The Party's Over . . .

PHEW!

It's funny how the party seemed to last forevvvvvvvvvver, but as soon as everyone was gone, I was wishing they were all back again. I admit the kids were a handful, but it was so much fun! I can't believe what a good time we had. I'm seriously wishing we could do it all again today.

The theme was "luau" but that was mainly just because we wanted everyone to wear their swimsuits. We did it outside and had a whole water thing going on. The biggest hit was the Bonzai slide of course. I was surprised at who liked the slide and who didn't. Two of the boys wanted nothing to do with it, but little tiny Hannah and shy little Ashley loooooved it. In fact, all of the girls loved it. There was smaller pool, too, which the kids warmed up in -- the water in there warmed up all day, while the water on the slide was always new and a little chilly. And we also did a slip n' slide, which was hysterical to watch. Preschoolers do not get how to do a slip n' slide. I had a bunch of games planned -- some of which were hits and others were not. For instance, the water balloon toss -- not such a great game. The balloons rarely made it past one throw, and there was waaaaaaay too much bickering over what color balloon they got. Duck Duck Goose on the other hand -- bit hit. Although sometimes the chase would be all over the yard, around the slide and through the circle, but hey, whatever keeps them occupied. We did squirt guns, tatoos, leis, blow up beach balls, cake, presents. . . it was the never ending party. Soooooooo much fun!

Shortly after cake and presents the parents all showed up. YEAY! I had told a couple of moms that they could bring their older kids back for a couple of turns down the slide once everyone left, so the party continued on until 5:30. Two moms even decided to go down the slide fully dressed. So basically, we had a FABULOUS time. . .until about 7.

After everyone left we got McD's and noticed that Nate wasn't eating and was burning up. Sure enough the poor kid ended up throwing up 3 times before we took him to Urgent Care. Turns out he has a massive ear infection and the fever was causing him to throw up. I'll save you all the fun middle of the night details, but we're happy to say he isn't throwing up anymore this morning and his fever is down. In fact, we all slept in until 8:40 this morning! So of course Ellie was late for school. When I dropped her off one of the boys yelled, "HEY ELLIE! Remember when I went to that party at your house? That was AWESOME!"

It was totally worth it. :)

Happy (late) Easter

We hope everyone had a great Easter. We started off the weekend with an egg hunt on Friday for all the kids in play group. Jacque did the BEST job. She had a little easter egg craft for them to do while the moms hid eggs, pin the tail on the bunny and she even made rice crispie treats in the shape of egg baskets with little jelly beans. Dang that girl is cute! Nate found Ellie's easter basket and kept himself busy for the next half hour emptying all of the contents of her basket into his mouth.

Friday night Dustin and I went to see "Much Ado about Nothing." We like to get a little culture in every now and then ;p

Saturday was just busy. Ellie had a birthday party in the morning, so I ran down to visit a friend in the hospital. When we got home, Dustin took Ellie swimming while Nate and I did some cleaning and then we had friends over for dinner. We *were* going to dye easter eggs, but after thinking it over, decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

Sunday morning we did the whole egg hunt thing. Ellie had so much fun. Then I *tried* to get pictures of the kids. Once again, they totally would not co-operate. I know it's really sunny out, but OPEN YOUR EYES!!! Nate had an adorable little vest to go with his outfit, but it was just too stinking hot to stick him in it. I tried to curl Ellie's hair (like a princess), but of course it all fell out. Ellie was the star of Primary (I was subbing for an older class). She got to say the prayer, help with Sharing time AND she was the spotlight. Lucky little girl.

Then for easter dinner we headed over to Floyd and Karen's. It was fun to be with family. Lola was there and of course brought MORE candy for my kids, and then there was another egg hunt. WAAAAY too much candy in this house right now. But I'm slowly chipping away at it ;). The kids ran around and we played cards. Not a bad way to spend Easter.

And that was our official weekend!

Ellie says

This conversation happened yesterday, about an hour after lunch -- which Ellie couldn't finish because she was "*soooooooooo* full" and "ate too much."

