Thanksgiving Part 2

We got together with my parents and three of my five siblings last night for our belated Thanksgiving.
It was crowded, but a lot of fun. See my mom's post here.
We took the cousin picture as soon as all the cousins who were coming were there. We were missing Jeff's boy Ben and Brant's two boys Chris and Caleb. 11 out of 14 is pretty good.The cousins all love to play and had games of ring around the rosie, tag (until someone almost got hurt), and a little hide and seek. Then they just worked on messing up the toys in the spare room. I think the boy cousins played with Barbies with Olivia too. =)
The food was delicious and everyone liked my pies. I made a vanilla pudding cheesecake with blueberry or cherry pie filling to go on top, a key lime pie with the real Florida juice my friend brought me from Florida, and a banana creme pie in an Oreo crust.
The missionaries live at my parent's house now, so one of them got a piece of pie and put it in the freezer for after their next appointment.
I like that we stretch the holiday out and make it so everyone can come. It's a lot of fun that way.
Olivia wanted to sweep after my dad cleaned the floor.
This is the hat Elizabeth made on Thanksgiving Day. She has a cape and necklace and crown, but she made those after this picture.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was great. We slept in a little and then went over to Andy's parent's house and laid Vincent down there for a nap. He didn't even cry when I put him down and shut the door, so I went out to visit for a little bit and then someone told me that Olivia was in the room with him reading to him. She came out, but then went back in when I wasn't looking, so when I finally did get her out, he was a little sad, but he did take a really good nap (and slept through all the turkey gluttony). I brought some construction paper, kid scissors, and masking tape for the kids to play with and we set up a table in an extra room downstairs for the kids to be contained and they cut up paper (and not anything else-we did check on them!) for hours. It was fantastic. They made hats, swords, shields, capes, and all kinds of other very imaginative things. They used up all the rest of the paper too, but it was a dollar or something and I didn't care. They helped clean up the scraps of paper and tape on the floor when they were done and it was completely worth it to not have them running all over the house when the food was prepared. Andy's grandma and step grandpa, two sisters with their families, an aunt and cousin, missionaries, and our friend Nathan (whose parents are on a mission and his siblings were going other places) came there for dinner. And it was yummy, of course.
Andy brought his Wii to play Guitar Hero and the new Super Mario game with the guys in between football games and after they gave up on the second one.
I stayed up super late that night watching movies and finishing the binding job from my old work, so Friday I just slept in while Andy took care of the kids. Then I got up and did all my regular chores of laundry and tidying and dishes. Friday night we played games with friends here. A friend from our ward came over with her family, two of our game night regulars, and two of our veteran game night attendees came with their spouses and one even brought her adorable baby. They both moved to the other side of the state and found their spouse. They let me know if they have time to come and play anytime they visit. We love it! We played Scum while the kids played and then my friend took her kids home to put them to bed and we started up some Smash Bros on the Wii and a game of Settlers on the table. And I won a very close game. I made three pies for Saturday's Thanksgiving with my family after everyone left and then Vincent woke up for a little bit, so I went to bed super late again. It's a good thing I conditioned myself for that, I guess.
Saturday morning Andy and I went to a funeral for the man who lived next door to his house growing up in Kennewick. We just went over to visit them on Halloween with the kids and it was good to see him. It was a wonderful service with excellent music and great talks. My favorite story was one his brother told. He said, "He was an impossible child". I was intrigued. The brother went on to explain that when this man was a kid and was punished by not being able to eat dinner or was sent to bed, he'd say, "That's alright, I wasn't hungry anyway" or "That's alright, I was tired anyway". That's so frustrating when kids do that! His brother then told a story about their dad's rose garden. This man would pick the tulip petals and then race two of them in a creek. His dad told him to stop and he did it again right in front of his and then took off running. When his dad caught up to him, he swatted his behind and this man looked up and said, "Didn't hurt." SO funny. And frustrating too when you're the parent.
Andy and I had a little lunch date to Quiznos before taking the babysitter home. It was a nice break.
Tonight is the big get-together with my family. We are excited to see all of them.
We are thankful for our families and love them.

