And we're back in business!

The time has come for me to officially bid blogger goodbye :) You can find our family blog at www.jesseejournal.com from here on out. This blog will stay alive forever --but won't be updated-- so if you want to go through the archives you're more then welcome (I'm kidding ... I would think that was weird if you searched through my family archives ;)
And just so you know, yes, Wordpress really is better than blogger in most everything except ONE THING: anytime you write :) or ;) or :D it actually makes a little smiley face which I find so.very.annoying. Mainly because it points out to me just how many billion times I do a smiley emoticon when I type. And now I can't hide that fact becuase the little yellow smiles are all over my posts.
See you in blogland friends :)

I'm still heerrreee

I haven't forgot about blogging. In fact I am still blogging ... but it's on a different site that isn't finished yet.
And I've been blogging simple photo tips (and my first freebie!) on the photo blog.
So I'm still here. Sort of.
But don't worry (alyssa) ... I'll be back soon :)

Letters From Santa

Dear Santa,
I love you Santa, thank you for the nice presents last year for Christmas.
I really want a scooter and I like makeup boxes and I love Barbies and I love shells and babies. I would like a baby kit and if you think so, you could make one for me.
I also love Barbie movies, like the new Rapunzel one. I really like heel heels shoes that you can put on your feet. My favorite treats are candy canes and white chocolate chips -- they taste really good and I could send some to you if you want some. If they will melt or you don't want some then just type back to me. If you can't make any of my presents then you can just make anything you want to give me. And that is all.
I love everything in your shop and I love elves too. I hope it is going to be so fun up there for Christmas.

I love you and Mrs. Claus. Have fun every year!
Shaylie

Dear Shaylie,

It’s been several days since you wrote, and I’m so sorry I’m only now getting a moment to write to you. I’ve had quite a busy few days up here. My letter to you is late this year because I got so excited when I got your letter that I accidentally tipped a huge mug of hot chocolate over into my computer. I don’t know if you’ve ever spilled anything before, but if you have, you know it can make a real mess sometimes. I had to have the elves build a whole new computer before I could write to you.

Mrs. Claus and I are so proud of all you’ve done this year. Congratulations on learning to read. I should tell you that as soon as we learned you were working so hard on your reading, I had the elves stop all their work, and we decided to have a huge party to celebrate your hard work as a reader. I had the elves all bring their favorite books into the biggest room in the toy shop, we all curled up in big, fluffy, warm blankets, and each elf got to read a story from his or her favorite book. Then I used some very special Christmas magic and made all the pictures in the books look like a movie. Several of the girl elves really liked Barbie books, and they were thrilled when we made those pictures in the books come to life. The elves also got to trade books with each other. One of the books was a huge picture book filled with Christmas pictures and a really fun story. Well, one of the baby elves who was born this past June 30^th crawled inside the pages of this huge book and fell sound asleep. I almost closed the book on her, but just as I was picking it up, I heard a funny noise coming from inside. She was sound asleep and talking in her sleep. We rescued her just in time before the book closed. She was so small she could fit in my coat pocket. Of course, elf babies grow very fast. She says she can’t wait to learn to read like you are.

Thanks for offering to send me some candy canes and chocolate chips. Maybe the best thing for you to do is just leave something on Christmas Eve on the table. I know you won’t be at your house this year for Christmas, but don’t worry; I know exactly where you will be. I’ve already flown over the house where you’ll be sleeping, so Rudolph and the other reindeer know exactly where to go.

I need you to do me a big favor. Please try hard to go to bed when your Mom and Dad tell you to on Christmas Eve. I can’t drop off your presents if you’re still awake, so please go right to bed when your parents ask you to that night. I know it will be hard to do that, and I’d love to stop and chat with you or take you for a ride in the sleigh, but I have lots of presents to drop off at lots of houses, so I won’t really have time to wake you up and have a glass of hot chocolate with you.

I won’t tell you in this letter what I’m bringing, but I will tell you that it’s already loaded onto the sleigh. I saw four elves carrying some packages out to the sleigh early this morning. When I asked if those packages were yours, the elves just giggled and said they couldn’t tell me. I know we were busy making things for you earlier this year, so while I don’t know exactly what went on the sleigh, I do know there are presents already loaded for you. I won’t know exactly what we had room for until Christmas Eve.