"Mom, do you know what my tumach says?"
"No Ellie, what does your stomach say?"
"My tumach says, 'I'm hungry'."
"Hey Ellie, do you know what my stomach says?"
"What?"
"My stomach says, 'You just ate lunch, so no more food, but I love you'."
"Moooooooooom, tumach's don't say that. They're just tumachs! They're either so so full or hungry. They don't love anybody."

I'm back

Well, only time will tell if I'm really back! Buuuuut, I am trying to get on this computer more often now. I've missed my e-mail and shopping on-line!

The holidays were crazy and it just seemed like one thing after another. I promised once we got back from Tennessee (which was really fun by the way) that things would settle down and we'd get back into the swing of things. Well, they didn't! They got crazier! The kids seems to be continually sick, we had all sorts of overlapping plans, baby showers, play dates, parties and then we were asked to teach a class at Youth Conference which shortly became all time consuming. But now it's April and things have since settled down. I can't complain though! I'd rather be busy than bored.

Ellie's birthday is coming up. The countdown is on -- 2 weeks. She is really excited about her Hula party -- I wish I could say the same. Planning it is so much fun, but the idea of entertaining eleven 3, 4, and 5 year olds is a little scary. This is the first "drop them off and leave them" year. It is also the last BIG party year. Next year I'm only letting her have 4 friends.

OK, now I'll give you the rundown of the photos.
1. Lola -- my sister who I adore dearly. She babysits my kids for free, brings her computer over every weekend with a virus, and keeps me entertained. The picture above is her FABULOUS hairdo. After a practical joke went awry, I spent all day one Friday running her from hair dresser to hairdresser so we could get her bangs ot look like bangs. I actually think it makes her look much older now. And I think Jill did a great job. I also think my sister is going to kill me for showing this picture.

2. Superman -- We got Nate these really adorable (and cheesey) super hero PJs -- one is superman and one is spiderman. They were a STEAL! So then we get them home and we're about to dress Nate in the spiderman ones and Ellie starts putting on the pants. So we can't figure out how Ellie could possibly fit in the pants. We then look at the tags and the shirt is 4T and the bottoms are 5T. No wonder they were cheap! Superman luckily is the right size.

3. The cape. I just think it's so cheesy that it's cute. Plus you can see some of my pillows Mer made for me.

4. Ellie doing her "Nastics." She started Gymnastics a few weeks ago and loves it. This is her version of a head stand. I just think she likes any excuse to wear a pink ballerina outfit. She's taking it with one of her friends and they have matching outfits. The mom and I take turns carpooling so everyone thinks the girls are twins.

5. Ellie's wild hair. Ellie's big thing now is that she will not let me flat iron her hair. She wants it to be wild because princesses have curly hair. The other day I was doing it and she kept telling me she wanted it in diamonds like Brianna's. After avout 5 minutes of frustration, I finally figured out that meant a braid.

You can also see Nate! I do have a son afterall. He's just as adorable as always.

OK, so hopefully I'll be around here more often -- Easter is coming up, so I can't promise anything. M-

My New Year's Resolution. . .

is to blog less. Looks like I'm doing a good job of it. I actually do mean to get on here more often but it has been sheer craziness getting back into everything. I've been working on a huge scrapping project that isn't going to get finished in time, planning a baby shower, helping friends move (jerks -- who moves back to Utah?), doing Girl school, teaching Art lessons, having play dates, making cards, putting together a Ward Party, nursing two sick children, and dealing with Dustin's back. If you don't know, after a visit to the ER Dustin is now on a lower back cocktail of percocet, neurontin, flexoril and Ibuprofen. His L4 and L5 are jutting out 8 mm. Tomorrow he gets the cortizone shot, so cross your fingers it will relieve some of the pain.

