Not feeling it

Bah-humbug.

That is how I feel right now.

I feel stressed. Harried. Maxed out. Stretched too thin. TIRED. I fall asleep on the couch almost every night after the kids are in bed and then I zombie walk back to my bedroom and crash. It's bizarre.

Part of it is the schedule we have been keeping with Allie's play. It runs Monday, Friday and Saturdays and on two of the Saturday's they do it twice. It is exhausting and the most rewarding thing at the same time. Me and Paul have tickets for every show. I used to feel sheepish admitting that until my sister-in-law said, "I get it. I wouldn't miss one of my girls games." She made a good point, so yes I paid an arm and a leg for tickets and I sit in the audience every night and almost pop open with pride. Step off. ;)

The other thing is the sickness that won't seem to GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!! For the last two weeks, we have been battling it all. It runs through our family(pardon the pun) like dominoes and we spent all of today and yesterday laying around taking a steady diet of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. This is rare for us. We rarely are sick at our house but we just can't seem to shake this bug. It's putting a damper on my holiday fun, for sure.

We have missed the last three weeks of church-two of them for sickness and another for a family party. This leaves me feeling uncentered, unbalanced and yes.....guilty. I can't help it. I worry about what people think when we aren't there. I know it shouldn't matter what people think-I'm working on that, but really, I like to go. The older I get, the more I need it. (And that isn't just some blog worthy quip).

I tried to be done with all my shopping by December 1-but this didn't happen. I was done with my kids and family a couple of weeks ago. Those are all wrapped and ready. It's the teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, visiting teacher gifts......

I realized today that I have five teacher gifts. FIVE! Annoying.

If I can make it to Saturday, I'm sure I will be back in Holly Jolly mode. For now, I'm going to go lay on my couch, watch the cooking channel and wonder what is currently attacking my immune system. Cholera, Scarlet fever, Swine flu.........whatever it is, its making itself right at home.

I am going to take a nap and try and resist going towards the light. ;)

"Where you gonna put a tree that big, Griswold?"

Hahaha.........*sigh*.

*Note to self: When sending your husband to the store for milk a mere two days after Christmas, don't be alarmed at what he might bring home WITH that milk.

Like one BIG a@! Christmas tree. Yes.....that big.

We re-arranged our family room in a million different ways to try and fit this monstrosity in there. We got it. BARELY. I found the whole thing so hilarious that I fell on the floor and laughed and laughed. Paul didn't. He had just moved the couch, the TV and the recliner about four times each and he was getting just a little peeved. HAHAHA!! I still find it hilarious.

This was this morning. He just stopped and stared at it. Long enough for me to grab the camera.

Olivia was entranced also and surprisingly, she hasn't tried to touch or take anything off the tree. Of course, it hasn't been up 24hrs. yet, so give her time is my guess.

Look at how little they look standing next to it. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree! I put out all my other "stuff" the day before. If this kind of stuff bores you-sorry. I actually love to see other people's houses and what they do for Christmas. The Santa that you see on my table has been with us since me and Paul's first Christmas. He's a staple. :)

Does this Christmas tree make my house look fat? ;) AAHHH!!! My favorite thing this year! My mother-in-law let me have this old record player that actually plays records and Cd's. I went to the DI and found all sorts of Christmas records that WORK! I've got Bing and Frank and Johnny and we have spent lots of time dancing around to the classics. This is where Olivia lays it down like Johnny Brown! I love how classic and old they sound with the popping and cracking.

The reason for the season. It took me forever to find a nativity that I really liked. I love this and so does Olivia-unfortunately. Day 1 and she broke the angel's hand off. Now she just points to all of it and says, "No!,No!" Oops...

Five little stockings hanging in a row.....

Christmas must reads!

Now back to getting ready for Bubba's birthday celebration! Pictures to come....

Bring on the HOLIDAYS!!

We are ready for the Holidays! Paul spent a whole Saturday and a couple evenings lighting up the ENTIRE roof. (I swear I married Clark Griswold.) The tree and everything else is coming out Sunday and I'm so excited! We bought a 9ft x 5.5" tree last year right after Christmas for a steal of a deal. (Let's hope it fits somewhere) Easton's birthday is Monday and I can hardly wait for him to see his gifts. Star Wars bonanza!! :)
I'm so excited for Thanksgiving.....but mostly because Thanksgiving is Black Friday Eve. hahaha! I've held off decorating, but the music came out awhile ago and if you want to see just about the cutest thing ever, then check out this video of Olivia doing the happy dance to Bing Crosby. (She learns it from me. I can't help but dance and sing when I hear Mr. Crosby myself! ;) Olivia dances the minute she hears music. She can be in a full tilt temper tantrum and when she hears music......she gets jiggy with it. She is the funniest little girl-ever.