Thank you for writing me again this year. Mrs. Claus asked me on Thanksgiving if I had gotten a letter from you. When I did get your letter, I rushed up to the kitchen where Mrs. Claus was making giant Christmas cookies for the elves and me, and I read your letter to her. She remembered the day you were born and how excited we all were up here that you would grow up to believe in me. I hope you’ll always believe in me. You see, Shaylie, those who believe in me and in Christmas magic, even when they’re all grown up, receive special gifts for Christmas that those who stop believing never get. For example, Christmas music will sound better if you always believe; Christmas cookies will always taste better. As long as you believe in me, all of your gifts will be even more special and more fun.

Please remember Mrs. Claus and I love you and think of you often. I must run for now; I need to feed the reindeer before bedtime.

Love and Merry Christmas,

Santa

Dear Santa,
Thank you for the cars, the blue and orange one (I lost the orange one though ... but mommy will find it with me). I would like a big car. A huge one! I like superheroes and cars and I want a big car too. I like wood and a box with tools and screwdrivers ... all of the screwdrivers. My favorite kind of treats are chocolate and suckers and nuts and chocolate chips. And that is how many stuff I want from you Santa. Oh and a scooter.

Love Truman

Dear Truman,

Thank you so much for writing to me again this year. I think about you all the time, and I hoped you’d write me again. My letter is late getting back to you because I got so excited when I saw your letter that I spilled a big mug of hot chocolate all over my computer. It wouldn’t work anymore, so I had to get the elves to build me a new one. I’m sorry this letter is so late.

Mrs. Claus and I love you very much, and we’re so proud of you. You’re growing up so fast. I can’t believe you’re already three. We’re so proud of all the great things you’re doing, and I’m happy you do so much to help your parents.

Truman, I can’t tell you what I’m going to bring this year. I want it to be a surprise, because seeing you when you are surprised is one of the most fun things I can think of. I do know that your presents got loaded onto the sleigh earlier this morning. The elves took your presents and Shaylie’s out at the same time. I think you’re going to really like what I’m bringing this year.

I have to tell you that a few months ago, when it was your birthday, I decided I wanted the elves to have a party. We had your Mom send us her favorite picture of you, and we made sure all the elves got to see it. Then, we got all the cars out of the toy shop, and each elf got to jump inside the cars and drive them around.

They drove the cars all over the toy shop; some of them drove very fast, and others drove very slowly. Just before everyone went to bed, I noticed that one of the elves was missing. We call him Droop-Wobbles because he’s always tripping over his shoelaces and falling down. It seems he figured out how to make one of the cars fly, and he flew it out of the toy shop. I didn’t notice he had gone for quite a while, but then someone asked, “Where’s Droop-Wobbles?” Of course, no one could find him. I went out to the reindeer barn to see whether any of the reindeer wanted to go look for him. Prancer said he would go help look, and we began flying all around Christmastown. You know, Truman, we finally found him. He was flying in a big, red car, and he was driving it on the top of a cloud. It was a bumpy ride, and he was bouncing up and down in the car as he flew it over the clouds.

He didn’t know how late it had gotten, and he felt pretty sad when he realized we had searched and searched for him. We snuggled him and the toy car into the sleigh, and he fell asleep on the way home.

I need you to help me out this Christmas if you will, please. When your Mom and Dad ask you to go to bed on Christmas Eve, please go as quickly as you can. You see, I can’t bring your presents if you’re still awake. I have lots of places to visit and lots of other presents to deliver, so I won’t have time this year to take you for a ride in the sleigh. But I promise I’ll stop by the house where you’ll be sleeping this Christmas Eve. The reindeer and I flew over it a few days ago, so we know right where to go.

Truman, please remember that Mrs. Claus and I love you and think of you all the time. I hope you’ll remember me all year long. As long as you remember me, I’ll be in your memory, too. You see, Truman, when you think happy thoughts about me, it helps the sleigh go faster on Christmas Eve. Your happy thoughts about me help make Christmas magic come true. If you can always remember me and think happy thoughts about me, even when you’re all grown up, your whole life will be happier.

Love and Merry Christmas,

Santa

Dear Santa,
Marilee is such a funny little girl. She makes us laugh all the time. She really loves to play with magnets and baby dolls. Those are her favorites. She also loves bath time and playing in water. She will love anything you make for her and I can't wait until she is old enough to write to you herself because I already know she will LOVE Christmas -- she is already decorating the tree non-stop for us ;)
Have a wonderful Christmas Santa! We love you so much !!

