Happy New Year!!!

Jeramie and I are letting Amy stay up and celebrate with us.  In reality, it is more of an experiment to see just how long she can go.  We have bets...this is fun.

Amy is really trying to stay awake.  She is getting pretty loopy, though.  She has been super excited about this "party" since we asked her about it yesterday.  She wanted to decorate, she wanted party hats, she wanted snacks.  This morning she saw a mini cartoon on the Disney channel about making kabobs, and she insisted we do that for our party.  So while shopping today, we picked up some pepperoni and cheese, and she worked hard putting them together.  She said over and over that she is a "good kabob cooker." :)

I had to tell her a few times that we had to wait until night time for our party.  While I was making Meggie's nigh-night bottle, Amy ran in and excitedly asked, "is our party now?!?!?!?"  I told her is was, and she darted to the fridge, and had her mouth full of cheese before I could tell her otherwise.  

Happy New Year from the Chatfield girls!!

Making kabobs

The proud chef

Mama and Amy celebrating the New Year

(tired eyes...from both of us)

I can't win- either she smiles and her eyes are closed, or her eyes are open with no smile.

P.S.  It's about 8:45 now, and she is fast asleep.

Happy New Year!

2012 in Review

What a great year!!  I am still in shock that one whole year has already passed by, and our sweet little girls are a year older.  It seems like when you are young it takes forever for the holidays and Christmas to come, but as an adult you blink, and they're here; then you blink again, and they're gone.  I wish I could find the pause button so I can slow things down a bit, and hold on to my babies little while longer. :)

Simply said, 2012 has been wonderful.  And while I am sad to see it end, I am so excited to see what the new year has in store for our family.

January
- We welcomed Megan Amelia to our little family!!!  Amy is a great big sister, and helps take care of Meggie.
- The rest of January is pretty much a blur...a sleepless, and spit-up covered blur. :)

February
- Mommy turned 28.  Amy, the resident decorator, helped make a birthday cake and decorate.
- The house slowly started getting used to the new "normal" that is having two little kids.  We started venturing outside, and Amy really got into her art (new ways to color and use glue).
- Meggie smiles.

March
- Our blog hit 500 posts!!!  It was a very big day for me. :)
- Amy got a wonderful present from daddy; a new play house for her backyard!!
- Spring arrives, and Amy starts having picnic lunches outside.
- Amy and mommy grow seeds in the house to practice for our big garden.
- Meg moves to sitting in the highchair.
- Mommy goes to a big Utah job fair.

April
- Our seeds start sprouting.
- Easter fun in the house (broccoli hidden in plastic eggs...so much fun).
- Lots of home improvement projects (kitchen back-splash, new counter tops).

May
- Amy and I break ground on our backyard garden!!  We are both very excited.
- Aunt Kelly and Eric come to visit us!!!  We love, love, love them, and are so happy to spend time with them.
- While Kelly and Eric are here we visit Salt Lake City, Park City, and go to Lagoon.
- Jeramie buys me the best gift ever...a brand new mini-van!!!  Super safe with tons of room.  The girls and I love our sweet new ride.

June
- Garden stuff starts growing!!!
- We head to Park City as a family to attend the Children's Fair.  So much fun!!
- Jeramie and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary.  Love my guy!!
- Amy starts her first round of swimming lessons.  We are so proud of our little mermaid. :)
- Amy participates in the nation wide "World's Biggest Swim Lesson."
- Daddy's 34th birthday!!  More decorations, more cake. :)
- Mommy gets hired to teach 1st grade at Mountain View Elementary School in Layton!!!!

July
- Round 2 of Amy's swim lessons.
- Excellent 4th of July parade and festivities around North Ogden.
- Uncle Seth, Aunt Ashley, Emily and Melanie come to visit!!!  We are so happy they are here!!!
- Meggie turns 6 months old!  Growing and changing too fast.
- THANK THE LORD!!!!  AMY IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!
- I learn how to change a flat tire...not the best way to spend an afternoon.
- Mommy starts setting up her new classroom.
- We head to Bear Lake for a fun day at the lake.  We eat ice cream...lots and lots of ice cream. :)
- Amy May turns 3 years old!!  We celebrate the entire day with Kangaroo Zoo, lunch at Chick-Fil-A (or Chick-A-Lay if you are Amy), and a party with ska-betti (spaghetti) and pink cupcakes at home.

August
- Jerm has time off of work.  He hikes Bald Mountain, and goes to Wendover, and we take family trips to Mirror Lake, the Provo Falls, and Thanksgiving Point.
- Meg starts taking a bottle and stops nursing in protest.
- The girls start daycare as we all get ready to transition back into a work and school routine.
- Meg is crawling now.

September
- North Ogden gets hail.  Amy thinks its snow, and gets very excited.
- Meg starts feeding herself and holding her own bottle.
- School is in full swing for me and the girls.

October
- Meg starts pulling herself up to furniture.
- The girls and I continue the tradition, and go to the pumpkin patch while daddy is in Oxford, Mississippi for an Aggie game.
- Amy gets her first haircut!!
- It snows.
- Halloween is a lot of fun this year.  Amy is Cinderella and Megan is a zebra.  Amy got to pick out Meg's costume.  She did a great job.