Catch up

That's c-a-t-c-h up, not ketchup. Yuck. I don't like the smell of ketchup. Now I'm thinking about it and scrunching my nose up in distaste. Yuck.
How have I gone more than a week without blogging!?
I guess we haven't done anything super blog-worthy and I've been lazy.
I check all the time for other people to update and then neglect my own. Sorry dear little blog.
Really, I've been busy because someone sent me a link to a great new recipe site and I had to look at the whole thing to get ideas. And then that site had a cool link to a how not to dress like a mom site and I wanted to read all of that. Kind of crazy, but fun.

Tuesday was a day we didn't have anything really planned to do except go to the library at some point. At 8:30, I got a call from my old work at a print shop asking if I would like to do some binding work at home. Of course! I love it when they need help from me and it's a lot easier for them to get someone to help them who already knows how to do it and what their standards of quality are, rather than hiring a temp service or something. Anyway, so my old boss brought the boxes over for me to work on and I did them throughout the day in between switching laundry and taking care of the kids and making dinner and all that. I worked on them after the kids went to bed too for a total of 5 hours and 15 minutes. Extra money is always helpful. It was nice to have an unplanned day.

Monday was super planned out. The kids all had dentist appointments at 10am. They all took turns in the chair and none of them had cavities. They all liked having their turn too. It was a pretty good day at the dentist. One of my best friends from high school is the dental assistant at the office we go to so I was able to chat with her during the whole appointment. I did take some pictures because I hadn't ever done that before. Elizabeth loved showing off her space from her lost tooth.
Olivia likes to hold this doll they have. She picked the strawberry flavored cleaner. She didn't like that at all and required extra mouth rinsing. She kept almost gagging. She still liked having her teeth clean though.Even Vincent didn't mind sitting in the chair or having the metal instruments in his mouth after watching the girls. He LOVES to brush his teeth. The dental assistant brushed some fluoride on his teeth to protect them too.After the dentist, we came home, had lunch, and Vincent had a nap, before Andy's sister Sara came over with her two daughters to babysit/hang out with our girls while Andy and I went over to the school for Elizabeth's parent/teacher conference. Her teacher told us that Elizabeth needs to work on neatness and not rushing through her work. She is right on grade level and does extra well in math, when she stops to check whether it's addition or subtraction.
As soon as we finished with the conference, we picked up the kids and drove down to Hermiston (dropping Andy off at the place he works in Umatilla on the way) to get haircuts. We were thinking about doing the Locks of Love program, but I think we'll wait until next summer when all of us girls have long enough hair to have some left over after the cut. My cousin on my mom's side cuts hair down there and we like to go there to visit with her and catch up. I have cousins who live there from my dad's side too, so I let a few of them know that I was going to be down there, but didn't have time to come to their houses, but that I'd love to see them and they could come visit us while we had haircuts, so one of my cousins came over with her two cute kids. It was nice to see them. We took the long way back to Umatilla to pick Andy up and I showed the kids where I lived for most of elementary school and where a friend lived and the stores I used to ride my bike to and the place I used to go to buy penny gum (I LOVED that place! It was the best!) We drove past the giant cowboy and then picked Andy up and saw where he works three days a week and met some more of his coworkers. It was a nice trip.
Sunday was pretty routine. Andy went to choir practice and I bathed the kids while he was there and then I got ready. I made some lemon poppyseed muffins for breakfast and left out the poppyseeds for two of them so Andy would like them. Sacrament meeting was great and the adult speakers talked about keeping a gratitude journal for the past month or so and some of the things it helped them to be thankful for. Then, down to the nursery where we played with/separated/entertained/fed/consoled/etc 18 kids. We do have helpers by the way. There were four or five of us down there. It wasn't too bad. We do the lesson while the kids eat their snack because it keeps them in their seats longer and their mouths busy. We tried to do the lesson the way the other leaders did by going to the room across the hall, but the kids freak out when they see the stairs and don't get to go home. It's not worth fighting them to stay in the other room and wrangling them, so Andy does the lesson while they eat. It works wonderfully and they all pay attention (okay, so not ALL of them do, but at least a few of them get it by the end of the five minute or less lesson.) Olivia's sunbeam teacher told me that close to the end of class she had to tell them all to stay in their seats and turned out the light. I guess it was a hard day. She also told me that she asked the kids if they wanted to know what she did right after church each week. She told them that she takes a nap. Olivia told her, so does my mom! We stayed home for our dinner this week because Andy went home teaching. Andy watched a movie with the kids before they went to bed.

