Snippets// What Fall Looks Like + Thanksgiving

Well, things just became more real over here at the Navas house. Here we see little Violet on her very first time out. Yes, it's true. We have implemented a time out system for our little ruffian. It takes something major for this babe to get put on time out, but I have to say...it WORKS, and thank GOODNESS. Since making this a thing we've had no issues with water or food near the electronics, no more trying to turn the knobs on the oven, and no longer is she putting coins into the stereo's cd player compartment. Progress. Slow and steady, but progress none the less.

Cristian's little brother went in for a major spinal surgery a few weeks ago. Cristian's mom was in a roll over accident while still pregnant with Diego. The car flipped doing a lot of damage to her back and messing up this little guys neck and spine. The accident also resulted in him having to use a hearing aid in one ear. After wearing a brace for months in attempts to straighten out his bent neck they finally got him into surgery. We decided to take a quick trip down to visit and relieve my mother in law of her 3 other children for a little while. Cristian is so wonderful with his siblings, I just love to watch. 

The poor little guy looks absolutely miserable. And understandably, but they are all home now and recovering well. Violet was so sweet and concerned. She became HIGHLY troubled when the nurse came in and administered some shots which upset little Diego greatly. Everything is on the up and up and looking great though!

On a lighter note, it's baking season! Violet thoroughly enjoyed her Ma's brownie Christmas tree treats with candy cane trunks!

And when I say "enjoyed", I mean she licked the green icing off the top and left the wet soggy brownie for someone else to clean up. Thanks Vi. Good thing you're so innocent!

This one really cracked Cristian and I up. We've been teaching Violet to take off her shoes/boots when we come inside from the slush/rain/snow. After asking her to place her boots on the rack we came back a few hours later (when we were going back into town), to find this. Her shoes, in my boots. And since this first incident she's been alternating between my shoes and Cristian's work boots. Do we constantly find ourselves stepping into wet shoes? Yes, but do we stop her? No,  it's just hilarious and a really endearing quirk.

My mom's Activity/Achievement Day girls did a bird feeder activity. Perfect fun for little girls. All you do is find some pinecones, spread peanut butter all over them, and roll them around in bird seed. Tie a string to it, hang it up, and enjoy!

We hung our bird feeders up on the front porch, figuring it would be the best place to actually SEE the birds and squirrels, however, we have yet to see even ONE of either. So, this weekend we're going to move them into the back yard. There are always TONS of birds, squirrels, and a great big owl back there but it will be MUCH harder to watch them nibble. We'll see what happens.

Brisker days mean spending more time indoors. We dabble in little crafts, cooking, and dancing around to the radio, but I've caught her a few times playing mommy to her baby doll. Here she is changing baby dolls diaper. She's also teaching her to potty train which has ended several times with a whole roll of tp AND the doll in the toilet. Baby doll is also not exempt from "time out", and she is put on time out for things like "touching mama's computer", "not going to bed", and "getting into the fireplace". I sure do learn a lot about myself by listening to her. I found her putting chapstick on the dolls bum. When I asked what she was doing she looked at me and rightly said "Putting cream onna her bum because she has a bee in it mama". Alriiighty then...

Bath time, her favorite. This is the first photo of her I've looked at and thought "Holy cow! That's my face!". And it is. This is exactly what my face looks like when I laugh or smile. And that hair *swoon*. I keep telling Cristian I'm not allowing a haircut until she's 18 years old. Until then, it's mine!

New recipes! We tried out a Jalepeno Popper Pizza and it has been added to the rotation. Super delicious, super easy, and believe it or not, not too spicy. For the recipe, head HERE.

I mean really though, this thing was divine.

I hung out with a friend! It's been so long lol! Violet and I were invited over to my dear friend Sarah's house to bake some homemade graham crackers with her and her little one Charlotte. 

Violet was enthusiastic about helping by punching out some star and heart shape crackers, and these were another surprising and delicious find. For real, I will NEVER buy store bought graham crackers again. I don't have a link to the recipe, but at some point I will post it. I was truly impressed.

