Isn't it still November?

Macy, Chad, Daelin, Luke & Cameron plotting their "gingerbread" creations Chad and Daelin's crazy fortress. Had a car, a clock tower and everything. Pretty good for just finding random stuff in the kitchen to use, and leftover Halloween candy!
Gingerbread creations and candy calendars. Not sure where all of these things will be living for the month of December. Probably right here... on the kitchen island!

For just another day. Come one. Does Christmas really need to be in like 26 days? I don't think I'm quite there yet. Oh sure, most of the Christmas shopping is done (except for D - where's your list?), the Christmas cards might almost be ready (they're all addressed at least), we're getting a tree tomorrow (after all, it will be DECEMBER tomorrow), but still. I'm on the middle ground, I suppose. I still have the fall decorations waiting to be put away, but I put up wreaths on our lightposts last night. After all, it was snowing the other day. That must mean Christmas is coming. Right? So, in preparation, some of the traditions have begun. The kids used up leftover Halloween candy to make candy calendars the other night (Huckvale tradition - a good one really - make a poster for each kid with 25 pieces of candy on. Their own personal Advent Calendar.). I came home last night to find my brand new box of graham crackers used up to make "gingerbread houses" by the kids and some friends. We've received all our Christmas presents from Grandma Paula already, even one big one that is already wrapped, sitting in our living room all by itself, driving the kids crazy. The fact that it's for me doesn't seem to matter! I guess that Christmas will be coming... whether I am ready or not. Bring it on, I say!

Charging for tickets.

Ok, so those of you that thought I might possibly be lying about D's love of Star Wars and the museum he has down in our basement... here ya go. Take a gander at these pics... Seriously, I should be charging for tickets to view our museum... might make enough money to finish off the basement. And this isn't even everything! There's still the cookie jars, mugs and potato heads in our kitchen, Chad's bedroom - which is a site in and of itself - and all the random other things hiding around our house. Enjoy my husband's insanity!

It's SNOWING!!!

Ok, so not very much... but still, it's snowing! Crazy! (Still the California family living in the wild Northwest.) Anyways, Chad and his friend, Daelin, are planning how to spend their "snow day" tomorrow - it won't happen... way not enough snow. May have late start, which means school will start 2 hours late to give the buses enough time to work through the slick streets, but otherwise, I'm sure there will be school tomorrow. Oh well. Always good to have those dreams of days with no school, Guitar Hero on the video game system, and all the hot chocolate and popcorn you can eat. Have a good non-snow day (sorry Chad!)!

7 1/2 month old Reed.

Again... how cute is he? Day after Thanksgiving, and he's wearing a Santa Hat and Old Navy 4th of July pajamas. Gotta cover all the holidays, I guess. He's somehow figured out how to sit, all by himself. We'll lay him down on his back or his tummy, and he'll roll himself over to his bum, and then sort of scoot his legs around til he gets himself up. Not totally balanced once he gets up, but he's working on it. What a smart little boy!

Roscoe.

Meet Roscoe. He's the guinea pig from Haley's preschool who is visiting with us over the Thanksgiving holiday. Brings back lots of memories of being a kid when Jason and I had our whole guinea pig, hamster, mouse collection going on. Roscoe's pretty cool. He loves celery, just like the guinea pig on Wonder Pets, and he talks to me while I do the laundry. Kinda nice having someone to talk to while I sort dirty clothes!

So Very Thankful...

Macy, Haley, Jake, Uncle Dwayne, Sara, Carol, Luke, Erik, Aunt Heidi, Chad, our friend, Mark

Wanted to do a little post about what I'm thankful for at this time in the year. Granted, family, friends and faith top the list, but here's some random other things...

