Some new updates

Thanksgiving was great! Jeff and I prepared the turkey, made the rolls from scratch and made the mashed potatos and gravy. Shane and Jamie provided the green bean casserole, stuffing and sweet potatos. Oh my goodness those sweet potatos were DELISH!!!

Every year we always did the same routine because mom was always the one cooking. This year we decided to forgo the turkey oven and found this amazing recipe and cooked it in the regular oven! It was the most moist turkey I think I have ever had. Everything just turned out really well.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to paint the "red room" brown. The red room was originally Jacks but we decided to switch the kids so Sienna would have the bigger closet. I think they both love their new rooms. We got Sienna a 4-cube organizer with 2 light pink and 2 brown canvas totes to keep some toys in. For Christmas, Jeff and I got her the most adorable brown and pink mod dot bedding.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Jack got his first haircut. He did so well and the pictures were just priceless!

Jack is really becoming such a little man with his likes and dislikes. He is really into the sky and airplanes. When we're outside at night he'll just stare up at the moon and during the day he searches the sky for airplanes and points them out when he finds them. We bought him a toddler big boy bed a few weeks ago so we could get him ready for when Zoey is here and is sleeping in the crib. He's doing really well with it. I think he likes being a bog boy.

Things are coming right along for baby Zoey. We have almost all we need for her. Im finishing up her bumper for her crib today and I am so excited at how its turning out. I made the cribskirt too so I will have to post a picture when Im completely done. Dr said she is still high, swimming around and not engaged. I was having some pretty strong contractions yesterday from around 5pm-midnight so Im hoping that made some progress! We're scheduling her induction on Wednesday for the week of Jan 2nd so if shes not here by then, then I'll be getting induced. I am so excited to get this little girl out into the world!

Last Sunday we went to a friends birthday party for his 1 year old daughter. They had a Shetland pony come for all the kids to ride! It was really cool!

Crafty Crafty ME!!

So far with this pregnancy I have had ZERO energy. Like at all. So a few weeks ago I got my nesting bug. Unfortunately (yes unfortunately cause this house is a mess) its not a cleaning nesting bug. Its a crafting bug. Its been so great the past two weeks! I made some great crafts and I'm even selling some to some other Mommy's who I've met online. This is what I've been doing...

These are some Halloween blocks. They are made out of a 2x4

This is a car seat canopy I made for the new baby. I'm totally addicted to making these and I already have 3 confirmed orders and about 7 more thinking about it!!

On another note, we FINALLY came up with a name for the baby. Drum roll please................

ZOEY CLAIRE STEFFENSEN

You have no idea how excited I am to finally put a name to the baby growing in my tummy. I suggested Zoey to Jeff on Sunday and he said he liked it. I couldn't get it out of my mind so I texted him about it and he told me to start looking for a middle name! Yay!!!

I'm having a rough couple of days. The farther I get into this pregnancy the more I realize how much I'm alone. My sister-in-law posted some new pictures of my nieces and it kills me to be so far away from them. I want them all around for one of my births and I really don't think that will ever happen. I want to live where its pretty. I'm tired of rock, of gravel, of brown, of cactus, of heat. I want a change and my husband doesn't. I just feel so stuck with life right now. There is so much I want to do, so much I want to craft but I can't find any of my craft supplies because after a year, we are still living out of boxes. I want a house of my own. A house that I want to clean and a house that I want to decorate. I want my children to grow up in their house. Yet none of that seems possible. I hate this economy. I hate the fact that no matter how much we save, we can never get ahead. I hate that my husband works around the clock and we still struggle financially. I hate that I cant help out. I feel like he is working so hard so that I am able to stay home. I hope our break comes soon. I'm exhausted.

Where to start?

My goodness. I really am the definition of slacker arn't I? Since I posted last, little miss Sienna started Preschool, She goes to school at Sierra Verde Elementary School, Monday-Thursday from 9:15am till 11:45am. We have started quite the little routine now. We wake up, eat breakfast while watching Disney Jr. At around 8am we all go upstairs and get dressed and ready for school. We pick out her clothes, find matching socks and then we brush her hair. I've had a really difficult time getting her to keep her hair ties in her hair so we finally agreed on headbands (because they make her look like a Princess ;-) ) and she has been doing suprisingly well. After hair then we go downstairs and we brush her teeth. She knows that by looking on the clock on the stove that we leave for school at 9:05am. Today she learned though that she needs to make sure the toys are all cleaned up before we go. After we pick her up from school, I immediately go put Jack to bed and he sleeps till about 3pm or so. Sienna gets to pick what she wants for lunch and then she gets to watch 1 movie. This is a picture of Sienna on her first day of school!!

Jack has been growing like a weed! He still isn't talking much other than "Momma, Dadda and HOT!" Even though he doesn't talk he understands EVERYTHING!! Its incredible. One of his favorite things right now is watching mommy and daddy play wii. He'll go into the controller box and get us our controllers when he feels like we should be playing. It really is the cutest thing. He also is really into reading books. His favorites right now are "Red Hat, Green Hat" and  "Where's Spot?" This is a picture of him watching daddy play Donkey Kong on Wii. Just look at that expression!