Thanksgiving Eve we gave in and started decorating for the Christmas holiday. We set up our tree, hung a wreath on the door and lit a pine scented candle while playing Christmas carols. Things turned a little redneck, but I love these little guys so much! My favorite decorations hands down!

We have this odd glass door in our living room, but it's the perfect thing for Violet to decorate. We found these stickies at Target for a dollar, and a string of lights for $2 to frame it. It looks beautiful and of course Violet is always thrilled when she gets to participate.

YUM. Thanksgiving! It was full of traditional and non traditional food. Every year we have family friends from Turkey, China, and a few other countries come, students of my Dad's, and it makes Thanksgiving that much more delicious! But I mean obviously the best part is the pie! 

The day after Thanksgiving we all had a turkey and pie hangover, a walk too and around the temple was in order! And what a fun time it was! 

Photo Update// What Fall Looks Like

All dressed up and looking pretty for church. She is loving her new nursery (though she gets sick almost every week), and I am loving that SHE is loving it.

Violet and her long lost play mate Riley. These girls are just silly.

Raking the leaves took about 3 times longer then usual with Violet's "help".

It didn't matter too much though. I honestly just want this girl to have fun, be outside, and be happy. These are the things which make her happy, and if it takes 3 times as long to get something done as it usually would, I'm going to try and do better at allowing her that freedom.

The swing at Ma & Pa's. Few things beat it. I love seeing this.

The next couple of photos are of our "Give Thanks" project (head over the thesmallseed.com to check it out if you'd like). 

We've been doing pretty well on our service. Each time we complete something we get to place a leaf on the tree, we need to step up our game if we are going to finish the project by the end of November.



Play snow, since we've been too sick to spend much time outdoors.

1/2 cup hair conditioner (we used a conditioner that was white in color, but it really wouldn't matter what color you used-just know it will be tinted with whatever color you choose)

2 cups baking soda.

Mix. Enjoy

 

She seriously spent about an hour playing with this stuff. And it gave me a few minutes to myself to read a few chapters from the book I'm into.

This is one of the best purchases I have ever made. $6 at Ross, and a whole day of entertainment.

Those precious lips.



Her Daddy came home and the first thing she had to do was show him all about her train. Adorable.

I like watching her eat. I always have. She's just so dainty :D

Snippets// A Fall Update

We've been having some trouble with our neighbors this last week. We live in a very old house with thin walls, and while we've gotten along happily with all of our previous downstairs neighbors, it seems the tables have turned. Okay, it's not that dramatic, but I will say it was so nice when we didn't have neighbors who sucked up all the wifi downloading movies and threw loud parties until 230am every single weekend.

I've decided to chill in bed, headphones in listening to "Bad Blood" by T.S. and write a blog post to try and ignore the pounding of a hammer into the concrete wall downstairs. Apparently 11pm is the perfect time to hang up some living room décor, and they have yet to realize they won't be pounding through that cement any time soon. We've been down to tell them to lower the volume several times this week but nothing has changed. The minute I hear Violet wake up because of the noise it will be a different story though. Mama bear will make her presence known.

Let's all pray it doesn't come to that.


Anyways.
Hi! I haven't posted in a while. I don't know if we've been really busy, or I've just been really lazy about updating this thing, but I'm here, and if you care please read on to find out what we've been up to.

First off, Halloweening with Violet! I had many plans to make her into a sushi, a robber, but her costume from last year ended up fitting her so we went with a magical unicorn again this year. My parents ward had a carnival with games and food a little earlier on in the week and I think she had a good time putting goodies into her bag, munching on treats, and playing the games. The day of Halloween she ended up being Princess Ana from Frozen in a purple dress gifted from a family friend and her Aunt Tori made her a gold crown using wrapping paper and nail polish. Still not sure how she pulled that off but it turned out wonderfully. Cristian came out after work and we wandered around trick or treating with Violet, my dad, and my little brother. By the time we were done we had a pro trick or treater on our hands, which was fun to watch.
Once back at the house Cristian told her she could have one more piece of candy. Violet said "Two?!", he said "No Violet, one more piece". A few minutes later we see her munching on some purple tootsie candy. The little twerp had gone out into the mudroom where there was a bucket of Halloween candy for incoming trick or treaters. The way she understood it she just couldn't have any more treats from out of HER bag, but anywhere else was fair game.
We had a good laugh over that one.

