Christmas

So, here are the pics from Christmas!!! It was so much fun to have all these kids together!!!

Well, Aaron and Nate were supposed to be wearing some cute pjs... they at least went to bed in them...

The kids LOVED everything they got! Aaron got a bike, and an air hog. Charity got a pink leapster and some barbies, and Nate got a play guitar! they didnt get much else ;)

Funny story: Nate LOVES to play in the water - it is easiest to get to in my bathtub. He also LOVES his guitar. He walked around dancing with it ALL morning long - it was ADORABLE! Well, the two dont really go together... but nate didnt know that. We found him - he had plugged up the tub and filled it to the point of almost overflowing. he was also using his guitar as an oar!!! AGGHHHH!!!! oh well. i wrote the whole thing off - but then, my genious of a spouse fixed it. ;)

So Far

So, Cherry and her kids came out to visit from NJ. Dawn and the rest of the Howey bunch are here too!!! This has been so fun! Here are the pics of our little visit so far. We are hoping to get Cherry out here on a more permanent basis, cause we love having COUSINS!!!
We also went and met our friend Koya and her baby and her girlfriend for dinner. It was a really fun reunion!

ok, so the last picture is one VERY interesting story.

Sunday morning, I had to be at church early to do my THING... (singing, violin & piano)

anyways, just before my alarm went off... Nate walked up to me - with his hands full of YOU KNOW WHAT!!! he had climbed out of his bed, taken off his diaper, and smeared it ALL OVER THE CARPET. there was even a nice little trail to my bed. it took 45 mins to clean up. then i had a cold shower. and no time to really get cute or even get my kids taken care of before i had to go to church!!! it wasnt the best morning ever. Anyways, i came home from church, and still smelled the stink... apparently in my haste to clean the carpet, i didnt even look on the other side of the door!!! AGGHHHH!!!! Well, I have since done a more thorough job and tons of laundry... merry christmas from nate! ;)

under the tree

so, every year, we have a train under our tree. the nice one we had last year is out of commission....

so, we got this little one. the kids LOVE it. i LOVE it. HOWEVER... this is the state of the tree now. it is really hard to keep the ornaments on the tree when UNDER the tree is so much fun!

check out all the nascars that come and watch. sometimes they get to ride the train... other times, the nascars are hit by the train... they like to see the whole thing get de-railed... fun times ;)

notice the state of the nativity at the fireplace... i guess that is the whole purpose of the toy nativity - cant hurt (except nate LOVES to get into the fireplace rocks... and those are SOOO annoying to clean up!)

Saturday:

I took the kids to the ward Christmas party... but I left early to go to the work party... Thanks to my girlfriend, my kids stayed there and got to see santa... and i got to go out... ;)


Joe and I went to the work party. It was nice. They had great food and entertainment, and lots to do and see. we danced and ate and had fun. I didn't look my best, but it was ok. I SOOOO wish I would have gone shopping one more time... everyone needs the perfect little dress... but i just went with something old and comfortable. We got there at 9 and stayed till 10:30. (i expired)... all the young singles were ready to keep partying... MAN I FEEL SOOOO OLD!!! AND LAME!!!

A little explanation

So, you want to know how i get coordinating outfits?
How about I tell you how I get decent family pictures each year.
here is the original family picture:
I got rid of a few frizzy hairs and SOMEONE's unibrow. I also (very poorly) got rid of the crap in the background. But, i think it looks too fake, so i ...
zoomed in, and changed nates' green diamonds to red, and aaron's stripe to red.
then i overlayed sepia... and like magic, a picture emerges where we look kindof coordinated...
Last year, I morphed my kids heads in from other pictures (because none of them cooperated at the same time)!!! Basically, we always look like CRAP in our photos... but with a little magic, i can get something presentable. all i can say is YAY PHOTOSHOP!!! YAY for Spencer K. teaching me how to use the GIMP one summer while i worked with my dad - photoshop is just like it - YAY also for marrying a GEEK who loves computers and gets me photoshop and the cooresponding literature so i can read up and keep learning cool things!

SO - courtney, even if you dont match for your family pics this year, it can ALL BE FIXED!!! ;)

Shopping help?

