And So It Begins....

Tomorrow is the first day of a brand new year. 2011 was a rocky year and 2010 just flat out sucked. So I am hoping this year will be great!!

In 2011 we:

*Had a very difficult pregnancy

*Had a darling little girl in a very dramatic fashion.

*She is now the most expensive thing we own!! Sunrise Hospital ain't cheap!!

* Said good bye to Nick and Bonnie. They are serving in the Denmark mission.

* Welcomed 3 new nieces into our family. Apparently Bowler's can not make boy offspring!!

Tomorrow starts the beginning of a list of goals I have for myself.

* Losing weight

* Finding more time for Ella and Brent

* Making time for myself

* Send Birthday cards to all my family members. This may be difficult as I don't even know when some of my in laws are!!

* One of my greater ambitions is to finally get the yard I've been campaigning for!! I have been on Brent's case for 2 1/2 years for a yard and I'm getting one this year if I have to kick him out to make a point!!

Yay for 2012!! A brand new year!!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas at the Bowler house hold! Santa was generous. We had Uncle Jeff with us for Christmas morning. It is so fun to have family here. My in laws are out of the country and I wanted to make sure he wasn't left out. He is such a sweetie if there are any single ladies looking! ;)

Ella's giant barbie house from Grandma. She is so excited!

The coveted Princess Tiana. Ella has been asking for her since she first saw her at Costco back in October.

Tiana's new cradle. This also serve Boots and Black Kitty.

A few of my goodies. Ella accidentally broke my string of pearls so Brent replaced them with a new and improved version. It even includes a bracelet and a ring. Gorgeous! The cutest watch ever, diamond studs, my new beautiful running shoes and a pair of the work out capris he got me. If you see that tiny black square by the studs, that is the new Ipod nano. It is made for runners. In the back in my new blow dryer. You may think this isn't a gift type item, but when you buy professional like I do, it makes me feel better to spend so much on a "gift" not just a regular every day thing. I love leopard skin. I have loved it before it was popular and was even considered a little tacky. :) I got a bunch of other awesome stuff, including beautiful new flatware, very sharp chef's knives and a Kindle. Which I LOVE.

Molly even got a cat stocking full of toys and cat nip. She loved her mouse....full of cat nip. She was as high as a kite for hours!

Ella and the Elmo puzzle.

Christmas dinner. The dynamic duo.

Chelsey hiding behind Elise.

We had so much fun! We now have a bunch of new toys and play things to last us a while. Ella has toy over load and a few new out fits to wear. I love Christmas, but I'm excited for a new year. January 1st brings the a fore mentioned diet, organization and serious cleaning. If any of you know me well, you will know that is like Christmas all over again!!

Cuz There's Nothin' Else To Do

I am so excited that Christmas is coming!! I love Christmas!! I am that anal person who gives out goodies the first weekend of December and has her cards shipped at a reasonable time. Now don't give me any credit, I just have a compulsive personality that requires I do this or I might die!! I also organize my cleaning spray alphabetically and make sure the nozzle points in the same direction. It's a sickness!!

My tree is bursting with wrapped presents. I'm not a 'what ever paper I can find-labeled with a sharpie' kind of girl. I like ribbons and bows and tags that coincide with the paper. Ex: Santa paper-Santa tag. Tree paper- tree tag. Like I said, it's a sickness!!

I am so excited but at the same time I hope Christmas never comes, because when Christmas is over the New Year comes. And when the New Year comes, so comes dieting....dum dum DUMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

When I was pregnant with Ella I gained 43 pounds and lost 30 in the hospital. Can you say water retention!!

When I was pregnant with Scarlet I gained 48. Whoops. Bad news? I only lost 18 in the hospital!! What the hell!? Both summer babies. Retained water with both. What the heck happened!! SO now I face the daunting task of shedding 30 pounds!! I know I can do it. I want to do it. But the task is daunting!! I told Brent I wasn't even going to try until January 1st, way back before she was even born!! I could have started earlier...but I didn't want to. I have been eating all the Christmas goodies I want, avoiding the scale, and gearing myself up for what is ahead. I'm also hoping Santa brings me the running shoes I want and some work out clothes. It's pretty bad when I need to lose weight to fit into my gym shorts!! But oh well!! Maybe next time I have a child (in-5-years-no-I'm-not-kidding) I will not establish a no cookie left behind policy!! Whoops again.

