Let Us Give Thanks

My sister Bethany who was kind enough to hold Caleb so I could eat. Note. They are both wearing bibs. Very necessary when attempting to feed Caleb.

A lot of delicious food to eat. And great conversation while eating it. Please note, Christian has his own 2 liter of Thanksgiving Coke.

Fancy glasses.

Very healthy, happy, and easily entertained children.

...And Thanks

Technology, which my sister Dory stood in line for two+ hours to obtain at a discounted price.

My sister Dory who I haven't seen in for-ev-er. But with her new smart phone we can keep in touch even more!

My parents. If you think I'm hilarious...You should meet these two. Really.

My mom. She cannot keep her eyes open during a picture. We could fill albums with her pulling this exact same face. However, she can see, and that's about all we care about.

...And More Thanks

11+ years with this handsome man.

Tiny sisters that make me look and feel like a giant. Which always came in handy whilst picking and beating on them as children.

$30.00 high chairs from the local Alco store, and random army men which contained and entertained.

I Like To Move It Move It

Here are some of the ways I've been movin' it lately. On Wednesday night my friend Andrea and I hosted the First Annual Pre Thanksgiving Turkey Burn Extravaganza of 2010. Two straight hours of Zumba infused with Kick Boxing intervals. Can you tell which one I taught? It was quite possibly the most fun ever! We are hoping to do another one soon. Maybe a pre-Christmas...or kick off the new year?

No sooner had I recovered from the Turkey Burn {and I was burnin'!} Bethany taught me some killer Hip Hop Hustle moves. Not many showed up for her class Friday morning, but the ones that did...DID NOT regret it! It was so fun. I got my groove on, and showed my sister a move or two! Thanks Bethany.

I nice leisurely walk around Castle Dale on Friday afternoon.

Some killer bowling with the Pollastro's on Saturday night. I WON {the battle of the bumpers}! And we finished off the weekend with some Just Dance 2. But, that talent deserves a post all its own...maybe later!

The Christmas Card Preview

My very talented friend Aimee was kind enough to take some time out of her Thanksgiving weekend to shoot a few family pictures for us. It was cold and the kids were squirrelly, but I love how they turned out. She strikes such a great balance of posing and personality.

Can't Beat 'em...Join 'em?

Christian brought the kids home these Notre Dame shirts from his trip. Cali was thrilled to have a pink football shirt. Caleb was...well, indifferent and cute. However, Carter was quite upset. He pouted, cried a little, and threw the shirt on the floor... then {my favorite Carter line, lately}, "I don't even like this team!"

Apparently the years of indoctrination backfired. Christian tried to explain about the fighting Irish, the history, the "coolness" of being there. Carter still unimpressed, "The only thing I like on this shirt is this C on the arm {champion logo}." Christian trying really hard to explain that you don't have to like the team, but the shirt is cool, came up with, "JP and Derrick have one too!" That helped.

He wore his shirt the next day, and asked tonight if it was washed so he could wear it again.

It Was the Best of Times...It Was the Worst of Times

Christian and his friend Josh drove to South Bend {wish I had some pictures of that} last Thursday and Friday to attend the Notre Dame v. Utah football game. They were joined there by Josh's wife Becca {thank you for the pictures Becca} and Josh's uncle. As you can image, it's a little hard to be a Utah fan the last couple weeks. My trash talking, PAC 10 taunting, and BSC bashing talk has been cut down to zero.

Unless you've been in a hole, or don't watch sports, you know that Utah was not victorious on this one. However, Christian had a great time {with the exception of the score} on his trip. He loved the atmosphere of Notre Dame and declared upon arriving home, "I would send all of our kids there in a heartbeat". It must be his Catholic heritage talking.

While in South Bend they visited the college football hall of fame. {If any Utah players want to make it there...they are going to have to step it up...A LOT} Pictured here: Josh, Christian, Josh's uncle.

Touchdown Jesus.

Becca, I take it this picture was taken pre-butt kicking. Regardless, they had a great time soaking up the atmosphere, making Rudy references, and just being on the historic campus.

Getting My Sew On

It's no big secret that I love to sew. Sometimes I make promises to myself like, if I get all my homework done...I can sew something. Or if I clean the kitchen I can get out my sewing machine and alter some clothes.

