Mom... why are there socks in the fishtank?

This was hollered down the stairs by Serayah earlier this evening.

"What?!?!" I yell.
"Why are there socks in the fish tank?" pipes Serayah
"Socks...like you wear on your feet?!!?" (I'm clearly not getting this)
"Yeah"

Huh. I run upstairs to her room, and sure enough, there are two single socks... one beige, and one hot pink one (which float rather nicely about mid depth), one pair of red and white socks folded up from Cam's sock drawer (which sink), 2 of my ponytail holders (which sink), about 15 of Serayah's itty-bitty ponytail holders (which float), and a blue car (that I found later behind the fake frog on the bottom).

She's got 4 fish in there, 2 bigger white fish, and 2 smaller red fish. One of the red fish is pretty dumb and tends to swim into the side of the tank on a regular basis... I'm pretty sure it was the one trying to eat the beige sock. On a positive note, fabric softener doesn't appear to be overly toxic to fish. I'll let you know if there are any fish fatalities in the next few days.

"DANG IT!" I yelled (I was seriously proud of my verbal restraint)...to which Serayah started running around with her hands on her hips saying "Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!..."

"What on earth happened???"

One word... say it with me... "Camden"

Christmas Eve

Well, as is our tradition, we opened our gifts from family and friends tonight after we went out for some Chinese food (don't knock tradition!) and looked at Christmas lights.

After eating, we were setting out on our Christmas light adventure, and lo and behold, a low-flying red light glowed in the sky and flew right over us, and away! We pointed this out to Serayah, who was thrilled to have the chance to see Rudolf in person. We kept our eyes and ears open, but I guess Santa had made an early stop, because there were no more Reindeer or Sleigh sightings over Northern Utah.

After we got home, we opened our gifts, and Serayah and Cam both got new jammies, among other things. Their favorite things seemed to be a new WALL•E table and chairs, as well as a plastic food and pot/pan set. Who knew? Cam especially was thrilled with the play food, and proceeded to gather up all the food and plunk it down on the table and have at it. We had to tear him away to get him to finish opening up his gifts! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids in their new PJ's playing.







Now, I've explained to Serayah that Santa only comes when you're sleeping (because children's dreams are the key to his magic), so she knew that she would have to go to sleep for the big-guy to make his appearance. After everything was opened, she looked at us and asked about bed time. I reminded her that she'd have to go to sleep for Santa to come, so she took one look at me and proceeded to book up the stairs. We had to call her back to get kisses and hugs! (If only Santa came every night, and bedtime could be this easy). I read a couple of books to her and turned out her light and a little voice called out "Mommy... am I dreaming yet?" The excitement did keep her up for a bit, but it didn't take long before she drifted off.


Well, I'd better go, so I can get to my dreams too... Maybe Santa will leave something for me as well.


Merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Well, the snow gods have decided to finally hit Utah. It's been pretty dry up until now... we've had a little bit of snow here and there, but today we're getting hit by a doozy. Art doesn't have to work today (& he's SOOOO happy!), and went to go to the store, then hollered at me to come and take a look at the trooper. I knew that it had been snowing, but I hadn't really looked to see how much we'd accumulated. Wow! We've got between 10-12" in the yard, and it looks like it could continue through the day. We all got dressed in our snow clothes, and had at it. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or their daddy. Thanks to Grandpa for taking most of the pictures for us.

Cookie Mania!

Well, the other day, our wonderful friends Ellie and Tanner came over to decorate cookies with Serayah... They even brought their mommy, MaryAnne. We had a terrific time, and fun (and loads of frosting) was had by all. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Here's Tanner enjoying herself
Serayah with a prize-winning cookie


After the cookies were all decorated to everyone's satisfaction, the Cookie Fairies appeared!

Well, today was the annual "Here comes Santa on the fire truck" day here in Eagle Mountain. It's actually really neat... the firetruck hits every street and Santa throws out bags of candy to all of the children gathered on the sidewalks in front of their houses. You know that Santa is close, 'cause the firetruck has the siren chirping the whole way.

Serayah doesn't like loud noises so headed back inside (and looked through the window) while Santa came by, but Cam was thrilled about the whole experience.

I thought you might like to see the pictures...

Christmas Dance Recital

Well, I finally got the pictures of Serayah's dance recital downloaded. Her class performed to "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas". It rocked! They all did such a terrific job, and (no surprise) Serayah was front and center for the entire thing... No one was going to upstage her! There's not really a shy bone in her body. As soon as I got home, she was asking if she could go back on stage the next day. These pictures are from rehearsal (I figured things would be too chaotic to snap pictures during the concert). Enjoy!

