Oops I forgot!

I so totally forgot to mention my real favorite gift I got. It was my new IPOD from B. He is such an awesome guy. I've been listening to music on the computer because I didn't have anything with my tunes on it, but now I can take them with me anywhere in the house. He's been showing me tonight how to load it with my favorite tunes. Right now I'm listening to Simply Red. I got a little Journey, Styx, Neil Diamond, ABBA, Tom Petty, Bon Jovi, Air Supply, Twilight, New Kids, and lots more cool stuff on there. You can tell by my repertoire that I'm into all kinds of music. I love the old and the new. I love you honey! Thanks for the most awesomest gift ever!

More Pictures

Measuring the snow

Maraca from Santa

More Legos

Everything that Peanut got was "just what I wanted." It was the cutest thing. He even said that when he opened his ornaments.

Christmas Came to Our House

We've been, actually I should say I've been putting together Lego sets. Bubba has done pretty well doing most of his on his own, but JP needs me to do almost all of his. He can follow the directions, but will forget a step or do something backwards. Actually, I really love it. There's something about creating it and the finished product.

Cartman was watching daddy make the turkey and kept banging on the door. He loves his dadda.

Here's a picture of me with my favorite gift, which was from my mom because there was no way my husband would be caught dead buying it. It's my New Kids CD. You can laugh all you want, but I'm truly a dedicated fan. It's a really good CD actually. Maybe it means I'm still a teenager at heart.

We came home from looking at lights and acted out the nativity for the first time ever. We had three shepherds and Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. The kids had a blast. We also acted out Samuel the Lamanite. With Bubba as Samuel and the two other boys throwing balls at him.


So lots has been going on over the past week as I'm sure it has with all of you. So on Christmas Eve we went sledding in the early afternoon. The first place we went was like solid ice and it's a ginormous hill, so we left and went to a park where we had lots of fun. We have to sleds and took turns. Baby was asleep, so we left him in the warm car for awhile. It was absolutely freezing with the biting wind. B and I were taking turns doing video and pictures and every time we would take a glove off, it felt like we were at the top of Mount Everest. I heard about a guy once who took his glove off up there to take a picture and he ended up losing almost all of his fingers even though it was only like two seconds. So anyway, I went for awhile and then went in the car where baby was still sound asleep. Then we went home and hung out for awhile before the missionaries came over for dinner. With both my brother's gone, I felt that I needed to have them over so they wouldn't be alone. Then we went and looked at lights until the blizzard started.

Christmas morning the boys woke up uber early. Even Peanut. They got up at least at 5 a.m. and I vaguely remember someone came in and said something. Peanut came in at 5:45 and told me the stuff Santa brought, but I shooed him away quickly. Finally, around 7 a.m. we figured we'd get up because they were so loud we couldn't sleep anyway. Santa brought Bubba a piano, which he was just jumping for joy over. He also brought Wii Fit. That is like the coolest thing ever. I've already lost two pounds since Christmas, which seems odd since Santa also stuffed my stocking with candy. But anyway, it's way fun. According to the body test I'm overweight. But it helps you set goals. Anyway, there is Yoga, Aerobics, Balance exercises, and Strength Training. As you complete some of them and earn credits, you unlock new exercises. It's seriously addicting. I did it for over 45 minutes just today. I'm the queen at hula hoop (aerobics), ski jump (balance). It's such a great workout, especially when there's snow outside.

The boys opened their presents, but baby was still sleeping, so he opened his around 8 a.m. He was more excited the night before when we put everything under the tree. He kept grabbing for the wrapping paper. But on Christmas he was way more excited about all the stuff out, so we had to open his presents for him. Later in the day, I went out back and measured the snow. We've never gotten this much, and I said that about last year. It measured at 5 and half inches, but some had been melting that day. We got some more over the weekend, but now it's all but melted with a warm and sunny day today. We actually went out on Friday so the kids could spend the Christmas money that was burning a hole in their pockets. That was crazy. I was so pooped by the end of the day, especially after doing the Wii Fit the day before. You definitely have to get used to it. Apparently you can only add so many pictures to each post, so I'll post more pictures on the next post. Hope you all had a very merry holiday.

Worst Day Ever and It's Not Over Yet...

