The best Christmas!

Before I forget, go to The Burnt Daisy for some news.

I can finally sit down and catch up on our gigantic Christmas. We just got home on Saturday after a long much needed holiday and we have been busy trying to get unpacked and organzied and I don't think we even made a dent because we are exhausted! Dustin went back to work today so I think more will get done. I/we tend to slack off when he is off because cleaning sucks so we'd rather hang out! Over Christmas we did so much and had a blast! So be prepared for a long awesome Christmas post!
We left on Dec 18th and headed to Dustin's parents for a few days. We had our yearly fondue and of course the little presents from Grandma Yuill. We had lots of fun and played games. We didn't do a ton since our main day, Saturday, was spent in Lethbridge shopping. Most of you know how awesome the shopping us up here in Fort Mac so we had to wait until we were down there to do most of it. We got to open presents while we were there. Kyla got a purse filled with stuff, earrings and a matching necklace, lipgloss, pad and pens, and more that I can't remember but she walked around with that thing on her arm every single day and she even slept with it. Jayci and Presley got little babies with blankets and then they all got Usborn touch and feel books which are awesome books. I will definitely get more of those. Dustin got hip waders (sp?) and I got some organizing drawers for my business. It was a fun visit with them and we had lots of fun seeing them!
Gpa Francis and Jayci
Coloring on Kyla's new paper pad
fondu
their little babies and their blankets
this is how she carried her purse all the time
On the 23rd we headed out to my parents house and Kristy and Brandon came that day too. Christmas eve we did some baking with the girls and then we were asked if we wanted to go on a hayride behind a quad so we all got dressed ready to go and took some cute pics and after an hour of waiting they called and told us the quad broke. It was crappy but we did get some good pictures! Then of course we did the usual traditions, such as the nativity but with the grandkids this time. Kyla loved it but Jayci and Presley thought dancing on the table was a better idea. Then of course opening pj's and Grandpa reading 'The Night Before Christmas.'. Kyla's pj's were a little long and kept falling down but they were Hannah Montana and I knew she would love them.

Playin piano together


baking day!
Waiting for the hay ride that never came...

The grandkids in their pj's
the "kids" in their pjs!
The attempt at the Nativity

This was funner (that is a word.)

Jayci and Britt, love this picture
The Night Before Christmas
Christmas morning was crazy, just check out all the presents under the tree! Everyone definitely got spoiled. Kyla the most and I could tell because after every present she'd say, "I want another one." We did pretty good for her but with all the grandma's spoiling her as well I think she was a little outdone. She got 3 barbie's, two of them Hannah Montana and a Hannah Montanna locker full of stuff, her new bedding I picked out for her and I love it because it's something she can grow with and use forever since her bed is a single instead of a twin. Plus a crapload of other stuff I won't list. Dustin got his bindings and I got my new coat and vanity. I fell in love with my sister Stephanie's vanity when she got it for her birthday so my mom got Kristy and I one for Christmas because she has always wanted one too. We went tabogganing that day and Kyla missed most of it since she fell asleep in the van on the way and she was super cranky so we just left her. She finally woke up and we took her down a few times. By then it was getting pretty cold so we went home.
Not too many gifts eh.
Stockings!

Barbie from Santa, and her new bedding beside her. Cute eh?
babies again from Santa and strollers, we also got them little playpens for them. They love them.

opening gifts is a lot of work
stealing Gavin's chair in their touques and scarves from Grandma Purnell
Dustin and his bindings!
Vanity! Kristy is kind of in there too!
Gavin's sweet chair

All done, our stuff is mounded behind us

Tabogganing!


Gma taught them how to scoot down the hill

They went all the way down!


So Boxing day comes at the top of my list for one of the funnest days in the entire holiday! All of us kids got to go snowboarding while grandma and grandpa watched all the grandkids. It was Me, Dust, Krist, Brandon, Jeff, Britt, Steph and Tanner. We had a BLAST! I haven't been to the hill since we were engaged and I snowboarded that time and it was hard. I grew up skiing and it was so frustrating switching to snowboarding. So this time I just wanted to have fun so I decided to ski. I was the only one but i'm so glad I did. Although I hated poles so I looked like a nerd without them but since it's been since junior high I had to re-learn all over again and they just messed me up more. We had SO much fun and I am so glad we got to do something like that. Best day EVER!


Awesome People!!

