A Blast from the Past

You know whenever you are friends with someone, and you don't see each other for like 11 years, and your paths cross and it's like you never left each other....well that's what it was like with my friend Rheanna!! Okay, apart from living in various places, marriage and 3 kids later...but you get the idea, right? (okay, to give you a little background, Rheanna's dad and my dad were stationed in Australia the same time, and Rheanna and I quickly became friends!)

Well, I met my dear friend at McDonald's Playplace and had our kids run wild while we caught up. It was sooo nice and she looked great! I love it when I see friends happy with their lives. It is amazing and "out of this world" to be reconnecting with friends from the past. Thanks for having lunch with me Rheanna. It really made my day.

Twilight Baby!

So earlier this week I was talking to my sister and she said that she was going to go see "Twilight" with some friends of hers. And she suggested that I go with my mom. I mentioned it to my mom...and before you knew it, we had tickets to the 12:15am showing of "Twilight." So my mom and I went to "Twilight" (the midnight showing) and had so much fun! Mom, thank you so much for coming with me. It was really something I've never done before and I am glad that I went with you.

I got to the movie theaters about 10:30pm and I could already see a HUGE never-ending line of "Twilight" fans. My mom wasn't there yet and was getting nervous about the "oh-so-growing" lines. As soon as my mom arrived we stood in line ourselves and saying, "I can't believe we're here!" The guy who took our ticket just said, "Follow this line down and around the corner and you'll find the end." So that's what we did. We walked down the hall, around the corner, across the doors and back up the other side of the hallway...and we found the end. My mom quickly got some popcorn and drinks and we sat and talked until it was "Twilight" time. The crowd was fun and I really enjoyed my mother's company. Thank you mom!!!!! I had so much fun and I loved spending time with you. Love you.

Now, after seeing the movie...all I have to say is that the actor who played Edward totally redeemed himself! I was a bit hesitant to watch him because he was not the Edward I envisioned...but he was perfect! My mom and I had a "little" bit of a disagreement about Carlisle...I thought he was handsome...my mom not so much. I liked the movie and I can't wait till the next one comes out...are you ready Mom?

We have CURTAINS!!!

After two and a half years, I finally felt justified in getting ourselves some curtains. The bus stop is right behind our house and I finally broke down when I saw the kids in the bus staring at us, one time Jac even waved at a kid! (He's so funny) Haha. Anyway, I went to the store and found these curtains. They are perfect...and I love them! Jac, thanks for hanging them up. The weird thing is, when I was at the store, I recognized a face that I seriously haven't seen in years. It was a guy who I grew up with in Australia. Both of our parents were overseas on business...and it was like 10 years ago (+). Crazy! "It's a small world afterall"

I also purchased a coat hanger that fits perfectly behind our front door. I feel like I have a new house now. Isn't it amazing what a few little touch ups to your house can make a huge difference.

While I was taking pictures of these, Ethan wanted me to take a picture of him...so here it is:

Preston's 1st Birthday

My baby is one!!  It seems like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms at the hospital on the first day he came into this world.  Crazy!  We had family come over and celebrate his birthday. He got shoes, jammies, clothes and toys.  Thank you everyone who came and celebrated Prester's big day!  With yummy food and wonderful family, it was a perfect celebration!

I tried a low-fat kind of cupcakes.  So...pretty much I was experimenting on birthday cupcakes...so I hoped that they would turn out okay...and for a low-fat cupcake, they tasted great!  What I did was mixed a lemon cake mix with diet sprite, put it in the oven for 15 min.  They were pretty good.  If you would ask me if I would make them again...I'm not quite sure at the moment.  Thanks family for experimenting with me! =P  

He loved everyone singing to him.  He was so excited about the candle, he was obsessed in touching it.  (but luckily, didn't get a chance to do so)

Once he got his fingers out of the frosting and figured out that he could eat the cupcake...he loved smearing it all over the table.

Aren't these cute shoes!  My mom got them...thank goodness for grandma's!  

Oh...by the way, I got a new "do", here it is:

Surprise Snowballs

When I woke up this morning it looked like this:

I love it when it snows and it covers everything.  I actually gets me thinking about Christmas and puts me thinking about Jesus' birth and serving others.  But Emery was having a couple of friends over to play and we decided to make "Surprise Snowballs."  A recipe from my childhood days from the book Cookies for kids.  (these recipes never have let me down...seriously, I know it sounds dumb, but I love this cookbook!)

So the recipe is like a shortbread cookie recipe and you put M&M's in the middle, cook them and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  (hence: snowballs)  The girls (and Ethan) had fun making surprise snowballs on a snowy day. 

Ethan is showing his anticipation for friends to come over and make cookies.  (what a goof!)

 

The kids smiling proud of their rolled cookies.

It got messy!  But the kids loved every minute!

  

Powdering the "snowballs."  I gave them each individual bags so they could shake their own cookies.

The finished product. 

Mmmm...they were good.  Thanks for coming over girls!  We had a blast.

This is Halloween 2008

Our Halloween was filled with lots of FUN and CANDY!!!!  I helped my friends put on a neighborhood Halloween party for the kids, then headed over for a trunk-or-treat at the church, and ended with chili and wassail at our friends.  It was crazy busy, but totally worth it.  

Here are some pics of the neighborhood Halloween Party.  We had a donut eating contest, blow-up slide, a jumping castle, a pinata, Halloween cupcakes and fun games for the kiddies. 

 

Emmy strutting her "teeth" that she got in the pinata.

She laughs, "Ha, that shows me that I need to brush my teeth."

Another great find in the pinata surprises.

Go Emmy!

This is a great picture of our friend sliding down the slide.

And last but not least, a sample of the great cupcakes we had.

My middle Child

Ethan cracks me up.  Lately, he has just made me laugh...so I wanted to share some moments.  

* He likes piling things on one another, ie. books, shoes, etc., so usually kids build big towers.  He just says, "Look, Mom, Temple."  So he builds temples instead of towers.

* Whenever Ethan doesn't want to finish his food, clean up, or really do something he supposed to be doing, he takes a deep breath and says, "Mom, I tired."  (like that's some excuse!)

* Whenever a kid is playing with a toy and Ethan tries to take it, and the kid gets mad, Ethan says, "Mom, *the kids name* not sharing."

* Ethan loves to tackle.  The other day, he tried to tackle his cousin who is 2 years older than him.  So Ethan ran and gave him a big hug....but his cousin didn't budge.  So, Ethan continued to wrestle him and wriggled himself down by his legs so that he had a weight advantage and tackled him.  (A real football player in the making!)

*Ethan loves to draw, just like his sister.  He can draw a blob that resembles a circle and puts eyes and a smile on it.  Then whomever he drew, points to his picture and names them.  

* Is starting to end his prayers by himself.

* For those who don't know, we live by a train.  When we are inside, Ethan doesn't mind the train tooting its horn.  But when he is outside, and the train "toots" he SCREAMS and runs inside and says, "Scared train."  Such a tender heart!

* Makes up "Knock knock" jokes.  Like "Knock Knock."  "Who's there?" "Evan." "Evan who?" "Evan in the house!"  And then laughs hysterically.  

Those are some of the cute things my son does.  I love my blue eyed boy.