After Christmas Returns....

Yes, we are done with these for Ashlyn. She has finally decided to be a big girl ALL the time and we aren't having any more "accidents" at night.

A few highlights from our Christmas

I had to work Christmas Eve day. Not a big deal I was off at 3. That evening we took the girls back down to my work to see a few of the residents and tell them Merry Christmas. It was so fun. One of the residents that I work with alot has heard so much about my girls and has been wanting to meet them. Actually when I got to work on Tuesday he asked if we were able to see Santa over the weekend and I told him Santa wasn't there on Saturday. He said "you should have brought them down here, I would have been Santa for them". (if you knew the patient, it would be funnier. He is the complete opposite of the typical Santa.) He is such a nice guy and was so excited to meet my girls on Christmas Eve. The girls talked his ear off and he had the biggest grin on his face the whole time we were there. Dacia wanted to say hi to more people before we left. So we made the rounds on each floor telling everyone we saw Merry Christmas. I think we are going to make something like this a tradion every year. It was so fun!
That day at work I was a little teary eyed. I was so happy for the kids there. They were so taken care of. They all got presents and I was so worried that they were going to be forgotten about. What a great Christmas Eve!

When we got home that night the girls each got to open one present!

It was pajamas of course.

The next morning they were so excited to see that they really had been good girls this year and that Santa had come to leave gifts for them.
We had to wake Bry up and I thought for sure she would have been a stinker, but she was so happy and loved the whole Christmas thing.
I made the girls matching shirts. Matching colors anyways. They were all numbered in birth order. Ash had 2, Dacia was 1 and Brylee's shirt had a number 3 on it. They turned out cute.
Brylee got a tunnel. She is not too crazy about it yet. She did go through it once this morning, so we are making progress with it.
Dacia is in love with Beaker from the Muppets. So she really wanted a Beaker doll. Luckily Santa found one on Amazon.
Brylee being happy. We had to open her presents for her. Too much going on and we couldn't get her to open them.
Ashlyn got a Hannah Montana guitar and doll. Or as Ash would say Hannah Ontana. She loves it even though that wasn't what she really asked for.
She realy wanted Ariel dress up. I made her a tutu and we told her it was Ariel dress up. I didn't really finish it. I still need to make an Ariel bottle cap to put on it.
It was a great day. After opening presents at our house we went out to Tooele for breakfast at my parents. The girls got a wagon from my mom and dad. I can't wait to put it together and use it.
Christmas evening we had Erik's family over to our house for dinner and the girls got even more presents. Thanks everyone.
We enjoyed spending time with the family for Christmas day.

I made alot of the presents this year and had lots of fun. You can see some of the stuff here.

Merry Christmas

I hope you all remembered to add Poor People to your Christmas shopping list this year.

I was making a list of neighbors I needed to take treats to and Erik said we needed to add poor people to the list. So Dacia sounded out the words and wrote them on the list. I think she did pretty good. It's just missing a few vowels!

Family Picture

We did manage to get a family picture while we were all dressed up. It is so hard to get a decent picture of three wiggly girls. It turned out pretty good. I made the girls their skirts and bought the cardigans for their Christmas dresses this year. I had 3 matching girls and they look adorable.
A big thanks to Jen for photoshopping the picture for us. She made a cheap camera, had to set the timer and run, family picture look alot better. Thanks Jen!

Christmas Fun!

So we have done a few fun things this month, I just haven't taken the time to blog about it plus, we didn't get good pictures of the activities.
We did go down to Temple Square o see the lights. I think it was actually the first time we have ever taken the girls down (I am not fond of the cold). So we went down at the beginning of the month before it snowed. The weather was perfect. We enjoyed a nice dinner out and then rode trax to the Temple (the girls love trax). The Nativity on the reflecting pool was beautiful. I am so glad we made it down this year.


A couple weeks ago we made gingerbread houses. Not the fake graham cracker kind, but the real ones and not from a kit. The girls love it and I think more candy ends up in their mouth then on the houses.
We were having a hard time this year. The house pieces were too soft and wouldn't stay together.

This is what we came back to after we put the girls to bed. It did not want to stay together.

