The Card, Festivities and Such

Thanks to RachaelTyler Photography for the AMAZING photos!
*if you didn't get a card that doesn't mean we don't love you it just mean I can't afford it*

Porter and I working on nativities pictures. I taped them down around the table so that as he got bored I could just move him.

Remember me mentioning Sugar Cookie dough well we put it to good use.

Can you see the little finger pokes in some of them.

We took some of the cookies to temple square to share with the Gelter family. We had SO much fun at the temple and Porter loved the lights. He was screaming with excitement; his little body could barely contain it all. I have a few pictures but I can't get them off my phone at the moment so you'll have to take my word for it.

Christmas Festival at the Children's Development Center

P getting his craft on.

P in the space room!

Family picture with the Clauses
At least neither kid is crying. P was so excited to meet Santa until we got close that is.

Thanksgiving Point Holiday Lights

P's cousin's enjoyed the lights so we decided to check it out. It was lots of fun! We opted for the horse drawn wagon ride and sat right in the front by the driver. Porter was in HEAVEN! Horses and Christmas lights, what boy wouldn't be? Again, he couldn't contain his excitement and was loudly telling the world how cool it all was! "Horsie! Look! Look! OOO! WOW!!!" He's an enthusiastic child!

This morning we caught Porter in the act of opening the present our friends dropped off last night while he was asleep. This is why our gifts are down in the basement.

Merry Christmas!!!
or should I say Happy Festivus Eve!

We'll see ya after the Holidays. Enjoy this happy time my friends!

Toddler Bed

Well potty training is in our future. I'm finding every reason under the sun to postpone and the transition from crib to toddler bed was one of those excuses. We decided Porter was ready. Advise Note: If you have a crib that converts and you didn't think ahead to purchase the toddler rail that matches your crib KidCo makes the only rail that will work on a crib. We found out after 3 purchases. :)

The rail was delivered and it was well packed.

To Porter's Delight

Joy and

Elation :)

The kids supervised Daddy's work on the conversion project.

If there is a hazard she'll find it.

First taste of freedom!

"Yep, it's sturdy Dad let's get this baby up!"

First night in a big boy bed. Night time has gone off without a hitch. Nap time, however, well that's deserves it's own post.

My Thankful Heart

Tonight, like many nights, I am overwhelmed with the gratitude that fills my heart! As each of these blessings comes to mind I find myself silently thanking God for each one.

Priya & Porter their baby/toddler hood. I'm so grateful they're little. Aaron, y'all know what he means to me. True Love for each one of my family members stronger then I could have ever imagined and unique to each of them. Christmas time, Jesus Christ, the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Friends, Parents, Young Women,a Great Ward family, a Home that is bursting with happiness warm and fussy. Inspiration, answered prayers. Yes even trials and lessons hard learned from them. Companionship, hope, Christmas tree glow, Parents, scriptures, service... Ect. Ect. Ect. You know the feeling I'm talking about. Where you find yourself in awe of God's kindness and grace. Things aren't always perfect but that doesn't mean there isn't oodles to be grateful for and happy about.

I'm just really feeling so blessed and that makes me want to tell someone. I thought maybe a status on FB, but No that just seems like bragging. Blog post also feels like bragging, but I wanted to tell myself so I wrote it. This list of blessings could go on, and on, and on. Remember Meg how blessed you are when you fell alone, tired, picked on or overwhelmed. You are blessed!

I hope the blessings in your life are filling you with strength as well. I'm praying for a friend who is currently going through an enormous trial. I know Heavenly Father will comfort her, but that doesn't mean it's easy. I pray for those I love to be Happy in their lives as well. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

My favorite Holiday and I have very few photos. That's because I was busy!

{P was so hungry by the time we ate and he stuffed it away.}

I started on pie crust 3 days early so I'd have one less thing to stress about. Cursing is one of my vises and pie crust only amplifies it. Aaron spent the night chuckling at me. I don't know why but he enjoys it when I swear. I'll always have some country in me, just not gettin' away from it. The 2 slightly burnt shells are my Mom's recipe. Hard recipe! The others are the lion house recipe which is easy, but doesn't taste nearly as good.

The best thing about making pie is saving one whole banana cream pie for me and my sweetheart! The week that followed we 'd come to the end of our day and one of us would ask, "Pie?" the other, "Yes pie!"

