More on being Thankful

I forgot to tell you about this tradition we do every year.

The matriarch (Grandma) passes out three little pieces of un-popped popcorn to each person.  Then a jar is passed around, each peep drops their popcorn in as they say what they're thankful for.

My kids answers this year:

Gary--Family, Emmy & Lilly, a house and basketball

Emmy--My family, my school, and my friends

Lilly--My family, my food and Disneyland.

Personally, I think Lilly's rocks the socks! Not only does she love the happiest place on earth, she is so going to the beat of her own drum.  My three year old is the most independent thinker in the fam.  Good or no so good? you decide ;)

Theeeeen, on Sunday for the Birthday girl...

Lilly had told Emmy she'd get her a present, a specific one in fact...luckily, I found out and picked up a littlest pet shop set (that stuff is not cheap!).  

Gary helped Lilly wrap it (they have some mad wrapping skillz)...Lilly ran out yelling, "Emmy I got you a..."

luckily Gary can run fast too and caught her before she could tell...granted, Lilly proceeded to whisper the upcoming present continually.  It was quite entertaining!

So thankful for the little things.

Today is Gary's first basketball game--hooray! Go Falcons!

Weekend of Celebrating!

Here at this swim house we had a bizzzzzeee weekend!  I hope your Thanksgiving was really great.

On Wednesday, my lovely ladies had their feast, complete with turkey tunes sung by the 3-6 set.  You could just die at the cuteness.

On Thursday we did the unthinkable!  We didn't cook! We didn't eat Turkey!  Nope my folks ordered a prime rib dinner from Safeway.  It was ex.cell.ent!  I did make these. And like she says--they are awesomesauce! (I'm eating the last one right now!)

Then yesterday is the big day of celebrating around these parts...we cooked a turkey finally, but way mucho more important is Emmy, my Birdie, turned one whole hand!  Yep, somehow she is now five! 5! Yikes!  

She wanted to decorate her own cake and of course LB helped (I cannot guarantee the prior whereabouts of those sprinkles).

We had a small family party at home--like we were going to go anywhere when we had royalty around hehehe

 I seriously am amazed she is five!

 I tried to tell her she has to be 4 for two years and she laughed that one off.  So then I cam at another angle..."You know Emmy, when you're 5 you have to get a job" Again with the laughter!  Her reply "Mommy, I have a job, I go to school!" Man oh man, is she a smarty farty.  Adore that kid!

 Adore all these little peeps that call me mom. 

 They really are the greatest!

Oh and since I know you're wondering--I survived triumphed on Black Friday and got the kiddos a giant trampoline-with an enclosure!  Let's hope my neuroses don't get the best of me and I let the kids enjoy knocking themselves around and hopefully wear themselves out... 

Hope your weekend was as blessed as mine was!

Makin' Stuff: Turkey Cupcakes!

I went to Zumba today. Oh how I love Zumba! The teacher at the Y is awesomesauce! She rawks!  I felt so energized (and wooo-ooorked out) after class. 

I had promised to take the ladies to the store for cookies. Add those two factors together and waddaya get?

Turkey cupcakes--Duh!

Not that it had anything to do with the ladies having a feast at their school tomorrow and my unnecessary, neurotic pressure on myself to make something groovy to take...

can you guess which egg bean destroyed with her bare hands cracked?

the girls love to 'help' in the kitchen, but

they hate to wait (side note: do you remember that ad campaign from the 80s?  My grandpa was hilarious and would always draw on those ads and send them to me)

we hhaaaaadd to sample after the bath

I had found this idea on the ever awesome pinterest, there they were made with candy eyes, but I just used gel food coloring that I already had, easy peasy!

I couldn't find candy corn in the store anymore (also from the pinspiration) so I used reese's pieces.  They were cute, but didn't stick in the oreos very well...

 Also, I think it works better on larger cupcakes, some of the smaller ones fell apart--boo

I think they came out darn cute!  Although, someone did ask me if they were chickens?!  Yikes!

 I guess they are both birds? 

Happy almost Turkey Day!!! May you be blessed and surrounded by those special to you!

Manic Monday

Today isn't really awful. just sorta blarghy

I am making this for dinner--right now it doesn't look to be going very well...

I am hoping to fit in a workout at the Y, even though there are three loads of laundry full on yelling at me to be folded.

Do you ever feel like your life is getting in the way of your dreams?  I'm so tired and busy, that I can't really get anything I want to get done done.

Perhaps that 7 habits book should be on my Xmas list?  Speaking of Xmas, I must have 700 or maybe just 7 windows open with Black Friday ads open.  Trying to compare prices with Amazon is making me tired.  Do you shop on Black Friday?  I used to be all about it, but last year I was in a 'working-toward-single' funk and this year is a post 'big D' funk maybe?  who knows...

We had our church thanksgiving yesterday--lots of peeps, not enough stuffing or pie!  I like to think of the turkey as merely a vehicle for the side dishes. My fav?  sweet potato anything.

Now can I blame these blahs on the tryptophan in the turkey?

 I just love her joy focused or not--it's SO her :)

Picture Day!

Remember how great picture was day at school? Some guy with greased hair and a cheesey tie telling you to tip your chin, tilt your head,  and now grin?  Ugh...