On Saturday we went on a hay ride through Layton Park. It was super cold, but we bundled up and braved the weather. A few of our neighbors joined us for the evening. After the hay ride we enjoyed a hot soup and bread bowl dinner. Yummy! Then the kids made Christmas trees.

The other kids ate their trees, but my girls had to set them out and save them for Santa.

How do you keep 2 girls busy for a couple hours?

Every once in a while we do a craft for Family Night. Some time during the summer we painted suncatchers and last month we did this activity. They are called perler beads and you make designs with them then you iron them to stick together. The girls loved it! They were seriously busy at this for a couple hours making stuff.

These are a few of the final product. The girls had so much fun!

Picture Tag!

Go to your pictures on your computer. Post the 3rd picture in the 3rd folder.

This picture is from Brylee's Birthday last week. She is such a sweet little girl and I am so happy to have her in our family.
Also, the shirt she is wearing is another shirt that I have screen printed. I made this shirt for her birthday party. We went the Minnie Mouse theme. So the sleeve says Minnie and there is a red Minnie on the front of the shirt.

Ok, I had to play this game twice. We have pictures on the computer, but most of our pictures are on the external hard drive. So this is the 3rd picture on the 3rd folder on the hard drive.
This is me getting ready to deliver Brylee. Ohh, I loved the epidural with Brylee. It was the best one that I ever had.

Now everyone needs to play. Go post your picture!

Tagged!

I was tagged and it took me a couple days to get to it. I didn't do my last tag so I figured I could do this one. I am having a hard time thinking of eight things for each one though.

8 Favorite T.V. Shows:
1. LOST
2. The Office
3. Law & Order (all of them, maybe I should list them separate to fill up my list.
4. ER
5. I still love Friends
6. Everybody Loves Raymond
7. King of Queens
8. When I get to, I really like watching The View, I like watching the ladies argue

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. I had to work
2. Fixed the medical insurance
3. I actually made dinner
4. cleaned up toys (daily)
5. Talked to Erik on the phone
6. stressed about everything going on
7. Daily Facebook and blog stalking
8. Stayed up too late

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Costa Vida
2. Cracker Barrel
3. Red Robin
4. Crown Burger
5. Jeremiah's
6. Olive Garden
7. Papa Murphy's (it's probably not considered a restaurant, but it is the best pizza)
8. Ruby River

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. My weekend off
2. Christmas
3. Maybe having a date with my husband this month
4. Erik having more time off work this month
5. The New Year
6. showing off my latest project I made for the girls
7. getting a new team at work (only 2 more months) we just got new teams this week and it's going to be a long 2 months
8. making gingerbread houses with the girls this month

8 things on my wish list:
1. Vacation
2. No debt
3. New sewing machine
4. my Christmas projects would finish themselves
5. new car for me
6. new job
7. better yet, not have to work at all
8. Erik not to work evenings

8 people I tagged:
Any one that wants to play. Sarah, Niccole, Angela, Elisa, Jamie, Michelle, Patrice, Charity

The Big One!

Our sweet little Brylee, also affectionately known as Bry Bry, buggie, Pink Jesus, and Brylee bum, turns a year old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast the year has gone by. It seems like yesterday we were bringing our sweet baby home.

Here's our little angel at 6months starting to eat food. Look at those big gorgeous eyes!

And here's our baby now. She is such a happy girl and such a joy to have in our home. Her laughs light up our day...her big dimples are so cute!
We had her party tonight and she had so much fun.
Here are some highlights.

Opening her first present.

She just wanted to play with her new toys and didn't want to open any more presents. We had to keep helping her move on to the rest of her stuff.
The birthday girl had no hesitation diggin' into her cake. She loved every bite. She was a little hopped up on sugar and did have a hard time going to bed tonight. Her reaction to everyone singing Happy Birthday to her was priceless. It was fun to see another one of our kids experience it for the first time.

It's always hard to see our babies grow up...but the trip is well worth it, and we do our best to celebrate each passing moment. It's a privilege and a joy watching our little girls grow up closer and closer to womanhood. It's happening much too fast...but we are enjoying the ride!


I love this picture and had to add it. This is the view from my hospital room the day after Brylee was born. We had the first big storm of the season the night she was born. (I hope we don't get snow tomorrow night.)

