Dates

About a year ago, Greg and I decided it was important for us to spend one on one time with the kids.  So we began our once a month dates!  The kids go on one date a month with either Greg or I.  And they don’t let us forget who is going with who and if we haven’t gone yet that month. It’s a sacrifice to make it all work. And now that Lindsey has caught on and is in the mix- it takes a whole Saturday. One whole precious Saturday of productivity out the window. But it’s so worth it.

Half the fun for the kids is planning when they are going to go and what they are going to do. They get to plan the whole thing.  Last year, we kinda guided them and told them if they pick that restaurant, then you can’t do a movie too, etc.  This year Greg put a $$ limit.  It’s amazing the free things they can come up with and think are just as fun. Taylor is notorious for wanting the marathon dates. He will have us booked solid for 10 hours if we let him AND keeping w/in budget. It’s also been interesting to see them get a little more interested in the “free swim pass” they get at soccer. Or the “free In and Out burger” coupon for reading books at the library. Taylor will also peruse the Dixie Direct coupon book and put dibs on certain deals he wants to use for his dates.

Saturday was my first day with Linzabug. She wanted to go swing at the park, but it was raining. Then she wanted a “pupcake”, candy and bubblegum. So Dutchman’s in Santa Clara was the perfect place to get all three.  She picked out her cupcake and only ate the heaping mound of chocolate frosting. As we were sitting there, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” song came on by Cyndi Lauper and she had to get down and dance to it. So she danced and we chatted for a bit. She picked out her candy and bubblegum and we went home.  Simple, fun and $3. But as we were driving home she said, “You’re the bestest Mommy.”  Much better than “stupid head” which she had called me earlier that week. Then when we got home she had to tell Greg all about it and re-live it again. And when she does, she never leaves out that it was “just” Lindsey. Not Lauren and not Taylor. She gets it.

Tooth Fairy

When I put my kids to bed, I don’t go in a check on them. I don’t go in and cover them up. I put them to bed and then see them in the morning. I realize I’m in the minority with this and that’s ok. But because I don’t go in, I have no idea if my kids are heavy sleepers, etc. So the whole tooth fairy thing can be a disaster. I just see myself stepping on the loudest toy, not being able to find the tooth, or worse- being busted in the act. So when Taylor lost his first tooth, I made Greg go in and play tooth fairy while I stood outside the door having an anxiety attack for him. He was totally fine and all was well. However, we have been known to loose a tooth even before the tooth fairy could come. Not anymore. We are ready this time! And even I can handle this new way of being the Tooth Fairy.

Holidays are “kinda” a big deal around here

We had a fun night at home with the kids. We had Shrimp Alfredo w/ sun dried tomatoes, heart shaped red lobster biscuits, red jell-o, pink milk and for dessert pink love potion floats and pink lemonade cookies. I thought the floats would be a huge hit. Umm, they wanted just ice cream in a bowl. Oh well. Since I did Joy School with Lauren last year, this was her first school party. I got to go to her preschool and help out. She loved making her gumball Valentines for her friends. Taylor made Star Wars Valentines for his class party. Last year we started writing Valentine’s for each person in our family.  We got our pails out again this year.  Greg won hands down for writing the most Valentine’s to all of us. We had so much fun reading them. (Click on the pics to make them bigger)

Highlights of Christmas morning

We thought it would be fun for the kids to sleep together on Christmas Eve.  Well, we were wrong.  They were so excited and about 10:00pm Lindsey got her second wind and would not settle down. At 10:30pm Taylor and Lauren were both crying because they just knew Santa was going to skip their house because they were still awake so late.  So I took Lindsey in my room and laid with her til 11:00pm when she finally fell asleep. At 11:30pm the other kids were still whispering away. So at midnight Santa could finally begin. And everyone was awake before 6am. So minus the lack of sleep, we had a very fun day.

Taylor loved his Lego table. We needed something smaller that would fit his room so this home made version was perfect.

I love sibling gifts- they get so excited to buy gifts for each other, but even more excited to give their gifts to each other.  It’s so fun to watch. My SIL gave me the brilliant idea to have the kids do chores and earn the money to buy the gifts.  My kids actually did not complain about washing the light switches and door frames. It was lovely. We gave them a price range and Taylor was $1 above his price range.  So he offered to do another job so that he could get the Hello Kitty toy that he really wanted to get Lauren.