So the day started out okay. I was upstairs doing laundry, when Peanut yelled up and asked me where his underwear were. He had been going to the bathroom downstairs, so I told him I didn't know. JP told him to look in his pants. A second later I hear this screaming, so I ran downstairs to hear JP say that they were in the toilet. I thought, "No way," but sure enough they were down in the hole like the toilet had been flushed. Luckily, it didn't flood. Peanut was devastated because he thought they were gone forever. I got a rubber glove and pulled them out and he asked me if I would wash them for him.

So then I was in the kitchen awhile later and JP and Peanut were playing Wii, while Bubba was at the neighbors playing in the snow. I heard a choke and looked over and Cart-man was throwing up all over himself and the kitchen floor. I ran over to him and started cleaning him up thinking, "Oh great, he's got the flu." As I was cleaning up, however, I noticed a wrapper for a mini 3 Muskateers that JP had gotten this morning out the advent calendar. He left it on the floor, even though I've told them all a zillion times not to leave anything small on the floor. So, luckily my baby was able to cough it back up. What if he would have choked and stopped breathing? Then, I took him upstairs to bathe him and put him on his back to take his pants off, while he was still crying, and I happened to see more wrapper still in his mouth! Needless to say, this about killed me today.

So next, I had to get to Walmart to get a few last minute groceries for Christmas dinner (which I previously vowed never to do with 4 kids again). I got stuck in my driveway. We got between 5-6 inches of snow last night, which fell on top of the ice that was underneath. So it was pretty much icy snowy muck in the curb and I got stuck. My front wheel just spun and spun. So I got out and tried to shovel under the tire. Didn't work. Tried again. Still didn't work. Tried breaking the ice up with the shovel. Not even close. Ran in the house to find the phone because Bubba couldn't find it. Can't find it to call daddio for suggestions. Grabbed the hammer and used the claw to break up the ice. Still no dice. Luckily, right then, my neighbor came out to his garage for a smoke and told me he'd push me. On the way to the store, after emptying the entire contents of my purse, I found my phone.

The store was crazy because everyone and their dog were last minute shopping, the kids were wild and wouldn't stay by the cart. I even got the comment from one lady, "No way these are all your kids." Hello, there's only 4 of them. I get home from the store and I'm missing 2 things-my green bell pepper, and my garlic. What kind of lame cashier puts only those two small things in one large grocery bag? There's no way I'm going back. I try to call the store to have them put it aside so B can get it after work for me. But they have super awesome customer service and don't even answer the phone. Did I mention I came home to find the garage door wide open? Must have forgotten to close it since I was stuck in the driveway.

Then, while I'm home, finally trying to relax a teeny bit and blog, Bubba, starts yelling, "Emergency there's glass!" I jump up to him explaining how "remember that ornament I knocked off the tree before the store and couldn't find the hook so I left it on the fireplace ledge" well, Cart-man thought it was a ball and smashed it into a billion pieces on the fireplace. Didn't I just get done blogging about how many times I've told them not to leave stuff on the floor? Luckily, he didn't cut himself, but I figured while the vacuum was out, I should do the entire downstairs to make sure there's no more accidents today. I think I need a nap! Or I could just lock myself in my closet for awhile...

Don't Hold Your Breath...This is a Long One

Okay, so I've resolved for the New Year that I'm going to take more pictures of my kids. For those of you who didn't already know, we're done having kids. Mostly for my sanity, but also because I was really sick the last time, and I'm just getting too old. So anyway, I don't want to miss a second of them growing up. So I started today by taking a ton of pictures of them. B took one of me in my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding. My mom finally sent me the new LARGER sized dress, so I tried it on today and it fits PERFECTLY. Hooray! It's not my fault I needed a bigger size-the stupid dresses are junior sizes. I could've worn juniors 4 kids ago, but not now. Which brings me to my second resolution, to lose my last 30 pounds of baby weight forever! I'm on my way with 5 so far, which isn't much, but because I'm doing pilates, my tummy is already flatter and I'm gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat. So that's my excuse for the small numbers so far.

