Wednesday, January 26, 2011

"P" Party

**PLEASE do not judge me for letting my 2-year old wear dress-ups in the previous post!!! It's really difficult to reason with a two year old when EVERYONE else can wear them and why he can't!!! He is ALL BOY ... BELIEVE ME!!!****
Last Wednesday was a PERFECT Mommy day for me!
BELIEVE me, most Wednesdays are NOT!
I have begun to H.A.T.E. Wednesdays because it means I have a FULL day with my kids ALL day/night because Alan has YM's.
Yes, I am kinda negative about it, but I have dealt with him being gone for YM's for 5 years now ... I know, I know --- better there then anywhere else, but it's still hard.
ANYWAYS, I didn't want to gripe ... so onto the PERFECT Mommy day ---
That day at pre-school Emma learned abou the letter "P"
When she gets home I try to spend some one on one time talking over what she learned and review a little.
After helping her, I talked with my MOMMY on the phone and learned it was National Popcorn Day ...
The wheels started turning ...
Since Daddy was having a "Pizza Party" at YM's and had to leave early ...
we would have one TOO!
We would have an all-out "P" party and re-inforce the learning that had gone on at pre-school!
INGENIOUS ... I think so!!!
So we got some YUMM-O {P}izza ...& had a {P}icnic on the floor while eating dinner ...
(yes, I TOTALLY splurged on {P}izza, but it was for a special night with my kids!!)Then we had fun {P}opping {P}opcorn together ...Well, Emma and Zachary had fun ...Kye was TERRIFIED by everything!
At one time he was sitting on the counter unsure of the loud sound, & then once the {P}opcorn started {P}opping out he backed himself right of the counter ... into my arms of course!
(I'm backin' up, backin' up, backin' up, cause my mommy taught me good) hehehe
Onto the {P}arty ...
we then got in our {P}ajamas and {P}racticed our {P}'s ---
on {P}urple {P}aper none-the-less!
Then we drew a {P}icture ...After our {P}ictures were finished we got to enjoy our lovely Carmel {P}opcorn together ...It was such a fabulous night together!!!
I treasure the small, random things I do with my kids that turn out to be {P}ricless Gems when all is said and done!
My kids now think we need to do that with EVERY letter Emma learns at {P}re-school ...
Maybe I set the bar TOO high ... :)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Dance Party!!!

So a couple of Sundays ago, I kinda invited myself to the Medico's for dinner and was hoping I would be invited to play Dance Party 2 that they got for Christmas ... SCORE!! I was totally invited to play ... WAHOO!!!
Here we all are after our dancing renditions were over ...Here's us in ACTION ...



Oh, yeah ...
I didn't post my pictures!
Why???
Well, we won't embarass myself by how BAD I look in them!
I am sure it was the photographer and NOT the dancer ... hehehe!
It was such a BLAST!
Thanks for letting us GROOVE the night away!!!!

Simple ...

I want a "simple" life!
As of right now, I am the one who makes my life simple or not!
My kids are young, I control what activites/friends they are involved in and I want it that way.
Things are going to change in about 5-7 mo. when Emma starts Kindergarten ...
I gotta enjoy while this lasts!I love how both my kids sit on their feet while eating all meals ...
It's so simple, but charming to me!This little guy melts my heart every day!This is the guy that is the epitimy of SIMPLE!
He just is simple and loves/enjoys being simple ... I need to learn more from him!!
I just cut his hair all by myself ... it's a little ... WEIRD in some places, but I'm excited to keep practicing!
Life is wonderful with LEGOS ...
How simple is that?!?My kids LOVE building and forming towers, castles, and buildings!
I love watching their hand maticuously work to make their masterpieces!!I wanna BE with my kids!
I know that seems cliche since I'm a stay-at-home mom, but it's so easy to get caught up in chores, MY things, media, and other distractions.
I wanna BE with them and enjoy the simplicity of LIFE!I love that these 2 are BEST friends!

All 3 of these precious gems bring my life such joy!
I love just being in the snow with them and acting like a KID again!

