Feliz Navidad

Christmas Eve we had a little fiesta with Pay, Mary & kids, Aunt Ruthie and Grandpa John. We ate the traditional tamale dinner and opened a few presents and were just generally wild and crazy. (Well, the kids were anyway)



Christmas morning, Drew loved his fancy yo-yo the best. In fact, I'm not even supposed to refer to it as a yo-yo. Drew wants me to call it by it's correct name: a Trick-Yo. He's getting pretty good at it.
Dean was so excited about the basketball game. Pie likes it, too. They've come up with a new way of scoring that is supposed to make it more fair for Dean. That must be why he keeps winning.
Edie got all kinds of animal things for Christmas. And she loves them all. She will be the best zookeeper/veterinarian/pet store owner in the world.
No one is surprised at Evan's favorite gift. The Bubble Tape was gone in less than an hour!
Pie liked his soda maker, too. It only took about 4 pretty obvious hints for me to pick up on his Christmas wish!
We had one last surprise for the kids after the gifts were opened. "Let's go to Grandma & Grandpa's house!" They didn't believe us at first, but we dropped everything and drove to San Bernardino to spend a few days with our favorite people in the world. Only Emily's family was missing. :(

All Dean wants for Christmas is...

...his one front tooth. (I know it's not as catchy as the original, but we work with what we've got.)
I have this overwhelming urge to yank out the other front tooth and make him sing the song and video it. But I will resist.

Dean has a little lisp anyway, and then the tooth comes out and it's even more pronounced. It really is cute. ...But both would be cuter! ...No, I shouldn't!...

3 Posts in 1

A cute anecdote, a review of our Thanksgiving, and an announcement.

#1 A cute anecdote:
No, it's not another injury. Evan was busy this morning while I was getting the big boys off to school. He came out of the bathroom and said "Ah bootiful. See me? Ah bootiful." He had put my eyeliner on and was declaring himself beautiful. I had to catch a quick picture before washing it off.

#2 A review of our Thanksgiving
We went to Grandma & Grandpa's house in San Bernardino. Of course, when we're there, all rules are null and void. The kids play video games, Guitar Hero, and the computer from dawn 'til way-past-dusk. Here Dean is showing off, playing behind his head:
Drew can't take his eyes off the screen as he waves to me. Thanks, buddy.
We celebrated Evan's birthday again. Yes, that is a sweet roll with a candle.
We sang a few times, but then even lighting the candle became a hassle and Uncle Matt let Evan and his cousins blow out the lighter.
And of course, we eat well at Grandma & Grandpa's house.
Even Aunt Katie loves it!

#3 An announcement
No, it's not what you're thinking. Don't even go there.

I'm just letting all (3) of my faithful readers know that I won't be so faithful at posting anymore. Not because I don't like it, because I do. I haven't been such a good journal-writer ever. It's because whatever free time I had before will now be taken with my new calling. I'm not in Primary anymore. Boo Hoo! I'm now the Relief Society President. Waaaah! I've known it was coming for about a month now, so I'm almost done freaking out, but something has to go, and I'm afraid it's going to be blogging.

I'll be replacing blogging with reciting this mantra in my head: I can do this, I can do this, I can do this...

Evan is (almost) 2

So since we'll be traveling over Evan's birthday next week, we had a little party for him last night. I wouldn't have done anything, seeing as he is only 2 and not really aware of birthdays yet, except that he is. Ever since the Big 3 had their birthdays in the summertime, he's been singing the birthday song and blowing out imaginary candles. If I light a candle somewhere in the house and he sees it, he starts singing Happy Birthday. We have a horribly tacky light fixture in the dining room that is supposed to look like candles and he sings the birthday song to it.

So we had to do something. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "Birthday!" "No. What kind of birthday cake?" "Blue!" he said. I was a little confused. "Like Blue's Clues? You want a Blue's Clues birthday cake?" "No! Blue cake!" So we had blue cake. A little gross, if you ask me, but he thought it was great. We sang Happy Birthday twice, with Evan leading us both times, and he blew out the candles twice. He had trouble opening the presents, but his friends and cousins and siblings were happy to help with that.

Here are some pictures, so you can better imagine the fun and craziness.

