What's in a Name?

Mom-Mommy, originally mom-eeeeee!
Dad-Daddy
Grandma-bama, uma
Grandpa-papa
Jake-Jay-chee
Hazel-Hay-so
Christian-titchen
Everett-Effit
Grace-Zaysee
Becca-beppa
Sarah-saaa-ah
Jonas-nuss

ALL of us!

Christmas Eve dinner-for more beautiful pictures, visit Irene's blog!

Merry Christmas from the Ho Ho Holmans!

We are having a wonderful time in Arkansas! We hope you're having a fabulous Christmas!

It wouldn't be a Tobler Christmas...

without a tree disaster! :)

notice, there are actually TWO trees here! (one was too small in the big hearth room, so they got a second, but it kept tipping over!!!!)
we had to rip the lights off and make a big mess to clean it up!

This is why we're not sending a holiday card yet!

this is what happened when I tried to get a picture of M in her pretty holiday dress! :)
Luckily, this one turned out a little better! :)

Free?

I was released from my primary calling on Sunday. I'm still weepy about it. I'm so sad to be done. I begged them to keep me until I move, but it was not to be. It's amazing to me how intimidated and scared I was of this calling and now I am so so sad to leave it. I have grown to the love the children in my ward so much.

This calling was very much an answer to my prayers. I was really having trouble with my voice and wishing I could take voice lessons but knowing we couldn't really afford it. Then I was called to be the primary chorister. I lost my voice from pushing it so hard for the first three weeks and then realized that i needed to be singing all week long to make it strong enough to sing loud for the kids every week. It made my voice stronger, it helped me keep my range and I learned some wonderful new songs this year. There is nothing cooler than a group of kids 3-12 singing a cappella "Listen, Listen" with quiet voices. I love it! And I will truly miss these kids.

Would you like some cheese to go with that?

I am soooooooo sick of whining!!!!! I will not disclose who my big whiner(s) is(are). But if it doesn't come to an end soon, well, it ain't gonna be pretty!

I learned something new today...

...M LOVES candy canes! I would have never really thought of that but we got one at our ward party and she pretty much chewed the whole thing up! And I mean chomped! She didn't suck on it daintily. No, she chomped down and crunched the thing to death! I hope her teeth are okay! :)

the Countdown begins!!!

We go home to AR in one week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sister goes home tomorrow night-I wish I could be there that soon but I get to spend two weeks at home so I can't complain. Did I mention that I get to go home in a week?????????????????????????? Did I mention that I'm excited?????????????????

These boots are made for walkin...

Grandma Jan asked if she could get M some snow bibs and boots for playing in the snow. Of course she can! :) She now has some cute purple snow pants that match her coat and cute cute cute new boots!
This morning she insisted on wearing them, even though she was sans clothes :) Here she is in her "ugg-ish" boots! So cute!

thank you thank you

I love comments! I love hearing from all of you! I probably shouldn't get my self esteem from reader's comments, huh! But I seriously love to hear what you think, so keep 'em comin!

I am so bad!

So, my Christmas shopping is all done. So, what do I do? I wander around Target while M is at play group today and find these:
They were on sale. They would literally match everything. They're adorable and comfy. Did I mention they were on sale? In my defense, my black Sunday flats kicked the bucket last year and I haven't bought shoes in forever until this year when I needed to replace a bunch like said black flats that kicked the bucket. I'm not bad, am I? :)

The Nutcracker

I took some AWESOME pics of this display and more than half are now gone! I'm not sure what happened to them but I'm so bummed! My sugar plum fairies, Russian tea dancers, everything, they're gone! Oh well!

Mommy's Little Helper

I made reindeer poo yesterday. Other people call it chex muddy buddies, puppy chow, there are lots of names. Why? I'm not sure now that half of it is already gone! :)M wanted to "help". This is code for, stir once, play in the sink while you work, and lick the spoon!
But she obviously had fun!

Then and Now

Me and my girl
Me and my girl on her first Christmas

And this Christmas

Call me...

Gruffscrooge Rottenfoot

It's my "Grinch" name! M's is Miserlytroll Rottenfoot! :) Love it! :) I got this off a friend's blog-find out yours!

A better day

I had a rough week turn into a good day. It transformed from a week filled with house selling frustration, bad weather, bad traffic, bah humbug, not in the Christmas spirit problems to a lovely day with my two favorite people.

