January 2017

Our January was a bit less exciting than last month, but still busy enough to keep us all exhausted.

Clara has started "reading" to her dollies recently, and it is the cutest thing to listen to.

She has also jumped on the baking train with the rest of the kids. I officially can not make anything by myself anymore. Sometimes it's fun to have helpers...

We celebrated Cole's 6th birthday on January 7th. He was one happy 6-yr-old. He brought blue and green cupcakes to school to share, got a crown from his teacher (which subsequently slid down his face and gave him a paper cut on his nose, if you're wondering why he has that band aid), and got to celebrate with his family.

Cole's big present from Mom and Dad was a Razor Bike. It has gliders on the back wheels and he can make some pretty sick turns around the cul-de-sac down the street. He was also pretty excited about his new legos, shoes, and other presents from family.

Cole specifically requested a cake with green and yellow frosting (green is his new favorite color and yellow is Clara's favorite color). It was not the most attractive cake but he thought it was the bomb. That's all that counts, right? Clara was heartbroken that she didn't get to blow out the candles on Cole's birthday cake. It's a little confusing for a two year old when everyone's birthdays are so close together and she gets to blow out some of the candles but not others. Cole was kind enough to let her blow out the candles after he had blown them out once. He has a soft spot for Clara.

I love the way Cole is smiling at making Clara happy in this picture. It captures his sentiments towards her exactly (well, most of the time).

Cole is still doing karate, and it has been a good thing for him. He struggles with the discipline of listening to his instructor but is getting better, and the physical activity is good for him.

Lexi went shopping with me the other day and just had to get these outfits for her and Clara. She was thrilled to be twins with her baby sister and loves these clothes to death, mostly because she picked them out. I love that these two love each other so much.

More progress on our house! My life has officially been taken over by the process of building, but we really can't complain. Our home is coming along beautifully with minimal hick-ups, and is going to be done early!

This is going to be our front entry.

Our guest room shower. I'm obsessed with the soft gray tiles in here. It's hard to see all the colors in my pictures because there's not any lighting besides windows at this point, but it's a dove gray subway tile with a white accent wall that has a pebbled texture.

Our light fixtures are just starting to go in!

I don't think I'm ever going to 

My dining room ceiling (not totally done yet, but close)

Cabinets are starting to go in!!!!

My kitchen pantry is one of my happy places in this house.

Our flex room. The chevron floor in here is to-die-for.

My sconces to flank our bed. I'm in love!

On the wall opposite the sconces is shiplap painted in a soft metalic gray/silver. It's hard to see in the picture, but stunning.

Our master bathroom. My big freestanding soaker tub is going against this wall.

The skylight in our master bathroom.

Our master shower in progress.

The dutch doors to our gym in the basement. We can still see and hear the littles but don't have to worry about their hands getting stuck in the elliptical or smashed by weights.

Our downstairs laundry in progress.

Cole's room.

There's a secret door in Cole's closet that leads to his special room under the stairs. Whenever we go see the house you can find the kids either playing in here or on the built-in bunk beds in the room next door.

The main hall bathroom in the basement.

Lexi's room (the ceiling is a light purple).

The jack and jill bathroom between Lexi and Clara's room. Not finished yet, but I'm obsessed with the hexagon floor in here.

Clara's room.

My favorite bunch of trees on our property. It makes me happy to look at them. :)

We have had a very mild winter, relatively speaking (it was 61 degrees today - not really missing Phoenix winters right now), but this is one of our trees after a light dusting of snow this past month. When it snows and there is no wind everything looks like it's been covered with powdered sugar or dipped in white chocolate. Just stunning.

December 2016

December was full of birthdays, recitals, programs, Christmas, and more birthdays for us.

Cole has found a new passion for Karate, giving him an opportunity to burn some energy, have fun, and get stronger. His instructors are great with him and he is working hard to learn. (Cole is the one with the white belt.)

Clara absolutely loves the baby Jesus in the Nativity. She loved it so much that she hid it and now we can't find it (hopefully it will turn up when we move in a couple months). We found a replacement for him, but that baby has disappeared many times as well.

The cutest reindeer in town.

Lexi has recently become quite the artist. This is her portrait of Dave.

Cole has picked up reading this year in kindergarten and is working on his writing skills. Even at school Cole is continually asking me for candy.

Snuggling by the warm fire on a cold winter night.

Lexi had a sweet Christmas program at her preschool. This is her singing with her friends.

