holiday moods

My kids have been in the best moods lately. Every day at school is "the best day ever" and the overall mood in the house is plain old jolly! With treats to nibble on all day, a paper chain link to cut off, and freshly fallen snow who can blame them? Christmas is in the air! Even adults like me can feel it now, so it must be pretty thick. Sometimes I wish I was five again and could past time waiting for Christmas by throwing on my best dress up garb, some wings, a reflection contest medal and bounce around the house to Christmas music.  Instead I will settle for checking off my Christmas to-do list  while watching the magic of Christmas in my kids care-free lives. It makes my to-do list worth it.....every bit of it!  Speaking of that to-do list. It is pretty much done. So today I think I will be care-free for a few hours and hit the slopes with my holiday honey. It is a Christmasy thing to do! You all should try it and get your Christmas ON. 

Swiss Miss Dance

Ellie did a little ballet performance at Swiss Christmas Days.  Although the place was so packed that you could not move an inch and hot, really hot and extremely stuffy. It was fun to be at a Christmas community event, kick off the holiday Christmas season and see Ellie up on that Christmas stage doing her thing. She was counting down the days until she could wear her very beautiful ballet outfit and dance on the stage. (literally counting down like she is doing now for Christmas) Stage freight...nope she loved every minute of it!  Oh and isn't it amazing what a little mascara can do to my 5 year old. I feel like I have seen her in the future now. Shane and I have decided after looking at these pictures that she can't wear mascara or lip gloss until she is 18. 

My mom and Stephanie came up for the show. Stephanie 

bought that pretty flower for Ellie. What a nice Auntie!

Ellie with her friend Jada. How cute are they? They defiantly 

can't wear makeup and leave the house together until they are 21!

These two girls think every waking hour together just isn't quite enough. 

Ellie wishes they were sisters on a regular basis. 

Sweet moves Ellie!

lucky me

We went to Shane's Christmas work party the other night. They had a drawing for some prizes. And Shane won this beautiful Kitchen Aid mixer... so lucky me because really it's mine. I am the true winner. I am so excited!  Baking for Christmas has just become wonderful!

supersonic

Lately I have this yucky head cold thingy. Today is by far the worst.  I feel like my head just might explode.  Lucy is the only one left around to take care of me. The only problem is she is getting a case of the sickies too so she is not much help. If only her cuteness or her squeals near supersonic frequencies could heal all. That would just be lovely. Happy Holidays Everyone!

the spin park

On our totally and completely necessary road trip to southern Utah during Thanksgiving we found the coolest park. It was so innovative. Full of unusual contraptions to play on that the kids loved. Spinning seemed to be the theme, lots and lots of things to spin on. Shane would get Ellie spinning so fast on some of the contraptions that a crowd would form. The good news is she only fell on her face a couple of times due to the dizziness. Why she would insist on still spinning and spinning faster and faster I will never know. We came here about 100 times in-between activities before we left for home. I felt like they deserved it after being forced to a back of a cave. :)

no permanent damage

Are we mean parents if part of our Thanksgiving fun includes taking our kids into a cave and telling them not to be scared because inside there are only trolls, cougars, and witches bones? All the while Ellie is putting on her bravest face hugging on to Canyon telling him "Canyon we have to be brave. All it is... is regular old darkness and regular old monsters" They both claimed to not be scared but every time Shane growled they could be found clinging together like taffy to braces. We got lucky and all made it out unscathed with no sign of permanent psychological damage. Lucy was oblivious to this act of inhumanity sleeping away in the pack. So we are not really that mean. We only tease and torture the older children.

Bouldering around outside the Cave.

many many houses

Ellie has a lot of stick-to-it-ness (does that make sense?)  when it comes to doing random past times. This started at a young age. The first pastime I can remember was puzzles. When she was two she would work on puzzles for hours every day. The things she has chosen to do for hours has changed over the years. It was drawing people for a while. They easily numbered in the hundreds possibly thousands covering notebook after notebook. Then laying out outfits on her floor. Matching different pants shoes and shirts and skirts together. Sometimes she would be in her room for so long I would have to check to see if she was still alive. Then came the writing phase. We are still in full swing with this one. She gets a notebook and for a couple hours she will write words. Following me around the house asking me how to spell things. I guess she has learned to mulit-task her random pastimes.  Now along with writing words she draws houses, colors them and then cuts them out. I really should have kept a grand tally on how many so far just for fun.  This is Ellie with all her beautiful houses. She did these all in one morning. She has been on the house drawing kick for about a month now and so many many houses have been drawn.  

This house drawing lady also got  a cute new hair cut.

question

UPDATE:  I fixed my blog feed! There should officially be no more weird detours to Shabby Apple. I should have put this out there long ago.   

Thank you Steve you are pure genius!

