Five Fun Fanatics

Catch-up post #2 The Nutcracker

2011-12-20T17:59:00.000-06:00

Here is Kelsey's performance of the Mother Ginger dance. We were not allowed to record or take pictures during the performance but I was able to catch this during the dress rehersal. Kelsey got to perform this four times. Two shows on saturday and she got to get out of school to perform for two field trip groups that came to watch. She had a good time.

Catch up blog #1 - November Stuff

2011-12-18T12:45:00.000-06:00

So I've been a crappy blogger lately. I am not going to make excuses because nobody cares how much you have on your plate and that you are kicking as hard as you can but can barely keep your head above the water and you are so tired that any moment you might decide to just stop kicking and let yourself drown.

No, the only thing people care about is that you post the pictures of your kids when they are looking so cute you just want to die.

So I am going to catch up some posts from the past couple of months but instead of doing it all in one post I am only going to do a little at a time every day. I am also going to try to post a couple of videos (not today, another day) of some of the christmas performances the crazies have been in.

This post is dedicated to November, so I am going to start out with Ethan's preschool thanksgiving because when he came home in this outfit I couldn't stop smiling. And then he sang the five little indian boys song for me "This is the way we sit by the campfire". If you have been lucky enough to hear him sing this song then you are laughing right now.

And he made this indian villiage, which I was very proud of. I have been quite impressed with the preschool he is in (even though his teacher has an accent like a west virginia hill billy and he is picking it up- especially when he sings.)

The main event of our November was a trip to Utah for my brother's wedding.

Sorry to all you Utah friends who I did not contact and hang out with. We only had time to see family and in my free time I was taking tests for school which just had to happen on the same week as brother's wedding.

Here is the happy couple. (Sorry sister about that picture- it is the only one of the wedding couple that I able to get).

Cutest grandparents ever.

Ethan became besties with cousin Carter.

We stayed with grandma Jill because she is pretty much the best.

Ya so it was a crazy busy month but lots of good times. Tomorrow I promise to have more.

This is Halloween This is Halloween

2011-10-31T19:41:00.000-05:00

OCT 31, 2011

At Kelsey's school they were told that they could come dressed as scarecrows. They could not wear masks, heavy makeup or real straw or hay. I thought it was weird that they all had to dress as the same thing.

But,

This is what we came up with.

Cutest scarecrow I've ever seen.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Our halloween festivities started last Wednesday at the Ward Trunk-or-Treat party.

And here is the big NERD REVEAL...

Oh yeah, we are a Star Wars family, baby.

I am not a different version of princess leia (some people don't know anything about star wars.) I am Padme (Luke and Leia's mother for those of you not geeky enough to know.) Here is the costume I was trying to mimic:

I hesitated to post that picture because of how "off" my costume was, but most of the people who read this blog have no idea who I am trying to imitate.

Here is the back of my hair. ( Read: one full bottle of palmade.)

Here is Ethan battling the dark side.

Me and Jules handing out candy.

OTHER FUN COSTUMES

The Franken Family

Dead Bride

Kelsey's friend being a bumble bee

And Ethan's friend being Bumble Bee

OK. Back to Halloween Day.

These are the kiddos very excited to go play.

Matt and I don't need costumes to be scary

First we stopped at this impressive halloween party put on by a fun familyl in our ward.

We had hot dogs, chips, soda, and candy.

Then we finally went trick-or-treating.

I hope you all had a great halloween too.

Before and After

2011-10-26T13:22:00.000-05:00

There are many projects going on at our house, most of them only half finished.

Kelsey's room is the most fun for me to work on and this week I made some curtains for Kelsey's room and it was finally complete. So here is the before and after pics.

BEFORE

And AFTER

Another angle

The walls look white in the pictures but they are actually a very light green.

Close up. I scored these ballet pictures at Good Will for just $5 each!

My favorite thing in her room is this rack of tutus.

Our front room is almost done so I decided to go ahead and take some pictures of that room too.

BEFORE

And AFTER

We had to strip the wallpaper that the previous owners had painted over. The wall under the paper was in bad shape so we had to mud, sand, texture, then paint. It was a long process.

Matt put in recessed lighting. I am so lucky to have such a talented man.

You should have seen the light fixture that used to be in the entry way. I like this one so much better.

Last, here is a closer look at my gallery wall.

Now we need to put some crown molding up and we will be done!

With that room at least.

We still have kitchen, dining, and more bedrooms to do - I suddenly feel tired.

Costumes

2011-10-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

I was looking through my archive of halloween pictures from the past years and decided it would be fun to post them.

Last year Ethan was Super Why

And Kelsey was a Barbie Musketeer

2009 We did the Scooby Doo thing

2008 - Cinderella and a Dalmation

2007 - Pirates

This years halloween costumes will confirm our nerdiness, but you will just have to wait for that:)

Nothing really great, just some pictures because I have nothing new to tell about

2011-10-02T19:57:00.000-05:00

Juliet is a little goof-ball. She is always trying to make us laugh and nothing is cuter than seeing her laugh at herself when she thinks she is being funny.

I still enjoy doing Kelsey's hair and she is pretty good about sitting still long enough for me to do something cute. This pic was taken right before church one morning. Love the hair, and double love the dress. Daughters are so so fun.

A while ago we met up with some friends from Corpus Christi. They were travelling to Charlotte, NC and we drove down to have lunch and a little fun with them.

These next few pics were taken at the Children's museum in Charlotte.

This is the one thing Kelsey wanted for her birthday. She is not a normal six year old. But it does look beautiful in her room.

Kelsey's Rapunzel Birthday

2011-09-26T08:23:00.000-05:00

Kelsey's birthday started out with Ethan's first soccer game.

It was pretty cute to watch. We were so proud every time Ethan kicked the ball.

The Party

Almost every idea I got from the party is from this

www.supermommoments.com/2011/01/tangled-party-decor-food/

First: Decorations

The cake

This braid was more complicated to make than it would appear.

A very tangled mess.

I loved this banner

When Rapunzel is locked in the tower she is bored so she paints everything. I set up paints so the kids could paint the walls at the party.

The food.

Second: The Fun

The painting was a hit. Everyone loved it.

Pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider.

Don't even think about laughing at my drawing. I am not a perfessional. Ok, go ahead and laugh. I know it is funny.

Third: The Happy Birthday Song

Fourth: The presents

Last: The Lanterns

These things were more complicated than they appear.

We bought six, one for each year of Kelsey's life.

on the package it says we are responsible for any damage they do or fire they cause, so I followed the advise of supermom and tied a string to each one so we could control where they go. (There are a lot of trees in Virginia!)

So we only ended up doing four of them but I thought they were really cool.

It was the perfect end to the party.

Month of Firsts

2011-09-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

I am quite a bit late posting the first day of school pics.

But, better late than never, as they always say.

Kelsey is a very flashy girl

Is it just me, or is it weird that this school has to advertise that they are fully accredited?

I am wondering if there was a time when they were NOT accredited. Are there other elementary schools in the area that are not fully accredited? Just wondering.

This picture was taken after school. She had a fun day.

This pic was added just to show you her cute backpack that she picked out.

Ethan's first day of Pre-School

I love his funny smile.

This is where Ethan goes to school. It is at a Methodist Church.

He loves his teacher. She is really great and has been teaching pre-school for over twenty years!

I only know this because I heard one of the dads say that his brother had her for his pre-school teacher and he is twenty four now.

After school pic.

Ethan finally got to start soccer. Today was his first practice. His excitement level was at a 10.

And here he is with all the other teammates. One boy on his team is in his preschool class, so they were both excited to see each other tonight.

And Matt is the coach. Matt says it was a lot of fun and he loved it because the kids are so cute and he likes how everyone called him "coach".

Ethan's first game is this saturday so we are excited to see how it goes.

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of

2011-09-13T18:22:00.001-05:00

This weekend I discovered a place that tops my list of all time favorite cities.

"These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, now you're in

New York"

We stayed in this condo that we rented in the Bronx. It was actually quite lovely and I will never forget Leon who rented it out to us, but that is a whole story that I will not publish here.

We were there for the anniversary of Sept. 11 and there were some heavy and solemn moments that day. I cannot describe the feeling in the whole city that day.

One of the best things we did was purchase tour tickets on this double decker bus. $50 dollars for 48 hours and it drove all over the city allowing you to get on and off as you pleased and a tour guide on each bus would talk the entire ride and point out amazing city landmarks and architecture.

There were three loops the bus would take: uptown, downtown, and Brooklyn.

This pic was taken on day #2 of the tour bus.

I found out that there ARE indeed crazy people all over New York

Times Square. Incredible.

Central Park. I was trying to remember the words to the song in Enchanted while we were there.

I could not pass up an opportunity to buy a hot dog at a vender booth in Central Park.