I really need to round up my latest projects and do a post, maybe later. For now. Here's a flower that my mom taught me to make a couple weekends ago. No machine involved. Just a few stitches and a safety pin. I had to post it because at the time we were making it she kept asking me, "are you sure you'll wear this color".

So here I am, and here's how it looked with a drape neck shirt. It actually kept the extra fabric in place, and dressed it up quite a bit. Coming soon...A whole bouquet of these using my extra fabric, in a vase on my piano....But only if I get the house cleaned and my homework done!

Loose Screws

In an attempt to decorate my home {I know we've only lived her two years...} I screwed some cute hooks into the wall across from the garage door entrance into our house. I was pretty sick of picking up book bags and coats, and since we don't usually come in our front door...the coat closet wasn't really convenient + it's hard for kids to reach hangers.

I put these hooks up over a month ago, but they kept getting loose. I think it was the constant tugging and pulling on the coats and bags, but at least the kids were hanging up their stuff. I got this bright idea one day that if I squirted some hot glue down the screw holes, THEN screwed the screws into the wall it would hold tight. It worked! For a while...until the glue hardened...and the screws were still loose.

Apparently squirting hot glue into holes is not the correct way to tighten something to the wall. Although my father in-law wasn't very impressed with my solution, he was more than willing to fix it...correctly. There was something about Home Depot and anchors, and pounding, and chipping the glue out of the holes. Carter was a big help and now has more knowledge about walls, holes, and screws than I have managed to obtained in my 30 years.

So, now they are tight. The right way. And they've stayed that way for days now. Carl was very confident in his and Carter's craftsmanship, so I am not expecting any problems with my hooks from here on out. They are even strong enough to hold my purse {aka dumpster on straps}.

Some people have duct tape...I have hot glue.

Baby Shower Ideas

So, right on the heels of all our birthday celebrations I helped a few ladies throw a baby shower for my friend Holly. Holly and I met at the rec center when I first moved here, later that year we were both looking for a way to work out when the rec center cancelled daycare for the summer. We got to know each other by switching off watching each other's kids in exchange for work outs. The rest is history. We became great friends. Here are a few cute things we did for her shower. {P.s... look at Renee in the background of this picture, it looks like she won the lottery}

I made these, but can't take credit for the idea. I saw this done at my friend Emma's baby shower, and had to try it. It's just two paint samples from Home Depot, stitched together with silverware, napkin, pen, and party games tucked inside. I made them in blue, green, and yellow.

Holly's friend who I was collaborating with chose some train inspired napkins and plates, so I made these candy trains as party favors. Also, not an original idea. In fact, my mom used to make these for her preschool when we were growing up. She used a roll of lifesavers for the body of the train, but I used mini-candy bars.

And the worst/best party game I've ever played. My friend Tanya melted 10 candy bars, one in each diaper. Then, the person had to open the diaper and guess which candy bar it was. Whoever got the most correct won the game. Here's Andrea trying to figure out the difference between a melted Kit Kat and a Twix. It was truly funny and so gross. We both agreed that looking inside of a diaper is a little too close to home for those of us with un-potty trained kids!

This Kid Can Party

On Wednesday night Carter had a swimming party. The swimming pool at the rec center is his favorite place, so it was only fitting that we get our swim on. Carter was joined by about 30 of his closest friends. It was so fun. I wish I would've taken a picture of all these cute wet kids in the swimming pool. Needless to say when we all got out to eat dinner, the life guards were left with an empty pool.

We served Carter's favorite foods, hot dogs {50 turkey dogs and buns}, nachos {three bags of chips and a crock pot of nacho cheese}, apples with fruit dip {a large mixing bowl of dip and 20+ apples, sliced}, capri sun {5 boxes}, and cookie bars {2 pans}. Everyone is hungry after swimming, and these kids ate it up!

I can't say thank you enough to the parents who came and swam with the kids and helped with the food. Especially Holly for holding poor Caleb {ear infection} and cutting endless apples, Jesika and Josh for swimming and helping, Becca and Deb for serving up the food, Emily for taking pictures, and Kenzie for helping with the kids. Carter is still talking about how fun it was, and I couldn't have pulled it off without a lot of help.

Check out all these hungry munchkins. We filled the pool and the party room! It was crazy mass chaos, in the most fun way!

