Aloha!

Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to be in Hawaii when it's snowing at home? Well, it is! My poor brother (Ryan) is STILL sitting on his plane -- on the ground -- in Portland trying to get here. He was supposed to leave PDX at 8:50 this morning, it's now almost 12 hours later and he's still waiting. Poor kid. Meanwhile, today was our first day of sun here. The last few days have been overcast, but still nice and warm. We have spent a lot of time at the beach and it was kind of nice not having to worry too much about the kids getting sunburned. Today we woke up to sun and everyone (Ben) wanted to go to the beach ASAP to get the most of his tanning experience. For those of you who don't know this about Ben, he's got magical skin that tans beautifully and if it burns, the next day it fades into a dark brown glow. I do not have this magical gift. I was cursed with pasty pale skin that does not tan, only burns. When my burn starts to heal, it peels and I look like a leper. Yeah, it's rad. Anyway, I'm super jealous of Ben because his skin looks so nice and I look like a giant lobster with funny lines. I thought about taking a picture of my awesome sunburn lines, but to get the full effect, you'd have to see me naked. Don't worry, I won't make you do that. Just know that I look and feel pretty ridiculous.

Christmas Decorations

We love decorating for Christmas at our house. It's kind of a big deal. We have been known to decorate BEFORE Thanksgiving in years past, but this year we held out for a few days and didn't decorate until the Sunday following Thanksgiving. That's a long time to wait for us. We pretty much transform the whole house. I haven't actually counted, but I think there are only 5 or 6 things in my house that AREN'T specifically Christmas or Winter themed -- that includes house plants and family pictures. Anyway, I thought I'd share some pictures of our house for those of you that I don't get to see this holiday season. Merry Christmas everyone!

My Finger

Okay, here's the story: My dad loves tacos. It's his favorite food in the world, so today at work, they had a taco party for lunch. Everyone was supposed to bring something. Ben was assigned guacamole and ketchup. I make a killer guacamole. He left for basketball after the kids went to bed and I decided to get started making it. I was dumb and cut off the side of my finger whilst chopping jalapenos. It hurt like the devil and didn't stop bleeding until the next day, but I'm feeling much better. Several people have asked me what it looks like. I have it all bandaged up and I'm not about to take it all apart whenever someone wants to see it, so I took a picture of it when I was changing bandages. So, if you get grossed out easily, don't look!














It was bleeding A LOT last night and throbbing terribly, so I had to sleep with my finger elevated. Ben got me all set up :-) I know, I LOOK comfortable, but I didn't sleep well and woke up with my hand totally numb and a kink in my neck. By the way, I'm not crying, I was just making my "I'm in pain" face.

You want to know what's really awkward? I got a paper cut later today on the same hand and got onion juices in the cut! The universe hates me! Oh, and just so you know, I managed to find the severed chunk of flesh before it ended up in the guacamole.

Greatest Christmas Ever!

Can I tell you all how excited I am for Christmas this year? First of all, I love Christmas every year, but how much more fun is it when you get to escape the winter rains and go to HAWAII!?!?!?! That was the big gift from my parents this year. My parents, brothers, sister-in-law, husband,and my kids are all going! I kinda wish I had a little more notice so I would have been more motivated to exercise and get rid of the last little bit of baby fat, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. Besides, it's not like I'm going to see anyone I know there. My plan is to spend the entire week on the beach. I want to come home warmed through to the core, bottle up some sunshine in my soul, and make everyone jealous that I have a tan in the middle of winter. Of course, my tan will only last for 3 or 4 days, so by the time I see any of you, it'll be gone, but the peeling that is sure to follow will make you less jealous of me. :-) So, thanks again Mom and Dad and a special "Happy Birthday" shout out to my dad. We love you, thanks for everything, hopefully your party tonight will be even better because of the delicious German Chocolate Cake I made for you (from scratch).

p.s. If you want to see something funny, go to David & Sara's blog (link on the left) and watch the video of Sara finding out about the Hawaii trip. She's never been and she has always wanted to go. I love this video! It makes me laugh every time!

Yay for new pictures!!

Ben's dad took some great pictures of the kids while they were here for Thanksgiving. I don't have time to delve into details right now, but just to sum up:
The food was delicious.
The company was wonderful.
The kids behaved (mostly).
I saw Twilight (again) and Quantum of Solace thanks to built in babysitters.
Now my house is covered in Christmas decorations.