Today, lots of good things happened.
1. We had no traffic or icy, snowy roads all the way downtown so we made it there in 20 minutes.
2. I found a bathroom once we got there JUST in time!
3. We had a lovely lunch at the skyroom on the 12th floor of Macy's (formerly Dayton's) with above 2 favorite people.
4. We saw a WONDERFUL, magical Christmas display at Macy's of the Nutcracker! (more, with pics, on that later)
5. M LOVED the Nutcracker display and asked to go through it again...it wasn't crowded after lunch so we did! And then she asked again, but we said twice was enough! :)
6. "Austenland" by Shannon Hale FINALLY came in at the library! happy reading to me!
7. I made bank in the holiday section of the library! I think I have 12 days of Christmas books! (more on that one later, too!)
8. I got to take my sweetie home with me at 1:45 after our lovely lunch and display (which is good because the lovely lunch gave me a tummy ache)
9. My lovely sweet too-busy-to-do-this-but-did-it-anyway-because-i'm-her-daughter, Mom, sent me three Christmas music mixes in the mail! We got Jake's boogie woogie Christmas, a MoTab Christmas mix, and a BYU Christmas Celebration! thank you, Mom!
10. I belted out the first track of the BYU mix in the car at top volume! It was a Mack Wilberg arrangement of "Angels We have Heard on High" that I sang in my high school choir so I knew every word and note and even remembered the key changes! Gotta love going to high school in Orem, Utah!

a list

Gma Jan requested a list of the "cute things M says right now". so here goes. i may have to add to this one as i remember them later.

syes (yes-i LOVE this one! i admittedly ask her yes/no questions just to hear it!)
want have some
hay-so (Hazel)
on-chiz (oranges)
gee-jis (Jonas)
uppa (up)
mimi (Megan)
want Elmo
wawa (water)
bee-bup (sung to the tune of the clean up song)

she brings me all the pieces to her little people nativity (best purchase ever!) one by one labeling all of them: mommy, daddy, jizus (Jesus), and all of the animals are cows!

when i telll her it's time to shower, she runs for her towel and waits expectantly at the top of the stairs saying "towel?" over and over and over until i get there.

right now she's walking around the living room singing to herself. i swear, she can't get any cuter!

Sorry!

sorry about the crazy green background where you it hurt your eyes to read it for a few days! I was having technical difficulties! hopefully this looks better!!!

A Showing!!!

We have someone coming to see our house today! Of course, it's interrupting Miss M's nap, but who cares! Someone's slightly interested in my humble abode!!! I am now a sweaty mess because I came home from shopping to do the last minute (ha! it took an hour!) stuff like vacuuming and dusting and picking up the last minute junk. Pray this is the start of finding someone to love our house as much as we have...even if it's not these people!

ni-night!

Mom had folded a bunch of towels. M decided to make "beds" out of them. She couldn't quite get warm though! :)

More Pics

First, the lovely picture that is my banner that T helped me create! Thank you, T!!!! She taught me how to use Photoshop and I am soooo addicted now!!!

Saturday night we had dutch oven dinners! We had yummy spare ribs, apricot-pineapple chicken, yummy cheesy bacony potatoes, and cherry cobbler! So good!!!


The girls actually playing together :) with Mom's "kid-friendly" nativity.

Sam had so much fun playing with his nieces and nephews. The last night, Sam took the girls and watched a movie with them. It was so cute. They sat on the couch with him. They all had to have their own blankets. They both wanted to be like Sam.

I should so be asleep right now!

But I'm too wound up! We just got home at 10:30 and after all day in the car, I have the wiggles and my mind is racing! Argh!! My body is so tired but I can't sleep! We had a fun trip home. A few things we learned though:

1. Those behind-the-headrest DVD players? Totally worth the money! We borrowed one from my parents to help entertain the little one and two showings each of Sesame Street Carol, Muppets Christmas Carol, and Toy Story later, we are sooooo glad we took my Mom up on her offer! It was so nice to keep her entertained!

2. Wipes can still entertain M the longest out of any toy. Sadly, enough, she played longer with the wipes than anything else today. Not a bad thing, but it IS very versatile! :) It washes, it plays peekaboo, it's even kind of like a blanket!

