School's Out Day 3 - Zoo/Party

On Tuesday when the kids were out of school we went to the Zoo with a group of friends. We had fun, although it was a little chilly and it sprinkled on us just a tad.

On the way home we stopped at Walmart to get a few last minute things we needed for the big day today. I do not recommend going to Walmart the day before Halloween. It was a mad house.

When we were at this is the place yesterday they were giving out candy. They gave Zac some brown looking candy corn and he didn't want it so he gave it to me. I was curious to see if it tasted different than regular candy corn so I had a piece. Then I proceeded to eat it all. Have you ever had caramel candy corn? Don't. It is like the best thing ever. So when I was at Walmart yesterday I bought a pack. Stupid. I never buy candy I like because then I eat it all. It's 1/2 gone now.

Last night the kids had a party at Zac's TaeKwonDo class. They had a blast. I have been playing this fun little game since last Thursday. It is called "See how many time you can dress your kids up in their Halloween costume". Sounds like fun, huh? Today will be my 4th time to dress Aubrey up in hers. Oh well, at least we are getting more use out of them than usual.

I better go. I have to be at the school soon for the parade and Halloween parties. It's going to be a long day.

School's Out Day 2 - Cookies/This Is the Place

The kids were out of school again on Monday. We went to our friend Betsy's house Monday morning to frost and of course eat sugar cookies with all our friends. Later that afternoon I took the kids and went to "This Is The Place" park to their "Little Haunts" activity. The kids had a great time making fun crafts, trick or treating, taking a hayride, running wild through a corn maze, and riding the train. The local weatherman was there and we got to stand right next to him while he was giving the forecast. He even asked Zac a few questions. I don't know if we were actually on the news or not, but the kids thought it was cool.

Monday Morning Musings

So I ate some cereal the other night. I didn't have any skim milk left and I didn't want to go out to the fridge in the garage to get some. I had a 1/2 gallon of whole milk that I bought to give to Addison. She wouldn't drink it so it was just sitting around. I used that on my cereal. OH MY! NO MORE PIE! It was like I was eating ice cream. It was so yummy.






Remember a few weeks ago when Addison bit the tip of my finger and it was numb? Still numb.





Remember several months ago when I got so mad at my girls for shoving stuff under their beds to clean their room? And to solve that problem I took their beds off the frames and put them on the floor. Now they have no place to shove things so their room is always a mess. I am considering bringing the frames back.





Last night I was watching an Oprah with Matthew Broderick on it. Mr. Ferris Bueller himself. It was so sad. Because he is so old. He has gray hair. And he was acting really weird. And for having a fashion icon of a wife, his too short black suit paired with the white socks and ugly nasty brown shoes was a little odd.





I am getting really sick and tired of my cell phone. I have another one coming in the mail. I hope it gets here soon. Otherwise the one I have now might end up getting smashed into a gazillion little pieces.





Why did I let my kids watch goosebumps last night. The girls are so scared they can't walk down the hall to go to the bathroom unaccompanied.





I have suddenly found myself in the middle of a huge battle. Sigh. I was just trying to be nice. Can I take it back?

School's Out Day 1 - Planetarium

For some reason we only had one week of real school for the entire month of October. The kids are out of school right now starting last Friday. They don't got back until Halloween. So in an effort to keep them entertained we went downtown on Friday to the Planetarium. The kids had a great time.

When we left the Planetarium we walked down to where there are fountains. They do a little show set to music. It is a fun place to go in the summer to let the kids cool off. It is not summer right now. When we got there I said, "ABSOLUTELY DO NOT GO NEAR THE WATER!". But there were other kids playing in them. There are paths through the fountains that you can walk through and not get wet so after a minute of watching how much fun the other kids were having I said, "Ok, you can walk through, but stay on the path were the water doesn't come out."

Right. They were soaked in no time. And it was maybe at the most 60 degrees outside. They had a BLAST. They were eating those rock candy suckers. The ones with the pokey dangerous stick in the middle. It took me a few minutes to figure out that they probably shouldn't be running on slick concrete with those in their mouths. Good mommy skills. Just slightly delayed. (if you don't count the soaking wet kids/freezing weather thing)

Flashback Friday - A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away

Princess Leia, Scary Baby, Little Orphan Annie, Groucho Marx, Angel Made In Heaven

AKA: Allyson, Earl, Farrah, Kay & Kristy

So I am looking at this picture and all of a sudden it hit me. My mother is probably the same age in this picture as I am right now. She has three children, one less than me. Zac is probably the same age now as I am in this picture. I am really getting old.

