Lovely Holiday!

This Christmas has been awesome! We spent it with my brothers and sisters in Salt Lake city and had a grand old time! Having all our kids together was fantastic. Kaitlynn loved it too. This picture is showing what Simon does best....wind kids up to wind them down. Ha. He was doing the music man song and they absolutely LOVED it!!!! What better way to get kids tired on Christmas Eve than dance around doing silly songs. :) Simon really enjoyed it, and I am sure it may become a tradition when it is the Maughan year for Christmas. :)

Kaitlynn, as I said, LOVES being around all her cousins....especially Jae, Leah's little boy. They are about a year apart and just love being with each other! Two peas in a pod. Simon got this picture and it just cracked me up, being mischeivous I am sure at the top of the stairs near the bathroom. I am sure it will only get worse as they get older. :)
And here is a picture of me with Kaitlynn, my not so little girl anymore, and Elizabeth, my brother Ben's oldest. She also loves Kaitlynn and only wants to play with her when we get together. It really has been so good to see the family this weekend. Especially considering my brother only just got Christmas day off since he is one of the newest resident doctors at the hospital. :)
Christmas morning was a BIG shock for Kaitlynn. She loves being around kids, but when it gets crazy and noisy she doesn't know what to do. Even at church in the nursery, she backs off completely when it gets too crazy. This is her shocked look while all the kids are yelling and full of excitment opening their presents. She, on the other hand, refused to even open hers, whereas last year she loved it. Uncle Jesse had to open them for her, and she didn't even get interested in the presents until later in the afternoon when all the kids had calmed down. LOL What a funny girl. I think she has been around too many adults. It will be a good thing when the newest McCarthy comes along. :)
And, as part of our family traditions, I decided to make us matching pajamas....I have been teaching myself how to sew...so this was kind of fun for me. I didn't get Kaitlynn's top done or the hoodies that I was going to make, but it was fun having the pajamas. Simon of course got green ones, it would have been silly for the man of the house to be parading in pink turtle flannel pj's!. LOL mine of course match Kaitlynn's.

And on Christmas day we all met up at Temple Square to see the amazing lights that they display every year. Of course Kaitlynn loved it. All season long when we pass a house with Christmas lights she gets really excited and points them out. So, this was just amazing for her, and Simon loved sharing the moment with her. :) He is such a good dad and takes every care to be involved in what this little girl LOVES. ;)
This is a picture Simon caught, the nativity that was placed on the reflection pool on Temple Square. I thought it was gorgeous, especially with the floating lights. This image is what I think Christmas really is. :)
Me being artsy fartsy capturing the lights. I love how they twinkle. :0) Christmas is so fun!!!

And another of the temple with the fountain and some lights in front. It was just a beautiful night and I am really glad I captured a few serene moments.

These next few pictures are just without explanation. But I have to explain anyway. Kaitlynn absolutely loves her cousin Elise, and these I caught while Elise was just being super silly with her, and Kaitlynn, being the happy girl that she is was just laughing histerically about Elise throwing herself around on the floor. Lately, my little girl has been getting really into laughing (not that she never was into laughing). But, most recently she throws her head back and does the funniest laugh I have ever heard. These too are also the best part of Christmas (as well as the other family pics). Family is so important and I am forever grateful for the family that I have. (my own little clan and my siblings and parents...what a blessing they are to me). I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did!

Thankful

I know Christmas is around the corner, and I guess its kind of crazy.....this year has gone by soooooo fast! Not to mention that this pregnancy that I am currently in is almost over! Where did 9 months go?! Crazy! (well okay, nine months is not over...but close enough). Anyway, thinking about becoming the parent of two kids has been an overwhelming thought in my mind lately. But I have to admit that I am blessed with the first little person that I DO have. Kaitlynn is such a sweet little girl. Even when she has been testing her limits lately, when I get really stern with her and she knows she has done something wrong she will lean forward, kiss me and then stop doing what she is doing, as if to say, "sorry mommy, I didn't mean to make you upset". How can I keep feeling upset at that?! I know she is going to be a great big sister. Even her physical therapist has said how special a girl she is. He is always amazed at how calm and serene and stubborn she is all at the same time. He is used to working with children that just freak out and throw fits, but Kaitlynn doesn't do that. When she is upset she just sits quietly and doesn't continue doing what you want her to do. I know that her quiet determination is going to work out to be a great quality for her in the future, but its hard to deal with it sometimes. LOL

On a funny note, she has figured out that I take pictures of her on my phone and when she has been playing with it she has tried to re-enact doing it by holding the phone out in front of her. LOL She has also enjoyed the camera as well. So, the other day we sat on the stairs for twenty minutes while she got excited about picture taking. These are just a few of the pics that me and my budding...whatever she is going to be....took. LOL She is growing up so fast I can't believe it. I know she gets her good looks from somewhere, but isn't she beautiful?!!! Anyway, I just had to tell everyone how thankful I am for my little family that is growing so fast. Being a mom of two is a little overwhelming, but I am looking forward to it. And thankfully I have a wonderful hubby that is a super supportive dad. I love how he gets involved in raising our little one. And I know this is kind of a lame post, but I had to post it.

Christmas time.....is here!

Kaitlynn is such a funny girl. Just had to post these two things. We just went to our church Christmas party on Saturday and we thought we would make sure that we were there in time for her to meet Santa. Well, we did arrive on time, however, by the time we go up to meet him, Kaitlynn would not sit on his lap. She kept burying her face in Daddy's shirt and trying to get as far away from the guy with the white beard as possible! I was kind of surprised. LOL But she did take a candy cane, of course. LOL It was so cute. And as well, mom caught her playing with one of her presents for Christmas...a BIG stuffed dog. She really loves dogs. You even pretend to bark like a dog and she will start laughing hysterically! So, I was going to put up a video of her playing with it because its hilarious, however, it wouldn't upload. Lame! However, I an't help but smile when you have a little person so excited about something so simple as a stuffed animal right? I love this little girl. Such a stubborn, happy, gentle little thing. She makes me smile everyday! I am so blessed with my little family! So, instead of the video, here are some pictures of her being really excited about some Christmas lights my dad hung over the doll house (just to see her reaction). Her face is worth a million words. LOL

walls up.....

We have been building homes in the wonderful December weather; that is extremely cold days and well....SNOW! We definitely get to dress up, or pile up, one of the two! :) It is very exciting, though, to see how things are progressing on the building site. Our group just got the first set of walls up this last saturday and I think it lifted everyone's spirits alot. Although we have TONS of work ahead of us, our foreman is still pretty happy with how well we are working and how quickly things are progressing! yeah!!! Simon and I will be more excited when our walls go up, but first we have to deal with getting the basement floor poured. It has been too cold for the sub-contractor to accomplish that, so what has to happen is the bearing walls have to be built first, then the upper floor and then the floor will be poured through the basement window wells. Should be interesting to say the least!

It is quite an exciting thing though to take part in the building of homes. We are learning a lot of things about building (not only houses, but about team work and of course getting along with others). I know, sounds so elementary doesn't it?! But its true!!! We are making some good friends though too, I think. We get along with so many of our building buddies....good too since we are going to be neighbors huh?! To say the least, we are definitely looking forward to the time when we can move in. But not jumping ahead, we are enjoying/stressing with the process. (its hard to get the 30 hours required a week, especially now since i am about ready to pop with baby number two!!!). However, I think Simon is feeling very manly with the opportunity to build and do the things that men do to feel so, you know lifting, pounding and all that such stuff. HA. He is so funny, and such a good hubby. Takes care of me all the time. Love him!