Shimmy Shoot

Evan loves his "shimmy shoot" and begs to wear it. All. The. Time.

Evan recently began showing an interest in the potty and when he goes successfully, how can I refuse his clothing demands? Who cares that it's cold outside and the rest of us are in long pants and jackets? He wants the shimmy shoot! I feel much better about it when we can layer. Like last night:

No School Today

We've had a fun-filled day at gymnastics (for Edie), the dentist (for Drew) and the yogurt shop (for all of 'em). Now we're home, just chillin.
Tomorrow is a mini day for the boys, and so is every day next week. Goodie.

I love our zoo...

...because it's close to our house and we can go whenever we want.
...because we have a routine when we go. We start at the wishing well and watch our coins spin down, then go to the lemurs, monkeys, chimps, etc. all the way around to the flamingos and lastly the reptile house.
...because the zoo docents regularly bring animals out to the lawn for the kids to touch and watch up-close.




...because it's small, we are done in an hour or two, but it still has all the animals you'd hope to see at a zoo, except elephants. I guess it can't be perfect.

Halloween 2008

Halloween this year was a little rainy, but we braved the elements and had fun anyway.

Evan's plans were to "Wear Halloween and Get CANDY!" He's a golfer.

Drew is a very scary vampire. I got him better teeth that he was supposed to be able to eat with and everything, but he had to glue them in with stuff that looked like denture paste, and he gagged on it, threw up, and decided the cheapie ones were better.

We had a problem with Dean's hat. He's Indiana Jones, but everyone kept thinking he was Huck Finn, or a pioneer, or something like that. It's what I get for refusing to buy the "authentic" Indy hat at the Halloween store.


Edie is a tiger, not Tigger. Apparently, Tigger is for babies. Tigers are wild and fierce and therefore much more appropriate for a cute four year old girl. Whatever.

Some photos of Trick-or-Treating before the rain washed us out.

Can't wait to do it all again in 364 days!

Meeting the new little nephew

Dean and I are back from a wonderful almost-week with Emily and her cute boys.


We met the adorable new baby

And hung out with Em, AJ & friends

This is what Dean did most of the time, ran after the fast big one:


And this is what I did most of the time, held the sweet little one:

North Carolina is beautiful. I kept thinking on the way home about those pictures in MAD Magazine where you fold the page so A meets B and a new picture is made, remember those?Anyway, I was wishing there was a way to fold the United States like that so Roseville and Raleigh were neighbors instead of 3 time zones apart. One can dream.

Thanks again, Emily. We had a blast!


PS- Since it's Halloween today, and because I don't have quite enough links in this post, here is the mess-free way to carve pumpkins!

The Lazy Way to Blog

For the highlight of the week last week, I refer you here. We went, too. It was great.

For the highlight of the week this week, come back here next week and I'll tell you all about it. Dean and I are going to Emily's tomorrow to meet the new baby and help the tired mama. I cannot wait!!

I'm already wishing for summer again

The cold winds have come to our neck of the woods. And while I'm looking forward to wearing sweaters and having soup for dinner, I'm already missing all the fun we had in the backyard this summer. No more sending the kids out to play barefoot. We'll now have to bundle up, in jackets at least. The sprinkler can no longer entertain them for an hour or more. Well, it could, but I won't let it. Just about 8 more months until we can have fun like this again:

Conrad taking his "doggy Edie" for a walk.


I love this picture of Evan playing baseball in the sprinkler.


An aerial shot of all the kids. Yes, Evan was running free, hence the censoring.

Vote for Drew!

Drew ran for Student Council Treasurer this last week. He made posters with his campaign managers at school, supervised making "Drew for Treasurer" buttons at home and made a speech in front of all the 3rd, 4th & 5th grade students. Talk about scary! But he did great. The election was Thursday and Friday we found out he won! YAY!

I'm pretty sure I ran for treasurer in jr. high. I'd say Drew was a chip off the old block, but that would make me an old block.

Busy, Busy, Busy

This week flew by so fast, I really can't believe it's Saturday already. Here's a quick recap, in list form of course, because I'm a list kind of girl.