Saturday we went to a kid song concert by Wiggle Like a Fish which one of Elizabeth's classmate's dad does. The kids all got balloons and had a great time doing the motions of the fun songs. A neighbor of mine asked if someone could watch her son while she went to get a haircut, so he came with us. He was a great buddy for Olivia.
This is Elizabeth with her friend, Lauren. They were the helpers for the first song.
Olivia got to help out too.
Here is the mascot fish with the kids who would stay in the picture. Vincent would not.
On the way home, I mentioned that the friend's little brother might be sad that he doesn't have a balloon when his brother does and Elizabeth said that she didn't even like balloons and said she'd give her balloon to the brother. Fast forward an hour when the friend went home and Elizabeth didn't want to give away the balloon. I made her anyway because she said she would (and the brother is 2, not 6 months or something, and would notice). As I talked to my neighbor, Elizabeth popped Olivia's balloon with a pencil and then followed us out and let go of Vincent's balloon into the sky. Holy cow! She had some major anger issues there! So, I sent her to her room to calm down while she told me that it "wasn't fair that they had balloons and she didn't!" and that I was "a BAD mom". Yeah. Nice. So, she had a good little time out and then Andy went in to talk to her and took her with him to run a boring errand. When they got back, I just avoided her. We butt heads too much when she gets like that. I took a nap instead. Then I went to pick up our babysitter so Andy and I could go out to eat with a huge group of friends. There were 20 of us at PF Changs. Andy and I hadn't been there, but were wanting to, so we joined the tail-end of the "super date" that one of my friends arranged. The first part was going to see "New Moon" and I don't care all that much about the movie and I know Andy doesn't, so I didn't make him go with me like all the other husbands had to do. I know, I'm a very nice wife! (I did read all the books and watched the first movie. I'm sure I'll go see the second movie at some point, but I'm not all that worried about it.) It was great to have a date and the food was SO good. I had leftovers to eat after church on Sunday too.
Here are what our fortunes said. I'm pretty sure mine is the very best one.
Andy: "Don't worry about the stock market. Invest in family." Great idea.
Mine: "You will receive money from an unexpected source." Anyone? Anyone?

Friday started the no school break for Elizabeth for parent/teacher conferences and continues until next Monday. She has ten days off. So far, there haven't been anymore really bad tantrums like the other day, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we will go over to Andy's parent's house for that with two of his sisters who live here (Torrie and Brad are on a cruise in the Bahamas for a belated honeymoon) and many extended family too. Then on Saturday we will go to a Thanksgiving with my family. My mom is great and doesn't mind that we do it after (or the Sunday before) because then everyone who wants to gets to come. The four of us who live close by also have in laws who live close by, so it makes a lot of sense to not worry about the exact day and who is coming and which year it is for the rotation and that no one will come one year, which is lonely. My parents usually have dinner on Thanksgiving with other families in their ward who don't have family close. Friday night (the day after Thanksgiving) we are playing games with friends in town. If you want to come, you can. We start at 6:30 here. Let me know if you are coming.
Don't forget to vote in my poll above. You're almost out of time.
Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to be glad you have food to eat and a warm home to live and people who love you.

Tooth Fairy

For lack of a more creative title...
Elizabeth lost her first tooth today at school. My mom pointed out that it was the first one that she got as a baby too.She came home with her tooth in a bag and was SO excited. This tooth has been loose for a month or something, but she wanted to let it come out on it's own and didn't want it to hurt.
It didn't really bleed or anything in class (only a "teeny tiny bit") and she lost it during sharing time in her class.
When she got home she wanted to write the tooth fairy a poem, so I wrote it while she said it and then she rewrote it to give to the tooth fairy. I had her read it on video too.

Here is her poem:

To the Tooth Fairy
By Elizabeth Ransom
Blue as a flower
Purple as a violet
Red as a rose
Green as a leaf
Rainbow as a rainbow
Orange as a carrot
Tooth Fairies are nice.

Oops. Just rewatched and noticed that she left out the "red as a rose" part and the tooth fairies are nice part too. Oh well. Creative liberties, right?

