Top Ten of 2008

This year has been full of lots of ups, and a few downs, and we have tried to enjoy every minute of it. It seems the years just fly by now and these kids are growing like crazy. So here is a list of our family's top ten moments of 2008
10. Finishing my first 5k. It was not easy for this non-runner, but I am proud of this accomplishment and hope to do it again (maybe a little faster) in 2009.

9. Mimi's firsts. She learned how to walk, has learned a TON of words and has developed quite a feisty personality. What did we ever do without this sweet girl in our family?

8. Scooter's first "camp-out" along with subsequent fishing trips (remember that itty-bitty fish he caught that we were all so proud of?).

7. An amazing summer filled with trips to the zoo, Wheeler Farm, and Lagoon (Scooter loved the roller coast).

6. Armadillo turned 30! Wow we're getting old!

5. Mimi's first birthday party! How cute was she eating her first cake?

4. Scooter's TRAIN birthday party! It doesn't get much more fun than that.

3. Mine and Mimi's trip to Arizona! So much fun to get away from the cold weather and visit lots of family and friends.

2. Our Day with Thomas! We still have to tell Scooter the story about that day before he's willing to go to sleep at night. It really made an impression on him!

1. Scooter's successes with the potty! Honestly, I've never been more proud of him!

We hope you all have had a great year and wish you Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

Our Christmas day was your typical, peaceful, fun-filled, pajama-wearing day. We got up early, and opened presents. We actually had to wake Scooter up because Mimi was ready to go. She mostly loved the boxes, and Scooter loved the cheapest present we got him (a little train) the most.

Then we rushed off to Hootie and Munch's for more presents (hooray!) and an excellent Christmas breakfast. Then we all got naps and rest time. It was wonderful. (You can see that Doctor Scooter had already started making his rounds with aunt Goobs).
Next we headed over to Mumsy and Popsicle's for even MORE presents (you wouldn't believe the look on Scooter's face when he realized that Santa had been to both grandma's houses). We had fun and ate good food, but little did we expect the huge storm that blew in during the early evening hours.

Armadillo and I kept debating about whether or not we should try to head home, but our decision became easy when we watched the SNOWPLOW get stuck going up the hill. We decided that we were officially snowed-in and settled in at my parents for the night (it was lucky that my dad had gotten all the girls pj's for Christmas so I didn't have to go without, Armadillo was not so lucky...though he DID get a brand new CAMERA!).
We had a blast. Scooter slept in a sleeping bag (which he loved of course), Mimi in her pack 'n play and Armadillo and I on the big comfy couches, all in one room. My siblings were also snowbound so after the kids fell asleep, we all stayed up late and watched a movie (I can't remember the last time I stayed up so late). We were up early the next day (because of the kids) so we were pretty much zombies for the rest of the day.

I love this picture of the kids scoping out the freshly fallen snow the morning after the storm. They were enthralled!

Thanks to everyone (grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles) who made this such a fun and memorable Christmas!

Christmas Eve

The Christmas Eve party at my grandpa's house has been a tradition for my whole life. I absolutely love it. This year we enjoyed great food, the kids played with their cousins, my grandpa narrated the Christmas Story, and the older "kids" had a most hilarious white elephant gift exchange. My brother ended up with this "lamp." He informed all of us that, as a college student, acquiring this lamp would make him king! It was quite shocking and I laughed so hard I cried (later, when he took it home to my parents for the night, my mom quickly wrapped an apron around it).

We headed home and scattered some reindeer food (thanks JBOW) in front of our door. Scooter was so excited and actually went right to sleep. Then Santa came and left us this booty...

Our humble, yet love-filled Christmas!

A Brush With The Law

It all started on the last day of school before the winter vacation, during my first year of teaching. My room mother had brought in a pinata for the kids to do during their party. I made sure the kids were all sitting a set distance away from the pinata and then they all started taking turns hitting it. One little boy was hitting it and one of my hispanic students, Luisa (names have been changed), stood up thinking that it was about to break. Instead of running towards the treats, she ran head on into the swinging stick (I think it was a yard stick). Of course, she got a big goose egg on her head, but was really not hurt badly. The day ended, all my students went home, and I began cleaning up my room.