So, Joe's work Christmas party (cocktail party at the 4 seasons) is coming up, and I really wanted to get a nice little outfit. (I am always looking for an excuse to get something new!!) So, I went to the mall today thinking I could find something. I got there at 10 am. By 1:30 (the time i had to leave to get Charity from school) I had successfully bought several things, AND returned them. I did manage to buy the new Glenn Beck book... ;)

What is my problem? 1. Chalky white legs. 2. The modesty issue. 3. The boyish build. 4. DO I NEED TO GO ON???

What do you guys wear when you go out? I tried so many different dresses, and combinations of strapless or halter or slinky dresses w/jackets or boleros - but jackets and boleros RUIN the cute ones...

Looks like I am wearing something old and boring... :( Does someone want to go shopping FOR me???

3 sweet things

Ok, if you are lucky, you will get another post from me later because my kids are playing in my little piano recital this evening...

Anyways, here are 3 of the SWEETEST things in the world:

1. Nate - he was being VERY quiet. I found him. He found the water bottle. What is with this kid and water? And honestly, I don't understand the whole squirting yourself in the face for fun thing...
2. Charity: I couldnt help myself- she is so STINKIN cute! 3. This is probably the sweetest thing ever. Yesterday, I walked out front to see this. I quietly watched for a minute, ran in and got my camera and Aaron was still GENTLY teaching Nate how to ride a scooter. Seriously, a tear came to my eye - what a sweet older brother! When he turned around and noticed me, he was just so excited and said: "Look mom! Nate is learning how to ride Charity's scooter!"
I am so lucky to have these kids!!!

hey look, an update!

So, I am updating again... this time with pictures from our little gingerbread making adventure yesterday.

I have always felt that adding more people adds more fun. I guess you could also chalk it up to my SHORT attention span? Anyways, I knew if I did gingerbread houses with only my kids, it would last 5 minutes and I would have lost my patience (or become side-tracked)... SO, we had the Branns and the Walls over to make AWESOME graham cracker houses. We actually had some fun. Even the moms got to do their own. Here are the pics from the event:

Ok, by next week my life should slow down a bit more and I will be more diligent with my blog...

Just have to get through my piano recital now... and finish decorating the school stage...

why am I decorating all these things? I dont decorate.

Last Week

Last week was pretty fun. I "got" to decorate the international room at our stake's nativity exhibit. It is pretty big and we usually get the local highschool choirs to come sing and lots of people come etc....

Anyways, back up about a month. My girlfriend called me and I told her I couldn't teach her kids piano anymore. However, since she had me on the phone (and I felt like I just disapointed her), I was softened and she was able to rope me into being in charge of a room for the exhibit this year. She told me to get a comittee together and come up with a plan for the international room. um... what just happened?

I got some girlfriends to help me. I also had some LATE night inspiration come to me when one of my kids was sick in the middle of the night.

So, here are the pictures of how it turned out. One of my girlfriends did the vinyl lettering for me in a couple different languages, and I did some other languages over the map of that country in the frames you see scattered through the room (i.e. over an antiqued Italian map, the same Luke 2 scripture was translated in Italian I did french, chineese, hungarian, and more...). I have to say I was pleased with the result. In previous years, they used the different country flags to make it international... BUT I liked how the Luke 2 scripture said to ALL PEOPLE and i just went with that. Anyways, thank you to Becky, Ruth, Susannah, and Amy and Kim for helping me. ALSO thanks to Carrieanne, Wendy R, Wendy W, Alicia, and Ruth for taking my kids!!!

Where's my fairy?

I drove home last night from our Thanksgiving vacation in Houston (in the rain with a screaming baby and no husband). I got home 15 mins before choir. After choir (luckily it wasnt at my house), I had to go to the store because I was completely OUT of food. I made taquitos for dinner. I put the kids to bed. I unloaded the car. But that was as far as I got. Now, where's the cleaning fairy that will unpack and put all this junk away?

Anyways, here are the pictures from Joe's dad's ranch. We had so much fun there. It was absolutely beautiful.

Pictures

here is an explanation those pictures:

Any given Sunday, the office is bound to look like this. Stat tracker running on Joe's desktop AND his laptop... game on his tv (it is also on the bigger tv in the living room and most likely playing in our bedroom too)... WHAT A LIFE!

