3D all the way

Friday night was date night. We procrastinated getting a babysitter. "We" meaning "I." I proceeded to call 15 homes. I was rejected and/or met with an answering machine 15 times. WOW.

Plan B. Family group date.

Normally, even the thought makes me shudder. . . . but, when I haven't been out of the house all week I'm willing to take risks.

Enter Fuddruckers. Bless you Fuddruckers. (just don't get tongue tied saying it)

No wait, no waitress and burgers as big as your head. What more could a family of 5 ask for? We ate until we had to be rolled out of the door, and then we moved on to Megamind at the Pictureshow. (I love that they named it the Pictureshow. It reminds me of my grandma)

Megamind in 3D, mind you. (No pun intended.) It was really funny. Plus, nobody whined for treats or popcorn. . . nobody even mentioned them. Hallelujah! Dreamworks has redeemed themselves this past year with How to Train Your Dragon and now Megamind. On the way out, there was no recycle bin for the 3D glasses. Somehow, I ended up with 5 pairs of 3D glasses in my purse.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon. Dr. Theobald has popped the lenses out of the glasses. Paige has found her new favorite toy.

Meet Margo.

She's part cute little girl/part dirty rotten swindler. I had to buy the stuffed animals and then give them back to her. There was no refund.

jammies

Morgan has an obsession with jammies. If you try to put her to bed with just a t-shirt on she freaks out. She HAS to have her jammies. For Christmas she got 2 new pair.

These are her "loop doop" jammies. I may throw them in the wash 2-3 times a week. . . just so I can hear her ask for the "loop doop" jammies at bedtime. I'm such a sucker.

Laugh more

We all need to laugh more. My friend, Jordan, shared these videos on her blog. I felt the need to pass on the love. You'll laugh. . . outloud. . . even if you're by yourself. . . so don't try to watch them on your iphone when you're supposed to be working.

You won't be able to choose a favorite.

I swear, some people really make the most of their Christmas breaks.

I can't wait to show these to my kids tomorrow.

Episode 1


Episode 2


Episode 3

Welcome 2011

I can't believe it's a new year already. The time has flown from September until now, as it does for me every year. 2 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, taking families' photos, traveling, shopping, cooking. . . phew! I love the season. I also love the start of a fresh year with so many possiblities!

Here's a little recap of the season's events:

Family pictures for the Christmas card, taken with the timer. . . well, sort of. Only I know the truth.

Paige starring as pig #2 in her school musical performance, "A Barnyard Moosical" . . . . so cute!

Finally decorating the tree after the Thanksgiving holiday fiasco. I love our tree. It's "family style" and I hope for new crazy ornaments from school or church every year.

Tyler, starring as Dr. Brainpain in his 4th grade Christmas play. What a cool cat. He breezed through the performance like it was nothing. 17 lines and a few songs later, he has his first production under his belt.

We used the scripture advent from the Friend magazine this year. . . which led to one inevitable conversation. I'll give you a hint. "So Mom, you can CHOOSE to have a baby?"

I will never view the advent in the same light.

The ward Christmas party aka Luau. Morgan loved the leis. . . obviously. It was really warm in the room. I kept asking her if she wanted to take them off. She would just run in the opposite direction. It made me have claustrophobia just looking at her. She didn't "sit" on Santa's lap, but she gave him a high 5. Shane filled in for her.

Paige was picked (by that cute little boy on the right) to try her hand at hula dancing. Front and center with a big smile on her face. . . that's my girl. She claims that she would really like to take hula lessons now.

I got to open my Christmas present a little early. Tickets to the AZ Ballet Nutcracker. That's right, Shane's a true man. He watched men in tights for 2 hours. That's devotion right there.

The performance was really great. My favorite parts were the rats, the Waltz of the Flowers and, of course, the sugar plum fairy.

We ended the date at Tia Rosa's. Really the perfect present and a great day.

My friend, Melanie, showed me how to make these fun snowflakes. Paige and I spent the better part of an afternoon making a dozen to hang in the dining room.

We enjoyed Christmas Eve at the Whitfield's home with great food.

Christmas morning began with the traditional wrapping-paper-over-the-door bit. Morgan was a little impatient, but Shane held her off until I had the camera ready.

Christmas Day came and went and this guy's birthday was close behind. 10 years old. We celebrated at Peter Piper Pizza on the 28th and then packed for California on the 29th while he played video games with his friends. On the 30th, we had another little celebration in California with Grandma, Grandpa, Sarah and Josh.

We were so excited to spend New Year's Eve at Sea World. We rode Atlantis and froze at the night Shamu show. . . which was so worth it.

Happy 2011 to all and to all a good night.

Thankgiving follies

Let's have a little chat about Thanksgiving. Also, let's chat about the phrase "when it rains, it pours." Our Thanksgiving was the definition of this quote.

We were so excited for Mom and Dad to come in on Wednesday afternoon. They drove and drove and drove some more. . . bless their pea-pickin' little hearts.

Mom and Dad made it out of Blackfoot just before the roads were closed due to a blizzard. (Apparantly it hasn't stopped snowing since.) They pulled up right on schedule and everything went sour. I'm not saying that these two things are related in any way.