So then I took several pictures of the boys goofing around in my bathroom. They're so fun; they crack me up daily. Then Peanut got out the oven mitts and was using them as boxing gloves, so there's one of those. And then, since it's been snowing like mad the entire day, we let the boys out in the snow again today. Big daddy even went out with them and they built a hill. I got a few before I slipped on the ice on the patio. I told you I'm a klutz. I didn't fall on my bum, but I did the splits and apparently bruised my foot. I couldn't figure out why it was hurting all night, until I got in the shower and saw a bruise on it. Dee dee dee! One last picture is of baby Jo Jo the monkey. We got in the attic yesterday and found the rest of the baby clothes that I knew had to be somewhere. I was organizing them before church, but didn't finish, so after church while we were all having lunch, he and Peanut re-organized it all and baby decided to crawl thru it.

Another resolution I have is to read the scriptures more. I pretty much say that every year and start out well and then life happens and I start to really suck at it. But seriously, I'm way determined this year. I have no excuses because the kids are all getting bigger and if I have time to blog, I have time to read the word of God. I also want to work on all of my relationships-better mom, sister, daughter, and of course wife.

So, do any of you have resolutions, or am I the only cheesecake doing this anymore?

My brother is having a hot summer Christmas in Australia. He said he actually likes their winters better, which is saying a lot because during the winter, he was sleeping in sweats, jeans, long sleeves,and a hoodie. He got to see two "worldy" movies for Christmas zone conference.

Well, I'm wishing you all the best this Christmas week. Remember the Savior as will I. Our ward Christmas program was absolutely beautiful today. The narrator told a really cool true story of a woman named Amanda in Utah. She had become very inactive and her mom invited her to a live nativity program put on by the church in the conference center(I can't remember the name). So she went and during it, she asked her mom if the church had put out a DVD of it because she felt like she'd seen this before. They hadn't and over the coming weeks she became re-activated and couldn't shake the feeling that she'd been there or seen it all before. So she got her patriarchal blessing and it told her that she was one of the angels that sang at Jesus' birth. How amazing is that? I thought it was such a wonderful story. They tied it in with how we may not have been one of those at that special place, but we were all singing in heaven at that time, and we will all sing again when he returns. Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

High School Tag and Nickname

First off, I realized I never explained why my blog name is Penquilla. My cousin, Rachel gave it to me. She had an alternate personality named Balandra and for some reason she named me Penquilla. Since I like to write, I guess it makes sense-pen and quill are both writing utensils. So anyway, my cousin Joy high school tagged me and I thought it was fun.


1. DID YOU DATE SOMEONE FROM YOUR SCHOOL? No, I only dated guys from other schools. The guys at my school weren't really cute and were pretty much jerks.

2.WHAT KIND OF CAR DID YOU DRIVE? I borrowed my mom's white dodge grand caravan and later on, my step-dad's geo prism (I think).

3. DID YOU PASS YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE TEST YOUR FIRST TRY? Of course I did!

4. WERE YOU A PARTY ANIMAL? Not in high school, but definitely in college.

5. WERE YOU CONSIDERED A FLIRT? Yes, definitely, by the guys at the other schools.

6. WERE YOU IN BAND, ORCHESTRA, OR CHOIR? No. I liked to sing, but never tried out for choir. It was tough to get in.

7. WERE YOU A NERD? Not in the slightest.

8. WERE YOU ON ANY VARSITY TEAMS? Sports and I don't mix. Can you say, Bella?

9. DID YOU EVER GET SUSPENDED/EXPELLED? No way!

10. CAN YOU STILL SING THE FIGHT SONG? I never could, actually. But I know all the cheers they did at football games. Woodbridge Warriors can't be beat!

11. WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE TEACHERS? Mr. Schmenk (soph english), Ms. Bonfiglio (french), and Mrs. Mitchell (sr. english)

12. WHERE DID YOU SIT FOR LUNCH? With Desiree before she got her license, and after, she always drove us off campus.

13. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S FULL NAME? Woodbridge High School

14. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S MASCOT AND COLORS? Warriors, Red and Gold.

15. DID YOU GO TO HOMECOMING AND WITH WHO? I never actually went to a dance until Sr. year. I went to Homecoming with Dusten LeSueur, my boyfriend until that night when he broke up with me after the dance.

16. IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN WOULD YOU? Definitely not.

17. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT GRADUATION? Doing the prom queen wave up to the stage so my mom could find me.

18. WHERE DID YOU GO SENIOR SKIP DAY? I think we went to Magic Mountain.

19. WERE YOU IN ANY CLUBS? Just the French club, but Desiree and I were in the pictures in the yearbook for a lot as a joke.

20. HAVE YOU GAINED SOME WEIGHT SINCE THEN? About 50 pounds actually. I never realized having kids would leave me so big.

21. WHO WAS YOUR PROM DATE? I went to Foothill's prom, not mine. It was on my actual 18th birthday and the Depeche Mode concert was playing next door. I was at a lame prom with my friend of 3 yrs. John Brooks. Would have much rather been at the concert for my favorite band.

22. ARE YOU PLANNING ON GOING TO YOUR 10 YEAR REUNION? We actually flew down for it, but my best friend flaked, so it wasn't very fun. It was very satisfying to see all the football players fat losers, though.

23. DID YOU HAVE A JOB IN HIGH SCHOOL? Yes...several actually. I worked at a t-shirt kiosk at the mall, my step-dad's office doing office stuff, and IKEA's bistro (gotta love food services).

Now I tag my two sister-in-laws Delia, and Janet, and my friend Paige.

Suga Tookies

That's what JP used to call sugar cookies. I made a zillion yesterday for our cub scout party. So we were frosting some left overs after school to have as a treat. I frosted one for Peanut and put it on the table for him and let him have the sprinkles. I'm not sure what I was thinking allowing a 3 yr. old to do his own sprinkles, but this is what resulted. I also got a picture of his mouth afterwards because apparently they make these things to stain everything they touch.

What Ticks Me Off

Okay, so I need to vent. I got this forward today (and I'm not mad at the sender by any means), but I'm tired of getting forwards that aren't true. I got one about abortion today and how Obama is signing the Freedom of Choice Act which will allow women to have abortions anytime, "also allowing babies who are born alive due to botched up late term abortions, to be set aside without any medical care or nourishment and left to die (most of these babies have no medical problems and most of the ones that do, have things like cleft palates, club feet, things that are correctable, still they are murdered in the most cruel and inhuman way." So I thought this must be a bunch of hooey, so I went online and looked it up. I read the entire actual document that has been before Congress and it doesn't state anything like that. It says, "a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy is absolute only prior to fetal viability, with the state permitted to ban abortion after fetal viability except when necessary to protect the life or health of a woman." I'm not by any means pro-choice, but I am pro-fact.
If you're going to make a claim, you better be able to back it up. I'm so sick of emails going around that some random person wrote because they were annoyed about something so they start putting words in people's mouths, or the government's mouth. As an English major who had to write LOTS of papers, it's really all about facts. I even get ones that say, "I checked this on snopes," and guess what, they didn't because if they had, they'd see that their email wasn't factual. I don't know why this set me off all of sudden because I've been getting them for years, but I think it's the whole political thing. It seems like people put their opinions about the government into these emails that they claim are factual information. They always say, "I didn't write this. It was passed on to me." I'm sure the original person who wrote it, put that in so no one can turn it back on them.

On other note, I'm also annoyed with this huge obsession with vampire stories all of a sudden. I love Twilight as much as the next gal, but I've also loved and been reading vampire stories since I was in college. One of my favorite teen authors is L.J. Smith. She wrote a series called Vampire Diaries that is great. She also has a series about witches that I love, and a 9 book series of Night World books that deal with all things occult, like vampires, witches, shapeshifters, and werewolves. They're awesome and they totally humanize them like Stephenie Myer does. They've been around forever. It's almost like the new fad to like vampire stories. All I'm saying is that these books have been out there for over a decade (I know I'm old) and people are just now thinking they're cool. I do things because I want to, not because other people think it's cool.

I Forgot...

So I forgot to mention yesterday what Bubba said before his brothers went out in the snow. He was still doing homework and they were about to head out the door and he told JP, "Don't forget to pray." JP, "What?" Bubba, "Don't forget to pray and say thank you for the snow." JP, "Do I need to do that mom?" Me, "Well, that would be a nice thing to do." Bubba amazes me sometimes. I think he's getting it!

