Gingerbread Houses with Nonni

Every year if Nonni is here, she makes gingerbread houses with the kids. Here are some cute pics of them constructing their masterpiece.

Oh, you didn't know that a hair dryer is an essential part of the gingerbread making tool kit? Well it is, just need to hurry the drying process up a bit.

What, you don't use all natural, organic cleaners to polish your microwave? 

Squishy face

 

The finished product and Paris with her Fabio hairy chest action.

Nonni asked if we were going to wait until Christmas to eat the gingerbread house, yeah right, not in a house with five candy fiends! This was taken less than 24 hours after the house was finished.

Black Friday Bonanza

Cooper and I and our stash - actually the nicest picture of Cooper I have seen in awhile!

Cooper and I went on our yearly black Friday shopping sale this morning.  After looking at the ads yesterday and doing some online shopping, there wasn't really anything that I felt compelled to wake up at 4am for, but Cooper had his heart set on it, so we went. I told him that I would prefer to wake up closer to 6am than 4am but that he could choose. In the middle of the night he came down and woke me up, and guess what? It was 4am.  ( This is from Cooper, the boy that likes to have a 40 minute window to drive to MARA 2 miles down the street to make sure we get there on time.)

Our first location was Gamestop.  Cooper decided that he wanted to get a new xbox 360 so I told him he could try to trade in all the Wii stuff to see if it would be enough money. So he lugged the Wii system, the remotes, the accessories, the Wii Fit Balance board and all the games. Cooper called Gamestop before we arrived and they told him that Wiis are worth $160 and the Wii Fit is worth $30. With all the extra things he brought, he thought he would definitely have enough for the $199 price tag on the xbox 360.  When the lady at Gamestop told him that all his stuff was worth a grand total of $70, he was fighting tears as we figured out that the pre-owned Wii and Wii Fit prices are what he was given on the phone, not the trade-in values. So we took back all our Wii paraphernalia and he picked out a couple of new games and accessories for Christmas.

This was the drama of the morning, we next visited Target; Kohls; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Hancock Fabrics; World Market and Costco.  We got lots of great presents, stood in long lines and are happy to be home!

Will

Will has been especially sweet to me lately, often surprising me with a big hug and telling me that, "I just wanted to tell you how much I love you mommy." He also has his moments where I feel like I am going beserk, but I guess that is all part of the deal. We took this picture when we went on a speical date recently, he was pretty easy - a quick trip to Bruester's for a dinosaur sundae and then we came home and played Mancala.

It is finished!!!!!!

Over a year ago, a couple friends and I had the crazy idea that it would be fun to make a copycat Pottery Barn advent calendar.  After many hours of blood, sweat and tears, it is done! Halleluah! I sent mine off for an early Christmas gift with fun ideas for each day of December tucked inside the pockets. I hope they like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Thanksgiving was a great day for us today. Austin and the boys left early to play in the annual Turkey Bowl leaving Paris and I to a leisurely morning. We went for a short run - I ran, Paris rode in the jogger.  Then we came home and Paris helped me make our special Pumpkin Crunch Cake and then peeled potatoes.  Later we ate dinner at our beloved friends', the Gunsons, house. We stuffed ourselves silly and ended the day giving thanks for all we have.  Here are some snaps from the day:

Paris working hard on the pumpkin cake

Peeling potatoes is so much fun! Cooper was trying really hard to get out of the picture, he hates having his picture taken lately.

I told Will that it would be the happiest day of my life if he would wear a button up shirt and jeans to Thanksgiving dinner today. I don't think it was the happiest day of his life though - he said he kept tripping over his jeans.

Austin and I at dinner

Paris, Cooper and Will in a forced by mom pose

Happy and stuffed!

Hand Sanitizer

Looking for a way to save time?  Maybe you can start by slurring some of your words together instead of taking time to pause between.  After Paris goes to the bathroom, she always asks for some "hansitizer, please" instead of the more lengthy hand sanitizer. 

Thanksgiving Feast at Pleasant Plains Pre-School



My attempt at an artsy pose of Paris before we left for preschool.





Paris and her teachers Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Sarah. They are standing in front of the turkey that has feathers to show what the kids are thankful for. Paris was thankful for "Cooper, Will, her blankie and Mommy and Daddy."



