Phew....

Well, I finished. It was fun while it lasted. The funniest comment I got on this whole thing was my mom's: I told her Thanksgiving night that I had to hurry and post before midnight (it was like 11:30 at the time). When she asked why I explained it to her and said I could win a prize....and all I could think of was the first listed prize, a no-sew fleece blanket*. She waited a few beats and said "Emily, I could have just given you a blanket." Well obviously she missed the point entirely.

* There are cooler prizes than a fleece blanket though I'm not holding my breath because there are like 15 prizes and like 15 million participants.

My Brain is Turning to Mush: Fairy tale edition

So I'm reading Samantha some stories and I realize that I don't just let my brain wander to dark and dumb places with TV shows-it extends to her stories as well. Like:

Really, what difference does it make if the wolf convinced her to go off the path to collect wildflowers. That isn't what got her granny killed, it was TALKING TO A WOLF that did it. Never give strangers, wolfish or otherwise, your granny's address. So the whole moral to that story (listen to your mother!) is moot.

Why did the wolf go to all that trouble to trick her with the flower-collecting anyways? I think that as a self-respecting wolf he should have found out the info on Gram, eaten Little Red and then gone and chowed on Grandma.

But I do like the authenticity of the riding cap. Any mother of a preschooler knows that a little kid is going to find something they like and then not take it off for the next 398402984 days.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel-let down your long hair. I can't enjoy that story because all I am thinking about are the years and years of intense psycho-therapy Rapunzel is going to need because of the witch. I hate to say it-but do you think something was wrong with the prince? Rapunzel had to be kind of backwards after all those years in the tower, right? I wonder if their relationship ends up being self-destructive and co-dependent.

And how 'bout the Three Little Pigs. I personally think it's just one big indictment of the housing industry bursting it's bubble. Wolf=foreclosure. Enough said.

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

I was too busy moaning about Black Friday to talk about our actual Thanksgiving. It was very fun. We made actually too much food, I don't know what I was thinking but I was just so nervous about having people over that I over-did it. It was good though and everyone had a good time. I loved having my family here. It was too short-they're already gone!

My cute dad with my cute kids.

Sleeping off the turkey

And her too

The grown-up table

Tommy's favorite part-the pie

I thought this was such a cute photo-she's so darling! And she loved the sweet potatoes.

And me being a dweeb.

It's finally here!

The Christmas Season!!! I am so happy. Now I get real mail in the mailbox. I can put up Christmas trees! Christmas music on all the stations and in all the stores (and on my blog-sorry if you don't like blog music but I HAVE to do it at Christmas time!!). Packages, ribbons, bows! Giving goodies to neighbors! Getting goodies (sometimes :)). Yay! The Grinch! The Gift of the Magi! Charlie Brown's Christmas! The Christmas Story! Waiting inappropriately long hours to have my kids scream upon meeting Santa. Oh I love this season.

Black Friday

I'm not even going this year, which makes this my second Black-Friday free year. I might be losing my touch. But maybe I just wasn't impressed enough with the sales to wake up at 4:00 AM. Good luck to all those who do go!

Finished with Tommy's Room!

After "planning" for months (which didn't involve planning, just thinking about what I wanted) and two consecutive weekends we are done with Tommy's room. Yay!

I went with Nautical-which in my mind means grown up enough that I don't have to change it until we move or he's 12, whatever comes first.

Sorry the pictures are so, so terrible. It was late and he was sleeping and I don't know much about cameras.

Full View

The border

And the requisite vinyl saying. "I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship." Louisa May Alcott.

New Mooooooooooooon

There are three general groups of people when it comes to the Twilight series.

1. People who loooooove it

2. People who absolutely loathe it

3. And people who enjoy it for the guilty pleasure it is but won't be buying Team Edward/Team Jacob shirts any time soon.

I'm firmly ensconced in the third group. I wanted to go to the movie as a fun girls night out more than I actually enjoy the movies. And I did last night (and boy am I tired today).