Love,
Marcie and Marilee Noel

Dear Marilee,

I wanted to write a quick note to you to tell you how glad I am that your Mom and Dad believe in me enough to help you write your letter. This is the second letter I’ve received from you, and Mrs. Claus and I were so excited to get it. I’m so sorry my letter to you is a bit late this year. Both Mrs. Claus and I were thrilled to get the letter your Mom wrote for you. I can’t wait until you can write your letters. It will be so fun to hear from you each year, and I hope you’ll write when your brother and sister do.

We have so much fun up here making baby dolls. Sometimes, the elves get so excited about making them that the dolls get filled with Christmas magic and actually come to life and dance all around the toy shop. I wish you could be here to see that happen. It gets pretty noisy when the elves clap and cheer for the dancing dolls.

I do hope you’ll remember to write to me every Christmas. I love the way you re-decorate the Christmas tree, and your happiness is part of what keeps the toy shop and the reindeer barn nice and warm. Mrs. Claus and I love you, and we’re so glad you’re willing to share all the happiness in your heart with your family and with me.

Love and Merry Christmas,

Santa

The UNdecorating of the tree

Anyone with a toddler knows ... decorating a tree is not a one-time process. Even with the lower third of the tree purposely bereft of ornaments and ribbon ... Marilee finds a way to be sneaky.


As soon as I saw her carting the stool to the tree ... I knew it was time to grab the camera. So it starts with the peek back ... to see if I'm watching or not of course.
Apparently there is an ornament just out of reach that she just has to have. So she climbs the stool ... and with her 0ne-year-old balance skills ... she falls right off.
But don't think this will deter her. Marilee is nothing if not STUBBORN. So she's ready to try another route.
Ahhh yes, much better. Something to hold onto now.
Almost there ....

Andddd then I got distracted by an older sibling and missed her sneaky moment in all it's glory. Ha. So if you visit my house and wonder why the ribbon is askew and why the ornaments are clumped at the top ... wonder no longer my friend.

Remembering Christmas

I keep meaning to chronicle our ornament memories, so this year I'm finally doing it (go me!).
Each year Trent and I pick an ornament to remember the year by ... and now, with my Hallmark obsession (thanks Trish!) it is turning into a yearly "Hallmark Date" around the holidays and it's one of my favorite things to look forward too. So, here are some of our memories and moments from the past 6 years:

This is the ornament for 2004. Trent and I went on our honeymoon to Florida and Disneyworld so of course that was the ornament for the year :)
2005 was also an easy ornament, Baby Shaylie was born to our family :) I found this ornament at Swiss Days in Midway before Shaylie was born.
2006 STILL remains ornament-less :( Every single year I try to find a BYU ornament that I like but no.such.luck. I figure I'll have to just make one eventually or something. But that was the year I graduated from school and Trent struck out on his own as an entrepreneur (kind of hard to find an ornament for all that ;)

2007, another easy year :) Baby Tru joined the family. I was having a really hard time finding an ornament that I liked ... but when I saw this whimsical penguin at the Christmas store at Gardner Village I fell in love. When Trent saw it I'm pretty sure he thought it was the most ridiculous baby boy ornament he's ever seen :D I still love it though ... and it's cute and silly just like my cuddly sweet little boy still is :)

2008 was an interesting year. We ended it with a lot of changes for our family and for our businesses. When we saw this ornament we knew it pretty much summed up our philosophy after a long tough year.


In 2009 we had another baby. Yes, someday we'll have to be more creative with our ornament purchases :) Marilee Noel was born and we knew we wanted something that said "Noel" for her middle name (think about it, her name pretty much means "Happy Christmas" :) Well, we waited until right before Christmas and had the hardest time finding any ornaments left! We finally found one last one at Target and thought it was fun and spunky just like Marilee.

2010 we went to Disneyland for the first time as a family. That trip is one of our happiest memories of this year and the pictures are gigantified on our walls :) So when we saw this ornament at Disneyland we couldn't resist :D
2008
Aunt Tricia has started a collection of ornaments for the kids and this is one of Truman's. It is his very favorite ornament of all time (it talks too!) and he LOVES to put it on the tree in it's special spot.