This place was my very favorite dining experience in New York.

It was right on Broadway and the waiters and waitresses would sing to you the whole time.

They were actually quite good and would get up close and personal.

Besides the Chrysler building, this was my favorite building in New York.

It is the largest church in the country. It is as big as two football fields.

I took this pic because it was exactly the way you think New York would look like on a monday morning.

The temple is right there in Manhattan. I giggled when the tour guide mis-pronounced angel Moroni.

An unforgetable moment here. We purchased breakfast from a vendor cart and ate on the steps of a large office building on Wall Street on monday morning. I enjoyed watching all of the people in business suits and my sister and I were trying to pick out who were tourists and who were locals. Its a fun game.

hours before I boarded a plane to come home, we went on a ferry that boated around this famous landmark.

Afterward I tried New York style pizza. Yummy.

One final experience that was a first for me was...

riding the subway. Not glamorous, but an experience none-the-less.

Lets hear it for New York, New York, New York!!!

summer, birthdays, adventures

2011-07-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

I have not been a faithful picture taker and so much of our summer is going undocumented.

Here is a few pics that I did manage to take.

Ethan's birthday. He sincerely wanted a Chuck E. Cheese party.

It was worth it for THIS smile

Juliet had her first birthday. We had a party hosted at our friend's house then we went to the drive in movie to see Cars 2.

Drive Thru Safari.

Kelsey's fabulous ballet costume that she did not get to perform in because we moved. Very sad for us, but she had fun dancing around home in it.

So few pictures to go with a whole week of fun

2011-05-14T15:50:00.000-05:00

Matt's brother got married last week, so we went to Utah to celebrate with him.

Me and Jules on the temple grounds. It was pretty cold for me.

Here is a picture of Matt with all of his siblings.

It is a rare occasion that they all get to be together.

On Friday we went out to Orem and the kids rode my Grandpa's horse.

This is a picture of the cutest grandpa on the face of the planet.

Juliet with her great grandma.

Kelsey has been obsessed with horses for a while so it was really exciting for her to finally get to ride one. I think it will always be a special memory for her to know that her first experience riding a horse was with her great grandparents.

Then Ethan had a turn. I was surprised that he wasn't to afraid to do this. But he LOVED it.

Best Picture Ever. Sonny is a patient horse.

Our camera ran out of memory...so sad. Other pics I wish we had gotten are: Lunch with some friends at Cafe Rio, picnic at park with grandpa Sanders, pedicures with my mom and sisters, Jungle Jims, cookout at Aunt Christy's house, mother's day.

Boy it takes a silly girl to lie about the dreams she had, but it takes a lonely one to wish that she had never dreamt at all

2011-04-30T19:25:00.001-05:00

This post is mostly for mom because she said that she wanted to see pics of the house. I wasn't going to post these until I had everything fixed up, but I changed my mind.

I took these pics the day we moved in right before the movers came with the furniture.

This is the front room.

We want to paint, but it will be a bigger project than that. Shortly after moving in we realized that the previous owner painted over wall paper, so we will have to remove that wallpaper first. Yuck. Big project.

Dining Room

The most beautiful kitchen this side of the Mississippi. I don't think we will change a thing!

If you buy that I'll throw the golden gate in free.

Family Room

Bathroom. This is our current project. We were going to just replace the floor tile because some of tiles were coming up and we didn't want water to get on it and rot the subfloor. When we pulled up the tiles we found out that-whoops-the subfloor had already started to rot. So we had to replace part of the subfloor. Then we decided to go ahead and get a toilet too, one that is not yellow, or 60 years old. Then that turned into also taking the yellow tiles off the wall (except around the shower) which involved tearing down the whole wall and replacing the sheet rock, which then we ended up also replacing the mirror, faucet,shower and tub faucets, and bathroom accessories.

Pic will come soon-hopefully.

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

The other bedrooms look pretty much like this one. This one is Juliet's.

"And maybe maybe maybe you'll find somethin' that's enough to keep you"

2011-04-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

So, here is a picture of the outside of our new home.

It's not a lot to look at but the views are breathtaking because we are outside city limits and in the mountains.

We also have a very large yard, and lots of trees, and place for a garden, and a nice deck and built in swing in the backyard.

But the inside is a real piece of work.

We are currently renovating the bathroom.

Pictures of before and after that project will be displayed when it is finished.

And no sooner- because I think the inside of the house is a huge embarassment.

The house was built in the 60's and not much has been updated since.

And the previous owners were obsessed Virginia Tech fans and so there is a lot of maroon throughout the house. Even my doorbell plays the VT fight song!

And so you will not see my kitchen until I am able to redo it in about a year (or so...).

So be patient-that is, if you even care, haha.

"Now you see it, now you don't. If you don't try-you surely won't"

2011-04-24T14:03:00.000-05:00

Easter Preparations

Egg Coloring

Cupcake Making

Easter Morning

Jules got the cutest puppy ever.

Breakfast

Easter Outfits:

I took a ton of pictures because they are just so cute I couldn't help myself. Take a look, I think you'd agree.

Easter Egg Hunt

We saved this activity until after church.

See you next time.

Day 4- She's somewhere in the Smokey Mountain Rain

2011-04-20T12:55:00.001-05:00

We stayed in a hotel in the Smokey Mountain Resort.

The plan was to go to Dollywood.

But it was rainy and severely cold.

So we went here instead.

So did everybody else.

Ethan was a little afraid of going into an upside down building.

They had a lot of fun stuff to do inside-most of it was educational.

But it got so busy you could barely move.

I would love to go again another time but here is my advise:

Go on a sunny day so that everyone and their stuffed bunny don't show up at the same time.

Don't go with young children. There were some fun things for them but they had a lot more for older kids that we couldn't go on. I would love to go back and try those things another time.

Here is a virtual thing ethan tried.

Giant bubble maker

This was interesting but a little boring for the kids.

This pricked a little... Kels and I both tried it.

This was just cute.

Flying airplanes

Matt is a pretty good pitcher.

Ethan and Kelsey are not.

Last night we had a dining disaster. Do not trust the idiot on Diners Drive Ins and Dives. We are not going to talk about last night.

So I chose this place.

Applewood Farmhouse.

It was my favorite dining place EVER.

Amazing food, great atmosphere, cozy fire, free apple fritters.

If you are ever in the smokey mountains you HAVE to eat here.

After lunch we headed on our way.

We FINALLY reached our destination.

I will blog more about our new house later.

Day 3

2011-04-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

We headed out from Mississippi and headed to Alabama.

The food place Matt chose this time was completely opposite from the Jamaican place.

It was a place called Saw's BBQ. It was a small restaurant on the street of the nicest area in Burmingham, Alabama. Everything looked so ritzy. The restaurant was so crouded you could barely move and there was a long long line to order. It was like a fast food place but I noticed that every single person there was wearing business clothes (they were obviously on their lunch break), except for us and a couple of college boys. This was the BEST BBQ pork I have ever had. I can still remember how juicy the sandwhich was. Yum!

We planned on going to a science museum, but Juliet was feeling so miserable and she had had a fever for a couple of days so we ended up here.

It was a fairly short wait, we were only there for an hour.

Then we came here for a while to wait for the prescription. Ended up Jules had a bad ear infection.

We didn't have time to drive across town to go to the museum so the pharmacist recommended a nearby park that she said was great.

Another customer in there was an old man who felt bad for us and wanted to make sure we found the park so he offered to let us follow him to show us where it was at.

The park was AMAZING. Burmingham AL is a nice place. Nice people. I would move there in a heartbeat. This is the awesome park.

Ethan called this the "roller coaster swing" because it had straps that went above your head and buckled between your legs.

Cute toddler area. Jules was feeling better now that she had some ear numbing drops.

Thanks for reading.

Day two

2011-04-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

Day Two: New Orleans

We left Lake Charles, LA and drove a short way to New Orleans. Matt picked this Jamaican place to eat. It was in the slums of New Orleans and looked like a warehouse. I was not too thrilled. When we went inside I changed my mind. It was decorated nice and was clean and the only other people who were dining there were a couple of police officers, so I felt ok:)

This backdrop against the wall made it look like we ate right on the beach.

But no, it was just the backdrop. We all ordered the lunch buffet so we tried all kinds of different foods. It was good and Matt especially loved it because he served his mission in Jamaica. He talked to the owner about Jamaica for about twenty minutes.

After lunch we went to the zoo.

Cute elephant fountain

The real elephants

I couldn't resist adding these cute photos of Kelsey. She loves to pose for the camera

Ethan is resting in the play area.