3. Four clementines in one day WILL give you diaper rash!

4. I LOVE my bed! Now, if only my mind would slow down so i can rest in my beautiful bed!

5. I had a wonderful package waiting for me and M! Our little people nativity has arrived! yay!

The Giant Jam Sandwich

Our family loved this book when we were growing up.
Apparently, it was originally just Jake and Joe's book. I had to put my mark on it, though!

Cute kids!

Don't Worry, Grace...

Thanksgiving really wasn't that special...

Everybody Loves Elmo!

After dinner last night, M begged W for "Elmo!" on the computer! Soon, all the kids wanted to sit and watch with her!

M&H Reunited

We got to AR this morning! We made amazing time! We love our new car-it gets such great gas mileage that we stopped less for gas and got here faster! We relaxed this morning and then T&H came over. H is 17 months old and thinks that Grandma and Grandpa's house is hers and all their toys are hers! So we knew it might be traumatic for her to share her "stuff". For the first little while, every time M would pick up a toy, H would start crying! Big, crocodile tears! So Grandma brought down some toys that had been in the attic so no one had played with them. It worked like a charm! Since they weren't anyone's territory, everyone had fun with them!
M and her cousins J and H having fun on the stairs! (M is the only one allowed on the stairs, by the way!)
Uncle Sam has an old Elmo from when he was little! M was sooooo excited and had fun playing with him. We also discovered that the other cousins like Elmo too! She was so crazy though! She'd throw Elmo on the floor and then pick him up and talk about how he was sad and got hurt. Um, yeah!

Want Have Some

It's my favorite thing that M says right now. It's pretty dang cute, if you ask me. It can be modified if needed as well. Instead of "want have some" it can be "want have book" or "want have some cheese" or whatever suits her needs.

I have discovered that 21 months is quite an age! It's quite exasperating and quite a bit of fun!
Hiiiiiii!!!!!

With our tub out of commission, she's been taking showers with me. When I tell her it's time for a bath, she runs for her towel, so excited that she gets to shower!

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!

(translated) Here comes the lion!

WE WENT TO THE LION KING MUSICAL LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!! (this is me shouting from the roof top with my arms wide open, I'm so excited!!) IT WAS AWESOME!!! It was everything that I've imagined and heard and hoped it would be! I begged my husband for tickets for my birthday and so last night was my birthday all over again and it was AMAZING!!! I drove downtown to meet W, we had dinner at the Oak Grill at Macy's with yummy yummy food, walked around downtown and went to the show. It's so pitiful but it made me cry. I had been so excited to see it for months, the anticipation had been building and I was so excited! The costumes are outstanding!!! The music was wonderful!!! The sets and scenes were awesome!!! I can't stop smiling when I think about the wonderful night we had last night! The creativity that went into designing the costumes is absolutely brilliant! Go if you have the chance!!! I'm so glad I did!!!!

Um....

THIS is why I'm not in college anymore. I love my sister. She is soooo taking away my photobucket privileges.

And why doesn't my house look like this all the time again????

Okay, so I have been working my tail off all week and weekend long to clean and declutter our house for pictures today and hopefully a buyer tomorrow! (Oh, I wish!) It's one of those things that I think-it really should be like this all the time! If only I were more disciplined! I read recently that it's a lot easier to pray when you're in a crisis. I'm feeling it! It's so easy to pray and read my scriptures when I KNOW I really need blessings right now! And it's easier to keep my house clean when I KNOW I need it to look good in case someone ever wants to come see it! :)

Since last Thursday when the realtor came over and looked at our cluttery house (the clutter is going to kill me!!!) I have (meaning we-W has been a trooper at helping me...M? Not so much! :):
-sanded, spackled, and dismantled the bathroom for painting
-painted the bathroom
-hung towel rods (thank you mom!!)
-reassembled the bathroom
-cleaned out my bedside table and cleared clutter off the top of it, my dresser and W's dresser
-cleared out piles that lurked in the corners of our bedroom
-decluttered the office
-moved the queen bed out of the office and into the garage (anyone want a queen size bed??) and moved the twin bed from the den into the office
-cleaned and cleared off the desk
-filed 10 months of paid bills and other "papers"
-decluttered the kitchen
-cleaned grime off the appliances in said kitchen
-once again cleared out the piles in the corners
-boxed up extra books in M's room, the office and living room to make the bookshelves not completely full (I still don't understand what's wrong with full bookshelves)
-cleared off the hope chest and writing desk surfaces
-vacuumed, swept and mopped from top to bottom!
-dusted from top to bottom!
-boxed up all our games :( I left out a few card games-if you know us, boxing up the games was a sad day
-boxed up all my scrapbook, craft, sewing stuff
-moved the couch in the den, moved the craft table in the den
-took out the sewing table, keyboard, sewing machine, blankets, scrapbook, craft STUFF from the den
-filled up the Suzuki with good will "crap"
-threw away/recycled TONS of papers and junk