This ornament is just a funny memory. One year for Christmas Trent wanted an air compressor but in the end we decided it was out of our budget .. but lucky me, I saw this ornament at Sears and just HAD to buy it. I was able to tell him, I did in fact get an air compressor for him for Christmas :)
This is Trumans first ornament from Trish .. he calls it Bill, not Bob :)
I've had this ornament since I was a little girl. I don't even remember all the details but we were at some convention or something and I was given this ornament at one of the booths (it's the 7-Up Spot do you remember him?) I felt SO lucky becuase they weren't passing them out to everyone who passed and I think my parents told me it must have been my cute toothy smile that won me the prize ;) Growing up this was my number one favorite ornament to put on the tree each year.
I love being able to take our mementos and make them into an ornament. This is the horseshoe we got at the blacksmith shop in Nauvoo when we went there for halloween with my family one year.
My sister gave this ornament to me ... another memory from our childhood (and yes, it's a Hallmark, can't you tell?! The details! It kills me. I heart Hallmark). Growing up we would spend magical vacations at Koosharem Utah and there was this little red trike at my grandmas house there and I would ride it around and around and earned the nickname "Biker Chick" :) (Dear sisters, we really need some sort of Koosharem ornament on our trees! Thoughts?)
This ornament is not a memory. I just love it. A lot. It's my favorite non-memory ornament on the tree (so that makes it special right?) I adore the sparkles and the lights.
This was Shaylie's first ornament from her Tricia collection. One year she decided she wanted to play with it and she broke off almost all the princes and princesses! I don't know if you can tell, but they've all been hot glued back on ;)
This is another special Shaylie/Tricia ornament. It's Eden Starling from the Barbie Christmas movie.
My dad's first guide dog was Hobbit and he was with us for a long time. Each year at Christmas my dad put his sleigh bells on his harness and he would jingle his way through the city (he made quite a sight on the Metro and walking through downtown D.C. each day to take my dad to work!) When Hobbit passed away my dad retired his bells and we took them and made ornaments with them. We each have a Hobbit bell on our tree with the reminder that "the bell still rings for all those who truly believe ..."
This adorable ornament is another fun memory (it was even cuter when it still had it's large bell on the bottom ... but the tree fell over this year and the bell fell off!). This is from the year when I was able to go back to Hershey Park at Christmas with my family and my own kids. Such a happy memory!
This ornament was a gift to Trent last year. How could I not resist a Reindeer made completely from TOOLS??? Love it.
And in case anyone was wondering what the proper use for a banana hanger is ... here is the pull back of my images :)
This is just a few of my favorite ornaments. We have filler ornaments too, and each year the kids make an ornament to add to the collection. But my favorite ornaments are always those that are tied to a specific memory. When we open the box each year it's like opening a scrapbook of happy thoughts, places and people that we love. Some of my favorite memories from my own childhood were decorating the tree and listening to the stories of the ornaments again (even though we knew them by heart) as we put them on the tree. It's been fun to see my kids appreciate that same tradition as they get old enough to ask me "Mom, where did we get this ornament?!"