Jeff has been busy busy at work as usual. He has some awesome projects coming up that are very exciting. One of which just may lead to us getting transferred to Los Angeles. 

And as for me? Well I am now 24 weeks and 1 day pregnant with a baby GIRL!! We are very excited and cannot wait to see her. I have been feeling a lot better and starting to get more energy. I am really into a sewing kick right now and although I havent started yet, I have a ton of ideas!! I will be sure to post pictures of my final projects!!

Summer Vacations

We took two vacations this summer. I'll talk about Seattle first.

At the end of June, Sienna and I went to visit my dad in Seattle. The weather was rainy and a little cold but I loved it! It was way different than Phoenix which is what you need on a vacation. We took lots of walks and saw pretty much all of the city. We took the kids to the park and it was great seeing them get along. Sienna isnt around too many kids her age other than on Sundays at church so it was nice to see her interact and share and make friends. Gavin is only a year older than her so they got along pretty well.





We drove by Kurt Cobains old home where he killed himself. That was pretty cool. We went up an old water tower that used to provide all of Seattle with their water. It was a long way to the top! We called it Rapunzels Tower but Sienna wasnt in the mood to be imaginative. It really looked like her tower though.





We walked throught the Arboretum which was really beautiful! Sienna was in some sort of funk and was dragging behind. So we tricked her into taking a picture next to a Crabapple sign. We found that fitting.






We also went to the The Locks. Its this system where boats can come and go from the ocean to the lake. The bodies of water are at thwo different levels so this lock makes a sort of elevator. There is this large area where they can add water and lower the water levels to transfer the boats. Its really neat. Also at the locks are the salmon run. A salmon run is where salmon travel from the ocean to the river and back. We were in between runs so we only saw a couple really tiny salmon.







One day we went to ride the Duck. Its an old WWII car/boat thing that they use to take a tour of Seattle. It was really fun but our duck broke down making a 1.5 hr tour into a 4+ hour tour! Our first tour guide was Helen Wheels. Get it? Hell-en Wheels? Hell on Wheels? Love it. She was really cool. She was married to one of the main dudes on Deadliest Catch. She now runs her own crab ship in the winter and fishes for salmon. One hard core chick.





After the duck tour we went to the top of the Space Needle. It was pretty neat being able to see a 360 degree view of Seattle. It was pretty chilly at the top!






On our last day in Seattle we went to the fish market. It was so neat to see the guys tossing the fish around to each other! And surprisingly enough, it didnt smell to bad! We then walked down the street in front of the market where the very first Starbucks was located. Along this street there are a ton of street performers. Some were pretty awesome!













When we werent outside we were indoors playing with Buddy and watching TV. Buddy is my dads dog who I just adore!! He is a Goldendoodle and reminds me so much of my Stella. It was great being around such an awesome lover dog again.




I really had a great time in Seattle and Im really going to miss my dad and Shahin a lot.

Siennas' 4th Birthday

So unfortunetly my camera decided to stop working before I could upload the pictures from her birthday party. It was a lot of fun. We got a party platter of Jimmy Johns, chips, bean dip, salsa, sodas and an awesome Tangled theme cake. A lot of people showed up and I'm so grateful. We had our family, mom and her boyfriend, Kelsey, Nick, Shane and Jamie and then our friends; Christy, George and their little girl Ellie, Chuck and Ally with their girl Elaina. And towards the end of the party, my dear Mary Catherine Holmes came!! Yay I'm so glad to have her home. We all stood around eating and talking and then those with the kids we were just hanging out letting the babies play. Then we opened presents. Sienna was in a really weird mood and wouldnt open them up so I did it for her She got a lot of great stuff. After that we sung Happy Birthday and cut the cake. Then people started going home. We cleaned up a bit and all went swimming. It was a really nice day. After swimming we just relaxed a bit and watched mom load up the U-haul. She moved the next morning to San Diego. It really was a great day. The only thing that wouldve made it better wouldve been if the Adams family were able to make but but they were sick so its totally understandable. We still love you!!! I'll edit with the pictures when I am able to get them off the camera :-)

Jacks First Birthday

Jacks first birthday was on May 6th. He woke up around 1am on the 6th throwing up. We got him cleaned up and laid him on our bed and he threw up again. This time Jeff went to go cuddle him downstairs and tried to get him to sleep. He threw up again but was able to fall asleep for the rest of the night. Poor baby. He tried to hard to be happy on his special day. He was such a sweetheart. He wouldnt eat anything but I got him to at least take a couple ounces of formula. He went down for his nap and I started working on his dinosaur birthday cake. It turned out really cute. Jamie, Shane and Grrrma were there to celebrate his night with him. We had a pizza party even though he wasnt able to eat any of it. He helped opened his presents and we cut the cake so he could go to bed. Poor baby didnt even get to try his cake.