So as any self-respecting member of the female race/blogosphere I have to put in my two cents:

Kristen Stewart makes me feel nauseated (as did her depression scene -I actually had to look away from the screen I was getting so sick/dizzy from the camera work).

WAY better cinematography than the first movie

Could they have made Edward any uglier in Italy? I really don't think so. How are you supposed to root for him after something like that?

And I'm too old for this but OH MY GOSH JACOB'S ABS!

And lastly, go read this parody because it's just so funny. Even if you haven't seen the movie but have read the books-I think you'll appreciate it.

Mrs. Clean

It's day 1 of my pre-Thanksgiving cleaning blitz. I'm starting with the stuff that won't get dirty as fast (dusting, wiping down bedrooms/stairwells, dejunking bedrooms, etc.) Unfortunately those are also the things that leave no discernible trace of me doing anything. I pick up as I go but the actual "deep" cleaning shows nothing. Tomorrow is the kitchen and all three bathrooms so I'll feel better after those.

P.S. With three pairs of grubby little hands stairwells can get really, really dirty.

Primary Program-SO CUTE!

This is Samantha, and she's part of an eternal family

You know there are some things I looked REALLY forward to before becoming a parent. I'm sure that it's the same for all parents and yet different in terms of what they're looking forward to. It might be coaching a team, or them playing an instrument or whatever. One of the things I wanted was a child in a primary program. And today my dream came true. And further bonus life-long dream: having the loudest most boisterous singer up there! I've really arrived! And FURTHER bonus: she got to sing in a duet of "Jesus once was a little child" and it was so stinkin' cute" She sang loudly, she e-nun-ci-ated big time! In fact she was so loud that the girl singing the duet with her put her hands over her ears for a second-the congregation actually laughed out loud. What a doll.

And here it is, just for you.

Request a sidebar, your honor!

Do you know what my favorite part of my blog is? It's the sidebar stuff. I love my sidebar and incidentally, I love other people's sidebars too. If I read your blog I can guarantee that I've read what you have and that I check it periodically to see if you've added a new button, your kid has said something new and funny, etc. I think the sidebar says a lot about you like:

How long or little you've been blogging

What your interests are

What you find funny or poignant

What kind of websites you spend your time browsing

Whether you think less is more

or More is more

How technically proficient you are if you can have 2 sides of sidebars!

And so on

Do you read side-bars? Do you like mine? I know some people enjoy my kids stuff, specifically the stuff by Samantha because I've had people comment on the blog and in person. Have you ever read my feature quote, my movie "review"? I won't care/be offended if the answer is no, it's my blog and I'll include what makes me happy. I'm just interested in these kind of things. Look, I've even included a poll for you to take on the subject.

Flashback Fridays: Jump Houses

Hey, I can still do Flashback Fridays if I want, even if it's been a while! Back in Virginia, we had a bounce house place down the street. And there were two more fairly close. They were pay for 2 hours, jump on all the bounce houses/slides you wanted. Boy do I miss them. I've heard tell that there is one nearby but by nearby people mean closer than Phoenix.

But the main point of this post is not bounce houses, it's that I miss having things to do. In CA, VA and even UT there were things to do. Especially with and for kids.

Beaches, mountains, Historical sites galore in Virginia. Restaurants (and not just chains) and museums. I miss all that. Here it's an hour drive to Phoenix and there's still not that much to do even there. So you say "Arizona is for the out-doorsy" Well, I'm not outdoorsy and even if I were, the outdoors that are worth going to are more than 2 hours away. If I sound negative, well I feel a little negative. I would love to be proven wrong-if you're a local I would love to hear about things to do. But not swimming. The difference between a bounce house/museum/etc. and swimming is that I don't have to carry 2343 things in a bag and get my kids in special clothes and diapers only to forget the sunscreen and then have extra laundry for a week.

Wooo-obviously I need to go to bed and try to be happier tomorrow.

I still do this occasionally

I still do coupons, I don't know if I'm more discriminating about deals, or if they're just not as appealing to me lately but I've lessened the things I buy. Here are my last two weeks though

I can't remember the original price vs. my price but the cereals were only .97 cents each and the Ragu was only .58 cents each. I'm pretty sure the deodorant was only .50 or a dollar.

