BEHOLD THE GLORY...

Of my new baby. My Christmas present.

I am all a-flutter with excitement over this one!

I've finally got it set up and working. I am currently

sitting in bed typing right now! Fun for me!!!

I am wireless, we are networked, we now have

TWO new computers. Here's how that went down.

If any of you have heard me complain, our old computer

was a sorry thing. So we decided to have geek squad

come out, set up the new baby and clean up the old one for the kids.

He came, he took one look at the old one and said, "I've never seen

anything like this before. There is something seriously wrong."

NO DUH!

Basically, it would cost more to fix it (if even possible) than it

would to buy a new one. So Doug ran over to Best Buy, got a new tower

and he hooked us all up.

Kristen said this to me as he was setting up everything...

"Mom, on Blakes computer, when you click the button, it goes

straight away to the screen, for real. You don't have to wait."

Me, "Ya, I've heard about that! Maybe this new computer will do that too."

The next day, once the kids started using the new one they all came running

into us shouting "this new computer is SO AWESOME!"

So ya, it's pretty awesome to have computers that actually work!

Christmas Day

Was a great day. The kids actually listened to us this year and waited in their rooms till W E woke up. Unlike past years when they've been up at 3 or 4 and keep coming in our room to ask if we can go down yet. 6:30 was a much more acceptable and tolerable hour for us.

Jack's first order of business was to tear into some candy BEFORE he tried out his new quad. Notice the chocolate in his hand. Good way to start the day.

Nathan cannot believe that Santa actually brought him an iPod.

Kristen excited for a new guitar. Her old one somehow "disappeared" a long time ago.

She's been looking for it for a long time. We found one with an "OFF" switch.

It might not meet the same fateful end as her last one.

Samantha opening her new pink scooter.

Now she doesn't have to fight her siblings to use theirs.

Jack powered up for some Nerf dart tag.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Taking group photo's with Jack, always a challenge

Here we are Sunday, attempting a photo

Jack...just wanted to wrestle

Samantha...just pouted

Christmas Eve...Pajama pictures...miracle

He actually posed with the kids

Unbelievable!!!

Strike a Pose

I don't think I've ever gotten' one like this before...yay for me!

Calendars...Done

The advent calendars are full. I actually finished my cookie sheet one before Christmas (just before, but still, done). I love it. As Heather said, it's so me. :)

I love advent calendars. I think I am a collector now. We have 3. Made the button one at enrichment years ago. The other is the Playmobil one. Every piece is in a little box that you open daily to put the scene together. My kids, of course, love this one most.

P.S. If you haven't noticed, I am posting all the things I had planned to post before Christmas. If I had had time :)

Squeezing in all the Christmas Fun

Since our trip we have been running, running, and running! Preparing for Christmas.

These last few days before Christmas we squished in the cookies, the gingerbread tree, the neighbor treats, the cards and ALL the wrapping.

Samantha and I had our own little cookie party. The older kids had been invited to friends parties so we made our own. Made pretty pink and blue frosting with pastel sprinkles. How festive is that!

The kids had a blast making the tree. There wasn't as much candy as the house but once we put the layers together the kids took over. It was great. They didn't need any help from me. Jack of course, found a way to climb up and steal a treat or too. He's hanging on to the counter by his fingernails!

From our house to yours...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I love the way the house feels

all decorated. The lights, the traditions,

the music the spirit.

I always feel so peaceful on this day.

The business and craziness of preparing

is over. I get to watch the joy

in my children and remember when I

felt the same.

Being a parent is the funnest of all!

A Little of This, A Little of That...and 3 Trips to the ER

We surprised the kids and took them to California for a week with Grandma and Pappa. Here's the skinny on our eventful trip.

Saturday: Day of Departure
Grandma falls down our stairs in the middle of the night and spends 4 hours in the ER. Broken foot and elbow. She soldiers on and we leave Saturday as planned.

Sunday: 1st Full day
Samantha is up half the night crying. Take her to the ER early and find a raging ear infection (I can't remember the last time she had one of those). Exhausted, we soldier on to Sea World as planned. Child is heavily medicated and ready to party...so she thinks!

We did have a good time in Sea World. It was not busy and we did everything we wanted. Nathan loved the Atlantis ride and went several times.

Met up with cousins for dinner after and had a great time.





Monday: Off to Disneyland
The happiest place on earth. Except for the fact that it was TONS busier than I had expected.
The park was beautiful with Christmas decor. It was our first time at Christmas. The castle was amazing day and night. Kids had a great time. Jack LOVED it all to say the least. He spent the remainder of the week saying "ride?" "I go ride!?!"






Tuesday: Disney again...with early entrance
Thought we'd be smart and get in at 8 and go straight to Finding Nemo ride whose lines were always an eternity. Everyone else thought that too. At 8:30 am the wait was already 35 minutes. Uggghhh. We left Disney by lunch and went to a glorious Disney California with very little other people. Saw the High School Musical parade. Rode everything. Samantha has decided she loves roller coasters. Love her excitement and craziness!

Wednesday: The Beach
Took it easy. Slept in. Went to the beach. Did 7 loads of laundry in our miniature washer/dryer in our fabulous apt. style hotel room. Brace for another day at Disneyland.



Thursday: Disneyland one more time
Not as busy today, thank heavens! Had a super fun last day. Hit both parks again. Took Samantha on Splash Mnt. She loved it! Got soaked to the bone. Had to buy her new pants in Disneyland!

Almost made it without further incident. But since we started the trip with a bang why not end with a bang! Poor grandpa fell on the way out and got taken to the little Disneyland ER/First Aid center. Someone should have taken a picture of our sad little group that night. Grandma hobbling, grandpa in a wheel chair. Stroller with screaming baby. Followed by exhausted children.

I keep laughing about the craziness of it all. But we really did have a good time and the kids loved it. It made their track break! Have tons more pictures but they are trapped somewhere in Doug's new camera that I can't seem to load from Adobe. We'll figure that out later.

Now I'm trying to catch up on Christmas. Is it really next week? Agggghhhhhhhhhhh............

Memories to Cherish

Jack getting a hair cut.

Enjoying every minute of it.

Me, trying to hold on!!!

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!!!