The Candy Trail

Oh my gosh, this was so funny. At least they were keeping the baby company!

Uncle Ryan's Purple House

Yes, that's right, my brother lives in a purple house -- with navy blue trim, might I add -- and we got to visit him a couple weekends ago. He has a few chickens and he somehow convinced them that my kids were safe and they climbed aboard. It was so funny to see my children covered in chickens! Tyler loved it, but Nicole said that the chickens couldn't get on her hair because she's three. I know, her logic is astounding. They even got to get the eggs and Nicole was just sure that a baby chick was going to hatch at any second. Thanks for letting us visit and hold the chickens, Uncle Ryan.





On a much more negative note, I need to vent. Here are some things I'm getting really sick of:
-my baby biting me while trying my best to breastfeed her.
-the bleeding that goes along with the biting.
-my kids whining over every little thing that isn't perfect in their lives.
-my eye being red.
-my "spare tire" refusing to deflate.
-folding laundry.
-fighting with my kids to eat food that they asked me to make.
-making 4 different things for breakfast every single day of my life.(my kids have a hot breakfast almost every morning. Sometimes Nicole is okay with Cheerios, but we usually have eggs, hash browns, waffles, sausage/bacon/ham, pancakes, toast etc. but they can never agree so I make everyone something different)
-picking up toys all day and all night.
-not sleeping through the night. (I've been averaging about 6 hours a night and I need 8 or 9 to function properly, I really do best with about 10.)
and finally...
-caring way too much about what people think of me.

Lucky 7 Tag

Just so you know, this is the first time I've EVER been tagged on one of these things.
7 Things I can do:
1. Make a really super delicious German Chocolate Cake
2. Digital scrapbooking
3. Drink more chocolate milk than anyone else I know.
4. Make my own spinach fettuccine Alfredo from scratch (even the pasta)
5. Blow a bubble the size of my head.
6. Knit AND crochet
7. Make flowers grow.
7 Things I cannot do:
1. Enjoy pregnancy.
2. Run more than 1/4 mile without wanting to die.
3. Watch an entire football game.
4. Hold/touch/look at/think about snakes.
5. Mow the lawn.
6. Eat chicken skin (so completely disgusting, I feel sick just thinking about it)
7. Sew. At all. Maybe a button, but that's it.
7 Things that attracted me to Ben:
1. He made me feel pretty even when I clearly looked like I just woke up.
2. He brought me muffins when I was sick.
3. He makes the greatest cookies on the planet.
4. He makes me feel like I'm funny, even though he's usually laughing AT me, not WITH me.
5. He said he would be okay moving to Washington.
6. He's the world's most easy-going guy.
7. He makes me laugh every day, even if he has to run into a wall or slam his finger in a door to do it.
7 Things I say most often:
1. Shhhhh!!! (when the baby is asleep)
2. You need to share with your brother/sister.
3. Just a minute.
4. I'll give you a dollar if you.... (this usually involves me being lazy and not wanting to get up to do something like move laundry or get a drink.)
5. AND... (inside joke, don't ask)
6. Anyways...
7. What was I talking about? Hmm. I forgot.
7 Celebrity Admirations:
Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about most celebrities, so I'm going to skip this one.
7 Favorite foods:
1. Spaghetti.
2. BBQ meatballs
3. Fettuccine Alfredo
4. Parmesan Halibut
5. California Rolls
6. Nachos with extra Guacamole
7. Cake with Extra frosting.
7 People to tag:
1. Kim
2. Nancy
3. Rena
4. Alicia
5. Janelle
6. Amber
7. Sara

Earrings and Super-heroes are going GREEN

Yes, I finally did it. I told myself I had to wait until she was at least 6 months old and we reached that mark. Tori has earrings!! She was very brave. We went to the mall yesterday and I held her head still and she only cried for a total of maybe 10 seconds. They don't seem to bother her at all. She hasn't tried to grab them or anything. She even slept through the night! Maybe I should have done this sooner.

