Randoms

We are just doing our thing here in Richmond. Sam loves school. Afton loves hanging out with me (but let's be honest - who doesn't?), Dan joined a rock gym and is now getting his climb on a few times a week. A carpet lady came today to do measurements. Hopefully we'll get some new carpet in the next few weeks. We're picking paint colors for the first floor. That's harder than we thought it would be. We need flow since it's so open. Some of the colors we thought we liked aren't gelling. We'll give before and afters once it's all settled.

I just downloaded pictures from my phone to the computer. When I upgraded to a smart phone, they put the pics from my old phone on the new one. I'm glad. There are some cute pictures on there from the kids' early years. So now the rest of this post will be phone pictures. In chronological order.

 Chunky monkey!

 Now we're on to the recent stuff.

 Her hair in the morning. Fine in the front.

 CRAAAAZY in the back.

 This is not a pope hat. Apparently boys wear this in Sweden around Christmas. Cracked me up when I went to pick him up from school and he walked into the cafeteria wearing it.

 Afton loved the dentist. Can't you tell?

 Sam wrote a letter to Santa at school. "This is what I want: A puzzle, and playdoh, and playdoh toys. Some cars, a dinosaur stuffed animal. That's it." Of course, that's not what he told US he was going to ask Santa for. Good thing we still had some time before Christmas.

 Have I mentioned before that Afton loves to dress up? This was the week or so before Christmas.

 Dad helped me change our doorbell from this:

 To this:

 Playing at the library.

 Our picture wall in the upstairs hallway.

 Dan made this growth chart for me for Christmas. I love it.

 She loves to sleep with books.

 Playing at a bounce house place the one day of winter break that no one was sick.

 A typical lunch with my princess.

Afton pulling a Marilyn with our heater vent.

 And using Mom's makeup to give herself a unibrow. She's really into plain bread without the crust lately.

Resolutions in Review (and new ones)

Well, 2013 didn't quite go as I had pictured. Between thoughts of moving, Dan interviewing, waiting to hear about the job, learning we had 30 days to get to the new job, selling the house, house hunting, buying a new house, and working on the new house, many of my goals fell by the wayside. Here's what they were:

Read biographies on the first 22 presidents.
Finish the dining room.
Practice the piano for 20 minutes, 5 times a week.
Complete three service projects.
Complete blurb books for 2009 and 2010.

Well, I read biographies on the first 2 presidents and half of the third. Ouch. I was reading about Thomas Jefferson when we started to get ready to move, but by then I was miserably behind and just lost the steam. I still read a lot, though. I'll add my book list to the end of this post for those who are interested.

I did finish the dining room - just in time to move.

I did practice the piano until we moved and it stayed in my parents' basement for the next 5 months. Now it's back and I tried to keep up that resolution.

I didn't complete three official service projects, but I did donate a lot of stuff and took firefighters cookies and neighbors treats. I think that counts.

I did finish my blurb book for 2009 (although I haven't had it printed yet - I'm waiting for a discount code) and I'm currently working on 2010.

So as I said, resolutions for 2013 were kind of a bust, but that's alright! It was a wonky year. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop my goal setting.

Here are the goals for 2014:

Read at least 30 books. (I would like 10 of these books to be biographies on the next 10 presidents - starting with Mr. Jefferson.)
Take a trip with Dan for our 10-year anniversary.
Run a half marathon.
Continue practicing the piano for 20 minutes, five times a week.
Complete AND PRINT blurb books for 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Teach Afton the alphabet and the first 20 numbers. That girl has no interest at all in it.
Participate in some kind of service project.

There you have it - my goals for 2014.

And here's what I read in 2013:

1. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism by Teryl Givens
2. His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis
3. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
4. John Adams by David McCullough
5. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
6. The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman
7. The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse that Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts
8. Choosing Motherhood by Gretchen Cheney (edited by Lia Collins)
9. Austenland by Shannon Hale
10. The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel
11. Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes
12. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
13. Matilda by Roald Dahl
14. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
15. Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath
16. The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Families in the Digital Age by Catherine Steiner-Adair
17. Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way by Fred Rogers
18. An Invisible Thread: The true story of an 11-year-old panhandler, a business sales executive, and an unlikely meeting with destiny by Laura Schroff
19. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
20. Freakling by Lana Krumweide
21. Forever on the Mountain: The truth behind one of mountaineerings most controversial and mysterious disasters by James Tabor
22. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
23. Fostering Love: One foster parent's journey by John Degarmo
24. Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking by Susan Cain
25. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the fair that changed America by Erik Larson
26. Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson
27. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

That's 16 non-fiction, 11 fiction. I think it's hard for me to find fiction that isn't raunchy or too cheesy. My favorites were John Adams, Forever on the Mountain, and Devil in the White City.

