Christmas…It’s Practically Here!

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  It kind of lost it’s luster this year because two very important people were not here.  Ronnie’s parents could not make it out this year because of cancer treatments and such.  Ronnie’s Mom, Sue, has been my Black Friday buddy for the past few years and I so missed her this year.  I couldn’t even bring myself to go out and join the crazies without her.  Our French silk pie didn’t taste the same without Ronnie’s Dad helping to make it.  Now I’m in no way saying this  was his doing but, one year I left the pie making up to the guys while I went to take a shower.  Upon my return to the kitchen I see everyone hovered over the mixing bowl.  Apparently an eggshell dropped into the mixing bowl as it was whipping around as fast as it could.  They managed to save the pie by picking each tiny eggshell out.  There may have been a strainer used in the process, I can’t remember all the details, nevertheless the pie never tasted so good. 

Now Christmas is right around the corner.  There are so many fun things to do this time of year but so little time. We did make it to the kids Christmas Program at school where a very nervous little kindergartener ran from the stage throwing up.  That’s a night we wont soon forget!  Lana is getting over her stage freight and can now stay up on stage without crying out DADDY, DADDY. DADDY.  Kyle can sing wonderfully and  really enjoys it but you could never tell from the look on his face.  During the whole program he had a scour look on his face because it’s no longer “cool” to smile.  I tried to get a good picture of them all dressed and ready to impress but…

   

We have been to many places where Lana has visited with the Jolly Ol’ Man himself.  Places like Opportunity Village, Ethel M, the Church Christmas Party, and even Wal-Mart.  Each Santa she visited with she told them she wanted the same thing.  Now here is where I wish I could scream this from the rooftops because it makes me look like a good mom, she told all 4 Santa’s that she wanted a book.  A BOOK, not a video game, or bike, or the latest and greatest toy, but a BOOK.  Now here is where I tell you the truth behind this.  She has given Grandma a list of things she would like from her.  Then when my parents asked her what she wanted she couldn’t come up with anything because she knew that Grandma would get her everything on her list so she needed to think of something new for them to get her.  We were over at my parents house one day organizing craft supplies using a label maker when Lana discovered this new device.  She then asked them to give her a label maker for Christmas.  Then when we went to the 4 Santa’s she was out of gift ideas so she asked for books, because you can never have too many books.  Regardless of how this came to be, Santa will be very happy to buy her books, I’m just sure of it.

   

We finally got the Christmas cards in the mail and now we can eat dinner on the table without being surrounded by cardstock, tape, sticky dots, pictures…all the CRAP STUFF craft stuff it took to make them.  Ronnie actually came up with the idea this year.  We tried to mimic the It’s A Wonderful Life DVD cover.  Incase you’re wondering, yes I made Kyle squat down.  He’s about as tall as I am!

The kids made puppets one night. 

They also got to play in snow.  They have a teacher at school that lives on Mt. Charleston and he drives a truck so when it snows he brings snow down for the kids to play with.

And at some point Lana turned into a singing elf.

 

I think she was singing…All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

Halloween Happenings

Kyle and Lana’s last day of school was Thursday since Nevada Day is Nov. 30th (Friday).  So the Halloween parties were held that day.  Middle School kids kind of get a bum deal, they get to carve pumpkins at home then bring them in for the pumpkin carving contest and if they are lucky some parents bring in snack for them to eat.  Lana’s grade had an all out party.  With me being room-mom had to plan and organize said party.  They first had to get dressed in their costume for the Halloween Parade.  Lana was a mermaid…yes people use your imagination. 

She is a very reverent child, so much so she even folded her arms during the parade.  NOT!  It was windy and cold that day.  Then they played some games and made some crafts and ate some snacks. 

Then the glorious bell rang that ended the day.

Then wicked wind had blown all the cold air away and we woke up to a beautiful day.  Ronnie was off work, the kids were out of school, so we stayed in our PJs until noon.  Then we went to a corn maze in Glendale.  I heard that you had to pay $10 per person, but when we got there they said you can just walk through it for free.  It was kind of lame, I would have been mad if we paid $40 for this. 