Tyler found a comfy seat in the armchair and didn't move all night. His face got more pale and he started to say he didn't feel good. All 3 kids refused dinner. By midnight he was throwing up.

Turkey day was here, after a long night. Tyler had slept on the couch. Shane took off to play in the turkey bowl, and Mom, Morgan and I went on a jog. After we got home we went to put the turkey in the bag and the bag was defective. Mom and Dad ran to Wally World to get another bag. no bags left.

We cooked the turkey in foil. The turkey will be done by 3, we planned. 3:00 came and went and the turkey was still practically alive. (Note to self: Don't cook the turkey and the ham at the same time unless you raise the oven temp.) Honestly, I've cooked Thanksgiving turkey plenty of times before. The day was just cursed.

Around 1:00 Tyler began to point out the red spots on his belly that really itched. Are you kidding me? They continued to spread over his entire body. They looked a lot like chicken pox. They were in his mouth, down his throat and in his ears. We researched and debated taking him to urgent care and finally came to the conclusion that it was a really bad case of the hives. We kept him home and drugged him up with benedryl.

Thanksgiving night Mom and I headed to Toys R Us to cash in on some Black Friday goodness. I have only ever been shopping on Black Friday in California where all was merry and bright. I was under the impression that we would have a nice time. Apparantly people in AZ are crazy. The Toys R Us line was INSANE. We opted out and headed home.

Good thing we did. Shane was doubled over on the bedroom floor. He hasn't been officially diagnosed yet, but I'm pretty sure he was having a gallbladder attack. He described the exact pain that I had 2 1/2 years ago when I had my gallbladder attacks. I did a little research on the web and found out that drinking pear juice allieviates the pain. Also, flax "tea" does too. It worked. 1 hour later, he was asleep. He attacked the next night too. Poor guy.

Friday came and we spent the day at home. I felt bad that my parents had come all the way to sit in my house. They're so patient though. The kids loved seeing them despite the sickness. Early Saturday morning, Paige started in on the throwing up. Mom and Dad were leaving early - 5am-I told them they better run. It didn't help. I just talked to Mom and she's had the flu too. Yuck.

Even with the chaos, we're still thankful. Thankful for family, thankful for friends, thankful that Tyler didn't have the chicken pox. Thankful that Shane could find some relief for his pain. Thankful for the times when we're not sick.

Of course, it's a lot easier to be thankful now that the craziness has passed :)

In this picture the hives weren't even that bad.

This is after the 2nd day of having benedryl.

Of course he didn't want me taking pictures on the first day. He felt horrible.

Dad, just hanging with the kiddos. . . . or should I say the sickos.

How to Train Your Dragon Birthday

Happy 7th Birthday yesterday to our no-so-little-anymore Paigey. Oh how fast the time escapes. The Elmo phase has passed. The princess and Dora phase is over. We're heading into teeny-bopper time and I'm not so sure I'm ready for it. Play make-up and Barbies. No more bows in her hair. Disney channel music videos and Delilah on the radio. She may have a small crush on Hiccup from her dragon movie. Can you even have a crush on a cartoon character? I'll take cartoon crushes over real-life crushes any day.

Seven things I love about my Paige:

* She's passionate. About mostly everything.
* She's expressive. There isn't really a time when we don't know exactly how she feels.
* She LOVES music!
* She's not afraid to try most things.
* She's creative in her art, school and pretend play
* She loves my cooking
* She's always excited about the next big holiday, next visit from family, or next family outing. Her excitement is contagious!


The 7th birthday bash was a hit. Saturday will forever be remembered as the "How to Train Your Dragon Birthday". Not, the big 7th birthday, or the big birthday before you turn 8. . . nope, she's hopelessly addicted to dragons.

We focused on the "training" your dragon instead of the violence of the vikings, since it was a girl party. The girls loved it! They each got their own little beanie baby dragon (retired and purchased cheap on Amazon!) They held their dragon while I tossed fish to them in the "Let's Be Friends Fish Toss." Kylee and Tyler won, hands down, with 5 fish caught between them in one minute.


Then, we played pin the tail on the dragon. Paige drew this cute little Toothless picture a few weeks back. I had her make a little brown tail to pin on.

Next was the golden dragon egg hunt. They searched for golden dragon eggs in various places all over the house and down the street. The last clue led them to the "dragon nest" where they picked up their goodie boxes.



While they hunted for golden eggs, they made their own ice cream in a bag. Each of them had their own little double bag with a serving of ice cream mix, ice, and rock salt. They squeezed it as they hunted. Some turned out, some didn't. I figured some of them were a little too distracted while hunting and forgot to squeeze their bag. It all worked out. By the time we had eaten pizza and cupcakes, only a couple of them wanted the ice cream anyway.

They each colored a little picture and watched How to Train Your Dragon while they waited for the pizza to cook.

Before I knew it, the pizza was gone, the cupcakes were mostly gone and the presents had all been opened. 4 girls were just enough for our little house. I never could have imagined the noise that can come from 4 little 7-year-old girls!