Jules knows how to relax and put her foot up

This was my favorite part of the zoo because we could go to a zoo almost anywhere but this made it unique to the area

Alligators

Big front porch rocking chairs

Digging

After the zoo we found this cute ice cream place called the Creole Creamery

The kids loved these ice cream clowns

We still like Leatherby's better, but this is the second best place we have ever found for ice cream-and we look everywhere for good ice cream.

Even Jules got a little taste

We then headed to Meridian, Mississippi.

When we got to the hotel we went swimming.

All of the kids have new swimming suits and they were happy to use them.

See Ya tomarrow.

Back to Blogging

2011-04-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

So, it has been a long and tiring adventure moving to Virginia. It has been a while since I have been able to blog... so to make up for it I am going to [try] to write a blog every day for a while. I am going to start with the vacation-y part of the move. We took four days to get from Texas to Virginia so I am going to approach this by blogging about it just one day at a time.

Day one:

The day started out well. We had stayed at a hotel the night before because all of our house was packed and on its way (I love that we didn't have to lift a finger or pack a box. Celanese hired people for that). Matt purchased a Nintendo DS for each child. I was against that at the first, but as the trip progressed I was kinda glad because it made it so I could sit back and read Fablehaven:)

The kids did quite a bit of this (playing DS)

And a little of this

We stopped at our favorite stop that is in between Corpus and Houston. It boasts "Restrooms Mom will like" and it is just a fun place. Here a few pics.

When we reached Beaumont Texas we stopped here to let the kids play. It was inexpensive and fun.

After bounce bounce bouncing, we were hungry. Matt is obsessed with finding obscure places to eat when you are on vacation and he picked to eat here:

We all tried fried alligator for the first time.

This is Kelsey thinking "I can't believe I just ate that!"

We continued on to Lake Charles, Louisana where we stayed the night - and I will have more for you tomorrow.

Valentines and Virginia

2011-02-17T20:27:00.000-06:00

I was reading everyone's valentines posts and I decided to share a little about our valentines day this year. I am too tired to upload the pictures, so that will be for another time.

Last week my neighbor offered last week to watch the kids on valentines since her husband was working that night. I was so excited because we havn't been on an official date in a while. Well, monday morning she texted me and said her kids were sick and she could no longer watch them.

Crushed.

But I was determined to not let it ruin my day. I thought, "oh well, it's not her fault. We will just have to take the kids out to eat with us-again-this year.
But then...

My amazing visiting teacher came over with some flowers! Really pretty orange roses. Her children are all grown up and moved out. She said, "Do you have someone to watch the kids tonight?" I told her my story about the neighbor plans. She replied, "Well, we are having valentines lunch, so if you want to go out with your husband for dinner I would love to watch your kids."

Hooray!!!

She even watched Juliet and it was the first date Matt and I have been on with NO KIDS since Jules was born last July. I felt so happy, like a little kid at Christmas.

Matt came home from work with beautiful pink roses for me. I love them.

We went to Waterstreet Grill and had VIP treatment. We got to sit upstairs by their best window with the best view. The room was decorated with flowers and candlelight. Romantic music playing. It was so nice.

And we got to talk about our new plans to move.

Matt got a new position at the chemical plant in Virginia. They called us that day and said they wanted Matt to be working there by March 14. That means we have to move in 3 weeks. AHHHHHHH!

Excited.

When we moved here we always said that if we had the chance to make it to the Virginia location that we would go. So we are happy, I just wish we didn't have to move so suddenly. Oh well, we will still take it. So there you go- If I don't blog for a while you will know why.

Dishes

2011-01-31T23:11:00.000-06:00

I am teaching Kelsey how to do dishes! She LOVES it. She says she wants to do them every day. I wonder how long this will last. I of course have to supervise the whole time which stinks because she washes sooooo sloooow but hopefully in a couple of weeks she will have it down enough that she won't need any help at all and I can go jogging instead of doing dinner clean-up. yay.

And she can have her wish of doing dishes EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Until Ethan learns.

Perhaps our last trip to San Antonio, but maybe not.

2011-01-23T20:33:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since we've been to San Antonio so we have been trying to go for a while. We had not yet gone to visit the Alamo, so here we are.

Not a great picture. Matt doesn't know how to step back a little to get the whole building. Oh well. It is what it is. Our kids won't remember this trip, but at least they can say that they have been there.

Victory or Death!

We then walked a block to the River Walk-which was so awesome.

And we took the boat ride.

It was a 40 minute ride and it was so worth it. I highly reccomend this if you are ever in the area.

It was still early in the day and we didn't want to go home so we tried going here. I DO NOT recommend this. Very expensive and not that great. But I will highlight a few of my favorite parts.

Smallest Lady. Only two feet. Can you imagine?

Fattest Man. Ha Ha Ha. This is just so funny.

Then we went on this ride.

So then we went to eat at a restaurant that has been highly recommended to us called Pappasita's. It did not dissapoint. Matt and I shared the fajita's and they were great!

So that's it! It was really a nice day. I am so glad we went. The Alamo was so cool, I just wish we didn't have little kids with us for that because I could have spent a lot longer there and probably would have purchased the audio tour. Also, when we were leaving the area we saw a children's museum just around the corner from the Guiness museum and I wish we would have known it was there because it would have been a better choice to spend our money.

A Very Corpus Christmas

2010-12-27T00:41:00.000-06:00

I am not going to add a lot of narrative because there are

A LOT of PICTURES

I am going to just let the pictures speak for themselves and you can figure it out for yourself what is going on.

Our Clubhouse Christmas Party with a Christmas Hayride

Christmas Eve

shepherd's supper

Christmas Day

I hope eveyone's holiday was splendid.

The first of many (hopefully) Nutcracker shows

2010-12-11T23:05:00.000-06:00

This evening Kelsey was a Cherub in the Corpus Christi Ballet Nutcracker performance.

It is so cute because the dads have to help. The dads dress in all black and wear ski masks and they lift up their daughters and the little cherubs flap their arms and legs like snow angels. Because the dads are in black you can't see them and so it looks like they are flying. I loved it so much.

Here are the girls back stage getting ready.

This girl comes alive when she is dancing-she loves it so much!

I get teary eyed every time I see her on stage. I don't really understand this. I think part of it is because I know how much she loves it and part of it is because I used to love dancing so much. She gets to perform next saturday as well but it will be even better next week because they will have a live orchestra next week. Ethan has a babysitter for next week also so I will actually get to enjoy it. I can't wait.

A Ride On The Polar Express

2010-12-05T00:52:00.000-06:00

We had our Ward Christmas Party tonight. I was instantly in love with the whole thing the minute I walked in. The theme was "The Polar Express".

As we walked up to the door they had a couple of the primary kids handing out a polar express train ticket. The room was decorated so so cute and there was a big train for a decoration. Unfortunately I did not get a good picture of the train but it was pretty cool.

Here we are at the party.

The secret to a great party (in my humble opinion) is the little details. I loved how they had these cards with the program schedule on the dining tables. I also loved that we ate on REAL plates, not paper ones. It was a nice touch.

This is a weird picture, but what is happening is there was power point pictures while a group of readers read part of the Polar Express book.

Then Matt and Dave played their guitars. They played a medly of "We Three Kings" and "Carol of the Bells". I am so glad Matt has such an awesome talent. I think he is soooo sexy when he plays the guitar!

Then Santa came and gave everyone a bell. The kids were SO excited, of course.

Cute pic of the kids, Santa is having a beard problem, haha.

I really enjoyed this party. It was probably my favorite ward christmas party I have ever been to. I also think it would have been really neat to do a Polar Express theme but instead of going to "story time", "trumpets way", and "North Pole" go to places like "the wise men's tent" and the "shepherd's hill" and "the Stable". Just an idea in case any of you thought this was a fun party theme.

When I got home from the party Juliet was in a smiley mood so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of her by our Christmas tree. I thought these ones turned out so cute.

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

2010-11-12T00:27:00.000-06:00

I know this is all a bit early but I got an email from La Palmera Mall in Corpus Christi that Santa was coming in today in a helicopter and that there would be free festive activities happening this evening. I jump on every opportunity for free fun, so here we go.

The first thing we did was get our faces painted by some very friendly (oversized) elves.

We enjoyed walking around the mall looking at all the new christmas decorations and listening to the two live bands that they had playing at opposite ends of the mall.

As we were waiting for Santa to arrive we watched a performance by the Corpus Christi Ballet. They were promoting their upcoming production of the Nutcracker. I took this picture because that Arabian dancer in the middle there is Kelsey's dance teacher and Kelsey was quite thrilled to see her performing.

Santa finally came. The thrill and excitement and magical wonder on the kids faces made this whole adventure worth it.

Next we went upstairs to the 2nd level of the mall to see Mrs. Clause and listen to her read a story.

Is anyone else disturbed by this? Here we have Santa come escorted by a young and scantily clad woman in a christmas lingerie looking outfit while Mrs. Clause is upstairs reading stories to the children???