Lana was our leader so we would not get lost and Kyle found a friend:

 

Then we found Ron’s car from Harry Potter, we almost lost Lana to the spider:

Then we went home with our dusty dirty shoes.

The next day was Halloween.  We went to the ward Trunk or Treat.  Kyle was a hobbit and we tried to make Lana’s costume look more mermaidy, but it just wasn’t happening. 

Our trunk was decorated and we were parked next to the cutest “chicken rider” I have ever seen!

The kids came home with loads of candy, but sadly hardly any chocolate.  Jerry, I know you’ll be disappointed to hear that there wasn’t a good pile / bad pile this year.  Only once did I hear, mom my tummy hurts, so all in all it was a great Halloween.

What’s Going On In There?

Some things that have been taking up space in my brain:

                                                                                                                          My sister had her beautiful baby boy Layton.  He was born on 09/30/09, weighing in at 8lb 8oz and 21 inches long.  He has her long fingers and toes and I’m just sure he is going to be the next great piano player.  His mom might say the next great basketball star.  Words can’t express how beautiful it is to see a young woman transform into a selfless caring mom.  She is a great mom and Layton is a very lucky boy to have her to look up to. 

 

 

Sam’s Club pumpkin pies totally beat Costco pumpkin pies but Costco blueberry muffins are far superior than Sam’s Club blueberry muffins.  Why can’t all my favorites come from one place?

 

My deadline for getting my NV driver license is coming fast.  Don’t ask why I don’t have one yet.  To make things even more fun I have to get a new Social Security card since mine was stolen along with my wallet in June.  So I have to get that before I can get my license. 

 

The whole Boy Scout program totally mystifies me.  I know the Personal Progress program backward and forward, too bad Kyle had that darn Y chromosome thingy that made him ineligible for the Personal Progress program.

 

I’ve been putting together a breast cancer awareness meeting for church.  I’ve been working on it for about a month.  We found out a week ago that Ronnie’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  At first they thought she had leukemia.  Then they came back after some tests and said it looks like breast cancer that has spread to a bone.  We also had a women in our Ward that was diagnosed a week or two ago.  Coincidence?  I think not.  

 

 

I am so loving the .39 cent tacos from Taco Bell.  They taste even better when they are that cheap. 

 

                                                                                                                           The Clinique’s free gift from Macy’s this year is very cute!  It could double as a teacher gift if I were a nice person and saved it for someone else.  I’m not, I opened up my stuff as soon as I got in the car and played with the new colors.   I really love the lipstick color. 

 

 

 

My most played song on my iPod right now is In The Meantime by Spacehog.  It’s best when played loud without any kids in the car so they can’t make fun of you when you are signing.  Spacehog always reminded me of David Bowie.  Take a listen if you want:

My New Fav

Each Fall we are inundated with new TV shows to hit the airwaves.  And I have a new favorite.  I haven’t even seen a commercial for it because life has taken over and I haven’t had time to watch TV very much.  But I did see this picture on hulu and it caught my eye.

So Ronnie and I watched it.  Then we watched two more episodes that same night and it was going on 1:30am.  We were laughing so hard we woke Kyle up, but I doubt he was really asleep, probably up late reading.  We got caught up on all the episodes that night and had a wait week to see the next.  I was not even prepared for the next episode!  It was the best one yet.  It started out with this clip:

Then ended with this one:

So far my favorite episode.  It comes on Wednesday at 9pm, usually before Kyle’s in bed.  But thanks to hulu we can watch it when we want to, after the kids are in bed.  Not a show I would watch with the whole family.

Ronnie has hooked one of our computers up to the TV in the effort to rid ourselves of cable.  It seems to be working for us.  We get to pick what comes on our TV and when for free.  We also use Netflix watch instantly and a few other internet sites that have full episodes to TV shows.  He has even downloaded an iPhone and iPod app that turned them into a mouse for the computer.  So it’s like our remote control for the computer. 

A Few Sweet Things

I kind of have this thing for candy corn decorations, can you tell?