About ten minutes after school ended, the principal (an extremely wonderful woman) came to my room with Luisa's mother. The woman didn't speak much English, but I could gather that she was asking about the goose egg. I nodded and said, "Yes, Luisa got hit during the pinata, but she seemed to be ok when she left." The mother then informed me that she had called the police! That woke me up! "What!" I said, "it was just an accident!" Then the mother mumbled something about how she had been in an accident and someone had called the police (I'm assuming it was a car accident!) The principal escorted this woman back to the office and I was stuck in my room awaiting a police officer. My mentor teacher came in at that moment to congratulate me on finishing up my first semester of teaching. I immediately burst into tears. She was so sweet and accompanied me to the office to speak with the officer.

I was so worried, but as the officer interviewed me, I could tell that he thought it was pretty ridiculous to be there. He asked questions like, "so, she broke the rules and stood up when she knew she was supposed to stay seated?" etc.
He left, and I never heard anything else from the police or Luisa's mother about it again. How silly. When I got home from school I called Armadillo and cried as I told him what had happened. The way I was acting, and the way I told the story made him think he was going to have to pick me up from the police station! Luckily that wasn't the case.

When Luisa returned to school after the break she had a big band aid on her head, but no mark whatsoever underneath it. What an ordeal. I can laugh about it now, but I don't think I'll ever allow a pinata in my classroom again!

Needless to say, this year's Christmas party was much less eventful. We had a fun sing-a-long with the whole school. We showed a movie, gave the kids their presents (books we bought with our bonus points from the book clubs) and had lots of treats, stories, and games for the afternoon. I took Scooter and Mimi with me for the party and they were immediately surrounded by my students. It was fun to see how everyone interacted with each other. Then I took the kids home for a much needed two week break!

Scooter and Mimi at Christmas Time

I know I talk a lot about my kids, but it's actually been a while since I've documented some of their accomplishments, so bear with me please. 

Scooter has been so fun this time of year.  He is so into Christmas and totally gets it, even if Santa still freaks him out.  He has had many memorable quotes.  One night we were leaving Hootie and Munch's and the walkway was  a bit icy so I told Scooter that the men usually hold the lady's hands so they wouldn't slip on the ice.  He dutifully held my hand for a while then innocently said to me "You know, it's slippery for the men too."  He uses lots of big words now too, like today when he was pretending to be Molly (the dog) he put a collar on and told everyone that he looked very "distinguished."  I don't know where he comes up with some of these things but it keeps us laughing. 

Scooter has shown a renewed interest in the potty all of a sudden.  One day he sat down to go and then just decided to go number 2.  Now, if you know my Scooter, you know that this has been quite a battle.  For some reason he does not like to do that at all, and has lately only gone when he's in his own bed right before bed time.  So you can imagine my eyes glistening with pride as my little guy figured out such an important thing.  Hasn't happened since, but I have hope now.

Mimi has had a language explosion.  She is a real talker now.  Most of the time it's just babbles, but she has a few word.  "Baby" is her absolute favorite and she gets so excited to use it on any babies, or dolls, that she happens to see.  She also says mom, dad, Scooter (goot), and lots of animal sounds (dog, cat, duck, and frog).  My favorite is when she sees a Santa and says "Ho, ho, ho." 

This girl is also our little monkey.  Literally.  She insists on wearing her little monkey backpack all the time.  If you call her a monkey she'll say "ah, ah, ah" and sounds so cute.  She also insists on climbing on everything, like the fireplace and the kids table.  She enjoys dancing, and has been systematically removing all the ornaments from our Christmas tree.  With all the running and chasing she's making me do, you'd think I would actually lose some weight this season, instead of gaining!