Monday: volunteering in the classroom and babysitting friends and cousins. Pie called home at 5:20 to see if he could invite one of his out-of-town colleagues over for dinner with us. Ummm, no. Sorry. You can't. Leftovers were on the menu and the house looked like we had 4 extra little people over all day.

Tuesday: more babysitting of same little people. I agreed that the colleague that couldn't come over yesterday could come today, so I'm cooking and cleaning today also. And a meeting with Kevin, the investment guy Pie wants us to work with, in the afternoon. Oh, and instead of 1 colleague, it's now 3! Yay! The more the merrier!

Wednesday: Start preparing for a small fundraiser I do at school. We sell raffle tickets at the school's pasta night. The winners get to eat lunch with their teacher on Friday. Last year I did it with 2 other ladies, this year it's just me. I didn't realize how much work it actually was. I got a friend to help sell tickets Wed night and then rushed over to Drew's Pack meeting.

Thursday: Pulled raffle tickets, took Edie to gymnastics, created invitations for the winners, and delivered them to the classrooms.


Friday: I was at the school all day, setting up, serving and then cleaning, but it was worth it. The lunch went really well. The teachers are all such good sports to eat a hot dog with their kids when probably all they want to do is have a break for half an hour. And the kids think they are so lucky to eat a special lunch in the teachers' room. Dean got to eat with his speech teacher whom we both love. (No, I did not rig the results. He won fair and square!)

Saturday: Not much.

Easy Jambalaya with Beans

Thursday night I did something I've never done before. I made up my own recipe for dinner, and everyone ate it! And only one ate it slowly with lots of gulps of milk to wash it down!

OK, well, um... you caught me in a little white lie. I didn't exactly create this recipe. I took 2 that were kind of similar and combined them. Don't rain on my parade. I'm quite proud of myself.

Here is my masterpiece for you to enjoy. I wish I had a picture to show you. I know that always makes trying a new recipe easier.

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Easy Jambalaya with Beans

½ c. chopped onion
½ c. chopped green pepper
½ c. chopped celery
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Sauté vegetables in oil until crisp-tender.

1 lb. turkey kielbasa sausage, cut into ¼ in. slices (You can use real sausage if you have a pork-eating family)
1 can (16 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
1 c. instant brown rice
1 c. chicken stock
¼ c. ketchup
¼ to ½ tsp. Tabasco sauce

Mix everything and pour into a greased 9x13 casserole dish. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. If liquid remains, uncover and bake 5 more minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

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I know jambalaya isn't a usually a casserole. I Wikied it and discovered real jambalaya is cooked for hours on the stove top and is the result of the Spanish explorers bringing paella to the New World and the French Creoles modifing it with ingredients they had. A nice bit of trivia, but I am a busy mother of young children. The Casserole is my friend.

We're all learning new things these days

The kids are in school, learning lots of exciting facts and figures. I decided to try and learn a little something new myself. Last month's book club book was a novel where the main characters were quilters and it piqued my interest. By the time I finished the book, it was decided. I wanted to learn to quilt.

I found a small kit at JoAnn's that had fabric and instructions for a baby quilt. And it was on sale! It took quite a bit longer than the 4-6 hours promised on the box, and I made a few major mistakes, but overall I think it turned out alright. Binding is difficult, but Heather has already pointed me in the right direction for next time (Thanks, Heather!).

Messy Fun 2008-09

Edie's preschool started yesterday! And really, it couldn't have come soon enough as far as she was concerned. Since the elementary school started 2 weeks ago, she pouted everytime the boys left for school and left her home with Evan. I was relieved yesterday when I was finally able to answer, "Yes! You get to go to school today!"

Edie also got to bring snack and a share yesterday and had a little trouble getting everything to fit into the stroller. I suggested she bring a smaller toy to share, or maybe just one, but to that she responded with a look that said I was the stupidest lady ever.

And of course, the real reason we send our kids to preschool: the teachers do fun and messy projects that I will never do at home. Edie jumped right in at the shaving cream table and practically kicked me out the door. Much better than all the crying at the beginning of last year!

She came home and announced she has a new friend to go with her old friends. It's going to be a great year.

It's been a year and a half

and not much has changed. Stripes still match stripes in Edie-land.