Also, I saw Bella's truck here in town yesterday. It was even the same color. My forehead is kinda purplish black today. I know, I'm special.

Random News

So in case you haven't read my blog before, I'm a little accident prone. In fact, you could call me Bella. So today, I went to the mall to get giftcards from the bookstore for the boys' teachers. Then I got out to the car to leave and opened my door...right into my forehead. I literally almost knocked myself out. I rocked on my feet a little. I've never done that before. So I instantly had a goose egg on my forehead, but luckily my hair covers right there so the rest of the world won't see what a moron I am.

In other news, my sister-in-law had us for Christmas this year and got me the "Twilight" soundtrack. I only opened the package, but she hadn't wrapped anything. I was so excited! I've listened to it twice already. I realized that "Twilight" is my "Star Wars." I get so excited about anything and everything "Twilight," though I'm not so sure about the jewelry I saw at the bookstore today. They had cheesy necklaces that were supposed to be like Rosalie's and a leather wristband like Edward's and a metal bracelet like Esme's. They were pretty lame. I do rather enjoy the poster of Edward that was on the back of the CD case, though. My sister-in-law also sent me Milk Duds. She clearly reads my blog. I told B and he said, "Enabler!" Did you see "The Office" last week?
It's been snowing since Saturday here. The boys have been loving it. Like a dink, I haven't taken any pictures of them out playing in the snow, but I promise to the next time they're out.

Christmas Program

So we got snow yesterday and today and so it's pretty chilly outside. So I bundled baby up in his bunting tonight to go to the program and he was just too cute so I had to include this picture. He's started to talk a little. He signs "all done" now and "more" when he's eating. He's also saying "uh-oh" and daddy just taught him to throw a ball, which he does left-handed by the way. This greatly thrills his dad who has told him he will be able to inherit his baseball mitt, golf clubs, and guns if he turns out a lefty.


So Bubba has been practicing for about a month of Saturdays now for a children's Christmas choir and the program was tonight. He did such a great job. He was so reverent despite the kid next to him wiggling the whole time and the fact that he had to sit in between seats with a chair arm in his back the whole time. Along with some other boys, he got to do some background "rum, pum, rum, pum" during the "Little Drummer Boy." He was pretty excited about that. He's such a good boy. What a great example to his younger brothers. Today after church, we let the boys go out in the snow, which we wouldn't normally let them do on a Sunday, but they got so excited about our first big snow. So anyway, Bubba started going down the street shoveling people's driveways. He told daddio that he was supposed to do service this week, so he figured that would be a nice thing to do. Dad didn't have the heart to tell him that it was working on Sunday. He earned a Kit Kat bar from one of the neighbors. He went out to play for like two minutes before he got to work. His dad thinks he really needs a farm because he likes to work, especially outside.


Last night while I was working on the computer, Cart-man got these headphones off the desk and put them on his head. He's so smart to know that they go on your head. He's very advanced for his age you know:)

Invitation Hades and Pirates

 

So Peanut got some new pajamas the other day and now loves to wear them during the day. Hey, I would too if mine were that soft.
 

Here are the wedding invites I've been working on since I have all the time in the world on my hands. First I had to cut 175 chocolate squares 5x7 inches; then I cut the same amount in pink a half inch smaller; then I had to create the wording, which took B and I forever on Microsoft Word to get the right size and to fit two on a page; then I had to cut 16" strips of ribbon. Next, I'll have to adhere it all together times 175; then I'll have to tie the ribbon, add a photo and Target registration card all times 175. Don't forget that I have to print not one, but two labels for each envelope and stick them on, and then have to stuff them. The final step will be to put stamps on each one. I have 79 totally done in envelopes so far, but I'm still waiting on the future mother-in-law to give me the new open house address. The ones completed have the old one, but they're all going out of state, so nobody will actually be coming here for it. My mom said if I don't get the address by tomorrow, then to print them the way they are and she can deal with getting new information to everyone. I have to make bread and two different candies for my visiting teaching ladies and neighbors, plus volunteer at school tomorrow and my own visiting teachers are coming, so I really don't have time to do the rest of the invitations now, but they have to get in the mail by Mon. because the wedding is January 10th and with the holiday mailing times will vary. Why did I volunteer for this again?
 