We also went skating and it was Kyla's first time. She got skates for her birthday back in April from Grandpa Petersen so it was time to break them in. Dustin was also newer to skating so it was pretty funny watching him think he was awesome. Just kidding, he actually did really good. He is just naturally good at everything so we hate him for that. Jayci fell asleep in the stroller and I was done pretty early since the skates I used were super old and really tight and hurt like a mother!

My mom booked the church gym for one of the evenings so we went and played basketball and some other stuff and just let the kids run around, they loved it. They got tired pretty quick though but it was fun.

The guys playin some ball
The girlies, Steph ditched us for her boyfriend that night.
Also love this picture!

And this one

We were lucky enough to spend New Years with my family too and we had so much fun. I've never laughed so much. We stayed up until 2:30am playing games. It was so worth the exhaustion the next day!

PART-AY!!

So remember the "non materialistic" Christmas list I made? Well off that list, this is what I got!

Yup we bought a NEW VAN! HALLELUAH! It's not this color though, it's more of like a chrome gold. I am getting used to the color since I wanted black but oh well. It's a 2008 Grand Caravan and I am so happy! Yay for us!!

This was Christmas Sunday and the best picture of us, you should see the one of just the girls. Wait, here i'll just show you...

We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Purnell's and I can't even remember which day it was, but it was fun seeing family.

Kyla playing with Grandpa

Cousins chillin
Kyla in her ballerina stuff from Santa. Yes I know it looks like fairy stuff but Santa had a really hard time finding ballerina stuff so this was the best he could find and she doesn't notice any different.

We also got the announcement that Jeff and Britt are PREGNANT!! She just found out the day she told us but we were all there so of course she had to tell us! She is due in September and we are so excited for them!We tried to get some family pictures done and it was so hard but they didn't turn out too bad. I also got one of us infront of the temple while we were there.

We also went to sugar bowl in Raymond and Cardston won. Steph is on the cheer team for Cardston so we were so excited for her when they won. I also don't think they should go back to that tournament. They told the cheerleaders they had to stand the entire game if they wanted to cheer since they didn't pay for a ticket (cuz they are part of the team). So they had to stand every single game. On top of that they had some Raymond girls who dressed up as cheerleaders and mocked them the entire time and they would blast the music everytime they would do a cheer. So rude. That doesn't include the mocking and rude comments they got inbetween games in the hallways etc. Plus Steph had the flu so I felt extra bad for her having to stand and then do a performance at half time. They did their half time performance after their first game and they were being treated so harshly that they didn't even want to do their performance the rest of the tournament and they didn't. I hate mean people.

Just look how cute she is!

We also all got that nasty flu that was past from one person to the other. It got us in twos and was pretty bad for about 12 hours then the next day was better. It was probably one of those 48 hour ones but we were all puking and so sick at some point. We still had fun and sat through basketball games and infected everyone there. We did pay $40 for tickets (which is also way to expensive for sugar bowl tickets I think) I was getting my money's worth!

So now we are home and dealing with two really bad teething toddlers. I'm talking they won't let you move an inch from them and I LITERALLY have both of them on top of me all the time! They cry constantly and won't eat anything. They started acting like this a week ago and we never knew why until Sunday I was playing with Jayci and noticed her two top molars are fully through, and Presley too! So now the bottoms ones are coming through and it is annoying! I am glad that this will be over though and there is an end in sight. I would kill myself if they stayed like this. My house looks discusting and I look discusting and Dustin just found out he is working a 24 (days in a row) 12 hour shifts since there was a fire at the plant. So he won't be home till almost 9pm every night for 24 days. Thank goodness we got the awesome break we did to prepare me for this. Meh who am I kidding, we've been back 3 days and i'm exhausted already!

Who needs a maid...

...When you have Kyla!!

Here is what mini me does,

-She changes diapers and gets mad when you don't let her
-She carries the Jayci and Presley's drinks up to bed for me while I carry 50 lbs of babies on my hips
-She closes their door after tucking them in
-She gives them their food for every meal
-She wipes them off AND takes them out of their high chairs!
-I caught her yesterday doing my dishes...yep. (A full sink)
-Sweeps the floor
-cleans the entire livingroom perfectly for me while i'm cleaning the kitchen
-she wipes off the table
-Helps me fold laundry and organize it into piles
-takes things away from Jayci and Presley when she knows they aren't allowed stuff
-tells me when they have something in their mouth that isn't food, or just pins them down and gets it out herself. Which they love...
-closes the doors to the bathrooms and rooms they aren't allowed in
-takes off their sleepers in the morning
-turns the tv up and down when I ask her (she figured this out on her own)
- In the mornings when Dustin is home and we both just want to lay in bed she'll go in their room and play with them in their cribs until we want to get up. ha (don't judge remember.)
-brings me the phone if i'm downstairs working
-fills their sippy cups with water or juice when they want more
-She gives them hugs if they get hurt and they hug her back and stop crying

So I pretty much get to lay on the couch all day and let her do all my work for me. No i'm kidding... only half the day...
This is not child labour...right?

