I'm so happy. We made it through last week with it's massive To-Do list and the four Christmas parties. Now I can sit back and relax (and course you know by "relax" I mean run around and finish everything I need to do before we leave for Uncle Aaron's on Friday, right? And figure out how to fit all of Christmas + four suitcases into our trunk.) Still, this week was pretty good.
-I got another freelance job from my favorite client, a Hidden Picture puzzle of kids in Singing Time. And it's a puzzle proposal that I sent to them November of last year. So it's totally an Apryl Stott Original, written and illustrated. Hooray for me!
-I've listened to the Christmas Mix cd so much this week that the girls know the words to the songs (now it's time to make a NEW mix cd!) And Colby got to listen to it every time he was in my car. In case anyone ever thought that we share the same taste in music, apparently we don't. And apparently all I like is, "Lame emo crap." Whatevs. He's the one who said "Our Song" was Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". That's like the ORIGINAL emo.
-The First Graders at Ella's school had a "Winter Performance". We showed up 5 minutes late. It was over 5 minutes after that. It was only TEN MINUTES LONG!!! This should be the new standard for school performances. Except we should get there in time. (Poor Ella was so nervous about the performance. Did she have a speaking part? No. She was supposed to sing "Jingle Bells" with the rest of the first grade. That's it. And stand there. Apparently she does NOT have a stage career in her future.)
-Our new Family Performance Art Project (what, you don't have one of those?) is to put pictures of Colby into unsuspecting friends picture frames when they're not looking (you know, when they invite us over for dinner & are nice and naieve enough to leave us in a room unsupervised). Our friends had a frame hung up in their living room with the original model-family (the picture the frame came with). We replaced it with a nice 8x10 of Mr. Stott. It's been 24 hours. Apparently they haven't noticed yet. I'll give it a week.
But the best thing about this past week? It's DONE!!!
So what's YOUR Family Performance Art Project?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
and so the holidays begin....
Ella made us this handy little map for our Thanksgiving trip. We totally followed it too.
The drive was so cold. How cold? When Colby went to wash the back window at McDonalds/Gas Station stop (as seen on map above), the water froze before he could clean off the window. That, my friends, is too cold.
We enjoyed a stay at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Baby Skye & Baby Kait are BFF-Cousins, and Gretchen loved them so.
(My favorite part of this pic isn't Gretchen's "Intense" face, it's Kait jumping on the bed inches from Skye's head.)
We had a few fun activities, the coldest being a trip to Temple Square. Here Grandpa holds the babies, who are probably wondering what possessed us to drag through sub-freezing temperatures to look at....Christmas lights.
Ella's Primary asked for a picture of her for a craft they're making. I can't find a good one! She's constantly doing stuff like this:
Grandpa, Thanksgiving is SO AWESOME, right?
Yes, yes it is.
We tried to take a family picture for Great Grandpa. Here's the best one:
And here's the 2nd best one:
Now we get to prepare for this:
And friends, let me tell you, it's been a little crazy here. Yesterday BEFORE NOON we'd:
-Had a major temper tantrum on the walk to Breakfast With Santa (Ella! Not Gretchen! She doesn't do it often, but when she does WATCH OUT!!! I promptly dragged her home and left her with Dad. Why was she so upset? She didn't like how baggy her new tights were. I understand that baggy tights can be frustrating, my darling child, but REALLY!?!?!?!?) And so....
-....Gretchen and I enjoyed Breakfast With Santa with our peeps. Donuts and OJ, Booya!
-Did the free craft at Home Depot
-Went to the church for a baptism
-Ran to the store because there were no refreshments and theYW were supposed to provide them! Ahhhhhh!
-Set up refreshments.
-Sighed with relief and checked to see when we could all go to bed.
But we didn't go to bed, instead we went home and cleaned and watched Doctor Who and cleaned and went to a church Christmas Party. And how many church Christmas parties are there this year? Three. THREE!!! Next up, the Relief Society Christmas Dinner. Oh my word, people! This is not keeping things simple! Plus on Friday is Ella's school Christmas program, plus Girl Scouts party, plus the school's "Holly Fest". No one can accuse us of letting Christmas get away un-celebrated.
This week I'm trying to ship out my Christmas Mix Cd-Presents, Christmas Cards & Christmas Mailers. WISH ME LUCK. What are YOU trying to get done this week. Because OMG, we have 20 days left!!! (Don't worry, it's really not that bad. This is the last bit of stuff I have to do & then I'm DONE! Yay!) (And yes, I realize I do this all to myself. I can only blame myself. It's all good.)
PS - I have to tell you what Gretchen did yesterday. She was wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress (of course), and as I tucked her in for her nap she said, "No mom! No blanket. Like Sleeping Beauty."