The batteries were only .88 each and the crackers were only .99 cents each.

And by the way-I know that non-couponers are shocked by my cost of 30 dollars a month in newspapers (as I used to be) but I paid for the whole years worth in 3 1/2 months-pretty good huh?

Nothing New Today

So I have nothing to say. I'm half-way done with this blog posting challenge and it's been 98% fun. I hope my 10 1/2 readers have had fun too. None of you are sick of me yet right? (Do NOT answer that question except to deny, deny, deny)

C is for Cupcake

It was my turn for Tommy's preschool again this week. I was doing my own thing for a few weeks when a friend in the ward invited me to be a part of a co-op. We're using the same website as I did for Samantha back in the day. I was excited to have the two weeks in every three off but I actually have to do cool stuff now and like, plan. We got started a little later than regular schools so we're on week three.

So my letter was "C." Among other things, we made cupcakes, they were a hit.

Tommy, Emma, Nate

P.S. Thanks to the unified consensus of the commenters, as well as my mother/husband's opinions I am going to -in the words of my mother-take the money and run (see below)

Moral Dilemma - weigh in.

So I went to Kohls today with my 10 dollars in Kohls cash and my 20% coupon in the mail. I bought two matching tree skirts for my living room. They were already 50% off too-bonus! So I should get them for 24.99 each minus 10 dollars and then 20% off. Everybody following so far? The total rings up for 13.01 and I think it's really low but Tommy is throwing fits. I'm not very good at math so it takes me 10 feet or so to realize that it's way too low so I look at the receipt-he only charged me for one. Of course I go back and explain the situation to him. He says "Merry Christmas, don't worry about it! You look like you need a break anyway" (Remember how I always look like I need help )

I was very thankful and sweet back but....I still feel guilty. Should I go re-explain the situation to customer service and insist they take my money dang-it, or just be grateful? Am I morally vacuous for not having the answer at my fingertips or is my lifetimes worth of engrained guilt making a simple thing complicated? Which is it? YOU tell me.

It's November, Let's talk about gratitude already!

It's Sunday, it's been a good weekend. I'm in a grateful mood. These are some things I'm grateful for today specifically:

1. How cold it is outside-brrrr and yay! I love that it's not in the 80's :) It's actually 59 degrees right now-awesome

2. To go along with that-hot showers. It's one of my favorite things in this world for it to be cold outside and to take a hot shower. Not too many opportunities here so I love it when it happens.

3. That I get to be in Young Womens. It's just so fun to get to be with the youth, they are funny and at such an impressionable and important stage-I love it.

4. Visiting Teachers: They invited me and their other teachee to dinner tonight, is that not the most awesome thing you've ever heard of or what?!?

5. Sitting in Tommy's newly painted room (more pictures to come on that topic when it's fully decorated)

6. That the dog training classes I'm taking already seem to be helping immensely

And of course:

7. Eliza the sweetheart

8. Tommy the riot

9. Samantha the generally awesome (who already seems to be coming out of previously mentioned phase)

10. And my true love Tom

Yay for November, blessings and gratitude

My Weapons of Mass Destruction

The images you are about to see might be so horrifying that you need to look away, but you should know that I clean/pick up every day...so don't judge

Every.single.game got taken out and scattered

There wasn't a good enough shot to show how messy the games thing was but believe me, it took a long time to sort it out.

Eliza took all the foam curlers and spread them throughout the whole stairs.

Just the general room mess

And not to leave the downstairs out.

Maybe you'd ask yourself how I let this happen. The games happened while I checked my email, the curlers while I showered, and the downstairs mess while I was cleaning the kitchen. I'm sure someday my house will stay clean...right...right?

Under the Wire

I had a blog post planned but our main computer (the one with our pictures) isn't working at all. So I'm going to go back to watching Firefly re-runs.

My Brain is Turning to Mush

A few quick facts for you before you read this post: 1. My mom used to do/say the same things so I come by this honestly 2. I used to be smart.

