Jumping on the Bandwagon :)

All right - I had to do it. The girls love it. Enjoy!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1426411847

Christmas fun

My friend sent me this (thanks Dawn!). My kids love it (I hate this song...my kids LOVE it after having listened to Alvin and the Chipmunks sing it (I'll admit that is fun!). To all my college roommates though - this brought me back to several concernts and cd's and fun we had together...enjoy everyone!!! (I found it funnier the 2nd and third time we watched it as I understood more of the words)

http://www.youtube.com/greeting_view?s=WfjtOe7tUCI&p=2862B4D46C3F8E75

Our Christmas letter

I'm too cheap to mail this to you all...actually I'm usually too lazy to even make one but we wanted to include a little letter in our package to our grandparents and then I was too tired to add pictures but I found a template in one of my programs and here you go (I'm rambling!!!) And I honestly didn't spend time and thought on it so I hope it makes sense! Enjoy! :)

Okay, it didn't work (it was too blurry to read) so here is the text and maybe soon I'll get a few cute pictures up....

Merry Christmas from the Ahlstroms!!!

We’ve had an exciting and busy year! In May we moved to a much larger apartment here in Davis. On August 11 our little Amy joined our family. She is so beautiful! Amy loves her big sisters, and they are having fun holding her and getting her to smile and laugh. Meagan just turned three and is such a doll! She LOVES to tease and to do funny things to get people to laugh at her. Although she had quite the adjustment to being the only big girl at home during school hours I think she is learning to love her special time with Mommy. Emily started kindergarten! She absolutely LOVES it and can’t wait for the weekends to be over so she can go back. She has learned all of her zoo phonics sounds and likes to remind us that she is a “zoo phonics princess.” Mary started first grade…already! She is so grown up. She had a tough adjustment going from half day kindergarten to full day first grade but is doing really well in school and loves reading and jump rope club. It is so fun to watch them grow up! I love Saturdays when we are all home together…I love my family! Jon just had his first publication in his hands this last week! He wrote a chapter for a text book and they sent him a copy of the book…YEA!! His research is going really well and his research should be ready to publish this next year. He still loves his job and the work he is doing. He has fun doing “lego star wars” (a computer game) and legos with his girls and they love going on Saturday morning bike rides with him. I am busy as ever and loving it! I am getting into a better routine making sure each of my little girls gets the attention they need and getting house work done. Mary loves to doing “sewing” with me, Emily loves to scrapbook and Meagan loves to be tickled. J I have fun with them and even find time to scrapbook with friends and other activities to keep me going. Jon is still the ward mission leader and I was just called as the stake music coordinator. We love our life, our family and the joy the gospel brings us and look forward to another exciting year with our girls! We love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and fabulous New Year!!! Love, the Ahlstroms

Life

So we've been battling colds once again. Little Mg and Daddy have been the worst. Mg ended up with a sinus infection...this is how I found her after we went to pick up her antibiotics....it about sums up how she has been feeling!

Little A has had a cold too but thankfully has been doing fine. She just started laughing last week - it is SO adorable!!!! She really lights up when she sees her sisters and they love that. She just had her check up today - a nice 13.8 pounds and cute as ever! Her milk and egg allergy seems to be just that...a milk and egg allergy (her doctor was hoping it was colic) but he still gave me hope that she will outgrow it.

We're BUSY getting ready for our Utah trip which *announcement* was just bumped up almost an entire week!!! We learned there are some major storms being predicted for the time we planned to travel, and those storms are coming from CA which means the storms start here in the beginning of the week. So the kids amazing and wonderful teachers put together a last minute independent study, J is gathering up his materials so he can do the writing of his publication there and we are headed out on Monday!!! Crazy...and a little stressful!!!!! Luckily we didn't have activities planned much for next week other than enjoying making gifts for neighbors, packing and preparing the car so it is possible but I've been running around like crazy and trying to remember everything I need to do and enjoy the season as well. I'm so grateful everything has worked out thus far and we're looking forward to a great time with friends and family. So...all you Utah readers out there make sure you give me a call so we can get together!!!

I love CA!

We got home from school two days ago and the landscaping crew had blown all the leaves into a big pile on the grass...yea!!!! They had all the fun of leaf throwing, jumping and being buried without having to rake a big pile! Where else can you do this in the middle of Dec!

more birthday...

So this was Daddy's big present...fancy surround sound speakers with a microphone for talking to his buddies when he plays. He's a happy boy (therefore we are all happy!) (he does not normally play in a suit - someone needed a priesthood blessing on Thursday and he never bothered to change out (that would mean less time playing!!!!). I had to run and do something and dumped A in his lap and when I came back this is how I found them - both happy!!!!)

