It's About Time

Christmas is finally here....on our blog that is.

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, the first thing we did was go to church. Once we came home, we put Claire back into her pajamas and opened a couple of presents. One of my favorites was a new garbage can from Erik. We've had our kitchen garbage can for eight years and every week I dreaded taking it out because it was so difficult getting the bag out of the can. It's funny how the things you want for Christmas change as you get older. I never would have imagined getting excited over a garbage can, but I was. Thanks Honey for such a thoughtful gift. Muah!

We hurried as fast as we could and headed over to my parent's house because everyone was waiting for us. Claire got to take part in the annual "sit on the stairs like you are waiting" picture. She looked like such a big girl, I couldn't believe it. Isn't she adorable?!

It soon became very chaotic. The kids ran into the living room and it was a mad house. Presents were tossed to one another, wrapping paper was flying through the air, and smiles were as big as can be. Claire was surprisingly content with opening a present and then playing with it for a while before moving onto the next one, but it all came to a screeching halt when she opened her new baby stroller. She LOVED it and wouldn't have cared if that's all she got. She was definitely a happy camper.

Of course, we didn't forget about little Khloe. She sniffed her way through the dog food, bones, and treats and found her favorite present of all: three baby tennis balls. Khloe was in doggy heaven and Claire was even very excited for her. What a supportive sister.

The madness slowly died down and we had a very relaxing day with the family. I played 'Guesstures' with my niece, Lindsay, Claire read books with her Morfar, and Erik danced with my niece, Ashlyn, to her new video game. Well....he danced long enough for me to hurry and take a picture. Now we have proof. :)

I noticed there was one common factor that everyone possessed while opening or playing with their presents: you must stick out your tongue. I knew Erik did this while concentrating, but I had no idea it spread to his daughter and my nieces. Hilarious! I guess we really are all related.

As usual, Christmas day was wonderful! We were so blessed to spend it with family and were definitely spoiled rotten.Thank you to everyone who gave us a gift this year. We hope you appreciated ours as well, and we can't wait to all be together soon.

I am so grateful for the gifts I received and most importantly, to have my very own happy family. Erik, Claire, and Khloe mean the world to me! Love you all. 

Almost There I Promise

I know....I know. I've done three posts leading up to Christmas and I still haven't even gotten there yet. I promise the next post will be Christmas day.

First, I have to do a short back story on the photo below so you'll understand what happened to Claire's right eyebrow. The night before Christmas Eve, Claire was pushing her bike around the living room when it tipped over, she fell on top of it, and got a huge gash on her eyebrow. This was her first big owie. Sadly, I don't know which thought came to my mind first: is she okay or great, now all of her Christmas pictures are going to be ruined. :) Isn't that terrible of me?! We cleaned up the blood and decided to put a band aid on it and go to bed. I still am second guessing our decision and think that we maybe should have gotten stitches, but it's too late now. Thankfully, the pictures weren't actually ruined. The next night was the family nativity and our little sheep was just as cute as can be. Claire walked around the room dancing to the hymns with her hand on her chin and when baby Jesus entered the scene, she ran over to unswaddle him so she could hold the doll.



Claire, and the rest of her nieces and nephews, did a wonderful job in the nativity. I was definitely a proud Mommy. Afterwards, everyone gathered around my Dad as we all looked up on the Internet where Santa was at the moment. If I remember correctly, Santa was flying over Peru. The kids got so excited and thought he was just a few minutes away and wanted to get into bed, but first they had to open up their Christmas Eve gift. To our amazement, Claire was very excited about opening her present. Her cousin, Connor, showed her what to do with the paper and she loved every second of it. When she finally opened up her first gift and saw the pajamas with a dog on them, she almost couldn't contain herself. She was so happy! This was going to be a fun Christmas.

Santa & Claire's Sledding Highlights

Christmas Eve morning my entire family was together at last! First on our agenda was Santa pictures at Fashion Place Mall. I already blogged about Claire's picture: you can view that post here. I was actually really happy that she was crying so hard. It definitely made for a good photo. The group photo (Claire and all of her cousins), on the other hand, turned out to be not so good. The people couldn't even hold the camera straight. Annoying!

