still blonde but short

We decided the pink hair would be too drastic so we just went shorter, a lot shorter! It is pretty sweet although I do miss the long blonde hair and this cut makes her cheeks look so yummy and round.

Back view... completely unnoticeable. So glad I had her school photos with those cute pigtails! Sigh....

half mullet

Adorable from the front...

party on the side!

Yep, she did it... on daddy's watch!

Those beautiful locks!

Stay tuned to see what her newest hairstyle will be... maybe I will let her dye it pink to go with that quasi mullet!

turkey day highlights

We took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood in search of gold.

Jessi and Alyssa looking so cute snuggled on the chair watching Dora or something.

Jaiden and Wesley playing a Nintendo DS and watching the same program as Jessi and Alyssa.

Who is mommy's little piggy?
Courtney having a little pumpkin pie with her whip cream.

The girls watching Smurfs on Uncle Dennis/Daddy's computer.

Other highlights included:

Jessi pooping on Papi's carpet.

Uncle Greg cleaning it up!

Turkey cooking in record time of 2 1/2 hours instead of said 4 hours.

Uncle Greg's deviled eggs.

Aunt Cyndi's yummy squash.

8 kids in a pool with only 3 adults.

All in all a very fun Thanksgiving!

thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

Isn't it sweet? Jaiden made this card at school and brought it home Friday. When I placed the card on our mantle, Jaiden said "mommy you are supposed to wait for Thanksgiving" I told him it was too cute to wait for. I couldn't resist to scan it in and save it for each of you though... in fact, I have been dying to post this because I love his little turkey hand print.

So what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? I have a long list of thankfulness but mostly, I am thankful that I have a wonderful husband, two wildly silly and adorable goats, fun and a bit strange at times family, and fabulous friends. I hope each of you have a relaxing Thanksgiving, much love to all of you.

PS. Tomorrow night I have to show you my crazy sister punching holes with an enormous rubber mallet for the kids craft project... stay tuned, it's hilarious or at least I thought it was!

playing in the clouds

Today was flying... our kids first time in a little 4 seater single engine plane! Papi treated each of us to a short plane ride above the desert... there were no clouds to play on but if there were I am sure my kids would have asked (just like Aunt Cyndi did when she was their age), "Papi, can we get out and play on the clouds?"

Jaiden completely elated to not only be flying but also wear a headset so he could hear everything!

Alyssa talking into the mic telling each of us "i love you mommy, i love you jaiden, i love you papi" (she was sitting on Daddy's lap)

Near the end of our flight and yes, Jaiden is holding a "special" bag... just in case. I had moved him to the front seat on my lap, Papi let him steer, we did a little "tickle our tummies" (which is a sudden drop and then pull up)... and well, he was fairly pale after that but he kept it all in.

Dad and me!

Looking much better and feeling perkier after some churro and a berry smoothie at Costco.

Oh yes, the answer to the question from yesterday? Karina and Jessica arrived this afternoon. And it is the 5 year olds and the 3 years olds ... although I had a hard time photographing them playing as it involved lots of giggling, squealing and running... non stop fun now!

land of the dragons

Aaahhh, cousins! What fun they are all having.

Of course, it's the boys...

and the girls riding together (not a good shot but you get the idea)...

The boys... checking out the Phoenix zoo map. Say what's the most scary attraction?

Wesley - a little bored on the eagle carousel?

Nope, Wesley being a little silly and doing tricks!

The girls on a camel ride!

The boys on their camel ride!

All of them petting the stingrays... so it was a busy day at the zoo. And you get the point of how hanging with the cousins is. The girls and the boys... Karina and Jessica come tomorrow so we will see how it changes! Will it remain as boys and girls or will it be 5 year olds vs. 3 years olds?

Stay tuned to find out!

gramma's biscuits

The last few days have been jammed pack with busy, busyness (is that a word?) and yesterday was no exception. We got home shortly after 5 pm from ballet/tap class, the kids famished... no starving... and I still needed to make biscuits for our beef stew. Jaiden enthusiastically offered to help so we pulled up a chair to the counter where he proceeded to learn how to make Gramma's buttermilk biscuits. I had already mixed the dry ingredients but he cut the butter in, stirred in the buttermilk and then started the process.

I should have grabbed my camera sooner but my hands were flour covered and I was just delighted in having his help.

He did the entire process all by himself. I love this shot best but decided to include the one above so you could at least see part of him making them.

After we filled the jelly roll pan with biscuits and put them in the oven, I turned to find Alyssa mimicking Jaiden ... the funny part is that she didn't even have dough, just the roller and the cookie cutters... but it was good enough for her!

The biscuits came out golden, severely lopsided but darn good. It made me wonder how Greg, Cyndi and my biscuits looked when Gramma let us help. Oh... such fond memories of cooking with our grandma's... can't wait to make Christmas cookies like we did with Mom!

Oh and the photo credit of the biscuits should definitely go to Bumbum who sent me a photo of the same biscuit recipe made by Tutu... which gave me a craving for some good biscuits!

happy 88th birthday, great papa!

Happy, happy, happy 88th birthday Papa!