And mom, why? Why in the world would you let him out of the house that way?

The Bloggin' Blues

So because my brain turns everything into a song, when I typed the title of my post I automatically started singing the below song. I used to love this movie when I was growing up. I am glad I got a new song though. As much as I love Imagine and think it is a great song, it is starting to make me crazy. It's been up there (in my head) for a little too long now. I wonder how long this one will stick around:

So I really have nothing to blog about. And apparently my sisters don't either. So I am just here. With nothing really to say.

I am so excited though because I finally found Emily some shoes yesterday that she will wear. She has all sandals and one pair of boots from last year that are all beat up. It is too cold to wear sandals and her teacher sends home a note at the beginning of each week with all the things they are doing for the week and little reminders. In every note for the past few weeks she has said, "And please, no more open toe shoes. The weather is too cold." And I want to say, "BUT I'VE BEEN TRYING!!! REALLY I HAVE! (sob, sob). Seriously, we have taken 2 pairs back to the store, gone to about 5 other stores and tried on a gazillion pairs of shoes. I was so happy last night when she found a pair that she liked.

Addy (I think that is how I am going to spell it) has always given me kisses since she was little. But she would only give them to me when she wanted. In the past week or two she has started giving them to me when I ask. I say, "Give mommy a kiss" and she will lean over and pucker up and say, "Mmmmm". It is the cutest thing ever and it just melts my heart.

The other day I asked Emily who she played with at recess. She said she played with China, Korea and Soul. I said, "WHAT?! No you didn't". And she said, "Yeah, I did." And I said, "Really, who did you play with?" And she said, "I played with Chyna, you know her mom, she came to my birthday party. And Korea was the girl I was just talking to a minute ago. And Sol is really Maria del Sol but we all call her Sol." I was crackin' up. I am so glad we are so geographically diversified around here.

So I didn't say this before when talking about the dead body, but Steve was leaving to go out of town, noticed the street closed off, and called me and told me to call my friend who lives where the body was found and find out what was going on. Can I just tell you how that was not good info. for me to get as my husband was leaving town. I am such a baby when I have to stay by myself. Thank you to my dear sister Lauren who came to be my protector while he was gone. We all made it through the ordeal alive and well. Whew!!! He will be back tonight, just so you know.

For someone who has nothing to say, I just said a whole lot. About nothing.

Monday Morning Musings

It is FREEZING here and at the beginning of the summer I got rid of all my winter clothes and shoes. Oops.

I really don't want to go SHOPPING for new clothes and shoes. Kristy, will you come do my shopping for me?

Zac is suddenly OBSESSED with wanting to sell stuff on e-bay. He keeps looking through his room for stuff to sell and he keeps getting on e-bay trying to figure out how to list things. It's driving me crazy.

Why did I say I would be in charge of Emily's Halloween PARTY at school? I would love to help with it but after being in charge of everything that went on at the school last year when I was PTA president, I am thoroughly enjoying being in charge of nothing this year.

So, yesterday a guy in our ward was walking to church and walked by a car parked on the street and just happened to notice that there was a dead BODY in it with a gunshot wound to the head.

If you know anything about me, I don't have to tell you how FREAKED OUT I am right now.

It was about 2 blocks away from my house. The car was parked in front of my friends house. Had it have been parked in front of mine I would have PACKED UP yesterday and moved into my parents basement and the for sale sign would be up in my yard today.

I no longer have any wavering DOUBTS about building a house.

Current Song Stuck In My Head

Flashback Friday - SS&BST Please!

Kristy, Farrah & Allyson

What are we doing? I don't know. Being stupid. This room brings back a lot of memories though.

Spinach Brownie Anyone?

So I just finished watching an Oprah that I recorded last week. It got me so excited I just had to share!

I have always tried to be really healthy when it comes to eating and feeding my children. And I have even stepped it up in the past few months. That is why I was so excited to watch this Oprah with Jessica Seinfeld and Dr. Oz.

Jessica, who is the wife of Mr. Jerry Seinfeld himself, was tired of fighting with her kids every day to eat vegetables. So she came up with a way to sneak lots of veggies in without the kids knowing it.

Once a weeks she steams a bunch of vegetables and then puree's them. She measures out each puree and puts them in a bag in her fridge. Then whenever she makes something she matches the puree color to what she is making and puts it in there. So when she makes Mac 'n Cheese she puts in cauliflower and butternut squash puree. She makes brownies out of spinach and chocolate cake with beets.

Now I know that sounds gross, but it is not. I remember a long time ago, like maybe 10 years ago, I ate a cake someone made with shredded vegetables. Before I tasted it I was thinking, NAS-TAY! But when I ate it, it was like the best cake ever. I have thought about that cake many times over the years and have always wished I had the recipe.

Anyway, some of Jessica's recipes are on Oprah's website which you can get to by clicking here. I was watching it going, yeah that is nice but you still need to teach your kids that they have to eat vegetables and then Jessica said that she still always serves vegetables with each meal, which I thought was very important. I just love the idea of loading my kids and myself up on extra veggies everyday.

Dr. Oz was on the show and he was giving tips for feeding your family healthier. One of the things he said was that nothing should be off limits. Which means that you shouldn't bring the stuff you don't want your kids to eat into your house. He said if you bring a bunch of garbage into your house and then tell the kids they can't eat it, it creates a schizophrenic environment (we don't need any outside help with that). I really have been trying to be good about that the past month or so. It means I have to make several trips to the store each week to keep fresh fruit and veggies on hand, but it has been nice.

Another thing that Dr. Oz said is that this next generation will be the first generation in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents and it is due to obesity and childhood diabetes. Wow. In the time that we live in can you imagine how sad that is that the life expectancy is declining. Americans are eating themselves to death. That is sad. He also said that to be a rich nation we have to be a healthy nation and we are raising up a very unhealthy generation.

Ok so enough said. I am excited and I am going to go out and buy the cookbook and start pureeing.

Monday Morning Musings

THE CURRENT SONG STUCK IN MY HEAD:

I ♥ John Mayer.

Steve is only a few months away from being the same AGE my dad was when Steve & I got married. WEIRD.

I ♥ STEVE too!

It is SAD that I have to look up how to do 4th grade MATH on the INTERNET.

Thank goodness for the internet. How did people LIVE without it before? SERIOUSLY.

When I was walking Emily to school she was standing right next to me. We were casting a SHADOW on the grass next to us. She was so close to me that her shadow was lost in mine. I had to do a DOUBLE TAKE because it looked like my booty shadow was HUGE but then I realized it was Emily's backpack. WHEW!

Do you know that OCTOBER is 1/2 over? When did that happen?

Crop 'till You Drop

These are my gals LaRee and Dianna. For the past few years we have been going to a 24 hour scrapbook crop together. The girl that puts on the event sales scrapbook supplies and twice a year she rents out a conference room in a local hotel and holds the 24 hour crop. For a small fee we get use of the crop room, food and a hotel room to crash in when needed. We were there last night and all day today. I scrapbooked our pictures from our trip with the Hobbs Family this past summer. I made 87, yes you heard me right, 87 pages in 24 hours. Here are a few of my favorites.

Flashback Friday - A Day Late And A Dollar Short

Gabe and Emily

(Sorry I am late with my Flashback. I went to an all night crop last night and it seriously took me all day yesterday to get my pictures printed for it. Everything that could conceivably go wrong did. And just when I thought I had one thing worked out, it well...didn't work.)

This picture of Gabe and Emily was taken in 2003. Kristy and Scott just graduated from BYU Idaho and everyone went to Idaho for their graduation and to help pack them up and move them to Austin.

Just Call Her Angel, Of The Morning Angel. Then Slowly Turn Away.

Oh yeah. We had another one of those mornings. My dear sweet, sweet little princess. Let's see. How did it start? Well, I have been doing laundry and so all the clean clothes are stacked up in the laundry room. So knowing that Emily would not have much to choose from in her dresser, I kindly brought an outfit up from the laundry room for her. I woke her up very sweetly (I didn't even sing or anything) and said "Emily, it's time to get up and come read your take home book." We didn't have time last night so I told her I would wake her up early this morning to read it. Apparently I was fooling myself to think that she would even consider wearing the outfit I brought her. She pitched a fit (I am from Texas and yes, that does make sense, THANK YOU! And stop trying to squeeze all the Texan out of me.) and put on something else. What she put on was very cute. Except that the capris she put on are the same ones she wore to the park last night and they had a big black spot on the booty and grass stains on the knees. I told her she couldn't wear them because they looked filthy. She started whining and crying and looking over her shoulder saying that she couldn't see any big black spot (Duh! I can't see my butt either. Well actually it is probably out there far enough I can.) and she was going to wear them any way.








At this point I am not going to bore you with the details, just know that 500 outfits and a lot of blood, sweat and tears later she finally was dressed for school. The whole changing of the clothes lasted about 45 minutes. Then she was mad because she had about 3 minutes left to eat breakfast and it was all MY fault because I wouldn't let her wear the outfit that she wanted to in the first place. I tried to explain to her that she is the one who made the choice....blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah.....that is what it looked like she was thinking when I was talking to her. The she freaked out because it was time to leave and she couldn't find her take home book. That was also my fault. I told everyone it was time to go right now and if they wanted a jacket they better get one now. We all filed out the door and started walking and she started whining and crying again because it was freezing (it really wasn't) and she didn't have a jacket and she HATES walking to school. I reminded her I told her to get a jacket if she needed one. She says I didn't.








The whole time we were walking I got to hear about how this is the WORST day of her life and it is ALL my fault and...blah, blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah.....that's probably what I looked like I was thinking. Anyway, once again I found myself thinking about how much fun it will be when she is actually a teenager.








Oh, my sweet little princess. I love her so, so very much. And she's pretty darn lucky that I do.

Monday Morning Musings

I really enjoyed watching General Conference this weekend. I really needed it.

Why do they make baby pants with snaps along the inside of the legs? Let's see...I can pull the pants down, change the diaper, pull the pants back up. Or I can unsnap 5,000 little snaps, change the diaper, re-snap 5, 000 little snaps. Hard choice. I am so glad they give us the option.

Addison bit my finger on Friday afternoon. Apparently she did some major damage because the tip of my finger is still numb.

You know how I had 5 light bulbs burn out all in the same day last week? We probably have at least 5 more burned out today.

Why is my house always such a disaster on Monday morning?

It is sad that I have to ask my children to hide their candy from me. Mom has those yummy little white chocolate mints shaped like chocolate chips with the little sprinkles on the bottom. (umm hmm...you know what I'm talkin' about) She sent up home with a big bag last Sunday and I proceeded to eat them all within the next 2 days. She was going to do it again yesterday but I asked her not to. She had already promised the kids they could take some home. So I asked her to send them each with their own little bag that they could hide from me. They didn't hide them. And now they are at school. I have walked past the bag about 10 times now. But I haven't had any. Good thing 'cause once you have one........

Ok, that last musing was really sad. And embarrassing. But if you've ever had these mints, you know what I'm goin' through, right?

Living In Halo Hell

It's like this.

I grew up in a home where our door was always open. It was the hang out house. My dear sweet parents, thank you so much for making it so. I have always wanted my house to be the same way. Apparently I was not given the same kind of patience my parents have.

I say I have always wanted our home to be the hang out house but I have never done anything pro-active to make it that way. We are so busy and constantly running from this thing to that so I am bad about calling and inviting kids over.

Well now Zac's friends are old enough to just come over on their own. And come they do. Which I am glad. I really am. But sometimes I need a break.

When we first got Halo 3 and the influx of prepubescent boys began I was so excited. I thought, "Wow. We get to be the hang out house and I don't have to make any effort." I was glad Zac had friends who could come over and hang out. I was very happy to feed them all. For the first week.

And don't get me wrong. I would still be happy to do it. If the boys who were coming over were actually his friends. But it is like the whole world now knows that we have an open door, food and Halo 3 for anyone and everyone to enjoy.

Everyday. Everyday. We have had a constant stream of boys come. And half the time we don't even know who they are. And neither does Zac. He will have one friend or someone he is "kind of" friends with come and bring their whole entourage along. There is one boy who comes over everyday. Even when we tell him he can't. And he waits for Zac everyday after school. And if we say, "Sorry, you can't come today. Zac has Taekwondo", he acts all put out. Sorry for actually having a life.

Yesterday I was trying to have a better attitude about it. I really was. And I figured since it was Friday and an early out day at school we would have a bunch of boys over so I made a big dinner and it was stuff I figured the boys would like. And I really would like to entertain Zac and his FRIENDS. But then after all my effort to be nice and hospitable, I turned mean.

I have to say I was having a very bad afternoon anyway. My nerves were pretty much shot. We were gone most of the afternoon and as soon as we pulled up in the driveway here comes a herd of boys around the corner. I don't know if they have installed a silent alarm in our driveway or what. Well it was the annoying irritating boy who really gets on my nerves. And he brought 2 friends with him that Zac didn't know. Have I mentioned that this boy is in 6th grade (Zac is in 4th) and looks like he could be in high school (Zac looks like he could be in 2nd).

Well, Addison was really getting on my nerves (kind of like she is now) because she had been grouchy all day. She really needed a nap and I really needed some time away from her. So I put her in bed and told the boys and asked them not to be too loud. Oh my. Hello. They were so loud. Addison couldn't sleep. So they were irritating me so much I finally made them leave and didn't let them eat dinner. Even though I had been planning on feeding whoever was here at dinner time.

I feel kind of bad about it but not too much. Ok, that boy. The one that irritates me. He called today to see if he could come over. Zac asked and I told him no. I heard Zac tell him no. It was not 15 minutes later he was on our front porch. I wanted to scream.

So I don't know. I feel bad for feeling the way I do. I really do. But that is how I feel.

And not only that but what makes me really mad about Halo is that whenever I try to play, everyone shoots me down before I can even figure out how to move. Even my little Aubrey. I know. I know. You don't have to say it. I am a horrible mother for letting my 4 year old daughter play such a game. I actually bought her a 12 Dancing Princesses game for the PS2 yesterday so she could stop playing Halo (she even wants to play Halo when everyone is at school and she is the only one home). Right now Emily is playing the Princess game and Zac, Steve, Aubrey and our neighbor Keven are playing Halo 3.

Ok, enough said about it. I think my nerves are just getting worn a little thin in the Halo department.

Flashback Friday - Hat Envy

Mike, Roy, Steve, Zac, Amanda, Spencer, Ed, Samantha

Steve's dad collects hats. He has hundreds of them. I have heard tales of Steve and his friends wearing a different hat every day to early morning seminary. This picture was taken 10 years ago when we were in St. Louis for Christmas. Everyone was in Roy's office playing around with the hats.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

It was one year ago today that we took my brother Sam to the Missionary Training Center and he became Elder Snow. It is hard to believe that that much time has gone by. He is at his halfway point. One more year and he will be back with us. But for now he serves the Lord and the people in Mexico City. Here are some pictures he has sent since he has been on his mission.

Elder Snow is able to read my blog on his preparation day which is every Monday. If you would like to leave a comment for him here he will be able to see it.

Sam, we love you and miss you and are so proud of you.

You Don't Know Jack?

I just got my vinyl Jack-O-Lantern faces in the mail from Coren. Aubrey and I were so excited we woke Addison up from her nap and ran right out to buy pumpkins for which to apply the vinyl. I love them! Thanks Coren. (And try not to notice that I put the S on upside down and the blood is dripping the wrong direction.)

A Light Bulb Moment

Do you ever wonder why all the light bulbs in your house burn out all at the same time? Seriously. Just this morning I have noticed burned out bulbs in 5 different rooms. They weren't burned out yesterday. What's up with that?

Sorry, it's a slow news day.

Monday Morning Musings

I used to get so mad at my mother because she could not put the right name with the right child. I do the same thing now. Only I am far worse at it. I cannot get my kids names straight. And sometimes I have to go through the whole list to get to the right one. Sometimes after spewing out several names I just point and say "You! Whatever your name is! Get over here!"

Emily had a major meltdown today before school. She woke up just fine but at some point this morning things took a turn for the worst. She was acting like a really angry 13 year old. Then about 10 minutes before school started it turned into an all out crying screaming "I can't go to school today" tantrum.



She went to school. I very nicely held her hand and walked her into her class about 5 minutes after the tardy bell rang. Then I felt bad so I picked her up and brought her home to eat lunch. What a nice mommy I am.

I have been feeling like I have had something in my left eye for over a year now. Then the other day I pulled out a big old long hair. It was nasty. I could feel it, as I was pulling it out of the corner of my eye, being pulled out from behind my eye ball. I told you it was nasty. (someone might want to check on Kristy and make sure she didn't pass out at her computer)

Can you believe it's October already? WOW! It is time to put up the Halloween decorations! Didn't summer just end? It's almost Christmas!

That's about all I have for ya. Things are pretty boring around here at the moment.