A Trip To Remember....

Christmas Morning...Checking Out Their Haul

D got the traditional 3 year old gift from Gpa

We got more than we bargained for at the hotel we stayed at in Arizona. It was drug deal central. We did feel safe because of all of the security...but we won't be staying in that chain ever again. There were burn marks and cut marks on the bathroom vanity and it was a non smoking room. The room was clean, but when C was licking fruit loops off of the top of the chest of drawers we hoped it had been sanitized. Gross.

We had a great visit with grandparents galore. We went to the railroad park and the zoo. Good times were had by all.

Santa Claus is Coming To....The Bank....

Smile C!

Here are the pictures I was talking about in the last post. D promised that he'd tell Santa what he wanted this year, but he took it back when Santa walked in the door.

Last week if you asked D where Santa lived he'd tell ya "Las Vegas". Now he knows the correct answer is the North Pole, it's not as cute. We think that Las Vegas was the only city he knew the name of so that's why he said it.

D is doing the same pose he did for the pictures Aunt Olga took for us.
By the way Olg, that disc isn't here yet.....

I'm in a much better mood today. I should keep a calendar so that I know when I'll get ticked for absolutely no reason. I figured it out.

Why Do Reindeer Wear Jingle Bells?

Because Their Horns Don't Work

We went to see Santa last night. He comes to our bank every year and we take that opportunity to visit with him....he's great with the kids and spends time with them.

The reindeer joke was one he told last night.

Then after the visit with Santa, A and I went to her annual dance recital. After many many mishaps and "situations", which we didn't find out about until afterwards, the show went on.

A did a great job. They did a kick routine and it's gotten better and better each time I see it. When it was finally over we went out to dinner at 9p.m.

After that we had to purchase treats for A's class Christmas Party at school. Their teacher had the children in the class plan the party....on their own. On Wednesday she came home and told me she needed treats for the party for 30 people. Sure, I can do that. The only thing is that all treats brought to school MUST be store bought. Big Pain. Then as she and I were talking I found out that SHE was the ONLY one bringing the treats for her class. That she was assigned the food, and they hadn't thought to assign more than one person. Yes, one boy was bringing the drinks....lucky him. 5th Graders are not wise enough to plan a party without supervision in my humble opinion. So I'm a scrooge. A will never offer to be the only one bringing food again. Off she went this morning with her expensive bags of food to feed her class. Am I overreacting? I'm still ticked.

I'll try to post pictures later. They won't upload right now, and I have to go up to the Church to decorate for the Ward Party tonight. I'm in a bad mood. Merry Christmas! Here's a cute story, so I'm not complaining on this entire post.

There was the little boy who approached Santa in a department store with a long list of requests. He wanted a bicycle and a sled, a chemical set, a cowboy suit, a set of trains, a baseball glove and roller skates."That's a pretty long list," Santa said sternly. "I'll have to check in my book and see if you were a good boy.""No, no," the youngster said quickly. "Never Mind checking. I'll just take the roller skates."

The Kids

Just For Mom

They Ain't Hillbillies....They's Relation....

I'm so glad that those are fake...

MaJen told a funny joke with his teeth in...it was, "Did you know that they invented the toothbrush in Tennessee? If it would have been invented anywhere else it would have been called the TEETHbrush"...ba dump pa (rim shot)

Apparently it runs in the family....
It makes me mad when Blogger won't let you upload more pictures on a post. So I'm "tricking" it into thinking that I haven't tried to upload these pictures before... We'll see what happens....

Grandma...What Big Eyes and Big Teeth You Have

A stayed home sick today with a sore throat and then threw up at 4. I hope it was something she ate last night. Of course it couldn't have been anything I made....
So FINALLY here are the pictures that go with the last three captions on the previous post. This is not fun.... It takes forever to upload these...

I just had to include the POXED ONE. Sweet little heart, her head is filled with them. She was pretty happy as long as she was being held. (But aren't we all?)

Poor Lil K was having a hard time and I didn't want to spoil his sporadic happiness by making him pose for a picture.

All in all it was a fun night. Full of Suprises...

I'm afraid to find out what's next?

We're Gonna Party Like It's Yur Bithday....