To all the computer nerds or smartie pants bloggers out there I have a question. This has been bugging me for a while so it's high time I figured it out. Why is my blog address linked to Shabby Apple? For instance if someone has a blog feed that lists the last time a person blogs and they write my address it doesn't go to my blog it goes to Shabby Apple web-site.  So to anyone who can help me solve this mystery or just come up with a solution I would be very grateful.   Thank you!

Little Lucy Fall 2008

A couple of days ago I was below empty. The fumes got me to the gas station.  I filled it up to the brim and the grand total was  doot....do.....do... $36.50.  It was AWESOME!  A road trip to celebrate is totally and completely necessary.  

Rice Crispies

Sequence of Events

1. Feeding Lucy rice crispies on my lap on a sunny morning, listening to music, ellie drawing houses near by. My morning was good!

2. Gigantic sneeze comes out of no where. (Lucy is on my lap facing me eating rice crispies)

3. About 10 rice crispies stick on my face

4. Ellie is hysterical, on the floor, laughing so hard she can't breath which causes Lucy to bust into her fake laugh that she is rather good at.

5. I give them both the...this is not funny, did that just really happen, blank stare (trying not to laugh). Even though I wasn't ready to admit it right then. It was really funny.

6. This makes Ellie laugh even harder and Lucys says "RRR..... EEE" which I am convinced meant sorry.

7. Then she picked them off my face and ate them, while I laid their still in semi-shock (it was quite relaxing).

8. Ellie continued to laugh at me for the rest of the day saying "Remeber when".

9. Lucy gave me about 100 kisses, hugs and high fives that day and she was quickly forgiven.....my day was good.

the fort

When we built our house we decided to build Canyon a fort bed thingy. In the middle of construction we realized we could take it to the next level (literally). Why not? So the three level fort was born.

LEVEL 1. The little hide out under his bed.
This is where video parties regularly take place, neighborhood Mario Kart tournaments are held and where Canyon and Ellie sleep side by side EVERY weekend night.

LEVEL 2. This is where his "real" bed is.
This real bed also is conveniently used as a place to test out new tricks from the third level and a helpful means to get to the third level. It is also commonly known to be a house, store, hospital, cage what ever their little imaginations strum up.

LEVEL 3. The Secret club.
This area is where meetings are held secret plans are strategized. Where Lego projects are built, snack stations are set up and where the web-kins and other animal friends reside. A reading corner is even up there....so they claim. (we have no trees big enough for a tree house sad enough...so can you blame them?)

So what is there not to love? Well....where should I start. Dirty Scuffed up walls, Popcorn seeds from all those video parties tucked in those hard to get to places in the hide out. Constant pleas from two siblings who want to sleep in the little hide out EVERY night (are weekends not enough?). A bed that is NEVER properly made. Sheets that are no stranger to the dirt and grime of multiple children making their way up to LEVEL 3, not to mention the crumbs that find their way from the snack station to the "real" beds sheets on a way to regular of basis. Then there is the secret club. This place truly is a secret because I rarely make my way up to LEVEL 3 to check it out. I would like to think that they take some pride in their clubhouse and it remains in at least an 8 year old standard of cleanliness (is that so much to ask?) Yet I know the harsh reality. There are times it can't look pretty up there. There have been moments of time that I have wanted to tear the 3 level fort down, pretend it was never born and create a traditional bedroom free from the downsides listed above. In the end I suppose the benefits outweigh the negatives and so the fort remains. It probably will for sometime due to the fact that Ellie already has big, I mean gigantic plans. As soon as Canyon out grows the fort bedroom it is all hers and she knows it.

the morning dance

As of lately, our morning routine has been set in stone.
1. Breakfast
2. Music
3. Dance till you can't dance no more
I think Ellie has been dreaming of this day since Lucy's birth. The day when all her wise training on what it takes to be a true lady would pay off. The day when Lucy would be her best girl friend. The day she would be spinning and dancing on every square foot of our house, with Lucy right by her side, while she blasts the song Connected off Barbie and the Diamond Castle. (louder than I ever thought possible). This dreamy long awaited day has arrived .....it has arrived.

p.s. I have heard the song Connected so many times it is slowly growing on me or has brain washed me I'm not sure which.

happy face

This happy face has to be one of my favorite things.
I am already missing the fall colors behind that happy face. boo hoo!

flush it

I thought we had lucked out! I thought Lucy had skipped right by the toddler toilet fascination. She just never found it intriguing.....until now. I heard her humming around in the bathroom today, happy as could be (I guess Polly in the Potty produces extreme happiness). It could have been worse. Polly was spared from the dreaded flush and pet bunny survived. This little miss thinks she is so funny now that she knows how to flush. I don't think it's that funny but today she learned to snort like a pig and that really is funny.

