Santa Claus

We took the girls to the Mall and had them take a picture of with Santa. To our astonishment, they both were super excited and smiled for the picture. No crying, hesitation, or complete fear of Santa... just smiles!!! Although I a really glad that they took such a good picture I was kind of wanting the screaming and crying picture for blackmail pictures when they start dating!(just kidding!)
Well, tonight is Christmas eve and our home is buzzing with excitement. Not only are we having a white Christmas but SANTA IS COMING TONIGHT!! Bella is so excited she is having a very hard time being good. But I can understand that, I was the same way! I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas tomorrow.

Make a Smilebox greeting

The True Meaning Of Christmas

This video is very moving. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Gymnastics

We enrolled Isabella in Gymnastics about a month ago. She had really been enjoying herself. Her favorite things are the balance beam, the trampoline, and floor dancing. At first I wasn't sure if she was ready for a weekly class but she was begging all week "when we going to-nasticks?" The class is a Mommy and me class. So not only do we get to spend some mother/daughter time but I get a bit of a postpartum workout.

Jacob was able to go and took some very fuzzy pictures.

watch our little gymnast in action

Getting ready for Christmas!

A few weeks ago our ward had a harvest carnival for activity days and they invited all of the primary children. At the carnival they had the children dress up in nativity costumes and take pictures in preperation for the ward Christmas party. They had a little manger backdrop and recruited a little baby boy from the ward for a realistic look. Right before Isabella's turn the little baby had had enough so the sister asked if Iyla wanted to take over as baby Jesus! I was able to have the sister send me some advance pictures and I thought I would share them with you.

Isabella's 1st hair cut

Well, I finally got up the courage and gave Isabella her first hair cut! Here are the before and after shots

I think it turned out pretty cute!!

Fall Doings

So Leahona has been pretty busy lately with trying to get weight on the baby. She is almost ten weeks old and still doesn't weigh as much as Isabella did when she was born. But it is getting better and she is such a happy baby. She even tries to laugh and coo. :) So we just now realized that we haven't put on what we did for Halloween.

First we went to the Harvest Carnival at the Lutheran school. (The girls she nannies go there.) That was fun because alot of the parents there know Leahona and were very excited to meet the baby. Isabella did very well at the games and even won a cake in the cake walk.

(sorry the picture is sideways, technical difficutlies)

Next we had a fun evening the day before Halloween at Leahona's sister, Brynn's ward trunk or treat. Isabella took advantage of the time to practice her "trick or treat". We also got practice getting her to not say "Give me Candy" after. She had worked on it for a couple weeks by knocking on the bathroom door, our bedroom door, just wherever we happened to be.

And then we had the trunk or treat at our ward on Halloween evening.

Isabella did such a good job. "I'm little Bo-Peep and Baby Iyla my sheep." worked every time and got her extra goodies. She came home with her bag stuffed. And then I took her trick-or-treating just around our block and she came back with another bag full! For a two year old I think that is doing pretty good.

And then the following Monday our neighbors were giving us some weird looks. Isabella was so distraught to have to take down the Halloween decorations that we let her talk us into putting up the icicle lights outide. (Don't worry they aren't turned on yet.) Now we are trying to get her into Thanksgiving. She can hardly wait to help put together the placemats and namecards for the table.

Isabella has gymnastics tomorrow, which she absolutely loves!We'll make sure to put an entry in about that includes pictures. Hope all is well out there wherever you are reading this.

-Jacob

Iyla's Blessing Day PT 1

This past weekend we blessed our baby. It was really a great day. We had a good number of Giffords come. Since none of Jacob's immediate family live close, we were not able to have them come. But, we had some cousins, aunt's and uncle's attend. Jacob did a great job with the blessing. I am so grateful to have a husband with the preisthood and the ability to give our children blessings when they need them.

After the church service we had a little party at our house. Here is a picture of the spread. I think I did a pretty good job. We had apple cider punch, pumpkin cookies and chocolate chip cookies, a veggie platter, strawberries with warm chocolate dipping sauce, and triple chocolate fudge cake topped wit cherries and almonds.

We did not realize it at the time but we did not have any pictures of the baby in her blessing gown. I will be taking some photos this week and will share them with you then.

Lacey Children's Day

On Saturday I took the girls to the Lacey Children's Day at the park. It was an event put on by the Lacey Parks and Rec. Dept. I really did not want to have to keep track of the stroller so I put the baby in the sling and off we went. I was a little nervous going it alone seeing as Jacob had to work, but I wanted to see if I could. Luckily the baby slept the whole time. Isabella had a blast. She built a snowman napkin holder at the Home Depot both. When it gets closer to Christmas Isabella and Jacob are going to paint it!

Got her face painted with a beautiful purple heart,

and her hair styled by the really nice styliat at Jack and Jill Hair Salon !

Bella got a charicature drawn of herself , and Bella even got a free Cabbage Patch book.

There was an animal show, and Isabella really liked the turtle.

I was glad we got there early because it was packed!! The sun was shining and everyone had smiles on their faces. We had a great time!!

Personal Milestone

When you have a baby it is always so fun to watch them achieve developmental milestones. Focusing their eyes, holding their head up, rolling over etc. With Isabella I was so focused on her that I never really paid attention to any of the milestones of my own. Well, this time around things are gonna be different! Today, I went to the Lacey Children's Fair with BOTH girls by myself. We had a great time. I'll talk more about it on another posting.