Now remember that if you don't let her do these things, she gets quite mad. Or if she is busy and you do something she normally does well be prepared to suffer the consequences! I've said this before but I used to think that if I ever would have twins (because who doesn't think about the "what if" we had twins?) anyways I thought I would want them first so I wouldn't know any different from one baby. But no way, I take that back big time. What would I do without her. I love this girl!
This is her doing the dishes last night, that sink if full of dishes she already did! She washed them all with cold water. I left them to dry overnight and put them away this morning with all the crusty food still on them that she missed, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings, we even ate on them for breakfast....haha totally kidding! gross. I had to redo them this morning very discretely.
Anyways, I think everyone needs a Kyla, but not mine because I gave birth to her and she belongs to me kind of.
Oh and Merry Christmas to everyone! We leave on Friday and we'll be back in a few weeks! Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! Love ya :)

The house guest

There once was a cute little mom with a cute little girl, and one Sunday the mom decided to be a good mom that day (like every other day of course) and thought they should make some cookies together.
And like the good mom she is, she included her little twins...

And then all of the sudden a surprise guest came jingling at the door! The dad and two of the little girls ran to see who it was.
Well the dad (who just got home from work and was gross and smelt like the plant) couldn't wait and got quite excited, so he jumped right in. He even shafted out his poor little wife who was trying to fit into the picture.
Then after quite some time of asking Santa for gifts, (his list was similar to his non-materialistic wife's) he decided it would be nice to share with the little children. So over the little Presley came.
The oldest little girl was excited, but not enough to sit on his lap so she did well beside him.

Finally one of the little twins, Jayci, got the courage to come over after giving Santa a stare down from the kitchen. So she sat on the daddy's lap, while the little Presley showed him a book.
They didn't show much emotion at first but it made for a cute picture with 3 cute little girls.
But then the little twins couldn't hold in their hidden excitement anymore... (I don't think their parents ever told them about Santa.)
Little Jayci was the most excited.

Little Presley decided it was time to check out if he was the real thing.

And of course they had to have the whole family in there to remember this experience.

And so he handed out candy canes and went out the door, to his sleigh, to head home to the north pole!

And that was the end of the very special guest who came to The Francis house that Sunday night.

(Please don't be jealous of my story telling, it comes naturally.)

Random is what i'm good at

So today is Saturday and Dustin is working. (As always) He is working every day and evening until we leave. Which is Friday!!! He is doing 3 side jobs as well as 12 hour shifts at the plant. That's right I make my man work hard. He has to prove his love for us by making us money to buy stuff. Right? Plus i'm also totally fine with it seeing as we are getting 3 weeks holidays!! I can't tell you how excited I am. I NEED this. Really bad. I need to see family and just have fun, and laugh till we cry, and play games, and stay up late just talking and finally letting Gavin and the girls see each other! Oh and I guess Dustin will need a break too...