It's someone birthday!!

There is a person I owe my life to. I routinely take her for granted. She is many things.

A nurse practitioner

General surgeon

Diagnostician

Nutritionist

Therapist

Cook

Maid

Laundress

Referee

Firefighter

Gardener

Creator

Designer

Artist

Carpenter

Animal wrangler

Painter

Caregiver

Security guard

Inventor

Tailor

My biggest fan

My closest friend

My mom

Happy Birthday Mom!! We don't know how we'd live with out you!!

(Wish I had a picture. But if you think I avoid the camera, this woman is a master!!)

A Fun Day

We found this singing puppy up in the closet. He was a gift from a few years back and I put him up and forgot about him!! He sings and Ella loves to dance and sing with him. Hours of fun!!

We went to the park with our favorite cousins today. Here is Scarlet and Elise, who I like to call, Eliseeeeeeeeeeeee! These two were born exactly one week apart. Doesn't it look like Elise is saying, "Ta-dah!!" Such a cutie!!

A smile!! Scarlet has been smile a lot lately and it is wonderful. Nothing is happier than a smiley baby. It is fun to hear all the weird voices Brent uses to get her to smile for him, and then the cheer of delight when she does!!

Today I am....

Happy. I do not characterize myself as a happy person. I think I am genetically inclined from one side of my family to be perpetually ornery and from the other side border line psychotic. I try to keep an even balance between the two.

Scarlet has been doing very well with sleeping better. I am so deeply grateful. If this was ancient Israel, I would be sacrificing my goat. I won't go into detail. I know how it feels to read blog after blog about how just perfect some one's child is and feel badly that mine won't conform to the normal rules. I would just like to publicly say, I am so grateful she is doing better.

We went to the park today and played with family and friends. Wonderful girls (and guys, thanks Jeff for keeping Brent company!) were there to talk to. Ella ran around happily and dug in the sand.

We went to the library and Ella found a book shaped like a heart. She was so excited.

We got our new head bands in the mail and 2 Christmas cards. I realized I hadn't ordered mine yet and rushed home to order them from Costco. (I.E. I'll be cutting it close this year!)

We ate dinner. Molly proudly brought us a mouse. Right on in to my kitchen! We caught it, threw it out and disinfected everything in sight! We checked to see if Molly was updated on her rabies shots.

I just feel happy. I feel content that I have been blessed and give great thanks. GREAT THANKS.

The Challege Is Over!

The 30 day challenge is over, and I have to say, I'm sad!! I actually had a lot of fun blogging every day. I feel there was only 3 days where the post was lame or I couldn't think of anything. But it was fun having to find something interesting in each day!

Brent and I decided one Christmas tree just wasn't enough, so we decided to get a real one in addition to our fake one. We did NOT remember how bad it sucks to put lights on a tree! Or how hard it is to get it to stay in a stand! Our big one is pre lit. We just stack 3 pieces on top of each other, let the branches down and wa-hla!! This one we had to work for!

As my previous tirades have indicated, Scarlet has NOT been sleeping. At all. Wednesday night as I entered the 2nd hour of rocking her, I just couldn't wait to pee another minute!! I snuck out from under her and left her in the recliner. She stayed half awake for a few more minutes, and then drifted off to sleep. I was unwilling to move her. She stayed asleep for 9 1/2 hours....wait let me rephrase that 9 1/2 hours!! So this is where she has slept the last few days. I sincerely hope I didn't just set down a terrible jinx on my head and she goes back to getting up 3 times a night and not going to bed until 1 am. Because if that happens I'll burn this blog to the ground to counter act it! Let me tell you, less crying baby + more sleep = less stress. Less stress + more sleep = mommy won't have to be medicated and shipped off to the insane asylum!!