Avid Reader

Jeff's absolute favorite book as a child was Where the Wild Things Are so he thought he'd read it to Corbin a few weeks ago since Corbin absolutely loves books.

Well, maybe he's not quite old enough for this one yet because he turned in to quite a wild thing himself as Jeff read the story...

...he eventually wiggled his way off of Jeff's lap and free from the scary story about monsters in a jungle that used to be your room. Someday I'm sure he'll love it, but for now...

... he is all about Baby Einstein books and P.D. Eastman's Go Dog Go, which we read at least 2-3 times DAILY!

Christmas 2007

Here's a recap of our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. We enjoyed our traditional Mexican dinner at my parent's with our traditional homemade Larson salsa that I especially craved this year. Ione & Papa were there (my mom's parents) which made it special... and of course we walked around the Nopal infamous Christmas lights busy cul-de-sac. Corbin loved it every week in December! Corbin had so much fun with his cousins he fell asleep in the car on his way home before he could set out the cookies and eggnog for Santa. Jeff & I enjoyed the early bed time though. =) We also enjoyed our first Christmas morning alone at our own house with Corbin. He was over the bows this year and LOVED ripping wrapping paper. He could have been happy with just 1 toy this year and we think he was a little overwhelmed with it all. He opened 1 thing and just wanted to play with that instead of moving on for more. Jeff got new clothes and shoes and the TV, DVD's and he was so sweet to give me the brand new model Bosch Universal Plus Mixer! I absolutely love it. After presents he made us homemade pancakes and we then enjoyed nap time before visiting more family. We had Turkey dinner at the Wride's (my sister's) and then ALL my siblings came over that night for homemade crepes (in my Bosch) with all the Swedish fixings (Swedish heritage) and our sibling gift exchange. It was a great day, but we were worn out!

3rd Annual White Elephant Party

More Early Gifts

Our Christmas gift opening started a little early this year... with permission! We spent Thanksgiving in Utah and so we were loaded down with gifts from Jeff's parents upon our return and they told us there were 2 gifts (1 for the boys and 1 for Holly) to open early so we can enjoy them for the Holiday season.
Jeff and Corbin got an Orvis Classic Rail Train complete with 8 feet of track, a whistle, and smoke capabilities. It was Corbin's new favorite thing this year and every morning he wakes up and says choo-choo! He then demands to watch Polar Express, his new favorite movie.... but he really only watches 3 or 4 of his favorite scenes: "All Aboard", "Hot Chocolate", "Caribou Crossing", and when Santa finally arrives.

As far as the train, it ran around our tree for a few weeks before the batteries eventually died and we decided not to replace them for parental sanity reasons. It was great entertainment while it lasted and every child that came over in the last 3 weeks thoroughly enjoyed it.

Corbin didn't quite understand the concept at first and actually wanted to ride on the train like he did at his friend Hayden Thomas' house... (on a much bigger Thomas train built to ride on). It was pretty cute though to watch him chug and whistle as he pretended to be on board.

As for my gift, it kept in theme with the Polar Express... it's a "Believe" wooden word for Christmas decor that we put right next to one of our Santa's and our baby Jesus. Corbin certainly believes this year and we hope to keep it that way for some time.

As for Jeff.... well he tried to get his hands on 1 of those 50" Vizio Flastscreen Plasma 1080pi TV's from Costco on the day after Thanksgiving sale while we were in Utah but the TV's went so fast that he was too late to snag one. BUT... we were at Walmart 2 weeks ago and lo and behold they had the very same TV on a crate with the same Thanksgiving Day Sale sticker price they had at Costco... the LAST ONE! He was too afraid to walk away from that deal... and since I love him so much and he's been wanting and researching these TV's for 3+ years now, I gave in and we walked out with it. Thanks to our good friends the Cox's for helping Jeff to install it and make it work with his Surround Sound so it would be just how he dreamed it. Merry Christmas to the Moss'!