Stay tuned for this years editorial on just how white trash me and Aubrie get at the sales. :) It's so ridiculously funny. I'm jumping over carts and she is throwing elbows and half the time I end up with stuff that I'm laughing and saying, "Why did I buy this?" aahhh......such fun. :) Also, Allie's show opens on December 3. She has worked her little tail off but she does a great job as Gladys Herdman. Go get your tickets people-you won't regret it. :)

The love of a Woobie.

*sigh* Have I talked about the woobie on here?

No?

When Olivia was born she refused to take the pacifier. I bought every brand of binky that is on the market to only find that she gagged on every single one. Allie and Easton LOVED their diggles. (Allie came up with that name at 9 mos.) I couldn't figure out why she didn't want one. I believed babies that took a pacifier were more content and generally quieter and judging by my own experience, I was right! I mean, Allie slept 12 hours a night at 3 mos old and Easton was about 5 months old when he did. Olivia? One year before I was getting a full nights sleep, people. :/

Enter: "The Woobie"

Just when I thought Olivia may have conquered the White gene for addictions and vices at an early age, she turned into Linus on me. Literally. All of a sudden she was dragging this pink blanket everywhere. She couldn't have a bottle without holding the woobie at the same time. She won't go to sleep without the woobie wrapped through her arm and up by her face. When we went to San Francisco, I threatened my mother with her life to not lose the woobie, because she won't accept another blanket. It's that one-only. When we get in the car, the woobie has to be tucked into the car seat with her. When she falls and hurts herself? Who does she run for? The woobie. And THEN me. Sometimes she can't find her blanket right away and it is the saddest thing you have ever seen. Panic. Stricken.

I can't even wash it. It doesn't leave her side long enough! It was once a pretty pastel pink and now it's a dingy gray. It's gross. And I'm pretty sure it has a weird smell. And I'm pretty sure that she likes the smell. Ew.

But honestly, I find it pretty endearing. I mean, there really is nothing cuter than when she pads around in her bunny footed pajamas holding a sippy cup under one arm and dragging the woobie behind her. It's cute. My child literally has a security blanket. Hmmm....I bet some would say it's because I didn't breastfeed her. To them I would say:"I bet your boobs are saggy." (That's what you call a tit for tat. HAHAHA!) Anyway...(slight digression there). ps-It's my blog and I can say tit if I want too. ha!

And don't even think that I am planning on taking it away from her. I'm not. I won't! And here is where Olivia is fortunate to be the caboose of our family. I'm in no hurry whatsoever to help her grow up. NONE. Take your time sweet baby girl. If life feels better to you with a pink/dirty gray woobie....well, then so be it! I'm sure your Kindergarten teacher, college roommates and husband will understand. ;)

Homemade Carmel Apples

We kind of rock at making carmel apples.

Have you ever made them to find that the carmel just all runs off?

Me too! But this time I enlisted the help of my chemist husband to help me figure out how to make the carmel stick. The kids helped......(and ate their weight in carmels) and they worked! Perfect carmel apples. mmmm.....Happy Halloween!

Getting started

Caught Paul eating the carmels.

Perfection!


No carmel puddles here. :)

Are you going to San Francisco?

Well.....I am. And I will make sure to wear flowers in my hair. (Please tell me you know this song). We are still planning out what we will be doing while we are there. Most of it we agree on but I want to go here:

And he wants to go here:

I'm thinking since he sat through Phantom of the Opera last fall that I'm NFL Raiders/49ers bound! haha...

Closing night of Annie

Well.......we just got home from the closing night of Annie. Whew! That was sad. I thought I was prepared for the level of sadness, but....... not. at. all. Imagine 13 girls crying, hugging, promising friendships of forever and exchanging numbers and email addresses.

*It was hard*

I don't know what words could ever describe this experience. None of the actors get paid-not even the adults. They work countless hours and give up so much of their family and free time and some might say, "For what?" I think a year or two I wouldn't have understood it either-but now I do. What they create is a little bit of magic. I love the theatre(to watch, not act) and I love disappearing into another world for a few hours and watching those perform their art. Amazing.

Tonight, Phoebe, the girl who played Annie gave all the orphans heart lockets that were inscribed with "Best Friends" on the front. Yeah. That pretty much got the tears rolling-and they wouldn't stop.

I was there opening night, most of the "middle" nights and for closing night and it really did get better every time.

Now we gear up and get rested for what is ahead. I don't know that the Christmas Pageant will be able to compare to Annie-I'm not sure anything ever will, but I do know this:

Wether it be opening, middle or closing night.....if she is performing, I will be there. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Looks like we might be re-scheduling a few things.....and we will gladly do it, because we just found out that Allie landed an awesome part in......
Do you remember this movie/book? Well, Allie will be playing the part of Gladys Herdman. She has to be nasty and mean and loud and crude. This oughta be fun....;)

I'm so proud of her, and happy to be her biggest fan.

