Finally.....gaaaahhhllll

It's still November so I can post Thanksgiving...right??? My kids are on track break and the last few weeks have been nuts! Fun nuts, but nuts all the same.

So, we had a super fun Thanksgiving week (end). Started the week off with my cousin and her family in town for a few days. Kids all over the place. We had a lot of fun.

The day after they left my mom and step dad came in. We did everything last weekend. Thanksgiving dinner, games, shopping, movie, party-ing, baking...all the fun stuff!

Here's the proof!

Got grandpa to play pin the tail on the turkey. Jack chowin' down.

Nathan enjoying buffalo wings at our football "party" on Saturday. Yuck!

Jack e-n-j-o-y-i-n-g a fudge spoon. Yummeeeee.

We did get the tree up too. But the rest of our decorations are spread all over the floor still. Jack has already broken 3 ornaments we thought were unbreakable.

That boy is gonna tear this place UP!

Shopping

Doug and I went out on Saturday to do a bit of shopping, (ya know, tis the season).  We stopped at the new Town Square Shopping Center. That place is COOL. HUGE, so cute and full of lots of fun stuff. Not all the shops are open yet, but there is a lot already. The kids park looked way fun. Definitely a place to take the kids for shopping and play. I can see going there for a big day of school shopping or something like that. It is beautiful.

We stopped in the H &M store that is new to Vegas. It looked cool but was packed and since I'm not familiar with the store or their style I was totally overwhelmed! I told Doug I don't know how to shop for myself if I'm not at Target or Old Navy. HELP!! I need serious fashion assistance!

We had a lot of fun. 5 hours to ourselves in the middle of the day. What more could I ask for. Another day out that's what!

Recovery

Recovering from the last few weeks. Super Saturday is over, the birthday is over. My house is a WRECK! Enjoying today cleaning and blogging. 3 post in one day, that's outta control for me!

Super Saturday went well, I was busy nonstop from 9am to 3:30 p.m. Had lots of people asking if I had extra sets. Dude, I barely found enough stuff for the ones I needed.

I feel free...dying to start some of my projects I've been wanting to do. Glad for the space that is showing itself in my spare bedroom. Last week you could barely walk in there for all the piles of project stuff lying around. Gotta get that room clean for my company coming this weekend.

Can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. How'd that happen??? Since when did it get to be the middle of November?? It doesn't help that it's still 80 degrees around here. It felt so wrong to wear boots to church yesterday, but hey it is NOVEMBER!

The Party

The Cake ** The decorations

The goodie bags ** The look on a girls face when she sees something she wants

Samantha's party was a huge success. We did a pretend sleepover and made no sew fleece pillows, which the kids couldn't believe they got to take home. We played all the classic games...the limbo, musical chairs (w/ pillows), freeze dance,and of course a pillow fight. I've never had kids enjoy these games as much as this group. They wanted to play over and over. We made our own pizzas and started a movie at the end to settle them down. Our goodie bags were breakfast for the next morning. Samantha's favorites, chocolate milk and poptarts. It was one of those parties you walked away feeling good about. (That's not always the case for me!)

Oh ya, and I think this cake is my most favorite, EVER!

Birthday Girl!

Lets pretend it's last Thursday and I'm wishing my baby girl a BIG Happy 5th Birthday!!!

Here she is on her 1st Birthday

Even then you could see the spunky little girl inside!

Thursday night at our little family party, wearing the hat she got at school that day.

Our little rock star!!!

5 Things I love about this Girl

Her definite sense of style...jeans and tanks are her favorite, and she likes to wear her hair elastics on her wrist, all the time. Does this look not scream ROCK STAR?

Her big brown eyes

Her generosity...she will easily give things away and always the first to share

The way she likes to sneak my diet coke when she thinks I'm not looking

The fact that she still loves to cuddle with her mom and dad

***

My babies are growing up way to fast...and I don't LIKE IT!!!

Halloween

There are a million things I should be doing right now instead of blogging. But alas, I procrastinate! I do believe it was Halloween last week so let me catch up. I was a big crank that night! Nathan was in too big a hurry to let me get much by way of photos and what I did get are a bit blurry. Obviously I got no group photo. And the rest were taken in almost too dark conditions. We let Nathan loose for the first time and he ran the neighborhood with friends. I took the rest out (it was good for me to walk off my crankiness). Doug manned the door non stop for 3 hours before we finally turned out the lights. As usual, we ran out and ended up passing out all of Jacks, and a lot of the girls candy. The only thing I'm going to say about our neighborhood at Halloween is what Kristen said that night "Mom, do you think they put an add in the newspaper telling everyone to come to our neighborhood for trick or treating?" (me) "It looks that way hu!"

Despite their mother this lot did have a lot of fun and got the costumes they wanted, except Jack!


I believe Nathan decided he was a Dementor Sith (Lord). Kristen a devil. She just wanted her dress super plain and no tail. She told me that devils don't smile, so she didn't.

Samantha is our beautiful (possibly evil) medieval princess with a hat that won't stay on because I messed it up so it only lasted for pictures. Here's Jack trying to say "I don't want your candy bribe!" "I hate this monkey suit!"

Oh "JOY"

After chasing around all morning looking for supplies

Samantha asked me this

"Mom, are we going to be busy when we get home?"

Me "Yes, very busy"

Her (acting very annoyed like she likes too) "What do we have to do?"

Me "First we'll eat lunch then I have to start sorting all this stuff we bought. Are you going to help me?"

Her (big sigh) "I guess"

And what is all this "stuff" you may be wondering, let me spell it out...

126 wood blocks (cut and painted)

126 squares of paper

168 die cut (by me) letters (3 HOURS at Pebbles)

168 jewels

25 yards of white ribbon

2 spools of red ribbon

42 tags, flowers, jump rings, etc.

18 pkgs. of buttons (totaling 1134 buttons!)

plus a bunch of other stuff

Equal one out of control Super Saturday project that I am in charge of!!!

Really, I'm not complaining. I'm just stunned at the response to this craft.

I guess I should be flattered that people like it.

Oh and by the way, Samantha ended up finding a friend and left me to fend for myself!

Real Life

This week has been HARD.

Crazy, busy, and I can't seem to focus on any one thing.

Haven't felt much like blogging.

My sister-in-law Angie is one of my dearest friends

and her baby sister died last week.

I've known her sister for 18 years, since she was 10.

And I can't seem to get over the fact

that Robin is gone.

I really wanted to be there for her funeral in Utah,

but I just couldn't do it.

This year has gotten too hard.

My heart aches for their family.

I feel so sad.

We continue to struggle each day

with Doug's injuries.

The far reaching ramifications of his accident.

The strain it has put on our home, his business,

our family is ever present. I wish I could do more for him.

I usually try to focus on our blessings (there have been many)

And I can usually keep a good attitude, but sometimes it's all a bit too much.

Flashback to 1988 - Flippin Sweet!

So I'm really putting myself out there with this picture.

The big Hair

The s-c-a-r-f.

My brothers crimped bangs. (even then I knew THAT was dumb)

But I have been thinking of my brothers lately.

I almost forgot the nickname they used to use on me

until my youngest (jonny) called me the other day and said

"Hey Curly"

It made me smile!

I am grateful for the relationships we have

I love to see them

And we enjoy each others company

Together we are still a bunch of dumb teenagers!

(by the way...i fall 4th in line)