Christmas Break

Now that I've unpacked.... cleaned.... and put my head back on straight... I have a chance to blog about our great trip to Utah for Christmas. It has been 3 years since we've been able to spend Christmas with my family in Park City so this year I was especially excited. The Kids and I flew up to Salt Lake City a week and a half before Christmas to play with Grandma and cousins.. Kya, Nate and Tyson. We had a lot of fun.....

First things first... we had to celebrate Grandma's Birthday!!! Happy... Happy Birthday!!!

Ms. Chloe was rarely left alone on the floor but she had so much fun watching all her cousins play... they all were so sweet and gentle with her... A special thanks to all the great grandparents... grandparents... Aunts.. Uncles... Now being home Chloe thinks she deserves the same treatment... Sorry but I don't have 4 or more arms to hold her while dealing with everything else... Thanks for spoiling her!!! :)
Connor loved sledding and playing in the snow with Uncle Eric!!!
All the kids in front of the tree in shirts Grandma Pedersen bought them!

Connor's favorite toy in the Children's Museum in Salt Lake

All the kids took a bath together almost every night in Grandma's tub

Playing with Beautiful grandma in the crusty snow!!
Where's Mommy??? "I don't know" he says.... inside in the warmth!!!!

Connor and his BFF Kya at the sleigh ride... Cold!!!
Cookie trains of course!!

The snow suit Grandma Miller brought for Chloe that she never really got to test out! But cute..

Another shot of Connor's favorite toy at the museum.. with his favorite Sister.. giving her a ride

(A very short Ride...)

Christmas Morning.. the first toy Connor opened.. in his stocking... that's all he played with all day.. nothing topped that "Mac" Truck.. he acutally slept with it that night!

Christmas morning...
Awesome uncle Eric with the Bundled Chloe!

Young Women Cookie Trains

Post By: Michelle Wendelschafer
Last night I went over to the Laura Robinson's home (YW president) and helped the Laurels with our family tradition... Cookie Trains!!! We couldn't find the exact cookies our family normally uses for the trains so we improvised with Graham Crackers... they worked just as well.. They turned out cute.. the girls had fun.. I'm sure if they had more time they would've decorated much more!! It was fun!! Thanks girls for letting me play!!!

This is my family's train from 2000.

Christmas Lights

Last night we decided to go see the Mesa Temple lights. We all got bundled up and went out to see the lights. It was a fun night... Connor enjoyed running around and seeing all the different lights.

"ready to go!!!" as Connor says...

Kiel's brother Marc and his wife Mikia met us there!

The temple was so beautiful

Connor loved seeing all the lights and the nativity!

Little Miss Chloe was so bundled up she couldn't move:)

A Challenge

I have to share my day yesterday... Kiel wasn't able to go to church yesterday... and instead of easily staying home with the kids I took it upon myself as a Challenge to take our 2 kids to church... our 4 month old Chloe and my newly potty trained Connor. All morning I was saying prayers that the kids would be good.. I would have patience and be able to get all I needed to get done. We made it to church on time and I sat them in the 2nd row on the right side.. I figured a easy way to escape the front door in case Connor had to go "potty". Right before the meeting started a good friend and her kids sat with us... Which was a blessing. Connor played with his little friend and Amanda, My friend watched Chloe as I ran Connor to the potty. Connor was great. During Sunday School the nursery leader brought Connor to me.. my first reaction was uh oh.. he had an accident. I came out and she said, "Connor said he needed to go potty." I was amazed... usually I went in to check on him and took him out to use the potty. He did great. He went potty (#2) and went back to nursery! I was able to announce our Christmas party in Relief Society.. Run to the young women and talk to them about an activity I am helping them with this week.. and back in time to hear the lesson!! It was a success... Even though I don't plan on being a single mommy.. at least I know I can do it! We missed Kiel but he was proud that we did so great! I am blessed with such great kids and people in my ward that are so amazing!! Their friendship means so much to me. it turned out to be a good day.

Chloe 4 Months

So I'm going to skip through Thanksgiving a little... I didn't get to take many pictures so I will just say that we had a great thanksgiving. Kiel and I got in the car with the kids and drove up to Las Vegas, Wednesday afternoon. Kiel wasn't able to take much time off of work but we spent Thursday and left Friday afternoon. It was a nice couple of days. It was just nice to relax and catch up with everyone. The food is always delicious!! Connor enjoyed playing with his cousins!! The kids were Amazing in the car.. the TRAFFIC was horrific but we made it home safe and sound!
~
Today Chloe is 4 months old!!! We visited our favorite Dr. Leavitt today and found out that our little girl is doing great! When he walks in the room he always asks... "is she perfect?" and I can honestly say she is! No health issues... she's a very happy and lovable little girl. I shot these pictures in the Dr's office while we were waiting. Kiel and I had a little bet on how much she weighed... we both under guessed... She's 14lbs 10oz!!!! she's in the 75%. I came home to see how big Connor was at her age... 13lbs 8oz... Hooray for Chloe:)

Update...

It seems like this past week and half I have been running around with a million things to do each and Every day. With Having the 2 kids...plus getting things ready for the Ward Christmas Party (I am on the activities committee).. and keeping the house clean has been crazy..Plus I've had a lot of clients wanting their hair done before the holidays. I never feel like I've accomplished everything on my list. It's been nice being this busy... When I hit the pillow.. I'm OUT. So it's been awhile so I thought I would share what's going on...