I really can’t stand the taste of candy corns but they sure are cute to look at.  Speaking of cute take a look at these two:

One blogger called them literary luminaries, but I call them CUTE.  I just made these tonight and they weren’t hard at all.  I saw them here and had to make some right away.  They are old novels just folded.  I actually made one of them while making dinner.  Well I’m not Supermom, it was Hamburger Helper so I just watched it and made sure it didn’t bubble over as I folded page after page.  Hey no judging here, there were crafts waiting to be made!  I haven’t named them yet but I’m thinking the more shapely one is a girl and the other a boy.  Jack and Jill is just too predictable…hmm.  Maybe Emerson and Christie.

Pennsylvania Part Deuce

Catching up again…

Ronnie and I had a great time in Altoona, PA.  I learned two things about people there, one – you can’t live there is you’re not a sports fanatic.  You have to own a Steelers shirt if you are going to live in Pennsylvania.  On our airplane ride home the captain updated us 4 times with the football score because the Steelers were playing.  They put a Steelers logo on anything that will stand still.

 

 

Normal everyday products for sale have the logo

They make their pizzas Steelers Pizza              I’m sure he made his mama proud with this

Second – They are big fans of putting faces on things you eat. There’s a restaurant called Kings and they are home of the Frownie.   I introduce to you the Frownie.

If you buy a pack to go it’s called a pity party.

Then they even have a dessert competition called the Angry Mob

 

Then there’s the happier side, a restaurant called Eat ‘n Park has smiles everywhere. 

Smiley Cookies

Smiley Waffles

They even try arrange the food you order into a smile when possible.  It did make me giggle, so I guess smiles are contagious. 

It’s not surprising that the Frownie originated near Pittsburgh, home of Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon, if you didn’t know, is the birthplace of the emoticon, thanks to Scott Fahlman, who started the whole sideways smiling business more than 25 years ago on the University’s Computer Science community b(ulliten)-board. He invented the frowning emoticon, too. In the same message, no less.

There reason why we went there…

To see these two get married…

and start their life together.

What I’ve been up to…

The first weekend after school started I had a baby shower at my house for my sister Sadie.

I was wondering around Michael’s Craft Store one day and came across a party in a box that was monkey themed and on clearance.   So it didn’t take me long to figure out a theme for the shower. 

We had Banana Slush Punch, Banana Pudding, Chocolate Monkey Munch (trail mix), and everyone took home some banana bread.  We also had some non monkey related food.  

 

Then I was released from my calling in Young Women’s at church and called to Enrichment Leader a few weeks before a quarterly enrichment night.  Which I was going to be out of town for.  I still needed to help out with a few things before I left and also get things planned for the next 3 months.

Then I signed up to be room mom for Lana’s class at school.  I help run a student store at school 3 days a week for a few hours at a time and figured room mom would be easy since I was already going to be there.  Boy was I wrong!  I needed to get everything organized for a family picnic, that was wasn’t even going to be there for, before I went out of town.  Talk about a major headache! 

We celebrated Ronnie’s birthday on the 10th, then my sister Lacey’s birthday on the 20th, and then Lana’s birthday on the 22nd. 

Ronnie’s birthday was easy, it was the day after Beatles RockBand came out.  So that was a no brainer!

My Sister Lacey turned 23!

Lana turned 6 and had a Flower birthday party. 

 

I wrangled my Dad and Ronnie into making a golf game for the school carnival that was supposed to be in Oct. but I think it got moved to Nov.  Well I guess we are ahead of schedule now. 

Now I’m in Altoona PA for a friend’s, Jerry’s, wedding.   Don’t even get me started on the roads here!  We totally got lost and ended up taking 4 hours to get to our hotel that should have only took 2 hours to get to.  Plus we didn’t get a toll ticket at one of the toll road booths and they charged us $26 for a .95 cent toll!  And to top it off they don’t take debit cards at the toll booths!  Luckily a guy that was in a hurry came up and helped us pay our $26 fee for not getting a ticket since we hardly carry any cash.  It’s nice to know there are still kind people out there!   On the up side we had beautiful scenery to enjoy while we were lost.

For those back in Vegas, those would be leaves changing on trees.  It really happens!

And that is my month in review for the most part.  I left out some other major things because I might get around to blogging about them more in depth one day.