The blog titled "I Hate Thanksgiving" or "Rock the Vote"

Let me tell y'all something. I dislike Thanksgiving. Very much. So much that I might just say that I hate it. Its out there now, no pulling it back in. I love the family time together, I love the meaning of the holiday, I just don't love the gorging. Or the 'oh geez I think I'm going to throw up if I eat one more....SURE, I'll have another piece of pumpkin pie' or the bloated bodies lying around after the meal. It's just not my favorite holiday. Perhaps I should practice some restraint and not stuff myself silly, some of you might ask? Maybe. But who wants to eat Thanksgiving leftovers for a month and a half? Nah, better to take care of it all at once.

Onto the voting part of the title, we are debating on driving to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. There is one member of our family that flat out REFUSES to go. SO, the question I am wrestling with is do we drive out, me, 3 kids, whatever grandparent loses the armwrestle and has to ride in our van with us...leaving Aaron all alone (but not really because he'll go to his family's house and have their traditional dinner and their traditional enchiladas, which is why I am suspecting he'd really like to go there and is just pretending he doesn't want to go to SF, he just wants a crack at the enchiladas) or do we stay here and have our own little Thanksgiving dinner with the 5 of us in our house for our first Thanksgiving? I can't decide. Tell me what you think.

P.S. Do you think that I might have a problem with run-on sentences?

And some more...

Summer Photos

So here are a few photos from a couple months back, I got some great pics done of the kids in the summer and never posted them.

Hey, I already said that the goal was once every 6 months...

So technically, I am being an overachiever. Again. I said that I was going to try to blog at least every 6 months, it has only been like 2. We just had to let all of our thousands of fans know what we're up to...M & L both started up with school again, Mars loves school but detests getting up early everyday. She is the biggest nightowl I've ever met, during a sleepover at our house I told her and her friend that they could stay up as late as they wanted, and at 3:30 a.m. I finally had to pull the plug on that promise.
Laine loves her school, her teachers, and her friends. She can't wait to go to kindergarten. She just turned 5 and tonight she told her uncle Jared that since she is 5 she can now see all the food over the counter at Subway. Ahhhh, the milestones, huh? Crawling, walking, talking, the Subway counter. *Wiping a tear* Lainee (as previously mentioned) turned 5 on Saturday. Some of you might be thinking "But wait!!!! Wasn't Saturday the 26th day of the 9th month of the year YOUR birthday?" And yes, you'd be correct. I had my birthday TAKEN from me by my sweet daughter. So we decided that this year, since Disneyland was giving out free tickets on your birthday that we'd take advantage and get 3 of us in free (Ash is still 2 he gets in for free). So we drove out to Cali with all of us plus Papa in the good ol' van, spent 2 days at Disneyland, Sunday morning at the beach and then drove back. You might think that this would have been a good plan, right? Well, let me just tell you that at one point on her bday I had Lainee scream at the top of her lungs, tears rolling down her cheeks "THIS IS THE WORST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!" I would have LOVED it if my parents took me to Disneyland for my birthday. Guess you can't please some people, right? We'll just have to do it up bigger next year, try to make amends for the rotten time she was put through. Poor kid.
Ash got sick at Disneyland, I think that he was dehydrated. We watched the Pixar parade (all his favorites) and when Lightning McQueen and Mater came by (the absolute favorite of all), he didn't react even a little bit. So I knew something was up. I took him inside to get a drink and then the projectile vomiting began. You haven't lived until you've had 2 handfuls of vomit at Disneyland. Grandma & Papa took him to the hotel to get him cooled off, and he didn't really care one way or the other if he went back. As long as he had some Tylenol, he really liked the rides. Except for the Matterhorn. I asked him if he liked the ride and he said "No, its scary!" We're so glad that we got to go celebrate there, we had a great week of celebrations.
Mars just lost her front tooth, she came home from school with it in a baggie. I asked her how it came out, she told me that she was hugging her friend James and he didn't want her to hug him so he pushed her away and knocked her tooth out. We're thinking of suing. Laine discovered that she also has a loose tooth. She is convinced that it is because she turned 5.
I have been released from scouts. I am 99% sure that it is because I refused to do the Tarzan cry at Roundtable. I was getting the ol' stinkeye from the leader that wanted everyone to do it, she made everyone repeat it several times while glaring in my direction because "not everyone was doing it and I noticed a couple of people not pounding on their chests with their fists." Yeah, that was me. Released may not be the best word, I may have just been blacklisted for not showing my scouting spirit. Now I am the Primary 1st counselor. I'll let you know if they are trying to teach me a lesson or not.
I will post our Disney pics in the morning, when I get them off of my mom's camera. So technically, that will make 2 posts in a 24 hour period. Take that, all you people that think I'm being a slacker!

