christmas letter 2008

Seasons Greetings 2008!
Well, we kind of skipped out on last year’s Christmas Card and Letter, but this year we’ve had some big changes to report. This past Spring we moved! Joe’s company transferred him two hours south to Colorado Springs. Everything was paid for, we sold our house AND purchased another new home! Such a great blessing. And although we miss Fort Collins, we are loving our new life in the Springs.

And just 6 weeks after moving, we welcomed a sweet healthy baby boy!

Christian David was born July 12 weighing 8 lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long. He was induced just a little early (due to past complications) and everything went really well! Christian has been a great addition to our family and having a boy is so much fun already! Even his big sisters adore him, although he’s not always so sure of the attention…

Reganne turned 2 just before Halloween and has been such a joy. Her speech has really picked up and her favorite phrase at the moment is “Oh my goodness!” She is definitely our tall one (already outgrowing most of Marryn’s old size 2 clothes!) and is definitely our shy one (really struggles going to Nursery on Sunday). And she loves “guacamolé!”

Marryn turned 4 in September and is already packing her bag for Kindergarten! We weren’t able to get her into a preschool this year and she is really missing it. Missing the friends that is, for she is our little social butterfly and looks forward to Primary all week long! Otherwise she has taken on the duties of teacher, teaching herself how to write all the upper and lowercase letters!

Kelsey is keeping busier than ever, with a new home, new baby and 2 other kids at home. But she is loving every minute of it (well, mostly). Scrapbooking has taken a backseat but she does keep up a family blog (joeandkelsey.blogspot.com) that we’d like everyone to stop by and visit, keep up with us yearly.

Joe is doing well as always. Working hard at his job as a Financial Analyst and helping out at home as much as he can. Which, of course, usually involves watching sports with the kids, but he sometimes throws in playing Barbies or Ponies with the girls… He sure was excited to have a boy!

Overall our family has been great, looking forward to another year together. We hope this Holiday Season finds everyone doing well and we look forward to hearing from all you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love
The Polls

christmas decorating

I love to decorate for Christmas (who doesn't??)! And this year I had so much fun in our new home. For the first time I got to decorate stairs (ooohh) and a fireplace mantel (aaahh). I even got to hang stockings! I just love the look of greenery with little white lights. Joey always says I'm so boring ("Where's the big BIG colored lights?"), but I prefer the simplicity and elegance the white gives off. And the presents. Oh, it was so much fun to wrap the presents this year. Last year our tree (the first year we had this tree (an After-Christmas-$10-Special), we were using a 2 foot tall one...) looked so bare because all the presents were really little, wrapped up individually. So this year I stuck some of the presents into bigger boxes to help fill the void under the tree. I just love how it turned out! (And yes I've already been made fun of, twice. I know it was a waste of paper, but we do plan on recycling it all....) It has also helped detract the little one...a little. Marryn and I had wrapped up Reganne's present from Marryn one night (a Tinkerbell phone) after she went to bed. The next morning Reganne comes into our room saying, "My Tinkerbell phone! My Tinkerbell phone!" Joey and I shot straight up and sure enough, she had the phone, unwrapped, in her hand. I ran downstairs to check the rest of the presents (I had wrapped up some of Marryn's after Marryn went to bed), but luckily, she had only picked out the one to open. But then a few mornings later (oh the joy of her not being in a crib anymore!) I came downstairs to find another present unwrapped. But this time she unwrapped a 'Christmas light box' and stopped at that. Good thing too. The Tinkerbell phone I rewrapped and hid (obviously not very well) back under the tree was found again, sitting next to the unwrapped box. Still wrapped this time though. Maybe that was one present I should have stuck into another box....

Some of my other favorite things. Our Advent Calendar. I made it last year (from a Making Memories kit) and we love it! Every night we open a drawer, read a special Christmas scripture and then the girls each get a piece of chocolate. And then there is the "smell" of Christmas. I would love to have a fresh tree, for the smell! So instead, I melt my little tart candles. Aaaaah.

And last, but most importantly, our Nativity Set. My mom gave me this set last year (it was one from my childhood). I like it, but it's missing a few things... We have another one too (features the characters from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever). It's really cute, but most pieces are broken (?) and again, not the traditional Nativity Set I'm looking for. So that is my goal for the next year(s). To find the "perfect" Nativity Set. And a place to put it. We're really short on display space-our only spot is the table behind the couch (with the JOY candle holder on it), but you really can't see anything on it. So for now, this is our Nativity Set. Our gentle reminder of what we are truly celebrating throughout this time of the season. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

christmas pictures

How hard is it to get three kids to look good for just one picture???
Too hard!
Just too dang hard!

Marryn was great. Every picture was just about perfect. She's my photogenic chic right now. Reganne. Well. She wasn't so great. I really didn't like any of her pictures. And then Christian. Oh, my adorable little babe! There were a good amount of cute pictures of him, as well as some not so cute....