This year was a Gelter year. Aaron knew he wanted to go up there to cook the turkey instead of like the last time we did it and moved the turkey cooked only to have no oven to finish it in. So, we arranged to invaded the newlyweds house early Thanksgiving morning. Aaron and I stayed up until 2 finishing up pies and dishes so it was too hard to get up 4 hours later and we didn't. We rushed to get out of the house and loaded for the night away from home. We don't do this often because our kids don't handle it well. Once the turkey was in Karli's oven I watched Vampire Diaries for the first time. Intriguing, but too violent for me. I am a baby about violence. It was also great to visit with Karli & Chase and see how well they've settled into life together. Aww... Newlywed Bliss! Once the bird was ready we headed over for final preparations in the crazy busy kitchen!

{My roasted bird is on the right. Randy's is on the left deep fried.}

Another great thing about Thanksgiving is getting your chef on with some of the people you love most! My only last minute prep was the gravy.

{This is what I look like when I don't get much sleep, no shower and cook all day. Happy though!}

Gravy is my favorite part of my favorite holiday and I was feeling the pressure. It turned out and I enjoyed it. All of the food at dinner was so good and the desserts even better!

We did the Black (Thursday) Friday thing and holy wow insanity! It was the first time I've ever gone out right as the sale began. Aaron was a great sport and when we got back at 3a.m. we were happy to see bed. I got back up at 6 to go out again with Aaron's sister Karli. We had a lot of fun shopping for her boots. My favorite find is waiting down stairs for me until Christmas. So excited for it! We were so glad when we finally recovered from the experience 3 days later.

Better late then never, right?! Happy Holidays Friends!

p.s. I'm so excited P helped me make a batch of sugar cookie dough for tonight. My nibbles at the dough remind me of making cookies every year with my Mom. It blows my mind to be making cookies with my own children just like my Mom did with me. hmmm... may need to sneak another scoop out of the dough while it chills in the fridge. tempting.

Glad Tidings

(Glad Tidings--that's the name of the group)

Awhile back my friend invited me to sing with a group of women for a Christmas program. I thought that it was for church or something. It wasn't until the first night of practice that I realized it was a performing group. I had so much fun practicing every week with these women! They are fantastic individuals. I always leave refreshed and uplifted after spending time with them. Their company has been the best part of this for me. I also enjoy singing. I can sing on tune (when I know my notes) and really loved singing with choirs in high school and college but I've never done something like this. I agreed to do a small beginning solo, don't ask me why... I really don't know why I (happily) agreed to it. I was so incredibly nervous and scared. I was shaking like crazy and I'm afraid you can hear that in my voice. At least I hit my notes :) I'm really looking forward to starting up again in a few months! Thanks ladies for inviting me and for being such wonderful examples to me!

So... I started to upload the video of my solo and decided to spare myself additional humiliation.

Our Pretty Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn- 6 Months Stats
Weight & Height= 45th percentile
Head Circumference= 90th percentile

That's been bugging me for awhile. Today at the doctors (age 7.5 months) she weighed 17.8lbs. She's going to pass Porter up in no time. We're starting to be asked regularly is they're twins. Usually by teenagers or individuals who have never had children because Priya still has a very baby face and P's appearance isn't. But, if you were just going off of size I can see how you'd wonder.

Okay, Missy lets talk all about you!

• At your 6 month well check your doctor described you as, "Early". You do things a little ahead of schedule not to a point that I think it's abnormal. It's not just mile stones you even get your teeth early.
  
• You have SO much personality! You are not mild natured you know how to get attention when you need or want it. In a nut shell you are a DIVA.
• Something I love about you is that you only truly laugh when you are sincerely happy. Tickling, making silly faces all the things that we used to kind of trick babies into laughing doesn't work with you, unless it makes you happy that is. This is pleasing to me because it tells me you have a strong sense of self. I also enjoy it because you will find joy in surprising places and when you laugh I take note to remember the moment because it's important to you. Porter makes you happy when he is kind and playful with you. He gets more laughs then most of us. You are happy when your Daddy gets home from work. You are happy when you have my full and undivided attention. You can also be very happy playing all by yourself. You also have a sense of humor because I'm often impressed with your ability to be amused by our everyday randomness. You are a clever girl!
• You have three teeth soon to be four...at least we're hopin'.
• Your bright blue eyes receive compliments often. They are radiant!
• You are BUSY! You never stop moving, learning or trying. It's all you do all day every day. It makes me tired. Holding you is an arm muscle workout because you just can't hold still and have yet to learn of gravity. I hope we can protect you from that lesson, at least while you're in our arms.
  
