Here are some random pictures that I thought everyone might enjoy. The first is obviously Audrey riding on Carson's shoulders.....so cute! She's getting so big! There's also various ones of Meghan with the girls and a hilarious one of Siobhan when she decided that it would be really fun to wear Audrey's tights on her head like a hat and then sit on the dogs crate. Such a goofy girl!

Santa Clause Ain't Got Nothin on Us! Part 2

Oh the mind of a two year old. For the past couple of days, well since Christmas, Siobhan has become very excited about playing with baby toys. She has actually played more with the toys that Audrey got than her own. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but she has played with them a lot. I called her on it and here's how the conversation played out...

Mommy "Siobhan, how come you don't like to play with your big girl toys that you got for Christmas?"

Siobhan "Audrey Baby farm toy!"

Mommy "Siobhan, you've played with Audrey's toys more than you've played with your own."

Siobhan (In a VERY sarcastic tone) "Ummmm, shopping cart, stroller."

I wish that you all could have heard the conversation because it was hilarious! Seriously though, she loves her presents, she just has a hard time remembering what's hers. She also really enjoys mommy's DVD seasons of House. She calls it Dr. House Show. What a goof!
I mentioned that we had a white Christmas and boy was it beautiful! It literally snowed all day on Christmas. I think that it was still snowing when we went to bed. It also snowed more yesturday which was a lot of fun too.

We went today to buy some camping equipment with some money that we got for Christmas/birthdays. I know, I'm Sue McGuire's daughter and she would be furious with me if she knew. And believe me, I like camping just as much as she did....or rather, I hate it just as much as she did. We decided to get it to beef up our Emergency Preparedness. Carson made me promise that we're going to use it and I'm actually kind of excited to own it. I promised him that we would not pass it on to our children still in the boxes. I thought that was a fair compromise. We got a tent, two sleeping bags, a wind up flashlight and some emegency blankets. We have a long way to go, but we'll get everything we need eventually.

Siobhan got her cast on Wedneday. As soon as I get the pictures downloaded on to the computer, I'll post all about that. For now, here are some more pictures of Christmas.

Quote of the Day

'I.D. badges are long overdue. Security in this office park is a joke. Last year, I came to work with my spud gun in a duffel bag. I sat at my desk all day, with a rifle that shoots potatoes at 60 pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged?' -Dwight K. Schrute

Santa Clause Ain't Got Nothin on Us! Part 1

It is officially that time of year again...Christmas is almost over. :( Please note, there will be a lot of pictures for a couple of reasons. First, we got a lot of cute ones of the kids and second, I haven't put very many on in the first place.

Our Christmas tree turned out beautiful this year and I'm so grateful for a mom and aunt who instilled in the fine art of ornament collecting! I have so many memories attached to all of my ornaments and it was so fun to have Siobhan help decorate and in turn, be able to tell her about them. Everything from the Barbie ones that I collected for so many years, to all of the mice that I inherited after mom died. It will be even more when she understands a little better. She really did do a great job helping me decorate and made sure that she handled everything very gingerly....as all two year olds do, right? Yeah, not so much. But lets just say that nothing broke beyond repair and the bottom two feet of our tree was well covered.

We did a lot of celebrating last weekend when Carson's parents and brother came into town and a few of the present highlights included the Special Addition TMX tickle me Elmo, a really fun tunnel and tent play toy (couldn't think of a better description) and Elmo panties. I couldn't resist the picture. She posed at just the right time. Now, if only she were potty trained......

Santa and relatives were very good to us this year. When Siobhan woke up and we told her that Santa came and brought her presents, she was a little disappointed to find out that he wasn't still at our house. But after a reminder that he had to take presents to other kids, she quickly got over it. More highlights include a doll stroller, a shopping cart, ride on inch worm (which Siobhan refers to as Worm Candys....to her, all worms are gummy worms), Sleeping Beauty jammies and doll, leotards, markers, an Elmo laptop and few other things. Mommy got leg warmers (hello 80's), cute shoes, some clothes, a red colander and few more fun things. Daddy got a few things that he both needed and wanted and Audrey received lots of thing to help her little mind continue to grow.

Siobhan's first experience with her markers was, shall we say, fun. Within minutes, she had red drawn all over cheek, purple on her lips and black up her nose. We got her all cleaned up (thank heavens for washable Crayolas) and within hours she had done it all again!

Audrey also got her first taste of Licorice thanks to Daddy! I couldn't resist taking another picture. I do worry though that by taking the picture, I only encouraged him. But it was adorable.

What a wonderful time of year it is and a wonderful Christmas for the Mitchells! It snowed all day so the scenery could not have been more beautiful...more about that tomorrow. For now, us Elf's need some sleep!

Quote of the Day

'Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!' -George Bailey

How do you keep a two year old from walking?.....