Take The Picture Already Mom...
We celebrated Potato's 5th Birfday (as he calls it) yesterday. It was snowing and cold but the troops arrived with birthday and elephant gifts galore. It was a night to be remembered....a night exposed to chicken pox....(since we already had been and there was nothing we could do about it.) Poor Baby L and K of LowKat parentage showed up with spots on Sunday.

Potato received wonderful gifts from family near and far. A Lightning McQueen bike was what he received from us. It's still in the house by the way. I'm so glad we have wood floors.

His big brother B keeps "talking" him "out" of his awesome present from Carlo and Olga's family.

Then we proceeded downstairs for the annual Christmas party. We all drew numbers and got the party started. A few tears and tantrums later and we were done. Here are some of the gifts that were unfortunately not wanted by anyone else, so the lucky recipients were stuck with them. There might be one or two that show up again next year. Watch Out!

What a cute couple they were made for each other.

This kid needs a dentist. He did have 7 cavities when we went two weeks ago. But I think it's gotten worse. Where's Uncle Spence?

Hey Elton...Can I borrow some money?

I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas....

I Just Had To Post This Picture....

I got this in an email from one of my good friends. This says it all don't you think? There is always a roll of duct tape handy....this is just one more of the thousands of uses for it... That baby doesn't look unhappy at all. I don't think our kids would hold still for that much taping, I'm afraid they'd get away.
This picture is one that I "took" off of my sis in law's blogsite. This picture was taken at about 10:30 p.m. after several family shots were taken. It's a great representation of our darling children. I just wish we had a picture of Aunt K jumping up and down to get their attention and smiles. D is in his typical picture pose...he's a turkey. C was about to fall asleep because his blood sugar was low.. It was a fun night filled with fun cousin memories.

It was Baby B's birthday this Monday and we got together to celebrate on Sunday. We had a FULL house. But it was so much fun to see Baby B open his presents and eat his cake. It's hard to believe that just a year ago he was teeny tiny and about the weight of a pop can. We're so glad he is healthy. No babies were harmed in the making of this post...so no weirdos better post disturbing comments...Wait....I need all the comments I can get....Comment Away....

Silent Night? Not!

This is how our night started...with the boys taping each other up. The funny thing is that C was asking B to do it. Boys are weird. We know when the shirts come off it's WWF time. D is the one who usually gets the party started by the way. Ricardo put up the lights outside and it gave me time to clean up the house. I had a very emotional afternoon and sort of vegged and let the house stay as it was....a disaster. But I perked up when Ricardo took the ABCD's outside with him to "help".

That's a Hot Dog by the way...a cold one...Gross!

This is the THIRD night we have attempted to put ornaments on the tree. Every night thus far someone has ruined it for everyone. Yes, I'll admit that our children act like a bunch of wild animals anytime we try do anything fun. So here is our traditional night of decorating. Notice that no "animals" were harmed in the making of these pictures.

That's not where the tree will stay by the way it was easier to decorate in the middle of the room

Ricardo topping off our fun family night...it's way past bedtime

Thank You Aunt Janine & Aunt Candy....

I just opened the most awesome gift that my mother sent to me by way of my Aunt Janine and Aunt Candy. Janine started a quilt for me to give as a gift this Christmas. My Mom and Aunt Candy found the quilt top when Janine passed away in March this year. So Candy took it home with her and finished it to give me for Christmas. The tears have finally cleared so that I can type this THANK YOU to them both. I'm so honored that I could receive this gift from Janine even though she is not here. I'm so grateful that we have the knowledge that we have to know that we'll see her again. I love you both...

Gobble Till You Wobble...

Thanksgiving was a great day. We were lucky enough to have Grandma B at our home a few days before she passed away. She seemed to really be enjoying herself and even commented on how cute her great grandchildren were when they were playing on the floor. I could kick myself for not taking pictures of all of us with Grandma. I guess you always figure there will be another time to take them. So I learned my lesson to always take advantage of our time together. Ricardo with C & D

Ricardo and Baby B...They were having a great time together. Baby B played with that cup for a long time. Now we know what to get him for Christmas.

When You're Hot You're Hot!!!!