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Out of the mouth of babes....

Well, as we all know, there are differences between boys and girls. This has a tendency to lead to gender stereotyping. Girls like flowers, dolls and princesses. Boys like bugs, slime and farts (we call them "toots" at our house). I thought we'd avoided all of this around here... sure, Serayah loves all the girly things, but bugs and slime work with her too. Cam loves make-up and tutus, as well as trains and other many pursuits. Well, both of them came up with new phrases the other day.

Serayah's new word:
Serayah saw a Santa/Christmas light display and said "Look!!! It's Cute-iful". This is one of her new favorite words... Personally, I have to admit... it's a pretty good word... and very ladylike.

Cam's new phrase:
The other day, Cam let out a huge burp. He looked and us... started cracking up, and said "I toot in my mowf!". He thought it was hysterical, and now "mouth toots" happen on a regular basis. Sigh.

Favorite Shirts

OK... well, I just had to. I saw these 2 shirts, and I couldn't help myself. They both fit the personalities of the wearers!

Why its cool to live in Utah

Well, as most of you know, we really like Christmas. We've been listening to Christmas music for the past few weeks (there are 3... count them 3 radio stations playing Holiday music 24/7, and have been since a week or so after Halloween). We drive around looking at Christmas lights pretty often.

Last year, we were driving around and stumbled upon this truly amazing house in a gated community. The light display was absolutely stunning, and everything was set to music on an FM station broadcast from the home. The very best part was that they had a donation box, and all proceeds went to the Make a Wish foundation. They made over $10,000. I know I tried to tell some of you about it, but really, words can't do it justice.

Well, we were pretty darn bummed that when we drove by the other afternoon, no display was set up, and the gated community was locked.

I did a web search for Christmas lights in Utah, and lo and behold, there was the house! Apparently a little over 1/2 of the neighbors didn't want the traffic, so aren't able to continue the display... so they moved it to the owner's parents house.... and upped the amount of lights from 45,000 to 150,000. Wow. It'll start going tomorrow night, and you can bet we'll be there.

If you don't live around here (or don't want to drive 900+ miles to visit), I am putting in a link to the video page of the Holdman Christmas website. Carol of the Bells is our favorite. If you're interested you can read more about what they do and the surprisingly low cost of their electric bills.

www.holdman.com/christmas/video.asp

These videos are from last year's display, and I can't wait to see what they've got on tap for 2008!

What a great way to get into the Holiday Spirit... Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Once upon a year
There comes Thanksgiving day
A time to eat, a time to laugh,
a time for kids to play.

Its a time to give our thanks
for all that we hold dear
And for all the joys found in our lives
and friends both far and near.

A time to cook the bird,
the stuffing and the yams
the pumpkin pie, the yummy bread
Some even prepare hams

We sit down to the table
with class and with some grace
but pretty soon, all that goes...
'tis time to stuff one's face

By the time that its all done
our clothes are fit to burst
but we all wait and watch to see
who goes for seconds first

So wherever this note finds you
if you're close or far away
Know that we do love you...
Happy Turkey Day!

Some play pictures for you

Well, I haven't posted any pictures of the kids lately, 'cause I've been lazy and just haven't taken any. Today the weather was really nice and they played outside for a bit, so I snapped some shots of them... Enjoy!

Martha Stewart has nothin' on me...

So, the other evening we were having some good friends over for dinner. I made a Pot Roast and all the trimmings: Potatoes, Carrots, Gravy, Fresh Rolls (from scratch even)... It was looking like we were going to have a really tasty down-home meal.

So then I started thinking about what I was going to do for a dessert. I started looking through recipe books (thank you Paula Deen... the queen of butter), and found what looked like a really tasty Banana Cream Pie recipe, so I thought "sure.. no problem". Well, I don't make pies that involve a real crust as a rule, but figured that I was up for the challenge.

I found a recipe for a pie crust and had at it. OK.. for those of you who don't bake, making pie crusts are a pain in the rear... especially if you've got to pre-bake it. The recipe I went with called for me to refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours after making it prior to rolling it out to ensure that it would hold it's shape. OK... Did that... No problems. To pre-bake a crust, you shape it into a pie-plate, then line it with parchment or wax paper, then fill it with pie weights (or for those of us who live in the real world, pinto beans, or the like) to make sure that the bottom doesn't rise up and get all goofy.