"Doesn't Sleeping Beauty use a blanket?"
"No. Like this," she said, covering only her feet. I obliged and then she said, "No Mom. I need flowers." I handed her some silk flowers we have (they have a very girly room). She grasped them in her hands and laid down the sleep, looking just as dramatic as this:
(And yes, this is a screenshot of Anne of Green Gables, where Anne reenacts "The Lady of Shallot". The drama runs deep.)
GOOD LUCK this week! Lets all try real hard to say "No" when anyone asks us to do anything else, and spend more time at home. Because really, we don't NEED to do all this stuff, right? Ok! (Yeah, like I'll really listen to my own advice!)
The drive was so cold. How cold? When Colby went to wash the back window at McDonalds/Gas Station stop (as seen on map above), the water froze before he could clean off the window. That, my friends, is too cold.
We enjoyed a stay at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Baby Skye & Baby Kait are BFF-Cousins, and Gretchen loved them so.
(My favorite part of this pic isn't Gretchen's "Intense" face, it's Kait jumping on the bed inches from Skye's head.)
We had a few fun activities, the coldest being a trip to Temple Square. Here Grandpa holds the babies, who are probably wondering what possessed us to drag through sub-freezing temperatures to look at....Christmas lights.
Ella's Primary asked for a picture of her for a craft they're making. I can't find a good one! She's constantly doing stuff like this:
Grandpa, Thanksgiving is SO AWESOME, right?
Yes, yes it is.
We tried to take a family picture for Great Grandpa. Here's the best one:
And here's the 2nd best one:
Now we get to prepare for this:
And friends, let me tell you, it's been a little crazy here. Yesterday BEFORE NOON we'd:
-Had a major temper tantrum on the walk to Breakfast With Santa (Ella! Not Gretchen! She doesn't do it often, but when she does WATCH OUT!!! I promptly dragged her home and left her with Dad. Why was she so upset? She didn't like how baggy her new tights were. I understand that baggy tights can be frustrating, my darling child, but REALLY!?!?!?!?) And so....
-....Gretchen and I enjoyed Breakfast With Santa with our peeps. Donuts and OJ, Booya!
-Did the free craft at Home Depot
-Went to the church for a baptism
-Ran to the store because there were no refreshments and theYW were supposed to provide them! Ahhhhhh!
-Set up refreshments.
-Sighed with relief and checked to see when we could all go to bed.
But we didn't go to bed, instead we went home and cleaned and watched Doctor Who and cleaned and went to a church Christmas Party. And how many church Christmas parties are there this year? Three. THREE!!! Next up, the Relief Society Christmas Dinner. Oh my word, people! This is not keeping things simple! Plus on Friday is Ella's school Christmas program, plus Girl Scouts party, plus the school's "Holly Fest". No one can accuse us of letting Christmas get away un-celebrated.
This week I'm trying to ship out my Christmas Mix Cd-Presents, Christmas Cards & Christmas Mailers. WISH ME LUCK. What are YOU trying to get done this week. Because OMG, we have 20 days left!!! (Don't worry, it's really not that bad. This is the last bit of stuff I have to do & then I'm DONE! Yay!) (And yes, I realize I do this all to myself. I can only blame myself. It's all good.)
PS - I have to tell you what Gretchen did yesterday. She was wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress (of course), and as I tucked her in for her nap she said, "No mom! No blanket. Like Sleeping Beauty."
"Doesn't Sleeping Beauty use a blanket?"
"No. Like this," she said, covering only her feet. I obliged and then she said, "No Mom. I need flowers." I handed her some silk flowers we have (they have a very girly room). She grasped them in her hands and laid down the sleep, looking just as dramatic as this:
(And yes, this is a screenshot of Anne of Green Gables, where Anne reenacts "The Lady of Shallot". The drama runs deep.)
GOOD LUCK this week! Lets all try real hard to say "No" when anyone asks us to do anything else, and spend more time at home. Because really, we don't NEED to do all this stuff, right? Ok! (Yeah, like I'll really listen to my own advice!)
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Dancy Pants
A wonderful thing happened again. Ella's school threw another dance!!! Hooray!!! Remember last years? Watching kids dance to Michael Jackson is so entertaining, they should make a TV show about it. I would watch that on hulu (and not just because I've run out of things to watch and have moved onto teen Korean soap operas.)
And yes, there was another Conga Line. Woot!