~

Kiel has been super busy with work due to the holidays and the beautiful weather down here.. a lot of people Barbecuing... so whenever he's home he is past out on the couch or eating one of his 2 meals for the day.. poor guy.. But I am so proud of him. It's been rough with the economy being so slow.. which just means that people are buying the cheaper bread... so he is working much harder for a lot less... which sucks but he has been good about keeping a positive attitude. Love you babe!!

~

Connor has been potty trained for 3ish weeks now and is doing great!!! Yesterday and Today though he's been a little under the weather... and poor guy.. has had some diarrhea so it's been hard for him to run to the potty in time... He gets the saddest look on his face when he doesn't make it in time. But totally understandable... he's doing great. Other than potty training Connor is also getting used to sleeping in his Queen size bed alone... most nights he thinks that when daddy leaves for work around 12am that he is allowed to come and snuggle with mommy. One night I was so tired I never heard him come in... When Chloe woke up i found Connor in Kiel's spot snoring like crazy... I just laughed and kissed him. He's such a cute little guy I can't resist.

~

My Little Miss Chloe... is doing great!!! She has been sleeping through the night this week. Last night she slept from 9:30pm to 6:30am which is Awesome... being only 3.5 months I'm impressed. Connor was a Great sleeper as well. I've been really lucky to have such good little sleepers! She is laughing and smiling like crazy. Also she has figured out how to "talk"... we have our girl talk now and she loves it! She just melts my heart.

Things are good at the Wendelschafer house! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving in Las Vegas tomorrow and Christmas in Park City!!!

Gilbert Day's Parade

I can't believe it's been a year since my family all went with us to the Gilbert Days parade... This year Connor, Chloe and I went with our best buds Michelle and Logan Tucker. The boys enjoyed the parade and seeing all the big trucks and horses!! It was a fun morning!

Chloe's 3 months

I'm a little behind but.. .Chloe is 3 Months!!! She's been doing so great!!! The past 3 nights she has slept from 9 until almost 6am!!! It's been wonderful! I know she loves her big brother Connor.. he makes her smile and giggle but I'm sure she wishes he would leave her alone while she's sleeping:) She's my sweetheart.. she's such a happy baby!

Exciting Changes

Yesterday due to not feeling great and Kiel having a lot of work to do... we skipped out on church. My Mom took the day as a challenge to start my potty training efforts. I was going to start Monday morning but I was so glad I had her help and support. We worked with him a little on Saturday but Sunday morning we were "serious!" Before I lazily crawled out of bed Sunday morning Connor had already had 2 accidents with my mom so when I got downstairs I didn't let her put a pair of underwear on him. He ran around all day with just a tee shirt on. He's been doing really great! Just a couple little accidents on Sunday and today he's done even better! I just hope he doesn't expect to run around naked the rest of his life:)

This is the "potty chart" I made for Connor. He didn't get it at first but the first time he filled up each box with a sticker and the "prize box" came out it clicked!! Now every time we put a sticker up we count how many more we need for a prize. He counts to 10 really well now!

Our 2nd change was moving the queen size bed into Connor's room. Which was my original plan so I'm glad it has worked out. While my Mom was in town Connor enjoyed being spoiled...He got to snuggle with her every night!!! He misses her soo much!!! He's a great sleeper so I wasn't worried but we thought he was ready to have that bed in his room for now on. We moved it up against the wall just in case he rolled over... he would roll onto that built in bench. He loves his room!!! Thanks for all your help Grandma! We love you!!

Miss Chloe's room after we moved out the bed and set up her crib!! She'll be moving in soon enough!!

~*Halloween*~

After my surgery on Thursday I was soo grateful my Mom had flown into town to help... It was rougher than I had predicted... I thought it was amusing.... but the one thing I remember coming out of the anesthesia was asking the nurses over and over again for my mom (Kiel was finishing up at work). I felt like a little kid again asking for my Mommy. But she came in ASAP and helped me get out of the hospital as soon as I was able. Which was my game plan... after surgery I left 3 hours later... I came home and slept for a couple of hours in a quiet home. So Nice!!! Anyways.... Mom did an amazing job taking care of the babies and me!!! We already miss her soo much! Thank you everyone for your love and support! Thank you for keeping me in your prayers. Everything went smoothly! Saturday night I was so sick of being "sick" so all drugged up we went out trick or treating with our best bud Logan! Connor had a blast running from house to house getting candy. After each house he would look up at me and say "More?" It was a fun night. I was barely walking straight but it was nice to be out of the house in the beautiful weather.

Connor and his BFF Logan! He was a Horse and Connor was a Chef

Little Miss Chloe as a Tomato was loving Grandma pushing

her around all night in the stroller.

I love it here in Arizona a lot of the people sit out on their drive ways to hand out candy

it makes it a little easier for the kids!!

Connor loved this house and the HUGE pumpkin and ghosts!!

Ward Halloween Party

Last night we went to our wards' Trunk or Treat Party... Our ward does Carnival Booths, a Chili Cookoff, a costume contest and of course a trunk or treat. I am on the activities committee so it was fun being a part of the process. Our ward is so creative and talented. The Chili's were delicious and some people had AmAzing Costumes!! It was really fun. Connor loved being able to run around and get candy!!! Getting ready to go!!!

My little Chef!

Connor the Chef with Chloe his Tomato!!!

Little Miss Chloe.. the tomato.. all night just wanted to sleep poor girl!!

I think I was one of the only ones that actually decorated our trunk... oh well.. It was fun!