Secondly, Tyler still loves wearing his Spiderman costume all day long. He understands that he can only wear it at home because we can't get his seatbelt on with all those huge muscles. But as soon as he gets home, he wants to be Spiderman. Anyway, he told me yesterday that Spiderman likes to chase bad guys. I told him that was right and he said, "And when he catches the bad guys, he goes like this..." and then he pretended to throw a squash at the 'bad guys'. I said, "I thought Spiderman throws spider webs." He said, "All the spider webs are all gone, so now Spiderman uses this." I guess super-heroes have to think on the fly and use what's available. I thought it was cute that he's throwing squash instead of bombs or knives or guns or grenades or even rocks. I'm not sure Tyler will ever catch a bad guy using a squash, but I think the world would be a better place if we replaced guns with produce.

Halloween & Jumping in the leaves

Okay, this is going to be short and sweet. Ben made the most delicious coconut cake last night (he used real coconuts and everything!) and now I have a bunch of work to do before I'll let myself have a slice, so I'm just going to post some pictures of the kids in their costumes and some fun we had jumping in the leaves yesterday. Tori thought the leaves were great, until one fell on her. She wasn't too thrilled about that.


For some reason the picture of Tyler won't rotate, so just turn your head. He loved the leaves more than anyone. He didn't come inside until it started raining.




Oh yeah! I forgot! Ben and my dad built a mantle over our fireplace last weekend. It looks so good! Thanks Ben, I know it was a lot of work, but I love it. You're the best.

Uh Wow. That's All I'm Going To Say About This.

Okay, that and this is way more than mildly disturbing.

My genetic defects

Yes, it's true. I'm defective. What's worse is that I passed it along to my children.

Nicole's toes aren't as bad as the other two, so maybe she has a chance of normalcy.
Hopefully they'll be such great swimmers that no one will make fun of them for it.

Neutrality Day

On the radio this morning I heard someone say that it was National Neutrality Day. I haven't seen anything else to say that it is or isn't, but it got me thinking. They had people calling in to talk about what they are completely neutral about. Here's some of the things I really don't have any opinion about:
French fries vs. Steak fries
Fishnet tights
Clear nail polish
Ponchos
Organic anything
Caesar salad
Wool socks
Japanese vs. American Cars
The color Green
Nintendo vs. PlayStation vs. any other video game system
Honeydew Melon
Yearly check-ups at the doctor (for me, not the kids - that's a must)
Gloves vs. Mittens
Refried beans with Nachos
Homeschooling
Hamsters
Turkey on Thanksgiving
and...
what brand of paper towels I use.
So, if you know me at all, you probably know that I am not a terribly opinionated person. There are a few things that I am very opinionated and passionate about and I'll defend them to the death, but for the most part, I could go either way with stuff. If you don't know me that well, now you know me a little better. :-)

I smell like chickens

We went to the pumpkin patch today and spent a lot of time by the chickens. I didn't come near them, but I swear, I can still smell them. Chickens stink. Speaking of stinking, the pictures I took at the pumpkin patch really sucked. Here's some of my favorite bad shots.



There's also a few shots that turned out pretty well. They were so cute. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed having an afternoon out in the sun.

Twilight Party

If you want to see Twilight opening day (November 21) with a bunch of friends, please let me know! My mom is going to rent a whole theater at Cinetopia and have everyone we know there! I think it will be fun to see a movie and know most of the people in the theater. Anyway, it's in the Living Room at Cinetopia and that means lots of leg room, huge comfortable chairs with ottomans and gourmet popcorn. Tickets are $14.25 and I know that sounds like a lot for a movie, but that includes soda and popcorn, so it's really about the same as any other movie. So, if you want to come with us, please let me know so that I can reserve a ticket for you. Hope to see you there!!!!

The Wall is Complete!

For those of you who have been to my house, you may have noticed that I have pictures of my kids with very dirty faces above the high chair. I love these pictures! Now that Tori is eating solid food, I thought it was about time to add her to the "wall of fame". She is such a neat eater! I NEVER use a bib when I feed her because she doesn't spit her food out! Sometimes I put a bib on her after she eats because she likes to spit up, but even that is getting better. So I fed her and then I just gave her the tub of food and the spoon. Now I have a picture of her with a messy face to add to my collection. Here are the pictures of my children (Tyler has carrots on his face, Nicole was eating licorice, and Tori had apples & blueberry baby food).



In other news, Tori got her first tooth! We are very excited. I feel horrible saying this because I know I should be enjoying every day of her baby-hood, but I am so glad she's getting bigger. Soon she'll be crawling and can do a few things for herself. I think she'll be happier then. (I certainly HOPE she'll be happier, I guess only time will tell...)