With staying up dancing till the crack of 8:30 pm, you'd think Gretchen would want to sleep in a little. But no. She woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning. Which means I got to take a SUPER CRABBY KID with me on a DAY OF FUN! Ella's girl scout troop had gathered supplies for the animal shelter. We dropped all the donations off and got a grand tour. Usually the shelter is full of an overwhelming amount of pitbulls, pitbulls and more pitbulls, but this time there was an actual variety! There was even a weiner dog (that had lost 21 lbs since being rescued. Dude! That was one fat weiner dog!) and a dalmation. Awwww! (Nothing against pitbulls. They just seem to be the dog that needs the most rescuing. Poor things.) Here's Gretchen communing with the puppies:
And Ella literally jumping up and down, she's so excited about the dogs. (I made her stop, don't worry.)
After the shelter tour, we went to an indoor inflatable toy place. (Does that even make sense? You know what I mean, don't you?) Gretchen really enjoyed the ball pool. It was just a baby pool filled with balls, so it wasn't as scary as the 3' deep ones where nasty grossness can get lost there. Just after I took this picture, guess what she said:
"Mom! Where's my gum!"
Don't worry, we found it. And I made sure all gum was properly disposed of. (I didn't even REALIZE she had gum in her mouth! Surprise!)
It snowed on Friday night. The weather reports had prepared me for a foot of snow on the valley floor. I think we may have gotten two inches. It was nice. Pretty, but quickly melting. We got to walk around in it a bit. Ella observed that when you walk on snow it, "...sounds like someone is farting." That's right, sweetheart. Now lets go make some hot chocolate.
This week we're making the trek out to Grandma & Grandpa's house. I'm attempting to finish all the Utah Stott Christmas Presents before we leave. Part of that is my annual Christmas Photo Ornament gift for Grandma & Grandpa. I'm not going to show the REAL one, just the ones that didn't make the cut:
Oh for cute.
So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?
And yes, there was another Conga Line. Woot!
With staying up dancing till the crack of 8:30 pm, you'd think Gretchen would want to sleep in a little. But no. She woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning. Which means I got to take a SUPER CRABBY KID with me on a DAY OF FUN! Ella's girl scout troop had gathered supplies for the animal shelter. We dropped all the donations off and got a grand tour. Usually the shelter is full of an overwhelming amount of pitbulls, pitbulls and more pitbulls, but this time there was an actual variety! There was even a weiner dog (that had lost 21 lbs since being rescued. Dude! That was one fat weiner dog!) and a dalmation. Awwww! (Nothing against pitbulls. They just seem to be the dog that needs the most rescuing. Poor things.) Here's Gretchen communing with the puppies:
And Ella literally jumping up and down, she's so excited about the dogs. (I made her stop, don't worry.)
After the shelter tour, we went to an indoor inflatable toy place. (Does that even make sense? You know what I mean, don't you?) Gretchen really enjoyed the ball pool. It was just a baby pool filled with balls, so it wasn't as scary as the 3' deep ones where nasty grossness can get lost there. Just after I took this picture, guess what she said:
"Mom! Where's my gum!"
Don't worry, we found it. And I made sure all gum was properly disposed of. (I didn't even REALIZE she had gum in her mouth! Surprise!)
It snowed on Friday night. The weather reports had prepared me for a foot of snow on the valley floor. I think we may have gotten two inches. It was nice. Pretty, but quickly melting. We got to walk around in it a bit. Ella observed that when you walk on snow it, "...sounds like someone is farting." That's right, sweetheart. Now lets go make some hot chocolate.
This week we're making the trek out to Grandma & Grandpa's house. I'm attempting to finish all the Utah Stott Christmas Presents before we leave. Part of that is my annual Christmas Photo Ornament gift for Grandma & Grandpa. I'm not going to show the REAL one, just the ones that didn't make the cut:
Oh for cute.
So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Movin' On Up
Hello Friends!
Remember how we moved and I had to scrounge around for kitchen supplies because ours were buried in the back of the storage unit? And how we've been eating with plastic silverware for eight months? WE NOW HAVE SILVERWARE!!! I know. Don't be intimidated by our awesomeness. I threw away all the plastic knives and most the plastic forks (you served us well, but now you must leave). But I kept the spoons. They are at a premium. We always run out of spoons. And, get this, we have a SILVERWARE DRAWER ORGANIZER! I know, we are so fancy. No more kitchen towel-lined drawer full of random plasticware. Ella opened the drawer in search of a spoon and said, "Wow!!!" Yeah. It is pretty great. Every time I eat cereal I get a little thrill now.
A couple months ago Auntie Amber & Uncle Dan gave us their old TV. And by old TV, I mean 62" flat screen behemoth. It wasn't completely working, but rather than throwing it out they offered it to us if we wanted to deal with fixing it. It's finally fixed (Colby is awesome), and it literally takes up half our living room. It is MASSIVE. But let me tell you, I've never had so much fun watching TV. Who says that things can't bring you happiness. TV has totally brought our family together this week. Ella & Colby were bonding over the 4-wheeler racing game. We watched the first four episodes of Doctor Who, Season Five. It is lovely.