****No, I didn't take the pictures, I went to a studio. I wanted a solid white background and don't have one... and I didn't think my black background would look so good. Marryn might look like a floating head....****

pink to purple

The girls have a room, finally!

In our last home, I went all girly with the girls' room. Pink. And I mean pink. I found a really cute pink and brown butterfly crib bedding set and just went off of that. It worked out great and I loved it! (Well, as much as I can love pink, but I thought, hey, I might not ever get to do all pink again, you never know with girls....) I was able to purchase blankets and sheets separately, and since Marryn was sleeping on the toddler bed (with a crib mattress...), everything coordinated.

Well, for Christmas, Grandpa Dave (Joey's Dad) purchased the girls twin beds! So I have finally been able to put the girls' room together. I had purchased the duvet covers and shams (loved the "cool" colors) off of eBay really cheap (they're PB Teen) before we moved in hopes that we'd get some twin beds. Well, after moving and using up every extra dollar we had on other stuff, we realized that wasn't going to happen. Then Dave asked what the girls needed for Christmas. Well, they really needed some beds (we were alternating between a crib, toddler bed and queen bed). So I got to work, searching out beds. I originally wanted white beds and some day a white dresser (the dresser actually goes with the crib), but I just couldn't find what I wanted. I looked at bunk beds (that would separate into two beds for now-yes, I'm a paranoid mother...) but they just weren't "right." Then I came across these beds. The perfect design! I wanted a simple, platform like bed - no box spring, no dust ruffle. And then as I thought about it, the dark espresso looked better with the bedding and because of space issues (the room is really really small, only about 10x9.5 feet), the tall dresser would have to stay in their room. So these were it! And oh, do I love them! The room is a little tight, but they only sleep there, so not a huge deal. The girls love them too. Reganne looks so tiny, but hasn't fallen off once. Marryn has. But not while sleeping. The bed by the window is hers, but the past few nights the bed was pushed away from the window (waiting to get a child lock for the window-that paranoid mother in me again-and also needed a vent reflector-the bed sits over the vent). So one night she hopped up on the bed and leaned a little too far back and flipped right off. She cried. I laughed.... The room could still use some finishing touches, but that will just have to wait. (But I don't think I'll paint it. The "antique white" matches great!) For now the girls have their own beds in their own room. Marryn even made a sign, all on her own, for the door. (It's her standard "family" picture. Christian is laying down (next to her name), Reganne has the curly hair, as do I, Marryn has straight hair and Dad is the one with big ears (?).)

snow day (x2)

Thanksgiving night we got a fairly decent amount of snow. So Friday the girls got to play in their first snow of the season!


Notice how the snow is only in the shade.

Then last night we got a TON of snow (a foot in some places). We girls had a blast playing in it today.

I may never complain of our partially sloped backyard again!

View of Pikes Peak (and our neighbors) from our backyard (at least our yard isn't that sloped!)

"Come on Marryn, pull me! No? Fine, I'll go myself."

Marryn's Snow Garden * Reganne's Snow Castle

Yes, those are weeds and dead "flowers" picked from the neighbor's yard.

And what? You can't see the Snow Castle??? ;)

a thanksgiving feast

Well, we had a nice Thanksgiving. We stayed home and enjoyed the day by ourselves. Sure didn't feel like a Thanksgiving though. I grew up in the same town as two sets of my grandparents (with the other set not far off) and lots of other relatives, so holidays were always spent with tons and tons of family, never at home. This Thanksgiving felt more like a Sunday. Only with a trip to King Soopers. (Yes, I ran out of eggs for Joey's pumpkin pie.) I did however enjoy cooking up a Thanksgiving Feast all by myself without any pressure of feeding a crowd. I cooked, of course, a turkey, had mashed potatoes and homemade gravy, a cheesy veggie dish and homemade crescent rolls. And two pies. An apple for me and pumpkin for Joey. I even made the crust by hand (literally-we don't have a food processor...). Everything turned out great. Except my apple pie. It tasted great, but was so soupy! I even set out a veggie tray and chips and salsa. One of my favorite things at holidays.

Marryn though, had a rough holiday. She complained of a stomach ache Monday night, then later threw up. She basically couldn't hold anything down until Friday. One day she couldn't even keep water down. It was so sad. By Wednesday night she was starving! She was feeling fine (acting fine as well) but still even the few bites of chicken noodle soup she had came up. She just kept bringing me everything in the pantry (black beans, popcorn, Swedish Fish, etc) literally begging for something! We were so sure she'd be fine the next day, that we promised her an egg in the morning. First thing Thanksgiving morning, she woke us up asking for her egg (that's where the shortage of eggs came from...). Then she puked it up. But was fine otherwise. Played all day with dad and Reganne. On Friday she managed to keep her food down. Until Joey reheated the veggie dish. The smell was just a little too much for her sensitive tummy. But that, finally was the end of it. Or unless you count my upset stomach.... Yes. Friday I woke with a sour stomach myself. I haven't gotten sick, but I haven't eaten much either....