Here is what I decided to do in the last remaining hours of 2008

Note: pictures with a mediocre camera just refuse to show off a color of paint the way it should.

If you happen to see a picture that would look really nice above my bath tub, let me know, I'm looking.

A few Christmas day pictures

They fell asleep between Grandma T's house and my parent's place.

6 am and oh so excited

Here Brett decided to take an extremely up close picture of me and show off my flattering cold sore. So pretty

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know

Where the tree tops glisten

And children listen

To hear sleigh bells in the snow

Various December pictures

Babyzilla with a banged up forehead.
Making a mess.
Crying about the mess made.

Climbing into the tub after she had been dressed.
My own little Ralfie, or Randy actually.


At the "Breakfast with Santa" pj party.
Lily's super poofy new coat from Grandma C.

Ahhhhh, so sweet. I found them sleeping like this and tried to take a picture but Brett woke up to the bright light from the camera and FREAKED OUT on me. He jumped half asleep and I thought he was going to punch me! Now I make fun of him because of the "Ghost Light!" It's coming!

Christmas spirit

Or as the Ensign put it, the Christ spirit, has inspired me this month. I always look for ways to help my kids focus on why we have Christmas and it really irritates me when things focus so much on Santa and presents and the "me" attitude that I see so much of. So as I was reading the December Ensign, I was teary eyed the entire time and filled with a desire to help and give to others. I have been hoping for a way to present it's self to me to help my kids get into the spirit and as I was walking out of my gym class last week, I noticed a tree with all these tags on it. I've seen those trees before, with needy children's names on them, and I thought that would be perfect! So Brett and I took the kids swimming last Saturday and afterward let them select a name from the tree. They are pretty excited to get this little 3 year old boy a gift and are at the store right now with daddy looking for a toy. I also thought it might be nice to go through some of Ethan's 3T clothes and give an outfit to the boy. I've got two bins full so why not, huh? Anyway, to my whole point now, I want a baby boy so bad! I've wanted another boy ever since Ethan was a baby and I keep getting girls. I love my girls and am happy it turned out this way, but I want a boy so much! And going through all these adorable little stud man clothes is getting to me. Please, please, please say I get a boy for my last baby!

Totally Weird

This is how my day went yesterday:

3:00pm- Perfectly fine, baking cookies, preparing for dinner and Ethan's friend to come over

3:30- noticed my right Breast was tender and got mad that I've got a clogged milk duct

4:30- emailed Brett and told him I didn't feel well at all and I thought I was being a drama queen because I was FINE earlier. What the heck!

5:30-Brett got home and I took a hot bath and got the shaking under control; However, Once I got out and into bed, not even my heating pad could stop the shaking.

6:00- Brett gives me a blessing/tells me I need to see a doctor/ me thinking this was all ridiculous because I was FINE just 3 hours ago/ nursed Lily on offending breast hoping to unclog the duct(personal torture!)/my back and legs aching to the bones and really really hurting

6:30/7 ish- Get to the hospital, get drugged up, pain goes away, get prescription for breast infection, still don't know what the heck is going on, but man those drugs are making me feel good and I don't really care about anything anymore

9ish-Go home, go to bed

All night- vacillated between hot sweats and cold chills, nursed Lily a lot trying to get things right, almost puked and drank a gallon of water. Sooooo thirsty.

Now today I've felt like crap, mostly slept, nearly passed out and puked in the shower, and I'm seriously thinking about getting that narcotic prescription filled to help with this pain. Oh, my boob is falling off!!! And my legs and back hurt bad. Is this not just weird???

Okay, you can feel sorry for me now.

The cookies spoke to us today

Brett's: "You will never need to worry about having a steady job." Woohoo!!!
Cheri's:"Reaffirm your financial plans- make a budget." Hmmmm, what if I already have a budget, does this mean I need to review and change something???
Wow, the power of a cookie to get one thinking.

Now on to Christmas

What the hair?
The "Santa's coming" dance.