That's it...for now!  Never fear, I will be back with more firsts.  Stay tuned for Scooter's first day of PRIMARY (cry). 

Santa Baby

We went to see the R.C. Willey Santa on Saturday. We really like him, but have never had good luck with the pictures. Scooter would not go within 20 feet of Santa, and the second I started putting Mimi on his lap she totally freaked out.

Later we had to walk past Santa again and Scooter just waved to him. Santa, of course, waved back. I think this calmed Scooter's fears a bit because he told me that he would "sit on Santa's lap tomorrow, if he talks nice!"

So, here's to a nice talking Santa for Scooter to meet.

Gingerbread House Update

It's been a while since I wrote last...typing has not been easy. On Friday we made our gingerbread houses in class. Things were kind of crazy. Luckily I had a lot of parent help to get all the candy and frosting passed out to my students. They were so excited. My wonderful principal came to our room and helped us do the liquid sugar thing. The only little snafu? A big blob of that hot sticky stuff landed right on the palm of my hand and gave me a pretty bad burn! The principal insisted that I go to insta-care and have it checked out, so I went after I sent the kids off to recess. There's not much they could do except wrap it up and tell me not to let the blister pop, but things like typing and playing the piano have not been easy.

Speaking of playing the piano. Of course the Sunday right after the burn incident was the one that Nick and I were scheduled to play in church. Nick's a real trooper. He stepped in to help me out, learned a new song that he had never heard before, and drove to my neck of the woods a few times last week to practice. We had a few rough patches in the performance, but we sure had fun (and I think we ended well). Thanks Nick! You're my hero!

So, a word of warning...

If you are going to make these houses, just know that the sugar is HOT! Do not let the kids near it. In fact, it might be better to make it when the kids are not around. You can take your time and not feel rushed, or worry that it could burn them (next year the principal and I are going to put them together the night before). However, I do think they make adorable houses. So have fun, and be careful!

Gingerbread Crafts

Ok, our first craft is not actually gingerbread, but we call it that.  When I taught school before we moved to Spokane I always had my students make little gingerbread houses.  We used their school milk cartons to help form the house and then I would painstakingly hot-glue the graham crackers to the carton.  This year I decided to still do the houses, but I was going to have the students make them by just using frosting (not as stable).  Then my principal noticed the kids collecting milk cartons and informed me that there is a much better way.  Melt regular granulated suger in an electric frying pan.  It takes a few minutes but then quickly turns into a liquid.  A very sticky liquid.  No milk cartons necessary, and totally edible. 

I headed straight home and tried it out.  Of course, the first one I tried to make was a disaster.  I dropped the whole graham cracker into the sugary liquid and ended up buring three of my fingers badly (also my mouth, because, like an idiot, I tried sucking on my fingers to fix the burn).  The second one was much better.  I figured out that you just need to dip two of the sides and then form the house.  We had fun decorating them for family night and they are now displayed on our kitchen table. 

The next night we wanted to do another Christmasy type thing but it was too cold to go anywhere.  So we decided to decorate Gingerbread men.  Scooter got a real kick out of this.  Here is his Gingerbread boy from start to finish...

Run, run, as fast as you can!

Festival of Trees

We had the opportunity to go to Festival of Trees again this year.  We were on a mission to find all the "train trees" (Scooter's idea), and Goobs and I wanted to see a Twilight tree.  I thought it was especially nice this year.  The trees were gorgeous!  Scooter really liked the gingerbread house section too, since there was a train one!  Mimi is a real people watcher and just sat back in the stroller taking the whole thing in. 

We heard a couple of different groups singing and performing and they were great.  We also heard one that has had us laughing all day.  They were dancing and singing live, and didn't seem to have practiced their breathing techniques at all.  One guy was missing every three words so he could gulp down a quick breath after one of their dance performances.  It really cracked us up.  (Don't get me wrong, I know it takes a lot of guts to get up in front of a bunch of people and sing, I could never do it, but still...)

Quote of the Day: 
Me: "Scooter, which tree was your favorite?"
Scooter: "The really tall one with all the lights on it."