Long time, no blog....

I hate when people talk about how long it has been since they blogged......so, I just won't do it. BUT-I can't believe that summer came and went and I didn't document any of it. We have been just a little busy.....

Our Summer 2010 can be summed up in one word:

"ANNIE"
I never knew how much work goes into one of these productions, but let me tell you, it's insane! I'm talking serious amounts of time, people. However, it has been one of the most fun things to be involved with-ever! The girls started practicing in June-about four hours a week. They did that all through July and then when August hit......WOWZA! It turned into over 12 hours a week! I barely saw my daughter-but I have also NEVER seen my daughter so happy. I believe she has found her " true medium" :) Until the dress rehearsals started I don't think Allie had ever stayed up later than maybe 10 in her whole life. When they started the full-out dress rehearsals she wasn't getting to bed before 11 for about two weeks. I was so worried that it would become too much for her or that she would get sick, but not even once did she complain or act like she didn't want to go. She LOVED every single solitary minute and that made the entire process so amazingly fun! The whole cast becomes like a family and she has met some of the cutest girls in the world. Can you imagine? She spent the summer with 12 other girls that love to do exactly what she loves to do. It was performing arts heaven. ;) haha...

Working the parades.....(Perry 4th of July and Peach Days)

Publicity photos...

So after hours and hours of work the show opened on Friday, August 27-2010. I sat with my parents(Paul was on a rafting trip-more to come on that later..) and Easton on the third row and spent the whole 2.5 hours beaming. Literally beaming. And okay.....crying. I was so proud of her. It also made me wish for the days when she was my newborn and it was just me and her in a quiet, tiny apartment all day. Things were so calm and easy then. We would/could spend hours leisurely walking around Target together, her with her perfectly matching bow and outfit and me and my empty wallet. ;) Now she is growing up so fast and its all kinds of crazy at our house....but also so much fun. I love watching her and helping her do what she loves to do. I have now seen the show SO many times that I would be embarrassed to tell you the amount of money I have spent on tickets-so let's just call it a charitable contribution shall we? ;) It gets better every time I see it and I will never again be able to listen to "Tomorrow" without bawling. It's not like Allie had some huge part either. Really it was pretty small-I think she had one or two lines total but she did get to sing and dance her heart out. Can you imagine how I would be if she ever gets a lead part? I'm sure it will be annoying and you will all be allowed one eye rolling session-but after that.... step off! I'm one proud(stage) mama! ;)

The show has done really well for Heritage Theatre, so they extended it another week which I believe brings the total number of shows up to about 18. It ends next Saturday and there will be plenty of tears when it ends, but it will definitely be an unforgettable experience for her!

Your never fully dressed without a smile!

So it might seem like the entire summer was about Allie being in Annie....but I assure you that isn't the case. Easton and Olivia were not forgotten about-you must remember that I grew up as the middle child, therefore I am extremely cognitive of that fact that there is more to life than the golden "first born". hahaha......

We spent lots of time at city pools this summer, although not as much as Allie and Easton would have liked too. I found myself torn this summer between two older kids who wanted to be going and doing all day and a one-year-old who still required a three hour nap in the middle of the day. It was hard and made me think I should have had my kids closer together. *sigh* Coulda, woulda, shoulda...right? I also realize that Easton is really too big for a floatie but again, I was torn between watching Olivia (who refused to sit in one) and making sure Easton didn't drown himself. Safety first people. Allie also decided to go down the big slides this year (applause please) and yes, I'm completely aware that she is about six years late on that one......but you can't drag a horse to water.....or whatever that saying is. The main thing is this: She now goes down the big kid slides(thanks to a one day trip up to Lava Hot Springs-no pictures) and has stopped going down the little kid slides where she looked ridiculously too big to be going down them. Hooray.

Easton got a wild hair and decided that he needed to build me a bird house. So Paul, being the nice Dad that he is, whipped out the saw and hammer and nails and WaLa!......a bird house! They have since painted it in Easton's favorite colors: Black and blue. Yes, that's right. A black and blue bird house. I figure the most heavy-metal of birds can live in my maple trees. :)

On the 4th of July we drove up to Willard Peak. The kids thought it was so fun to play in snow in July. Me? I was still remembering that we had snow in June. I was for from missing it yet.

My three little "Paul-ettes." Fantastic. :) Olivia couldn't understand this little day trip at all....so she happily watched Elmo's World in the car for 90% of it. haha..
Isn't that pretty? I love living here.