A month or so ago she borrowed a book from the school's library titled, "Dad Are You the Tooth Fairy?" by Jason Alexander. I just said that's nice and put it back into her backpack and then after the kids went to bed Andy and I read it. It gave away the WHOLE story. It was a terrible book, especially for a kid who hasn't even lost one tooth. The next morning, I took the book back to the school and found a different (much more acceptable!) book titled, "Tooth Fairy". It was cute and funny and didn't spoil the fun!
She has put her tooth in her special tooth fairy pillow that Grandma Shirley made for her more than a year ago. Hopefully the tooth fairy will come and make her day! I bet she will!

In the middle of October, she entered an art project into the Statewide school contest called Reflections. She got third place for her age in the visual art category. Here is her Beautiful Butterfly with cutouts and crayon coloring. The theme for the program this year was "Beauty is..." She did the whole project herself. She does keep saying that she wants to be an artist.

{have a cute day}

{have a cute day}: DRESS WEEK + GIVE AWAY
They are having a cute week over at Have a Cute Day by wearing a dress each day this week. I finally decided to wear my dress today because I needed to have one on later tonight anyway. Normally, I would just wait until right before I had to go to put my dress on, but I decided to put it on to pick up Elizabeth at school, go to the library, maybe some grocery shopping, and then on our little Temple date.
Self head shot. I stole the headband from the girls.

Olivia took this lovely headless shot.
There's my CUTE girl, Olivia!

Our Favorite Veterans

I posted about three of our family veterans (my brother Jeff, my Grandpa Gordon, and Andy's Grandpa Loel) last year, so I'll just send you back to that post. Sorry it's right in the middle of the post. Update-My brother is no longer in Cuba. He's at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas guarding prisoners there again.

In addition to these men, we have so many cousins and cousin-in-laws who are also veterans. We are so lucky to be surrounded by those who are willing to put their own lives at risk to protect the freedoms that we also work to uphold and cherish. I'm grateful for our country and the founders' wisdom in the way they set up our country's laws.
Take some time today to remember all those who have lost their lives protecting those laws and sacrificed all for all of us.

And on a lighter note, I'm glad that we have Veteran's Day so we can all have a break from most of our daily routines. It's nice to be a little lazy and not have to run to the school today. Olivia is having much desired sister time with Elizabeth home. I still have to go and shower for the day (but I did shower last night after our we spent the evening clearing-mostly-the front and side of the house of leaves, so it's not that long really.) Today I made cookies, cleaned up the kitchen, boiled chicken to make enchiladas for dinner, worked on my current cross-stitch (this one's your JaNae-sorry it's taken me so long to catch up with all the babies.), and slept in a little. We still have ballet for Elizabeth today and game night. Later tonight I'm going to the movies with a buddy too, so if you are interested in joining us, give me a call or email and I'll give you the details.