My kids basically watch two genres of shows: PBS and Disney Movies. And so they are in the background when I am trying to get stuff done. While I am half listening to them I find myself thinking about and analyzing them. Things like:

*Professor Wiseman (originally a man in the book series) and the Man with the Yellow Hat are totally seeing each other (special birthday presents, dinner dates, come ON!)

*The Man in the Yellow Hat probably wants to marry her but she's too focused on her career for a real relationship

*That explains why he keeps that dreadful monkey around-it's a surrogate child because he can feel his biological clock ticking.

*And speaking of parents-who the heck are Steve's (or maybe it's Bill-I can't tell them apart?!?) The boy so obviously needs a father figure.

The super-readers just bother me from beginning to end but my pressing question is WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS? I am all for kids finding out the answer for themselves but honestly. Do we really need 20 minutes of Goldilocks and the Three bears for Whyatt to figure out that he should say sorry to his brother for messing up his room? Common sense anyone?

But their dance moves are awesome

And Arthur....why are some people aardvarks/dogs/monkeys/bunnies/whatever and some people are still humans? What's that about?

And why if Muffy's dad is a used car salesman does everything about them scream "old money?"

But I'm not alone, check out this blog for more mommy brain mush

AND Samantha

The last two blog posts have been about Tommy and Eliza so I better work my favorite little 4 year old in. And she is my favorite 4 year old but boy oh boy has she been pushing my buttons lately. I have a mommy theory that one or more of your children have to be going through a "phase" (read: never-ending tortuous chunk of time that makes you want to scream and hide) at all times so that you don't get complacent. But rather than expound on these things that are driving me crazy I'm going to accentuate the positive and come up with 5 things that I love about Samantha right now. I would do 10, but you know...

1. She is extremely inquisitive and interested in everything. I was driving home on the freeways yesterday and she was like "are we to the 303, because right now we are on the 202" Not only was she right about where we were she was right about what direction that the other freeway was in. I was amazed.

2. She is trying. She says her prayers, she talks about what she learns at church, she takes the scriptures to heart and talks about what Heavenly Father wants her to do. Today she actually refrained from hitting her brother (and he probably deserved it-though obviously we can't condone it) and she definitely was drawing on a higher power.

3. She is learning to read and loves to do so. I have been working with her and she absolutely loves to "rhyme it out"

4. She's singing a duet for the primary program in a couple of weeks and takes each and every opportunity to practice. She sings in the car and in the bath. She asks everyone if they want to hear it. I'm not sure there will be anyone who hasn't heard it by the time it comes around.

5. She's just my baby, what else could I want really?

Hi, y'all! This is Tom -- Emily is letting me be a guest writer today, so I thought I would post about something near and dear to my heart: my son's sleeping habits. Every night we put our kids to bed about 8:00 PM. Samantha and Eliza are little angels and just go to sleep (Samantha might read for a little while). Tommy, however, refuses. Every night, he stays in his room for about 3 minutes and then wanders out. Sometimes he just stays upstairs, but usually he'll come downstairs where Emily and I are. We encourage him to go back to bed, and sometimes even carry him there. Invariably, though, he comes back out. Eventually he falls asleep somewhere -- last night it was sprawled on the floor at the bottom of the stairs; tonight I'm pretty sure he fell asleep leaning on our office chair by the computer. Finally, we get him in bed. But it's not over yet. Tommy will often wake up two or three times in the night and come into our bedroom -- so I wake up and look over to see this little person standing right beside the bed, not making any noise. After putting him back in bed a few times, he usually stays -- until about 5:30 AM when he wakes up. I don't think he's slept past 6 in weeks. Honestly, I don't know how he goes on such little sleep. Maybe he's getting ready in case he has to pull any all-nighters for preschool. Anyway, I better get to bed myself -- Tommy will be in to wake me up soon!

Eliza Lou

Eliza had her 1 year check-up today. Try, for my sake, to ignore the fact that she's 14 months. She jumped from 75th percentile to 90 percentile for weight (25 lbs). The doctor thought that was just fine since it was in proportion to her massive 90th percentile height. I think she was just trying to be like her big siblings

Oh, and the poor thing got five shots. Ouch

That it's true....