Our little apartment just keeps getting fancier and fancier.
So what are you excited about? Thanksgiving is so soon, can you even believe it? I know!
Remember how we moved and I had to scrounge around for kitchen supplies because ours were buried in the back of the storage unit? And how we've been eating with plastic silverware for eight months? WE NOW HAVE SILVERWARE!!! I know. Don't be intimidated by our awesomeness. I threw away all the plastic knives and most the plastic forks (you served us well, but now you must leave). But I kept the spoons. They are at a premium. We always run out of spoons. And, get this, we have a SILVERWARE DRAWER ORGANIZER! I know, we are so fancy. No more kitchen towel-lined drawer full of random plasticware. Ella opened the drawer in search of a spoon and said, "Wow!!!" Yeah. It is pretty great. Every time I eat cereal I get a little thrill now.
A couple months ago Auntie Amber & Uncle Dan gave us their old TV. And by old TV, I mean 62" flat screen behemoth. It wasn't completely working, but rather than throwing it out they offered it to us if we wanted to deal with fixing it. It's finally fixed (Colby is awesome), and it literally takes up half our living room. It is MASSIVE. But let me tell you, I've never had so much fun watching TV. Who says that things can't bring you happiness. TV has totally brought our family together this week. Ella & Colby were bonding over the 4-wheeler racing game. We watched the first four episodes of Doctor Who, Season Five. It is lovely.
Our little apartment just keeps getting fancier and fancier.
So what are you excited about? Thanksgiving is so soon, can you even believe it? I know!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Fire Station Private Tour
Hello family and friends! How was your week? Ours was pretty good. The obvious highlight in our lives was the fire station. Julie, mother of John John, set up a Private Tour for us. (Does that sound exciting? Oh yes, it WAS exciting. And Gretchen was doing a lot of flirting. What can I say, she likes a man in uniform. Especially a super friendly man who can cook her mac&cheese in his Fire Station Kitchen.)
I took over 150 photos, but edited it down to about 80. One thing you may know about me, I am EXTREMELY picture happy. But I can't help it. Cause look at how cute they were. Awwwwwwww! (Aren't Gretchen & John John the sweetest thing ever when she's not trying to sever one of his fingers with her teeth? I know! His fireman outfit is classic.) (Don't worry, I'm only going to make you look at 4/80 fire station pictures.)
Oh yeah. She liked driving that engine.
The firemen were so great with our loud, rambunctious children. They let each one "drive" an engine, put the headphones on them and talked to them through the mouthpiece (until Gretchen & Cora thought it'd be fun to scream in it. That game didn't last long...), dressed up in all their gear and had the kids hug them. So sweet. (Did you know that we're supposed to tell our kids to give fire men hugs if they see them in a fire? Kids get scared of the firemen when they're decked out in all their gear & will hide in a burning house to get away from them. That makes me want to cry just thinking about it. That's why they do so many tours and school visits, to teach kids that they're not Darth-Vader-Breathing-Monsters when they have their masks on.) Turns out that TWO of the firemen were single. We're totally sending Auntie Krista over there with a plate of Thank-You-Cookies from us. (You can thank Becky for finding that tidbit out. She casually asked, "Y'all are so great with kids! Do you have kids of your own?" That sneaky, clever Becky... Krista, get on it.)
Here's the whole group getting cute with the fire fighters. Gretchen was really into making that awesome face.
See? She did it in every group picture I took of her.
It's not that she doesn't want me to see her face...
It's that she thinks she's hilarious.
Lest you think we ignored our other child this week, I will share that Ella had a sleepover with her BFF while her parents went to something called "Fantasies In Chocolate". I don't know what exactly that is, but I want to go to there. We didn't go to there, but we still had fun. But we were too busy painting nails and watching movies to take any pictures.
Colby and I finally sat down and made some decisions on local issues so we could vote on Tuesday. It made me so proud when we left the junior high with our "I Voted" stickers. I've been reading "Little Bee" for my online book club and that's put some things into perspective. We are really lucky to live in a democratic country. What a blessing. Even if things aren't overwhelmingly great right now, and by no means is our country perfect, it's still pretty much amazing. And no matter how crazy I think my life is sometimes, it could be SO MUCH WORSE! (I'm not sure if I can recommend Little Bee to you yet or not. I have to finish it first. It's given me two nightmares already. It is intense. Beautifully written, but intense.)
Can you believe Thanksgiving is in a few weeks? Did you remember to change your clocks this morning? Share with us! We want to hear!
xoxo
I took over 150 photos, but edited it down to about 80. One thing you may know about me, I am EXTREMELY picture happy. But I can't help it. Cause look at how cute they were. Awwwwwwww! (Aren't Gretchen & John John the sweetest thing ever when she's not trying to sever one of his fingers with her teeth? I know! His fireman outfit is classic.) (Don't worry, I'm only going to make you look at 4/80 fire station pictures.)
