Christmas is almost here...

a friend suggested an elf on the shelf to help the kids be "nice" in the time before Christmas. Here's our elf, we named him Munchkin, and he watches during the day and takes a report back to Santa at night. He finds a new place to watch each day (the kids really like finding him in a new place every day)


a few pictures of our tree...nothing special, but it's ours!



some new wall art I found!

here's my latest addition to my nativity collection. I made it for Super Saturday this year, it was super easy and looks great now (it is finished, I just didn't get a picture of the final project)


some of my other nativities...


This is my favorite nativity..


here's for you unbelievers...I believe (I've also been watching Miracle on 34th Street)

Christmas is in the air!

I am so excited for Christmas this year! I am done all my shopping. I've made chocolates. I've made crafts for teacher/friend gifts. We're going to make reindeer cookies tomorrow. I've even wrapped most of the presents!! I had to be on the ball this year, as most of December I am either working or on call (which means I can't leave Taber), which cuts into shopping time. Not that I like shopping in December, it's great to have it done before the crazy rush. (Tell me, who really wants to go to Walmart or Costco or anywhere near the mall on a Saturday in December????)


We are keeping it simple this year, my family is going to Whitefish to ski/play for Christmas. I'm excited to get together with everyone and spending some time away!
It has really helped me enjoy the season. I really haven't had any stress this year and I'm loving it. I'm also loving the smell of Christmas (thank you Scentsy, I just got my silver bells scent and I'm LOVING it!!)
I hope that you are all enjoying the season and taking time to remember Christ and his birth, as that is the whole reason for the season!
Merry Christmas All!!
Here's a few pics of my kids...not recent, but still great.

I love it when everyone has a nap, even better when they all have a nap at the same time!!


My girls LOVE their dad!


I heard once that Canadians eat more icecream/slurpies in the winter than in the summer!

latter day chatter

I recently stumbled across a great blog with tons of great ideas (she's on facebook too). I love all the great ideas she's got and have a few new "helpers" for sacrament meeting tomorrow. I can't wait to try them out. You can check her out too, just click here.

Smells so good...

I have been meaning to try some scentsy products for a long time, I finally ordered some (as part of a fundraiser) from a friend from highschool, Meghann Clements and now...
My house smells delicious!! Even Chris doesn't seem to mind, and he hates anything that smells.
click on Megann's name above to check out her website...

What I believe...

credits for these pics go to simply fresh designs

life goes on...

I haven't blogged for awhile, and I don't know if anyone has missed me, but I'm back. You can read and enjoy, but I need to blog more often for me. I've been thinking about awesome things in my life. Some days it's really hard to see them, like days when K is getting into everything! Just a small list of things she has gotten into in the past few weeks... jello powder (she chews through the box), dirt, snow (she and B love eating the snow and don't care what color it is), ALL of my makeup, nailpolish, toothpaste (she LOVES eating my toothpaste). She is much like a tornado. But then there are days like today... while I was saying the prayer at lunch time I realized that she was talking and was repeating what I was saying. I slowed down and let her say the prayer! This is the first time she's done this. In case you don't know, K has been going to speech therapy since last spring. She wasn't talking at all and now she's talking a lot more, it's not easy to understand her, but I especially love when she speaks in a full sentence!
I hate laundry and dishes. I wish I could blame work for nothing getting done at my house, but really, it's just me being lazy. (and spending too much time on facebook...I'm taking the challenge that our bishop is extending to the youth in our ward, to spend less time on facebook) Chris is awesome about helping me with the laundry (dishes too, actually) but a few weeks ago I was switching loads and I managed to get all the laundry from the washer to the dryer without dropping a single item of clothes. This wouldn't be such a big deal if it was towels or adult clothes, but it was kids clothes and socks! It made me smile. We'll see if I can do it again this weekend as I tackle the mountain of laundry waiting for me.
One last awesome thing for today...tomorrow is super Saturday, and this year I am excited about the crafts that we're doing. I'm always excited when there's a nativity (mine have been up since Nov. 1, by the way), even better this year, I got to pick it. It's super easy and I am excited to add it to my collection. I'm also excited to have another craft day with some friends, to make even more fun crafts for Christmas. I'll post pictures later (some pictures will have to wait until after Christmas just in case certain people happen to check my blog before then).
Welcome back, hope your day is AWESOME!