November
- Jeramie has to go to New York for work after Hurricane Sandy hits.  He is gone about nine days, and we miss him a lot.
- Meggie is super close to walking, and is taking a few brave steps here and there.
- Another perfect Thanksgiving made by Jeramie.
- Old blog goes defunct.  Mommy turns it into a book, and starts a new blog.

December
- Holiday festivities start around the house; decorating, Christmas songs, Christmas movies, etc.  Luckily, Amy loves Christmas as much as I do.
- Butters (our Elf on a Shelf) returns.  Be good Amy!! :)
- Meggie starts walking full time.
- The Chatfield family enjoys a wonderful Christmas together.

Wow!  After writing all of that, I am honestly kind of surprised.  I had no idea we did so much...and those were just the highlights.  It's funny to think that I went from not working to working, and we added a whole new human to the group.

 Above all, I love our family, and am so thankful for all that we have and get to do.  I am a very lucky mama.

The Chatfield Family wishes you and your family a wonderful, safe, healthy, and happy new year!!!

Our funny girls...

Jeramie bought Amy a huge, super soft A&M t-shirt; she loves wearing it to bed.

Meggie loves her daddy, and will stand at the back door and watch him while he shovels.

Funny Meggie Fact- Meggie ALWAYS takes her left sock off.  Always.

Snow Day

It has been snowing all day today.  We have been busy inside: I took down all of the Christmas stuff (inside and out), shoveled the driveway (totally pointless), did a load of wash (and folded...which is a big deal), and managed to keep the kiddies somewhat entertained.  Amy has been out twice so far- once with the big kids in the front yard (sledding, so much fun), and once with Meg and me.  Here are a few pictures from our adventure...

Seriously, Mom?

Say cheese!

And again...

This is ridiculous...

My sweet girl!

Well, I don't know about you, but I am clearly having a fantastic time.

Goofy girl!

We are loving this day of winter weather!!

Christmas 2012

The Chatfield Family had a wonderful Christmas!  Amy and Meg were spoiled, and spent the entire day playing, and Jeramie made an amazing dinner (as usual).  I took care of dessert, baking a wide variety of Christmas cookies for us to snack on.

Here are pictures from the day...

The presents

We didn't put up a tree this year because of Megan, so we got that tiny one at Hobby Lobby

Stockings

First glimpse of the stockings and presents

Meggie is more interested in Amy's stocking than her own

A note from Santa and Butters

The mess

The girls playing

Dr. Amy

New favorite shirt

Pirate Captain Amy

The girls playing with their new things

Meggie eating her breakfast

Christmas breakfast

And a few videos...

Christmas 1
Christmas 2
Christmas 3
Christmas 4
Christmas 5
Christmas 6
Christmas 7

T'was the day before Christmas...

The girls and I were home today.  Daddy had to work. :(  We got to sleep in a bit, and then spent the day doing fun pre-Christmas things.  We made fudge and almond clusters; I also helped Amy make Reindeer Food.  When daddy got home I took Amy outside, and we poured the Reindeer Food on the lawn. 

Butters and his posse.

Amy helping wrap daddies Christmas present.  

Quote that sums up the experience- "Just one more bow."

Making some Reindeer Food.

Betti training Meggie.  She is so happy she has another kid in the house to feed her. :)

Megan at 11 months

Our sweet little Meggie is 11 months old today!!  Amy and I started looking at cakes today at Costco to get ideas for Meg's birthday.  Amy thinks Meg would like a cake with a rainbow on it.

Meg is doing awesome.  She eats all kinds of foods- she really loves bananas, yogurt, and crackers.  She is having a hard time with teething, but I don't know too many babies who don't.  She takes one long nap a day (from 11 to 1), and a shorter one in the evening.  She goes to bed at 7 each night, and is up around 5:30 in the morning to eat.  On weekends she will go back to bed until about 7:30.

The most exciting thing going on with Meg these days is her walking.  In the past three days she has stopped crawling, and is only walking.  She can even get up from the middle of the floor.  Her balance has gotten really good to.  Sometimes she looks like she is going to fall, then she squats down, and slowly lift herself back up to a stand.

I think the biggest surprise has been just how much the girls love each other.  Amy lets Megan play with pretty much anything she wants in her room.  Megan loves following her big sister around.  When Amy plays outside, Meg will go to the window and wave to her.  Amy will go to the window and talk to her.  They both love it.

That's another thing- Meggie loves to wave and mimic talking.  She will babble a "hi" and "bye bye" as she waves.  She also likes to say "uh oh" when she throws drops something.

We don't go in for a check up for another month, but Meg is definitely following in her big sisters big footsteps.  She is wearing a size 3 diaper, and 18 month clothing fits her the best.

We love you Megan!!!

Pictures from the week

Here are a couple pictures from our week.  Amy was home most of the week with tummy troubles.  Luckily by the end of the week, she was back to 100%.

During the week Amy had her big pink blanket in the living room.  Of course, Betti acted on Finders/Keepers as soon as she left the room.  Amy was a good sport, and gave Betti some stuffed animal friends to keep her company.

Amy got a new hat this weekend.  She loves it so much, she wears it everywhere.

The girls heading to Amy's room to play.