But other than that, we're just as happy and busy as always. In less than 2 weeks, we're headed off to Tennesse to see Dustin's older brother and his family. I am going to be so happy to get away, although I'm not sure about the cold. I posted the only two pictures I've taken since Christmas -- I kept getting weird messages on my phone from Grandparents demanding pictures. One is the perfect picture of Ellie -- crazy. And the other is of Nate and his first buddy Jackson. They get together and hang out while the bigger kids are off at school. They spend most of their time spreading germs to each other or fighting over the phone, but it's a start!

Don't expect to hear from me for another month ;)

Christmas Morning

Ahh, nothing beats sleeping in until 7:30 and waking up to happy kids on Christmas morning. We seriously had the best Christmas. The kids were adorable and loved each and every gift. It took us well over an hour to get through them all, but I cherished every minute.

The kids looked adorable in the their PJs from Santa and as you can see, Santa did manage to bring Ellie both a Sleeping Beauty Barbie AND an Ariel barbie. Although, getting the Ariel barbie resulted in me going to every Target in the East Valley and being suckered into carrying $300 of tools through Home Depot and scanning them through the self check-out lane. But that's a story for another day. . .

Enjoy our SCADS of Christmas pictures! :)

Just like last year, we had to beg Ellie to open more presents. Both of the kids were perfectly happy with what was in their stockings. I think Nate would have sat there all day running his cars over the carpet making his little "vrrrooooooooom," noise. And Ellie would have been in heaven if all she had gotten was barbies.

Nate seriously would have been happy getting boxes for Christmas. He was so cute wandering all over the house carrying presents and laughing. He would go from box to box lifting them. Then he'd go back and play with one of his trucks for a minute or two. He kept himself pretty well occupied while Ellie did all of the unwrapping for him.

One of the "big" presents we got Ellie this year. We gave Santa credit for all of the toys we got them for the back yard, but we wanted credit for the kitchen. Little stinker keeps telling everyone that Santa got it for her though. I keep trying to explain that it's from mommy and daddy, but I'm pretty sure she thinks all of her toys were Santa.

I seriously could have eaten Nate on Christmas morning. He was laughing so hard. I'm not sure he understood what was going on, but he was high on a Christmas spirit. I couldn't believe how much fun he was. Great Grandma, Beaney and Dave sent the kids Book of Mormon Story board books. They are so cute. We took them to Church on Christmas day and Ellie loved them.

I'm glad I didn't open them on early even though Kristine was prodding me to. It was so nice to have a little present from my Grandma under the tree. Even though she passed away a few weeks ago, it was neat to have a little part of her there with us on Christmas.

Nate loves all of his toys. He got a lot of cute stuff and I think he's just happy to have things that are just his (try telling that to Ellie). He was seriously giddy anytime he got to open a present. Then he would just hold the box and walk around.

This particular bath toy is from his cousins in Tennessee. He loves it you guys!

Ellie got quite a few nightgowns for Christmas, but the one from Grandma and Papa Walkem is her favorite. It is "sooooooo beauitful" that I had a hard time convincing her that it was for sleeping in and not a dress up dress. As a compromise, it hangs on a hanger on the dress-up rack in her closet, but we still wear it to bed. I also had to convince her to take the robe off when she sleeps. The second she wakes up, she puts it back on.

Sweet Nate. Still perfectly content to just hold a present. Even if it is for his sister.

Our house is now over run with Barbies. Ellie got SIX barbies for Christmas -- Ariel and Sleeping Beauty (which you've heard about multiple times by now), a "n"ermaid barbie from Fairytopia, Cinderella and two "Highnesses" barbies from Barbie's Pegasus movie. To say she was thrilled would be an understatement.

She also got a matching Cinderella dress up dress as a hand-me down from a friend. But I still wrapped it and put it under the tree for Christmas. Moms can do whatever they want.

Ahhhhhhhh, Princess Alexa. A gift from Ellie's cousin Alex Anne. She's actually much cooler than you would guess from looking at her. She makes these really adorble noises, and you can even burp her. Ellie absolutely loves her, and Nate tries to steal her whenever possible. He has an obsession with babies (maybe because they are smaller than he is), so he thinks Princess Alexa is pretty neat.

