2009

It is hard to believe that 2009 has come to an end. 2009 has been a great year for our family. Here our some highlights from this year:

• Sadie finally starting walking at 18 months.


• We moved out of our one bedroom apartment and moved into a three bedroom house.


• I found out I was pregnant and my due date was Christmas Day.


• Curbris got a job at Everest College. It is the school he has been wanting to work at for a long time. He has had a lot of success since moving to Everest and ended the year being #1 on his team.


• Karma is officially potty trained.


• Curbris got called to be Ward Missionary Leader.


• The best thing of 2009 was the birth of our first boy, Xanyae.
  

We are now really forward to the wonderful things 2010 has in store for our family.

Christmas

Each year we are truly blessed when Christmas time comes around and this year we were especially blessed with a baby boy. This year I tried to keep Christmas as simple as possible. Everybody received a few gifts, but our main gift this year was Xanyae.


This year the girls were really ready for Christmas. They loved leaving cookies and kool-aid out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning they were so surprised to see what was under the Christmas tree for them. Than later we went over to grandma and grandpa's house and they were even more surprised that Santa left gifts for them there too. Overall it was a wonderful Christmas, but the best part was spending time with family. This will be our last Christmas together as a family for a while. My brother Lance leaves for the Navy on Jan. 5 and my other brother Jack leaves for his mission in March. It will be sad to see them leave, but it will be great for both of them. I didn't do that great of a job of taking pictures, but I did get a few.
Taking a picture in front of the tree Christmas morning.
Santa left the girls each a new princess barbie and a Snow White dvd.

The girls enjoying the new princess table they got. They especially like that you can write on this table and not get into trouble.

Grandma enjoying holding her only grandson. I think I gave her the best Christmas present this year.
Curbris received a smoker this year for Christmas from my sister. He was really shocked and excited to receive this. I guess we will be smoking a lot of ribs and meat in 2010.

Every year we take a family picture in front of the Christmas tree. We had to take this picture a few times and this was the best one. I love looking back at the pictures we take each Christmas.

Big Sisters!!!

Dear Xanyae,

We love you very much and are happy that you are our little brother. We love to give you kisses and touch you. Mom makes sure that we are gentle with you and helps us hold you. We cant wait until you are older so that we can play more with you.

Love,
Your Big Sisters (Karma & Sadie)

A proud big sister!

A very Happy big sister!!!

Xanyae Phoenix James

Thursday morning I woke up early with painful contractions, so I started timing them. They seemed to be getting closer so I got up and got everybody ready, but than all of a sudden they stopped. I was a little frustrated because I was ready to pop this baby out. My mom decided to come and get the girls anyways. So me and Curbris decided to hit the mall and walk, we also finished up our Christmas shopping. I was still having strong contractions, but they were still to far apart. We ended up going back home so that I could rest. After laying in bed for about an hour the contractions came back really strong and close together. I told Curbris it was time to head to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital I was already 6 cm dilated, so they rolled me into my labor and delivery room. I asked for an epidural and my doctor came in to check on me. I had quickly progressed to 8 cm. They asked me if I still wanted an epidural and I was tempted to say no, but I really wanted a little break from the pain. I got my epidural, rested for a few mins. and than it was time to push. It didn't take me to long to push him out. Xanyae Phoenix James was born at 8:05 p.m. He weighed 7lbs. 14 oz. (a lot smaller than I thought he would be) and was 21.75 inches long. This has been my fasted labor and by far the easiest. Maybe next time I will be brave enough to do the whole thing with no epidural and than again maybe not.
Welcome to the world Xanyae!!

Our perfect little boy!!!

A very excited daddy.

Seriously I hate taking pictures after I delivery a baby, but I know when my kids get older they will like to see these pictures.

Curbris found this doctor's mask in our room and had to take a picture with it on.

I love taking pictures of babies when they are sleeping. They look so cute and peaceful when they sleep.

Me and my new little man.

I was sad that the girls were not allowed to see him the hospital because of the swine flu, so we had to take this picture without them.

What a little cutie!!!

sleeping beauty

Sadie has never been much of a nap taker so at night she usually just gets so tried that she passes out before her bedtime. The past two nights she has fallen asleep in some cute positions.
The first night she fell asleep on the couch. I have no idea why she put her head under the cushion.
She was really knocked out.

The second night she fell asleep on our bed while watching tv with Karma. I really love the pose she fell asleep in.

Diaper Cake

I have never received a diaper cake before, but I have seen them at baby showers I have gone to. One Thursday when Curbris went to work he found this on his desk:

One of his co-worker, Tara, made this cake for us. I thought it was super cute and so nice for her to do that for us.
All of Curbris co-workers signed a card and gave us two $25 gift certificates to the Baby Gap. I am pretty excited to go find him a few things he can wear to church there.

