Here comes Santa Clause...

Last Saturday we took Emily and Caleb to see Santa. The picture doesn't tell the whole story though. Initially Caleb was smiling and laughing at Santa, but the lady taking the picture was too busy chit chatting with a co-worker to get that picture. So we ended up with the classic picture of crying kid on Santa's lap...oh well it is way cute anyway! Emily was a little nervous because she is so shy normally but I was proud of her effort!!!

Also for those of you who live around here...how do you like all the snow? I think we got somewhere around 8 inches-WOW! Last night we decided our driveway needed a 2nd (yes a 2nd-Earlier that day I went out in Ben's boots all ridiculous looking-Sammi can testify to that and scraped the first 6 inches of snowfall) scraping and so Ben started scraping it and 3 hours later him and the neighbors had scraped 3 other driveways in the neighborhood. It was cool to see all the neighbors working together to help each other out (they seriously had shovels, blowers, 4-wheelers and who knows what else)....that is truly what Christmas is all about!

Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I love this time of year!! I love the snow (at least to look at), I love the music, the lights and decorations, the time-off Ben has from work, I love seeing children get excited for Santa, (I love using Santa as bribery) but mainly I love that everyone is focused on the Savior and Redeemer of the World. I love how everyone’s attention changes from themselves to being kind to others. Like many others always say, I too wish this feeling would last all year long.

This year has been busy and has taken us on quite the fun ride!

One of the most eventful happenings of this year was our sweet little son, Caleb that was born in March, He is such an adorable little guy (of course because he looks just like Ben.) This month he turned 9 months old. He has 7 teeth, crawls (almost fast enough to keep up with his sister) and has already had 5 haircuts. We love him and are so blessed to have him in our family.

Our rambunctious Emily is turning 3 in March and is so much fun! She is so smart and observant. Emily loves to sing and dance! She recently learned most of her letters and loves to color and draw. I have so much fun with her and it is so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things. She is such a sweetheart and is the best sister a boy could ask for and by far the best daughter parents can ask for!!

As for Ben and I, we are doing great. Life is busy with our 2 small children, but it full of adventure! We never know what the next day will be like. We had a wonderful summer and had the chance to go to Nauvoo with Ben’s family. It was such a wonderful experience, one in which we will never forget. We loved the simply life they lived without so much hustle and bustle. We left feeling very grateful for so many things we enjoy, especially the freedoms we have. (I left feeling lucky to have disposable diapers and microwaves!!) Christmas brings back all of those feelings for us because we have the freedom to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We feel blessed to be able to spend time together this Christmas, and will greatly miss those of you who are far away!

We want to tell each of you how much we love you all and hope all is well in your families. We are enjoying this Christmas season and I love to sit and daydream of all the fun things that next year has in store for us. Until next year….Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year

With Love,
Ben, Jessica, Emily and Caleb Willoughby

Christmas Tag

So Elisa tagged me a few days ago, but my kids have been really sick and today they are just getting around to feeling better. So here you go....


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I will qrap anything just to put it under the tree...dumb I know.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Pre-lit Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? After Thanksgiving. We watch Elf while putting up our tree.
4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years
5. Do you like eggnog? Yummo!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? BIG box full of stuff to make crafts
7. Hardest person to buy for? Brother
8. Easiest person to buy for? Emily
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I have 2. My mom made one for me and my mother-in-law bought us a little porcelain one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, I love sending and recieving them.
11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Ear muffs
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Late november...I am a procrastinator!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Who would admit to this??
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything, maily fudge!
16. Lights on the tree? Yep!
17. Favorite Christmas song? Traditional: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day---Other:My Grown-up Christmas Wish
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I love to do both. I wish we didn't have to travel, I wish we could all just be together.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes...it is easy when you sing the song to a 2 year old 80 times a day!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?Both
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The competition
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Silver and Red or Red and Gold
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? New slippers...I love slippers!!