However, on more than one of ocassion, we've gone in search of Nate only to find it is Princess Alexa making the noises.

We've played with every toy every day since Christmas. My one rule is that I will only do Bella Ballerina once a day though. It is far more work for me than it is for Ellie. She's so darn cute when she does it, though, so it's totally worth it.

I'm starting to think I'm going to be forced to add one more activity to our schedule and put her into dance.

Please not how graceful she looks though. You'd never know she was one of the clumsiest children on earth (I can only blame myself -- Dustin was never called Maddy Boom Boom as a child).

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was so much fun -- for most of us. Poor Tanner ate a glass prnament shortly before the festivities began, so he and Hans ended up in the ER until 7:30 at night. We had soup in bread bowls and the weather was warm enough (80 degrees) for the girls to eat outside. The only dowfall of them eating outside: we're not sure if they ate anything, leaving way too much room in their bellies for sugary treats.

Tasha prepared a little Nativity story and we put the nativity costumes I sewed to good use (well, I should probably give a lot of the credit to Joyce for helping me sew them). Ellie was Mary, Ashley was Joseph, Abby and Dustin were shepards, Tasha, Tony and Papa Rogers were the Wisemen and I made an appearance as the angel. It was pretty stinking cute.

Michelle brought sugar cookies and sprinkles and Cheryl made frosting so the girls could decorate cookies to leave for Santa. Although, I think Santa wasn't quite sure if he should eat them or not, seeing how often the girls licked their knoves and stuck them back in the frosting.

After that, they went back into Ellie's room and played. The doorbell rang and there was a loud HO HO HO so the girls ran to the front door to find pajamas from Santa. They all changed into them and looked so darn adorable. Dustin looked incredibly cool in his blue moose pajamas. I'll have to wait for Tony to get back from Utah to get pictures of all that. :)

I seriously thought Ellie would just crash after everyone left. Grandma and Papa Rogers had been in town for a few days, she hadn't had a nap since Tuesday, and she had quite the exciting evening. However, by the time everyone left it was well after 8 and the exhaustion had turned into a sugar rush. That girl stayed up until well after 9 pm singing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs.

We still managed to drag out all the presents and climb into bed ourselves by 10 pm. Plus the kids didn't even wake up after 7:30 the next morning. I plan on cherishing one of the last years we'll be so lucky.

In other news!

Nate is FINALLY wearing shoes. After months of struggling with the little turd to get him to wear his shoes, he has finally shown an interest. The other night we hear him grunting down the hall. Turns out he is trying to put on Ellie's dress up shoes. So after laughing at cute it is, I finally remember that this is the kid who cries anytime he sees me nearing him with shoes. I ran and got his shoes out of the closet and sure enough, he wore them around the house all night.

Of course the next day we were out in the backyard with them on and he tripped and face planted into the cement pavers. OUCH! Obviously he needs some more practice. It also explains the lovely red scab on his nose in all of the Christmas photos.

Santa Claus

The whole Santa coming to pre-school thing went well, thankfully. I'd been telling Ellie that not every Santa she sees is the real thing and that Santa doesn't give into commericalism for the last few weeks. I think the abundance of Santas really takes away the magic of Christmas. It also gets me out waiting in line at the mall or any of those other hokey Christmas traditions we force upon our children.

Then last week I get a letter from Ellie's Pre-school teacher saying that Santa would be coming to visit. Immediately the panic set in. Would Ellie announce that it wasn't the real Santa? Would she tell him that Santa doesn't give in to commercialism? I was nervous! So this morning, I started prepping her for what would happen.

Me: Ellie, I heard there might be a special visitor today at school.
Ellie: Who is it?
Me: Maybe Santa Claus will come.
Ellie: No, Santa only comes on Christmas.
Me: But he might make a special appearance today.
Ellie: No, he's coming in two weeks.
Me: Actually, it's only one week now.
Ellie: Nooooooooo, it's two weeks.
And then I decided just to drop it because she was getting upset with me and I hadn't finished her hair.