I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss the South Towne Mall Santa!

Not even SAINT Nicholas is a descent role model here!

All morals are GONE! This City has gone to the crapper!

At least the evening ended well with free cookies and milk and lets faceit, that's the REAL reason we went.

Just Because

2010-11-05T00:54:00.000-05:00

Just Because

My kids are so so so

Adorable

Sweet sweet Juliet.

Will her eyes stay blue? We will have to wait and see.

We just set up this toy for her. We bought if for Ethan back in the day but he HATED it. She likes it though, so at least we are getting our money's worth now.

I thought this one was a cute one of Matt and Jules.

This is not a great quality picture, but I thought it was so cute how Ethan had his tools in his pocket.

Awesome Hair.

This is my Prima Ballerina.

Lets talk a little more about this girls hair. Could she look any more like a Barbie?

Why doesn't my hair ever look that good? She wants to grow it to her butt. How many more years do you think that will take?

T I R E D Boy! So exhausted he can't even eat his grilled cheese.

Love,

Andrea

Halloween Jollification

2010-11-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

Warning: There are a LOT of pictures in this post.

Starting off we have the annual Fall Festival at the Asbury Methodist Church.

We spent most of our time in the bouncy house things

Ate hot dogs and chips, drank soda

Played games

watched a puppet show

rode a hayride

got faces painted

Ethan wanted it on his hand

and picked out a pumpkin.

Next we have the halloween costumes

Kelsey wanted to be a Barbie, so we decided on dressing as a Barbie Musketeer

She has a crown for the Ball

That doubles as a mask--so that nobody knows who she is!!!

And of course a sword, very cool

Here is the back of her cape. This Musketeer knows how to sword fight AND dance.

Ethan insisted on being Super Why.

That made for an easy costume. Lots of Felt. The funny thing is that his pants are girls stretch pants and a pair of Juliet's diaper cover thingie that goes with a dress. Funny how her 3-6 month bottom fits on Ethan's tiny butt.

Here is Matt's costume. This image induced such a conflict of feelings that I had to take a picture (it's so horrifying, but it's so sweet!)

We had a ward party friday night, but we forgot the camera and didn't take any pics. But here are a few pics of a party we had at our house saturday night. I had nothing planned and didn't want to sit around saturday night feeling depressed with nothing to do so I threw a last minute party and invited just a couple of people who had kids over. Here some of the food. Mummy dogs, and monster eyes, and Matt talked me into making strombolli.

We played monster bean bag toss

Pass the Pumpkin, and pin the nose on the pumpkin (but I don't have pictures of that)

All the kids got a little prize

Then we sent the kids upstairs to play and the adults played a couple of really funny games.

I'm going to add in here some pictures of Kelsey's little party at preschool. The family was invited and they sang a cute song for us (Have you ever seen a pumpkin). They also read halloween stories, decorated cookies, and got their faces painted.

It was a fun weekend, but I'm glad its over! I feel exhausted from putting those kids in and out of their costumes several times. Kelsey also got to dress up for dance last week so I think she wore her costume a total of four times. And Barbie hair isn't the easiest to do. Thank Goodness Ethan's super why costume was low key.

Thanks for reading.

"If Your Gonna Play in Texas" (you've gotta have a fiddle and a band)

2010-10-24T00:45:00.000-05:00

Mom and Sisters came to visit. I was so FREAKING excited for them to come. We have the best times together. Usually, when Christy is not sick, we sit around and laugh our heads off at nothing. Poor Christy did get sick - which was a huge damper on the vacation - but we still managed to have some good laughs. Here are some of the things we did.

This is a gift shop. A very elaborate one and I love it. I stop here almost every time we go to the beach on Padre Island.

I finally had quarters in my purse so I let the kids ride these inside the gift shop.

We went to my favorite beach

built sand castles

burried Kelsey

this is a good one of the kids. The cute redhead is my sister Christy's little boy. I am glad my kids got to bond with him for the first time.

I forgot Juliet's sun hat so I put a diaper on her head to protect her from the sun.

She is going to love me for preserving this memory, haha.

We swam a lot at their hotel swimming pool. We didn't need swim suits. We just dove right in.

Jessica ROCKED band hero

We all laughed hysterically at Carter's AWESOME dance moves

We went to see this movie.

On our way there we were traumatized by viewing a rollover accident when the car right in front of us drove up a freeway wall and then rolled about 3 times. The driver was ok, angels must have padded that boy because he walked away with only cuts and bruises. I thought for sure he would be dead! I swear, Texans are the worst drivers ever!!! He wasn't even drunk. I can't even imagine what was going on in his head. Anyway, he sure gave us a scare - and a story to talk about for many years to come, I'm sure.

We ate a lot of good food, talked a lot, played with babies a lot, laughed a lot. I can't wait for next time.

Candy Corn, Crafts, and Halloween Cartoons

2010-10-24T00:13:00.000-05:00

I realized my kids are so lucky. Here is what they did one day last week.

Ate candy corn while coloring in BRAND NEW COLORING BOOKS

Crafted these cute Vampire and Bat decorations

And watched Halloween cartoons on Netflix instant stream thing. Here is their current favorite: "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" with Mary Kate and Ashley.

Halloween is one of my favorite hollidays so I was kind of surprised to open uup my halloween box to find only three or four halloween decorations.

So I had to add a few extra things this year. I think that if I add one or two things each year then in about ten years I will be able to make one spooky house.

Here is what I added this year:

The candy corn candy dishes

Gel Ghosts and Pumpkis from Wal-Mart (the kids love rearranging these on my oven)

And this Big Monster is inspired by a scary clown that is in someone's yard that we drive past every day when I take Kelsey to preschool. Ethan loved the scary clown so much that I took him to Wal-Mart and let him pick out any mask he wanted so we could create our own creepy halloween guy. The funny thing about this decoration is that when my sisters came to visit they were not sure if they were at the right house becuase it was dark outside and they thought that it was a black man sitting on the porch!

We added a big spider and web and the kids just LOVE it!

My Man

2010-10-11T23:17:00.000-05:00

It is hard to pick just one thing this week that Matt did for me to brag about because he is so amazing and does so much for me. But I am going to say that the thing that was most appreciated was when Ethan was sick saturday night (and puking every 20-30 minutes for several hours) Matt stayed up and took care of everything so that I could sleep. This meant that I didn't have to help with any of the clean-up, laundry, or sad crying child. Matt did it all. And good thing too because I have felt like a zombie from lack of sleep due to my scheduling overload last week. How many of you have a man that would do that? ???

Ethan

2010-10-08T00:41:00.000-05:00

Ethan is a darn stubborn individual. Matt says, "of course he is, he is just like you!" This may be true. He refuses to submit if he believes he is being controlled. I have found two things useful in dealing with him. First, reverse psychology.
"Ethan, please do not eat your dinner."
"But Mom, I am a little bit hungry"
"Ok, fine but only have a little bit"

or

"Ethan, I want you to stand here and scream as loud as you can for as long as you can."

Second, I always try to give him some kind of choice.
Instead of, "Ethan, it is quiet time you need to be in your room for one hour." I say, "Would you rather read books or play cars for quiet time."

Yesterday when he was being particularly stubborn it occured to me how just how much he values agency. I imagined to myself what kind of great warrior he was in the pre-existance for the cause of Christ. There was NO WAY he was even close to siding with Satan and his plan to take away our agency. This idea made me happy and proud of my son. I imagined that perhaps he and I (and our stubborn natures) fought alongside each other to persuade our brothers and sisters how important it is to have our agency and to be able to choose for ourselves.
What a good boy I have!!!

My favorite part of having a baby

2010-10-05T12:19:00.001-05:00

I love when Juliet falls asleep in the afternoon so I take her into my room to lie down. After softly resting her in my bed she turns her head from side to side to find a position that is most comfortable and it is so cute that I can't resist the temptation to kiss her, even though it risks waking her up. So I bend over and as softly as humanly possible I plant a kiss on the chubbiest part of her round pink cheeks. Then I get into bed with her and slide next to her and she turns her head towards me and I smile as I close my eyes and doze off. I call this our "snooze and snuggle".

My Man Mondays

2010-10-04T23:43:00.000-05:00

I have such an extraordinary husband and he hardly ever gets the credit he deserves for it. So I decided that I will do a post every monday to brag about something awesome or thoughtful or fun or cool or something that he did that week.
Lately I have been feeling a great NEED to exercize and try to work off this baby weight. I think it has something to do with me only being able to wear sweats and maternity pants still. I can't even fit into my FAT pants yet. I almost fit in them. I tried some on and they fit really well and I was so excited and jumped around singing and so happy that they actually buttoned up. But something bad happened. Something bad called Chocolate No Bake Cookies and they are too tight again.
So Matt has been so good to watch the kids every night after he gets off of work so that I can go running. This is a big sacrifice for him because I know he is tired when he comes home and wants to relax. But he does this for me because he knows how much better I feel when I am in shape.
So, Thanks Honey. You're the best!