We had a great time and love this new little tradition of ours.

It's the Grump-Grumpiest Day of the Year

The day after Thanksgiving is our traditional day to take out all the Christmas decorations. I have more Christmas things than any other holiday, so it generally becomes quite a production. Armadillo does NOT like this day AT ALL!
So, after we coaxed Armadillo to pull all the boxes out of storage, Scooter and I took to decorating our home. I can't tell you what a sweet experience it was to decorate (Scooter puts the accent on the end of the word...decorATE) our home with that sweet little boy. He was so excited about everything. He loves my little Christmas village, and helped me decide which pieces to put out this year, since there's no room for all of them.
He especially loved decorating the tree. He put four and sometimes five ornaments on the same branch, but he thought it looked perfect (and so did I). My favorite was when he laid an ice-shaped ornament across two branches. Though I have done a little "rearranging" I did leave that one ornament exactly where he put it. We did all of our decorating while Mimi was asleep, so each time she woke up from a nap, something new was up and she noticed. She kept smiling and saying "Wow" over and over. We did have to break from tradition a little. Our tree is in the kitchen this year. It was the only place we could put it that we could keep Mimi's curious hands away from it. I kept fearing that she would pull the tree down on herself if left to her own devices, so we had to think outside the box.
Since this is the grumpiest day after all, we never attempt the Black Friday sales, but we did venture downtown to see my sister in Savior of the World. It was amazing! Mookie graciously offered to baby-sit and this is what we found when we got home. A little peace on earth, despite a grumpy day!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving day this year.  We had two dinner invitations and decided to attend both.  We relaxed all morning (Scooter had spent the previous night at Goobie's house for a fun sleepover). We first went to my aunt's house for a delicious traditional meal with lots of family around.  After we cleaned up we, of course, did crafts!

Then we rushed over to Hootie and Munch's for another wonderful meal.  We were still pretty full from the last one, but it tasted amazing - and the leftovers the next day were to die for!

Scooter and Hootie set up the LGB train and all Scooter wants to do now is sit and watch it "go round." 

The highlights of the day...
Armadillo's famous apple pie,
playing Mario Kart on my aunt's wii, and failing miserably!
Goobie's marshmallow turkeys
Goobie's pretzel jello (Armadillo hates it, but I absolutely love it!)
watching Scooter play with the train
the fact that Mimi actually took a nap at my aunt's house (a few hours of relaxation for me)
and playing our new game "Buzz Word"  it's pretty fun!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

So Thankful!

Parents and in-laws, brother, sisters, sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, niece (plus one on the way), grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, good friends, church, Mel and Munch for baby-sitting, my job, Armadillo's job, our home, health insurance, books, sleep, library card, portable DVD player, ice cream, Diet Pepsi, chocolate, hugs and kisses, piano, etc.

I am so thankful for so many things in my life, my list could go on an on. But the three things that I am the most thankful for are all sitting sweetly in this lazy boy!

Boy I love my "three ones!"(I couldn't resist a picture of Mimi's newest dress. Stay tuned for more since I've already collected more winter dresses than I think she'll be able to wear this year :) I suppose I could also say I'm grateful for such a cute girl to dress up!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

UberFan Explained

My sister, Mookie, posted this video on her Facebook page and it made me laugh so hard I cried. So I posted it here for your viewing pleasure!

(I tried to write all this on the original post, but for some reason, if I messed with it, it wouldn't let the video pull up, can we say "computer illiterate?")

UberFan

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Game Day

We're ready for the big game today.

Armadillo even took it upon himself to redecorate our house.

And I couldn't resist a blast from the past picture (weren't they so little?).And in case you couldn't tell where our allegiences lie...

GO COUGARS!!!!

Twilight!

My amazing, and well-connected, sister-in-law came through with one of the hottest tickets in town yesterday. We had free tickets to the Twilight premiere. The show started at 5 pm (note that this was seven hours ahead of schedule for the rest of the state). We had free popcorn, free drinks, great seats, a preview for the new Harry Potter!, and an amazing time.

