We didn't get to see Everything! The place is HUGE! But we hope to get back in March and do it again.

This month RJ received the Student of the week award. This was very exciting for him. His name was up with his picture and a little interview of his favorites on the school bulletin. He has also been reading more and more. He read the entire Green Eggs and Ham book and a few other Doctor Seuss books and gets so excited that he can read THAT many pages.

Scrapbook Pages

I created this lay out for a new Scrap Girl Designer (Ang Cambell) to help show case her first collection, Christmas Carols. Journaling: We recently moved to Virginia from Idaho and we were told we wouldn't be seeing much snow. My son was very disappointed. However one evening to the surprise of many, his wish for snow came true. After a large December storm we woke up to 10 inches of snow. The kids couldn't wait to get outside and play.

This next lay out was for a 2010 Resolutions Assignment for the Scrap Girls news letter.

Journaling: In 2010 I want to know my Lord and Savior better. I will read my scriptures daily. I will pray more fervently. I will attend the temple at least once a month. I will open my hear to the Holy Spirit and let the Lord guide my path on this mortal life.
Supply Link Here

And this lay out was also for a newsletter assignment. It was published in today's newsletter. The Assignment was to scrap 3 memories from 2009. Last year was busy, it was so hard to show case only 3!

Journaling: Two thousand and nine has been a big adventure. We started the year thinking we would be moving to Belgium. By March that plan seemed to fall through. April brought a new addition to our family. We were all so excited to welcome Zachery into our lives. Summer was a whirlwind as we decided to move across country to Virginia to try out a new job. We prepared our home for the awful seller's market and packed everything into boxes within three weeks. We made a short jaunt over to California to say our goodbyes and then we were off to Virginia. Our home in Idaho surprised us by selling within three days and so the house hunt in Virginia began. RJ started kindergarten and was honored with accepting the good citizenship award for his class. Just before Thanksgiving, after over 30 viewed homes, we purchased and moved into our new house. RJ switched schools and has made lots of new wonderful friends. We have enjoyed our new adventure and look forward to what 2010 will bring.
Supply Link Here

Mini Photo Shoot

Jared bought me a fancy digital camera last year. I have been wanting to learn how to use the camera better and this is the year I have told myself I am going to do it.

Zachery turned 9 months on the 4th and I was going to take him to Penny's and get his photos done but a Photographer in my ward gave me a little talking to: "Girl, if you got a nice EOS Camera don't be taken your baby to no JC Penny's! You need to be using that thing and taking your own photos." So I decided she is right, and I have always wanted to learn Photography. So I decided to give the 9 month photos a try.

My biggest problem has always been lighting. So I decided to play around with the morning light and see how well I did with it. These photos were taken just with the intention of learning lighting better. I set up a quick backdrop before school and RJ was my first subject. Savannah really wanted to be my model. She was having a hard morning, hence the sad face. It is slightly out of focus , but I think it still looks super cute.

My 9 month old wouldn't even sit still. There were too many toys in the bedroom where my backdrop was set up and the little guy was just too distracted. We took RJ off to school and then tired again. I moved the backdrop downstairs. I had a small amount of time before the sun hid behind a nearby tree. Once again, Savannah wanted to model (excuse the hair, we didn't get to brushing it before hand.)

Ok, my lighting looks good! Let's focus on the little rascal.

Mister Zachery had absolutely no desire to cooperate. I couldn't get him to sit still or even look my way. Savannah tired her best to get him to look my way, but a 3 year old can only do so much.

Giving up on Zachery for a short time.

It was a nice morning. The temp was getting close to 50. I thought we could manage, and try the lighting outside against the brick house.

And he looked my way!
With a look that says "Here, are you happy? I looked! Noe leave me alone."

We moved to the front of the house. The side was casting a lot if shadows. And too my surprise the front was perfect. Unfortunately my battery died after snapping this shot. I'll try again when it isn't so close to nap time. Maybe I can get him to look my way.

But this is still pretty cute and just might have to be my 9 month shot.
Please, tell my what you think! Lighting wise, does it look good? Any photography suggestions?

Nights Out

We have only lived here in Virgina for 4 1/2 short months and we have already met so many wonderful new friends. A few of us got together and went out to dinner at The Melting Pot in Charlottesville on the 29th. We had a blast! I can't describe how much fun it was and we hope to make it a tradition and go again next New Year's.
(Thanks Lauren for the pictures)
Last night we went to Roanoke and saw Walking with Dinosaurs with the kids. What an awesome show! It was well worth it! Thanks, Santa!