Kelsey's turn to be funny

2010-09-30T00:34:00.000-05:00

Ethan is usually the one saying hilarious stuff and I occasionally blog about something he has said. Well, the other day Kelsey said something funny that I just had to share.

We were reading scriptures and after we were talking about who Jesus' parents were. Of course his father is Heavenly Father and we asked Kelsey if she remembered who his mother was. She couldn't remember her name so we reminded her that his mother's name was Mary. Then Kelsey thought for a minute and said in all seriousness, "Mary? Mary had a little lamb."

Aftter laughing for a minute I thought, this is true. She did have a little lamb. A little "Lamb of God".

And now for a test question: Which one is Kelsey and which one is Juliet?

Pic 1 Pic 2

Birthday Princess

2010-09-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

September 24, 2010

My baby girl turned five! WOW!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about that, but we tried to make her day very special.

Here is what we did.

She had school so we took cupcakes to share with her class and she wore her very favorite outfit and a brand new tiara.

For dinner she wanted hamburgers so we tried this new place. It was SO GOOD. Best burger I think I have ever had, ever.

Kelsey thought one of the bus boys that worked there was cute. She said, "I like his face. It is cute." I wanted to take a picture of the boy but I didn't dare. I am such a coward, he probably wouldn't have cared. I just thought it was funny that my little girl is already noticing boys. This may mean trouble.

Opening presents was her favorite part of the day, of course.

September 25, 2010

The Party

Kelsey loves Sleeping Beauty and thinks that she IS Princess Aurora.

The invitation, so cute, said, "Once Upon A Dream the three fairies bestowed upon Princess Kelsey a magical birthday celebration with all of her best friends. Please make this dream come true and join the fun."

So I made this cake:

Not easy to decorate. The towers were leaning and I felt like the green fairy in sleeping beauty who tried to make a cake and was struggling to keep it from falling over. I wished that I had a magic wand to magically make it all better. But it turned out ok, after two hours of stressful work.

Oh, and I love how the princess is as big as the towers.

I also stayed up into the wee hours of the morning making this cardboard castle (which was a huge hit).

That's right: Spit, Grit, and a whole lotta duct tape.

I would have loved to have painted it white with purple trim and lots of sparkley glitter.

But that would have taken an entire extra day of work.

After playing for a little while we went into the kitchen to make princess hats.

The two boys (Ethan and his friend Matthew) made shields.

I think they turned out quite darling. Or maybe just the girls are darling and anything looks good on them.

Next, the kids were required to go treasure hunting. I told them that the three fairies had hidden some treasures for them. They each had to find 3 bags, one pink bag(from the pink fairy), one green bag (from the green fairy), and one blue bag (from the blue fairy). The two boys had to find one blue bag, and a sword.

The pink bag was the "gift of beauty" and inside was a princess crown and some lip gloss. The green bag was the "gift of song" and inside was a little horn. The blue bag was the "gift of true love's first kiss" and inside was hershey kisses.

Then we all had some lunch

And played a little more.

Opened presents

And sang "Happy Birthday"

I think everyone had a lot of fun. It was one of my most succesfull parties, which may be due to the fact that the kids were a little older than in times past.

Happy Birthday Kelsey

We sure love you.

Preschool and other fun

2010-09-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

Kelsey started her first day of Pre-School today. She is a september baby and missed the deadline, which is why she will always be the oldest one in her class. She was SUPER excited. She had so much fun, I am so glad that she gets to go (even if I have to drive through Tropical Storm Hermione to get her there).

This is her favorite outfit that she picked out, and she looks just darling. I am so proud of her.

Here is a funny story about Ethan today:

We were reading scriptures in Jacob 2 where it was talking about how the rich people began to oppress the poor and Jacob was calling them to repentance. So I explained to the kids that if you have a lot of money you are supposed to share it with those who don't have as much. To see if Ethan was listening I said, "So Ethan, what are you supposed to do if you have a lot of money?"

Ethan looked up from his book and shouted, "Go to CHUCK E. CHEESE!"

Yup, that's my Ethan for you.

Ethan also got a new "big boy bed" this week. Matt was so patient and let Ethan "help" him set it up. I don't have a picture of the final product. I should try to get one for y'all.

And Lastly, here is sweet Juliet. A dear lady from Church gave her this GIGANTIC pink bow. It is to die for, it is so darling. It is cuter in real life than in this picture because the picture doesn't show how sparkly it is.

It is hard to find a spot on her head to put it where it isn't in her eyes so we have to turn it way to the side of her head.

Here is a pic of Juliet with her "best friend" JJ.

And here is a pic of Kelsey and Ethan with JJ. We must copy everything Juliet does.

Adventures (Scott always brings them)

2010-08-27T00:39:00.000-05:00

My most cool brother came to visit me. The best part was that he didn't tell me he was coming until last minute so I didn't have to suffer the anticipation of the event. He brought his two kids and MY MOM.

Tuesday we met them in San Antonio at Sea World. Sadly we were too busy having fun that we didn't take many pictures, but I will post the ones we did take.

This is when we first arrived at Sea World:

We couldn't find my brother and mom right at first so Matt and the kids played in this splash are while I walked around the HUGE park in 100 degree weather, but I did find them, so that's all that mattered in the end.

This ride is called Atlantis. Kelsey was tall enough to go on it. She loved it so much that as soon as it was over she said, "again!"

One of my favorite parts was the Shamu show, of course. There was also another very entertaining show called "Azul" but I didn't get any pictures of it.

We all bought an all-you-can-eat-and-drink pass, but it wasn't really worth it because the food was NOT good, except for the fresh fruit and diet coke. Oh yeah, and they had pretty good cookies shaped like Shamu and they were served in a Shamu bowl, so we all got lots of those and kept the bowls for souveniers. There was even one time when we had eaten all the cookies we could handle but wanted one more bowl, so Scott went up just got the bowl from the cashier without the cookies (otherwise we would have just thrown the cookies away).

Later that night when we were all exhausted from the day's adventures we went to my house. Savannah slept over (Kelsey's wishes) and Scott, Jared, and Mom went to their LUXURIOUS La Quinta hotel. I told them they could stay with me, but they preferred the ghetto. You can ask them about it sometime. Matt and I had already experienced the fabulousness of Corpus Christi's La Quinta, we should have warned them before they booked hotels. So sorry, Scott.

The next day (Wednesday) was a "relax" day. The kids played together and Scott went off to tour the USS Lexington (which he said was really fun). Mom and I got lots of time to talk. I made peanut butter bars and when Matt got off work and Scott came back from his tours of the boat, we had a BBQ.

Thursday started early with breakfast at IHOP, compliments of Scott (Thanks it was so nice, these are the reasons why you will always be my favorite brother), and then we went to the beach. Sadly, I didn't even take my camera to the beach with us so I have no pictures of it. But it was very sunny.

When Matt got off work, Mom took us all out to Rudy's (Matt's favorite, my most hated). Thanks Mom, I was truly spoiled that day.

It was hard to say goodby, we had so much fun. They left very early friday morning.

Now for some cuteness.

This is Juliet in her new sun hat that Grandma Jill got for her.

I think she really likes it :)

Ways To Cool Off

2010-08-15T18:29:00.000-05:00

It is SO HOT here in south Texas this time of year. Running through sprinklers is one of the ways the kids like to cool off in the middle of the afternoon.

"Mom, help! Ethan is Stuck"

Those crazy munchkins filled this bucket with water. I could hear Kelsey saying, "Is it my tun yet?" Ethan-"Not yet sister." A couple minutes later Kelsey would say, "Is it my turn yet." "Not yet."

And now here is a picture of Juliet. She is getting so big so fast.

Question

2010-08-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

For all the moms out there who have taken their kids to get immunizations: Have you ever gone to the dr to get immunizations and they were out of the MMR shot? I like Kelsey's doctor a lot but I have taken Kelsey in two times (in april and again today) and they have been out of the MMR both times. I can understand being out of the flu shot during flu season but I never had that happen to me before in Utah. Has it ever happened to you or is this a bad doctors office?

New Pics of Juliet

2010-07-31T11:53:00.000-05:00

Myspace tweaks at TweakYourPage.com

Un-Birthday

2010-07-30T00:17:00.000-05:00

I stole this idea from one of my friends. She did it for some kids she was nannying and blogged about it and I LOVED it. So thanks, Emily, for the fantastic idea! Now I am going to blog about it and if you decide to do an unbirthday party, I think you should blog about it too so I can see your version of it.