Oh yeah. She liked driving that engine.
The firemen were so great with our loud, rambunctious children. They let each one "drive" an engine, put the headphones on them and talked to them through the mouthpiece (until Gretchen & Cora thought it'd be fun to scream in it. That game didn't last long...), dressed up in all their gear and had the kids hug them. So sweet. (Did you know that we're supposed to tell our kids to give fire men hugs if they see them in a fire? Kids get scared of the firemen when they're decked out in all their gear & will hide in a burning house to get away from them. That makes me want to cry just thinking about it. That's why they do so many tours and school visits, to teach kids that they're not Darth-Vader-Breathing-Monsters when they have their masks on.) Turns out that TWO of the firemen were single. We're totally sending Auntie Krista over there with a plate of Thank-You-Cookies from us. (You can thank Becky for finding that tidbit out. She casually asked, "Y'all are so great with kids! Do you have kids of your own?" That sneaky, clever Becky... Krista, get on it.)
Here's the whole group getting cute with the fire fighters. Gretchen was really into making that awesome face.
See? She did it in every group picture I took of her.
It's not that she doesn't want me to see her face...
It's that she thinks she's hilarious.
Lest you think we ignored our other child this week, I will share that Ella had a sleepover with her BFF while her parents went to something called "Fantasies In Chocolate". I don't know what exactly that is, but I want to go to there. We didn't go to there, but we still had fun. But we were too busy painting nails and watching movies to take any pictures.
Colby and I finally sat down and made some decisions on local issues so we could vote on Tuesday. It made me so proud when we left the junior high with our "I Voted" stickers. I've been reading "Little Bee" for my online book club and that's put some things into perspective. We are really lucky to live in a democratic country. What a blessing. Even if things aren't overwhelmingly great right now, and by no means is our country perfect, it's still pretty much amazing. And no matter how crazy I think my life is sometimes, it could be SO MUCH WORSE! (I'm not sure if I can recommend Little Bee to you yet or not. I have to finish it first. It's given me two nightmares already. It is intense. Beautifully written, but intense.)
Can you believe Thanksgiving is in a few weeks? Did you remember to change your clocks this morning? Share with us! We want to hear!
xoxo
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Pumpkin Patch Overload!!!
Hey! Look what I found under the front passenger seat of my car! Hello camera!!! (It pays to vacuum out the car after a road trip! Lots of fun surprises.) And I think I took a total of 5 pictures the whole time we were in California. Go me.
The only time we'll ever get Ella on The Matterhorn:
Standing in Line:
There you go.
No one can accuse us of avoiding Halloween. We have officially had our fill of the pumpkin patch. There are 9 pumpkins residing in our 860 square food apartment. Here's some pics from our last trip (really kids, that's the LAST TIME we go this year. REALLY.) We took all the kids in the corn maze. It was better than our first corn maze attempt, on the field trip with Ella's class. That time it took us over 35 minutes to get through (which is better than the kindergartners, who had to be rescued when they didn't come out after 90 minutes... Isn't it fun being able to pinpoint the EXACT moment you've psychologically scarred your child?) It was also better than when Jaime took Gretchen & her son a few weeks ago, and half way through the maze Gretchen started screaming, "I don't want this corn maze! I want a DIFFERENT CORN MAZE!!!"
Good thing she's cute.
Even when she makes this face:
Ella left her vampire cape in Jaime's car, so she was a witch last night for the Trunk Or Treat (which is when all the cars in the parking lot hand out candy to the kids instead of going door to door). But here's Gretchen in all her Garden Gnome Glory.
There were only about 20 cars at the Trunk or Treat, so the rest of the time was spent in the back of the Party Van with John John. And apparently the best way to ensure a peaceful playdate is to give each child a bag of candy to eat.
For Ella's class I went in & helped decorate the pumpkin for the PUMPKIN DECORATING CONTEST. But they haven't announced the winner. We totally deserve the prize though, right? The kids all contributed, either dabbing on the black paint or cutting up black felt to glue on the spider legs. Oh for cute.
Gretchen got in on the pumpkin decorating action. I gave her a marker and she went to town on her baby pumpkin patch pumpkins. Look at how cute this little face is!
And here's some more friends, drawn on the back....
And she had me stick in these eyes and she drew the nose & mouth. OH FOR CUTE, GRETCHEN!!! (Ella painted that amazing witch pumpkin with the cop 'stash. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the mouth, but I prefer to think of it as a cop 'stash.)
And Grandpa Dennis asked me for a picture of our wedding, so I thought I'd throw this in too. Remember this? Yeah, I barely do. That was a long time ago. It's on a NEGATIVE. Remember those?