little spooks

My little spooks 2008
A very indecisive Ellie finally settled on a ROCKSTAR
A very committed Canyon has gotten comfortable with being a VAMPIRE (this is his third year in his 8 short years of life)
A very cute Lucy was given the opportunity to be the recycled BAT ( Ellie's old costume)

Canyon "Mom I have green teeth this year so I look totally different"


Ellie " I am so excited to trick o treat my stomach is tickling me"

Lucy " Everyone keeps calling me a boy in this bat costume... I want to go home"

Lucy got mad that everyone kept calling her a boy while trick o treating. She refused go to another door and let it happen again. She sat in the middle of the street with her legs wrapped around her black bucket eating her loot. The night was over for her. She high tailed it home with her four pieces of candy. I thought the necklace and the black fingernail polish would make her a cute little girl bat.....guess not.

The kids and their favorite trick o treating side kicks.

The trick o treating ended but the night was still young. We had places to go. Shane was a old school Rapper and I was a witch. I don't know why but I didn't get any pics and Shane was lookin pretty sweet. I would say almost identical to Run D. M.C. Everyone looked so good but I would have to say that our friend Brandon stole the show being Rod Kimball from the movie Hot Rod. It was the greatest! I laughed so hard especially passing him on the highway riding his scooter on the way to the event. He had the works the stash the scooter and best of all the stunts! If you need to see just how uncanny the resemblance is click here.

Thanks for the fun party Ali. We had so much fun!

I can do it

A few days ago Ellie came inside and told me she wanted to learn to do a back flip on the trampoline. I told her as soon as I finished the dishes I would come help her learn how to do one. In no time flat (literally 2 minutes) she was back inside informing me with a proud smile that she did not need my help any more and that she knew how to do one now. Canyon was behind her reinforcing that everything she said was true. So outside I went. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was definitely not this. ummmmm....gymnastic lessons?

sunday drive

lovely lovely day...

wee!

Lucy loves slides. She calls them Wee. I guess it is because that is what she says on her way down. You would think a very big, tall,dark, black tube slide might be kind of intimidating for a little lady her size....nope. With her eyes fixed on the prize, finger pointed, lightening speed steps, and the sound of wee wee wee wee I knew she had a plan in mind. Yep.... non-stop slide rounds were inevitable. She loved it every time.

Recycle

We have been talking about starting recycling in our house for a while. Canyon has been on our case and lecturing us for quite some time. For some reason it just took me forever to go get the needed bins( I don't know why... really it's not hard). Finally I got the recycle bins and when I got home Canyon was the first to be informed (phew...finally the lectures will end). I told him I finally got some recycle bins. He said "no way" and wanted to see the bins for himself. When his eyes gazed at the proof he got a big smile on his face and said " Yay...this means our family is not going to trash the world anymore" (what? for real you just said that...is what I was thinking) So there you have it. We will not be trashing the world anymore. Leave it to an eight year old to put you in your environmental place.

we'll meet you half way

Around our house "we are meeting dad half way" are favorite words for six little ears. It might just be because half way is one of our favorite past time places. Or maybe it's because half way and some kind of yummy treat are very connected (treats make everything better right?). But mostly I think it's because we know it means we get to spend some good quality time with our favorite guy. Right now time together is a hot commodity because he has been putting in extra hours in the work world. :( Sometimes when we meet up half way he brings a surprise. This time it was......





***Canyon and Ellie are getting so excited to use this lift for snowier times. Miss Ellie will be giving her skis a rest and strapping on a board part-time this year...Yeah!***

afternoon conversation

Me: So you guys probably don't get to see each other at school very much. (they are on different playgrounds)
Canyon: Yeah we do. I see her all the time.
Me: When?
Canyon: Every time I go to the bathroom or recess I peek inside her classroom to make sure she is doing okay.
Me: Really?
Ellie: Yeah he always peeks through the window and smiles at me. He will always protect me.
Canyon: Yep, I will.

Lucky Girl

the hip rider on her own terms

Lucy has always been an avid hip rider. My hip, for her, a perfect fit. Her favorite place to be. Ever since this walking thing has happened she has been a little torn about her favorite place. For instance a few weeks ago we went on a little hike and my little hip rider wanted full emancipation from her beloved hip. She really wanted to be free to roam, free to splash, free to get soaking wet, free to trip and fall on her face. I on the other hand, had other ideas like returning home with a dry, warm, unharmed toddler.

She was very determined to be free.

Finally we came to a compromise.......a dress leash.

happy day

And so the hip cycle continues. When I need and really want some alone time for my a hip she cant get enough. And when danger lurks close by (river, street, ect.) she wants the hip far, far away. I think we need to work on compromising some more. This could last a while.