Camera troubles

So after I found my camera (phew) I was at the Donner Reed Museum for scouts (someone ask me what we had for a snack, hee hee) and I went to take the boys' pictures inside the jail. Total Photo Op. And the camera busted. It was like "Pictures of scouts? Really? I think this is the all time low, so nope, I am going to resign. Right....NOW!" And then this little error showed up that said Lens error, restart camera. Which would have been all right, except for there is no way to restart the camera. At all. So after tapping it, then hitting it, then almost throwing it I decided it is time to get a new camera. Yay! And then I accidentally fixed it, and now it is JUST LIKE NEW. sigh.

No title. I don't deserve one.

Guys, honest to Pete (there ya go, Aaron) my life is not crazy enough for me to not blog more than once every 2 months. Although its really not that interesting either. BUT, it's not about me all the time, is it. Is it? Sometimes I forget that I'm not just blogging about me, but all the kiddos too. Here's the rundown on all that is happening lately:

Heathie and Jed just came out for a visit, it was great to see them both. They had very little time to spend, they were here for Jedders brothers' wedding, but it was good while it lasted. I'm sure that they are always ready to get back to the peace and quiet of Queens. After spending time with 6 kids under age 6.

I am slowly coming down from my ultra obsessive decorating the house mode. I didn't say that I was done, but I am getting there. I will take some pics, I just got my furniture Saturday, it is fabulous. Love it. It doesn't even matter that everyone slides of the slickery leather, I still love it.

My favorite brother Jared started a blog. Jared should be a chef, he is the ultimate gourmet. I think that if I am ever rich and / or famous I will hire him as my personal chef. He really is a good cook, check his blog if you get a sec. http://www.tinykitchenchronicles.blogspot.com/

Aaron and I went to WICKED in SLC. Wowee, I got teary eyed just from getting excited to watch it again. We had a fantastic time, we went to Spencer's at the Hilton for dinner (salad, Filet Mignon, crab legs, sauteed spinach, mashed potatoes, and strawberry shortcake, YUM) and then the show. It was absolutely as great as it was in NYC, just on a much smaller stage. We had 5th row tickets, it was amazing. LOVED IT!

Hillary and I joined a card group. It was so much fun to see what everyone came up with, everyone had way good technique so it was nice to get cards that people put as much work into as we put into ours. I am finally getting my craft area organized, and I am a little uncomfortable with the shelf that displays all my stamp sets. I don't know if I really want them in the open like that, I feel all exposed. I want my, er, habits behind closed doors. It made me feel extremely guilty, however, we are talking approx. 5 years of accumulation. Besides, if I get any flack from anyone, I am just going to defer all comments to my friend Erin. I KNEW it was going to be like this. She is the one that got me hooked on Stampin Up, I didn't really want to get involved. But now I'm in it deep, and facing a possible intervention. Thanks Erin.

I think that about covers it. School is wrapping up, I am trying to shift gears to summer activities, so far we are interested in: Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, swimming lessons, violin and / or piano, soccer, little league, language lessons, and something about drama lessons (snort laugh). We TOTALLY need drama lessons. I think that my girls could teach those drama people a thing or two.

We are having a sleep over tonight at aunt Hillarys', and Tater is waking up. It is 1:30 in the a.m. and I am going to try to let my poor sleep depraived sister get some zzzz's and get the little punkin back to sleep. So I am going to sign off and hopefully post some pics in the next couple of days. No promises, but I am setting a goal to post as least once every 6 months. Yeah, I can do that.

The Fans have spoken.

So I've been taking a lot of guff from people about not updating my blog for the past 17 months. Simple reason. I can't find my camera. I know that it is here somewhere. I just don't know where. And sometimes, I wonder if a blog is any good without pics. So here is an update, until either the camera appears magically, or until someone takes pity on us and buys us a new one. I thought that moving was going to be a much, uh, smoother process than it was (is). I thought that I'd be moved, unpacked, and settled within 1 week. Nopedy nope nope. It is still a huge process, the boxes in the basement seem like they are multiplying like rabbits, and there is truly no end in sight. I think that I need Aaron to take the kids somewhere for a week and leave me to battle the boxes. We all know that I wouldn't do that though, I'd be reading and sleeping my life away and it would be an even bigger mess by the time they got back. The bedrooms are done, I still need furniture for the bonus and the living room areas, and other than that I need to hang things on the walls. I'll have some fun posts after Spring Break next week. I'll have to go get a disposable camera and *shudder* develop some pictures, scan them in....forget it, I'm just going to have to go get a new camera :)

Kids say the darndest things...