On Halloween Eve Cristian, myself, and my niece Steph went up to Stokes Nature Center for their ghost story telling. It was fun hearing about stories surrounding the Witch of the Wind Caves, St. Anne's Retreat, and other things. A really fun night all gathered around a fire pit with hot chocolate and a really fun experience. We will probably go again next year, and afterwards while walking back down to the car, in the dark, Cristian told us a story that happened to him while up at the nunnery. Won't post it here, but spooooooky!

We changed wards! We were going to a married student ward but neither Cristian or I are students and I was feeling as though it was time to move on. I finally followed that feeling and last Sunday confirmed that the Lord understands where I'm at in life, and where I need to be. This is THE PERFECT WARD for my family to be in. It's a combination of 3 wards. My ward, a Chinese ward, and a Hispanic ward where all the kids get together for junior and senior nursery, and junior and senior primary. 4 times as many children as in our last ward which I think is just wonderful for Violet, and a good mix of people who are my age and older, something I feel I need in my life right now. I was welcomed in with open arms and was able to meet a couple who had just moved to Cache Valley the DAY before who were from around Compton LA, which is where Cristian grew up. It's nice to find little connections which help in the process of meeting a whole bunch of new people at once, and the Relief Society are having a girls night this Saturday-another great opportunity for me to meet a few of the ladies in a smaller group.
Violet REALLY enjoyed her time in primary. The program they have in this ward is light years beyond what was happening in the student ward. It makes sense, most of those in the student ward don't have children yet, there is LOTS of moving in and out with the semesters ending and starting, I get it-this other ward is what we need though. Mainly because there are more children, a much broader span of diversity as far as race and language, and because it's such an old ward the program is really established with tried and true methods. Violet literally cried when the block was over and it was time to head home for some lunch. We are exactly where we need to be and I couldn't be more thankful for a  Heavenly Father who really does understand what we all need, and when we need it.

We have started the Fed Up Challenge. If you haven't watched Fed Up, I totally recommend it. It's a documentary about processed sugar. That may sound boring, but I was thoroughly engrossed (and grossed out) in the film ( as was Cristian) and we both learned so much. At the end there is a challenge to eliminate processed and added sugar from your diet for 10 days. Along with this challenge I've been increasing my running mileage at the gym, and Cristian has been looking ito KUBEX.

Cristian is super supportive and on board for some big changes which will make this manageable.
One victory I had at the gym last week was reuniting with the leg press machine. I haven't leg pressed since before I was pregnant with Violet so I was a little anxious about how well I would do. I maxed out the machine at 700lbs. 5 cycles, 25 reps each cycle. I had been feeling a little down about my overall progress so this was a huge confidence boost. I still have my strength, and I just need to keep focusing on the positives and keep working toward a healthier body and healthier mind.

Violet's language has REALLY picked up. She speaks in full sentences almost all of the time. The other day Cristian was talking to her on the couch and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She said "Daddy, I want a bike birthday cake". Okay then, we can probably arrange that haha! She really likes being given choices and it's fun to watch her make decisions. I'll pick out 2-3 outfits for her to wear and she really likes being able to be the one to decide which one she gets to wear. I do this with books, snacks in between meal times, music while we are driving around in the car running errands, etc. She's growing up :/ She's also really starting to push the boundaries we've set up, so time out will be a thing I'll need to implement around here shortly :)

With the end of October and the beginning of November we've also been doing a Give Thanks Challenge. Head HERE to check it out if that's something you are interested in. The kit comes with 4 different lessons about kindness and giving thanks for the 4 weeks of November. Each week they give you ideas about small things you can do to serve strangers, your close ones, and others, and a tree print with leaves to cut out and place on the tree each time you serve throughout the month of November. It's almost the end of week 1 so Violet and I need to get our booties going so we can add some leaves to our tree!

That's about it for what has been going on lately in and around the Navas household. The only other thing is we may be going on a trip to China next year in May or June-more on that later as the details come in :)

A photo update up next!