This photo didn't scan in well but it is was the only one I have of Papa holding me almost 38 years ago! Photo taken November 24, 1971.

You are amazing and we miss you tons!

Lots of hugs, kisses and love from all of us!

magpie club... november sketch

Yes, I am still trying those new things I mentioned last month. In fact, I have a few postings I really need to do about things I have recently finished.

Last month, I told you about a kit club that I recently found called Magpie Club. This is my layout for November. It didn't quite turnout how I envisioned it, but I love the colors. Here is where you find the sketch that was the inspiration for this layout.

The papers and embellisments I ordered from Magpie's November Credit Crunch kit (I loved the pattern paper and probably should have just done a page with that). The only exception is the yellow background paper, the green rick rack (yes, mom I sewed it on!) and the big pink flower (under the yellow and small pink flowers which are vinyl?! and from the kit) which are Creative Memories and Bazzill paper. This layout is eventually going to be a two spread layout of Alyssa's insatiable love for the swing, and will include more swing photos all the way to 3 1/2 years or maybe later if it takes me that long to finish.

Wish me luck!

running pink giraffe

Alyssa is learning about pilgrims and Indians in school and they made Indian headbands for their art project. She was very excited to show it to me, and yes, it was cute with the pink feathers... but the real treat was what I discovered inside the headband. Her teacher had written...

"Running Pink Giraffe!"

snowstorm number 3 ...

What a great day it was... it snowed and snowed all night long . Jaiden was so excited when he woke he "fell over twice with excitement". Alyssa kept saying "mommy, it snowed!" as if I didn't know!

Alyssa enjoying a run down the nearby sledding hill... nothing like the hills in Seattle but good enough for sledders, snowboarders and a few trick boards too.

Jaiden in his spinning saucer sled... you can't tell in the photo but he's gone sideways.

Then home to make a few snow angels,

before warm-up and hot cocoa with marshmallows.

Then back outside to make our first snowman (we should have done this first as the snow didn't pack well and the raisins kept falling out of the snowman's mouth!)

Then a tromp with our snow monster snowshoes...

Alyssa even gave it a go and had to endure her brother chasing her the whole time!

All in all it was a snow eventful day with plenty of hot cocoa and marshmallows in between! Happy snow!

more homework...

This afternoon, Jaiden and I sat down to do homework. It involved reading a short story and then filling out a piece of paper that had the words listed that he didn't know. From there, he had 3 strategies to learn to read the word and a form to fill out which strategy he used and which worked.


This photo is us working on the form... as for reading the short story? I was stunned, he did it with very little help. He is sounding out words and needing very little help! I guess we won't be able to spell things for much longer!

on the kitchen floor

my first moment of quiet in this house ... all day, it's 5:41 pm and I am unloading the dishwasher while Alyssa is needing lots of attention and love (she is very sicky, again), it's difficult and I am feeling exhausted from a day of neediness, I turn to what I think is snoring and yes, she has fallen asleep in the middle of the kitchen! Poor thing but I couldn't help to take a photo ... so cute!

tea party

A wonderful morning spent playing with Alyssa while Jaiden was at school. She set up a tea party that entailed a 1/2 of a plastic orange, frogs and a lizard cake! Yum yum. Here is a little clip from our morning.



ps. This is my first attempt at posting a video so it might not work when you receive the email. If that happens, click on hoot hoot owlets to be directed to the blog. Oh, and if you are viewing from the blogs site, you will need to pause the play list on the left side.

pss. I was quite relieved that pretend play didn't start with Alyssa telling me ... "mommy, you pretend to be the mommy."

comparison

Yesterday, when I picked Alyssa up, we received her school photos so I thought I would do a quick post about how I put their photos in the frames and was stunned... yes, stunned!

This is Jaiden's preschool (left) and kindergarten (right) photos...

where did my little toddleroo go?

Alyssa's is so sweet but now I am scared to see what happens next year...

I don't want her to grow up too!

Oh and just for clarification, Alyssa let me choose her tops for picture day but this was the rest of her attire... a plaid pink skirt, pink cupcake tights and yes, snow boots because it was a very snowy day that day.

happy birthday lil' bro

Happy Birthday Grego-lego!

Can you believe Mom and Dad would dress us this way and take us out for Chinese food?

Hope you had a fabulous day and got to play with legos.

3 blind mice...

see how they run, see how they run

they all ran after the farmer's wife,

who cut off their tails with a carving knife,

did you ever see such a sight
as three blind mice?

(Yes, they were singing this song and acting it out while I cooked dinner tonight!)

pile of leaves

Sunday was finally warm enough to have the snow melt and rake the leaves... our annual favorite Mommy rakes a HUGE pile of leaves so we can jump, run, throw, bury and make a big mess so Mommy can rake some more! The kids love it. Alyssa asked that I take a photo of her and Jaiden lying in the leaves like I did last year... although the leaves aren't as colorful due to now two early and big snowfalls... should be a good year for skiing if anyone wants to come out!

all hallow's eve

meow, meow... Harry taking Crookshank for a full moon late walk... and just who or what might they find... lots and lots of bertie bott's, licorice wands and chocolate frogs. mmmm, yummy!