4th of July! My favorite holiday! The funny thing? She hates bows and refuses to keep them on most of the time, but she will wear these? Attention hog.....;)

I took almost 50 pictures of the three of them.....this is as good as it got. Dear Easton, you should look at the person taking the pictures. NOT the tattooed, crazy man getting his groove on behind me.

Walking to the Brigham City fireworks.....THE only place to watch fireworks in my opinion.

Happy 4th y'all! This bottles for you! ;)

Her outfit(a Wal-Mart special) made me laugh most of the day. She looked like a little old lady who winters in Boca. I kept asking her if she was on her way to a game of Keno and if she had horse hound candy in her purse.

Look! A rare sighting of me on my blog. Happy 4th.......I look like my mother. :)

Happy 4th.....she looks like her Dad. :)

My kids always want to watch fireworks with my mom. Allie did and so did Easton and when the first firework "boomed" Olivia ran for my mother. It's funny......and she loves that they like to sit with her. Olivia loved them after she got used to the sound.
I then made Paul purchase a car payment amount of fireworks and we had our own little show in the driveway. Easton was in heaven......and so was his Dad-with his blow torch. It took almost two hours to light them all off and no one was injured or lost/singed any hair in the process. Did I mention that I love the 4th? LOVE

Easton was old enough this year that I could actually put him in golf lessons. The kid is OBSESSED. I put him in for most of the summer and he loved every minute of it. He's pretty good and Paul takes him whenever he can. I love that golf is something he can do with his Dad. After watching Easton's lessons, I decided(stupidly)that I wanted to go and try it. So Paul took me one night and let's just leave it at this: I sucked. Golf sucks. I felt stupid. The end.
Had to throw this in......first pigtail? Step off!-it's the closest thing we will have to one until she is 17.

Easton at his lesson....

If you could "hear" this picture, you would hear Olivia singing, "Anything you can do I can do better!" She is such a sassafrass! You may think she looks like her Dad, but this girl ACTS exactly like her mama and of course she gets whatever she wants. Pampered little poodle!
These two.......there were days this summer that they made me want to pull my hair out! There were days that I MAY have shoved them outside and threw popsicles out the window just to keep them out there. Just maybe.....;)

I give up. Honestly...is it that hard to get a picture of all three smiling?! Yes, it is. Between Olivia's evil grimace, Allie's bad comb over and Easton deciding mega-tron is part of the family.....this, again, is as good as it got. I do love their brownie eyes though.

Olivia pretty much adores Allie. After she went to school this year, Olivia would walk around the house with her hands up going, "Aa-yee?" "Aa-yee?" Poor thing wondered where her sister had gone. They look so much alike sometimes! On Sunday I put a dress on Olivia that made her look exactly like Allie did in 2002. Olivia is even starting to get curly hair. :)

Olivia's obsession with Elmo is far from over. They have a relationship, of sorts:

We have entered "that" stage where if left alone for just a couple of minutes.....a disaster will occur. I'm exhausted by the end of the day.

Don't trust this face. She's about to make her move...

This about sums it up perfectly. (Please notice that Olivia was in the process of pulling Easton's hair and stopped for a half a second to pose. I believe they were fighting over those yellow trucks) I promise I did Allie's hair at some point during the summer.

Hop-scotch with Allie...

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Can you believe I have a third grader? Weird. I actually remember 3rd grade really well. My mom always takes all the grandkids back to school shopping and gets them an outfit. My mom later told me that Allie had said that this was the year she wanted to, "look hot." WHAT?! I think this can be attributed to hanging around older girls all summer, because she also told me what her wedding colors were going to be. ???? This isn't how Allie talks.....but I do think it's how a few of the older orphans in Annie talk. Oh....and so you don't die in suspense, she wants them to be pink and green. haha!!
Kindgergarten! Man has this kid waited forever to go to school! So far he has really liked it-other than the fact that he is "girl trapped" on the bus and in his class--meaning he has been assigned a seat that is surrounded by girls. Easton doesn't enjoy girls one bit. We had to have a stern talk about not being mean to them. (Can I hope he stays this way until 17,18?) I love when their backpacks are bigger than they are. :)

Well.....because she wanted new back to school shoes too. Olivia hates bows....but she LOVES shoes. She will bring me shoes to put on her and these are her very favorite. Allie has the same ones and when she saw Allie putting them on she lost her mind! She thought Allie was stealing her shoes. They really are cute. Aubrie has made me promise to save them just in case her next is a girl. HA!

After school cookies. :)

"What you talkin' bout Willis?"

Because Annie is over next week, we have some fun things planned for the next few months. Paul and I are heading to San Francisco for a little get-a-way and then Disneyland for the whole family! It has been too long! Stay tuned.....:)