I finally took Nate to the park all by himself and we met our friends with kids his own age. He usually tags along and plays with Aaron and Charity, but this trip to the park was all about him. Somehow, his friends stayed nice and clean, but he was the only one to get dirty.

Another pic is the kids reading before bed. Yes, we all look beautiful. Notice my baby is in a portacrib...

Then, the last few pictures are of Charity's preschool Thanksgiving feast/sing-a-long. Fun times.

6 or things

so, i guess i have been tagged.

1. scattered thoughts on scattered pages. i have always been somewhat of a dramatic writer. whenever i am upset, i write a song, or a poem, or just a letter to vent. nobody ever sees these things, but scattered in many random drawers and on many loose and scattered pages or burried even in my children's spiral notebooks are random things that i have written. my family will have a hay day finding all these things when i die. they will think i was so strange! ps, you can see i have a consistant issue with capitolization.

2. i want to be strong. my idea of strong isnt body-builder. my idea of strong is more like a pioneer woman. i want to be tough, resourceful, resilliant, and definately strong enough to walk across the country with one child on my back and pulling the rest in some rickety handcart. i want to be that woman who pops a kid out one day and is working in the fields the next. i want to be able to be strong enough to get through the physical trials as well as the emotionally devastating ones. so, i work out like crazy not to look like some porn star or america's next top model - i have never really fit that mold. i do it cause i want to be strong like a pioneer.

3. i love to have fun. seriously, i think i am still 19. i love to go dancing. i love to sing kareoke. i love to be crazy and silly. i love to do things that are active (like lazer tag or play ANY sport) HOWEVER i am no longer crazy-reckless. ever since i fell off a cliff at havasupi falls i realized i am definately NOT immortal. although, i still love to snowboard like a kid ;)

4. i love football. more than any other sport, football is my absolute FAVORITE! i love to play fantasy football. i wish i could play REAL football (well, maybe not tackle). i have absolutely NO problem spending the weekend kickin it on my couch yelling at the tv. i love to GO to games. i completely support my husband in his desire to spend time playing and watching sports too. i can get into other sports... but i am a HUGE football fan. even right now, i am watching monday night football ALL BY MYSELF! ;)

5. i like music. duh. anyone who knows me knows that music is very important in my life. i FEEL music. people can say things to me, but i only really understand when it is put to music... i can play piano. i hurt my mom's ears when i play violin, but i also claim to play the clarinet, and guitar. Allen rules say you can claim an instrument if you can play "little brown jug" on it... therefore, i can ALSO legally 'claim' to play the tuba, Sop, Alto, Tenor and Bass recorders, flute, cello, and any other instrument you put in front of me... hehe ;) but dont ask me to play anything other than piano in church - you will be very sorry...

6. nothing. i cant think of anything else... other than i am unique - just like everyone else. if you can think of a #6 for me, i would love to know...

so, tag, you're it!

What we have been doing

Emily:
I have been really busy lately... My parents decided to get the house that I put up with all those home-made virtual tours.... I am really excited because it is SO close!!! (well, i guess anything in the mainland is closer than HAWAII) but this home is seriously about 5 minutes away from me!!!! WOO HOO!!!
MOM (&dad) I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO MOVE CLOSE TO ME!
but let me just say that the whole home buying process is exhausting, and even though I am not the one purchasing the home, i am WORN OUT!

I have also been busy at the school decorating...

Joe:
He has had a lot of fun lately. Last weekend (while my mom was here) he took Aaron to the CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES at Texas Motor Speedway. On his way there, he got into a 'little' accident (in my truck of course) and so now i am driving around a 'little' rental car...

something makes me think we are becoming TX WT!!!!
He also took Aaron to the TCU game that Saturday...

then he headed up to Provo on Thursday to watch the BYU/TCU game with his brother. SERIOUSLY, he is the luckiest guy on the planet. I wish i could have gone to that one.

Aaron:

He played in the SUPERBOWL and WON! (his little flag football league)

Charity:

She learned how to ride a 2 wheeler all by herself. We bribed her with a barbie, so ever since, we have been listening to the Barbie Island Princess sing all the songs... fun times - hope it runs out of battery soon???