• You are crawling all over the place. Up on your hands and knees. You'll also skooch around if it's more convent. You're not bias in your means of travel as long as you're on the go you don't care.
• You love bath time. For a while you threw a big fit about having to share bath time with Porter because as a infant you got it all to yourself. You're starting to get over that and enjoy bath time with brother. The other night Daddy and Porter started bathtime without you. You could hear the water running upstairs so you crawled over to the stairs and pulled yourself up ready to climb them because you we not about to be left out. See what I mean, you are a determined little lady. I took you up and you were ready to dive right in.
  
• You are feisty! You're not afraid of a fight, you go after what you want, you also have a very clear understanding of what you want, you are willing to work for things, you also enjoy pushing people to their limits, if you're unhappy everyone in ear shot knows it, you catch onto things quickly, you do everything with passion. You remind me of the teenage version of me, with the exception of learning things quickly, that you get from your father. Heaven help us when you actually are a teenager.

{Taking control as usual and demanding Dad share his dinner.}

• At the moment you don't really like many people besides Me, Daddy, and Porter. You play nicely, until you can't see any of your favorite people any more then it's all over. I'm still your favorite but barely. I would say you're in a 55% Mommy, 45% Daddy phase.
• You have a very good, "You're in trouble" face/glare. We always know if we've momentarily fallen from your good graces.
• We catch you holding the yoga move downwards sitting dog frequently. You do it with perfect form. Kind of funny.
  
• We've been looking at family photos and it seems that you look the most like your Aunt Karli as a baby, we think you have her hair color as well, with my lips.
  
• Your brother is your best friend and that relationship is getting stronger all the time. You look up to him and want to do EVERYTHING he gets to do.

{Sharing the sippy. I can't stop it. I've tried and I do think it's sweet. But it does worry me a bit.}

• You enjoy playing with toys of all varieties, but you really like cars. Any size, color and shape will do. If it's got wheels you're pushing it around and smiling.
• You've got words! MaMa (more often said NaNa), dog, Daddy, Luv U, okay, yeah and the newest YAY! Longest phrase: Love You Daddy. Pretty freaking adorable!
  
• You catch onto sign really quickly, which makes me think we need to start that up again. Your brother will say parts of words using sign and you need to learn it so I best get the dvds out again.
• You enjoy music. You sing along in the car and with us when we sing at the piano. I read on your aunts blog that your cousin Ava really enjoys singing as well so maybe you 2 can sing duets for the family when you're a little older.
  
• You want to walk. Against my insisting you crawl for a while you continue to try to walk. You pull to stand on anything you can reach. Lucky for me your options are limited because you're so small. You cruise up and down the bath tub. You will lift your feet and walk if someone is holding your hands and helping you balance. I don't encourage you because crawling is super, super important for brain development. But in true Daddy style your father encourages you like crazy. I just worry about you walking too soon. Worry is what I do, you'll get use to it.
• You have a pouty bottom lip. More often then not we can't see your top lip.
• You have a plethora of facial expressions which are always amusing.

• You eat extremely well! Hallelujah! Your favorite food is Geber Puffs. You already can feed them to yourself using a tripod grasp! It's the best pacifier we've found for you.
  
• You're kind of serious. You have a hard time letting go and playing games like chase or monsters with all of us. Not all the time, sometimes you're very excited to play rowdy but not quite like the rest of us. You're a little reserved and that's probably a good thing.
• You LOVE your sippy cup. It's really hilarious to watch you lift and tip such a large cup but you do it. You get so excited when we get it out you shake. It's cute.
  
• You still growl if something isn't going the way you like, but not like you use to. Instead these days we're sprayed by the constant raspberries you blow.
  
• You give kisses on request and they're to die for.

{Kissing the baby in the mirror. Your Daddy adorse it when you do this!}

• You are spiritual. You light up and get excited for gospel lessons we have in the home. It seems to me that you'd like to take over and tell us all that you know but can't. As your mother I sense that you are a valiant daughter of God sent to this earth with a specific purpose. I also sense that our Heavenly Father has great faith in your ability to do what is right and what is ask of you. (As I write this I'm crying because I know it's true.) You are loved by Heavenly Parents and as your parents here on earth just let me tell you, we're going to do our best to help up follow God's plan for you. If you ever need us darling we are always here!