Lexi has been loving her ballet class. They had a short Christmas performance for us, and as you can tell by her graceful falls and going the opposite direction as everyone else, she was so proud. :)

This month was our first really cold drop in temperature. One Day it was literally 60 degrees outside and we were playing in the backyard in t-shirts, and then overnight the temperature dropped 65 degrees and it was -5 degrees in the morning (but felt like -26 degrees). Yikes! I guess we should get used to the fact that the weather is always changing here. The good thing is it doesn't stay cold for very long. 

The next day was in the 30's and we had a good time going sledding with some friends.

Clara and Cole eating snow.

Dave and I went to an "Ugly Sweater" and "White Elephant Gift" Christmas party with some friends, and Dave won the trophy for the ugliest sweater. His sweater was a lighted unicorn puking candy. I'm not sure how we're ever going to wash it, but it was worth it. :)

In addition to coming home with the trophy, we also came home from the gift exchange with some new goldfish. Meet Goldie, Brownie, and Petunia. Unfortunately Petunia is no longer with us (R.I.P. 1/2/17). Goldie and Brownie seem to be fighters though. They've been with us 2 1/2 weeks and counting.

Happy 32nd birthday to me (December 17th)! I got to sleep in, take a long shower by myself, Dave got me a nice camera so I can document our growing family, and we had strawberry shortcake. I was spoiled!

Clara loved helping me unwrap my camera and all of the accessories.

We had our ward Christmas party that night as well. Lexi was excited to ask Santa for a pink dinosaur and a candy cane, Cole was mad that Santa's beard was fake, and we were just glad that Clara wasn't screaming on his lap. All in all, a good visit with Santa this year!

Lexi turned 4 on December 22nd. Following suit, she wanted a Hello Kitty cake as well.

This is how we decorate our house in December. Christmas trees and birthday streamers.

Lexi's new bike was definitely the hit birthday present!

Between her new jewelry, her Elsa doll, and her bike, Lexi was one happy birthday girl.

Lexi was telling people for months ahead of time that she got to ride on an airplane on her birthday to go visit her Grandma and Grandpa Beutler. She was ecstatic to finally be going.

We made it!

Stan took everyone to Tuacan to see a live nativity presentation and ride the Christmas train. The kids loved it.

We had a belated birthday party with the Beutlers for Lexi on the 23rd as well. She loved having multiple days to celebrate.

Early on the 24th we had a short and sweet nativity reenactment of our own. Jan, James and Melissa graciously played the parts of the wise men, while Kaela was a shepard with Cole, Lexi was Mary, Dave was Joseph, Elsa was baby Jesus, and Clara was a "sleeping sheep". She thought it was so funny to pretend to be sleeping and was cracking up at herself.

Happy Birthday Melissa! Texas Roadhouse and ice cream cake is a Christmas Eve tradition in the Beutler household.

We actually celebrated Lexi's birthday (the 22nd), Melissa's birthday (the 24th), and James' birthday (the 26th) at Texas Roadhouse. Fortunately they all fit on the saddle at the same time. ;-)

Uncle Joe and the kids got matching Christmas Eve jammies, courtesy of Melissa.

Christmas morning! There were lots and lots of presents, and plenty of happy kiddos. We even made it home on the plane with all of our new toys (well, after loosing a few carry on's in the massive Denver airport, and then recovering them about a week later).

Mike's fiance, Holly, was nice enough to get the girls Elsa and Ana dolls. They loved them!

I also got a Christmas haircut from Kaela. Happy day!

The plane ride home was almost as exciting as the ride there. We had some bumpy turbulence, and while I was holding on trying not to throw up Lexi was screaming, "Wahoo! Yeah! This is fun!". We obviously have differing views of what's fun.

After all of the Christmas festivities with Beutlers we came home and had a short visit from my parents as well. The kids absolutely loved their new sleeping bags/cuddle blankets. Almost as much as they love their Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa Beutler gifted the girls a giant Frozen doll house. Thankfully we had my dad to help us put it together. Lexi and Clara loved it!

Dave couldn't resist playing with it a little. ;-)

Lexi and Grandma Blacker using her new EZ-Bake oven, apron, and spatula.

Despite the holidays, there was lots of progress on our house this month. We're getting close!

Dave modeling in our kitchen pantry.

Our septic system going in. It was pretty impressive to watch them.

The outdoor BBQ on our patio.

All of our new doors.