twenty fourteen

2014 Thus far has been a pretty good year other than a few hiccups along the way. We have had quite a few changes around here in this family (mostly growing up changes with the kiddies) . We have been doing our best to be better parents and better people in general. On a side note ALL my "projects" pictures disappeared on here and I have been mad about it for a few months now. And also the blog is under construction. Anna needs to help me make it all cool again. 

Jocey: She is seriously the smartest child. So inquisitive, grammatically correct, and can hold a conversation with you for hours if you'd let her. She absolutely LOVES Vivian and is always trying to get huggies and kissies from her. Jocey helps around the house 24/7. Even when she was sick about a month ago, she was throwing up at the toilet and accidentally got some on the floor on her way in and she started crying, asked for a rag so she could clean it up. We had to explain to her several times that it was OK and mommy and daddy would clean it up for her. She is just really sweet and is sooooo ready to start pre-school in the fall.

Vivian: OH my goodness.... This baby is quite the little handful. She is very curious/mischief as I have said many times before. She is absolutely convinced that if she hits, bites or does anything off color that she can make it all better immediately by giving you a kiss. It's a super awesome way to say sorry but, Viv you're old enough to get some time out for these things, all though your offer is pretty tempting. She is extremely mobile and active. She could stay outside all day if she had anything to do with it. She loves Jocey, but is usually the one starting the drama. Vivian is also 18 months and is in nursery now which is awesome! Speaking of 18 months Vivi stopped nursing 2 weeks before she turned 18 months and she is doing great. she still only weighs 18 pounds, but she is a petite little gal. 

Valentines Day with daddy's flowers

They love rocking each other on this chair

Selfies, as always from Jocey. Photo credit: Jocelynn Whittle (while taking a million more with moms phone)

Discovery Park weekends with a little Purple Turtle snack on the way home

Watching cartoons with daddy in the morning

No more nursing's first meal!

Easter

Earlier before the basket hunt on Easter. No big deal.

Happy boo boo at Ginny's house on the swing

Sorry most my posts about these two happen on Instagram these days. We hardly get on Facebook anymore!

4 years old!

Jocelynn Autumn is 4 years old!

Favorite Movie: Cinderella

Favorite Food: Bananas

Best Friend: Sarah

 Jocelynn is VERY talkative and is ahead for talking, understanding and sentence formations. She has an incredible imagination and motherly touch. She is a very hands on child and loves most activities. She is helpful and sweet. We are so happy she is ours! We love you Jocey babe! Happy Birthday!

Family Pictures 2013

This year we had our friend Anna do our pictures and they turned out great!

late 1 year old post!

Vivian Celeste turned 1 on October 15th!

She can walk, say mama, dada, nod yes, say yes, climb, dance, sing, give kisses, hugs, plays with her sissy and many more things!

She really hates being thrown up in the air, being left alone, eating normal food, not having the attention on her etc.

We love her and cannot believe she is 1! Especially since she is still in 6-9 month clothing and weighs 17 pounds!

Tree Skirt

This year via the request of Andrew, I am making stockings and our first tree skirt * we have been married 4 years and this is our first tree skirt, don't judge!*

Here is the site I used for the cut out of the main skirt.

I used a pre-made piping and added super wide red ribbon for the back ties.

Materials:

1.3 yards red chevron fabric

36 inches (at least, this amount only makes a knot)wide red ribbon

5.5 feet pre-packaged Scarlet piping

Scissors

Fray check (for cut ends of ribbon)

Plastic cup for center tree opening measurement

Chalk pencil for half circle

What I did:

1. Made all the cuts as site instructs above

2. Surged all edges of fabric (optional)

3. Pinned and sewed piping along all edges

4. Spaced and sewed on ribbon and fray checked the cut ends

Girl Pascal

For Halloween Jocey is going to be Repunzel! So I thought, " Hey, I want Vivi to be Pascal!" However, I cannot find that costume ANYWHERE. So me, being me, decided to make it. I am super stoked about this costume!

Materials:

Old footie pajama's that were my 11 month old's size

1 yard of Green Fleece

1/4 yard White Fleece (or just enough to make eye balls)

1/4 yard Pink Fleece ( or just enough to make a bow)

1 small sheet of Black Felt for the pupils

Flexible Wire to put in the tail

1/4 " Elastic for the hood

12 inch green zipper

Green thread

Small amount of Batting

You cant really get an almost 1 year old to not take a blurry picture!

Update

Today I was sitting around thinking of all the stuff that has happened this year and it has been packed with lots of things! Let me update you on the past few months.

Andrew: Has gone off all carbonation and caffeinated soda's. He has lost 6 pounds in a month from just doing that! GO ANDREW! Andrew had his 23rd birthday on the 28th of August. I decorated the house and made him breakfast, we also went to the temple and up to the canyon with a few of our friends. It was a pretty great day. He is also in DOA ( Dean of Admissions) training at work this week, which is a huge THUMBS UP! He is almost done with his 3rd quarter this year which means 5 more quarters left and 1 internship before he graduates! We are sooo excited!

Starrie: I am still recovering from surgery, mostly just sore. I can't really work out yet which is a bummer, but I lost 11 pounds! 3-5 of which was the derrmoid, the rest is most likely from my hormones getting back to normal. Other than that I clean and take care of the girls, basically 24/7.

Jocelynn: She is super independent and is becoming more and more helpful as the days go by. She has little chores/favors that she does for me which include, taking the trash upstairs, cleaning up her room, watching sissy (while I'm in the shower), watering and helping weed the/her garden and wiping the bathroom counter top. She also gets on her little stool and helps me cook/stir things. I am thinking of getting her the little kids kitchen helper set, so she can be more involved. She is super smart and knows a lot of church stuff, she has given a few talks and prayers in primary already. If you want to get her to love you, just talk about temples with her. She's got a whole spiel.

Vivian: Totally could walk if she wanted, but she gets too scared and does not trust herself. She is also really independent. Jocelynn taught her how to clean up the toys and Vivi totally does it all the time now! She also thinks that she can just crawl upstairs and play in their room for hours on end without being bothered. She can get bored pretty quickly, so she is starting to occupy herself. Her favorite things are the trash, bowl cupboard, being messy,getting behind the rocking chair and throwing shoes down the stairs. She is so stinking smiley, you can get a smile out of her any time of the day.

Face Mask

Making brownies

Playing in daddy's birthday balloons

Rice cereal is better to play in, then to eat. Sink bath!