I love Christmas!

This season just always puts me a great mood. I love everything about it except one thing. For those family and friends reading this I wonder if you can guess......the weather. Now, I know some of you may say that it's petty and I should love that it was almost 80 degrees today....but I don't. It's December and I want it to rain or snow or at least have a few clouds in the sky so I can sit inside and imagine that it's cold outside. Now, I am not a total pesimist so I will say the good thing about having it be like this in December is that whatever my kids get for Christmas, they can play with outside....heck, we've even went swimming in our pool Christmas day because it's been so warm. Enough already! So, today our good friend, TL came to put up our lights since my husband has banned the idea I think since he turned 40 and decided he was afraid to get on the roof....boo,hoo. Without disclosing Doug's age, let's just say that TL has been doing our lights for many years and he does a great job. No, we are not like the Griswolds but our house still looks great. Plus, I let TL do all the hard stuff and then I usually get in there and add a strand here and there throughout the month. I also started decorating the house and I totally forgot how much Christmas stuff I had. Doug and I loaded 14 bins into my car this morning out of our storage unit and we still didn't get the 2 trees that we put up in the house plus everything that goes to the office to decorate which I think is 3 or 4 more bins. Those of you that know me know that I am NOT a pack rat in any way so it's scary to think how many bins I would have if I was...(hint,hint, Mom!) Well, I'm off to finish some decorating before I hit the pillow. I'll post some pictures of my beautiful labor of love later. I love Christmas!

Better late than never!

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We had a great weekend! Doug and AJ left for a hockey tournament in Vegas early Wednesday and are due back sometime tomorrow. AJ's team took first place in the Silver Sticks tournament which means they have a spot at a tournament in Michigan in January......yeah AJ! So my mom got in Wednesday night and Thursday morning Mark, Stacie and the kids came over and we cooked away. Stacie was in charge of this traditional yummy gorgonzola broccoli dish we make every year and it was awesome as usual. So it was me, mom, Ali, Ryan,Jack, Mark, Stacie, Taylor, Austyn and Ryleigh. Not as big of a crowd this year with Adam and Jenn going to Jenn's family's dinner this year but they came over late that evening and hung out a bit. It was a great day but I was exhausted by the time it was over! The reason behind me staying home with the other kids was that Ryan had a hockey tournament as well but in Anaheim so that started bright and early Friday...we were out the door by 6:30am! The tournament lasted Friday and Saturday and no Sunday game since his team lost every game but Ryan did great! He got to play forward one game and just amazed everyone except his coach because he was back on defense the very next game....oh well. One of the great things about being married to the director of coaches is that that means that Ryan will probably be playing forward next week after Doug gets home and has a little chat with Ryan's coach. After all the hockey games, my mom and I spent the rest of the weekend baking Christmas cookies which is a family tradition that has been sorta lost since my grandpa died a few years ago. We made so many cookies and had such a great time that I think we will start this back up again. Today McKenzie came over and the kids decorated the sugar cookies. It was so cute to watch and of course I didn't think to pull my camera out so you'll just have to take my word, but here are some shots from Thanksgiving.

The boys: Austyn,Ryan, and TaylorJenn and Jack

McKenzie and Austyn

~Showcase and a bubble bath~

Despite Ali throwing up most of the day yesterday, she was well enough to do her showcase at cheer today and did a great job! Her team is much better this year and her best friend, Brittan is on her team so she's having more fun. Here's some pics from her showcase.....

After Ali's showcase, her and I took Jack to Nordstrom Cafe for some yummy Tomato Basil Soup and some Christmas shopping in the mall and then headed home where I miraculously got a 2 hour nap while Jack miraculously took a 3 hour nap! I don't think I've taken a really good nap since Jack was born so that was big for me! Last but not least, the day ended with Jack getting a much needed bath and trying out his new seat so mommy doesn't have to always take a bath with him. In case you are all wondering the boys were at hockey all day. AJ's team tied and Ryan's team lost. No school this week and Doug is leaving with AJ's team on Wednesday for Vegas for a tournament!

3-1 Lightning

Don't you just wanna pinch those cheeks!
So tonight AJ had a hockey game and they did really well! They won 3-1 and with AJ now playing defense.....it's way more exciting to watch. He does a great job! Unfortunately I wanted to get some great shots of him on the ice but this rink has netting that blocks any good shots so as you will see in the picture below, this is as good as it gets. Also, some other shots courtesy of paparrazi Ryan who heard "down in front" a lot. Tomorrow AJ has another game but I have to take Ali to cheer so no game for me. Sunday Ali has her Showcase for cheer which is simply that. Not a competition just a day to show the parents and friends what they have been working so hard for these past 6 months. I usually sneak a peek at what's going on at practice but this season I decided I wanted to be surprised, not to mention what a pain it is to drag Jack in there as well. So, I am very excited to see what great things these girls have been up to! More on that Sunday! FYI, Yes, Back by popular demand, I've gone blonde.....no blonde jokes please.

When will fall ever come??