Santa

When you miss the church Christmas party and the Dickens' Festival, it is slim pickings on seeing Santa around here.  I had one picture of all the kids with Santa in a Garden Nursery parking lot of all places. However, the St. George Carousel saved the day.  Not to mention we were the only ones there to see this cute Santa.I love Lauren looking at Santa and just being memorized. Lindsey and her cute hand telling him all about Dora and how much she LOVES Dora. And then there’s Taylor- he just wanted his two front teeth.  I think that was one of his favorite parts of Christmas this year. He thought it was so funny.

Advent Calendar Activities

This was our 3rd year doing our activity advent calendar.  We love it.  The kids love that we get to do something fun everyday!  And I love to sit down in November and make up a plan. I like to get each day ready so that December is a little calm and we actually get to do some different things because I planned ahead of time. Now some of these “fun” activities consist of watching a Christmas movie and eating popcorn.  Not too tough.  I write down all my ideas on a calendar and try to only plan one activity a week that requires us to leave the house. I put the slip of paper in the advent calendar the night before because I am constantly switching activities around and adding/deleting things. It’s also a great way to make sure I fit in everything that I want to do. I remember one Christmas feeling like we didn’t do a lot of the things I wanted to do with the kids. We have our traditional activities like the Live Nativity at Tuacahn. And we also try new things each year.  Last year we went to the Springdale Light parade and had so much fun. This year we went to a Christmas concert and Taylor told me it was the worst night of his life. However, while it wasn’t the worst night of my life- I could have passed on that one as well.

The kids make Rolo pretzels every year and it has become their thing.  They are in charge and have their own little system.  It’s fun to listen to them figure it out.  Greg and I unwrap rolos as fast as we can and they do the rest.  Pretty fun.

Another easy activity was making these reindeer cookies.

Sugar cookies for Santa is a must as well.

Lindsey was grossing us out with her huge bites of frosting- no wonder they get a little crazy making these.

And as long as the kids will allow it- we will always make these hand print and footprint reindeer. I just think they are the cutest.

Gingerbread Houses were the theme this year

In the past, I have been known to buy the Gingerbread kits and call it good.  This year my kids were introduced to a much more fun way… packages of graham crackers and bowls and bowls of candy that you can actually chew and eat. They were in heaven.  Our friends had a gingerbread house party and we had a great time. Lauren and Taylor thought the frosting bag was way cool. We missed another party that we really wanted to go to- she makes homemade gingerbread. Oh My!

Taylor and Lauren both had Gingerbread House parties at school as well. Lauren was having so much fun. I love this picture with her blurry hands and eyes shut. The smile was the smile she wore the entire time. And if I had video you would hear her silly little giggle.

Family Pictures 2011

Bring on December 1

We are READY!

Candy chains- check

Advent Activity Calendar- check

Lego Advent Calendar- check

nO wILpOwEr

These usually are green and red. We usually wait til Christmas to make them. But why? They are so fun to make and eat! Taylor loves helping me. Plus, we had to experiment with the candy corns. {Don't waste your time}

So I was thinking about labels and how I haven't been labeling my posts. I was thinking how I would use them etc. As I was looking through my past posts I realized why do I need labels when the only label I would use is ... FOOD!! {I think I have a problem}

So when, how and why do you use your labels on your posts? ... Just in case I actually blog about something other than food!

In our house, October means...

And we LOVE it!!

08.08.08

Here are my 8 pictures I took for a scrapbook page celebrating 08.08.08! A part of history that we will never see again! (The computer wanted 9- so it repeated a picture)

Fish Lake

We had a great time at Fish Lake with Uncle Clark and Aunt Charlene! They are so generous to let us invade their cabin for a weekend. Lauren and Taylor LOVED throwing rocks in the lake. Taylor went fishing for the first time too. Taylor and his cousin Garrett were talking on the phone the other day
Taylor- I went fishing at Fish Lake.
Garrett- Did you catch any fish?
Taylor- No, just seeweed! (He thought it was great!)