I tag Amber, Tracy and Valerie

Our Acting Debut

Above is a video I took of Emily singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town, she is so excited for Santa to Come. When asked what she wants Santa to bring her, she says "A kitchen AND a doll house." Not one or the other she wants BOTH....of course she does. :) Christmas is so much more fun when you have kids! Below is a picture from last year.


So for those of you who do not already know, me and my kids helped my Sister out by appearing in a Mystery Diagnosis Episode on my neice Averi. Averi was born with a disease called Osteopetrosis (a rare bone disease). Mystery Diagnosis comes on the Discovery Health Channel and is pretty interesting.

So the episode on Averi is going to broadcast on December 8, it is called The Baby Who Won't Stop Crying (dorky I know). Caleb played the part of Averi (poor guy played a baby girl, but did a great job!!!) and Emily played Taylor-Averi's sister (after all Emily does idolize Taylor). We recieved the DVD the other day and it was fun to watch. Amber and James (Sis and Bro-in-law) did awesome!! I helped them for 2 days and was totally exausted! The story was only 1/8 of what happened, but as a whole the production is interesting and very tear jerking! My face even appears in the show for a brief moment--lucky me I had just had a C-section 3 weeks earlier.
Anyway if you have the chance or the channel, watch, it is pretty interesting.

http://health.discovery.com/fansites/mystery-diagnosis/mystery-diagnosis.html

A Thankful Heart and a Big Appetite!

Like most people I spent most of the day cooking up pies, rolls, salads and just simply trying to stay sane through it all. Luckily I have 3 wonderful people to walk me through my day...My Mom, my Sister and on of my BFF's Lisa. Speaking of lucky or should I say blessing because of the time of year, I have so much to be grateful for.

For FHE this week I made a box and we (meaning Emily and Mom-mostly Mom) went through a magazine and found pictures and cut them out and glued them onto a box. The purpose of the box is for us to write things we are grateful for throughout the week and put them in the box. I think we have done fairly well and it has brought on a lot of thought. I had to ask Emily what things made her happy instead of what are your blessing, obviously because she is 2 and the answer was simply "Cabie" (meaning Caleb). It was so cute. They are top on my list for the things I am grateful for!!! Man, they can make me mad one minute and then have me rolling on the floor the next. We were driving in the car a few days ago and they were in the back seat cracking up at each other, it was so funny! I wanted to jump back there and join them!!!

Next or equally on my list would be my sweet hubby! He amazes me! He also can make me mad one minute and them make me smile from ear to ear the next! I love that man, more than I can express!! He is so thoughtful and is so willing to help me with the kids. He works 10 hour days and usually only gets 4-5 hours of sleep at night and is always willing to get up in the middle of the night with either of our kids. He has taught me so much over the past 4 years of our marriage. Mainly to laugh, I think I inherited my dad's dry sense of humor (sorry dad)--I honestly have a hard time laughing, but Ben has showed me how easy it is and there is more to life than living and dying.

Also on the top of my list would be The Gospel. That includes our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. What comfort I receive from praying and attending the temple and learning more and more each day of how I need to be living my life. I love President Monson as well. He is so wise!! Period! He speaks and I know I need to listen...carefully! What a great man!!

I guess I shouldn't say also on the top of my list anymore because everything on my list is number one, including my next blessing...my family and friends! My mom and sister and friends (especially Lisa) listen to me and help me through my day. I love them so much and feel so blessed to have their love and friendship in my life.

Anyway this became a really long post, but I could go on and on with the things I am grateful for. We truly are blessed. I can't wait for Christmas, it will be so much fun this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope you each eat wonderful food and are surrounded by the people you love.

Twilight...ho hum!!!

So on Thursday me and some of my friends went to the midnight showing of Twilight. I haved so many mixed feelings about the movie. It was good, it really was...BUT it was also so cheesy!! There was of few really good scenes, like the running scenes were done really good. There was also some beautiful shots. Edward's hair was tacky, but his voice and smile fit to a T. I love most of the other characters except Carlisle. He totally looked make-up caked! Yuck! Anyway overall, it was alright, I am glad I read the book first. I will go see the next movie. AND the best part I had alot of fun with my girlfriends!