1. That I cooked the ENTIRE Thanksgiving dinner... and no one got sick, or died... at least not that I know of.
2. Friends that will take your familys' picture, crazy dog, baby and all, for your holiday card.
3. Friends and family that let you crash their houses for meals... all 7 of you.
4. Adhesive that works really well... staples too!
5. Derrick getting days off. I love when he's home to play with us!
6. Black Friday. Ok, I know it's crazy and insane and we always spend way too much money, but I love the adventure of the whole thing. (P.S. Target was much better organzied than WalMart was - and we spent way more money there - much better sale stuff!)
7. Fun movies that always come out at holiday time so there's lots to see (in the past week, we've seen August Rush, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Enchanted. All very good!)
8. Crazy people that already have Christmas trees in their front windows, fully decorated. Sheesh... it's not even December yet!
9. My husband. Really thankful for him. He's such a good guy. Yesterday he wrote down on a piece of paper and then handed it to me. It said, "Christmas List 2007". I'm supposed to fill it out for him. Yeah, no clue.
10. The ability to blog and share all of my randomness with whoever wants to read it. It also works really well as my own little scrapbook, because really, who has time to scrapbook anything for myself?

Love to everyone! Hope that you also have lots to be thankful for at this time of the year... both serious things and random, fun stuff!

Happy Turkey Trot Day!

Just got back from the Turkey Trot. We didn't exactly trot... more like kind of fast walking, with all the "trotters" trotting past us. It was fun though. We did the 3 1/2 mile trot. Fun... but cold. About 40 degrees. Here's a picture of my team. Now, gotta go make some stuffing and stick my hand up a bird's butt. There's a pretty image for you! Happy Turkey Day! Think about that... my turkey really isn't so happy right now... now is he? Or she for that matter...

Date Night.

Ok, and one other thing. Last week D scheduled with me to go on a date this last weekend. We ditched the kids, went out to dinner and saw the movie, "August Rush". Great date movie! Not really a chick flick, and we both really enjoyed it. And D didn't have too much to complain about (sorry... it's in his blood!). It was so nice to go out with just D and spend some quality time with him. 2 thumbs up for date nights!!! Gotta do them more often!

Thanksgiving thoughts - about the cooking itself.

Ok, so Thanksgiving. What are your thoughts? I was very happy to be going to my sister-in-law's (SIL) house for Thanksgiving. I LOVE Thanksgiving! Love the food, love the family, love the whole gratitude thing! Until one day last week, when my SIL decided to burst my bubble - she informed me that she was ditching us and heading to Utah to go to the BYU game. Like BYU is more important than us or something (oh yeah, and her son and his new wife who live in Utah also). So, now I have to do Thanksgiving dinner all by myself for us and my other SIL, Heidi, and her family. So Susie, abovementioned SIL, came over yesterday, wrote me an entire menu with a timeline of when to prepare everything, and a shopping list putting everything in order - like produce, meat, dairy, etc. (She does love me after all!) Let me tell you, I went to Costco today and it was a ZOO!!! Still gotta go to Winco tomorrow... pray for me! Will let you know how the whole thing turns out... just wanted to get a little sympathy in the process (violin music starts now). Know that some of you do this on a regular basis (well, at least once a year), and love it, but just so not up my alley. All about throwing parties... but parties with finger foods and treats. Not 40 course meals!!!

TAG! I'm it...

Ok, so I just got "tagged" by my friend, Poppy. I have to list 5 things about myself that most people probably don't know. Here's the problem, I'm a pretty open book. I like to talk (or write in this case), and I share WAY TOO MUCH!!! So, here's some random things...

