December Fun!

We have been up to all sorts of fun stuff this month...

I snuck out and took a couple of pictures of Dave and the girls heading out to deliver neighbor gifts.




On Friday, Dec. 17, Kimee and Audrey both had Christmas programs at school.
Kimee's class sang "Silver Bells", so she wore a silver bell necklace and earrings.

 Maddilyn and Daddy came to watch.

Mommy got to leave her class for a few minutes to go see Audrey's program.

 Audrey was a reindeer.

One of Audrey's parts was to sing, "Reindeer, reindeer, shake your floppy tail," and she shook her rear end. It was so cute!

We also went to our semi-annual dentist visit this month. We were going to have Maddi have her first check-up, which is why I brought the camera. But she ended up sleeping in the car the whole time.

We went to visit Santa on Dec. 7 without a hitch. There was no line and all the girls were happy to see him. It went so quick and smooth. Kimee brought a list on a post-it so she wouldn't forget what to ask for. She had to par down her list when I told her that she couldn't ask for too much, but she was fine with that. She wants more Breyer horses, another barn for her horses, and more owners. Audrey wanted to ask Santa for Santa Gum (that she saw at WalMart). But then she asked for some horses and owners too. We told him Maddi wanted a baby doll. Maddi will love any new toy she gets.

The best part about our visit to Santa (besides the cute picture and the See's Butterscotch suckers) was that we had decided to go to PF Chang's for dinner afterwards. This was the kids first time inside, after years of admiring the horses that guard the front doors. We had gotten some coupons for free kid's meals, and a gift card, so that's why we decided to go. It was so much fun. The kids loved eating at a nice restaurant, and the food was delicious!

BYU's football team played in a bowl game on Dec. 18, so we decided to host a little party with our good friends the Sinemas and Foxes. The guys watched the game, the gals visited, and the kids played like crazy. And of course we had yummy snacks and treats. It was so much fun for everyone. I didn't take any pictures, but I did get my girls to sit down afterwards so that I could get a picture of them in their BYU shirts.

And now I'm almost completely caught up with my blog- so Christmas is allowed to come now! :)

the Polar Express

We were able to take a ride on the "Polar Express". There is a family in Lindon that has a little train that runs through the neighborhood. It was so awesome. 

Here we are, waiting for our turn to go. 

Maddi did her cheeser smile for me, and Audrey was scared the train was going to leave without me!

My sister Jill and her family were able to come with us.

We rode the train up to the North Pole and got to visit with Santa there. At the end he told them to "Always Believe". The next day on our way to school, Audrey said, "Mom, remember what Santa said? (dramatic pause), Believe."

Sadie and Kimee on Santa's lap.
(Dave wasn't able to get off work early to go, so we brought Kimee's friend in his place.)

Maddi on Santa's lap- Audrey was too scared at first.

 But then she warmed up...

Jeremy's turn with Santa...

Audrey, Maddi, and Jeremy looking at Santa's toy shop...

After the North Pole, the rest of the ride passed by large paintings and scenes representing Christ's life. It started with the star, shepherds, stable, pictures of Him as a child, as a teacher, the fishermen, the tomb, the resurrected Christ and many more. It was really the best part of the whole thing. What an awesome gift to the community this family gives. I'm so glad we got to go.

We got a puppy!!

What do you think this means?

We got a puppy!!

Swicey gets too much love from Maddi. 

 Swicey loves to snuggle with Audrey.

 Kimee is great with her, and a very good helper. 

She has done every dog-related chore I have asked her to do, and hasn't complained once.

One of Swicey's favorite places to play is under the Christmas tree.

The full story:

Ever since Kimee was little, she has wanted a puppy. We told her that when she was old enough to take care of it, when she was eight, she could get a puppy. Well, Kimee turns eight this summer and she has not forgotten that she soon gets a puppy. I didn't want to get the puppy right in the middle of the summer, so I thought we would get it around Spring break. That way we could get her house broken and that while we are still in school. Well, in April my sister Lora might be moving in with us, so I thought that might not be the best time to get a new dog. So we decided to move it up a few months.

Last Christmas, Dave's sister Carol's family got a schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle mix) for Christmas. That was when I learned about Schnoodles. I did a little more research, and they seemed like a good fit for our family. There was a really cute litter of toy Schnoodles on KSL that I had been watching for a couple of months. It was down to only one left of the apricot color that I wanted. On Dec. 4, we took our kids to my parent's for Grandma's Christmas Day. On the way home, we were talking about what we could do without the kids.  We were just about to Lehi when I said, "What if we go look at that puppy?" It was the perfect time because we didn't have the kids with us, and we were already pretty close to Eagle Mountain, where they lived. So we made a quick call and went out to see them. On the way back, we had a lengthy discussion about it all the pros and cons. But basically, if we were going to keep our promise to Kimee, this was the right dog and the right time. 