Christmas Lights...

This time of year is never dull! There is always something to do whether it's Christmas shopping or holiday parties or family gatherings or wrapping gifts or watching Christmas movies or baking or eating or looking at Christmas lights... We have done it all this year so far. It's so fun to get in the car to drive ANYWHERE and see lighted houses lining the streets. They look like gingerbread houses and make me smile. Corbin also enjoys the entertainment and enjoys rides in the car so much more when there are so many things to look at and point at.

He really enjoyed the temple lights a few weeks ago. It was also his first time seeing the Christus presentation in the Visitor's Center at the temple and he was in absolute awe when he saw that "BIG Jesus"! He kept waving at him and blew him kisses before we left. It's so funny to watch him take everything in. Kids certainly help light up our life, Christmas lights or not.

The other night (or for the past week) Corbin has had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, so car rides usually do the trick. Well, apparently not during Christmas. After 40 minutes with me in the car one night (at 1:15 am) he was still awake and pointing at all the fun lawn items of all the houses we were passing. GRrrrr.... Another night during Jeff's run he found this AMAZING house around the corner from ours that has millions of lights...and a LIVE SANTA outside EVERY NIGHT! He made a mental note and decided we'd have to go back another time. So, Saturday night we stopped by and Corbin (who's warmed up to Santa a bit more) walked right up and sat on his lap and told Santa he wanted a "hoop". He got his first candy cane, enjoyed all the lights, and came home to fall asleep in daddy's arms at 10pm. Not bad.

Early Christmas Gift: House Paint

So, when we first moved into our house here on 39th Street 2 1/2 years ago we weren't crazy about the color so we added "exterior house paint" on our list of projects to complete while living here. Well, the week after Thanksgiving our project finally came to fruition because we got a great deal through a friend of the family. The previous buttercup yellow and cream is now a classy Mexican Sand with an Extra White trim. So, the new windows and roof we replaced last year really look complete now with a brand new matching paint job. We have friends and family come over now who have to double-take and re-check the address because the house is almost unrecognizable. Here are some before, during and after photos.
BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

So, we want to know what you think? Did we increase the curb appeal of our home?

Tagged

Okay, so I got tagged through email AND blogger, so to kill 2 birds with 1 stone... here it goes:

4 places I've worked...
1. Bahama Bucks- Shaved Ice & Tropical Drink Cafe
2. As an EFY Counselor and as dorm Resident Assistant (RA) @ BYU-Idaho (that's 2, I know)
3. As SECURITY @ BYU's Lavell Edwards Football Stadium
4. As a Special Education Teacher in 3 different schools across 2 states!

4 places I've lived...
1. Tempe, AZ
2. Rexburg, ID
3. Provo/Orem, UT
4. Mesa, AZ

4 Favorite TV shows...
1. Prison Break (Jeff got me hooked...)
2. The Bachelor (yeah... it's pathetic, but I'm a fan)
3. Extreme Makeover Home Edition (It won't ever get old for me, I cry every time)
4. Oprah (I know, you either love her or hate her, but I don't get to watch it much because I am tutoring at 3pm everyday but Friday... DVR!)

4 movies I want to see...
1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (comes out tomorrow 12/14/07)
2. Martian Child
3. August Rush
4. I am Legend (Will Smith movie)

4 Favorite Foods... (how do you pick 4?)
1. Daphne's Honey Chicken Pita with a side of rice
2. Homemade soups in a bread bowl: Veggie soup, chili, potato cheese, chicken noodle
3. Fresh fruit... watermelon, strawberries, grapes, pineapple, oranges, honey dew...etc.
4. Lately, anything with cheese: nachos, bagel & cream cheese, crackers & cheese, pretzel with cheese, lasagna, chicken & cheese... gotta love pregnancy diets, yum!