So in the middle of this today, Peanut came up to me with a pirate patch and told me to put it on and then he took my picture. I think he's a budding photographer since he didn't even cut off my head. Then he put it on and wanted me to take his picture. So as far as the captions, have you seen the veggie tales movie or heard the song about the pirates who don't do anything? It's really cute.
 

 

Free Stuff and Other Nonsense

So I got a thingy in the mail to subscribe to a magazine called ShopSmart and it had a list of websites that can save money. So far, just glancing at the sites, I liked www.heyitsfree.net. It has all kinds of random free stuff. There's also one called www.freeshipping.org. It has website coupons for free shipping. So I'm going to send in the reply card to the magazine to get a free issue and also the free gift which is a book called "How to Clean Practically Anything." I don't even have to order the magazine and get to keep the FREE issue and FREE book.

In other news, we were talking about missions the other night and JP decided he would like to serve in either Russia or Disneyland. We drove by a tree lot today with a giant blow-up snowman and Peanut would like to serve his mission there. Kids come up with the most random things. Peanut has the cutest accent and words. He always says, "You're sunny (funny)." His "s" and "f" are always reversed. So he says his "seet" hurt for "feet" and he likes to go "fwimming" for "swimming."

The other night baby was looking at his reflection in the dishwasher and smiling and waving. I tried to get a picture, but he kept turning and looking at me. So I at least got a cute one of him and JP.

So I've got half my sister's invitations done, and she just informed me that her future mother-in-law changed the location for the open house after the wedding. Oh yippee! So she will be paying for and making her own cards to insert with the new location because I'm washing my hands of that.

Peanut

Tonight we went to dinner at Souper Salad. They have soup and salad obviously, but lots more. So anyway, Peanut decided he was going to have "Chicken Wittle Soup"-as in the movie Chicken Little. He's so cute. I love the things he says sometimes. I need to be better at writing them down. Sometimes he's very clever. The other day we were talking about my sister's wedding and he asked me if B and I were going to get married on our date. I told him that we were already married, and then he told me that he was going to marry me and B because he loves us both. We got our tree today and decorated for Christmas tonight. To say the boys were excited is an understatement. Both of the big boys sung today at our little town celebration. It was so cool. There was so much for the kids to do. They got a jingle bell from Santa, hot cocoa, and prizes for games. I love where we live. They always have such fun things for the whole family to do on the weekends.

Cool Christmas Gift

Thanks Delia for the link! Check out these really cute name signs. They would make a great gift for any family on your list, or for your own family. Check it out at www.unlikelyletters.blogspot.com

Little Brothers

I still can't figure out how to label each picture I upload. I try to do it underneath, but then I'll add another photo and it will stick it right under the next one instead of under the writing.

Anyway...we went to Utah this past Sat. for my baby brother's mission farewell. Most of you know that he has been called to the Cebu, Philippines mission. He is so happy and excited. I have never seen him smile so much in his life. He will be an awesome missionary. He has read the Book of Mormon in Cebuano now. He doesn't understand a word of what he's read, but I think he will be so much more receptive to learning the language in the MTC. He gave an awesome talk on why he chose to serve a mission. He was cracking us all up because he kept checking off his points on his paper after he would say them. We had lunch at my mom's afterwards and then our family had to leave in order to get home so the boys could get to bed for school today. Todd also got a phone call a few days ago from my other brother, Chad (who is serving a mission in Sydney, Australia) so that he could say goodbye since their missions will overlap for a year. We also got to see some videos and photos that Chad had sent home. It almost looked like he was serving a two year vacation. I guess he would only send home P-day videos, though. He looks great anyway.