1. Ok, I LOVE to vaccuum! Don't know why. It's like this instant gratification type of thing. My mom is probably laughing at this right now, because as a kid one of my chores was to vaccuum the stairs, and I would never do it because it's too hard... that's why I now pay Chad to do it!!! See, works out best for everyone. I also LOVE to do laundry. Don't enjoy folding it or putting it away, but next to vaccuuming, it's probably the easiest thing to do to make a place look clean. Make sense?
2. Ok, so I'm not that girlie. Don't care for jewelry, clothes, make-up (still not fully sure how to put this stuff on!) etc., too much. All about comfort. Could live in jeans, t-shirts and Ugg boots. Sometimes I wish that I liked jewelry and make-up more (especially since Macy and Haley are REALLY girlie - not sure where they got it!), but considering I'm now 36, it's not likely to happen in the too near future.
3. I'm a super, big-time HORDER! Not of everything, mind you... just of scrapbook stuff and craft supplies (D balances it out with his Star Wars stuff, so we're quite the couple). I was talking to my friend, Liz, the other day, asking her where she keeps all her scrapbook stuff. She tells me that she has like one RubberMaid bin that she keeps it all in (not like me, who has a room, and is still busting at the seams). I asked her where all her extras go, and she said she doesn't really have any. She buys specific things to make specific pages and that's it. Not me! I buy stuff because it's cute, shiny, sparkley, fun! Whatever. Pretty? Gotta have it! Might use it at some point, might not... but need it now! (Isn't it good I don't like jewelry that much?)
4. I WAS a Hair Virgin! Get it? 36 and I had never colored my hair - other than Sun-In - (my mom always told me not too - too much maintenance!, so I didn't), until the other day. After the whole water-leaking-kitty-litter-in-the-bathtub-fiasco. It was time. I love living in the Northwest, but don't love that my hair has gotten so much darker... so, I totally got what I call, "Happy California Hair". Will post a picture as soon as I take one. Now, I just have to work on that Girlie thing (see #2) and have maintenance. Last time I had my hair cut was last December if that gives you any idea.
5. Ok, and this one is totally random. I haven't bought a greeting card in like 9 years. Can't do it. Once I decided that I could make my own, I've never looked back. I don't even like to look at them in stores. Just too many, with too many options, that aren't my own. D's funny, cuz he loves to give me cards, and any time he does he always looks for the ones that look the most handmade. The ones that have embellishments and stuff on the front of them. And then he'll buy like every one he can find, just because he knows that I'll like them (and of course, I keep every one of them - back to that hording thing!). See... he does love me!

Ok, so there you go. 5 random things. Kind of silly. Not really about hidden talents or anything... but done. So there. Now, I tag Amanda, Jeannette (maybe this will get you to put something on your blog), and Susie (you too!). I will be checking... so get it done!!!

Happy Veteran's Day

So, in other news... Happy Veteran's Day! A few days late... but as mentioned, I've been busy!

I am a Scout leader in our church, and last week we got the honor of doing the flag ceremony at Luke and Macy's Veteran's Day assembly. It was pretty cool. I had 6 scouts there, they did a great job, and then Luke gave a little speech about the flag, what it means, and how to respect it.

Then, on Saturday, our troop also had the honor of being in a Veteran's Day parade. It was also really an honor to be there with all these Vets and scouts and American Flags. What a great country we live in! Myself and Liz and Michelle (two of the other Cub Scout leaders) were there with 12 of our boys - about half - and they walked for a mile and a half, throwing candy and just having a good time. Oh, and Cooper was our mascot. He wore a Bear Scout kerchief and looked sharp!

Thanks to all our Vets and troops for all they do to keep our country free!!!

My life.

Grandma Paula emailed to give me grief for not posting in a week, so here goes. Whenever you question my sanity, remember this day.

Yesterday. Started out good. Got the car washed (had to get all the dog hair out of it from going to obedience class the past 6 weeks), got some groceries, ran some errands. Came home. Was cleaning kitchen, including getting rid of some leftovers in the fridge. So, came across some pulled pork and decided to put it down the garbage disposal. Didn't like it so much. Backed up and clogged it, but I didn't worry because this has happened once before and if I give it time, it usually fixes itself. So anyways, D calls and asks me to get him some info, so I go down into the basement to get on the desktop computer and realize that I'm hearing a strange sound. I turn around, and the ceiling is dripping, onto our new couch. (Apparently, the disposal didn't fix itself.) Oh, and did I mention that I decided to run the dishwasher at the same time? So, D came home and got it all fixed, and the lesson learned is... don't put pulled pork down the drain... and if you do and plug up the drain, don't run the dishwasher at the same time.

So, in the meantime, Haley's friend, Savannah, is over. D and I are trying to clean the kitchen, and Savannah, who is 4, comes running into the room saying that she had nothing to do with it. A little concerned am I, yes. So, I'm like, what didn't you do? And she's like, the kitty litter. So, I go upstairs to find Haley in our bathtub in about 4 inches of kitty litter. That morning, I had been cleaning out the litter box while Haley was taking a bath. When I took the lid off the box of litter, it fell into the bathtub and got wet, so I put it on the counter to dry off. Well, Haley and Savannah thought this would be a great time to fill the bathtub. So, lesson learned on this one... don't leave the lid off the litter box, and if you do and your 3-year-old and her friend pour it in the bathtub and add water to it, the wet/dry vac from the garage can only hold so much before it clogs up and gets very heavy, and stops doing the job. Needless to say, bathroom is still not fully clean.