Paris and her handprint turkeys.

Paris and Mom

San Francisco Trip

Last weekend, my sister Shawn and my sister-in-law Tiffany and I visited my parents at their lovely penthouse apartment in San Jose.  My sister-in-law Brandi was supposed to come too but was too sick with pregnancy throwing up and nausea. We missed her but could understand how horrible she feels and why she would stay home.  My dad loved spending so much time with his girls though we might have done a bit more shopping than he was hoping for when we were in San Francisco. 

 Below are some shots from our trip. I was FURIOUS when I found out that I forgot my camera on the day we actually went into San Francisco so I will rely on my mommy hopefully emailing me some pictures to add.

 Shawn claimed the blow-up bed next to the fireplace as soon as she arrived, so Tiffany and I slept in the guest room and I am sure she got to know me better than she may have planned!

 This was a cute place in Los Gatos called Sweet Pea. They served delicious quiche and crepes, we ate ours so fast that we forgot to take a picture.

 Me, Shawn and Tiffany

And the infamous "craft" I made us do on the trip. Beaded watches! My mom is going to love this picture, but I thought it was so funny of Shawn deep in concentration and my mom squinting to read the directions. Tiffany is fine though, she actually likes to do this kind of stuff!

My mom and dad have been religiously attending several ball-room classes a week for the last year or so and so they took us to a dance class at the Cheryl Burke dance studio they go to. It was more fun than I thought, though a little nerve-wracking. My dad was my favorite partner. And he of course loved taking four ladies to the class with him!

Adorable note Will wrote to his football coach

 It says, "Dear Coach Bryan, Coach, I'm going to play football next year and I'm going to be on the white team.  I wanted to give you something that glows in the dark. A football and a football hellmitt.  Thank you, Will"

For all his drama and screaming, Will has a very tender heart. He came up with this note to his football coach all on his own and even cut out a football and "hellmitt" out of glow in the dark paper for him.

Halloween Fun

Dolly Donations

I've been working with some ladies at my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to create these beautiful rag dolls that will be sent to orphnages in Haiti.  They are so much fun to make and only need scraps and things that you probably have on hand anyway.  If you want to help, check out this awesome blog here.

Crafty Day with Paris

I wasn't feeling very good today so Paris and I had a little craft day at home. I've had this shirt for a long time that I like but forget about because it is kind of boring.  So I decided to jazz it up a bit with some lace and trimmings my grandma gave me and Paris worked on painting some blocks for me.



Don't mind the big wet spot in the middle, I just had to do a bit of spot cleaning.
From drab . . . .



to fab!!!

Hopefully when I try it on the flowers won't be in any awkward spots if you know what I mean.

Paris must have told me a million times that I am the best mommy in the world because I let her paint.

Braids, Braids Everywhere!

When I was little my mom used to braid my hair  and put pink spongy curlers at the ends resulting in a fantastic afro in the morning, I loved it. So Paris finally sat still enough for me to do the braids. We'll see what happens in the morning.

The hardest thing I have ever done, otherwise known as the Blue Ridge Relay

My lovely friend Alison recently set up a weekend of torture for 12 of us. We decided to participate in the Blue Ridge Relay; it is 208 miles through the beautiful blue ridge mountains, separated into 36 legs. So we each took three legs and each ran a total of 15-20 miles.  We all knew this would be challenging, but I don't think any of us realized HOW challenging. The elevation, hills, carsickness and lack of sleep made running really difficult. And all of us are experienced runners.

You would not believe how indiscriminating you become about where you lay your sleeping bag to rest when you are this exhausted. Plus, you start to realize the value of a good baby wipe bath (no showers, three runs, 36 hours, I'll let you figure it out). One of the great things about the race is the beautiful setting. We had absolutely breathtaking views of the blue ridge. All in all, it was a great experience, but one I don't think any of us are ready to repeat again.

The night before the race - still feeling pretty good, pretty clean and excited.

Night before carbo loading dinner.

The team (minus Heidi who was currently running)

Couldn't beat the green trees, white clouds and blue skies.

Ready . . .

Let's go already!