As some of you may or may not have noticed, my blog is now fall friendly which simply means, it's fall darnit and I am going to pretend it looks just like this in my front yard even if it's really 80 degrees! Some upsides to our weather is of course the fact that you can go to the park pretty much anyday you want and try and get some great shots of your kids while they play. Above is a great action shot of Ali and McKenzie. We also managed to visit a new park in our neighborhood that I had never been to but the kids had with Doug and it was great! Although it was a great day at the park, the northwesterner in me still is holding out for those crisp fall days that allow me to bundle up and light some candles while baking cookies and having a beef stew in the crock pot. It seems like every year our summer keeps stretching out further and further!

On a completely different note. Back in July when I was visiting Micah up in Washington, I spent some time with my grandma and she was urging me to watch the documentary by Michael Moore called "Sicko". Well, watching movies right now other than anything Disney is not really a priority for me but the other night Doug and I sat down and finally watched it. I was appauled and have not been able to stop talking about it since. When the movie ended Doug looked at me and said "Ok, so which country do you want to move to?" I don't want to spend too much time on this because believe me, I could spend forever but let me just say if you haven't watched this documentary, you should. It is disturbing as an American and will definately get you thinking and probably make you very angry as it did me.

7 month milestone

Jackson or "Jack" as we call him, turned 7 months old a few days ago and I was curious to see what our next milestone would be. At 5 months it was his 2 bottom teeth, at 6 months it was tipping the scale at 21 pounds and getting his two top teeth. And now at 7 months, he is weighing in at 23 pounds and 29 inches long. Today was a big day because not only did Jack sit up, but he sat up on his own, unassisted for quite a while....probably about 20 minutes which in baby time means a long, long time. Here's a snapshot I took of our bruiser tonight as he played away.

They grow up so fast!

Okay, so I debated on sharing this info with everyone tonight but this is a blog right? And that's what this is for right? So, here goes. So tonight Ryan had hockey and when he got home, he did the usual...get in the shower. I'm usually supposed to stay in the bathroom just in case some coyotes should somehow get in and want to eat Ryan but tomorrow is garbage day and I had some garbage to put out so I swiftly snuck out. Upon re-entering the bathroom, I started to give my usual speech to Ryan about how he needs to hurry up and all when I looked up and see Ryan holding Doug's razor and shaving his face. It then also hit me that this morning I happened to notice while I was using my own razor that my razor looked a little worn and I had just changed the blade...hmmmmmm....so I asked the question. "Ryan, have you been shaving your legs?" And of course he pulls the Carl from Jimmy Neutron and says "No............Yeeeesssssss." So after giving my big mom lecture about how that is wrong on so many levels and that if he doesn't stop he's going to be the only 3rd grader with a beard.....I snapped these shots. The first one is Ryan BEFORE the incident and then AFTER. Enjoy.

I'm normal!

For those of you that were wondering if I was going to blog again about my mammogram......I got my results today and they were "normal". Ok, now I can breathe! A quick plug to Mission Breast Care Center. The first thing the technician said to me when they called my name was "Is this your first time, honey?" How did she know? Could it have been that I had broken out in hives and was the youngest woman in the office??? They were so great about making me feel comfortable by explaining everything to me about the process and that what I was doing was very smart since my mom had been diagnosed 4 years ago. For any of you nervous about going.....piece of cake. I can't believe I was such a nervous nelly about it and I am definately putting it on my calender to do next October!

Happy Jack!

So as I was getting ready to post this new blog, I suddenly realized that I have 3 other beautiful kids that I need to show. So, I am making a goal to get some great pix of AJ, Ali and Ryan and will post them soon. They DO exist I promise! Anyway, today was a pretty uneventful day except for when Ali got a hold of my camera and captured Jack in his usual mood. For those of you that do not know, I am truly blessed with not only the best looking kid in the world but the happiest baby ever. Here are just a few of the pictures that Ali got....enjoy!

Go Lightning!

A whole 4 days without blogging! No, I'm not getting bored already...just very busy! This weekend Ryan had a hockey game on Saturday (they lost) and AJ had his game also (they won) and then on Sunday we started off our day leaving the house at 8am for Simi Valley (an hour and a half drive) for AJ's game and they won. Afterwards we went over to some friend's for lunch and then headed home. This is what AJ captured from the back seat which pretty much sums up how we all felt after the long weekend! By the way, my big boy celebrates his 7 month bday today! I can't believe how time has flown by! XOXO

Halloween Pix

As promised here are a couple of pictures from last night. We had a fun time trick or treating with our favorite neighbors, Jen, McKenzie, and Haylee while Doug took Ryan and his friend to do the serious candy collecting. AJ and Ali went with friends which is I guess what you do when you're 14...not cool to go with mom and dad anymore. Anyhoo, the night was great but it ended with Ryan and I playing vigilante to a guy that broke into my neighbor's car.....Ryan was pretty shook up and will probably be sleeping with Doug and I for a while but all is good. Enjoy the pics! Ryan is on the left as a zombie, Jack was a monkey, AJ was a pirate, and Ali was a "dirt devil".....soooo cute!