Carter opened endless presents and thanked each of his friends. He is a very grateful kid, and LOVES everything! His enthusiasm is very contagious, and the kids loved helping and watching him unwrap each gift.

Thanks again for making Carter's birthday the best one yet. Emily asked what I was going to do when he turned 6...I think I'll have to start planning now to top this bash!

My Favorite 5 Year Old

Being five suits Carter just fine. With the exception of a confusing misunderstanding about being able to go to kindergarten when you're five {he thought he was getting on the bus the morning of his birthday}. Things are going very well for this handsome man.

Carter was born at 3:47 p.m. on Thursday November 10th, 2005. He was born in the middle of an episode of Dr. Phil {yes watching Dr. Phil was less painful than labor}. When it was time to push him out the nurse asked if I would like the tv turned off. I replied, "yes". Several weeks later while I was flipping through the channels I came across the end of the episode I had missed. It was strange.

He was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 22 inches long. and was born on a rainy November day. As most babies do upon entrance into the world, he cried and screamed. However, this was no ordinary cry...He had a very low deep voice for a baby. So much so that he shocked the doctor who commented, "Now that is a cry!" The nurses were all talking about the baby with the man voice.

So here he is, a little man now. Not sure where the time goes, but I know it goes fast. Here are some five year old favorites:
1. Horses
2. Reading all kinds of books {looking at pictures and memorizing}
3. School {wishes he could go all day everyday even Saturday and especially Sunday}
4. Friends, friends, and more friends!
5. Transformers, Iron Man, Spider Man
6. Soccer, Football, Basketball, and Baseball
7. Movies {all kinds}
8. Sorting laundry
9. Running and doing everything with a jump/hop/skip {except for getting in the car....that one's in slow-mo}
10. Building, Pretending, and Drawing

I know that he's ready to move on, but he's been my little buddy for so long, I will miss him when he really does go to school all day. We've had the most wonderful adventures together and I couldn't imagine my life without Carter.

Birthday Season

November is a crazy birthday month for our little family. Caleb on the 3rd + Carter on the 10th= a whole week {or more} of birthday fun. On Saturday November 6th we had a joint family party. My mom and dad came for the weekend along with Christian's mom, brother's and sister's....Oh yes, and Cali and Carter's favorite, Parker. Apryl, Abby, and Canon stopped by for some fun too. It was a great day, great food, presents as far as the eye could see, and two very happy boys.

My mom and Cali decorated these cute monkey cupcakes. I stole the idea from my friend Nicole who made her little son these on his first b-day too. Nicole, thanks for letting me steal these...they were fun and yum!

Thanks to everyone that came to party with my not-so-little boys.

Caleb's Birthday Movie

Quick Work

It only took Caleb about ten seconds to go from this {skeptical}...

to this {curious}...

And from this {delighted}...

To this {cupcake drunk}.

The Life of an Independent One Year Old

CLIMB

LOOK

JUMP...

REPEAT! All day long...It never stops!

Cermal and Nermal Rhyme

Carter is learning about rhyming sounds in preschool, and makes some very interesting observations. For example...He announced to us the other day that cermal and nermal rhyme.

True, they do...But, these words are just Carter speak for caramel {cermal} and normal {nermal}. We've been using these two Carterized words since Carter could talk...Maybe too long, apparently he thought they were real words.

I will try to quit saying, "Hey, kids we're going over to some friends house try to act nermal" instead I will use the correct word...normal. After all, that's the nermal {I mean normal thing to do}

Check out Carter's cermal-concentration face...

Oh there's that face again, only much larger!

We ran out of sticks so we had to stab the apples with forks instead.

The finished products! Cermal rolled in chocolate chips and granilla {granola}. We may need to check our vocabulary around here!

Halloween...The Most Photographed Holiday {Next to Christmas, of course}

On Saturday night we went to our friend's family friendly Halloween party. I was asked to bring some cookies, so I stole this recipe and idea from my professional cookie makin' sister. Jack the Pumpkin King and Sally Skellington were a hit. The party party people ate four dozen cookies!

Here's a collage of he night's festivities. Dancing, pinata bashing, string donut eating, and lots of food. Christian and bunch of the other party pooper dads went in the house to watch the Utah/Airforce game, and Carter went back and forth between joy {hitting the pinata} and terror {the scary witch in the corner was making him uneasy}

Christian's contribution to Halloween!