January

Not much going on these days. Just trying to keep warm despite the cold snap we had last week. Here are the kids goofing around while in their new Christmas chairs.

Nathan and I aren't really much into New Year's Resolutions, but we are trying to make some changes in our current lifestyle. We typically don't make it to church every weekend, so now we have committed to make that a priority. And since we're working on God stuff for two hours a week (adding in mass time + commuting), we're also committing to working on our health for 2 hours a week. I know - church and working out should be must haves, but we just made way too many excuses and they weren't the priority that they should have been. But now I'm done making excuses and I'm excited to have such a simple yet easily attainable goal for each of us and for the good of our family overall. Just having the goal makes me feel like a better person. I can't wait to see how much better our lives are going to be if we can really follow through on these 2 x 2 hour commitments.

A blogger award!

A friend of mine from high school, Nicole Kelker, gave me the Kreativ Blogger award (thanks, Nicole!). Here are the rules: List six things that make you happy. Pass the award along to six more bloggers. Do not give the typical answers and go for the less obvious, as you all know that family, friends, God, etc would be on the list.

• Chocolate. Chocolate makes me happy. Specifically dark chocolate or chocolate in combination with caramel will really make my day.
• Greeting cards. I'm assuming that most of you reading my blog know by now that one of my favorite hobbies is making my own greeting cards, baby announcements, invitations, etc. As soon as my best friend Emily introduced me to "stamping," I was hooked. I just love the sentiment and thoughtfulness that comes with a good old fashioned hand-written card, so it's fun for me to share my creations with our family and friends. I'm also having fun starting to get into scrapbooking.
• Crossing off items on a to do list. I love having a big to do list, crossing stuff off of it, and then making a fresh to do list. I know. Pathetic. But it's a sense of accomplishment for me, and that makes me happy.
• Learning. (Nathan calls me "Questions Becky" for a very good reason.) I think I'm always going to be the type of person that is constantly reading or taking a class or trying to figure out something new. The topic is always changing, too. Before it was my MBA, then parenting books, and now I'm onto studying for a certification test for work. I don't always have the time to get in all of the books on my list, but it's fun when I do. My goal for 2009 is to devote more time to religious studies and to try to join a Bible study.
• Garage saling. Is "saling" a word? Walking out of a garage sale with 3 bags of kids clothes for only $40 can seriously make my entire week.
• What kind of mom would I be if I didn't mention something abuot my family? Ummm... introducing them to new things makes me happy. Watching them learning, seeing their first reaction, that kind of thing. I wish I could remember each of those moments better, but I try to savor it when it happens.

And now to pass on the award.... I completely peer pressured most of my best friends at work to start their own blogs, so the least I can do is give them some ideas to write about. So, I pass this award onto Tracy Regan, Heather Hetteen, Ali Issa, Melissa Sjoquist, Gina Sandvick, and Tami Lozier. (Honorable mention goes to Tamira Patten, who *just* had a baby, so I don't want to add her to the list!) It's a fun list of things to think about!

Christmas card photo collage

Here are some pics of the kids that my friend Heather took. The one on the top left is the one that we sent for Christmas cards, but there were some others that I liked as well, so compiled them all together just for fun (and practice on Photoshop!)

Fun with my Christmas present

Nathan got me Adobe Photoshop for Christmas. I'm convinced that I can do cool photographer-like things in the comfort of my own home. I've been doing tutorials all night, and I think I've learned some cool tricks. Gotta love this digital stuff!!

For example.... Madeline had a very *Hello Kitty* Christmas from Aunt Laura. Whenever we asked her to show us what she got, we got a picture like the one on the top. Just for fun, here is what I did with my new program. I'm sure you'll be seeing more before and afters if I continue to be so proud of myself!

Other random updates

Some other random notes that don't fit well into the holiday post.... Henry is now walking!! He started preferring walking over crawling the week before Christmas, so we had lots of fun watching him waddle all over the house these past few weeks. He is really babbling a lot more now, too, and can understand more and more of our commands (like "sit down in that chair").

And, another huge milestone... Madeline is potty trained through the night! She's been daytime potty trained since January, but she still needed a diaper while sleeping. Well, since about Thanksgiving, she's been dry and she doesn't even need a pull-up anymore. It's so suprising (and relieving) to hear her get up at midnight to go potty - all by herself!

Merry Christmas!

It's been a very merry Christmas for the Knutsons, and we've been busy (hence the lull in blog activity). We've enjoyed a long break and spent most of our time with our family (from both sides), who all traveled to Minnesota for a white Christmas.

We all enjoyed *lots* of good food and some fun activities, like playing Rock Band (and waking up Henry with "Rebel Yell"), sledding, after-Christmas sales at TARGET!, and visiting the Maple Grove Community Center for swimming and the indoor maze. I had good intentions of getting us to Holidazzle this year, but the weather was icy the night we wanted to go. Next year, next year. .. Henry and cousin Landon (both 1) were especially hilarious (and challenging at times) to watch. Each one only wanted what the other had. So everyone had to run lots of interference between those two, but it was fun to see how busy these little toddlers were.

The pictures are of some of the highlights for Christmas gifts. Grandma and Grandpa Knutson gave the kids some really cute personalized chairs. Erik & Chelsea gave Henry a new pair of wheels.

Grandma Rita gave the kids some outdoor wheels and a new train set. And Grandma and Grandpa Schwartz gave the kids their very first big kid sled. They sure are very blessed and loved children! Thanks!

Given the downturn in our economy, it was important to us to make sure that we help families in need during this very special time of the year. So, our family participated in two Adopt-A-Family programs - one at work and one through church - and I pray that those families had a brighter Christmas through our efforts. I hope it's a tradition that we can continue in years to come so that we can teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas....

We hope you all had a great Christmas and best wishes in 2009!