Nothing New on the Homefront

So I guess we have been pretty boring lately and haven't done anything blog worthy. Not much is going on here.
Dacia has been off track this month and asks me almost everyday if she has school and I tell her no because we are off track. Then she says "I hate going off track. I love school." We have had this conversation many times and I will be glad when she goes back on track in December.
Oh, and Dacia is very upset that everyone is putting up Christmas decorations. "It is not Christmas. We have to have Thanksgiving and Brylee's birthday first".
Ashlyn is busy little girl. She is non stop and not always up to good things. I try not to be too negative on here about my kids because they will read this all someday, but that little girl has been trying our patience so much lately. But buying new panties for her last week seems to be do doing the trick in that problem area. There are many more areas that we are still working on. We love her and know that she is a very smart little girl, but don't understand why she does some of the things she does.
Brylee is all over the place. Once she learned to crawl she has been unstoppable. Right after crawling she learned to stand and then she learned to sit herself down and now she is starting to walk along the couch. We are getting ready for a little girls birthday at the end of the month.
Erik is busy working and is Mr Mom a couple days week still. The girls are having lots of fun spending that time with him. Erik is also joining a group called Campaign for Liberty and is planning on participating in his first protest this weekend. He is very interested in becoming invloved in out government and helpingt o make a difference. Yes, my husband the future politician.
I have been busy working, baby sitting a couple days a week, plus all my motherly duties around the house. Except dishes, Erik has been a great dish washer loader and unloader lately. So I can't take credit for that chore, but most of the rest are mine. I have been busy learning new crafts and having fun creating. I could spend all day at my craft table if I didn't have other things that needed to be done.
Life is crazy.

Finally Crawling

Brylee has been using the army crawl as her way of getting around for quite a while now. Last week she actually started crawling for reals. It's so cute to see her getting around now. And in the last day she has started pulling herself up to stand. I guess it's finally time to drop the mattress lower in the crib.

Like Bry's hair? I noticed it has been curling on one side of her head and staying straight on the other side. Maybe it's just the way she sleeps, anyways, she is still a super cute baby.

We're off to see the Wizard...

The girls had lots of fun dressing up and going Trick or Treating last night. We had Ash as Dorothy, and Brylee was a Munchkin and Dacia was Glinda the good witch.

I can't believe It is November all ready. My little Brylee turns one the end of the month.

I Spy Something Orange...

We finally made it out today to get our pumpkins. I opted for the hay ride to pick out pumpkins in the field this year, instead of our usual get the pumpkin at the farm that they have all ready brought up from the field. We didn't tell the girls where we were going, just that is was something fun. They were pretty excited.










After we were done picking out pumpkins we headed home. On the way home the girls started chanting "we want Krispy Kreme...we want Krispy Kreme". Since we just happen to have a coupon for a free dozen in the car we went along with it and stopped and grabbed doughnuts. Mmmmm....fresh, warm, Krispy Kreme's.

As if that wasn't enough Halloween fun today....it was the Trunk or Treat at the church tonight for the Kids. This was actually our first time trunk or treating. I am kinda Anti-Trunk or Treat, but mostly when they do them on Halloween night. So since it wasn't on the 31st I took the girls over. I didn't take many pictures but here is Ashlyn sitting paying games.

Slumber Party

On Wednesday night the girls asked for a Slumber party but because I had to work the next morning I told them we would have one Thursday night. So when I got home from work yesterday we went and got a movie and some pizza. After we had dinner we got out the sleeping bags and started a movie and popped popcorn. I am not sure what time Dacia and Ashlyn fell asleep on the floor because I passed out on the couch a little after 9pm(these early mornings are killing me).

She feels special...oh so special

Dacia is such a little trooper. She still amazes me at how well she did yesterday. We wanted to make her feel special so today Erik took flowers over to the school for Dacia before he left for work. She was so excited! But she had to ask Erik "are these for winning the coloring contest". She is funny!

My Brave Little Girl

I got a phone call at work today at about 2:30pm from Dacia's school. Dacia got hurt on the playground (again, remember she just had a huge goose eggs 2 weeks ago) and they told me she fell and hit her head on the cement and had a cut on her forehead and that she would probably need stitches. I left work in a hurry to get to my little girl. I had calmed myself down and talked to Erik on the phone and we were thinking that the school might have exaggerated a bit over the phone and that it wasn't really that bad.
I got to the school and ran in to find my little girls clothes bloody and her hair matted with blood. The lady that was sitting with her lifted up the gauze for me and I gasped and tried not to react to much because I didn't want to upset Dacia. It was huge!
I talked to Dacia about maybe needing stitches or they would have to glue it back together so it could heal. She was insistent on glue and she didn't want stitches. We went over to the clinic and I was glad that they could take her and that we didn't have to go to the ER. The Dr took one look and said no way would glue work on her cut. They cleaned it up and then numbed it up a bit. Dacia got stickers and some juice while we were waiting and she was laying there so good waiting for everything.
When the Dr came in to finally do the stitches I told her that Dacia didn't know yet and so I broke the news to her. They gave her some shots in her forehead to numb it up a bit more. They cleaned it up more and she got started with the stitches. Dacia came away with 11 stitches. It was so deep they had to do 4 stitches in the lower layer of tissue and then she got 7 stitches on the outside. Dacia was so cute during the whole thing. She told the Dr she didn't like the smell of the dissolvable stitches and wished she could have used ones that didn't stink. The Dr was very nice and talked with Dacia the whole time she was stitching her up. Dacia said ouch TWO times. She was so brave and did so great. The Dr and nurse and her mommy were very impressed at how well she did for a little girl that didn't even want stitches. She did so awesome.
We stopped at RedBox on the way home and they finally had the Barbie movie they have been wanting to see and we had tacos for dinner(one of Dacia's favorite foods).
From the time I picked Dacia up she talked about wanting new clothes. She was so upset that she got blood on her clothes and she just really wanted to change. She was also upset she got blood on her hairbow. I told her I would make her a new one and that it didn't matter.

Warning if you have a weak stomach you may need to look away. I saved the pictures for last, in hopes that my post would be so long the picture wouldn't be on the screen.



Oh, Does anyone want to donate to the We have to pay out of pocket for the Dr bill today because we don't have insurance because we are in our 3 month waiting period at work Fund. Just Kidding!
One more thing, does anyone have a bubble I can borrow or know where I can rent one for cheap. I would like to put my kids in a bubble so they don't get hurt any more. It's too sad to see them in pain and hurting, even when they are being brave.

Our Little Artist

Dacia has always loved to draw and color. She spends many hours a week at the table with pens and crayons. Her teacher also commented on how meticulous she is with her coloring. She has to have her pictures perfect. Well today she won the coloring contest at the Book Fair. She was up against all the other kindergartners. She was so excited.

Three Words

The three words I never thought I would hear from my child's mouth were spoken at the dinner table tonight. Ashlyn said "More Broccoli Please".


PS This is my 100th post on my family blog!

Smarter than her Dad

Dacia keeps telling us that since she is going to school now she is going to be smarter than her dad. Well she is on her way. I went to Dacia's first SEP conference and her teacher said she is doing great. She started sending home the little books for Dacia to start reading. They are really simple books right now. (the same 3 words over and over). Then as they learn more words in scool the books will get harder. But guess what just happened. Ashlyn pulled a movie off the shelf and Dacia sounded it out and read it. TOP GUN!
I am so proud of my little girl! She so excited about school and learning new stuff. I hope she stays this excited.
I just had to brag about my proud mommy moment!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Last night we had our 4th Annual Gumbrecht Family Trip to the Circus. It was so much fun and the girls look forward to it every year. We started the evening with a yummy dinner at Leatherby's in Salt Lake.

The best part was the dessert!

The had the cool Motorcycle cage in the show last night. They had 7 motorcycles driving in it at the same time upside down and around the cage. It was cool.
The also had the tigers there too. Dacia really loves to see the acrobats. Brylee was glued to the show for about the first 20 minutes. Then she was a typical 10 month old and just wanted to wiggle around .

They are such cute girls!

And we have to get a family picture at the circus. We have 3 pictures now(we didn't have one done the first year we went) It's funny to see how our little family is growing from year to year. The girls enjoy our family date nights and they really are well behaved when we go out.