Nothing much else happening here. Ella's completed level one on her Star Wars game (so her video game skillz have now surpassed mine). Gretchen only shows an interest in potty training when she's in bed and supposed to be going to sleep, or in a public restroom. What's going on with you?
The only time we'll ever get Ella on The Matterhorn:
Standing in Line:
There you go.
No one can accuse us of avoiding Halloween. We have officially had our fill of the pumpkin patch. There are 9 pumpkins residing in our 860 square food apartment. Here's some pics from our last trip (really kids, that's the LAST TIME we go this year. REALLY.) We took all the kids in the corn maze. It was better than our first corn maze attempt, on the field trip with Ella's class. That time it took us over 35 minutes to get through (which is better than the kindergartners, who had to be rescued when they didn't come out after 90 minutes... Isn't it fun being able to pinpoint the EXACT moment you've psychologically scarred your child?) It was also better than when Jaime took Gretchen & her son a few weeks ago, and half way through the maze Gretchen started screaming, "I don't want this corn maze! I want a DIFFERENT CORN MAZE!!!"
Good thing she's cute.
Even when she makes this face:
Ella left her vampire cape in Jaime's car, so she was a witch last night for the Trunk Or Treat (which is when all the cars in the parking lot hand out candy to the kids instead of going door to door). But here's Gretchen in all her Garden Gnome Glory.
There were only about 20 cars at the Trunk or Treat, so the rest of the time was spent in the back of the Party Van with John John. And apparently the best way to ensure a peaceful playdate is to give each child a bag of candy to eat.
For Ella's class I went in & helped decorate the pumpkin for the PUMPKIN DECORATING CONTEST. But they haven't announced the winner. We totally deserve the prize though, right? The kids all contributed, either dabbing on the black paint or cutting up black felt to glue on the spider legs. Oh for cute.
Gretchen got in on the pumpkin decorating action. I gave her a marker and she went to town on her baby pumpkin patch pumpkins. Look at how cute this little face is!
And here's some more friends, drawn on the back....
And she had me stick in these eyes and she drew the nose & mouth. OH FOR CUTE, GRETCHEN!!! (Ella painted that amazing witch pumpkin with the cop 'stash. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the mouth, but I prefer to think of it as a cop 'stash.)
And Grandpa Dennis asked me for a picture of our wedding, so I thought I'd throw this in too. Remember this? Yeah, I barely do. That was a long time ago. It's on a NEGATIVE. Remember those?
Nothing much else happening here. Ella's completed level one on her Star Wars game (so her video game skillz have now surpassed mine). Gretchen only shows an interest in potty training when she's in bed and supposed to be going to sleep, or in a public restroom. What's going on with you?
Sunday, October 24, 2010
It Can Never Be Easy....
Hello Dear Friends And Family!!!
How y'all doin? I can't find my camera, so you'll have to use your imagination while I tell you some stuff.
Pretend you're looking at the girls in their Halloween Costumes. Ella is a vampire and Gretchen is a Lawn Gnome. And yes, they both look fantastic. But Ella has a big scratch across her nose! And under her nose! And on her chin! Why??? Oh that's because within the first few waking hours of our trip to California last weekend she FELL OFF A TRICYCLE AND HAD TO GET FIVE STITCHES. Poor Uncle Aaron felt so bad (it being their tricycle and their park). (Uncle Aaron! It's not your fault!) So that was a nice introduction to the weekend. (How do you fall off a tricycle and need 5 stitches? You go as fast as you can down a hill with no brakes except your red cowgirl boots, panic, and pull the handlebars in an futile attempt to stop.)
Now pretend you're looking at us at the family BBQ on Saturday night. (You'll really have to pretend because I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy eating delicious sweet-potato fries dipped in fantastic BBQ sauce. Oh my word. Drool.)
Here's an invisible picture of Ella holding her Pillow Pet Puppy. Does anyone you know and love watch Saturday Morning TV? I'm not sure my girls are even watching the crappy cartoons. They focus purely on THE AWESOME COMMERCIALS. Ella has been asking for a Pillow Pet for MOOOOOOOOOOONTHS. And now her dream has come true! Look at that smile on her face! Thanks Aunt B & Uncle Aaron! Also on their list of "Must Haves" is:
Shoes Under!
Sketchers! (For Gretchen)
Moon Sand (NOOOOOOOOO. Never. Absolutely NOT!)
Now pretend we're meeting up with the Grandparents Stott and Cousins for a fun pizza party. Which is cut short when Ella falls AGAIN and busts open the cut on her hand. After drowning their hotel room in ear piercing shrieks while I washed and re-bandaged it, we headed home to get some rest before our trip to the Magical Kingdom. And possibly bang our heads on the wall in frustration.