Since we don't have the movie, we started out by watching the mad hatter tea party on you-tube. We rented the movie one time a few months ago but I wasn't sure if the kids remembered it, so we watched just this part so that they would understand what exactly we were doing and why.

So after watching that, we made party hats.

Ethan made one but wouldn't wear it, so we put it on Juliet.

Next we decorated cupcakes. Ethan's were the goopiest.

Here are Kelsey's

Then we had our tea party and lunch. Our friend Trisha joined us. She is the sweetest person on this planet and the kids love her. We were VERY glad she came.

By the way, Trisha is pregnant and due in two weeks! I'll bet you couldn't even tell. She is so tiny it makes me jealous.

Ok, so next we colored pictures of Disney's Alice in Wonderland tea party. I found these printables online.

And last, we opened presents. What is an unbirthday party without presents??? These were just dollar store presents. The kids were in second heaven, getting presents for no reason. It was a blast.

So there you go. Thanks again Emily for the great idea.

My happiest blessing - Matt

2010-07-25T15:17:00.000-05:00

Matt is such an excellent father. I am so lucky to have him, and my kids are so lucky to have him. I often feel guilty about not being able to spend much time with the older kids right now because Juliet needs so much attention. Matt has always been really good about playing with the kids, and with Juliet born, he has picked up the slack and spent extra time with the older ones.

Here is something fun that they did. Just a few days after Juliet was born Matt set up the tent in our back yard and had a campout. Before the "campout" they made cookies together so they could eat them in the tent. They had a lot of fun. They stayed up really late and ended up coming inside to sleep in their own beds where they were more comfortable.

And here is a picture of Juliet, just because she is new, and cute.

Christy, this is for you

2010-07-16T17:47:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pics of the baby, because Christy (my sister) told me to update my blog. I havn't been doing much these days, just nursing and changing diapers. I try to find little things for the older kids to do, but I feel bad because it hasn't been real exciting. They are taking everything pretty well, and they play well together. I also have a friend named Trisha who takes Kelsey and Ethan and plays with them. This last week she took them to McDonalds on Wed. and then to a dollar movie on Thurs. Trisha is such an angel and has really releived a lot of stress for me.
So here are the pics:

Welcome Juliet

2010-07-05T20:58:00.000-05:00

Here is Juliet.

I could just post pictures and not have to say much, but some people like to know all the details.

Juliet Jill Sanders

6 lbs 15 oz

18 1/2 inches long

When I went to my Dr. appointment on tuesday, I was dialated to a six (I'd been at a 4 for two weeks) so my Dr. said to come in on thursday (July 1) and she would break my water. We went into the hospital around 10, my water broken around 11:30. She came out easily, it only took about ten minutes to push her out once she was ready, and she was born right at 4:00 pm. And that is the condensed version.

She is an angel child. Very calm, doesn't cry.

On the way home. We went home saturday afternoon.

That night Matt had a UFC party and we celebrated his birthday (since we were in the hospital all day on Friday-which was his 30th birthday).

The next day was the 4th of July. Matt took the older kids to church. Here is Kelsey playing with Juliet. They both look so darling in their festive dresses.

Kelsey LOVES having a sister.

After dinner we made a patriotic airplane craft.

We finished the night with watching fireworks. I sat in the car with Juliet, but Mat and the kids got out. Independence Day is just not the same without fireworks.

What a weekend, eh?

More to come.

Some indoor activities

2010-06-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since we crafted, so last monday we went to the craft store and bought stuff to make masks.

Here are the cuties, busy at work. Kelsey picked out sparkley stars and Ethan insisted on sports stickers. We also used a few things that we already had at home in the craft box.

Kelsey wanted to decorate more than just her mask.

Here is the finished pruduct.

Today we took the kids to see Toy Story 3. It is FABULOUS! I laughed so much. Anyone who has ever liked Toy Story should go see this, even if you don't have kids. I think it is the best one they ever made. Disney rarely dissapoints.

June

2010-06-19T08:12:00.000-05:00

My May month was full of fun plans and as expected, it flew by quickly. For June I had ZERO plans and was afraid it was going to CRAWL by so slowly. So I planned on doing a few projects for Juliet's room to occupy my time. Then church hit and I couldn't catch a break - with getting a new calling, teaching a releif society lesson, doing a disaster preparedness night, and speaking in sacrament meeting, the last couple of weeks have disappeared and none of my planned projects even got started.

Also, I am quite dialated and I have many contractions in the evenings (not consistent enough to be active labor) and I could go into labor any second so every night I wonder if this is going to be the night. I am ready for this child to get here! I am tired of the suspense.
Now it is too hot to go outside. I told the children that they can't go outside unless we are swimming. I am afraid that they will pass out from heat exhaustion. We hate to be in all day, so swimming is what we do. Happily we have a clubhouse and pool in our community that we pay an HOA fee to maintain, so we can go swimming for free, and we do. Almost every day. It is just around the corner from our house, not even a full block away, so we grab our floaties and walk on down to it. I finally took the camera along yesterday so I could click a couple of pictures and preserve a memory of how we spent the ENTIRE summer.

We are all getting nice little tans and a little bit of exersize in the process.

Kelsey admitted to me yesterday that she likes swimming more than dance. We will have to do swimming lessons pretty soon, I think.

Ethan turned 3

2010-05-29T21:21:00.000-05:00

Today my little buddy turned three, I can hardly believe it! We wanted the day to be special for him. Here is how it went:

1st- The first thing we did was open presents. That is what every toddler is most excited about so we didn't make him wait. These presents were from us and some were from Grandma Jill and Grandpa Larry.

2nd- We hurried and got ready for the big "Batman" birthday party that started at 10:30 am.

At the party all of the kids got a batman mask and cape (I made the capes, can you even believe that I could be that crafty? They would be so simple for most people, but for me it was a major project.) They also got a water gun and we all went outside to shoot the "bad guys". I had a basket full of water balloons and they could throw the balloons and shoot the pictures of batman villians that I had hung up on the fence. I didn't get a good picture of the villians but I had laminated pictures of the Joker, the Penguine, and the Riddler. It was already soooo HOT outside so it was good to play with water.

After the kids played for a bit, we got out the pinata. (This was a very aggressive party.)

After the pinata was cracked and candy collected, we headed inside for lunch. I had Matt pick up about 70 chicken nuggets at McDonalds and we also had chips, a veggie tray, grapes, and drinks. For the parents there were chicken salad sandwiches.

Then it was time to open presents

Time for singing and then cake and ice cream:

Here are some cute pictures from the party:

3rd- After everyone went home and the party was cleaned up we had a relaxing afternoon that involved a little movie watching and a little nap.

4th- Ethan's favorite food is pizza so for dinner we went to a new pizza restaurant that just opened up this week.

It was a fun place

Instead of giving the kids crayons, they gave them dough to play with. WAY more fun than coloring!

It was great Pizza!!!

Happy Birthday Ehan. We love ya.

Dress Rehersal

2010-05-19T22:31:00.000-05:00

Kelsey had her dance rehersal tonight and I was able to take some pictures of her in her adorable costume. I have been so excited all year for this. Kelsey really loves dancing. She is always practicing around the house and showing us her "moves". Today in the car on the way to the auditorium, she said to me, "Mom, I'm happy." That makes EVERYTHING so worth it. I took a million pictures because I am in love with my daughter and I think she is so stinkin' cute and I want to show her off to the world. So enjoy the pictures and then there is a video at the end.

Water Fun

2010-05-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

We bought this little pool for the kids on Saturday. It is so fun because you can hook your hose up to it and it sprays water and the dinosaur whips its head back and forth to spray the kids. I thought the pictures were cute.

More adventures in the Sander's household

2010-04-25T20:11:00.000-05:00

The first bit of news is that my cat Claire had kittens. She went into labor at three in the morning on Friday and when the first one came, I ran and got Kelsey out of bed so she could experience it. I was told that usually when a cat is having her first batch of kittens that they only have a few, like three or four, so that is what I was expecting. But the kittens just kept coming and coming. At 6 am she was finally finished giving birth and had SIX babies!!! I just can't handle being a seven-cat-family so in a few months we will be opening The Sander's Cat Adoption Agency. So if you know anyone who wants a kitten, or two...

They ARE quite cute. We already love them all.

We also had plans to go camping friday night, so we packed up the van, left our new arrivals and headed for Lake Corpus Christi (a short 40 minute drive).

It was darn hot so as soon as we got all set up we headed for the lake to go swimming.

The kids also went "fishing" (played with kid fishing poles) for the first time. They LOVED it and have now become obsessed with it.

Later we went back to camp, had tin foil dinners and told campfire stories.