My two little turkeys

On Wednesday it was such a rainy, dreary day, we decided to make a little craft. I found this cute idea online and went with it. They turned out really cute!!! My 2 babies are the cutest little turkeys I have ever seen!!!

This picture makes me laugh because Emily was making such funny faces at herself. She thought she was so cool!!

Caleb looked so cute! Unfortunaltley, later that night he ripped off the right red wing and ate it...poor turkey!

In the leafy treetops (Or they were leafy before they landed all over my lawn!!!)

We have so many leaves on our lawn because of our 2 huge maple trees. I love the trees in the summertime because they provide excellant shade, but in the fall they have so many leaves that fall and cover our lawn. Last year we fill up our truck 3 or 4 times before the leaves were gone. It is a chore but add a little sugar and the job becomes a game. I obviouisly wasn't working too hard when I was taking these pictures of Emily, but had could I resist?

The other night Ben and I were watching Journey to the Center of the Earth and he fell asleep (not unusual for a Willoughby). But I watched him and thought about all he does for our family and I just wanted to cry. He looked so handsome and peaceful. Although the peace ended when I started taking pictures of him...oops. I am so thankful for his good job and for all the things we are blessed with. I am thankful that he makes so many things possible for us. Today in our RS class we discussed the Joseph and Emma letters and in one of them he says "Remember that I am a true and faithful friend to you and the children forever. My heart is entwined around yours forever and ever." I loved that and feel the same way about Ben and my children. I am just so grateful to be a wife and mother!!!

Halloween Fun

We had a lot of fun this Halloween! I was the mother of Little Red Riding Hood and a Mr. Penguin for the day. With the help of my wonderful mother-in-law, we made Emily a cape that turned out oh so cute!!! And also with the help of my fab sister-in-law Caleb was the cutest penguin I have ever seen! We went to Ben's Grandparent's house and had dinner in a pumpkin and snake bites--it was Yummo!!! And then came the candy. We went trunk or treating and saw a lot of fun, scary and even some pretty risque costumes (mind you this is at a church trunk or treat) I believe the risque ones just saw free candy and stopped on by. But we had lots of fun and I can't wait till next year. Emily has already told me she wants to be Wendy and Caleb is going to be Peter Pan. So cute!!!

Food Storage Update...

Well I think we are finally done buying food storage for awhile. We have accomplished our goal of having 1 year supply of food for 4 people, and it has taken one whole room of our house. I could go in that room and stand in the middle and look around for hours.

Here is a final list:

600 lbs. Hard cracked Wheat

150 lbs. Rice

150 lbs. Quick oats

325 lbs. flour

30 lbs. honey

175 lbs. sugar

250 lbs. beans

3.5 Gallons veg. oil

24 cans evap. milk

24 + cans veggies

24 cans tuna

3 Gal. Clorox

12 cans Spagetti sauce

70 lbs. Non-fat instant milk

48 boxes of jello/pudding

4 bottles ketcup

5 Gal. Laundry Detergant

25 lbs. Instant Potato Flakes

73 Gal. Water

100 lbs. potatoes

5 lbs. peanut butter

40 Cans of cream soup

Panake and Cake mixes

Ramen Noodles---so easy and cheap
25 Quarts of Apples (Applesauce, dehydrated, pie filling)

25 lbs. Spagetti Noodles

20 lbs. Macaroni Noodles

6 lbs. yeast

16 lbs. salt

Holy Smokes..my brain is tired! I will post pictures someday when it is all in 5 gallon buckets and a little more organized. :)

So are the Days of Our Lives.....

We have been busy lately. Ben's family came to visit last week and it has been alot of fun being with them. We are even lucky to have his Mom with us for 2 more weeks. She is so much help and we appreciate her alot! Emily cries alot during the day for "Gramma Sheri". We are also lucky to have a Great Great Grandma in our family. We took some 5 generation pictures and it was fun to see us all together. I have also been using my handy Canon Rebel for some quick pics. My poor kids, I torture them (well not really but sometimes they think so).