Once the kids were done at grandma's we drove back out and picked up the puppy. On the way, we had the kids guess what we were doing. They were really surprised. We stopped at PetSmart and picked out some toys and supplies. In the car, I told them all the rules about the dog. One of which was that the dog will die someday, and it will be sad. It's funny because Audrey still repeats the rules from that day like, Swicey can't eat human food. And Kimee asked the other day, "Mom, if Swicey is still alive at Halloween next year, can we get her a Halloween costume?"

So we picked her up, and we had to decide on a name. We had a list of great ones: Cutie Pie, Cupcake, Fiona, Peanut, Peaches, and Squirt. Dave didn't really like any of them- except his choice of peanut. We decided to wait until we actually got her to decide and see if another name presented itself. Well, just as we picked her up, Dave thought of a funny story with the perfect name. When Kimee was little, she was playing animals with Easton and Skyler. Skyler was a lion (or tiger) and he asked Kimee, "What's my name?" Kimee immediately replied, "Swicey." We all thought it was funny that she came up with such a unique name so quickly and with so much confidence. So Swicey it is! Unique, with a story behind it,  and a Kimee original.

We have had Swicey for almost three weeks now, and it hasn't been too bad. Yeah, I've got to clean up after her, but what's new? I've got to take her to go potty, but what's new? I feel like this is my stage in life right now anyway (poop, pee, feeding, cleaning up, etc.) so it's not that big of a deal. The biggest thing is keeping Maddi from hurting her (out of too much love and excitement). That is getting better as they get used to each other. Hopefully, things will keep going well and we will love having a dog in our family.

Maddi's Stitches

On Sunday, Dec. 5, Maddi got 4 stitches just above her left eye, in her eyebrow area. This is our first child to have stitches! After church, we had taken off her shoes, but not her tights. She came running into the kitchen, and slipped and fell into a bar stool. She was so good at the doctor's office. She held so still and hardly even cried, until the very end. The last stitch was the worst because it wasn't completely numb, Maddi turned her head and pulled the thread through, so he had to do it again. That's when she started to get really upset. Up until then, she had been so good. When we got into the car, she was so exhausted, she was asleep within 30 seconds. I'm so glad we were able to leave Kimee and Audrey at my sister Janna's house so Dave and I could both be there to help Maddi and not have the other girls witness the trauma. Thanks, Janna! Maddi is going to have a scar from this, but hopefully it will mostly be covered with her eyebrow.

Fun w/Dad

Isn't it great when Dad will let you do his hair or put stickers all over his face? Aren't dad's so much fun?

Christmas Letter 2010

This year I took the easy route and skipped doing a family letter with our Christmas card. I directed everyone to check our blog for family updates. But the blog doesn't have a summary of the year and everything we are grateful for. So I am going to post a "Family Letter- Christmas card style" for the sake of tradition. Here goes...

2010 has been busy and filled with fun.

Dave celebrated his 20th year working at MegaDiamond. Things are really busy at MegaDiamond as they are developing new products and growing the business. Their parent company SMITH sold to Schlumberger, so more changes and progress. At church, Dave moved from Young Men's to Ward Clerk and enjoys working closely with the Bishopric and other clerks. In his free time, Dave enjoys watching sports, mostly BYU and the Jazz, and keeping up with CougarBoard online. He likes reading, playing Sudoku, and wishes he had time to go golfing.

I am enjoying teaching 1st grade at Lindon Elementary. I love being able to have Kimee and Audrey at school with me. I love teaching so much, it barely feels like a job. At church, I am finally the Primary Chorister again. I had this calling about 10 years ago, and couldn't wait to do it again. It's a fun calling, but I most appreciate that having me there has helped Kimee and Audrey enjoy Primary more. In my spare time, I like to be on the computer- blogging, shopping online, planning trips, doing school and primary stuff, and more.

Kimberly is 7 years old and in 2nd grade. She loves her teacher Mrs. Heap (a 1st year teacher/intern). After school, she is in gymnastics and art class. Her biggest love is horses and she takes riding lessons when the weather is nice. She loves playing horses, watching horse movies, and reading books about horses. Kimee also likes being a big sister singing, and reading. She enjoys the Geronimo Stilton series, the Friend magazine, mystery books, and all of her library books. She learns a lot from the books she reads and she has an amazing memory.

Audrey 4 years old and is in her second year of preschool. She loves her teacher Miss Bonnie. She goes to school Tuesday-Friday afternoon and learns so much there. She is starting to write a lot, and always wants us to spell words for her. Audrey is also in gymnastics and art class. She loves horses too and playing with Kimee. More than anything, she loves being around people. She likes to be silly and make people laugh. Audrey spends her mornings at Cathy's and says that her best friend to play with there is Maddi.