The campfire stories was a really fun part of the night. Matt started it and told a story about snipes, and Batman, and the Joker. I told one about Pirates. Kelsey then told the cutest story I will never forget. It went like this:

There was a family that went camping and when they went into the tent there was a ghost. The ghost killed the family but then Jesus came and punched the ghost and killed the ghost. Then he picked up the family and "brought them back alive". The End.

The next morning we made pancakes and bacon, went for a little hike, then more swimming. It was really fun and was over way too fast.

So Tired

2010-04-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

I no longer force Ethan to take naps but I think he was not quite ready to give them up because I often find him sleeping in random places. Sometimes he falls asleep sitting up, sometimes he curls up with his blanket on the floor. Sometimes he actually goes to his own bed and goes to sleep. He is so darn cute when he is all tuckered out. Here are some pictures.

The Most Exhausting Easter Ever

2010-04-11T00:04:00.000-05:00

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. This one will be particularly memorable. Our holiday festivities started on friday with egg dying.

It was cute and fun but went surprisingly quick. The whole activity only lasted about ten minutes. But they had fun and that's the point, right?

Our next fun event was a wild party, and this is really sad but I can't remember if this party was on friday night or saturday night. It seems like this happened a long time ago. Here are some pictures.

This is the mellow part.

My favorite part was when Dan sang "Mr. Roboto".

On Easter Sunday, the kids woke up really excited. The Easter Bunny hid the baskets and the kids had to find them.

And then there were more eggs to find outside.

After the egg hunt we went in and had breakfast. Kelsey was breathing a little hard so I gave her a breathing treatment and thought she would be fine.

So in between General Conference sessions we had friends come over for a barbeque and picnic.

This is the point where we realized Kelsey was not well. She had several friends over and she didn't want to play. She went into our bedroom and layed down on the bed while her friends played in her room without her.

Kelsey was still struggling with breathing so we did a couple more breathing treatments but they were not working. After everyone left we decided to take Kelsey to the insta-care. After spending five hours there we ended up here-in the hospital.

She had pnemonia and it was making it so she wasn't getting enough oxygen. Big long story that I don't want to type, Kelsey is now labled as "asthmatic" and our hospital stay lasted five days. It was a party. She is home now and all is well again.

30 and under 100

2010-04-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

So here I am being thirty years old and quite pregnant. I told Matt to take a picture so I could show how much I am showing now that I have less than 100 days to go before a new princess arrives. Well, I didn't get the stomach picture, I guess I will need to be more specific in my picture taking instructions next time.

Yesterday, on my birthday, Matt took me out on a date and we had some friends, Jeff and Trisha, come over and watch the kids. When we got back home, our friends surprised me with this birthday cake and a present. They are so sweet. The cake looks like one big fire hazard. I wasn't sure we would make it through the song.

Today I took the kids on a picnic to the water gardens and then to the science museum.

Every first thursday of every month it is "free day" at the museum so we go there every month. They have a lot of fun things for kids to do. This is the third month in a row that we have gone but this is the first time I remembered to take my camera.

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but here a few fun ones.

This is the dinosaur area.

Kelsey hanging upside down like a bat.

A lighthouse that is fun to play on.

Ethan driving the boat.

2010-03-30T20:26:00.000-05:00

Spring is fabulous, especially here in Corpus. A couple of weeks ago I decided to go on a picnic with the kids at least once a week until it gets too dreadfully hot and the misquitos get too rampant. Monday is usually boring for us, so it is often our picnic day.

This is our favorite park close to our house. The kids love the swings the best.

Today we got packages in the mail from grandma Jill. The kids were so excited! I managed to get a few pictures while they were opening the box.

Are my kids spoiled or what???

I am also very spoiled. My mom also sent me a birthday package. It was so much fun. Inside was make-up, clothes, a nightgown, and some of my favorite candy.

My mom is so thoughtful. I aspire to be like her. Thanks Mom, you are the best.

Feed the Birds

2010-03-28T20:39:00.000-05:00

After church we went for a family walk. We walked past a house that had some bird feeders and the kids really liked it. So we came home and made some of our own - preschool style.

I got this idea from "The Everything Toddler Activities Book". I lost the book when we moved (we had a box go missing that had several of my favorite kid books and this was one of them). Anyway, I remembered reading about this activity and it really fit today so I pulled out some stuff and we made this craft.

All you need to make this craft is acorns, peanut butter, and bird seeds, and yarn(for hanging them).

You spread the peanut butter onto the acorn

Then roll them into the seeds

Here is the finsihed product.

Matt so kindly climbed the tree to hang them up.

Look how cute they are hanging up in our tree, now the birds will be happy.

The Day For The Wearing of The Green

2010-03-17T19:58:00.000-05:00

Celebrating holidays is so much fun. Today we had a lot of fun because to me St. Patrick's Day is all about GREEN, RAINBOWSand MAGICAL LITTLE PEOPLE.

We celebrated today by making a fancy GREEN St. Patrick's Day Dinner.

We started with CRAFTING

The kids made all of the table settings:

Here they are, hard at work.

They made shamrock candles

Rainbow centerpieces

and shamrock napkin rings

Then they watched "The Last Leprechaun" on Youtube while I made dinner.

Here is a picture of their fabulous crafts that adorned our dinner table tonight.

Here is a picture of all the GREEN food.

For dinner we had:

Fried chicken with GREEN mashed potatoes and GREEN gravy

GREEN veggies tray with GREEN ranch dip

GREEN grapes, GREEN Jellow, and Shamrock Shakes

(mint chocolate chip ice cream blended with milk and topped with whipped cream and green sprinkles)

And here we are, enjoying our feast!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Fun Dates

2010-03-15T23:05:00.000-05:00

This last weekend we took the kids on dates. Matt took Kelsey on a Father/Daughter date and I took Ethan on a Mother/Son date. Matt and Kelsey went to Chili's and then went bowling. Ethan and I went to Applebee's and then mini golfing.

Next time we will switch kids and have one-on-one time with the other child.

Ethan and I had so much fun. I had the camera with me so I don't have pics of Matt and Kelsey's date, but here are a couple from mine and Ethan's date.

Here we are at Applebee's

We even ordered dessert!!

Ethan is so cute and charming so they gave him a balloon.

After we ate we went to Galexy Glow Mini Golf. I forgot to take the camera inside with us but here are some pics from their website. These two were Ethan's favorite. He LOVED the alien the most.

2010-03-12T16:34:00.000-06:00

This is a story I largely debated posting but I decided it is a memory I might appreciate later. Later as in twenty or more years when my children have safely become adults and it is no longer my responsibility to keep them alive.

This is what happened.

I was desperately tired because I had done five hundred loads of laundry. Ok it was just five, but I was exhausted and being pregnant I put on a movie for the kids and went to lay down. At 4:00 Matt called and Kelsey and Ethan brought the phone in to me. I know it was exactly four o' clock because I checked the time on my phone when he called. I talked to Matt for a minute and then layed there thinking about how it was almost time to start dinner, and I needed to get out some chicken to thaw, and I was dreading getting up because my bones hurt. A few more minutes passed and I realized that I could not hear the kids. I looked at the clock. 4:10. I decided I'd better check on the kids. I got up, walked out to the living room and called their names. No answer. I go to the stairs and call. No answer. I look to the front door and saw it was unlocked.

Kelsey knows how to unlock the front door so I ran outside to see if they were on the street. I could not see them anywhere. Panic struck. There is a little park around the corner so I started running in that direction to see if they went there. I saw a man out mowing a yard. I stopped and asked if he had seen them. He said no. I continued to the park. When I turned the corner I could see they were not at the park. so I ran around the block as fast as I could, hoping that around every corner I would see them walking. I did not see them. I ran home. When I got in the house I called out their names just in case. No answer. I checked the backyard. No. I grabbed my cell phone and called Matt. He said to call the police. I asked him to do it so I could go get in the van and drive around looking for them. I grabbed my keys to go out to the garage and looked at the clock. It was 4:17.

When I went into the garage I found them. They were in the van playing. Releif. Annoyance. Releif. Anger. Releif. I opened the car door. Amazingly I didn't yell. I wasn't really mad at them, I was more angry with myself. I just told them that I couldn't find them, that I was worried and that they need to tell me where they are going. I told them that I had called the police because I couldn't find them.--the police! I called Matt to let him know. No answer so I texted him. I made the kids go inside and play in their rooms. I can't believe I didn't think to check the garage. In retrospect I remembered the last thing I heard Ethan say as he and Kelsey dashed from my bedroom was, "come on sister, lets go to the airplane station." I guess to their imaginations that was the garage.