Now here's the obligatory million shots of us at Disneyland. Oh! Look how much fun we're having! Nothing like looking at other people's vacation photos, right? Whoooeeeee!
We really did have a fun time at Disneyland. And it's all thanks to Anita the Super Mother In Law. She make about 30 baby blankets to get us all free tickets. (We "contributed". I think I sewed the border on one. I know, I'm super helpful like that.) It was Anita's first time, and she got to go with all her grandkids. And about 50,000 other-people's-grandkids (who knew October would be so busy!?!?) The girls got to drive the Autopia cars TWICE, so it was a good day for them. And Gretchen joined to conga line during the parade. Good times. Maybe next time we can keep all the kids out of the ER (Britton, how's your head dude? We were worried about you!)
And just because it's cute and I don't want to forget, here's two cute things the girls did.
Ella wants to know if ancestors that are boys are called "An-brothers". Get it? "AnSisters" and "AnBrothers"? Awwwwww. (This came after the discussion that she is a 14th generation descendant of William Bradford, first governor of the colonies. She got a little pilgrim doll from Nana Joy that she'd gotten on a trip with Grandma JoEllen.)
Gretchen now says, "I hurt my feelings!" whenever she's upset. Except it's more like this, "I HURT MY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS!!!!!!!" (said with huge crocodile tears and huge mouth. Also, if she can look in the mirror while she cries it's an added bonus...)
That's what we've been up to. What about you?
How y'all doin? I can't find my camera, so you'll have to use your imagination while I tell you some stuff.
Pretend you're looking at the girls in their Halloween Costumes. Ella is a vampire and Gretchen is a Lawn Gnome. And yes, they both look fantastic. But Ella has a big scratch across her nose! And under her nose! And on her chin! Why??? Oh that's because within the first few waking hours of our trip to California last weekend she FELL OFF A TRICYCLE AND HAD TO GET FIVE STITCHES. Poor Uncle Aaron felt so bad (it being their tricycle and their park). (Uncle Aaron! It's not your fault!) So that was a nice introduction to the weekend. (How do you fall off a tricycle and need 5 stitches? You go as fast as you can down a hill with no brakes except your red cowgirl boots, panic, and pull the handlebars in an futile attempt to stop.)
Now pretend you're looking at us at the family BBQ on Saturday night. (You'll really have to pretend because I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy eating delicious sweet-potato fries dipped in fantastic BBQ sauce. Oh my word. Drool.)
Here's an invisible picture of Ella holding her Pillow Pet Puppy. Does anyone you know and love watch Saturday Morning TV? I'm not sure my girls are even watching the crappy cartoons. They focus purely on THE AWESOME COMMERCIALS. Ella has been asking for a Pillow Pet for MOOOOOOOOOOONTHS. And now her dream has come true! Look at that smile on her face! Thanks Aunt B & Uncle Aaron! Also on their list of "Must Haves" is:
Shoes Under!
Sketchers! (For Gretchen)
Moon Sand (NOOOOOOOOO. Never. Absolutely NOT!)
Now pretend we're meeting up with the Grandparents Stott and Cousins for a fun pizza party. Which is cut short when Ella falls AGAIN and busts open the cut on her hand. After drowning their hotel room in ear piercing shrieks while I washed and re-bandaged it, we headed home to get some rest before our trip to the Magical Kingdom. And possibly bang our heads on the wall in frustration.
Now here's the obligatory million shots of us at Disneyland. Oh! Look how much fun we're having! Nothing like looking at other people's vacation photos, right? Whoooeeeee!
We really did have a fun time at Disneyland. And it's all thanks to Anita the Super Mother In Law. She make about 30 baby blankets to get us all free tickets. (We "contributed". I think I sewed the border on one. I know, I'm super helpful like that.) It was Anita's first time, and she got to go with all her grandkids. And about 50,000 other-people's-grandkids (who knew October would be so busy!?!?) The girls got to drive the Autopia cars TWICE, so it was a good day for them. And Gretchen joined to conga line during the parade. Good times. Maybe next time we can keep all the kids out of the ER (Britton, how's your head dude? We were worried about you!)
And just because it's cute and I don't want to forget, here's two cute things the girls did.
Ella wants to know if ancestors that are boys are called "An-brothers". Get it? "AnSisters" and "AnBrothers"? Awwwwww. (This came after the discussion that she is a 14th generation descendant of William Bradford, first governor of the colonies. She got a little pilgrim doll from Nana Joy that she'd gotten on a trip with Grandma JoEllen.)
Gretchen now says, "I hurt my feelings!" whenever she's upset. Except it's more like this, "I HURT MY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS!!!!!!!" (said with huge crocodile tears and huge mouth. Also, if she can look in the mirror while she cries it's an added bonus...)