After Santa, naps, and lunch, we headed up to The Spruces for sledding. We were hoping to go to Mt. Dell Golf Course because we've heard the sledding is awesome, but they didn't have any snow. The snow where we were was very icy and hard, but at least they had snow. This marked Claire's first time in her new snow suit and being thrust down a giant hill. But first things first....family pictures to document the event. (I've learned that it is best to do "portraits" first so that they are out of the way, I am usually freshly made up, and heaven forbid we actually forget to take them.) :)

 

Moments later, Claire was having the time of her life. Sometimes she was full of smiles, others a little surprised, and a couple of times she was outright scared. To our amazement, she never cried from going down the slide. Yay for Claire!

The photo below is my favorite one of the afternoon. Her facial expression is hilarious! The funniest thing about it is that she wasn't even going down the hill. Erik was pulling her across the snow and she started to fall backwards in the sled. I guess it was quite scary.

We spent a couple of hours going down the icy hill and had tons of fun. My oldest nieces were enjoying every minute of it and my nephew, a total adrenaline junky, couldn't have fit in any more rides down the hill if he tried. Even when I was sure he got hurt, he got up with a smile on his face and went at it again. I hope Claire grows up to have that much audacity.

Doing activities like this is usually quite an ordeal, but in the end, I am always glad we make the effort to do them. Dressing in tons of layers, packing all of Claire's stuff, driving to our destination, and putting myself on 'photo duty' so we have great pictures to document the day, is never the most pleasant thing in the world. However, doing a fun activity with my family and having the memories and photo evidence to prove it makes it all worthwhile.

An Uxpected Break

Before my entire family had made it into town for Christmas, Claire and I, along with my sister's family and my parents, went ice skating at the Cottonwood Heights Rec Center. It was a free "Skate with Santa" afternoon and was a total blast.

I was a little nervous to skate while holding Claire (Erik was off working), but I figured as long as I went very slow, everything would be fine. Well, the challenge for the afternoon was not skating, but getting Claire to let me to hold her. She was literally attached to my Mom's hip and would not let go. I am so glad she loves her, but come on! She's supposed to love me more. :)

Since I couldn't get Claire to warm up to me (so weird), I went off to skate with my nieces and nephew and Claire watched from the sideline. Every year it is more and more fun to do things with them and this year was no different. We skated around trying to do tricks and took a billion pictures to try and capture the perfect ones (so like my family). I love how they bring out the little kid in me and make me want to act silly even when I look stupid. Sometimes it's nice to put being a Mom on the back burner and act like a kid again. I have to admit that I am a little excited to embarrass Claire when she's older. Doesn't every parent enjoy that?

About an hour into skating, Claire finally let me hold her. She missed her nap that afternoon and was very particular with which activities would keep her happy and which ones would bring on a temper tantrum. Standing on the ice with Mommy, fine. A very slow stroll about three feet down the ice, fine. 

Putting her down to get a standing picture with Mommy, I don't think so. That was not on Claire's agenda for the day. So what exactly did Claire prefer to do that afternoon? Climb on the railing with her Mormor/Morfar and watch from afar. I welcomed the short break and forgave her for this one instance, but it better not become a habit. :) 

Let the Mayhem Begin

Thanksgiving through  New Year's is my absolute favorite time of year even though it's filled with a million things to do. It always puts me in such a joyful mood and I like to find every possible way to celebrate the Christmas season. We checked the first activity off of my "To Do" list by ice skating with Erik's parent's at South Jordan City Plaza. It was tons of fun, and free, which made it even better. Although we were freezing, Claire thoroughly enjoyed going around the rink with her Daddy and could not stop smiling.