4 weird things about me...
1. I have to sleep with some type of "white noise", preferably a fan...even in winter!
2. Often times I find myself counting random things like the lines on the road, my steps, the lights at church, the number of cars parked on the street... idk, call me Jason Bourne. :)
3. I HAVE to shower and put lotion on everyday or I feel like I never really "woke up"
4. I get sucked into Blogger-land almost daily... it's an addiction!

4 Places I'd rather be...
1. On the beach in Kuai with Jeff & Corbin
2. In D.C. with Jeff, touring his mission
3. On a cruise with a bunch of my friends and their spouses... anyone?
4. Playing in the snow, watching Jeff & Corbin snowball fight

4 people I'm tagging...
1. Mandy Heal
2. Michelle Burgi
3. Natalie Permann
4. Anna Cox

Big Brother-in-Training

I know I know, you are probably wondering why our SON is playing with a doll. Well, during a weekly trip to grandma's Corbin discovered the baby all on his own and pretty much adopted it as his, no joke. He brought "her" over to me and pointed out her nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, toes, and belly button and developed a fascination with her, so I played along. I showed him how to change the baby's diaper and wrap her in a blanket and then feed her and burp her and then put her in the stroller to push her around. He absolutely loved it and played along. After a while he let me know she was crying and gave her the bottle and I told him good job because the baby stopped crying... so he must have thought there was some really good stuff in that bottle because he decided to tip it back and try it himself.
He carried the baby around and held her and fed her for a good hour and kept whispering, "sshhhhh... babee" (putting his finger up to his lips). It is now his new crusade to find the baby and the bottle every time we go to grandma's house. I hope this is a good sign that he is ready for a new baby in the house. I think it was an excellent first lesson on how to be a big brother. Now if we could just get him to stay quiet when we tell him to "sshhhhh, go to sleep, or pray, or sit in church, or listen to mommy" etc. Hopefully his fascination will keep up with him until June. Until then, he's a pretty cute big brother in training.

Num-Nums in December?

Every day around 3pm (M-Th) I start my tutoring sessions and it leaves Corbin and Jeff to entertaining each other... Well, last week they were playing with trains in the living room when suddenly they heard the magical sound of an ice cream truck music box playing somewhere in our neighborhood. Quickly Jeff jumped up to find a buck and ran out the door with Corbin. Well, they came back with num-nums (aka- ice cream) and I think both were in heaven while the ice cream crunch bar lasted.

You would think Corbin would have gotten a brain freeze if you had seen how fast he had tried to eat the num-nums... it's his new favorite treat now, unfortunately its December (winter) and it's not exactly the best time to enjoy num-nums.

However we DO live in Arizona where the highs linger in the 60's a little longer... so we can endure!

But, Corbin doesn't mind and if you know anything about MY family, ice cream is a year round staple in our diet... I think it even has its own food group at our house. So, Corbin has ventured into the world of discovering num-num flavors. Life is sweeeeeet! =)

A Girl's Only Tradition!

Each Christmas season my mom treats all her "girls" to a day out at the Nutcracker performed by Ballet Etudes. This year the group consisted of my mom, my sisters, sister-in-law, nieces, a cousin, and an aunt, making 9 in all. We began our Girl's Day Out with a yummy lunch at Mimi's Cafe and it was perfect timing to stay out of the cloud burst of rain right in the middle of the day.

We then made our way over to the Chandler Center for the Arts and enjoyed the ballet. The music brings back memories from my childhood. It's a fun time to get away with the girls and to eat, laugh, talk, and enjoy the fine arts. After all the times we have seen it, I still jump when I hear the canons go off and the guns and piro-technics in the fight scene of Act I when the giant mice fight the soldiers and the Nutcracker Prince. The costuming and set are amazing and the choreography, of course is outstanding. Sometimes it makes me wish I pursued dance as a child, but then again... my life would be so different now.

The best part by far though, is that we are all together, enjoying a family tradition with just the girls. It's so much fun! This is what the holidays are really all about. Thanks mom!