All About Vincent

Vincent is 21 months old. He is such a busy little boy now. He's starting to become a parrot and repeats a lot of what we say to him. I videoed him today to show you (it's at the end of this post).
The day before Halloween I got a hot tip from a coupon blogger about $2 costumes and free shipping on Hancock Fabrics website, so I rushed over to the site and even though they were all out of bigger sizes, I bought four costumes that fit Vincent now. Andy saw the bunny suit and said, "absolutely not!" but NaDell says it was never her plan to stick him in the bunny suit. That's just to save for some little girl (maybe a niece if we don't have another girl one day.) He did really like the frog, lion, and dog costumes though (Andy says: for the record, when I saw him wearing those, he looked like he hated it). Now we have a few things that can go into a boy dress up box (once I buy a box).
Frog costume. These are really nice soft costumes that even have snaps on the legs. I think you can see the white snaps on the lion in the next picture.
The lion. He kept flipping one mitten off and wanting someone to put it back on him. Elizabeth was designated mitten-putter-on-er.
The doggy. He was a little sad here because daddy left the room.
Here are a few things you might like to know about Vincent (and if you don't really want to know them, that's okay. I'm still going to share them so I don't forget.)
*He likes to sit, and stand, on top of the table now. He hasn't fallen off, yet.
*He likes to squeal in the car when I least expect it. Really loud, like they could record him and make a police siren.
*He loves having a fresh diaper so much that he wakes up a couple of times a night to be changed. That's all he wants, just to be changed, and then he goes back to sleep.
*He now gives really nice hugs and even kisses me on the cheek. I LOVE that! It's not even slobbery or anything. It's the best.
*He doesn't want to hold hands in the parking lot anymore. He thinks he's all independent. So, I end up carrying him around a lot of times or just walking closer to the traffic than him and guarding him man-on-man like basketball.
*He can hear any door or cupboard open and is there within seconds to see what damage he can do or what he can eat. You turn your head for a split second, and when you turn back, he's emptied out a bookshelf.
*Most of the time he is doing something he shouldn't do, I can ask for a hug and he'll stop and come give me a hug. He used to come and give me five, but he doesn't alway respond to that anymore.
*He gets sad at church when someone else has a car and he doesn't. Or snacks he doesn't have.
*He loves his sisters and wrestles with them, usually until he hurts them. (He pulls hair.)
*He likes to brush his teeth and get a drink from the tiny plastic cups in the bathroom. He could stand there getting water for himself all day long. (See above about wet diapers.)
*He gets really excited when Andy comes home from work and likes to hang out with daddy for a little while right after the girls go to bed watching Looney Tunes, playing video games, or just running around crazy (Andy doesn't run around crazy).
*He loves dogs lately. He'll go up a squat next to them and just laugh.
*He loves babies too. Kind of how he loves dogs. He will pat their little heads (just softly on top) and try to play peek-a-boo.
*He has been seen lately with a fist to punch though, so I can't trust him not to punch babies or dogs anymore. Guess I'd better be on my toes! I think this is because of two big sisters.
*If he falls down, he jumps right back up even if he's a little hurt and keeps on playing, after a little hug, if needed.

And just what you've been waiting for, the video.
His doggy noise is panting instead of barking. He picked that up all on his own. It's much more pleasant.

I love this little guy, even though he's making up for being such a good baby by causing a lot of mischief.

Games

My aunt has a game night once a month with her side of the family, so we started doing one with our side of the family three months ago. For this third one, we had a turn to host it. My mom and sister and Jackson came over a little early to have some dinner with us before the games. So far, the first game night was the best attended, but I think that the BBQ before it had a lot to do with it and it was closer to where most of my dad's family lives the first time too. Last time it was at Milton's house in Kennewick and my parents and Andy and I went with our kids. That was all. Next time the games will be back up where most everyone lives so hopefully it will have a better turnout. My aunt and two of her kids did come to play though and had a good time playing. Here's Andy, Neil, and Jackson playing some Nintendo. Janessa's little boy, Jackson, is a videogame natural. He did awesome, considering he was using a non-functional 'training' controller.
My cousin, Stephanie, brought her quilt she made for a Young Women's project to show my mom. Amazingly enough, my mom didn't have her camera, so I had to take a picture.
Janessa playing Rummikub (and texting Milton to come and play.)
Stephanie and Aunt Diana playing Rummikub (and eating a yummy homemade sugar cookie.)The kids watched The Incredibles while we played Power Grid and were thoroughly entertained. They haven't watched that for a while.During the games about 9:30, my lower back and sides under my ribs started hurting a little. Then, about 11:30, I couldn't be comfortable sitting, laying, standing and was almost doubled over, sweating, and almost sobbing. It was awful for a half hour or so and I was thinking it could be appendicitis or something. Andy was going to take me to the hospital because I felt so lousy. Andy gave me some ibuprofen and I laid on the couch while he tried to call a few people to come hang out at our house while he took me, but no one answered and after trying the second house, I was suddenly mostly better. (If anyone feels slighted that we didn't call them at 12:30am, let us know and we'll put you higher on the list) It was the weirdest thing. I don't know. Andy said heartburn or something, but this hurt more than anything (to me-maybe labor was worse-It was BAD!) I fell asleep on the couch and slept pretty well. I moved to my bed about 7am when the kids woke up and thought it was time to get up (which is strange because they stayed up late and other mornings it's hard to get Elizabeth up at 8am). I feel all better now, except for my back. That still hurts, but that's nothing new and not as much as it did.
Saturday morning my dad brought some kids over from his ward to play here while their parents went to the Temple with a young man in their ward. They have four kids (6, 4, 2, and 10 months). They were all very well behaved, which was great because I am still a little tired, and the youngest even took an hour and a half nap in the playpen.
Now I can be lazy the rest of the day, right? Well, maybe I will. Maybe not.

