our new year so far.

It's almost a week into 2015 and I'm loving this year so far. We spent the new year at the mall of America which was tons of fun! 

He likes dipping everything in ketchup lately.

Ezra liked playing on his new Nabi Jr on the car ride!

The small humans were so easy and well behaved. My mom got me a bunch of new clothes as part of my Christmas gift since all mine were too big. I finally feel like I look cute in clothes again - wearing shirts that were way too baggy just made me wonder why I lost weight in the first place... I still looked wide and lumpy. But my new clothes fit great and I'm pretty proud that I fit into a lot of size Small shirts!! Today I hit 143 lbs which is 85 lbs down from the day I had Selah (which was nearly 7 months ago, wow, that went fast!) and I haven't weighed this little since September of 2008 when I was 15 1/2 years old. For the past 6 years, I've weighed more than I do right now, and that feels pretty darn good. 

Here's Marcus, me and my brother Jake eating some froyo from Freeziac. The top picture was taken 4 years ago when we went to the Mall of America for New Year's and the bottom picture was this year when we went. Marcus and I were newly engaged in the first picture. We haven't changed a bit! Ha. ;)

On Saturday night we had pizza and games with my dad's sister and her husband and daughters (my cousins, who are 3 & 1) and my grandparents. Ezra had fun playing with Suri & Soleil much like on Christmas Eve when we got together. They left to go back to California today and we probably won't see them again until summer if they decide to travel back to Wisconsin. We just got a few inches of snow so it's a good time for them to head back! ;) 

We enjoyed our last few days of Marcus' holiday break from work before he went back.

Ezra has this book memorized. He reads it to Marcus: "1 eye, 2 heads, 3 horns..." as he turns the pages. He loves to count!

Marcus went back to work yesterday which started "busy season", which means until April 15, he will be working crazy 70+ hour work weeks (he's required to work 300 hours in just the month of March alone!) so the small humans and I will be missing him around the house. Yesterday was the first day of this crazy temporary schedule that we encounter every year January-April and it went much better than expected. Ezra, Selah, and I had fun reading, playing and dancing to music.

Ezra was rocking Farrah Fawcett hair all day. He woke up like this.

I love watching the two of them play together. They're content to just play in the living room while I start a load of laundry & get dressed each morning.

 Marcus is working out of town this week which means yesterday he left by 6:30 am and didn't get home until after 8:30 pm. Thankfully next week and the rest of busy season he works in town so he won't have to get up so early, but as the weeks go on, he has to work more and more hours as they get busier, so actually he will have to get up earlier! That's the life of a CPA. After his 14 hour day yesterday, he got home and we watched the Bachelor and didn't get to bed until midnight thanks to the 3 hour long premiere episode. We need to start going to bed around 10:00 so he's rested enough before his long work days, but the new year means lots of new shows! American Idol, Parenthood, Survivor, Amazing Race and other shows we love will all be starting soon and we're addicted to them. Not to mention all the Netflix shows we're currently in the middle of! We make sure to spend time together each night cuddled on the couch watching our shows and eating ice cream. I look forward to that time together from the moment I wake up in the morning!

Ezra has been extra adorable lately with the way he mispronounces words and cares for his sister. He calls potatoes "pa-TOE-way-toes" and calls bananas "ba-NO-way-nahs" which makes me laugh every time. When Selah cries, he says, "uh oh baby crying! Okay baby," because I tell him to say, "it's okay baby" when she's sad. Sometimes he will say, "too loud" or "shhh baby sleeping" when she cries, even though she's clearly not sleeping because she's right in front of him whining. 

Yesterday he was reading his book of 1,000 animals on the couch and saw Selah on the ground so he hopped off the couch and put the book in front of her and said, "baby read!" and then would point to each animal and tell her what it was. He likes to say, "I find goose!" and look for the one page with the goose on it and then scream, "duck duck GOOSE! Silly goose." He refers to himself or other people as silly goose now when something is funny. He also does this thing where if you don't look at him as soon as he looks at you to tell you something, he turns his head almost upside down and gets right in your face with his face until you look at him, and then he quietly tells you what he wanted to say, which is usually "a dump truck!" when he's reading his truck book or playing with his trucks. He's been extra cuddly lately, asking to sit on my lap and read to him or just coming up and saying, "mama hug... mmmm" and hugging me or my leg, whatever he can reach. The other day we were eating dinner at the table and after he had already eaten a few bites, he clapped his hands together and said, "I pray!" We had forgotten to pray before our meal and he reminded us. Then throughout dinner he would randomly say, "pray again!" "more pray!" and it was so cute. 

Today, he looked out the window and said, "mama I see a cross!" It makes me think that we must be doing something right in raising him. This morning we went out to breakfast with my mom, brother & grandpa for my grandpa's 81st birthday. (I call him Papa.) He's such a funny old man, always cracking jokes to everyone he sees and making friends with customers and employees everywhere he goes. I feel like everyone in our town has heard a joke from him at one time or another. Happy birthday, Papa! 

I've already read two books this month so I'm off to a great start on my goal of 12 books in 2015. I'm on my third book now and I don't have much time left to read before the small humans wake up from their naps. I hope your new year is going well so far! Happy Tuesday!