Nate:

He is really cute... but his life isnt really exciting yet.

a million things

it has been a while... i have been busy.
So, all you beauty friends... i have a 4 yr old that looks like this:

she has the most beautiful BIG eyes... but so many times right after someone says what beautiful eyes she has, they comment on her UNIBROW! i once tried to take her to a salon, but they said i should just leave it. ANYWAYS, i have been using VEET for sensitive skin to make it look like this:
am i a bad mom for doing this? i am not wanting her to be some beauty queen or anything... but am i crossing the line here? i am a very low maintanence person, and i dont want to make her feel like she needs to do a million things to make herself beautiful... i am a hypocrite i know! should i just leave it and let her do it when she asks me? or is having 2 eyebrows considered a necessity? i think she is beautiful no matter what... i just dont like the attention on her eyebrow when it should be on her cute dimple/smile/eyes etc. would you guys do it too? or should i just leave it alone????

http://homes.realtor.com/realestate/flower+mound-tx-75028-1083928384/

http://homes.realtor.com/realestate/flower+mound-tx-75028-1088785215/

above are 2 more homes that are potentials. which one do you like best?

more

Mom's Potential Home Slideshow

Click here to see video 1:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5524291934901203902&hl=en

0, 1, 2, 3

Today,
We had 0 trips to the ER :)
We had 1 football game - it was the Trojan's FIRST win of the season! Aaron did SO well, and made a KEY play to keep the Indians at bay...
We had 2 meals OUT - Lunch at the primary dress rehearsal (yes, i will be playing the piano even though it isnt my calling...) and Dinner - at Spring Creek BBQ
We had 3 Star Wars characters running around - so we took them to the trunk-or-treat at the church. I am particularly proud of the Leia costume - homemade for $9. ;)

ER AGAIN!!!

So, guess where I was tonight?
the ER.
Ya, 2x in the same week! FUN TIMES!

Today started out ok. I got the kids off to school, Charity was dressed up for her halloween party... I even took a SHOWER!!! Nate and I went to Charity's preschool party. It was cute and fun. I took Charity home early, and went to the store and blockbuster, ran by the house to unload and grab food, then picked Aaron up (we had early release today) and took the kids to the park. I met a few girlfriends there, and all the kids played so well. The weather was perfect. Time to go home!

As I was putting Nate in the car, I noticed him kindof gagging on something - I figured it was a hair or something and he would work it out on on his own. He started crying, and was obviously in pain of some sort... We got home, I gave him a sippy and threw him in bed. He screamed. This was about 1:30. He screamed some more. He wouldnt fall asleep. ok, I figured he must have something in his throat. I looked, didnt see anything, and tried to put him back to bed. He could breathe, and I thought he was fine. 3:00 approaches. Nate is STILL crying. I call a girlfriend, she says give him juice and tylonal, and he will be fine. He wouldnt drink the juice. I tried a different kind of juice... He is still screaming. Piano students at the door. I try putting nate down again. 10 mins into piano lesson, I said, um, can we just make it up tomorrow? Nate was obviously in too much pain, and screaming child doesnt help me as I tried to teach. I really think he has a problem, and must be in some real pain, and must have something in his throat (he was still kindof coughing/gagging - but he could still breathe and cry good)... So, I cancelled the rest of the afternoon piano lessons, and dropped my kids off at my giflriends house. Called joe - ARE YOU COMING HOME TONIGHT????... yes, thank goodness.

Ok, to make a long story short. After 2 hours at urgent care, I was sent to the real children's hospital (ya, i was just there 2 nights before). Nate had a shard of wood lodged in his throat. it was a splinter about 1/2 an inch long. The doctor at the real hospital took it out then had to monitor him to make sure his throat wouldnt start bleeding etc...

So, by 9 pm, we are FINALLY home, and Nate is on liquids for the next day or so. I feel so bad. I cant even imagine the pain he was in today. He had a splinter in his throat for about 6 hours before they got it out. Tues and Thurs night I was in that same ER. Different kids, but both had something down their throats. SERIOUSLY. The quarter incident I can laugh at. I can only cry about the splinter. (believe me the whole way from urgent care to the hospital i DID!) The lady at urgent care said i need to baby proof my home. IT IS BABY PROOF! how do you keep splinters out of your kids throats when they go to the park? Nate didnt even try to eat any woodchips - this one either blew into his mouth or got in there some other freakish way... I guess i just need to know how to keep your 6 year old from eating the quarters from his piggy bank?????