I think now we are pretty set on everything for the baby. Now we are anxiously waiting for him to decide when he wants to come meet us.

Baby Update

It has been a pretty busy week for me. On Monday I went in for my third ultrasound and a non-stress test. It was amazing to see how big the baby has gotten. The reason I had to go in for another ultrasound is because my doctor thinks he is getting to big. Well after the ultrasound tech got all her measurements she told me that he is already 7lbs. 8oz and in the 73 percentile. I still have a little over two weeks until my due date and he is already a little over 7lbs. I really hope he decides to come soon. After the ultrasound I went for a non-stress test. This was the first time I have ever had to get one and honestly I have no idea why I needed one. His heartbeat was great and he was moving and kicking the whole time. After the test was over I was told I had to come back and get the same test done every Monday and Thursday until the baby was born. Honestly I thought the test was pointless, but I want a healthy baby so I will do whatever they tell me to do. On Wednesday I went to my normal doctor appointment. I was really hoping that this time he would tell me that I have at least dilated a little bit. I was a little surprised when he told me that I am already 2 and half cm dilated because last week I hadn't even been dilated. I am really hoping to go into labor sometime this weekend, but the doctor expects to see me again on Wednesday. Yesterday after my doctor appointment I had a lot of strong contractions, but they were still too far apart. Today I went in for another non-stress test. This time the baby was asleep through most of it and really didn't want to be bothered. The nurse tried moving my belly to get him to move or kick, but it didn't help much he wanted to sleep. So she got this thing that vibrates and makes a buzzing sound to wake up the baby. It was pretty funny cause once she put it on my belly he was all over the place, but within a few mins. he was back asleep so they had to do it again. The test was about 25 mins. long and just when were about done that when he finally decided to kick and move. After my test I had more contractions, but by this afternoon I haven't really had any. Everybody keeps telling me to be patient because once he comes everything is going to change. Honestly I don't know care how much things change I am just sick of being pregnant and want to hold him already.

Anxious

Now I only have about 3 weeks left to go and I am getting extremely anxious. I went to the doctor today in hopes that we would tell me that I have started to dilate, but I haven't. I am measuring a little big, so I have to go in for another ultrasound and a stress test. This will be my third ultrasound with this baby. Karma I have two ultrasounds and with Sadie I only had one. I love ultrasounds because I get to see the baby living inside my belly. This will be my first time I ever get a stress test so I have no idea what to expect. It is crazy to think that any day now I could be a mother of three.

Thanksgiving Week!

We had a really busy Thanksgiving week with lots of family and fun. The only thing that I really slacked on was taking pictures. I don't know exactly why I didn't take more pictures I think I was just really preoccupied with other things. Here are a few highlights of our week.

• Monday my cousin Karena and her family came into town. I didn't know they were coming so it was nice surprise when she called me and wanted to come over to our house. We had a great time catching up while the kids played. Our due dates are only two weeks apart, so we had fun talking about our pregnancies and eating a ton of candy. It was a real fun day.
• Tuesday we went to the park with Karena and Jake. The kids had a blast playing on the playground and feeding the ducks. After the park we took the kids to Mc Donalds to eat and play some more. Once we got home we baked some cookies and brownies.
• Wednesday I spent most of the day cleaning to get the house ready for Jamie and Stephanie(my brother in law and sister in law) to arrive. They were driving down from Utah to spend Thanksgiving with us. I also made chicken sopa so they would have something to eat after their long drive. They arrived at our house around 7 p.m., so we all ate and talked a little before going to bed.
• Thursday was Thanksgiving, so I had pies to make for our Thanksgiving dinner. Me and Stephanie made the pies while Curbris prepped the turkeys to be fried. The first turkey he fried cooked a lot faster than he expected so the outside burned, but the turkey still tasted ok. The second turkey he fried got burned to a crisp, he was preoccupied with playing xbox that he didn't check it often so it burned. He was really bummed out that he burned two turkeys. Around 3 we headed over to my aunts house to eat our Thanksgiving dinner. The food was great and it was great to spend time with family. At the end of the day I was wiped out. I am making a mental note to myself to never again be pregnant around the holidays.
• Friday we mainly hanged out at the house. I was sad that I missed going shopping for black friday, but being pregnant made it just to hard. It was nice to spend most of the day resting and relaxing. I was very thankful that Jamie and Stephanie came into town because they kept the girls busy and I didn't really have to worry about them. In the afternoon they took them for a drive because Jamie is looking at going to a school in Glendale. When they got back we went and got something to eat. Than we headed over to my aunts house because my brother Jack had got his mission call, so he was going to read it to the family. He will be going to Bueno Aries, Argentina, I think a lot of us were in shock. I think that he will make a great missionary and I am very proud to be his sister.
• Saturday my grandmother and aunt threw me a baby shower since this is my first boy. I got a lot of great things that I really needed. Later on in the evening we headed to the temple to do a session. I love being in the temple with my family it makes it a lot more special. It was funny during the whole session that baby was moving and kicking I could tell he loved being there too. After the temple we headed to my aunts house to say goodbye to everyone and give Mumphy and Pops there Christmas present. The family had got them tickets to the Donny and Marie show in Vegas.
• Sunday we went to sacrament meeting and after sacrament Jamie and Stephanie left to go back to Utah. We were sad to see them go it was so nice to have them at our house and the girls loved being spoiled by them. After sacrament we headed to my parents ward so that we could be there when they confirmed Jack an elder.