Black Friday III

Black Friday II

Black Friday

We had so much fun riding instead of shopping. We left early and headed out to the sand. We spent hours riding and even got a little sunburned. It's only an hour away and we will be spending more time there this Winter to get away from the cold. Even I enjoyed it. A few places were a little scary, but A went up some hills that I wasn't going to even try. But when B called me a "chicken" I had to go too. We only had one mishap...our friend tipped over her bike going up a hill. But they were OK and didn't even get a scratch.

All Work And No Play...

We had a very busy weekend....

On Friday afternoon we had an animal mishap courtesy of C. He accidentally squashed a kitten and we thought he had killed it. Thankfully, it was "only" bruised internally. It was a very scary hour until we got Hazelnut to the Vet. There weren't any Vets available on a Friday afternoon, but a Vet assistant took pity on us and took a look at the kitten. We were at a friends house and I felt TOTALLY responsible for my child's actions. It's scary to offer to pay for vet bills when you have NO IDEA what it might cost. But it was the right thing to do and it only turned out to be a $20 fee, for an overnight stay and observation. What a lucky break... If it would have been more than that we would have taken back all of C's Christmas and Birthday presents. But I'm happy to report that Hazel is doing well and my friendship is still intact. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father answers even the simplest of prayers.

"A" in her Hip Hop Costume

Waiting To Go...

Then Friday evening A had TWO different performances. The first was for her dance class and the second was her school choir. The high school sponsors a Craft Fair every year and they have quite a little racket going. You have to pay to get in and then they have children's groups performing all day for two days and of course you have to take and watch your child's performance, but not only you, but your family and extended family. They RAKE it in. I wish I would have thought of it.

Then on Saturday Ricardo took pity on my Winter Cleaning plight and took the kids for the day to the Ranch so that I could finish my organizing projects in peace. We are having Thanksgiving at our house and now I will not be embarrassed by having items falling out of cupboards as we are preparing dinner.

They went to the Ranch and rode the four wheelers.

Please Tell Me I'm Not The Only One Who Saw This Movie....

This is a total blast from the past....really past...I can remember going to see this with my Grandma Cooper, probably when I was A's age.

"Mom, My Throat Hurts"

Poor Thing...
Dangit! Just when I have fun lunch plans with the girls.....someone almost ALWAYS comes down with something. I saw a funny shirt today that said..."What Happens With The Girlfriends, Stays With The Girlfriends". Ain't that the truth. My SWEET husband came home early from work so I could still go. I owe him big time. But before I left we had the opportunity to tend Baby B for a few hours because Uncle M called and said Aunt J was sick. Hope it's not "morning" sick. So we played with Baby B and took some cute pics. All the while poor Bren was in bed sick as a dog....

Baby B Was Having A Blast With His Shoes...They Must Take Better

Than Pears and Chicken...Yum Yum...

You Know The Game Is Over When Someone Gets Hurt...

Even If It's Just Their Feelings

You Know Who You Are...

How To Leave Your Comments

Stolen From My Sis In Law....

It seems there has been some confusion regarding just how to go about leaving a comment on the blog. So I've published a simple, visual reminder for those of you who may have forgotten. Since the list has gotten quite large, I wont single anyone out here...but we could all use a friendly refresher course once in a while. So here we go.

STEP 1:Once you have read through the newest blog post, and you reach the bottom of the day's entry. You'll see a number next to the word 'Comments'. The idea is the larger the number, the happier the owner of the BLOG is. So we click on that link (circled here in orange) and that will take us to the area where we may add to the BLOG owner's happiness. By leaving a comment of our own. The photo is for illustrative purposes only.

Upon clicking the 'comments' link, you will be taken to a page that looks similar to this...where you can then post your comment.

Step 2:In the large text box, type your comment.

Step 3:If you do not have a blog of your own then you do not have a password, instead you will want to select "other" from the 3 options available under the "Choose an identity" section.

Step 4:In the 'Name' text box, type in your name, or a code name to signify who you are.

Step 5:Click the blue "Publish Your Comments" button..and WALA you have added to someone's happiness today. GREAT JOB!Happy Commenting!

T'was A Week After Halloween and All Thru The House....

Can You See Me Now???

Our Hitler Ninja

Our Pirate of the Tumbleweed

Our Resident Devilette

OK....I'm WAY BEHIND...It was time for Quarterlies last week so I sort of skipped adding these pictures to our blog. So please forgive this transgression and enjoy these turkey's in their costumes...