Maddi turned 1 in April, so she is 20 months now. She spends her weekdays with Cathy, a neighbor of ours that does daycare in her home. Maddi loves baby dolls and Curious George. She is talking more and more and is overall a pretty mellow child. She is now "Maddi, the Mess Maker", and is leaving a trail of destruction everywhere she goes. It's very frustrating to Kimee, who is often my helper in cleaning up. But she will soon be past this stage and we will somehow miss all these messes.

We went to the Oregon coast for Spring break this year with our friends the Claunches and loved every second of it (except maybe not some of the driving). The girls ask on a regular basis when we will be going back. This summer was filled with swimming lessons, candy stands, a Puckett family reunion at Wolf Creek (up Ogden canyon), playing with cousins, a big birthday party, projects, fun day trips, and more. During fall break, we took a trip up to Yellowstone with our Smith cousins and our friends the Foxes. It was the perfect time of year to go and we saw so many of Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. It was breathtaking, relaxing, and so much fun. We can't wait to go back there too.

At this time of year we are so grateful for our family and friends, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our home and our jobs, and the many blessings we enjoy. Thank you for your cards and letters. We wish you all the best Christmas and hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Break

I am so excited for Christmas break and one of the reasons is so that I can get my blog all caught up. I have two weeks off, 16 days total including weekends. Sure, some of that will be filled with holidays, traditions, and celebrating. Lots of that will be filled with taking care of the kids, and our new puppy, but surely I can squeeze in some time to work on my huge list of projects.

Top of my list is getting this blog caught up. I have a goal to get everything updated BEFORE Christmas. So then I will have time to post Christmas and the end of the year stuff so I can be ready to work on my BLOG BOOK! I am so excited to do my 2nd edition. The main reason I am doing a blog is to publish all my posts into a hardbound book as a keepsake and record for my family, replacing my scrapbooking. Last year's turned out great! (Not very cutesy or fancy, just plain and simple. The important thing is that it had all my posts and all my pictures from 2009. DONE, in a book.)

I usually get really excited for any holiday or break from school before it happens, but once it gets here, I start stressing out. I start worrying that I won't get everything done that I really want or need to get done. So far, we are three days into our 16 day break, and I am not stressed out yet. I think because I have a full week before Christmas and a full week after. Soooo nice! Wish me luck on getting everything done as well as enjoying the holiday with my family.

Maddi is growing up

I don't know when it happened, but all of a sudden Maddi is no longer a baby. She is a full grown toddler. Following around the big girls, talking all the time, and wanting to do what everyone else is doing. She is so much fun. She really is a big girl- at her 18 month check up she was 29 lbs. (95%) and 33 1/2 inhes tall (93%).

Luckily, she still loves to cuddle. She loves her paci. It's now restricted to bedtime and naptime. Taking that away really helped her start talking a lot more. She also LOVES Curious George. When she gets tired or just needs a break from all the excitement, she grabs my hand and says, "George?" Another thing she does that is really cute... if you ask her a question, like "Do you want some milk?" She will look at you and do a very deliberate nod up and down, but not say anything. It is so cute.

Starting a month or so before this picture, Maddi was really showing interest in the toilet. Of course, wanting to flush and put toilet paper in it. Well, she started wanting to "go" on the toilet, so I got out the potty and just put her on- just for fun. Well, she actually went potty in the toilet! She had done this off and on for about a month. On November 10, I took the day off to stay with Maddi, who had a contagious virus. Anyway, she walks upstairs and says to me, "Poop?" So I took her straight to the toilet, and viola! She pooped in it! I couldn't believe my 18 month old did this.

 Cheeser!

Since then, she has slowed down a little in her toilet interest. I'm not too worried though. It will come again. I am looking forward to having her potty train herself. ;) Wouldn't that be nice?

gymnastics and dance

Audrey and Kimberly have both been taking gymnastics at the rec center again this year. They really enjoy it. Maddi can't stand to sit in the stroller (and just watch- she wants to run around and do what the big kids are doing) for more than a few minutes, so I often take a quick trip to the store and get back in time to see the last few minutes.

On the last day of class in December, they got a candy cane. Happy girls!

Kimee took a 6-week after school class that her teacher taught- it was dance! It worked out great, because I had signed up to teach an after school class also, and they ended up being on the same day. So Kimee went to her dance class in the cafeteria, while I taught my class and we were done at the same time. Audrey stayed with me and passed out snacks to the kids and did stories/games on the computer.

On the last day (Nov. 23), they did a really short recital (one song).  It was fun and Kimee loved it.