I didn't think that it would ever happen to our child, but we have our first broken bone. I don't know why I never though it would happen, doesn't everyone have to deal with at some point? Anyway, on Friday Siobhan was walking down the stairs and took a nasty spill. When I say nasty, I mean NASTY....the type a stunt man would do in a movie complete with somersaults and bouncing. I was walking right behind her so I witnessed the whole thing. So I immediately scooped her up and gave her loves and cuddles and after a while she went about her way playing and being her normal self...with the exception of a very noticeable limp. I figured maybe a sprained ankle and there would be nothing I could do about it. Well, by Saturday she wouldn't even attempt to walk and would instantly get down to crawl if she needed to go anywhere. No 2 year old would do that if they didn't have to. Then I noticed some odd swelling. So I called a friend who happens to be physical therapist and he said to get her into urgent care as we were getting into the holiday. So I took her Saturday afternoon and we had X-Rays done on her left leg. She thought those were pretty cool and did very well making her foot 'say cheese' while they took the cool pictures. Once they came back, sure enough there was a fracture in both bones in her left shin. Luckily there was no displacement or anything like that, so she won't need surgery. We do however need to go see a pediatric orthopedist after Christmas to have it looked at further and to have it permanently casted. (I didn't even know they had specialists like that). Right now she's in a temporary cast that doesn't slow her down too much. We figured that she would have it off as soon as she figured out that it wasn't too hard to take off. It actually wasn't until we were at church with the help of her friend Lola that she started to take it off. And by the end of the first meeting at church, all the toddlers were scooting around on their bums like Siobhan. Oh well...2 year olds! We're supposed to keep her off her leg for like a month....how do you do that? So long story short, well not really, we won't be going sledding for Christmas. I'll post some pictures as soon as she gets her permanent cast. We're thinking red and then we can draw Elmo on it for her. She'll love it!

Quote of the Day

'How does someone just start drooling? Chase? Were you wearing your short shorts?' -Dr. Gregory House

Finally...

This is our dog Tonks. She's almost six months old but we've had her for about three. Doesn't she look exactly Shammie? She's fun and the kids love her. She's finally lost all of her baby teath and is all potty trained which makes my life easier of course...also means I can focus on potty training Siobhan, which is also going very well.

Tonks is a very good dog and very energetic. A fun addition to our family. I never thought that I would have two young kids and a dog, but I'm glad that I do. She's still getting used to the snow but that's because she's still small enough that when she walks in it, it's up to her tummy. If you're wondering about her name, it's from the Harry Potter book series. There is a female Aurer (dark wizard catcher) named Tonks. We new that he wanted a name from HP, and Hermione just didn't fit. We though of Tonks and new that would be the perfect name!

Quote of the Day

'I suggested we flip a coin, but Angela said she doesn't like to gamble. Of course by saying that, she was gambling that I wouldn't smack her.' -Pam Beesley

Quote of The Day

'I hate...so much...about the things you choose to be.' -Michael Scott

Catch up time....

In-laws were in town this weekend so I haven't had a ton of time to sit down and blog. And my fingers are really cold so typing is actually surprisingly hard right now. I also just found out how to add pics to my blog so I'm excited about that.

Carson's family came into town this weekend for early Christmas. It was actually pretty fun. They bought us a new TV and DVD player for Christmas. We are so excited! The main reason for the visit though was for Siobhan's first dance recital. She's taking combo classes at the studio that I teach at. She did so well in her first performance. She's born to be on the stage. But with as much time as she spends at the studio with me, I really wasn't all that worried. :) She did a wondeful job and had so much fun. I was on stage with her and I think that helped. In the picture, she's the second one from the left.

Not a whole lot more has been going on really. Just getting ready for Christmas. I'm still teaching this week, and then we have two weeks off until the beginning of the year. I got a few complaint regarding one of my classes numbers that have kind of gotten to me though. It was my jazz class that I just barely took over about two months ago. Now you have to understand, I didn't teach at this studio last year, so I'm definitely the newbie and I really don't know anything about what they had been working on last year. Anyway, two parents thought that the dance was 'too easy'. Now, the reason I'm bothered is because they weren't in class with me every week hearing me tell their daughters to do their leap on their left only to have them continually do it on their right. And I'm not going to put a double or triple pirouette when they can barely do a clean single. Why would put things in that they can't do especially for the chrsitmas recital. So I'm bothered by all of that and the fact that these parents have no realistic idea of their kids skill level. So come this January, I'm going to work them and make them quiet down and actually work. Not a mean way by any stretch of the imagination, but I am going to make them knuckle under and learn a ton! Then they'll have nothing to say (theoretically)...maybe they'll say I'm being too hard on them. What's worse?

Quote of the Day

'Would I rather be feared or loved? Um... Easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.' -Michael Scott

Quote of the Day

'He put my stuff in jello again!'-Dwight K. Schrute

P.S.

I know that Meredith would be mad at me if I didn't mention this.....She did a wonderful job customizing my blog for me. Thanks Meredith! I owe ya one!

'Tis the Season....

Well, as usual, Christmas has seemed to sneak up on me again! I actually have my tree up and all of my decorations out...better than I did last year. But I haven't made any 'Special Goodies' (that's a fun name that my family has for christmas cookies and treats, etc.) and the homemade cards are not going to happen this year. Store baught ones it is. My one saving grace, and this is a big one if I do say so myself, is that all of my Christmas shopping is done!!! We actually braved the crowds the day after Thanksgiving and the day after that. Boy does it feel good to have that done. All the presents are wrapped also. Normally I hate wrapping presents, but I was so excited that the shopping was done that I wrapped them all that night. The crowds weren't bad but I mostly attribute that to the fact that it was snowing and freezing cold that day. We live in Colorado though, so I wouldn't expect anthing else. I have to say that I'm very proud of us.

Another big milestone....Siobhan went potty in her little toilet three times over the weekend. We're so proud of her. The first two times we actually didn't even know it happened. We can't believe how big she's getting. She's now taking dance and is loving it. Audrey just keeps getting bigger and bigger. She loves to sit up and practice walking. We're so happy that they are healthy and growing up so well.

First Try

This one is going to be really boring. I'm just trying to get used to the whole thing. More to come!