Mg on her scooter - she rides really well!!
her new bedding finally came...and she loves it!
right away e helped her get all of her animals tucked into bed :)

thank you everyone for making birthdays around here so special!

A month in review

So obviously I'm a little behind! There has been so much to do and sick people in between :) Here's a catch up...

E got to go on her first field trip and first bus ride...she was SO excited!

We had lots of fun carving pumpkins...first we painted them in the beginning of October and then the girls designed the faces for carving - we had lots of fun getting all gooey!

Mg was healthy enough to go trick or treating and loved it!! She wanted to go for several days after, too :)

Then we had Daddy's birthday...yea!

He got some legos - yea! We have lots of fun with them!
E's first lego creation!

Happy Birthday Daddy!
Then M had her jump rope assembly - she LOVES to jump rope!

We love the colder weather and nights getting darker earlier!
E and A! So cute!
Happy birthday M!!!She's getting so old!!!I got to take A down to San Jose with me to visit some great grandparents...and introduce her to a favorite family game!

Happy Birthday Mg!!! (We've had a lot of birthdays lately!)

pictures

Being the mean sister that I am I made my bro work on his birthday. He took some fabulous family pictures for us (despite a grumpy 2 year old!). Enjoy...and THANK YOU BRO!!!!!




He also redid M's picture for us (since she was wearing such a dark shirt last time)

And A too (is her hair better?)

THANKS AGAIN BRO!!!

Little bro's bday

So let's all be honest - my little bro did not come to see me rather to get his favorite cake - a crumb cake made with a special family recipe. However here are a few of the fun moments we enjoyed while they were here...

Yes Mom he got and enjoyed his presents from you!

I threw her in his lap - thought he needed a little practice (and he did great!)

he regained his manliness and saved us from the enemy (and poor J had to suffer playing the afternoon away with him - it was his birthday after all!)

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their aunt!

We of course sang "Happy Birthday" and he even blew all the candles out!

And once the girls were in bed we had a very entertaining game of Mario cart...we won't say who won (or who lost!)

Thanks for coming bro - we love you guys!!!

Halloween Preview

LAst night was our church's trunk or treat Halloween party. Unfortunately Mg and I are still sick so we stayed home but the big girls had a GREAT time. E was a princess (thanks for the cape grandma!) and M was a fairy.




Hair is not my thing. My sister has all of the beauty genes and talents. But my girls wanted to be princesses with beautiful hair. Luckily the internet is a wonderful thing and I found some pictures and M decided on one and then I added some ribbon and flowers and was quite proud of myself!


Mg is back to terrorizing her sister this morning so I will take that as she is finally feeling better so hopefully she'll get to dress up Wed too. Enjoy!!!

Life

So we've had the sickness bug hit. First M had a 103 fever all day Thursday, E and M had a 101 fever Friday and M started in with the stomach bug, E was fine Saturday but M was still sick to her stomach. Sunday E went to church and I hear did FABULOUS in the primary program...last year it was like pulling teeth to even get her to go up and sing and do her part but this year she went up without a problem and even said her part! YEA!! Luckily I got to go to the practice on Saturday and got to see her since I was home with M. She was feeling much better but really weak after 3 days of fevers and stomach bugs. Monday M was still really weak so she stayed home from school and E had a sore throat and since we had been put on notice the strep throat was going around her class I kept her home. By the end of the day E was fine but little A definately had the cold and poor M had it too!!! So she missed day 4 of school today. This morning Mg and I have the cold. Oh well. Get it over now, right!


My sister sent me this link - a bedtime song...enjoy!!! (I fixed the link by the way...)(these are both in loving tribute to those of us who talk fast!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA

Also if you haven't seen the "mom" song yet here's that link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anSpBUxsgAU&mode=related&search=

Impossible Acres

There is a fantastic pumpkin patch just down the road from us that we have loved going to since we first arrived in Davis. It has a barn and outside are haybales that form a rectangle. Inside the rectangle is a cage holding baby animals that the kids can hold - rabbits, chickens, ducks, etc. There is also a horse to brush, a baby cow, and baby goats "just kidding around" as Daddy taught the girls :) Here are some pictures of our latest trip there...