Luckily, the whole thing went perfectly! WHEW! Santa came in and Ellie was the first kid to run up and sit in his lap. She smiled and told him what she wanted for Christmas: 2 barbies -- a Sleeping Beauty barbie (check) and an Ariel barbie (uhhhh, not checked, I hope Target isn't out of them). Then he gave her a little bell and told her to ring it every time she did soemthing good. Isn't that too cute? I think I'm going to force her to wear the bell forever, because I've already gotten a few good deeds out of her.

After the visit with Santa, she did come and ask me if it was the real Santa or the fake Santa. I told her it was the real one. What other choice did I have?? It made her so stinking happy. Totally worth the hoopla. Nate also got a chance to sit on his lap. I was surprised he wasn't scared.

I am getting so excited for Christmas. Ellie has Girl School tomorrow, so I have to run and do last minute shopping and then we'll be ready to go!

Gluttony

And so it begins. . . the holiday season. Thanksgiving was pretty bad, but no where near as bad as Christmas is going to be. For friend gifts this year, I gave out rolls of wrapping paper with an ornament tied on. Mainly because I didn't want to contribute to the never ending supply of treats that seem to appear around Christmas -- although I fully appreciate the sweets.

It started off fine. A cute decorative snowman that now sits on the piano and a bundle of candles with an ornament and a cute scripture, but slowly the food started pouring in. Some homemade fudge, peanut brittle, then came the loaves of poppy seed bread. I left town in time to miss the dessert bars (they must have been good because Dustin and the kids didn't leave any for me), but came back just in time to hit the mother load.

Starting at about 6 last night, our door bell rang all night long. Homemade salsa, sugar cookies, fudge, caramel, some sort of marshmallow concotion, an assortment of dip mixes, a tin of chocolate covered cookies, hot cocoa and marshmallows, and cups full of chocolate covered pretzels. All part of what I like to call, "Holiday Gluttony."

They are now sitting on my kitchen counter, beckoning to me everytime I walk in there -- reminding me of how little I have worked out this month. They also remind me of how blessed I am. Here I am, thousands of miles away from family, and I have so many people who love and care about me and my family. We are so blessed.

I was reminded this weekend that there are only two things you get to take with you when you leave this world -- your testimony, and the relationships you have with others. As Christmas approaches, I am so lucky to have both. A wonderful testimony of Christ that has only grown as I've followed the prophets challenge to finish the Book of Mormon, and an incredible amount of people who I love and rely on. I am so blessed with an amazing family and thoughtful friends. I truly hope that everyone will be able to feel the same joy this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!

Catch up

I did it! I figures out how to get the pictures from my camera to my computer all by myself. And it was actually really easy. I'm brilliant!!!!!!!

Anyway, here is a little recap of what has been going on here over the last month. Sort of a random collection of pictures I downloaded today. Well, a random collection from the ones I didn't delete. Went I was looking through them on the computer, I noticed a large chunk of pictures (say 10-15) that Ellie had taken of the TV set while she was watching Mulan the other day. How did kids get so smart? It took me forever to figure out how to use a digital camera, yet now my daughter can get a stool, get mommy's camera down from it's hiding place, open it, take some pictures, close it back up and put it back where she found it?? That's clever.

It's a good thing we live in AZ

That is the face of trouble. Little girls can be so devious when left to their own devices. Today Ellie had a little buddy over for the afternoon. They played so sweetly inside until they asked in their most polite way if they could go outside and swing. So we all headed outside for awhile until the phone rang. I ran inside to get it and left the door open so I could hear the girls play. The enitre phone conversation, I can hear little squeals and giggles, so I figure all is well. Yeah, not so much. When I got off the phone, I see two dripping wet girls running around in the sprinklers out back! (They used to go off at 1 pm, I guess no one told me they had been switched to 3)

All I can say is, it's a good thing they are so stinking cute and it's a really good thing we live where it's nice enough outside in December to get a little wet. But I did make them strip and come inside and get some dry clothes on. After I made them pose for pictures.