There's more but I'm tired. :)

The Word on My Street

I recently read Eat Pray Love. I liked it for the most part. There was some swearing in the beginning and then I thought it was gone and a few more things reappeared in the end. I enjoyed her writing style and I liked the idea of her journey. One of my favorite parts was when she was in Rome and talked about "the word on the street". Her friend described it as every city and every person having "a word on the street". I've been thinking ever since what the word on MY street is. I'm still not sure.

Today it is FRAZZLED! That's the word today. We have the realtor coming on Wednesday to take pictures of the inside of the house and I'm NOT ready!!!! I'll get there though! Wish me luck! (but my visits to blogdom may be less frequent)

Our beautiful tile...

that now someone ELSE gets to enjoy! This project was supposed to be so our bathroom would be nicer. I was going to redo the whole bathroom slowly and economically. Now, it's a selling point...hopefully! :)
our lifesaver, Jason!
this is W's job-he's the best tile cheerleader we've ever seen! :) He's learned a ton and honestly, the tub is only big enough from one tiler!

W and I have said over and over, "Let's have Jason and his family over for dinner" but we are such poor slackers that we never did. Now they're moving to Duluth and we're moving to Utah. So readers, this is your official inspiration to not miss out on great friendships while you still can!!!! At least it was fun to have him around for a while last month-we can't thank him enough!!!!

Thankful

Today, I'm thankful for quiet answering machines! My mind is going a mile a minute! I have so much to do, no time, a crazy toddler who undoes whatever I do (anyone want to babysit??? :) and I can't tell you how relieved I am when I get home and there are no messages! I can just keep going on my own agenda! I love it! I love love love it!!! Don't get me wrong, I love hearing from people too but it's nice to just keep going!!

YES!

the rumors are true! We are moving to Utah! I'm so surprised. I never thought I'd move back there but we are excited and ready for a new adventure! Will has been promoted (go sweetie!) within his same company, Integra Telecom, and they currently need a supervisor in Salt Lake City so here we come! He's excited and ready to go but it's taken me a little while to come to terms with it. I spent the summer really praying for and working hard at making friends in my ward. Now that I feel like I've done that, I have now had to tell them all that I'm leaving.

Will starts his new position on January 2nd. We're meeting with a realtor tonight who we will hopefully like. I found him on the internet, searching for one of his colleages who recently sold a house up the street from us. So, we're hoping we like this guy and if we don't, we'll move on and keep searching for someone...quick! We know a lot of people who recommend their realtor who helped them BUY their house but have no input on whether they're good at SELLing a house and we need to sell it quick! In the slowest market in twenty years! So pray for our little house! and our patience!!! :) If I don't have a job by then or the house isn't sold, I'll stay behind for the time being. We're hoping not too long but we'll see. Will is going to live with my grandparents in the meantime.

Anyway, it's a great opportunity and I'm ecstatic to be near some of my family again (yay, Gracie!) but it's of course also bittersweet.

Welcome Home!

Welcome home, Grandma Jan! We had a nice weekend at the Holman's. M was more fascinated with my toy than her own that night! Apparently, she loves music boxes! She sat entranced forever and then got upset when we said it was time for bed....until she got a bedtime story from Grandpa and Dad. She loves being read to still which I love. She studies the pages so intently and will laugh up at Dad or Grandpa when there's something funny or comment to them, in complete gibberish. It's so cute.She wore her new Holland shirt the whole next day!

Football!

M's obsession with football continues! W and some elders in our ward gathered on Saturday morning for some very cold but fun football. They were just at the park around the corner from our house. M flipped out when her Dad left! She was soooo annoyed that he wasn't taking her with him. So I bundled her up and we went to watch some frosty football. She even cried when I took her home! silly girl!

ps- Daddy's the one wearing the green hat