That's what we've been up to. What about you?
Sunday, October 10, 2010
6 Years Older and Wiser Too
Let's start this post off right. With a fabulous picture of Gretchen Working It. The church has a multi-purpose room with a stage on it (because that makes perfect sense, right?) We have a playdate there every few weeks. They kids spent about an hour dancing. With no music. Next time we're bringing costumes & seeing if we can hook up the AV system. DANCE PARTAY!!!!
Remember how last post I was complaining how much stuff I had to do? Yeah. I wasn't kidding. I'm finally starting to wrap up the big projects (the biggest one was delivered last night to their FTP site at about 11:45 pm. WOO HOOO!!!!!!) And it's not just work keeping us busy, oh no! We also had a SUPER FUN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!!! Congratulations bestowed upon my wonderful, smart, amazing child. To honor the special day we:
-Brought special rainbow cupcakes to 1st grade topped with gummy bears....
-Went to the pet store and got a replacement fish. (A navy blue Beta named "Dorothy"...)
-And met Krista, Dan & Amber for a dinner of Very Fancy Hamburgers (notice that they stuck us far away from all the other patrons. What tipped them off that we might be a little crazy???) (Ella's been wanting to patronize the new hamburger place in town since they opened a year ago. They have fake palm trees outside. She was so happy to have her dreams come true.) (You'll notice that Gretchen was indeed wearing a tiger suit to the pet store, and then meta-morphed into a butterfly princess for dinner...)
(Nothing creepy about this picture, right?)
Remember how our dear friend Jaime is the Queen of all hookups? She came through again. Free dinner at Claim Jumper!!! (Seriously, you all need a Jaime.) ICE CREAM SUNDAES!!!!
It's now officially Autumn. We had a ton of crazy lightning and hail storms.
We hosted preschool for "D" day. We didn't talk about WWII at all. Instead we talked about dinosaurs, doctors, donuts, dancing, and dogs.
(Midway through "D" day)
ME: Today we're learning about the letter "D"! "D" makes the "duh-duh" sound. Gretchen, what letter are we learning about today?
GRETCHEN: R!!!!
ME: No! We're learning about the letter "D"! What sound does it make?
GRETCHEN: SSSS-ssssss! "D"!!!!
ME: No! "D" makes the "duh-duh" sound.
GRETCHEN: NO!
(Clearly she knows something we don't....)
And finally, today was the annual Primary Presentation at church. All the kids did a program of songs and talks for Sacrament Meeting. Here's MOST of Ella's (we ran out of memory on the camera!) Enjoy!
xoxo
Remember how last post I was complaining how much stuff I had to do? Yeah. I wasn't kidding. I'm finally starting to wrap up the big projects (the biggest one was delivered last night to their FTP site at about 11:45 pm. WOO HOOO!!!!!!) And it's not just work keeping us busy, oh no! We also had a SUPER FUN BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!!! Congratulations bestowed upon my wonderful, smart, amazing child. To honor the special day we:
-Brought special rainbow cupcakes to 1st grade topped with gummy bears....
-Went to the pet store and got a replacement fish. (A navy blue Beta named "Dorothy"...)
-And met Krista, Dan & Amber for a dinner of Very Fancy Hamburgers (notice that they stuck us far away from all the other patrons. What tipped them off that we might be a little crazy???) (Ella's been wanting to patronize the new hamburger place in town since they opened a year ago. They have fake palm trees outside. She was so happy to have her dreams come true.) (You'll notice that Gretchen was indeed wearing a tiger suit to the pet store, and then meta-morphed into a butterfly princess for dinner...)
(Nothing creepy about this picture, right?)
Remember how our dear friend Jaime is the Queen of all hookups? She came through again. Free dinner at Claim Jumper!!! (Seriously, you all need a Jaime.) ICE CREAM SUNDAES!!!!
It's now officially Autumn. We had a ton of crazy lightning and hail storms.
We hosted preschool for "D" day. We didn't talk about WWII at all. Instead we talked about dinosaurs, doctors, donuts, dancing, and dogs.
(Midway through "D" day)
ME: Today we're learning about the letter "D"! "D" makes the "duh-duh" sound. Gretchen, what letter are we learning about today?
GRETCHEN: R!!!!
ME: No! We're learning about the letter "D"! What sound does it make?
GRETCHEN: SSSS-ssssss! "D"!!!!
ME: No! "D" makes the "duh-duh" sound.
GRETCHEN: NO!
(Clearly she knows something we don't....)
And finally, today was the annual Primary Presentation at church. All the kids did a program of songs and talks for Sacrament Meeting. Here's MOST of Ella's (we ran out of memory on the camera!) Enjoy!
xoxo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)