So we left here Sat. and came home Sun. For those of you who don't know, it's a 5 hour drive from where we live. It was way too much driving in such a short period. We got to stay with our good friends down there Sat. night who we haven't seen since Bubba was a year old. It was such a great time, but not a long enough visit. When we got home last night, everyone crashed. However, not too much later we had two boys throwing up together at the same time. Unfortunately, JP threw up all over Bubba's bed. He's on the top bunk and leaned over the side and barfed all over Bubba's bed and blanket. Bubba said, "Dad, I saw that he was throwing up and I took cover under my blanket." But as we were cleaning up, Bubba said he wasn't feeling so hot and went in the other bathroom and threw up. We're not sure if it was something they ate at lunch or if they just got car sick from being in the car too long both days. They've never been car sick before though, and we've driven way longer than that before. We kept them home today, but they've been totally fine, and actually Captain Whiney Pants (JP) has been driving me nuts. Yay for school tomorrow. So is everyone done shopping yet? I am! My cards will be going out tomorrow and so will all the family gifts I have to mail. I love being done so that I can actually enjoy the holiday season.

Cutest Baby

Baby Cart-man has started to crawl as of last Wed. night. It's so cute. Tonight he crawled over to the high chair in the kitchen. He's still a little wobbly on the tile in the kitchen. He goes really slow so it's extra cute. Peanut decided to eat graham crackers for breakfast yesterday morning. Poor boy got a bit of mom's OCD. Baby Cart-man feel asleep on his own the other night for the first time while mom and meme were at Twilight. He also loves the bath and gives everyone else a bath with his splashes.

We're going to Utah this Sat. for my brother's farewell. He'll be heading to Cebu, Philippines soon. My other brother has now had his bike stolen twice down unda in Sydney. He really loves it there, though, and has decided to be a professional rugby player when he gets home. I can't believe he's been out almost a year already. What awesome young men they are. I'm so grateful for the wonderful example they are to me and my boys.

Things I give thanks for:
-my eternal familily
-the Gospel
-my fun boys
-my home, car, food, etc.

Jealous Husband

So my husband wanted me to remove his picture from the blog because I had the Twilight background, so I figured I should change it. Edward is still in my heart, though. I think I might go ahead and re-read the book. It only took me a day last time, so I may as well. I'm in the process of making my sister's wedding invitations, though, so it might take me longer this time.

Twilight

Okay, so you can tell by my new page background that I went and saw Twilight last night. It was AWESOME! I totally loved it. I read the first book quite awhile ago so I didn't notice any differences really, though I had some friends that did. Now, I can't decide if I want to re-read the book or not. I think even if I did, that I would still be okay with it being a little different since they did such a great job. Robert Pattinson was an awesome Edward. I was really impressed. I went with a big group of ladies and a few of them didn't think it would be a big deal, but we didn't end up sitting all together since we didn't get their early enough. Of course there was a huge line outside the theater and we were at the tail end as they were letting everyone in. It was so funny to hear the entire theater "Ooh" and "Aah" every time a new cute guy would come on screen. Anyway, I'm ready to go see it again and I'm definitely going to buy it when it comes out.

Crazy Lady

Okay, so I've been awake since 2 a.m. basically. Cart-man woke me up to eat, so I went downstairs and made him a bottle. Then, I lied in bed for awhile thinking of all the things I needed to do today, so I decided I should go downstairs and make a list so I could sleep. Then, I got on the computer and took care of a few things. By then, it was close to 4. I tried to go back to sleep, but around 5 a.m. I couldn't breathe (I've been a little sick), so I thought I should get in the shower to help me breathe and also to help me relax. So during my shower my body decided I should be awake for the day, so I got out and painted my toe nails. Around 6 a.m., I came down and had some Grape Nuts and then went upstairs and finished making all my Christmas cards. By then, I could Bubba get up for the day and so I went downstairs and did the dishes. I didn't have to make lunches today because they're having their Thanksgiving Feast-both their classes together. So I took them to school early and came home and got ready for the day. Then I peeled a jillion potatoes because I volunteered to bring some mashed taters for the feast. And it's only 10 a.m. This is usually the time I'm barely starting to function. It's AMAZING how much you can get done with more workable hours in the day.

So do you all have your Twilight tickets? I got mine on the 1st. Bet you're jealous. So I'm going with a group of girlies and afterwards we're going to get Cheesecake Factory. It's going to be totally AWESOME! I saw the preview on tv this week and got so excited that I watched it again online-twice. Every time, I clapped like a giddy little girl. JP was like, "Hey what's it about? Can I go?" I told him it was about vampires and then he asked if they were bad. I told him there were 3 bad ones, and then he asked if their were good ones, and I told him there were 7. So he was happy that the good outnumbered the bad. It's always good when there are more good guys than bad.

