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

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?

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?

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

La Di Da

A few months ago, some moms decided it'd be a great idea to start a preschool group. We made up a schedule and planned out a theme. Then we decided to wait till Fall to begin. And then I sort of forgot about it. BUT OH SHOOT! I was the first one to host preschool!!! So Gretchen had her first day of semi-real-shoot-from-the-hip preschool.

Part of our activity for "A" day was to play with animals. That didn't take up enough time, so then we did dress-ups. Here you see John John cringing away from The Gretch (but still smiling in a Hi-Gretchen-I-Love-You-Don't-Hurt-Me kind of way...) Preschool finished bite free (unfortunately, the same cannot be said of nursery today. GRETCHEN. Sigh.)



We forgot to check the mail for a week, and there were LOTS of surprises waiting for us! The girls LOVE packages! Thanks Auntie Terry & Cousin Suzanne!



So all summer work was dead. Nothing. My career was a desert wasteland, complete with tumbleweeds and circling vultures. That has all changed. I now have work with a vengeance. So of course it's all coming in at once. The good news is that I will get paid. Yay! Also, I used the time stuck at my computer to watch ALL FOUR SEASONS of DR. WHO! (Thanks Jennifer!) (I am in love with this show. It just keeps getting better and better. Though I will never again walk past a store mannequin, angel statue or watch a reality show without cringing a little.)

Since I was totally slammed working, of course, OF COURSE it's the week I had a million commitments. Saturday we took the girls from church to Lake Tahoe. It was the perfect beach day. There were literally only 2 other people on our beach. It was sunny, warm and wonderful.




The squirrels were making us crazy. They were literally crawling into the chip bag when we turned our back. That is nasty. I threw the chips away in a fit of disgust. I don't care if you are cute, YOU ARE ALSO VERY GROSS.



The girls decided it'd be super fun to bury each other. I decided it'd be super fun to guard our food and yell at rodents. I also decided it'd be super fun to only sporadically apply sunscreen. Now I'm sportin' a sweet sunburn on my shoulders & chest, complete with random fingerprints where I DID apply sunblock. Go me.



Despite being crazy, ridiculously busy, it was still a pretty good week. Here's hoping I have a little more time to breathe next week. Deeeep breaths. Deeeeep breaths. It's all going to be ok. (I need a nap.)

The Week That Was

Oh my friends, what a week. Gretchen had some serious regression. Remember how happy I was last week that she didn't bite John John. Well she made up for it on our Thursday playdate. WITH A VENGEANCE. She bit him so hard. Poor, poor Johnny. There was blood. There was crying. There was spanks and time-outs and immediate departures. Oh my baby, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU???

Dear John John-

I'm so So SO sorry that Gretchen has been using you as a chew toy. You can totally bite her back next time. I won't intervene. (She deserves it!) She really does love you. Really.

Beware of this cute face. It is completely deceiving. She bites (but apparently only sweet little boys named John...):



Besides that horrible incident, the rest of the week was pretty ok. My amazing friend Jaime invited me to see Smashing Pumpkins with her. She called while I was at Mutual (like church youth group, for the uninitiated). I asked if any of the girls would mind babysitting when we finished up. They said, "Sure!" (because they are all nice, sweet, thoughtful girls and I love them all).
Girls: What concert are you going to?
Me: Smashing Pumkins, isn't that great!
Girls: Who?
Me: WHAT?
Girls: No seriously, who?
Me: I am old.

The concert was great fun (except maybe for the 10 minutes base/drum solos, which were a little yawn inducing. Drum solos = LAME. Also, I am a "girl" and therefore unable to appreciate their "awesomeness".) There were lots of drunk people to laugh at. Good times. Thanks Jaime!

Thanks also for this sweet ditty that's been bouncing around my head all week: DESPITE ALL MY RAGE, I AM STILL JUST A RAT IN A CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!! (end flashback)

Then Jaime called to see if Colby wanted to go golfing. So he went all day Friday. For free. With free lunch. And then we had a pizza party at their house.

THEN Jaime called to see if we wanted to tailgate with them.

FACT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME: I've never seen a football game in my entire life. Ever. I went to one once in High School, but didn't actually watch it. I, therefore, have never experienced a "Tailgate".

Oh. My. Word. I had the best initiation ever. There was Tri-tip on the BBQ. There was Rockband (literally on the tailgate). IT. WAS. AWESOME.



Colby let them know how much he appreciated their hospitality by serenading them. He left a BIG IMPRESSION on all the sweet children. Parents can now thank Colby for their toddler's appreciation of Rammstein.



If you just skipped over that video, I implore you. GO BACK AND WATCH. You won't be sorry.

Here's hoping next week is bite-free.

And you all should get a Jaime. Seriously, she's great.

Plum Delightful

Ella's first day of school came really early in the morning, so I didn't quite get the standard First Day Of School Photo (you know the one, where the child stands awkwardly posed in the outfit chosen for maximum fashion impact while holding a large empty backpack and sack lunch, stars/tears in their eyes, forced smile, etc....) Instead we have a Right After First Day Of School photo:



The stars aligned for Miss Ella, she's sits right next to one of her favorite friends in the world. Here they are, smiling and perfectly aware of how amazing they are. They are freakin' FIRST GRADERS. Boo ya.

And here's the obligatory, awkwardly posed first day of school photo, as mentioned above.



It was strange to have so much time away from Ella this week. I've been reading friends blogs talking about how sad it is that their kids are gone all day at school. Will I feel that way when my time comes? I really value my "Alone Time". Enough that if I'm in my room by myself, the girls know to ask me, "Are you having 'alone time', or can I talk to you?" Alone time is so precious. Maybe I won't value it as much when I get more than 10 minutes a day.

To celebrate our new school-week-lifestyle, Gretchen & I went on some playdates. Gretchen's favorite friend in the whole world is John John. She loves John John with a fierce 2.5 year old passion. Sometimes, an overwhelming passion. Have you ever heard the old adage, "You hurt those you love the most?" Gretchen must love John A LOT.

Look at how sweet they are, running scantily clad through the sprinklers:


Eating the plums we picked from their neighbors front yard (they said it was cool, we didn't steal them. Really!)


When Ella heard we'd been to John John's house without her, she was upset. Every time we go there, she plays spends her time playing on her own and/or screaming at Gretchen & John John. But apparently that's the highlight of her day. So Saturday she came with us to John John's house to pick the plums, play by herself in the sandbox, and scream at toddlers. In a Tinkerbell costume, of course...


Though Gretchen did leave a giant pinch mark across John John's chest (NO JOHN JOHN!!! I DRIVE THE CAR!!!) she did make a marked step towards maturity. I saw her leaning in frustration to bite him TWICE. And both times she stopped herself, contemplated her actions (mouth agape), and pulled back. Oh, my sweet, violent, darling girl! So proud!

That's our big news for the week. Gretchen DIDN'T bite her friend. What's your big news?