Now, most of you know that I'm a bit of a critic when it comes to these books. I liked them ok, but I never understood the mania surrounding them. Well, I'm starting to now because I absolutely LOVED the movie. I had such a fun time. I'm so sad that we didn't get to the theater early enough for one of the free t-shirts, because now I'd absolutely kill to have one of those "Bite Me" shirts. Oh, well. I'll keep my eyes open for one.

I don't know how to recommend this movie to people. If you've never read the books, you might actually like it, so give it a try. Men, you'll probably hate it on the outside (but secretly, deep down, on the inside, you'll love it).

What did you think of the movie?

Where Have We Been?

In the depths of a murky sleepless fog spurred on by my two sweet, and adorable, but sleepless children. Mimi has had a hard time with this daylight savings thing, and we've all been suffering the consequences. Please forgive me for not posting lately.

My schedule of late has been: get the kids to bed, fold some laundry, take a shower, and go to bed myself, only to be reawakened every morning at 4:00 by a little girl ready to be up for the day. It's been miserable. We finally broke down over the weekend and followed the Sleep Lady approach (there are so many sleep approaches out there, but this is one that really fits my style and has worked miracles for both my children). After one night of listening to her cry for 45 minutes (those were LONG minutes) she is now back to sleeping well during the night. Hurray!

So, this is what we've been up to the past week...

Scooter got a hair cut at Cookie Cutters which shows off his cute little curls. He did NOT cry at all because he got to sit in a car, drive the steering wheel and watch Thomas the whole time. He has even asked to go back (is there a Cookie Cutters for potty training?).We danced the night away at my uncle's Utah wedding reception (check out their video here). We bought new snow clothes (on sale at Shopko) and went to visit the neighbor's horse. Mimi loves this horse and Scooter likes to pet his nose. We don't know her name so Scooter called her Brosnie (I'm sure he just made it up on the spot).And we celebrated Mookie's 21st birthday! Happy Birthday! We tried to get a good family picture. However, no one told me we were taking it so I showed up in my sweats :( and Scooter and Mimi both slammed their little heads into the coffee table and have black eyes now. The only thing we could do to get Scooter to smile was to bribe him with the birthday cake. It worked!
I haven't even had a chance to write about my nightmarish Parent Teacher Conference, so stay tuned!

The 6th Picture Tag

I've often seen this tag, so I was excited when I finally got tagged with it. This is the sixth picture from the sixth file on my computer. This was the day Mimi was born and Weffy and Mookie came to visit her in the hospital.

When Mimi was born, it was a planned c-section, since I had had to have one with Scooter when he was born. I loved going into the hospital in the morning, reading my books (Twilight and Harry Potter #7), and taking it easy. I actually started having contractions in the hospital, so I think she would have been born that day anyway.

The surgery went smoothly and this time I was able to hold her and feed her right after the surgery (with Scooter, they had to knock me out so it was several hours before I was able to snuggle him). Armadillo and I spent all morning with our new little baby and it was such a good experience for us. If you have to have a c-section, I recommend planning it. I recovered so much more quickly the second time around since I hadn't been in labor for 24 hours first.

I loved having our family and friends come visit, however, when Scooter was born, nobody told me how messy my hair was, so this time I made sure that I did my hair for our visitors.

Now I tag six people. Find the sixth picture in your sixth file, and tell a little about it. (Only do it if you want to :) )
Scullerina (aka Goobs)
The Shoe Obsessed One
Skip to my Lu
SorroFamuri
The Man Who Knew too Little
Jai-Dee

and anyone else who wants to.

Thankful Turkeys

I had the day off work today, so this morning Scooter, Mimi and I made these cute little Turkeys.  I did this with my class yesterday, but it was so fun to see Scooter's and Mimi's because their feet and hands are so little!  Scooter told me everything he was thankful for and we wrote it on the feathers.  He also helped me decide what Mimi was thankful for.  These are now hanging on their bedroom door and both of them keep stopping to look at them when they walk past. 