Wow it was a really busy week and by the end of the week we were all wiped out. There are so many wonderful things happening in our family. I am very thankful for such a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will post pictures of our Thanksgiving in a separate post.

34 Weeks

Here is a picture of what I look like at 34 weeks and seriously I look like I am ready to pop. There is no way I think I can make it 6 more weeks. I have been avoiding putting up an updated pic of my belly because I just feel huge. I know in a couple years my son will like to see what I looked liked with him in my belly, so I am posting this for him.
With only 6 weeks left to go I am getting very anxious and nervous. I am not nervous about the labor and delivery, I am nervous about having 3 kids and the oldest only being 3. I know the first few weeks are going to be tough, but I am sure everything will be fine.

I Love Pumpkin!

I really love pumpkin, it is great in cookies, muffins, cakes, pies, soups, pasta............ I have really been craving something with pumpkin so I decided this morning to make some mini pumpkin muffins. I found a really simple recipe that can be used for muffins or cookies. Here is the recipe:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins/Cookies
1 spice cake mix
1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
1 cup of chocolate chips ( I used mini chocolate chips since I was doing mini muffins.)
1 egg (the original recipe doesn't call for an egg but I added one to thin the batter a little)

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together until well blended and all moist. Mix in chocolate chips. Now is where you get to choose. For cookies: drop by the spoonful on cookie sheet sprayed with non stick cooking spray and bake at 350 for 8 to 15 minutes, time depends on how big you make them. For muffins: fill greased or lined muffin tins. Fill the muffin tin full, the batter won't rise that much. Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I got 48 mini muffins from this recipe. I also only cooked the muffins for about 15-20 minutes. I topped the muffins with cream cheese frosting. Here is the recipe:
Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
8 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.
Here are my kitchen helpers. Can u tell Karma just woke up?

Muffins fresh out of the oven. They are good just like this, but even better with cream cheese frosting.

Karma helping me frost the cupcakes, Sadie didn't want to help us.

Here are a few of our finished muffins, some of them have fall sprinkles on them because Karma thought they looked better with sprinkles.

Halloween

This year for Halloween we went to my parent's ward block party and had a blast. We enjoyed lots of yummy food and they had games and a jumping balloon for the kids. After the party we went trick or treating. The girls had a lot of fun trick or treating, they thought some house were a little scary because of the decorations or because they had a dog. Towards the end Sadie was getting tried, but Karma was ready to go for the rest of the night. She was really sad when we told her no more trick or treating. We made away with a lot more candy than I wanted to. It was a really fun Halloween and we are looking forward to next year.

Sadie was supergirl and Karma was Snow White.

Our little princess.

Supergirl to the rescue.

My niece, Hope, was a cat.

The girls and grandpa.

Curbris could not decide on what he wanted to be, but finally he went with being a skeleton or bone daddy is what he called himself. The girls thought he was scary it took them a while to get use to the idea that it was just daddy.

Curbris's Work Halloween Day!

On Wednesday at work, Curbris was having a chili cook off and everybody was suppose to wear there costumes. Halloween is one of Curbris favorite holiday, so he changed his mind a few times on what we wanted to be. He spent more money than I him wanted to and honestly I have no idea exactly what he was planning on being. Well a few days before Wednesday a lady at worked asked him if he would dress up as the Jackson 5 with her and a few other people. He didn't want to say no so he dressed up as a member of the Jackson 5. They even put on a little performance for everyone while they enjoyed chili. Oh and Curbris chili did win first place and yes I helped him make it. Here are a few picture of him and his co-workers.

Halloween Cookies

Last night for Family Home Evening we decorated sugar cookies and were going to crave pumpkins too, but I was too tried. Karma helped me make the dough and frosting, she really has become my little baker. Sadie helped me roll out the dough and cut out the cookies. Once the cookies were ready to bake the girls sat down in front of the oven and watched them bake. They love to watch things bake in the oven. When daddy got home from work we had a small lesson about sharing and than we decorated cookies. I helped Sadie and Curbris helped Karma. It was a fun night.





Sadie and her cookie.
Daddy helping Karma with her cookie.

Sadie enjoying her cookie.

Karma showing off her finished witch cookie.

Here are our finished cookies.