Oh what joy! A Christmas chain!!!
Santa's happy little worker elves.

This is so typical. I don't have a disease, you know.

Speaking of Thanksgiving...

All 20 of us fit into my house quite nicely, don't you think? The kids destroyed the playrooms and the bedrooms, and left us adults alone to talk. It was great. Then the next day all the women of the family went to see Twilight together. Brett opened his new hiking back pack, and got the world's cutest birthday card from his nieces and nephews. It was awesome!

Family pics

This is as good as it got with a grumpy husband and a grumpy 3 year old. And wind. And agitation all around.









Now I've got to pick one for our Christmas card so leave me your address and I'll send you one. I will delete your comment as soon as I copy it down so it's not up there, but if you don't leave an address, you won't get one because I have no idea where anyone lives. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

I'm a dork

Am I the only one geeking out about Thanksgiving? I can't wait! Brett gets 4 1/2 days off in a row, family is coming(so excited!), and oh the food. I've been dreaming about turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy. Mmmm. I got so over excited yesterday, that I sporadically ran in the kitchen and made a couple pumpkin pies. Now I need to hit the gym and work off all the pie and ice cream I've been downing.

Oh, and did I mention that my old man turns 30 on Thanksgiving day? Yup, it's good to be 25. Plus, the kids can finally give him his present that's been sitting wrapped up in my closet for the last two months. I've got to hand it to my little kiddos, they have successfully kept this secret the whole time. Very impressive for a 3 and 5 year old. Brett keeps trying to trick it out of them, but even Lauren tells him she's not saying word "Because then it wouldn't be a surprise!"

My little blonde

What does Lily do all day long?

Especially when I whip the camera out?

I don't know! What could it be?

I guess it could be that she sticks her tongue out all the time.

That is, when she's not showing off her adorable little butt crack.

Happy Birthday Lily!!!

Yes, I know these pictures are terrible. My camera is crap and wasn't taking pictures at all at Grandma T.'s house. I started with completely black pictures and this is the best I could get of the very first time my baby unwrapped a present. Sad.




And Happy Veteran's Day! All four of my kids great grandfather's did their part. All have passed away so today we are calling Grandmas so Ethan can hear from them exactly what his grandpas did to be celebrated on this day. And also, a special thanks to my big brother Rich for all he has done for his country. He fought in the first war in Iraq, I still remember watching TV as a little girl to hear about what my brother was doing, and he is fighting for our country right now. We are very happy that he is back in the states now. Thank you to all the veterans out there!

As a member of the United States

My very opinionated voice has been heard today. How about yours?

Now excuse me while I go hide my head in the sand for the next four years so I don't have to see what happens.

I'm siiiiick.

And I can't tell you how excited I am to pack up my two sick girls and go to Ethan's school and pick him up. I'll be the mom in the mini at the back of the car line, not the psycho, over achieving mom in the fake black Hummer who seriously shows up 35 minutes early EVERY DAY to pick up her kid just so she can be at the very front. I show up on time and have a five minute wait before he's in and I'm out of there. Just call me practical.

October activity splurge

My girls cuddled together during our Firday nightly sleep out in the living room



Snow White thought she looked hot or something

A cat, a pumkin, Snow White and Scooby Doo went trick or treating, oh, and Daddy the Halloween scrouge did, too

Ethan designed and cut out his very first pumpkin all by himself! So proud





Lauren tried on the dress I secretly bought her later on for Christmas from Grandma

Lauren did her new pose

I took the kids out to Chili's when Brett was out of town because I felt sorry for myself

Lily learned how to use a crayon



We picked out pumpkins

We went on hay rides

Lily found the zoo facinating

Ethan chased a goose with the camera and took about 20 pictures just like this one

Lauren discovered "posing" for pictures

I took the kids to the Boise Zoo

Ethan discovered how cool the peace sign is

We did some pretty hair

Lily fell asleep in an odd position while mommy was at her gym class and daddy was home with the kids

Twice