The doorbell rang. Really, could it be the police already? It was the lawnmower man. He asked me if I needed any help. I told him that I found the kids, but thanks. It was really nice of him to check. Texans are good people. The phone rang. It was Matt. He said the 9-1-1 person wanted to talk to me so they were going to call. I hang up with Matt and the 9-1-1 person calls. I told them that I found the kids and everything is ok. So they did not send the police over.

With the kids safely upstairs in their rooms, I get myself a big piece of Amish Friendship Bread (obviously I am an emotional eater) and slump into a chair to let my breathing and blood pressure return to normal. All I could think about was that Matt was on his way home from work and he was going to be upset and think I am the worst mom, and that I was going to deserve listening to him lecture me on how I need to pay closer attention to what is going on. He is really protective of the kids, which is a good thing. Then I get a text. It is from Matt. I opened it up and it just said, "I love you." Then I cried. And cried.

I never got the bad mom lecture.

I don't know why I felt so much like I should post this experience. It's like announcing to the world that I am not all with it. But maybe someone can relate to how such short amount of time can produce such panic.

Last Week

2010-03-08T10:29:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to do a post all week and just never get around to doing it. You know I use those excuses like my kitchen floor needs to be mopped or I need to study for a test and can't put it off any longer. Completely unreasonable excuses. So this morning I decided not to put if off any longer.

We did a lot of things last week but I am always forgetting my camera so I don't have very many pics. The weather is FABULOUS so we've spent a lot of time outside. We went on a picnic two different days. One to a park and one to a water garden.

We also went with all of Kelsey's dance friends to the Children's Museum. It is free on the first Thursday of every month and it is such a fun place. I have gone on "free day" the last two months but I never remember the camera. I will try desperately hard to remember it next month.

Here are some things we did last week that I DID have my camera around for.

C-c-c-crafting!!!

I bought this kit of light catchers. They are animal shapes and there were 8 animals in the box to paint. So the kids took turns picking which animals they wanted and then I let them have at it.

I was going to take the finished product and hang them up but the kids had so much fun playing with them, I just let them have them for toys. The box came with 8 animals, paint, and brushes. Best $4 I ever spent.

One of Kelsey's dance friends also invited us to her Fancy Nancy birthday party. It was fun to get all dressed up. Kelsey thinks she is a fashion model. Earlier this week matt purchased "In Style" magazine for Kelsey (her first fashion magazine). When she was looking at the pictures I could hear her say things like, "look mom, sparkly shoes" or, "Ohhhh, make-up", then she kept asking, "what are they doing mom?" I looked and they were not doing anything they were just in weird poses to take the picture, some of them were in the rain, or they were twisted all weird, or upside down. So these next picture poses are probably a rub off from Kelsey looking at that magazine.

I spent a bit of time on her hair so I included some pics of her hair so you could see it better.

By the way, the tutorial for this hair do is found here:

http://www.princesshairstyles.com/search/label/Easter

Read-a-thon

2010-02-17T16:49:00.000-06:00

Most of the things that I do with the kids are ideas that I get from my mom, friends, or the internet. This time I thought of something on my own. I woke up one morning and thought, "I want to have a read-a-thon with my kids today." I loved read-a-thons in elementary school. So we popped popcorn, got out all of our valentines sweets, grabbed special drinks, pillows, and blankets and cozied up on Ethan's bedroom floor. I got down every book we own and let the kids take turns picking a book for me to read to them. It lasted for about an hour and a half!

Towards the end the kids started to read some of their favorites to me. That was my favorite part. To hear their version of the stories that I have read them over and over and over. Here are some of their favorites that they practically have memorized.

We had a fun time and it is an activity that I highly reccomend. It is a perfect rainy day activity and I know we will be doing this again.

A Pirate's Life for Me.

2010-02-16T08:14:00.000-06:00

This last weekend gave me a reason to rejoyce because it was the first weekend in two months where we made it all the way through without at least one person in the family being sick. This weekend we were invited to a birthday party for one of Kelsey's dance friend's brother. I have become friends with the mom and she always invites me to her parties. Her name is Esme and I wonder if she feels bad for me because she knows we don't have any family here. Either way, I am glad whenever we are invited anywhere to do anything. I thought Esme did such a great job on her son's party. Everything was so cute so I took lots of pictures. Kelsey was the most excited because it was a pirate party and she had a fun time dressing up. Here she is doing a silly pirate dance before we left for the party.

Here is Ethan being sad because he was afraid to go to the party. He said that he didn't want to go to a pirate party, he wanted to go to a "nice" party.

The cake was AWESOME and Esme had made it herself!

There was a huge cardboard pirate ship for the kids to play with.

And the pinata was homemade too.

Here is Kelsey with Miranda (her friend from dance).

I loved the candles on the cake because they were the cannons on the side of the ship and so it looked really cool when they were lit for the birthday song.

We were there for an hour and a half and the kids had a blast. I think Ethan changed his mind about pirates and now he thinks they are pretty fun after all.

Cupid's Visit

2010-02-14T21:53:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines Day!!!

We had a great one. It started early. The kids wake up around 6:30 am these days and just because we don't have church until 11:00 doesn't mean we get to sleep in at all.

When the kids woke up they had a package from Grandma Jill waiting for them. Inside was candy, cards, and stuffed animals. Ethan asked me what his new stuffed dog's name was. I said, "you can name him anything you want." He said, "His name is Beagle."

Then I made the traditional pink breakfast.

It was really nice outside today so after church we went for a long walk around the neighborhood and then just hung out around the house afterward.

For dinner the kids had this:

Corn Dogs and Tater Tots.

Then we played Valentines Bingo

And we sent the little ones to bed at 7:00 and had our own romantic dinner.

I made all new recipes that we have never tried before, that way it would be like trying out a new restaurant. Here is what I made:

Caramelized Pancetta and Fennel Salad

Shrimp Scampi with Linguini

cooked carrots

and for dessert: Truffle Tarts with raspberries.

It was all really good and I we had an enjoyable time. All of my recipes were found on the foodnetwork.com.

I hope all of your Valentines Day activities were wonderful.

Keep them busy and fed

2010-02-13T07:35:00.000-06:00

My wonderful mother always gives me fabulous ideas on how to keep my toddlers occupied. Here is one of those ideas - stringing cereal. I had them do this project right before they went to the neighbor's house to be babysat while I took a test for school. The idea was that this way they would have something to munch on and so they wouldn't say they were hungry and ask my neighbor for food every ten minutes (like they do to me).

The finished product:

Time to unpack the girly clothes

2010-02-07T15:55:00.000-06:00

We are having a girl! We are so excited, especially Kelsey. I can't wait to get out all of Kelsey's old clothes from storage and go through them. We will probably name her Juliet Virginia. The only one disappointed is Ethan but he is saying, "Boy next time."

Surprise Visit

2010-01-28T22:50:00.000-06:00

Last week we had a surprise visit from Josh, Alexis, and their three adorable kids. Kelsey and Ethan were so excited to see their cousins. Matt took the day off of work on Friday so he could spend time with his brother and here are a few pictures...

This is a picture of our attemp to let the kids all sleep together. This lasted only about 20 minutes and then they had to be separated so that they would go to sleep. Although it didn't last, it was really cute to see all their little bodies inside of those huge sleeping bags.

The funnest thing we did while Josh and Alexis were here was go to the beach. I am glad it was a beautiful day because the weather here is so off and on right now. You never can be sure if it is going to be hot or cold that day.

I did not get in the water but I went for a nice walk/jog on the beach. It was fabulous.

They didn't get to stay long (1 1/2 days) but we really enjoyed our time while they were here. Thanks for coming out guys!

Today Ethan said...

2010-01-23T16:46:00.000-06:00

Today Ethan said, "Don't kill the mosquito, it's just a happy mosquito."

2010-01-07T08:20:00.000-06:00

I love this picture so I thought I would share it. They were watching a football game together.

Pre Christmas Preparations

2010-01-02T18:21:00.000-06:00

I decided to post what pictures I have of our chritmas preparations.

As most of you know, I am pregnant. For those who didn't know that, I am 13 weeks now. I have been so tired and this is how I spent most of December. I think I slept as much as the cat. Needless to say, most of the christmas preparations were a little behind schedule this year.

We started getting packages of gifts from grandparents in the mail pretty early and every day Kelsey would ask if they could open the presents yet. So we made the traditional paper chains so she could know when it was time to open the presents. The paper chains were a huge succuess. They each had their own and they loved ripping off a paper every morning.

We also got new stockings this year. I ironed on the letters for their names. I think they turned out cute.

Our tree was red, black and silver. It is kind of hard to see all the ornaments in a picture.

One day I made sugar cookies and the kids decorated them.

This may have been their very favorite activity all month.

This last picture is of Kelsey all dressed up when I took her to see the Nutcracker Ballet. She wore her fancy gloves, a pretty dress, fancy hair, and fancy jewelry. We had a grand time.