Another AWESOME thing...finding your keys

As I was reading my AWESOME book I read one entry about finding lost keys...You know, you are ready to walk out the door and you realize that you don't have your keys, you search and search, (he goes on and talks about stages of searching) then open your door and find them hanging out of the lock.
Well, a few weeks ago, as Chris was walking out the door to go to work after lunch he handed my keys to Kayla. First, never, ever give keys to Kayla! she loves playing with keys especially real ones. Second, if you do, keep an eye on her. I wasn't really paying attention and didn't see what she did with them. later that day I was looking for them and couldn't find them. I didn't really worry about it...days later we still hadn't found the keys (I totally blame Chris for this one). We went on vacation and I was quite concerned about leaving without my keys...who knows if she left them outside and someone picked them up, if we lose Chris' keys we don't have another spare...We went, no one used them to steal all our stuff, and we didn't lose Chris'. Then one day Chris asked Kayla to throw something in the sink, he watched her throw it in the garbage! We figured that my keys were long gone, having gone out with the garbage. A few days later I was getting ready for teacher leadership (for church) and needed somewhere to put some water bottles. I opened up a big bucket we had sitting in the hallway waiting to be taken downstairs...there were my keys!! it was AWESOME!!!!

1000 awesome things...

I got a new book today. I've seen it around, but picked it up at WalMart (that's Ryker's favorite store!) And now I'm inspired...It's all about the little things that make your day. It started with a blog and hasn't stopped. Now I'm going to join in on the awesomeness! (I think I got that from watching Chuck, it's awesome if you haven't seen it before) I haven't blogged for awhile, but I am going to be better (not that anyone has noticed, but it will be good for me) I am going to include some of the things that make my day better when I'm having a bad day, or the things that just make a great day awesome!
*living on higher ground, literally. It's been raining here and most of Southern Alberta is flooded out (highways are covered in water, fields are lakes) but we've had no problems so far with water in our house!
*a job that I love. I just got a new job this week. I'm now working in the operating room at the hospital here in Taber. I love the nurses and doctors that I work with. It's a challenge, and I love a challenge.
*dancing. Blake is our little dancer (she danced before she walked) and will dance on command!

*sleeping babies. I love when everyone has naptime, doesn't happen too often, but when it does it's AWESOME

what makes your day awesome??

A year in the life of...

...the Zuidhof family. Another eventful year.
January--Ryker turned 3. the theme was superheroes! he's all about superman, spiderman, batman, even the xmen!

February--this always seems to be a quiet month for us. I took some time to do a photoshoot or two with the kids as I got my indoor studio set up this month.

March--another quiet month. This month we discovered Kayla's love of TimBits (and food in general)

April--Kayla turned 1. She has really grown up fast. She loves to tag along with her big brother and do everything that he is doing.

May--Blakelee Jean joined our family on May 5th. She looks just like her big brother and is the perfect addition to our family.

June--we got a new tent! it's awesome, and huge! we can put the playpen in, the bassinet for Blake, ryker's airmattress, and our double air mattress! with room for everything else. our first camping trip was in Lola and Grandpa's backyard, the perfect spot for camping!

July--We went to the Lethbridge Air Show again. It was fun and hot. I think next year the girls will stay home. It's tough to keep them entertained when it's so hot!

August--Cornfest was definately the hilight of this month. Ryker still talks about cornfest and wants to go all the time. He loved the rides and we all had a great time eating and visiting with friends (mom's even took a break and went back for a few rides alone. This month Ryker also experienced his first friend moving away. We still miss having Thomas and Colton (Larissa too) next door to play with!

September--Ryker started Joyschool this month. He had some trouble getting into it, but really does love going and the kids that he goes with!

and here is Kayla doing everything her big brother does, backpack and all...


October--I had my gallbladder removed. I don't know if this surgery was worse than my sections, but the fact that I came home the same day and didn't have time to recover in the hospital certainly didn't help. but we got through it and I'm much happier without the pain of gallstones (definately the worst pain I've ever felt in my life).

November--I went back to work this month. I got a sweet position at the Taber Hospital (casual with benefits) and it works out great with my little ones.

December--What can I say? Christmas was quiet, the best way to spend time with your family. Some day I'll get to editing all my pictures from december and post some for you all.

In the mean time I thought I'd share some of my favorite things from 2009 and what we're looking forward to in 2010

favorite things...
book club, I love interacting with the ladies in my bookclub and I'm grateful they let me join them.
Photoshop, I invested in photoshop cs4 this year. best thing ever! I love what i can do with my pictures now
wii, we've had this for awhile now, but I still love it. I especially love the wii fit (i need to use is more often) and the new super mario bros. game (i love mario!)
my church callings, most of this year i was teaching relief society and i really enjoyed it, now I'm in the primary presidency and am especially loving this calling! it's great to interact with all the kids in our ward!

things we're looking forward to in 2010...
Kayla learning to talk. she still just grunts and her only real word is "Mom"
our vacation to st. louis in May. we get to take the train, it's going to be a great adventure!
Chris only having to be oncall every 6 weeks instead of every 3!
all the other great things in store for our family.

I hope that your 2009 was a wonderful as ours! All the best in 2010!!