Thanksgiving

We had such a fabulous Thanksgiving. We spent the morning baking the pies (a Grasshopper pie that never quite set up -- but it was devoured by small children so I don't think anyone cared, and my favorite apple/cranberry/walnut pie that I overcooked! Go figure ... that's why you don't video chat and bake a pie at the same time!) and watching the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The kids LOVED the parade this year. We also video chatted with my family in Ohio and my sisters and I (minus Alyssa, the snowed-in sister in Rexburg) opened the Christmas gifts to each other. Yes, we opened Christmas gifts on Thanksgiving :) This years theme was ornaments that remind you of your sister so we wanted to open them early so we could enjoy them on our tree for the holiday season. Tricia had me this year and she gave me a medallion I had been drooling over for months (in fact, I was hoping Santa would bring it, but she beat him to it!). So technically my "ornament" was a necklace (with a camera stamp on it that says "Capture Life..." from the Rusted Chain) but Tricia is exceptionally sneaky like that :D
When everyone was ready we headed up to Sandy for dinner at Trent's Uncle Merrill's house. There was a lot of family there and the food was so.good. It even made me a believer of stuffing! The kids couldn't stop eating it either. We're officially giving up chocolate and just eating stuffing instead. After dinner we went back to Lyle and Tina's for the night. Of course Tru and Marilee took an hour and a half to fall asleep! Sheesh, didn't they know mom and dad were waking up at the crack of dawn?! ha. Trent set the alarm for 3:30 (to be at Target at 4 a.m.) but I just could not sleep. I was in that horrible wakeful sleep state alllllll night. It was miserable (this ALWAYS happens to me when I have to be up earlier than normal for something). I heard Tru moan so I moved him back to bed and checked the clock ... and it was already 4 a.m.! The alarm didn't go off! So Trent and I dressed (I was glad to be awake and doing something and not just trying to sleep anymore!) and drove down the street to Target. Just like I thought, we were too late for the external hard drive we wanted, but we still got the other presents that were a screaming deal (and lucky for us, a few days later when the kids were writing up Christmas lists those same gifts were ON THE LIST ... so I am so glad we got them at 40% off when we did! ). Trent was not loving the Target scene very much. The line was Loonnggg -- but it was constantly moving so that was nice --- and he was sore from basketball. By the time we were out of Target Trent was all smiles again ;) haha. I'm not even kidding. We went to Sports Authority and Old Navy next and neither of those stores were busy at all BUT they had GREAT deals for things on our list so Trent perked right up ;) We both picked out a new holiday outfit for ourselves at Old Navy (um, $15 jeans?? Yes, PLEASE) and decided that will be the perfect tradition to end our black friday outings -- new clothes at 50% off ;) haha After shopping we went to Paradise Bakery for breakfast and patted ourselves on the back for getting tons of holiday shopping done for great prices and all before 8 a.m. ;) This was the first year Trent and I went together and I'm soo soo glad he had fun because it's a tradition I enjoy and it's NOT fun going by yourself!
The rest of the day we slept and ate yummy foods and watched Christmas movies. We had a fun holiday treat/movie gift from my sister that was perfect for the day. That weekend we also decorated the house and the tree ... and the tree has been undecorated many times since :)
And here are the pics ... out of order :)



a




(Marilee's breakfast of Whipped Cream while mom baked pies ..)


The pie BEFORE the crumb topping was put on top and BEFORE I cooked it too long. Ha.

The kids

Time to get all the random pics off the comp and onto the blog in one big ol post. So here goes:

Shaylie is WAY into drawing lately. She draws all.the.time (basically since it got cold outside...) she makes books, pictures, loves to copies words out of books and makes up really detailed scenes on the whiteboard.



This particular picture is our family, with her cousin Faith being the girl on the far right. We're standing under a rainbow with rain clouds raining down on us, but it's ok because we're all holding balloons and smiling :)
Marilee is the messiest.eater.alive. She still hasn't figured out silverware, so this is how meal time goes :)


Now that it's winter the kids are into the indoor messes that winter brings. Like playdough

Here is another one of Shay in her usual surroundings -- a dump load of craft paraphernalia on every side for creating her pictures.
Ah yes, Messy Jessee again ...

Marilee LOVES smoothies. All of our kids have devoured smoothies like crazy since they were babies and Marilee is no exception. She will drink a ginormous one the size of a Trent smoothie.

Shaylie is madly in love with school and with her school friends. This pic is from her school halloween party. She talks about her friends and pretends to be a school teacher every day for make believe play time (I'm always her student, either Kelsey or Lisa and she writes on the white board and I have to answer her questions ... if Tru and I don't behave we get frowny faces .. and that makes tru cry!)
Truman is a sneaky kid! He is always sneaking in the fridge and getting things out and making messes with it :) He will hide in the corner and open things or play with things he is not supposed to until he gets caught.

Shaylie LOVES being a big sister. She also loves tattling on her siblings ... but we're working on that :)

Truman and his bf Porter make up the craziest games. But it always involves taking every single thing they find outside (shovels, bikes, toys etc) and clumping them in a big pile and calling it their "house." They'll even use their tools and pretend to build their house. One day they decided to do laundry in their house -- notice the "washing machine" ...and the big pile in the background that makes up their home.







Truman still loves dirt. He'll pick up worms and dig all day.

Marilee has entered the baby stage of pushing things (like baby strollers) and putting things in purses. It makes her seem so grown up (sniffle, sniffle)

The end. And I'm all caught up ... except for what is still on my camera!