Addictions

So I discovered last night that Milk Duds are my crack. I bought one of those big sized boxes at Walmart and started eating them in the car on the way home. I decided to leave it in the car so I could have a treat in my car for later. Yeah, that didn't last long. Less than a half hour later I went back out to the car and brought the box in. I seriuosly can't stop eating them once I start. They don't ever fill me up or make me sick. It's disgusting. So I realized they are like my crack. B has two things like that-dried mangoes from Costco and Life cereal that he douses in honey. Obviously we're not health nuts at our house. I keep telling myself I'm going to start, but then came Halloween, the official candy holiday, and next is Thanksgiving, the eat until you throw up or pass out holiday, and after that is Christmas when everyone gives you food as a present holiday. What's a girl to do? Plus, I still can't walk because I think I messed up my ankle pretty bad before the broken toe incident (which by the way still hurts and can't bend). So, I'll sit on my fanny at the computer and complain.

Family Pictures

I thought I would add a few more of the photos we took by the river of the boys for our Christmas cards since everyone really likes them. I have to say they turned out really nice. It was hard to get one of everyone looking just so, since the boys were trying to help us get Cart-man to smile instead of staying focused on the camera. What helpful boys!

Fun With Food

This is for the Fun with Food contest. You can learn about it at www.5minutesformom.com/4658/win-500-for-groceries-in-our-prego-fun-with-food-photo-contest. This is a photo of Peanut at a year old in our hotel room in California on our annual Disneyland trip. Somehow we didn't notice him grab a chocolate muffin from breakfast off the table until he was cramming it in his mouth.

Really Cool

Wanna know what's really cool? When you're having a nap on the couch with your baby and your 3 year old is just quietly sitting there watching cartoons and then he pees on the couch and your entire body absorbs all his pee. At least I didn't have a huge mess to clean up, but I did have to wake the baby and get in the shower and then make my screaming 3 year old take a shower. Just another awesome day at our house! Now the two older ones are upstairs punching each other because they're supposed to be cleaning their room and it's more fun to argue about who is doing more work.

Like Father Like Son

Happy Halloween!!!

So bear with me because I took a million Halloween pictures-mostly of Cart-man in his pea pod costume. So I want to include several of them. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but seriously people if you dress your dog up for Halloween, you need therapy. It's a dog for heaven's sake! Anyway, we ended up with three out of four of our pumpkin patch pumpkins molding so I only got to carve the small one this year. For those of you who weren't aware, that has become my job over the years. Daddio carved two pumpkins the first year we lived here, but that's been it. So I spent the day doing laundry in between carving and baking cookies for the neighborhood party. I picked the boys up from school and they ran home and got dressed and we were off to the party to play games and frost cookies and have pizza. We came home for about 45 minutes before trick-or-treating the entire neighborhood with friends. Peanut and Cart-man didn't quite last the entire time, but pretty close. There was only one house that Peanut wouldn't go to because it was "haunted." Not really, but they had fog and gravestones in their yard and noises. JP said, "This isn't scary," and then when the guy sitting still like a statue with make-up came up behind him he started speed walking right out of there. He never screamed or ran, though.

-As a side note, today was all red day at school because it's been fight against drugs week. So Bubba wanted some red pants and red hairspray. I got some red sweats at Walmart and then proceeded to go to FIVE stores to find the stupid hair stuff. It ended up being gel so it was spikey today. He thought that was pretty cool and was really appreciative of my hard work to find it.-

So my felt Tinkerbell costume actually turned out really well. I was proud of it. I also had some gold shimmer stuff to wear so I was sparkly. My baby pea pod is definitely the show stealer. Indiana Jones looked good, but gave up on carrying the whip pretty early on. Ninja's ties kept loosening and falling down. Tiger wouldn't wear his head and kept yanking his sleeves up. The costume was really too small so it was kind of funny anyway. Oh yeah, it was unseasonably warm this year, so next year I'm sure it will snow. It was in the sixties! It was the first year we didn't have to layer or wear beenies or gloves. We're so used to buying warm costumes, or things you can wear pajama pants under, but this year we were warm without it.

Wishing you all a fun and spooky holiday!