Really though, I love school pictures...of my brood at least...

Today is that smiling day for the ladies (G$ had his earlier this year).  

The school requested the kids wear 'fall colors' -um ok...I don't really like the dressing requests. As we've talked about, I often put serious thought into what my kidlets are wearing and don't care for parameters.  Alas, my need for them to look cute is well balanced with my desire for them to fit in, so we chose a brown sparkly dress for Bean and a red dress for Birdie. 

 

I had to run so my mama took some pre-pics for me...her distaste for taking pics fits right in with the ladies' distaste for having their pics taken (really I am related to all of them...)

see how they stare down love the camera

bribery begins...

candy has been promised...

The next two just make me chuckle... 

apparently here, Em is saying how great it is that her nose is red from her cold so it 'matches her dress' lol

<3

They really are such sweet sisters!

I'll have to share the pics when they finally come in...Happy Hump Day to you!

Overheard...

This week we had an eye doctor appointment, a dentist appointment, trick-or-treating and good ol' fashioned playtime...

Emmy was NOT happy about the vision check-up...Lilly said to her, "don't worry Emmy, I'll be with you the whole time" 

In true form, Lilly was NOT happy about the tooth action...Emmy said, "it's ok Lil, I'll hold your hand while we're there"

collective awwwwwww

The girls were playing and from the kitchen I hear one say to the other--"oooh look, you tied him up Reee-aaallll good!"

The response? "I know!"

sooooo funny they are!

Gary made his JV basketball team this year--here's hoping for a great season!  It's going to be busy around these parts.  Can you believe how close we are to the holiday season!?

I received my first photo book in the mail--swoooooon!  I know peeps have been getting them for years, somehow I'm behind the trend...It is so awesomesuace, I may be gifting books to everyone this year! 

That and I'm already missing Disneyland...silly I know :)

Keeping up with the blogses and the eye doc

First thought--It is so hard to stay on top of blogging...

Almost as hard as the shoulder stance in yoga...I went to yoga tonight...yowza--it's way hard than it looks, or maybe it's just me? are you a yogi?

Two blind pumpkins!

We talked about the little ladies going to the eye doctor the other day...and she told us...wait for it...to come back in six months...yeehaw!

On our fun to do list then will be to see if Bean has lazy eye and to see how Em's stigmatism in both, yes both, eyes is doing...

Here's a fun fact for ya--I had lazy eye as a kid!  Booyah!  Got to wear a patch and everything for a few months to make the weak eye stronger!  I beeee-leeeeved I was a pirate!  beee-leeeeved it peeps!  I loved that patch...

Now you have to feel a little bad for me, because...while I make an effort to purchase cahuuute clothes for my children, I was not so lucky.  

My folks were so busy going to school and working (and probably being broke) that I was not the cute-patoot of the pre-school class.  and I had no hair (less than Bean!) and it was the 70s!  I never had a chance!

 What more can I say but arrrrrrrgh!

So funny...

thought I'd show you a sweetie pie outfit and what does iPhoto pull up? 

Yah she's my kid...

The Halloween that almost wasn't

Who schedules an eye doctor appointment the afternoon of a candy-filled holiday?  Why this guy right here does!  Such smarts I tell ya!

Really, it had to do with boring things like squeezing it in before the month end, because a certain other person was letting the insurance lapse--but we won't go there, shall we...

Anywho, fast forward past frustration, to getting home after a looooooonnnggg wait, can't someone come up with eye drops that dilate those lil eye balls faster than 30 minutes?

Both of my lovelies were zonked out, and I mean out!  um hello, don't you know it's candy time?!  nothing doing...

after singing and dancing around like a mad woman and even wondering if there were smelling salts in the house...I managed to get them upright, not anywhere near in the right mood though...I think Bean decided to be Snow White, post apple eating...

 Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure

the poison has just started to work here

oooh look, she's taken the bait...

Did you seriously just feed me a bad apple?!

muahahahaha it is my plan to get all the candy!

haha just kidding, your powers won't work on me!

Although having to wait to go trick-or-treating will make me very angry...

these bags shall be filled!

We had a great time.  And sososo many trick or treaters!  I even had some grown men, with no kid, no costume, at the door...I felt like saying, next year you need to at least get yourself a fake baby! 

 Happy November!

Happy Halloweeeeeen!

Wow this year is going fast!

I missed the girls' party at school so I can't wait to see them in their costumes tonight.  

Emmy's First Halloween

Sometimes I feel so bogged down with my 'career' and like what to blog about when I'm working?  Can it really be interesting?  Hmmmm, one of the 'talent' did get really upset with me, to the point where he wanted to get me 'fired' hahaha, he didn't like that I held the purse strings. That and a haaauuuuge lack of sleep defined my work week.  

First Halloween candy--she was MAD when I took it away

I also got to spend some time with one of my favorite peeps in the whole wide world while I was gone, so that made up for missing the kiddies.

LB's first Halloween--can you tell how much she loved her costume?

We get a lotlotlot of trick or treaters.  I love all the costumes.  There's plenty of kids not even dressed up, but heck they need their sugar fix too right?  Actually this year I'm not doing candy, I have toy treats instead.  

Happy day before dia de los muertos to you!