Ah, Sundays. I love Sundays. Even though my kids make my head hurt with their Sacrament meeting antics I love feeling happy, peaceful and energized while I'm there. I always come away with the feeling that even though I'm not perfect and that I have a lot to work on that I can work on things and do better and progress. I know that I belong to the true church. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves me. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I'm grateful for the scriptures because I find truth in them and can find guidance for living. I'm so happy to be part of it all. It makes me feel great. That's my testimony.

One Person's Junk.....

Is pretty much another person's junk too. I had a garage sale today. We did it with some friends in the ward. We'd been planning on it for a long time and then realized that our general window of weekends included our subdivision's "community yard sale" so the traffic would be greater. So it worked out and I had fun.

I'm interested to find out how she did but we made 69 dollars. Not so hot, but you know-it's better than having that stuff around still. I've also managed to unload most of the rest of it through freecycle. Now I'm going to try to sell two last things on ebay/craigslist (that were probably priced too high for a garage sale)

She is not for sale!

See that big white thing-it's my wedding dress. So far the reactions are about split between utter shock and vague support for my decision. I'm not planning on wearing it again and I KNOW Samantha/Eliza won't want it....so no big deal right? That's the one I'm going to try to sell elsewhere. And Tom's extra Window's 7....for $100-any takers anyone? (it's selling for 120 in stores...)

And then from the $69 we earned you can subtract 10 dollars for a donut run and this super find at someone else's sale. A train table with all the tracks/cars/stores/etc. for 15 bucks!!! That's about the cheapest Santa present I've ever come up with (for Tommy obviously) Woo-hoo for me.

Missing Miss Delee

So in Virginia I had this friend named Delee. And we are friend soul-mates :). After not seeing her for a year and a half (since we moved to AZ) she came to visit!!!! It was so, so much fun. We had her over for dinner Wednesday night-that was super fun. Samantha actually remembered Jaxson really well. He's younger than her and didn't quite remember as well but they got along great and Tommy found a new buddy as well. And we played games of course, it's tradition!

Thursday she came down again and spent all day hanging out at my house. We talked about doing something but ultimately decided we wanted to talk and talk some more. For example, we talk about:

Kids, kids, kids

Being parents to kids

Our plans to have more kids

That thing that leads to kids

Food

Finances

How cool we are

This is a picture of us then (almost 3 years ago).

This is a picture of us now. NOT the most flattering picture but it was like midnight at this point and we had a long day having fun.

And this is a picture of the guys. Ah, some things never change.

Today we drove up to see her at the hotel and go swimming. Then they came down and the adults went out to dinner while the kiddies stayed home with a babysitter. They slept here for awhile while the adults played more games and Delee helped with my garage sale stuff (I officially can't have a garage sale without her).

These are the best friends then: (Not quite 2 years)

And here they are now, and they've grown! She's added Ehlana, I've had Eliza (Who wasn't even there, she was sleeping).

I think we'll always be friends. I was nervous because we both stink big time at keeping in touch but it pretty much felt like nothing had changed-we were still friends. It was so fun to have her come. Maybe in another 2 years I can go to Washington?

Oh My Craftiness

We had our "Super Saturday" (Thursday) craft night tonight. Look at my cute little Christmas decorations. It was fun-I like these kind of Enrichments Relief Society Meetings.

In the month of November....

I just thought I'd mention that I decided to participate in National Bloggers month. (Amanda-just remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery). You can read about it at www.nablopomo.com. Basically it is a post a day for the month of November. I doubt very much that I have enough to say, but I'm going to say it anyway :). And you know, leave comments anyway!!

Voting!

I voted today and it was about 20 minutes before the polls closed. I was number 24 for that district. How about that?

But in much more important news (not even close-but I have more fun with it). This is my official favorite in Dancing with the Stars. I feel like I should like Aaron Carter more, but no-I like the 55 year old. What's happening to me?!?