We put our tree up. . .

and more proof that Nate is a cuddle ho. Seriously, that kid will cuddle anything. I'm not even kidding. He's cuddled water bottles before. When he's tired, anything will do -- a napkin, paper, a cell phone and now we can add out tree skirt to the list.

Nate's new face

I know every child goes through this stage, but it's just so much funnier and cuter when it is your own child. Nate has finally decided to "pose" for pictures. Niiiiiiiiiiice! For the next 5 months, every picture I take of him will have that horrible pained expression. Good thing he's so stinking cute!!!

Have I ever mentioned that I love to use exclamaton points?

Ellie's Thanksgiving Party

I remember teaching school and loving this time of year (and of course being totally overwhelmed at the same time). It is just party after party. So of course, Ellie is having a ball. All November they practiced songs and the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we got to hear them. Welllllll, we got to hear Ms. Becky sing them and the kids kind of mumble along. Of course I video taped the whole thing. One day the kids will watch the video and wonder why thei rmom taped that jumk, but I loooooooove it!

They had a Thanksgiving Feast before hand. The Thursday before the feast, Ellie came home with a slip of paper that read, "Ellie has volunteered to bring apple juice and cups." Volunteered?? I can just see the planning meeting now. "Ellie, what would you like to bring?" I'm surprised she didn't say candy if she was "volunteering." So then I ask my girlfriend who brought Ellie home what her little girl had volunteered to bring. Apparently Ashely volunteered to bring mashed potatoes. Ha ha ha!!!!!! I got apple juice and cups and poor Tasha was up the night before making mashed potatoes. I also feel badly for the moms whose children "volunteered" to bring stuffing and pies. :)

Nate and I got haircuts

Just a cute picture of sweet Nate after we buzzed his hair off. It makes him look so much older. And you notice his sweet brown eyes so much better. I'm not sure if you can see any difference in my hair. I just got a few inches chopped off. And according to a certain person who reads this blog. . .Ellie and I have the exact same hairstyle. I think she would be pleased to hear that today we both have pig tails in.

OK, Ellie will obly ever do chores for someone else. Or maybe she thinks hanging out on the hood of a car is cool. My sister hates touching paper towels and of course that was all I had to offer her when she needed to clean of her windshield. So tricky girl that she is talks Ellie into doing it. I'm sure her little plan back fired though since there was no way a 3 year was going to be able to clean all of those bug guts off of her windows.

The yard

We finally got our backyard done! I looooooove it. It of course no longer looks like this. We now have a swing and children's toys littered all over. But it doesn't matter. As you can see from an earlier picture, the kids are already putting it to good use. And my house is staying so much cleaner.

Christmas

I was reading the Ensign this morning and I loved reading, "The Real Christmas" which is from a devotional given by President Howard W. Hunter in 1972. I thought I'd come on and share some of the quotes I loved the most.

"The real Christmas comes to him who has taken Christ into his life as a moving, dynamic, vitalizing force. The real spirit of Christmas lies in the life and mission of the Master.

. . .

'It consits of a willingness to forget what you have done for others and to remember what others have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you to think of your duties in the middle distance and your chance to do good and aid your fellow-men in the foreground -- to see that your fellow-men are just as good as you, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts -- to close your book of grievances against the universe, and look about you for a place to sow a few seeds of happiness and go your way unobserved.'

"If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees -- alone or with loved ones -- give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that his Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve him and keep his commandments. He will take you by the hand and his promises will be kept."

Getting my Christmas Cards done

If you know me at all, then you know that I've had my christmas cards done since October. We're talking envelopes addressed and everything (but not stamped in case they raise the price of stamps). I've just been sitting around waiting to take a picture to put in them. So FINALLY, my sweet and awesome friend Shanna agreed to take some photos of us. The poor girl did not know what she was getting in for.

I don't think anyone should have to take pictures of my children. Ellie has this new thing where she refuses to look at the camera. And Nate was getting a little tired, so I was shoving candy corn into his mouth just to keep him sitting. Awwwww, such sweet children.