My kids have been exceptionally funny this week...they are so excited to move and around these parts, excitement=silliness. Here are just a couple of the funny things that have come out of their little mouths:

Mars and I were watching one of my all time fave movies, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. (sigh.) I love this movie, and the part where the brothers are all capturing the girls to put them on the sleigh, Marbles said "why are those boys taking those girls?" and I said "because they want to marry them, so they decided to kidnap them." She said "You mean grown-up nap them."

Laine saw me write a reminder on my hand (big mistake) last week, so this morning she came up with a pen and said "Mommy, can you write a reminder on my hand? I know that Thanksgiving is coming up soon and I don't want to forget it..." So now my little 4 year old is walking around with a note on her hand that says 'Thanksgiving, November 26th 5:00 SHARP!!'

I'll have to post some more this week, as for right now I've got to go buy me a house! Yay!

New House.....I hope!

So for those of you that I talk to often, you all know this. Please feel free to skip this blog entry, I won't be mad. Well, maybe I'll be a little bit mad. I've been debating with myself if I should post this entry or not, so I figured I'd chance it and make it happen. I am just a little nervous about posting all this stuff and then something happening to make it not happen and then both of the people that read my blog (my mom being one of the 2) will think that I'm a big fraud. Or a loser. Or both. OK. (Deep Breath.) We bought a house. We haven't closed on it yet, which is why I am nervous to say anything. I can just see us going to sign and then some glitch making it not happen, so that is why I didn't want to say anything yet. But there ya go. Its out there now. Here are a few pics, we don't close until around mid month. As soon as it's official, we'll party like its 1999. Til then, I am going through house anxiety. I think I'm getting an ulcer.

Last pics to go with post, I promise...

Sorry, people. We took a lot of pics, alright?

More pics to go with the latest post!

Playing Catch-up

Hi all, hope everyone is having a great new year with no broken resolutions thus far. I joined the gym and so far am keeping to it, but no results :( I am the type that wants the instant gratification. I think that I should be able to eat how and what I want, when I want it, and then make one visit to the gym and *presto*, Victoria's secret is calling me the next day, begging me to be their new model. Of course, I will tell them no, I have 3 kids to raise. You'll just have to settle for Heidi again this year.

Ash had a birthday, that's right, the big man is now 2. Like you couldn't tell that otherwise. I love how my kids start terrible two's at 16 months and get out of them at...hey, when are they supposed to be out of the terrible two's again??!?!! I think that everyone in my family (myself and Aaron included) (Especially Aaron and not so much me) is still in the terrible two's. In our family's case it is called the terrible infinity, or the terrible-however-old-you-are-at-the-moment. ANYWAYS we had a great time with Ash for the big day, I ordered a Wal-mart cake (don't knock em til ya try em), white cake with raspberry filling...mmmm....oh yeah, with a Cars theme. I love how my kids are still too little to give a real preference for cake at the moment, that way I get to pick the flavor. Cake is cake to them, as long as it has a Barbie or Buzz Lightyear on the top, they're good. We went to Chuck E. Cheese with my family on the 1st, and to the Discovery Kids museum at the Gateway and then to the Old Spaghetti Factory on the 2nd with Aaron's family. They were both a lot of fun and, of course, Ash was spoiled by all. I took him to the doctor for his check up and he is 36.5 pounds and off the charts for height and weight. He now weighs more than Marbles and Laine. Not combined, just on their own. :)

We are still waiting to hear news on the house, we should know something by this week or next. (Oh, please, please, PLEASE be this week) I think I am getting an ulcer. It really has been a long wait for us and now the end is in sight and I am tired of waiting. And all of you that I talk to regularly had better be praying that I hear soon too, because then I can stop complaining about that and start complaining about things that are much more interesting.

Marlee lost another tooth, the one right next to the first one, so she is looking a little jack-o-lantern-ish. She is adorable, she lost it over Christmas break, and waited until school began again to put it under her pillow. She wanted to take the tooth to school to show her teacher, and knew that if the T.F. came that she couldn't take it. Smart girl! That would have never dawned on me when I was 5. Or 25, for that matter.

So I think that is it for now, I guess if I think of anything else I'll just have to post more than once every 7 weeks.