E LOVES to sit and hold the quiet kitties and have them curl up and fall asleep in her lap

Mg enjoyed all of the animals (here with a baby duck)
M enjoyed the kitties - she really liked moving the string around and playing with them - we got quite a few smiles from people around as the girls were in hysterics laughing as the kitties played with them!
"PLEASE can we have one!!!!!" It is quite dangerous to take this one to hold the kitties...if we could we would get a kitty...one day I promise!!!!!
Our children's baby books would not be complete without several pictures of them taking a nap with Daddy :)

This little one does NOT usually like her picture taken so I had to put this one up :) I found a horse costume M wore for Halloween and Mg had a lot of fun being a horse - she especially liked the tail on the back :)

Mg is doing so much better with this new stupid diet of mine. I'm grateful for that and slowly giving in to finding better snacks and such since it looks like this might be my diet for awhile. Now we have to switch her timing - she has discovered she gets attention at night and now likes to stay up until midnight - not being fussy or anything just wide awake and alert and enjoying attention. Grr. She is SO cute though! We kept her awake a lot earlier though tonight and it's 10:00 and she fell asleep so we'll hope it's for the evening and go to bed!

Here I am again...

at midnight with a cranky baby. Things had been going SO well - I've been SO good to stay off of the major gas causing foods since Sunday and have been thrilled to see such great improvements. She has been smily and so adorable and wonderful. I was even happier to note that I have been eating all the chocolate I can handle and it didn't seem to affect her :) Then I blew it. Thursday I had a little bit of scrambled egg - something we had earlier suspect was a problem. Sure enough the next day she was a little fussier than normal, but not too bad. Friday as soon as Daddy got home the 2 big girls and I ran away to go shopping by ourselves without any crying babies, temper tantrum throwing 2 years olds or Daddy's that don't like to show. To kick off our evening we stopped by their favorite restaurant - Taco Bell. We all ordered the same thing - bean burrito, no sauce or onions, add sour cream. Hmmm, now I've had 1 1/2 burritos full of beans, cheese and sour cream. And guess what!! It's 12:37AM and I am up with a fussy baby! What a surprise. You never know until you try it out though - right! The dumb part is that I had beans AND dairy - so which one is it? Or is is both? Or is it a coincidence? Oh well. I managed to find another weeks worth of meals without dairy, beans or broccolli and it's not exactly the same as last week and I found a few other snacks (besides chocolate) to eat. It was quite depressing actually - I finally started walking last week (after finding a double jogger on Craig's list - YEA!!!!) yet I probably gained weight from eating lots of chocolate since I couldn't have most of the food that I like last week. Oh well, my little one has been SO incredibly adorable the last few days and I've really been enjoying it and REALLY wish I had tried this diet thing a little harder a lot earlier!!! Opps - she just woke up again screaming!

The good and bad

The good: I am completely convinced that A has started smiling. In the late late hours of the night when everyone but her and I have gone to bed she has smiled once or twice the last two nights. Yea! That certainly makes the late nights a little brighter and she is SO cute! I have been slightly concerned since she is 2 months old already and no smiles. It's not a surprise though because she has been SUCH a gassy baby - it's is what has been keeping her up until 2AM on a regular basis. She'll go to sleep and wake up 15 minutes later crying until the gas comes out and then she falls back asleep. These 4 hour a sleep nights have driven me to the bad part....I am on a no dairy product, no brocolli and no bean diet since Sunday morning. I LOVE DAIRY PRODUCTS!!!!!! I have half heartedly tried before but failed, especially when half hte family (including Jon) was sick and then all the family came. Sunday morning they left and I have been SO good since then! It has been so challenging, even just coming up with dinner ideas. I had planned to cut out chocolate but that didn't go so well :) Her doctor suggested trying no diary for a week. It has been 4 days and there has been so much improvement, and she started smiling. NOT GOOD!!!! Okay, it is, but I LOVE DAIRY!!!! She is usually SO cranky, especially in the evening but throughout the day as well and she has been in such a better mood the last 24 hours leading me to be very afraid that it is the dairy. She has her regular checkup tomorrow and we'll have a little chat with her doctor and next week we'll start to add things. I hope to figure out what it is and even if it is dairy at least I'll be able to enjoy my baby a lot more.

What do you do when the family comes...part 1

We loved having so much family here for A's blesssing last weekend. We had so many people and so many things to do...here's some pictures from our weekend (remember you can click on any of them to see a larger version of the picture)...


First everyone had to meet A (here with my father in law)

The girls had SO much fun with their cousins (my sister's kids)


Dress up and dance - does it get any better than that?!!!

We enjoyed the BYU football game the proper way - with lots of good food and a winning team! Of course no Ahlstrom party would be complete without J's famous homemade french fries and onion rings (my house still smells of the oil!!!)

And what better way to end the night than with a story from grandma (my mother in law)