AGGGHHHH

It was 7pm. The children were nestled all snug in their beds. All of a sudden, I heard this PIERCING scream from Aaron's room. He came downstairs, wailing - his cry was a mix between fear and pain. What on EARTH??? Finally, I was able to get out that he swallowed a quarter and his throat hurt really bad. I got a HUGE cup of water and made him drink the whole thing. I laughed it off, and tried to comfort him. I told Aaron to just go to bed, and he would have to poop it out. Then, I got on the phone to make sure I was doing the right thing. I called my sisters; I called my neighbors; I called my friends; I called and paged his doctor. I felt ok, until the doctor called me back. He kindof scared me - filling my head with possibilities of it being lodged somewhere. Then, those nightmares and images flashed through my mind - could I be "that" mother that just allowed her son to swallow a quarter and not do anything about it? Watch him stop breathing in the night and it would be all my fault because I thought it was no big deal... All you mothers know the path my mind went down (or am I just the only PSYCHO mom?)

UNFORTUNATELY, I am stuck home with my 3 kids all alone - Joe is out of town. AGGHHH. Nate and Charity are already asleep (Aaron has since calmed down and passed out on my bed). BUT the doctor said (since a quarter is so large for a child so young) that he would feel best if we went to the children's hospital to make sure we were following "quarter swallowing" protocol. He kept saying "A quarter is MUCH larger than the pennies and dimes we usually get calls about. I haven't gotten a call about a quarter yet." (he is no young dr either). Did I really have to go to the ER???? SERIOUSLY? I am not the type to freak out... I was NOT willing to drag the kids out there either. Lucky for me, I have a sweet girlfriend (thanks Carrieanne!) who came over and sat with the sleeping kids as I took Aaron to the ER. I was prepared for an all-nighter. I knew the second I got in the car the way the evening would unfold: WAIT at the ER, WAIT, WAIT, Laugh with the people at the silly situation, WAIT, WAIT, Get an Xray, then find out we are OK and we can go home and wait for the quarter to come out the other end. I figured (since I left the house at about 8:30) I would be home by 1 or 2am...

How the evening really went:
Get to the ER by 9pm. Sign in. Go immediately to the nurse. Wait 5 mins. Get Xray. Take Aaron potty. Pay my co-pay. Talk to Dr. Leave 9:45pm.

I have NEVER in my life had such a pleasant experience at an ER! I was in and out in 45 mins! granted, this was just an easy one - laugh at the silly little boy who ate money... but 45 mins???
Looks like I will be going to Cook Children's for EVERY emergency! I usually go to a different hospital, but I switched things up tonight. I am so pleased. Ya, I wasted my ER copay to find out that my son was ok, but I am willing to pay that so I can sleep better tonight.

Grateful Sunday

Today I am grateful for:
1. My GENIOUS of a husband. He wanted to do things that were a little more fun and exciting, but this weekend he spent time fixing my virus/spy-ware filled computer, gave me a new hard drive, put in a new cpu in the kids' computer... ya, it is nice to have my own in-house computer man.

2. All the fun we had this weekend... Aaron's football game, lunar mini-golf, a really fun date night iron chef party... it was a perfect weekend!
Here's Nate at Aaron's game: Aaron lookin good - he really has fun out there, and we LOVE watching him do so well on the field!
Here's Aaron and Charity at the mini-golf place...
3. Where I live. There was an airshow this weekend, but Charity is SOOO afraid of the loud jets (she is scared of everything) I had to stay home. HOWEVER, we live so close to the airfield, I was still able to catch the BLUE ANGELS flying overhead (seriously, they were RIGHT on top of us... it was neat) so, although I missed out, I dont really feel like i did.
Here is Aaron enjoying the airshow...
Here are some pics I got from my front yard... see - i didnt miss much at all!!!



4. My husband's awesome attitude. Aaron's football game was sortof a disaster - a kid got thrown out for punching, parents (on both sides) were yelling at the refs and the league commissioners - it was CRAZY (i mean, typical 6 yr old flag football?) but Joe didnt get involved and he had a cool head...
Joe kickin' it on the sidelines...

5. The Cowboys won!!! although Crayton didnt get me many FF points, Barber looked good, and Dallas' D didn't do too bad... my weekend is great when they dont suck.