Isn't she funny! She makes me laugh so hard sometimes.

She is also such a good big sister! All she has to do is look at Caleb and he grins from ear to ear!

***********

Today I needed some fresh air and it was such a beautiful day I couldn't help but enjoy it! We went to my Piano Lessons and then to the store. While I was waiting for a prescription to be filled we took a stroll in the park. Caleb slept the whole time but Emily and I swung on the swings and went on the slides and sang songs. We have fun together!!!!

My Hubby's Blog

With the Economy going crazy, Ben decided to start his own blog about the Signs of the Times. He has done a really good job. Please read and feel free to comment.

http://benwilloughby.blogspot.com/

Look-A-Like

This is a picture of Ben's Grandpa when he was little. I think they look alot alike (besides the dark hair of course)! I posted this just for fun....what do ya think?

7 Months Old

Today my sweet little baby is 7 months old. He is growing up too fast...as everyone says when they have a new baby! I thought I would write about all of his favorite things: EMILY!!! He loves her! All she has to do is look at him and he giggles. He loves to chew on everything! He even has 3 teeth and 1 coming through. He is such a good eater and eats most everything. His recent favorite is pumpkin bread!! YUMMO! He loves his bathes and will bath forever. He loves his Mommy which makes it hard sometimes, but deep inside I love that he loves me!! He loves his grandpas. He loves his Johnny Jumper. The other day he fell asleep in it and was still jumping, it was extra cute!! He also loves to smile and flirt, no matter who it is. He is such a good boy...spoiled but good! We are still working on the sleeping but I know patience is a virtue!! :) We love you little Cabie and we are so glad you came to our family 7 short months ago!!

Here are some pictures I took today...

Its the end of the world as we know it

So with the Economy going to Hades, we decided it was time to finally be more obedient and stock up on our food storage. Ben is going full force and has done alot to make sure we are stocked up for a year supply of food. We are not finished yet, we still have quite a few things left to buy, but we are on our way.

So far we have:

325 lbs. Hard cracked Wheat

100 lbs. Rice

150 lbs. Quick oats

325 lbs. flour

30 lbs. honey

175 lbs. sugar

75 lbs. beans

3.5 Gallons veg. oil

24 cans evap. milk

24 + cans veggies

24 cans tuna

3 Gal. Clorox

12 cans Spagetti sauce

4 boxes Non-fat instant milk

48 boxes of jello and pudding

4 bottles ketcup

5 Gal. Laundry Detergant

25 lbs. Instant Potato Flakes

Water

100 lbs. potatoes

5 lbs. peanut butter

40 Cans of cream soup

Panake and Cake mixes

Ramen Noodles---so easy and cheap

We also took a trip to the Army Surplus store and started getting stuff for 72 hour kits. We have a long way to go yet. We are working on it though. So I guess we can all learn that procrastination is bad! I am the worst, but working on it! :)

This had nothing to do with Food Storage, but I thought I would throw it in because Caleb was being cute in his bouncer. He looks like a little frog and acts like one too. He is so much fun and is getting so big. He eats everything and can almost crawl instead of just army scoot. I love my little man!

Free Handbag

This website is offering a chance to win a free handbag. They are super cute. And for posting it you get 25 more chances to win...YAY!!
http://www.handbagplanet.com

Let's go Fly A Kite

Last Saturday we finally found a kite for Emily. She loves to watch Mary Poppins and has always wanted to fly a kite. We searched a couple of stores and finally found a couple at Kings in Shelley---good ole Kings! Emily was so afraid we were going to let go that she screamed most of the time. But that was okay because Ben had fun seeing how high he could let it go without losing it. He is just like a little kids sometimes, I love it!!