Sunday Best

We went over to Kennewick for the blessing of a new niece and we were early, so I took a couple of pictures of the kids dressed up outside the church. The weather has been so nice for the last week. We didn't even wear jackets on Halloween. This morning Andy went to choir practice for our ward and I bathed the kids and got everybody ready to go just as he got back to leave. I gelled Vincent's hair down because it's gotten so long and the girls wanted to wear their matching dresses that I found at Old Navy for $2.50 each last week. I had to get Vincent a new white shirt too because his old one was too tight on the wrists and neck. I love his little clip on tie and he can't wear it without the top button.
We left after the baby blessing to go back to Richland for the end of our Sacrament meeting so we could be down in the nursery to do our calling. Olivia had to give the prayer in Primary too. Nursery seemed extra crazy today, but I just assume all the kids are tired and that's the reason for most arguments. We just try to help everyone have fun and if one kid wants to throw a fit in the corner and he's not hurting anyone, oh well. That kid can always decide to be happy and join the fun.
We saw everyone again at dinner Sunday night. The kids all love to play and run around Grandma's house and the glow sticks Suzie brought were a huge hit too. They had to run down the hall without the lights on to get the full effect. The kids are all in bed now and it's time to read or do something by myself. It's so nice to relax at the end of the day, especially when I don't even have to clean up my own kitchen.

Halloween

Our family on Halloween. Andy is Tron. I am a cowgirl. Elizabeth is an orange fairy. Olivia is a fairy mermaid. And Vincent is a bear.
On a side note, does anyone wear a size 8-8 1/2 shoe? Want some boots? They are Candies brand and I bought them at a thrift store. They are in good shape, but don't really fit me.
Our day started with a birthday party for a boy in Elizabeth's class. His mom filled this enormous pinata full of candy. Then, we were the only ones who showed up. That's the trouble with a Halloween birthday, moving to a new place a few months before your birthday, and just starting a new school year. I'm glad we were able to make it. A few others RSVPed and said they'd come, so I planned on leaving after I met them and a few more kids came, but instead I stayed and enjoyed the party. I was hesitant to leave since I didn't know them anyway, but that helped the decision.

Elizabeth loved taking swings at the pinata. She had a few turns on this one before it came tumbling down.
Vincent even had a turn. The mom of the birthday boy helped him out while I took pictures. She forgot about a camera, so I took some pictures for her and made her a CD of them. Can't forget pictures at a birthday party! Olivia opted out of the pinata hitting.
The birthday boy's older brother. See, there is SO much candy! We left most of it there after the kids picked it up.
Elizabeth with part of the pinata.
Elizabeth with the birthday boy (the one trying to blow a bubble) and his brother.
After the birthday party, we changed into costumes and left Vincent with Andy so he could have a nap (for an hour). I took the girls trick-or-treating to a block of mall that has trick-or-treating on Halloween for the kids.
We went home and picked up Andy and Vincent and all of us went to the church for games and then a trunk-or-treat (everybody lines up in the parking lot to hand out candy trunk-to-trunk instead of door-to-door.) Elizabeth ran into a girl (who is her brand new very bestest friend and who has been out sick for a week) at the church carnival. They went around the gym to play games together and they even let Olivia tag along.
While I was watching the girls do the cake walk, I was talking with a dad of another friend and he said his daughter was doing the walk for the whole time and hadn't won a cupcake yet. As soon as he said that, Olivia won. Then two times later Elizabeth won. Um, sorry. I think his daughter gave up after that.
To end the day, we went over to Andy's boss's house to show him our costumes and then to Andy's parent's house to see them and Andy's sister Sara and her family and Andy's aunt. Sami and Daphne were ballerinas. Vincent was trying to share his candy with Daphne. David tried to let him down gently when he informed him that Daphne could not eat it. She's so cute!
Vincent wouldn't smile in our family picture because I took away his treat bucket, so here's one after we got home.
We asked our game night buddies to come and play games after the kids went to bed, so we spent our extra hour from daylight savings time playing games and sorting through the kids' candy. Now they have less candy and I have better candy. They wouldn't enjoy it as much as I will anyway.