Anyway, so here are what we have left in the bunch that are useable. I'm trying to decide which one to go with (let me know if you have opinions). If only we had waited a week or two. I buzzed Nate's head and he now makes the most ridiculous face when he sees the camera. I have some on my camera, but alas. . . I still haven't bought a CF card reader or bothered to try to figur eout how the cords work.

Boo hoo

My CF card reader isn't working. You know, the little thing that hooks up to your computer and transfers the pictures from your CF card to your computer. Anyway, it appears to be kaput. I am majorly bummed. How will I get my pictures onto my computer??? I am sure there is some way to do it with all those cords they give you, but I prefer the ease of my CF card reader. So I'll be running out to buy one this weekend!

However, until I get my car reader, I cannot blog. Without photos, I'd have to rely on words to entertain you all and that just isn't going to happen. I need PICTURES so you can see what I'm talking about.

Let me tell you what you are missing out on here.

Pictures of the girls at girl school. At one point every single one of them had on dress up shoes and they were click clacking down the hall. I made the mistake of asking the "girls" if they wanted to read a story. I was then informed that they were not girls, but princesses. And then I had to hear which princess each of them was (heck if I can remember any of them). It's a good thing there are a zillion Disney Princesses, that way you can still have 10 girls over and you don't have to double up. Although, I'd hate to be the girl who was stuck being Pocahontas. There really are "lesser" princesses. You know, the ones that don't get played very much. The top 3 are Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White. The next tier is Ariel, Jasmin and Belle. After that you get left with Mulan, Pochohontas and Meg. None of them are really Princesses, but Disney will play them up that way just to squeeze some more money out of you. But the girls are smart. They know who the "real" princesses are.

Maybe I should write my thesis on Disney princesses??? You can tell I've put a lot of thought into the whole thing.

The other picture I wish you could see is of my back yard. As we speak, the landscapers are putting on the finishing touches. It is so green and beautiful. I am beyond excited. And the kids are pumped up too. Every night this week, Ellie takes us out back to show us her "beautiful" yard. The grass just came last night, so the grass area has been just dirt and Ellie will race around the dirt yelling, "Go me!"

And so there you have it. Everything you're missing out on!

Is it over yet?

That was it? I feel a little let down after all the excitement leading up to Halloween. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but an hour of trick-or-treating in the Church parking lot, was not all the grandeur it's made out to be. I think the barbecue before was more fun than the actual event itself.

But it's done! Over! I seriously could be a happy woman if I never saw that Sleeping beauty costume again. Although, it was worth every penny for the amount of times Ellie wore it. Do you think she could let me get a good picture of her in it? No. The girl refuses to smile at me. She'll smile at her friends, smile at the ground, but actually *looking* at the camera and smiling is not something Ellie is into right now. Thank heavens I can still strap Nate into something and force him to pose for me.

Nate actually wore his costume without freaking out. I guess slowly breaking him into it by making him wear it every single day for a week before hand actually did the trick. Is he not adorable? Look at him holding his little tin. Like he's going to be able to eat any of the candy people gave him. He was just happy to have something to keep his hands busy.

He was happy as could be just getting strolled around, looking at all of the costumes and all of the different people. I would have let him walk, but the silly boy refuses to wear shoes *and* walk. If I put shoes on him, he sort of stares, sits down and won't move. Even if I try to stand him up. He won't budge if there are things on his feet.

After 30 minutes, Ellie decided that she was done trick-or-treating (fine by me). She also decided that she wanted out of her costume and wanted to go home despite the fact that there were still kids coming around. Dustin was off visiting people with Nate and there was no way I was backing out of a parking spot with that many kids swarming around, so I did as all good moms do -- I threw her in the back of the car with one of her buddies (who was also done trick-or-treating) and let them eat M&Ms until the whinning died down.

After it was all over we went over to some friends to let the kids watch a movie and wind down. I was *shocked* that they didn't want to dig into their candy stash right away, but I'm guessing Ellie might have been full from her chocolate binge earlier. And that was Halloween. Must be my Jewish blood that can stretch a holiday out for an entire week.