We are in awe of you. That you are ours. That you are growing up SO fast, too fast. That you love me and Daddy with everything your little being has to give. That you are so exquisitely beautiful, you are breath taking. That you have all this potential and feistiness inside you. That you are everything this family needs/needed. You are a blessing in our lives that we thank God for every single day! Never forget it Priya Lynn!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Hunker Down

Prepare yourselves... I've got the bloggin' bug today but we're so behind that I'm scattered so we'll just start with an update of sorts and see if I can do more specific posts later. The reason I'm letting myself post today is because it's what my husband calls a "Hunker Down" kinda day/week.

Thursday night we picked up Porter from our friends house who had kindly watched the kids for us while I sang in a Christmas Concert (more on that later). Aaron took P from our friend who explained that Porter had thrown up earlier that night and as if on cue Porter threw up all over his dad and our friends foyer! Humiliated (I had NO idea P was sick!) and uncomfortable I did my best to help clean up and apologized too much. They were so awesome about it! They are amazing people and we're so blessed to have them as friends! That was the beginning of a 48 hour stomach flu for P. He was a trooper about it and is doing better now.{He figured it out. Please note: that bowl is clean. He's just prepared.}{Cuddly blanket and Curious George was the best combo distraction for him.}

As P was getting healthier our Priya was coming down with a respiratory bug. {Kids are such a great example of being ill and handling it with the best attitude possible. This is her today during a good moment.}

I watched and listened for signs of something other than a cold and she was handling it really well. When I got home last night from YW Presidency meeting and finally dragged my butt to bed at 11:30 (I know girls I did dilly dally) I instantly heard Priya's breathing on the monitor and knew she had croup. I woke Aaron to give her a blessing, bundled her up and took her out into the bitter cold air. Her airways opened immediately, what a blessing! She struggled to sleep longer then 30 minutes last night so we turned her room into an icebox by opening the windows and closing the vents. Every time she woke up one of us would take her in there, her airways would open and she would get some relief. It goes without saying, it was a long night. We got her into the doctor first thing this morning hoping to get some steroids in her since croup is always worse the second night and she'll be feverish making it even more uncomfortable for her. The medical student was taken back by our familiarity with Croup-- thank you Porter. Really all we came in for was the prescription to help her. Well if you're gonna get sick for the first time in your life might as well make it a dossie, right Priya Lynn?

Side question: Whenever I bump into medical students and I have P I always ask, "Do you want to see his simian crease?" It's all I can do to keep myself from going off on markers for Down Syndrome, medical myths about Down Syndrome ect, ect, ect. Does that make me weird? He was grateful I was willing to show him what to look for.

December, really?{I was all set on a felt tree on the wall until I realized I could not do without my tree. Yes, it was all about me! Life is all about the kids the majority of the time but I want my tree so we compromised. Pretty tree on top, plastic ornaments on bottom and a basket to put them in as P decorates, undecorated, and redecorates. It's working for us}

I've been preparing for December for weeks now, hoping to be ahead of the craziness and I've done pretty well. The goal was to make the busiest time of year more manageable and peaceful. That it has been. We've started our Advent Calendar and I'm so grateful for it. I've observed the difference in the way Aaron would read the bible to Porter last year, verses the way Aaron teaches Porter from the Bible about Christ this year. Aaron is such a good Daddy. Porter still loves the songs we sing each night. He climbs up onto the piano bench and plays along with Aaron while singing, "Sing! Sing! Sing!" because those are his words. Priya kicks and squirms with delight as soon as Aaron starts to play. She also sings in her baby way. Such sweet memories we make in the glow of the Christmas tree during the Holiday season! (and so are you- I see from your blogs)

To finish this up I'll just tell ya one sentence about my trip to Costco with the kids today to pick up Priya's prescription: A berry smoothie exploded on my bum!

Go ahead, laugh. I did once I was driving home and over the fact that there was a big purple stain on my jeans as I walked through the store. :) Life as a Mom!

*Hopefully I can get some more post up, I currently have an overlapping nap time on my hands. That never happens!*