Christmas time

In the weeks leading up to Christmas Dan's work had a fun party at the firm for families.

 They had a balloon artist, caricature artists, a magician, Santa, and various people reading Christmas stories. The kids really liked it.

 Until it came time to meet Santa.

 So first was Sam.

And then the whole family. That's the only way she would get anywhere close to him. Santa looks tipsy.

 And here's the caricature of the kids. I think Sam's is alright, but Afton's looks nothing like her. Makes me laugh.

Dan's tax section had a Christmas party at a partner's house. It was our first time using a babysitter here. 

Dan's wall went from looking like this:

 To this:

 To this (as of yesterday):

(This is in no way an endorsement of The Children's Place. It was just on PBS.) All that's left to be done is grouting the slate tiles, adding the crown molding, and caulking. Hooray! Dad helped a ton while he was here with electrical and manpower.

Sam's last day of school was Friday and he woke up on Saturday with a fever. Great way to start the break. He threw up on Sunday morning so I stayed home from church with him while Dan went with Afton. Monday Sam threw up again and then started to get better. Later that day I caught what he had and spent the rest of the evening and night in the bathroom. I lost 5 pounds in 12 hours. Don't worry, I've gained it back.

Tuesday morning Mom and Dad Cheney came over to begin the Christmas festivities. After making a few things, we went to see Frozen. It was cute. We came home and prepared our Christmas Eve dinner: ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, salad, baked carrots, jello. Delish. Sam was still feeling pretty miserable.

After dinner we went to look at Christmas lights, read from Luke 2, and put the kids to bed. I got to hang our stockings on the mantle for about 5 seconds. The holders wouldn't hold once there was actually stuff in them.

Mom and Dad prepared chunky for Christmas morning while Dan and I wrapped and assembled a few more gifts.

Christmas morning the kids looked at what Santa brought and what they received that was too big to wrap.

Sam received playdoh, hot wheels, a new bike, and a table that Dan built for his legos. (Their current table is tiny and all the legos roll off the sides, so Dan built a bigger table with a lip around the edge.) Afton received little people, a fairy costume, and a bike.

After breakfast we opened presents, hung out, went on a walk, played a game, and Dan kept working on his wall.

One of the favorite gifts according to the kids is this "toot gun" as we call it from Grandpa Cheney.

It was a very nice day. Afton got sick on Christmas night and Mom and Dad left mid-day on Thursday. Despite the illness, it was a nice laid-back Christmas.

The latest

We said farewell to our Thankful tree. It wasn't quite as full as last year's, but it was still fun. I loved hearing which particular animal Afton would be thankful for each night. She got away with variations of the same animal. "Cheetahs" "Baby cheetahs" "Mommy tough cheetahs." And I loved seeing Sam write his own. He's such a sweetheart.

We said hello to our Christmas tree.

Dan celebrated his 32nd birthday on Friday. He requested baked potato soup and carrot cake. I had never made carrot cake before. I used this recipe: Sam's Famous Carrot Cake and it was a hit. Just in case you're looking for a good carrot cake recipe. Topped with cream cheese frosting.

Mom and Dad came over for the festivities, too, but I didn't get a pic of them.

 I know it's kind of feminine looking, but I didn't want to color the frosting and I wanted to try this style.

He got dress shirts, socks, slippers, a snowflake tie (from Afton), athletic socks (from Sam), and a new 2-man tent for his camping adventures that will hopefully take place this spring and summer. I love Dan. In case you didn't know. He's the best and I'm so lucky he's my best friend.

Dan and I were supposed to speak in church on Sunday but it was cancelled due to inclement weather. It was a stir-crazy day. I read a whole book. We baked some bread.