Olivia writes her name!!!!

Olivia has been practicing her name with sidewalk calk. We had a afternoon of fun on the back patio enjoying this perfect weather. On Thursday she wrote her name all by herself for the first time! I am so excited for her. It is really amazing the difference between boys handwriting and girls handwriting.
Liam had a wonderful time as well with the calk and evidently it does not taste half bad either!

P.S. That cute little Quicksilver outfit on Liam was sent to us from Brett and Janet Hancock when Liam was just a newborn! Finally it fits him and perfect timing! Thanks Hancock's, he loves it.

Advent Calander.....11-20-2008

Olivia and I worked on a advent calender together on Thursday. After a long search for one I wanted and also one in my price range I decided to make our own. We used a piece of rope i had in the garage to hang baby socks on. We collected all of the Christmas socks we could find from Jalen, Olivia, and Liam, adding a few from numerous stores. The socks are hung by clothes pins that we glued a little black ribbon too. We completed the clothes pins by painting a number on each pin 1-24, we will move the little Santa from day to day as Jesus's birthday approaches. Olivia knows once the Santa gets to the 24th sock it is the night Santa will come!
Jalen was so excited when he got home from school that we had so many stockings hung. I had to explain to him what it was. When Chris came home form work he jokingly said are we adopting a few kids??? Overall Olivia and I think it turned out pretty cute and different that a regular old advent calender. Plus we can use it from year to year. The entire project cost us under $20.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Cookies and Costumes!!! only 55 days until Christmas.........

Okay I finally finished up the Halloween cookies. I made the teachers all the witch cookies....nothing at all meant by that. =) Then I did Tanya and Mike's girls school cookies. Tanya ordered 60 ghost cookies for the girls classes. What a good mom huh? Most of us sent a bag of candy! Now I am just sewing the final touches on Jalen's army jacket I got at the army surplus. They had such great patches I could not pass them up. Unfortunately the $6 glue I purchased there to hold the patches on was crap. Olivia is still up in the air on her costume. She may be Wonder Woman tomorrow or she may be a princess. Her sweet friend Elizabeth offered up one of her Disney Princess dresses for Olivia to borrow. I really hope she makes up her mind SOON. You know Olivia, she would do a costume change in the middle of trick-or-treating if you let her. Ava was over a few weeks ago and the girls did a costume run though complete with doing there own make-up. One day a soccer player one day a princess.
I love Halloween but I am getting a little Halloweened out! I already started taking down decorations tomorrow night and called the dentist to see if he is buying the candy by the pound this year.
I hope all of you have a safe, spooky and sugar filled day tomorrow!

Birthday weekend.....

I just wanted to say thanks you to all of you that made my weekend so special. All of the wonderful women from my baby board that sent me the special birthday wishes I truly appreciated it. The Garrett's, Holme's, Espinoza's, Manual, Stefanie, Jessica and Dan thanks so much for hanging out on Saturday night with us and having a few drinks. Stefanie and Jessica I loved the perfume, make-up and you can never go wrong with sugar cookies! Nana and Papa thanks for the birthday $$$, it will be spent on clothes. Mom, Dad and Noah the Ulta gift card was perfect, already spent on make-up. April and Sam Chris thanks you for the Victoria Secrets gift card, it was was too generous of you guys. Deb and Dan the Bonefish card was a great choice it is so yummy there! We saved Chris's gift card from his birthday too! We were already talking about trying to get a sitter on Friday night to go. All of the birthday cards have been awesome and made me feel so loved. Thanks again everyone for all you did to go out of your way to make my day special.

I am officially 31 and I feeling 25! I am excited to see what the next year brings me....

Whoes kids are these.... NKOTB

17 years ago I had a dream of one day seeing the the New Kids On The Block in person.....last night my dream came true. My sweet husband not only got me tickets to the concert but he ever went with me. We had great floor seats near the piano, we had no idea they were going to come out on the piano. I was literally arms reach away from them. I am pretty sure Jordan made eye contact with me twice and it was NOT an accident. The did a lot of old songs and also threw in a few new ones. They do look a lot different than on the cover of my People magazine dated back to 1991. We had such a good time and I felt so lucky I was able to be there.

Thank you Honey for the ticket's and singing right along with me. If NKOTB would have only known you back with the curls and earring you would have been in the group for sure. Your voice will always melt my heart more than Joey's!

Thank you Stefanie for coming over to watch the kids for us, without you we would have not been able to go.

Arizona Science Center 10-13-08

I decided to take the kids to the Arizona Science Center yesterday. We went ahead and picked Keziah up on the way to Phoenix, she had the day off from work. The kids had so much fun learning out there bodies, the weather, and technology. Unfortunately I lost the wheelchair race against Kez, those workout classes she has been taking have paid off! Jalen raced a kids he met there and it was pretty close, he would probably tell you he won. Olivia was so busy trying everything out and running around. Liam of course was such a good boy, he just rode in the stroller and ate his snacks. The weather simulator was very cool. You got to feel what it was like to be in a earthquake, monsoon storm, and rain. Jalen was the oly one that wanted to get wet. I would defiantly say go there is you have not had the chance it was a great experience for all.
After leaving the science center the kids begged Kez and I to take the to Poncho's on Central. We finally gave in! Liam enjoyed the re fried beans and even fed himself. Everyone was so tired by the time we dropped off poor Keziah. I hope this day out does not delay her childbearing plans any longer.

Thanks for going with us Keziah, we love you!

Day at the farm....

Today I was lucky enough to accompany Jalen's 2nd grade class to Schnepf's Farm in Queen Creek. Ms. Rolinger's class and Mrs. Tenny's class hit the road on the big yellow school bus together at 9am. The kids were pretty wound up, everyone was just so excited to be going on a field trip. Once getting to the farm we were able to get a tour of the petting zoo. The kids loved seeing the pigs, goats and cows. I am still amazed at how interesting a pile of poop is to a 8 year old. After sanitizing we got picked up for a hay ride. Mrs. Rolinger and I were hoping there would not be enough room for us on the wagon.....but the kids managed to squeeze in so we were able to ride too! Stef's class just adores her and they make sure she is with them at all times. One of Jalen's friends asked me if I could be his mom too, how funny is that? As soon as the little angles new I was Ms. Rolinger's younger sister they loved me too. One even asked if I could be his new mom....
The farmer allowed the kids to go out in the field and pick 6 radishes to take home. Some kids ate them before washing them, all of you parents out there know they would have never tried them at home. The playground was of course a hit and a great place for moms to take a break in the shade. The 2nd graders were all able to find shaded picnic tables, cool off and eat lunch.
Hot, dirty and one banana bread loaf latter Ms. Rolinger and I were ready to head back to the school. Overall is was a great day and I feel so blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom and enjoy such outings.

P.S. Thank you Nana, Mom and Papa for watching the two little ones.

My Prince is turning one!

Yes, my little baby boy is turning is turning one! Time has flown by. His party will be small with mostly family. No offense just wanted to keep the party to a minimum without going overboard! As if the word overboard is in my vocabulary right?
So on the 25th he is having a Halloween dress-up party! After a long search for Lee Lee's perfect Halloween invites, I decided I would not be happy unless I made them myself. After 3 nights of working on them and a few days of handing them out I am happy with the final results!
I took a small pumpkin and wrote his name on it, wrote all party info on the tags and attached them with raffia. I found the Martha Stewart stickers at Michael's. Have you seen her line there? She has really cute stuff and a lot of it is marked down. Always a plus in my book.
Now on to figuring out what cake(s) I am doing and cookies I am making while trying to stay within my theme!

P.S. Kez no need to email I am bringing yours over this week sometime!