Jason Mraz

Last week Goobs called me up out of the blue to tell me that she had scored some free tickets to the Jason Mraz concert (she is the most hooked up person I know), and wondered if I wanted to go!  Of course! 

Her tickets turned out to be in a suite and we had so much fun.  We were dancing and singing and laughing so hard (But, if Armadillo asks about the concert, I always tell him it was terrible because he is really jealous!).  Before I went to the concert I really liked Jason Mraz.  Now I totally LOVE him.  Thanks Goobs, for such a fun girl's night out.  I really needed it. 

I've put a few of my favorite songs of his from the new album on my playlist.  Enjoy!

I Voted!

A Full Week of Halloween!

We love Halloween so much around here that we started our celebrations a bit early. Last Saturday evening we were feeling the Halloween spirit so we made "homemade" doughnuts and ghost suckers. The simple craft was perfect for Scooter. We still have our "graveyard of ghosts" sitting on our kitchen counter. On Wednesday we went to the annual Library Halloween party and ran into our little cousin Olivia, who happened to be dressed up as the character "Olivia" from some of my favorite children's books. She looked adorable. She and Scooter made their little craft and ate little cupcakes, while Mimi did everything she could think of to get her hands on the goodies. She finally succeeded by grabbing some poor kid's and cramming it in her mouth. It was all over the floor, and the tutu, I was mortified, and Mimi was extremely pleased with herself. Scooter and Mimi loved singing songs like "If You're a Ghost and You Know It" and listening to stories about monsters.
Later that same day, we went to the Ward Trunk-or-Treat. We had good food, and played lots of games. Even Mimi tried her hand at the fishing game. Then we went out for the candy! Scooter got so much candy and every time I ask him if he wants some, he just says "No, Thanks." Drat! That means I'm going to be eating all the candy again this year. I just can't resist, especially the Twix!

The next day we had our class Halloween parade and party. Armadillo brought Scooter and Mimi to school for the parade. My class was so excited to finally meet them and the girls especially went crazy for them. It was a fun, but chaotic day at school. We listened to scary Halloween music, did some fun puzzles and worksheets, and walked in the parade. Mimi got lots of attention, especially since Scooter didn't want to wear his Thomas costume.

Then, Armadillo and Mimi went home for a nap and Scooter stayed at school with me. He had so much fun at recess and he had so much attention from my students. Then we went to the library and all the girls helped him find train books, then read them to him. I need a few of those girls to come take care of the kids during the day, they would sure make my job easier. Scooter and I had lunch together in my classroom (it's a mess right now because it's the end of the term and we're working on grades).

After lunch my room mothers (yes, I said mothers, plural, I've never had even one room mother before, it was so nice to not have to worry about the party) planned a spectacular party. The kids played Bingo, did pumpkin bowling, listened to Halloween stories, and had relay races. Plus, lots of yummy treats. I have to say that I LOVE being a teacher at Halloween time. It was so much fun having Scooter at school with me, and we've been playing "school" at home ever since. He loves for me to pretend like I'm out at recess playing, then he'll ring the bell and I have to hurry inside. Friday was a work day, but no students came. That was nice, except that Mimi got a stomach bug the night before and was really sick. Luckily there was no court on Halloween, so Armadillo could take the morning off and take care of the kids.

We decided that the kids really did need to get out of the house, so we went to Mumsy and Popsicle's for a little Trick-or-Treating that evening. Scooter had fallen asleep on the way there, so he still looks groggy in this picture. We had a fun little party with soup and caramel apples, and Halloween videos about square pumpkins and little trains called Thomas. What fun!

We are still celebrating, and Scooter and Mimi still have one more house to go Trick-or-Treating to (we're on our way Hottie and Munch). We also wanted to scream "Boo!" to our favorite Birthday Girl, Boo. We hope you had a great day!