Waiting for the show to start:

Zachery did amazingly well at the show. He loved watching the dinosaurs just as much as the other two kids. They captivated him and he was all smiles and couldn't stop bouncing around to the music. RJ eagerly awaited for T-Rex to appear and Savannah was in awe through the whole thing. Truly an amazing show. It was incredible how large the "long necks" were!


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Christmas 2009

This was our first Christmas in Virginia. It was our first Christmas with out ANY extended family around. And it was our first Christmas with Zachery.
A few days before the Santa's big arrival we baked dozens of cookies. I decided that I really need to find a good sugar cookie recipe, because I wasn't happy with the way our sugar cookies turned out. However, the ginger snaps were delicious as well as the oatmeal spice cookies and peanut butter fudge. Even though the sugar cookie's didn't taste the best, they were the most fun.

My mother started a tradition when we were kids. She bought us a Hallmark ornament every year. I continued the tradition with my children. This year I let RJ and Savannah pick out their own ornaments because I couldn't decide what to get for them. There were just so many cute ornaments. After much debating, RJ chose Indiana Jones over a Star Wars ornament and Savannah had to have the Barbie Musketeer once she spotted it.

Santa's arrival.

Last year was the first time Santa hid a Christmas pickle in our tree. He continued the tradition this year. Savannah's "I Spy" books paid off this year as she was the one who found the pickle first and was able to open the first present.
The lighting in our front room is horrible so we didn't get very many good pictures. But the kids had a good Christmas thanks to all of our Grandmas and Grandpas. Thank you all so much. Wish we could have been with you.

Zachery enjoyed eating most of his presents.

Lego's from his brother and sister, can you see the excitement.

Grandma Pearce bought this really pretty princess dress for Savannah. It made Santa's princess dress up clothes look dingy. Savannah had to mold it and couldn't wait till it was Sunday so she could wear it to church.

Train tracks from Grandma Bartley. We gave our train set away when we thought we were moving out of the country. RJ was excited to have a train set again.

Is this girl spoiled our what. Check out what Grandpa Bartley had to get his granddaughter.

This year RJ bought and picked out his own gifts to give everyone. He was so excited about this task. He bought his dad a new tape measure since him ans Savannah keep breaking them. He even promised not to break this one.

My Grandmother has had the tradition of wrapping one of our gifts in gold paper. This gift was always the last one we unwrapped and usually the most expensive or the specialist. Here is Zachery's with his very first "Gold Gift"

Inside was this cute little puppy who flapped his year and sang "You make me want to Shout, Merry Christmas" Zachery loved it, as did the other children.

Later my Grandmother told me the story behind this gift. My Grandfather went into surgery just before Thanksgiving to have some cancer removed from his stomach. He has had his ups and downs with the recovery and is still in the hospital. It doesn't look good. One of his friends brought him this puppy around Christmas time to cheer him up a little. He wasn't too impressed at first. But when visitors did come to visit he showed them his dog and they had a kick out of it. One day he told my Grandmother to find a puppy just like it because he wanted Zachery to have one. And so after a few store searches my Grandmother finally found one. Thank you Grandmother and Grandfather, it means a lot we love you.

Once the gifts were all unwrapped it was play time. RJ went straight to the Wii to try out his new Indiana Jones game Santa brought him.

We had no place to go for Christmas dinner but still wanted to keep Christmas dinner a tradition so we invited our ward missionaries over for dinner. This was the first time I have ever had such a large all by myself. We had ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, my Grandmother's orange jello, rolls, salad, and of course Martenillis!

For dessert I tired to make our traditional Dark chocolate and peppermint tart but my attempts kept failing. There were just too many steps and I was juggling too much at once. This is something that HAS to be made a day ahead. Jared came to the rescue and finished it up but it wasn't done till 9 that night, so we ate it the next day.

Next year I think we will have to find a new dessert since this is way too rich for just our little family. We ended up throwing most of it out because we couldn't eat it all. Maybe we can just try cutting the recipe in half.

Even though I wasn't in any of these photos, I did have a good Christmas, too. The kids got me a couple board games and RJ and I enjoyed the holiday break playing a continuance game of Monopoly. Santa stocked my closet full of Bath and Body Work's lotion and I got a well needed shopping spree. I lost track of my weight loss so I'm not sure if I met my goal I started back in October, but I did drop a pant size before Christmas. One more pant size and I'll be a happy camper. Two more and I'll be in Heaven!!