Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Good News!

Happy New Year!

I am looking forward to a new year!

The good news is we can NOT foreclose on a house this year! Been there, done that!

The good news is I can fit my groceries into my trunk AND be a traveling speech therapist, thanks to the new Holman Mystery Machine (more on that later!)

The good news is I finished the oreos and our goals to be healthier can start now! :)

The good news is this year there will be no diapers.

The good news is MBA school will finish sometime in 2012!!!

The good news is we will be rewarded in December 2012 with a trip to DisneyWorld with the entire Tobler clan!!!!!

It's gonna be a good year!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Happy Eight Years to Us!

Eight Years ago today I married my sweetheart.
He is my mellow, goofy, smart, hard-working, handsome other half.
Our first year, we went to London for a ten day honeymoon.
And I graduated from grad school.
Our second year, we went to Hawaii.
Our third year, we became three when Miss M joined the party!

 Our fourth year, my husband made me a true Aggie! 
 Our fifth year, we moved to Utah.
 And Lulu made us a family of four.
 Our sixth year, we moved to Arkansas.

 Our seventh year, we are continuing to work, go to school, grow two beautiful girls, survive house misfortunes, and as my husband says every day, "make our marriage grow".
I love you, W, here's to an eternity more!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

What We Do at Christmas

We went to Garvan Gardens for the first time last year. It is our destination for this evening. We wanted to repeat this fun adventure and see the incredible light display!
Every Christmas, we break out a new puzzle. Some are done in a few hours, this one wasn't done until after new year's. I finally finished it during the snow last January, laaaaaate one night!
We add new ornaments each year. This year's is from Branson.  Big Ben is courtesy of our honeymoon trip to London, EIGHT years ago! We also added a few vintage ornaments from W's grandma. I love them! 
We try to keep up with our advent calendars! We've done well this year and are only a day behind! ;) This is a hand me down from my mother. I loved this  calendar where the bear searches around the house for Christmas. I was so excited when she passed it along to me!
Then on Christmas Eve....
we feed the kids a fun dinner
we re-enact the natvity
we make cookies for Santa 
we get new jammies for Christmas
and then we put the kids to bed
and eat a grown up meal of crab legs, artichokes, shrimp, rolls, seven layer jello and this year... creme brulee! 

Merry Christmas! Enjoy your family's traditions as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ

Monday, December 19, 2011

Blog Christmas Cards

Merry Christmas!

Lu actually sat on Santa's lap (when properly motivated that she needed to make sure Santa knew that she wanted the Blair barbie from Princess Charm School for Christmas!) 
Lu loves chocolate milk. She would drink her weight in it if I let her.
Lu has a smile that crinkles her eyes and lights up the room.
She loves bananas, noodles, crazy bread, chocolate in any form, and cheese!
She recently figured out how to put on shirts and is so excited that she can dress herself completely now!
Lu loves hugs and climbs into bed every morning to snuggle for just a moment before her day begins.
Lu is tender-hearted, she wants to give everyone a hug'n'kiss and gets upset if she doesn't properly get to say goodbye to her "best friend Grandma Mardie". 
Lu loves anything her big sister is doing! 

 Miss M is blazing her way through kindergarten! It is truly magical to watch your child learn to read!
She loves school, and has had good behavior for three straight weeks! This is a big accomplishment that we've been working toward because she has turned out to be quite the talker and gets in trouble for talking with her bff's in school!
Miss M continues to dramatically sing and dance her way through her days!
She loves pizza, popsicles, oranges, grapes, turkey sandwiches, and water!
She loves playing with her friends, and loves giving everyone extra tight squeezes!


My sweet hubby, W has two semesters left in grad school to get his MBA!!!!
There is light at the end of the tunnel!! He continues to work hard and work all the time! 
I continue to work part time. The therapy clinic has gone through a lot of changes this year, and some have been great for our family.  I now take the girls with me three afternoons a week.  It means my cooking has suffered greatly, but I get eight more hours in, without losing any time with my girls. They hang out and play and help while I work.  It's the perfect situation for where we are in life right now.
I just got called to be in the primary presidency in our ward, and I'm excited for the challenge.  

We are very blessed. It's been a busy year, and not without its challenges. Two days after Christmas, W and I will celebrate eight years of marriage. I can't wait to see how our family grows in the next years!

Christmas cards (or more accurately, the stamps to mail them to the many states we've lived in during our married existence plus tons of family) were not in the budget this year.  
I hate skipping cards, because it will greatly decrease the number of cards we get next year (most of my cousins already seem to think that sending it to my mother's house is close enough :) but our card budget went toward giving Christmas to some of my clients' families at work.

We love you all! Merry Christmas!
Much love from,
me, W, Miss M and Lu

Saturday, December 17, 2011

steck the bells...the too tight carol

I love what they think the words to Deck the Halls really are! Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Quality Time with Cousins

Sol loves sitting with Lu as she reads books or plays on my phone. It's pretty cute.
 These three have really enjoyed family dinners of late. It's such a treat when they play and have fun!

Friday, December 9, 2011

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Our tree is up and it's beautiful!
 And it snowed!! In December! And the world didn't shut down, school was NOT canceled and it was beautiful!

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

One short year ago...

I feel like I'm caught up in a whirlwind! I can't quite keep my head above water yet.  It's the end of my three-year period for continuing ed and I'm scrambling.  I'm working extra so when I don't work much during the break it won't hit us as hard. W has finals so he is absolutely no help in the Christmas category until Saturday night.  There are so many events and I'm trying so hard to make it special for my girls. 

Last year, we had a magical Christmas.




Hopefully I'll get it together and it will be just as wonderful this year!!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

the busiest season of the year!
 the most wonderful time of the year!
Christmas!
 I have a mantle to decorate this year! I had my wonderful Willow Tree nativity on the mantle but it was a little colorless.  So I switched it to another spot and threw in some color!
 Made the blocks last year, got the garland after-Christmas-clearance last year, and tied on some dollar ornaments for some color pops and I LOVE it! All I need are some red pillars for the candle holders!
 Next up, the tree is coming this afternoon!!