This is my favorite!!
Kye has definently realized when his siblings are getting "TREAT" and he isn't!
He has now taken it into his own hands to make SURE he gets one of those when they are being handed out!
Isn't is so amazing how 1 treat brings so much JOY to a kid ... SIMPLE!
I wish I could enjoy just 1 treat ...
With all this said, I wanna share with you my New Year's Resolutions.
Yes, I made them earlier than just now!
I made them SIMPLE ... to go with my whole THEME for the year.
Here they are,
{don't expect great things, but know that I will accomplish them ...
just like I did last year!}
{(I made them simple last year too!)}
- Do laundry in 1 day!
{sort, wash, dry, fold, & put away ...
... this one is the biggest change for me! I am notorious for having baskets of "CLEAN" laundry hiding in my bedroom for days/weeks!! It's so ANNOYING for everyone, and something I am NOT going to do this year!}
- Not to use the computer for 2-3 days a week!!
{Not at all!!! I have been really wasteful with my time and the computer and realize that there are much better things to be doing instead of "surfing the web!"}
- Be WITH my kids!
{this one has been so much FUN!!!}
-Continue running and working out!
{I have done this for 1 year and it feels GREAT! I have a great motivator to keep running ... it's called I have signed up to run a MAJOR race that I thought was totally something I would NEVER ... NEVER ... EVER do!! I am excited!!!}
All these things are meant for me to be a better ME!!
and that's what New Year's Resolutions are all about ... RIGHT? ... RIGHT!!!
I am excited to achieve these and make them become my new SIMPLE normal routine!!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

TANGLED

Mommy, Emma, and Zachary headed out on New Year's Day Night, while Daddy stayed home with Kye Guy, to see TANGLED.
A movie I have been DYING to see since it came out at Thanksgiving time.
The kids have both seen previews for it and laugh their heads off over the preview.
It was such a cute movie, and it's always to magical to see it in the
"movie-ater", as Emma calls it!
This was Zachary's first time seeing a movie in the theater ...
It was fun to see him fidget around in his chair trying to keep it down. It didn't work to well for him, so he ended up agreeing to sit on my lap.
{he always wants to do things himself, so it took him a WHILE before making the seat change.}
It was our FIRST 3-D movie!
It was a lot of fun to see it in 3-D, but Zachary refused to wear the glasses through almost ALL of the movie ... what a BLURRY first movie for him ... OH WELL!

side note:
2 young kids
+ one large tub of popcorn
+ one large drink of sprite
= one frustrating walk to the theater
... let alone opening the door with my hands full ...
UGH!

All-in-all it was such a fun outing with my kids!
We finished ALL the popcorn and most of the drink, so the $$$ we spent on the RIP-OFF concessions was deemed to be sucessful and my kids were totally mezmorized by the movie!
It's always funny to take kids to the theater ...
-they laugh LOUDLY
-they talk even LOUDER
-they are constantly asking me ??? about what's going to happen
-since it was 3-D Emma was reaching out trying to grab EVERYTHING
-they scream during the "scarier" parts ... YES, we had a full out scream where multiple people turned to make sure we were ok ... FUNNY!!!
I love it, although I don't think I will ever take them opening weekend cause I would get
WAAA---AY to many dirty looks from other people!
Until next MOVIE outing ...

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Twister ...

This is one game that I haven't played since
... ummmm ...
probably elementary school!
My family never owned this game, but I think my Grandma Wilkes did and that's where I played it???
We played this New Year's Eve after our farwell's to Ash, Luis, and Momma.
It was:
HILARIOUS
TIRING
BENDING
SUPERB
TWISTY
UNCOMFORTABLE
& a GOOD ENDING to the GAME NIGHT!!
Here's the BOYS first attempt at the game: This was the funniest moment of all night
I'm glad I captured Blake's face!
His wife said She had NEVER seen him LAUGH so hard!!
Here's a Mumble Jumble of us all:



Once we had played 2-3 ROUNDS we all realized that we had eaten TOO MUCH JUNK!
We were DONE for the night and tried to ENJOY
the LAME-SAUCE "events" that were on TV.
{ME --- I SLEPT like I said before}
But I definently had to post about this CRACK-UP event!
I think there will be more TWISTER TWISITING in 2011!!!!!
{I hope no one DETESTS me for posting these pictures ... hmmmmm}

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Chrismtas Eve Festivities ---

I recently realized I never posted about our Chrismtas Eve ...
What a BUMMER because I LOVE Christmas Eve!
I realized this year why I LOVE it so much ...
It is still a wonderful holiday and you still have a holiday to look forward to the next day.
The anticipation of Christmas is always so exciting
{ESPECIALLY WITH KIDS}
And I just don't want the HOLIDAYS to be over with.
Anyways, here's what we did ...
---
It was just US this year, and it was fun to be together!!!
Kye was GROUCHY becuase he was teething ...He got 3, yep count 'em THREE, teeth between Christmas and New Year's
... UGH ...
That made for ONE GROUCHY KID who only wanted to be held.
Oh well, he got held, cause I am a SUCKER mom
and want to enjoy my baby ... They grow up SOOO fast!!!
---
Zachary loved to "HELP" me make all the different things for Dinner.
He is quite the helper in the kitchen because he always likes to be wherever I am!Emma helped set the FINE CHINA on the table.
It's so much fun to have older kids that love to be involved in the preparation.The finished table ... YES, my kids ate on my CHINA and we didn't have anything break!!!
--WAHOO!!!--Daddy got to cut the ham with our fancy electrical knife this year,
Can you feel the POWER??!!I made delicious rolls that turned out to look LOVELY on top
And taste YUMM-O!
{just don't look at the bottoms ... :)}
---
After Dinner we cleaned up and read the Chrismtas Story out of the Scriptures.
We usually act it out on Christmas Eve, but since we had already done it
TWICE earlier in the month my kids didn't want to.
They wanted to "READ the scriptures with Daddy."
{He always hands out treats when he reads the scriptures to them ...}
After reading the scriptures, we took a family photo by our LOVELY Christmas TreeIt took us a lil' bit to get the "BEST" picture, but I love my kids personalities and how they SHINE through in pictures!!!
Kye was promptly put to bed after this point.
---
My older two made reindeer food and sprinkled it all over the front lawn for Santa to "SEE" our house and the reindeer could be attracted to our "YUMMY" oats.

At this point in the night, we sang ALL the Children's Songbook Christmas Songs together,
Talked about why we celebrate Christmas,
and All the fun things we've gotten to do as a family this past year.
It was fun to reflect with my little ones and hear what they thought was
"FUN!!"
We put our kids to be to have MAGICAL dreams ...
AND they drifted right off to dreamland!
It was a simple Chrismtas Eve, but memorable!!!
-
-
-
{Luckily Santa didn't mind that we FORGOT to put out Milk and Cookies!!!}

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Goodbye 2010!!

This year for New Year's we were able to celebrate at our house with some of my siblings and Momma-cita. It was fun to be able to PLAY some games:Chat around the table together:
Be a little SILLY ... of COURSE!
Pout, just a little!
And tell our kids GOODNIGHT!!!
We enjoyed having people over.
Saying goodbye to Ashley and Luis happened this night, which was saddening to us all, but it was fun to have them with us for the HOLIDAYS!!
Ringing in the New Year with my Baba was loads of FUN ... aka I slept and woke up right as the ball was dropping, I know, I am a BLAST!!!
Come on 2011, show me a GOOD TIME!

Buca di Beppo

Right after Christmas my parents took the WHOLE family out to dinner.
We went to one of our FAVS, although the service was AWFUL we'd go back because we have been there before.
It was fun to get together with EVERYONE, although a little crazy with all the little kids the memories of being together are PRICELESS!!
I love being with the WHOLE family!!
The Tables:




Thanks Mom and Dad for the DELICIOUS DINNER, I didn't have to cook!
It was WONDERFUL!!!!