Also, on Wednesday, not to brag too much, I was getting dressed and noticed my maternity jeans I have been wearing since I had Iyla were starting to get harder to cinch up. So, on a whim I got out some of my pre baby clothes and tried on a pair of Jeans I have not worn since we found out were going to have a baby. Nervously I pulled the up and to my amazement... they were big on me!!! I was so excited.

Even though I was as big as a house with Iyla, I did not gain more then 10 pounds. I worked really hard and stuck to the diet in the What to expect book. So far not only is my baby weight gone, I have lost an additional 20 pounds. I know I have a long way to go before I am anywhere close to looking like a supermodel, but I feel really good about what I have accomplished these past 6 weeks.

Along with milestones, another thing I have been thinking about is goal setting. With the weight loss jumpstart I feel almost like I can do anything. I have decided to set an almost unbelivable goal for myself. One that the Leahona a year ago would have never thought was possible. I have decided to do a 5k walk/run next summer. I know it will take alot of hard work but I really think I can do it. And I will of course, share my experiences with you!!

Iyla's 1st Trip to the Park

Today we took the girls to the park. We wanted to take some family pictures and get out of the house for a little bit. So of course the second we walk outside it starts hailing! We stood under our front stoop for 5 minutes waiting for it to stop. When we finally got into the car, Isabella was soaked from running around in the hail ( washington hail is sleet on steroids, small). She was saying " Mommy, it was snowing!!!"

We got to the park and it looked totally dry! We took advantage of Iyla's good mood and got some really good pictures. I can't decide if we will use them for holiday pictures too. We will see.

Iyla's Photo Shoot

When we sent out the birth announcements, we wanted to include a picture a Iyla that was really cute. We decided to try to be frugal and set up our own photo shoot. We got a white sheet, pillows and fixed up some good lighting. Everything was in order except... Iyla!! Here are some pictures of our attempt at some baby pictures, enjoy!

This is the one we finally chose. The best laid plans....

General Conference

I just finished watching General Conference for our church. It was amazing as always! It is so neat to hear from our leaders in the Church. I always learn so much. I was very excited to hear about the 5 new Temples that were announced. What a blessing to the members in those areas. And with a Temple in Rome, what a great excuse to take a trip... I wish!

Watching Conference with Isabella was interesting. I had a hard time convincing her that the Salt Lake Temple was not a princess castle. She loved the music. She would stand in the middle of the living room and conduct the choir! We printed out some conference activity packets and she had a blast coloring while Jacob and I listened. What an amazing invention!!!! It really helped keep the peace around here. Now I can't wait for next month's Ensign to read over the talks agian.

The Apple Festival

This past weekend whe went to the Apple Festival at Lattin's Cider Mill. We had a great time. Isabella got to feed the animals in the petting zoo, Get her face painted and have a clown make her a balloon princess crown and "magic" wand.

We also tasted some really good cider. Isabella got a carmel apple too! I was so glad we went. It is always so fun to go. We try to make it every year. It was a little early for us to get our pumpkin from the pumpkin patch or wander through the haunted barn though. I had fun shopping at the booths. I bought a new scarf and some halloween earrings. Isabella got a bead wig, a new hair tie and some really bright nail polishes.

On Monday night for family night we made applesauce with the apples we bought at the festival. Isabella worked on her carmel apple while we chopped and cooked the apples. the house smelled really good. Isabella picked out granny smith apples so our applesauce is the most interesting light green color! But it tastes really good.

Am I Getting Enough Rest?

The question, "Have you been getting enough rest?" Has been the #1 question I have been asked since the baby has been born. It got me wondering how people define rest. Is rest getting 8 hours of sleep a night? Is rest taking several naps a day? Or is rest sitting back with you legs up? If the answer to any of those questions is "yes", then I would have to say, "no, I an not getting enough rest!" But then agian, having a two year old and a new baby can kind of be time consuming.

Time in genreal changes so much when you have small children. It is such a different experience when they are different ages. When I was a preschool teacher I could handle 14 two year olds for 8 or so hours a day. While it gave me a lot of skills for preparing to be a mother, it did not help with the age difference. I guess it will just take... TIME!!!

Our 1st Day Online

Hello All!

Well, we have finally taken the plunge and gotten the Internet. We have survived 3 1/2 years of marrige without it, but with the birth of our 2nd child we saw the need for it. We are also starting a blog. I would much rather call it an online journal, but blog is the hip word for the moment. We are very excited to share our lives more with our family and friends.


As an introduction to you, We are the Gifford family. We live in Lacey, Washington. There is Jacob - the daddy, Leahona - the mommy, Isabella - the big sister, and Iyla - the baby sister. Isabella is 2 1/2 and Iyla is 1 month old. Jacob is a Supervisor with Shop-Ko Stores and Leahona takes care of her mother. She also watches 2 wonderful school-age girls after school.

Though our home is small, it is filled with love, laughter, and compainionship. We love taking walks, going to the park, and doing lots of crafts! Holidays and the changing seasons are very big events in our home. We just started decorating for fall. Isabella and Jacob went on a nature walk and collected pinecones and leaves for a wreath that will go on her door. After of course, they are covered with glue and glitter!

But the biggest event that has happened around here lately is the birth of baby Iyla. She was born on Aug. 27th. We are having so much fun with her. We will have lots to write about!! Thanks for taking the time to check us out!