 
A couple weekends later, we marked going to the lights at Temple Square off of our list. This has seemed to become a tradition in our house and I enjoy it every year. Claire loved seeing all of the lights and kept signing "hot", because she thinks lights are hot and I haven't told her differently. It's managed to keep her little fingers away from our Christmas tree entirely. She did throw a little temper tantrum after she was put back in her stroller and we were given a few "crusty looks" from on-lookers walking by. They probably weren't as bad as the looks I gave them when I noticed their child had no coat, gloves, or hat on. It had to have been 20 degrees outside for heavens sake! Although Claire enjoyed the lights everywhere, she was more enamored by the big water fountain she saw as we were leaving. Claire loves water and said "wa wa" a hundred times after setting her eyes on the fountain ahead. It was a fun family outing that we all enjoyed.

The week before Christmas I was pleasantly surprised when I happened to come upon the most PERFECT ornament for Claire this year. This is a tradition my parent's started where we would pick an ornament that represents something we did or liked that past year, which began from birth and went through to age 18. Claire is obsessed with my parent's vintage Little People playhouse/ferris wheel set that is probably from 1975. She plays with it every time she goes to their house and I could not believe it when I came across an ornament of the exact house. What a score!

That same week, Claire also got to enjoy a Christmas themed "Gotta Move" class at the Whitmore Library. Claire and I go to various libraries every week and she has really enjoyed listening to the stories and dancing with the kids around her. She was pleasantly surprised to receive a candy cane from the teacher at the end of class and even tried to steal a few more when she wasn't looking. :)

Before things got too hectic, we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Erik's siblings and grandparents. It was a wonderful opportunity to exchange gifts and converse with one another before the mayhem really began. It also eliminated another house we would have to drive to on Christmas Day. Claire's great-grandparents gave her their gift (money) and she promptly responded with the sign for "thank you". Not to our surprise did it only take her a second to look at the gift, throw it on the ground, and run to the table full of toys nearby. Although it means nothing to her now, I know the day will quickly arrive when all she wants are dollar bills, checks, and gift cards.

With Christmas day closing in on us, Claire had no idea all of the excitement that lied ahead.

Christmas Preview

Here is a sneak peek at our holiday weekend:

It was filled with lots of smiles and happiness....

and of course some crying thanks to a few missed naps.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(Photo Taken June 2011)

First Things First

Now that Christmas is two days away, I figure I should get a Thanksgiving blog post uploaded. My parent's hosted Erik's family at their house for dinner this year and we had a great time. Here are Claire's Thanksgiving day highlights:

...an early morning 5k stroller ride with some of Daddy's extended family

 (we are on the far left)

...a big hug from her Farmor

...olives on her fingers for the first time

...a game of "I wasn't looking at you" with Khloe

...a piano solo met with a round of applause

...and a failed attempt at a great family snapshot (at least it proves we were all there)

As usual, we stuffed ourselves until we had to lie on the floor (a tradition for Erik), had way too many leftovers, and spent a wonderful afternoon with our families.  Love you all! 



2011 Family Pictures

You all know I am obsessed with pictures and this past June we were able to get new family pictures taken downtown. Doesn't Claire look adorable? Hope you like them too...enjoy!

Olafsson Family

(photo taken June 2011...Claire is much bigger now)

 My Family

(minus all of my nieces and nephews)

Quality Girl Time

In early November, me, my Mom, and my two older sisters flew to St. George for a weekend getaway. This was the first time it was just us girls and we had a blast! We had the opportunity to attend Deseret Book's "Time Out For Women" Conference which was very inspirational and enlightening. When I told Erik that I was going to St. George to learn how to be a better wife and mother he responded with "I can tell you how to be a better wife." So funny!

There were so many wonderful speakers and musical numbers throughout the conference. If you ever think your life is hard, the woman in the picture below grew up in Africa, was tortured by rebels and had to choose between keeping her arms or legs. Thankfully, she didn't have to choose (her sister wasn't so lucky) as soldiers appeared moments before and the rebels ran away. She later joined the church and served a mission at Temple Square.

Throughout the weekend, we attended the conference, went shopping, ate yummy dinners, and laughed A LOT! We played Guesstures for hours and had such a fun time laughing at each other's impressions.I haven't laughed that hard since high school.

Thanks for such a great weekend Mom, Liisa, and Erika. We made memories to last a lifetime!