Here is a picture of the roses sent me for our anniversary---I thought they were beautiful. Funny story though....When the lady brought them to me she asked me to sign the paper. While signing she asked "What is the occasion" I answered it is my 4th year wedding anniversary." (Keep in mind that I was still in my pjs, no make-up and I had 2 children screaming in the background) and then smiled and added "and now 4 years and 2 children later here we are..." She answered by glaring at me and said "You don't want to hear my story" and while storming away from my front porch she yelled "You have it good!" I was left in awe!! Where the heck did that come from. My sister and I came up with many reasons why she could be so bitter. Maybe she was going through a bad divorce because her husbannd never sent her flowers, yet her occupation happened to be a florist delivery person. So to that poor florist delivery person I wish to say "Thanks for the flowers and for filling my day full of sunshine!"

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Today is our 4th Year Anniversary so I wanted to tell Ben how much I love and appreciate him. He is such a wonderful husband and father. I have never known anyone with so much patience. Ben comes home from work and is my hero, he rescuses me from the frustrations of life and always can make me laugh or smile. He is my strength and such a great example to me.
We have gone through some of the most exciting times together and have so many fun memories together and we aren't about to stop! Some of the things we have done are: we have visited Rhode Isalnd, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinios, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland, and Montana (this doesn't include the many states we have had to fly into to get to those states). Each of these states also has it's own set of memories to go with it. We have had 2 children in the past 4 years and have bought our own home. I am so proud of our accomplishments!

Jessica aka...

I saw this on my cousin Dayna's blog and thought it was so funny.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Koko Accord
2. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR'S NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Digital Thounderstorm Tour
3. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Cheesecake Samoa
4. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
J-Hil
5. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Metallic Blue Baby (I love all baby animals so I guess it could be elephant, giraffe, deer, etc.)
6. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Dawn Idaho Falls (that is kinda dorkie)
7. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Wilje (It just sounds like E-bonics to me)
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) Red A &W
9. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Keith Byron
10. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Flirtatious Bliss
11. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Jo Paul
12. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Hansen Hubbard
13. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Autum Tulip
14. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Mango Sweatie
15. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Banana Acorn (hmmmm)

Well aren't you the quirky one.....

My sister tagged me and I am suppose to list 6 of my biggest quirks. Of course I have many but when I tried to think of them all I could think of was perfection!! :) But I was able to think really hard and here is what I came up with:

1) When I brush my teeth I gag. Everytime!!! When Ben and I first got married he would always run into the bathroom to see if I was okay. Now he is so used to it, it doesn't phase him.

2) This is her husband: in order to get a true appreciation for her quirks, it is necessary to be brutally honest. She has the weirdest dreams and then she feels the need to explain every detail to me. They are so weird that I have to share them with someone. I totally get it from my mom. My sister has the same problem.

3) She waits until after she is done eating to drink her whole glass of milk. I don't like to get done eating and have to get yet another drink because I drank it all during my meal.

4) She has to have a 2 pieces of toast with her oatmeal or else she can't eat oatmeal. It is too slimy to eat all alone.

5) She has to have whipped cream on her jello or else she can't eat jello. Again too slimy to eat all alone!!

6) She has to have her bed made before she gets into it, even if it hasn't been made all day. I like my bed a certain way and Ben is such a crazy sleeper that I practically have to re-make my bed everyday.

7) I LOVE to make lists!!! I make them all day long and have a ton of notebooks scattered throughout my house full of lists.

Alright, that is enough of picking on me, I now want to pick on someone else. I tag Elisa, Tracy and Heather.

Caleb is 6 months old and growing fast!!

My little baby is 6 months old already! I can't believe it! He grew up too fast. I took some pictures of him doing some of his favorite things (okay so maybe dressing up like a yellow duckie isn't one of his favorite things, but it was one of mine, he looked so cute! I had to dress him up pre-halloween because I knew it wouldn't fit him in a month.)

NEXT...

Emily decided to put together Mr. Potato Head "all by herself" and this is the outcome. I laughed because she thought she was so cool and so big to do it alone.

Okay so I haven't blogged in awhile so here are some other fun pictures: I got a new camera and I am having so much fun with it! Can you tell???

Emily wearing my new glasses...

Can you say cute???

Emily with her Great Great Grandma Mecham.