So It's freezing here. Like -50C freezing! Ya I know this is what everyone is talking about, but this is what is happening so deal with it. Last night Dustin and I went shopping and it was the only night we could do it before we leave so we had no choice. When we got home at 11pm, I checked the weather and it was -37C but feels like -48C. And there was no wind! (One plus of not living in Southern Alberta is that hideous wind!) Anyways we were cold. Although staying in the house all day isn't much different than any other day for me, i'm a hermit. We did get a lot accomplished though and Kyla definitely got spoiled. I'm not going to lie, I am really loving being able to spoil the girls. We have had a lot of Christmas's where we couldn't afford much, last year we hardly got them anything, so it just feels good we can buy them what we want for once. Besides they do need a lot of things, and their gifts are all useful things, like learning stuff or clothes etc. But I am having the hardest time finding stuff for Jayci and Presley up here. We got so much for Kyla at their age that now they just use all that. Such as the ride on car, leap frog play center, a chair with a little book center attached that plays music, elmo chair....not much. They do need a lot but I think it'll be a lot of smaller things, like books, and little activity toys to keep them occupied. Also it's hard because do I buy them one gift for both, or two of the same things so they don't fight, or two of the same but different color, or two different things all together?? I'm leaning towards getting them two different things and then that equals more toys in the end, and if they fight, well then it gets taken away all together! But I still have the problem of actually finding them stuff. We have ONE thing so far as a joined gift for them. (I think the bigger ones will be more joined since i'm not loaded!) But Kyla is DONE, yes done. Actually I have one more thing on her Santa list to get her but i'll buy that at Toys r us in Lethbridge. We pulled out all the gifts we have and separated them into piles, well Kyla's was this mound of stuff and Jayci and Presley's had this one gift just sitting there all by itself...poor kids, they are so loved. It is so much easier buying for her age! It's awesome, I could buy her so much. Dora this, princess that, Hannah Montana... I swore i'd never have cartoonish stuff for my kids, it would all be modern and pink and brown and not babyish. ha ya right. She gets so excited about it, how can you not! Althought I don't buy clothes/shoes/accessories with that stuff on it. Don't judge me.
We have to do a full day of shopping in Lethbridge when we go because we have picked through everything up here. I also want to get Dustin a few more things. Being grown up and having kids, Christmas is so much more fun for them! Don't get me wrong, I love gifts, like I secretly say it's all about the kids but then I secretly want to be spoiled just as much. It's like one big party for me for being such an awesome mom! I do love the excitement of buying for the kids. It's awesome. This seems like a really contradicting post but it makes sense to me, so just go with it.

I am SO happy that I get crunched cereal and crackers all over my floors everyday. There is nothing better than walking all over it, it's like a massage kind of. They dump them out and then step on them like they aren't even there. Also the cereal... I had to take down the gate to the kitchen because as much as I love two screaming girls hanging on it desperately trying to get through, I was getting a lot of headaches which turn into migraines, which I also think are the perfect finish to any day. I have all of 3 top cupboards and one bottom one in my kitchen. (not including the pots/pan/appliances one) Ya my kitchen is huge. So i'm thinking of moving them all up to on top of the fridge, it won't look pretty but at least i'll be able to keep my sanity!
I also love the kids waking up at 6am every morning, and sometimes 5:30! I will put them back to bed at that time but within half hour the rest are up. I have spent a lot of mornings laying on the couch pretty much passed out while the kids play and roam free because I am wiped! I do not make a very pleasant sleep deprived mom, or wife for that matter...poor Dustin.

I am excited to be done these last 14 orders that I have downstairs. I love making them but I took on way too much before Christmas, and now i'm cramming. Plus I have to get ready to leave in 6 days.
So I definitely think this was a very uplifting, positive post, right? That's right.
I'll leave this random post with some random pictures.

I wanted to get a picture with the girls and their advent calendars so here is Kyla and Presley

Jayci wasn't quite feeling it...
Jayci and Kyla have been cuddling a lot lately. It's too cute.
Well I might have something interesting happen in the next week to blog about, and then i'm gone!

December is here!

Which means it's almost Christmas! Holy.
This weekend was our ward Primary Christmas party and it was a lot of fun. It was crazy and there were a lot of people and tons going on but the kids loved it. Santa came and the girls all hated him. Kyla liked him but wouldn't go very close to him. So our Santa picture turned into a family Santa picture! At least no one is crying in it! The Santa was like, "don't force them" I thought, heck yes I will, I want a picture and I don't care if they are screaming in it. Yes I am a good mom.
They also had a gingerbread house competition and we did ours the day of so I wanted to keep it simple and fun. Kyla and I made it together, with Dustin watching and keeping Jayci and Presley happy. So since Dustin had no say in it, it turned out...well, not very masculine. We won for best roof and most elaborate!

in all it's glory! See told you it's masculine.

this was quite entertaining.

not too bad eh?

learning how to wrap a present

I raise perfect children

I was tidying up in the basement and the girls were all upstairs playing. Kyla comes down stairs...

Mom I have to tell you something (smiling)
What's up
I changed Jayci's bum
what?!
I changed Jayci's bum! (Super proud of herself)
Right now you did??
ya!
Was it poopy?
Ya
what?
I mean no, just pee
Where did you do it?
In her room

Well you can imagine the images I had going through my head. So I ran upstairs and into their room and looked around and just saw two little girls playing. Jayci's pj's were off and her onesie was open and sure enough there was a wet diaper on the floor. And there was Jayci with a clean diaper on! Pretty darn perfect too! What the? I was shocked. So I said ok, now change Presley's. I wanted to see how she did it. So she did, Presley sat there perfectly still and she took off the wet diaper, wiped her and put a new one on.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing....