Lots of catching up to do!

It has been a while since I have blogged.With the holidays time just seemed to slip away. My plan is to catch up with all the recent activities and vow to blog at least twice a week, hopefully more. Here is a small reason why I haven't blogged for a while. I made these dolls as gifts for Christmas. The first two from the left were for our nieces MaKayla and MacKenzie. The last one was for Keith's Grandma. This is also the order I made them in, and they got better as I went along. My next project, a Batman doll. Hmm...that one will take some planning.

Pierce's 3rd Birthday

It's about time I blogged about Pierce's 3rd birthday. We decided to do a small party at the Stuffington Bear Factory. It was a great time. The kids got to tour the factory. Pierce was very excited to be the one to go first. We bought the birthday cake hat at Party City. Surprisingly he kept it on most of the time. He looked soooo cute. After the tour of the factory they all got to make a bear. Pierce picked out an outfit for his bear. They also name their bears and received an adoption certificate. However, I have no idea where those are now. Unfortunately Delaney and Gavin were not able to make it so he didn't have a lot of other kids at the party. He didn't seem to mind. They were driving from Tucson but the highway was closed and they had to turn around. According to Kristen she did therapy with the kids all the way home because they didn't get to go. We still made bears for them anyway. Here are some pictures from the party. By the end of the party he was on overload and ended up crying. Overall it was a great 3rd Birthday. It is so hard to believe he is now the age Elle was when he was born. They are growing so fast. We are lucky to have such a sweet little boy.

These pictures are all out of order. Sorry for that. Hopefully you get it anyway.

I'll be back soon with pictures and video from our Thanksgiving trip to San Diego and Sea World!

Light Saber Attack!!

Pierce got a light saber for his birthday today as well as a sword that makes noise. Keith and the kids had a major light saber attack. It was pretty funny. I realize that eventually it will result in injury and someone crying, but everyone was having a great time. Check it out.

Dear Soon to be Teenage Boys.....

Dear Soon to Be Teenage Boys,
One day you will look into these eyes and be captivated. You will forget how to speak, how to act, and you will make a fool of yourself. These eyes will haunt your dreams. They will burn into your memory. There will be no hope for you. You will buy flowers, balloons, and all kinds of mushy crap you never thought you would spend money on. Just to get these eyes to look your way, even if only for a moment. Do your best to avoid them. They are danger. These eyes know how to get their way. They know how to look at you to get what they want. They know how to break your heart. It's better you hear it now, before it's too late, while you can still save yourself. One look into these eyes and you will be lost forever!

Trip to Tucson

I am a little late in reporting our trip to Tucson. Halloween took up a lot of time so I am just now getting to it. A few weekends ago we set off to see our wonderful friends Kristen and Dave. They recently moved to Tucson (sniff, sniff) and we thought it was time to go see their new digs. Plus, we have never really been to Tucson so it would be cool. There is only one problem with a trip to see them. We apparently all act like teenagers with their very first two liter of purple passion on a back country rode way past curfew. I always vow I will not drink red wine and I will only have two glasses of whatever (but NOT red wine). Well........by the end of the night there were at least eight glasses of wine surrounding us all. Keith couldn't get off the chair. Dave couldn't walk, not to mention I barely remember the conversation Dave and I had but I think it revolved around the G spot....maybe mine but who can tell. I should always make sure to stock up on some ibuprofen before hanging out with those two. You know your drunk when your friend offers to loan you her bike and you start crying. What a baby.

Below is a picture of Dave at the beginning of the night and the next morning with his sun glasses and coffee. He slept the latest, but I think he was probably the drunkest. We went on a pretty cool trip the next day with the kids. I wish I could tell you where it was, but since I had a killer headache most the day, I just concentrated on not puking out the tram. The kids had a great time.

The kids did so great together this trip. I think everyone has matured a little more. Not much fighting at all. I sure do miss those guys. I think we are all kindred spirits. The next time we see them I will definitely be sure to practice my serenity prayer:

God grant me the courage to accept the things I can not change;

courage to change the things I can;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

And the modified serenity prayer for Kristen and Dave:

God grant me the courage to say no to red wine;

courage to throw it away when Kristen pours it my glass;

and the wisdom to never have a deep conversation with Dave when I am drunk!

Halloween Festivities

Halloween was great. The costumes looked awesome. Pierce seemed to be better. No fever, just a little cough. We went to a friends house this year to trick-or-treat. It's the first time the kids were actually going to walk around a neighborhood. Usually we go to some sort of organized function, but this year they wanted to spend it with friends. Our friends live in a huge neighborhood in cave creek. All the neighbors decorate and set up tables for the kids. It was great. We still had a few last minute preparations to make on the costumes before we left. The picture below is the first glimpse of me in the sun costume. We had to cut the head and arm holes before we left. Keith thinks this picture is hilarious with my legs sticking out.

Elle's costume was the hit of the night. You can't tell by this picture, but she had two tap lights on the inside of her helmet that lit up. Everyone kept telling her it was the best costume they had every seen. She was excited. A teenager said it was the best costume in the history of costumes, but being only 15 that wasn't much.

Pierce didn't like his costume that much. It was hard to carry the candy bag. He rallied and made it at least an hour before he wanted to take it off and sit in the wagon. I think we all look pretty good. Most people didn't know what I was until the four of us were together. Keith was hysterical. Everyone started calling him the rocket man. He had to take little bitty steps to walk around so he was always behind us. He stayed in that costume walking around for 2 1/2 hours.

This was the group. We had a lot of fun!

About an hour in Max and Pierce sat in the wagon and ate their candy. Before we left for the night Pierce complained of a tummy ache. I guess we should have heeded the warning because about an hour after everyone went to sleep he started crying. When Keith got up there he had puked in his bed. On the way to the bathroom he puked on the floor. He was also burning up. I don't know if it was all the candy or being sick, but he had a rough night and so did we!!! Oh well, the costumes were great. Now we just have to get our pictures taken for our Christmas cards and we are done for the year. Not sure if we can top this one. I have a feeling it may be getting close to our last group Halloween. Elle really wants to go as a princess next year. We will see.

Halloween Costume #1

Here are the school costumes from yesterday. How adorable are these dalmatians. Not too bad for last minute costumes. Today is the big costume day. Guess what, Pierce had a fever last night. He seems to be better today, but looks a little pale. Not really having any other symptoms. Hopefully he will pull through for tonight. I will get back tomorrow with the pictures of the galaxy.

Shout out to the husband...oh yeah!

Listen, I know I have a great husband. He cooks for me, shops for me, and basically caters to my every whim. Not everyone has that, not by a long shot. And, to top it off, and don't tell anyone, he is really freaken hot! Smoken. Now that he has shaved off his goatee (spell?), I can see his smile lines again and they are sooooo cute. I love to rub my face against his. Wait, this is a family blog. Anyway, my point is I know I have a great husband and everyone wants one like him. But he has been even more incredible then normal. Every year we come up with some crazy idea for Halloween. We both just love it. Our kids have no choice but to participate. Anyway, this year is a space theme. Elle has been obsessed with space since summer school. We came up with the idea for our Halloween theme. The problem is that time just got away from us. We worked pretty steadily on Elle's costume, and I got my costume for work done (candy corn.....pictures to follow). The problem was the rest of them. Let's just say it is really hard to create the Apollo space shuttle and the galaxy all in one week. Well, Keith did it. I had my doubts, but I can't wait to show you what he did. The space shuttle is just amazing. Too bad we aren't going to a costume contest somewhere, because this year we (he) outdid ourselves. Bravo.

You will have to wait until Sunday to see the pictures. But let me just tell you, it will be worth the wait. I want to give a big shout out to the best husband ever!!! Thanks for all your hard work this week. The kids love it and so do I!

Can I tell you that because of the space theme the kids are not going to be able to wear their costumes to school. I had decided I was not going to make another costume because it was just to much work. Well.......today at school everyone was talking about the costume parade and the guilt just started to eat away at me. I went to target tonight and gave it the old college try. I think I made some pretty cute dalmatian costumes at the last minute. I will post some pictures tomorrow so you can see. Oh well, the Mommy guilt had to happen sometime. Stay tuned for lots of pictures. The Galaxy awaits you!

Terrible Blogger

I have decided that I am a terrible blogger. The idea is to write a daily blog, not weekly or every other week. I have a lot to talk about, I just can't seem to gather the energy to do it. So, I am setting a goal to start blogging at least every other day. Even if it is meaningless and all I can talk about is the weather......I will start tonight!

This picture cracks me up. We were getting our Halloween decorations out last week and Elle put on Keith's old Darth Vader mask. Maybe if Darth Vader was choking me I might blog more. Who knows.

Elle's 6th Birthday

Elle turned six on September 26th. It is hard to believe. It just seems like yesterday that she came into our life. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful little girl. I remember my brother saying to me that he couldn't wait until I had a second child so I could feel what being a parent was all about. I guess he didn't think she was challenging enough for us. She has always been an easy child. There are times when we think she is difficult, but then we look around at other children and remember that it is all relative. She is funny, smart, beautiful, strong willed, and loving. At six she is almost as competitive as me. Almost. Her are a few pictures of her over the last six years.

I love the one of her laying on Keith. She is so relaxed. She has her foot up on his arm likes she owns it!

This is Elle's first birthday. She almost put her finger in the flame so Keith and I shouted "no" at the same time. She didn't stop crying for ten minutes.

Hard to believe only one year later she had that much hair. What a cutie!

You can see her starting to loose her baby fat at three. She still has some cheeks, but they are starting to thin out.

This was on her fourth birthday.

This was her fifth birthday. Not much differant. Just a little more thin in her face. Same smile.

Here is the princess this year. She had her party at pump it up again. Everyone had a great time. A few injuries, but nothing too serious. She got great birthday presents. Her interest in science and space continues to expand so she got a lot of space toys.

This is her friend Stephanie.

Elle doesn't like Birthday cake so we made a rice cripsy treat cake.

As you can see, Elle had a howling good time.

Monkey Off My Back!

It's been a while since I posted a blog. A lot has been happening. Elle's birthday party was last weekend. I have a lot of pictures which I plan on posting soon. However, my biggest issue has been this monkey I have been working on for a while. I was working on her slowly, just doing a few things a weekend. I realized this weekend that Halloween would soon be here and we have a huge project this year with the costumes. Don't ask. Just let me tell you that there will be more "constructing" then there will be sewing. We spent about two hours at home depot today. That should tell you everything. I hate not finishing something so I worked hard this weekend to finish the monkey. This is my prototype. I was thinking of making them for Christmas presents, but I wanted to make one before I invested the time. I think she came out adorable. She has two left feet (oops), but other then that this is a real contender for Christmas. I got the idea from one of the blogs I follow. You can also do a boy monkey with a tie and pants. Very cute. I will post more pictures but wanted to give you a sneak peak!!

Few Things

I recently found a purse pattern on one of the blogs I have been following. I have been needing a new purse so I finally got around to making it. I used some of the gift cards to JoAnns I got for my birthday (thank you Ann and Leslie) and bought the cutest fabric. I had to make some adjustments to the pattern once I started, but it turned out great. Take a look.

Elle came home from school this week obsessed with Volcanoes. She had read about them in a book at school and wanted Keith to look up video for her to watch. Keith decided to make one for her while she was at a birthday part on Saturday. Pierce helped. They both painted it. Apparently Keith got the idea after using vinegar to clean something one day. He was reading the many uses of vinegar on the back of the bottle and at the bottom it said how to make a volcano. Who knew? Here are some cute pictures of the volcano. The lava is pink because we did not have any red food coloring. :)