And you thought Cooper was bad! Oh, did I mention that last week he ate my whole bottle of Thyroid medicine and I had to call the Poison Control Center. This is my life.

Stick Bugs.

Random thought - I'm full of them! So, I'm sitting here scrapbooking with Martha Stewart on in the background. She's doing a segment on bugs. They're talking about Stick Bugs. Ever seen one? Probably not (unless it was totally pointed out to you)... because they look just like sticks! Anyways, last summer while we were in California, we visited with our friend, Mia, who lived across the street from us. She had a couple of Stick Bugs. Guess what their names were? Chad and Luke. Funny, I thought. And even funnier... Luke had already died. Poor Luke, the Stick Bug. Apparently they only have a life span of like 4 months. See... learn something new every day (even on my blog)!

Sunday children.

Ok, so I'm blogging a lot the last couple of days, but I just have a lot to say (what else is new?). Anyways, just one final thing to share for today. This past Sunday we had our Primary Childrens' Program at church. Now this always gets me emotional... the kids up there singing, speaking, whatever, but this time was a bit different. Now some people really get bugged by the program. ALL the children in church have some sort of a part. Now for some churches, that's not bad... but our primary has like 100+ kids in it, so that can get to be a pretty big program. Anyways, all the kids (Chad, Luke and Macy - not Haley until next year and Reed until much later) had parts. Macy and Luke had small speaking parts, and Chad gave a talk about service (I'm still waiting for him to serve without being paid... some day... ). He did a great job, as did everyone else.

Then, they get to the end of the program and Chad's 11-year-old boys' class get up there. They're all wearing white shirts and ties, and they sing "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission". Here's my baby, asking to go on a mission. All the boys he's singing with were my Webelos last year, and D's 11-year-old scouts this year, so we feel a close tie to all of them. Then, towards the end of their song, the actual missionaries walk up from out of the audience and stand behind them. When their song ends, the pianist then breaks into "Called to Serve" and the Elders sing the first verse, with the boys joining in on the chorus. Ok, by this point, all the moms in the audience are crying... not just me.

The program ends, with all of us misty-eyed, and we go to sing the closing song, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". One of the little girls from the primary sings the 1st verse all by herself with her dad playing along on a violin. The rest of the primary joins in for the chorus. Then, up goes Luke to sing the 2nd verse all by himself. Imagine this. Little Lukie (well, he's really not that little), singing all by himself in front of like 500+ people. He did an amazing job. I was pretty emotional, and people are now kidding me that I should start my own Osmond group.

How thankful am I to have such amazing kids! They drive me crazy and I want to run away half of the time, but I know how good and special they are. D and I are grateful to have such amazing spirits in our family, and we are so happy to have the gifts of them for this short time on Earth. Didn't mean to bear my testimony there a bit... but there it is! I am very thankful for the life I have! Sorry... just wanted to share. My blog... I can blog whatever I want!

Random-end-of-October-beginning-of-November-blogging!

Happy November everyone! Can you believe that it's November already??? I'm already stressing about our Christmas cards. I know that I keep saying this, but this year I might actually buy premade ones. Not likely, considering I've already bought all the paper to make some... but still. The thought is there. I even discussed making "hybrid" cards - cards that are part digital, part real paper and stuff... and D was like, "you can't do that. It would be like you just went and had photo cards made!". Yeah, well, I don't see him stressing about it - Love you D!

Anyways, back to my random October blogging. I LOVE Halloween! I was in such a good mood all day yesterday. Even with all the running around! I mean think about it... how often do you get to go to all your neighbor's houses, dressed in a costume, and they'll give you a treat... just because? I was saying this to D this morning and he laughed because everyone loves getting candy, but it's not even about the candy, it's the camaderie. Just walking up and down all the streets. Seeing friends you know, and people you don't. All out for the same cause... just to have fun! Gotta love it. Halloween should happen more often. I think I shall start a petition to get some sort of Halloween going every month. On the radio they were saying that it should take place in the Spring because it's warmer. Think about it... Spring-o-ween. Has a certain ring to it, doncha think?