74 posts tagged “family”
GINGERBREAD THAT IS....
Maddy did fantastic in the Nutcracker this week!
Thankfully my Mother-in-Law, Debra, was able to sneak some pictures during the show and then saved the day by having her camera for after the performance as I forgot mine! Here's a peak!
Thank you to everyone who came and say Maddy your support and love is sooo appreciated!
Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. It's a holiday where people get to show their creativity and where children are everywhere!
My little ones LOVE how we transform the house with spooky things.
Halloween morning Maddy had Nutcracker rehearsal but afterwards we carved pumpkins.
This year Christian decided rather then Trick-or-treathing he wanted to have his own booth at the Church's Harvest Carnival. My Dad always has one, so rather then signing up for 1 he got 2. Christian designed his game and found his bible verse.
The other chicklings did however dress up. Maddy and Kenna selected designs from a friend of mine who made the most fantastic tutu costumes.
Ethan wanted to be Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. He's been flying around the house for weeks in it!
So after we got dressed up and did hair and makeup we headed to the Church's Harvest to play games. Afterwards we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood ending up at Craig and Laurie's for a fire, tortilla soup and margaritas.
As usual with 4 kids getting candy we have a ridiculous amount of candy at home. Slowly Ryan and I will both take some to work so the kids won't notice and the dentist will thank us.
Last weekend we went with my brothers family, my cousins family and our best friends family to the local apple orchards and pumpkin patch... Jeez, look at all those kids!
So what does a chestnut look like?
Picking them was interesting for sure....
My cousin Bree loves my babies and I love her! Last Friday night she watched the 2 babies for us while we went to the football game. When I got to her house she had transformed her kitchen into the kids "baking area" complete with "cookie making stations", it was sooooo cute!
A grand jury this morning has indicted a state prisoner on eight felonies, including murder in the catastrophic 2003 Old Fire, officials said.
Today is my Dad's birthday.
Growing up my Dad was always a hero in my eyes. The strong protector in our family. The man who was always outside working in the back yard or in the garage. The man who would lay on the floor at night to watch The Cosby Show and I would go any lay infront of him snuggled up and laugh at all the same parts he would laugh at. The man would would bake the most delicious chocolate chip cookies the size of muffins. The man who would shot hoops with me. The man who fired me, not once but twice.
Today 29 years later, he's still a hero in my eyes. He's still the man that I look up to. The man we laugh with. The man who still bakes cookies. The man who plays with my children. The man who has loved my Mom and made a happy home giving us kids inspiration for our own marriages. The man who shows us unconditional love.
I love you Dad!
Last night I prepared a very fattening meal that my family adored! Ethan, the child, who never eats unless its dessert had 3 helpings!!!!
So first I made Macaroni using noodles and Velveeta cheese. After it was cooked I poured it into a casserole dish and then poured cornbread mix on top of it. Put it into the oven and followed the cooking directions on the cornbread box.
All I can say is yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....a carb on top of a card covered in cheese..................
People hear us refer to the babies as "double trouble" or "Thing 1 and Thing 2", but you just don't understand unless you've experienced them 1st hand! Having 2 little ones only 14 months apart must be like having twins or maybe even worse? The older Kenna and Ethan get the more the understand how to "gang up" on people.
This past Monday my parents agreed to babysit for just the 2 babies, while we took the 2 older kids to a baseball game. So we dropped them off at 5 pm and then they stayed the night and we got them back at 8:30am.
So in the 15 hours they were with Nana and Papa they managed to conspire and "do" plenty to give my parents things to laugh and talk about.
For instance they unplugged the lamp and so the next morning my dad went to turn the light on and it wouldn't work so he thought the bulb was burnt out so he got another one, replaced it and when it still wouldn't work he got dressed in the dark after which he realsed the lamp was unplugged.
Yesterday I took my Mom to The Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Garden.
It was hot but so beautiful!
We spent the day wandering the gardens, taking in the spectacular art galleries, enjoying the history in the library and had tea in the tea room.
My parents are on vacation, so my brother and Roxanne are dog sitting for the 2 precious white fur balls that our parents call dogs. Actually these two rate a heck of a lot higher then us three children....
So Tuesday night Roxanne and her kids came over to hang out, along with my cousin Bree and her kids, and of course Roxanne had to bring the 2 pampered pooch's with her.
Things were going great, we had dinner and then were sitting around talking while all of a sudden there was a huge commotion which included fur flying, yelping and crying....What was it? Nope it had nothing to do with any of the 8 children in the house, but with those two charming fur-balls and 1 protective momma cat.
Apparently the dogs had managed to wander upstairs and entered into the unchartered territory of my bedroom which houses Olivia, our cat, and her 6 little kittens. Needless to say Olivia showed the dogs who was in charge and chased them down stairs meowing and clawing at them. She was so upset she looked like a enormous blow fish.
After we separated the 3 animals and they calmed down we managed to find humor in the fact that Mom and Dad would be distraught if they knew about Olivia's victory against the dogs.
So like any good child would do I called them relayed the story and my Mom promptly said put "the girls" (as she refers to them) on the phone. So I put the phone on speaker and held it down to the ground and listened to my Mom talk to the dogs and tell them "everything would be ok".....
Really Mom? I hate to be the one to break it to you but...........THEIR DOGS!