Well, I rolled out the crust, shaped it into the pie plate, added some black-eyed peas for pie weights, then popped it in the oven. The recipe called to take it out after 20 minutes, remove the "weights" then bake it another 10. OK.. again, no problem.

After the allotted 20 minutes, I took the pie out and basked in the glory of the crust. Honestly, it was pie-crust perfection. The edges were beautifully fluted, it was turning a fantastic buttery gold... I was smirking and patting myself on the back for my pastry prowess.

That would have been right around the time I realized that I'd skipped over the whole "line the dough w/ wax paper" step. What I ended up with was a fantastic black-eye pea embedded pie crust. I thought about picking them out, but the crust (where the peas were) was giving out a definite "black-eyed pea" smell... not the buttery goodness I was shooting for. Sigh.

We ended up with a Banana Parfait for dessert. At least the rolls were good.

Trick-or-treat!

Well, as some of you may have heard, yesterday was Halloween. The kids had a really terrific day (big surprise).
Serayah had school, and went as Princess Belle. I got their costumes assuming that the weather would be really cold, and they'd be able to be warm without too much bundling. Serayah's "Mantis" costume must weigh 4 pounds... that sucker came from Canada, and I think it you could wear it through a blizzard. Yesterday's high was 72º, and the low was a balmy 50º, so I knew that she'd by roasting if she wore it to school. I'm a bad mommy and didn't get any pictures, but we went to a carnival the evening before and Serayah wore her Belle dress, and Cam his Engineer outfit, and I'm getting a picture from that adventure that I'll post after I get it scanned in.

Anyway, school was a big hit, and I stayed for the entire class. Dad was at home w/ Cam, so it was a treat to see Serayah in class with all her friends. The kids all went on a Halloween "parade" where they marched around the block in all their costumed glory yelling "Happy Halloween!!!" to any person (or cat, or dog) that they could see. It was a lot of fun.



At 5:30, I took the kids and went Trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with some of Serayah's friends. Last year, Serayah avoided any house that looked too spooky, and this year was looking like more of the same, but Cam had this whole "Go up and get candy" thing down, so nothing (including the grim reaper himself) was stopping him. He'd truck up the steps and say "Need Teet! (treat)". I tried and tried to get him to say "trick-or-treat", and succeeded a couple of times, then we'd revert back to "I Need teet!". Also, getting him to let go of his precious bucket was quite the feat. I'd try and take it while we maneuvered down steps, and he'd be saying "Need My Bucket!!!" the whole time. Also, he felt the need to carefully inspect every piece of candy that he received in the walk between houses. It was funny.



We got back, gave the kids a potty break, then Daddy and Grandpa took over the treat-gettin' while I manned the treat-givin'. By the time the kids got back, they were both very tired, hot (Serayah's head was soaking wet under the hood), and SO happy! It was a great time.

Well, as most of you probably know, we took a trip to Disneyland last week. Everyone had a great time! It will be more fun when Cam gets a bit bigger and can go on more rides, but good times were had by all.

As soon as we got there, we trucked Serayah onto the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad... thinking, hey, this is the girl that LOVES speed, tunnels, and trains. Can't miss... right? Wrong. So very wrong. Apparently, tunnels are meant for cars, not trains. The tunnels did not go over well at all. So, from that point on, any ride that looked like it might possibly have a tunnel, or might be dark (coming from the girl who doesn't want a nightlight in her room, mind you) was shunned. This put a big 'ol damper on a lot of rides. Oh well.. Cam couldn't go on many of the bigger rides anyway.

The teacups were a big hit. A really big hit. Serayah and Cam LOVED them... Serayah (and mommy) went 4 or 5 times. Side note: Serayah enjoyed the teacups quite a bit more than mommy... Since when did I start getting dizzy? Huh.

We also went to Mickey's Halloween Party in California Adventure Park one of the nights we were there. It would have been a blast if the kids were a bit older, but they weren't really into dancing with any of the characters, and most of the rides were closed. Also, our Serayah has a very vivid (and real) imagination. She knows that Cartoons and Pixar movies are just movies and not real... how could they be? Then, at the party, she saw Mr. Incredible boogyin' down. I was thinking she'd love to go meet him, right? Wrong again. She took one look and started freaking out. "Where's the Robot?!!?" (for those of you not familiar w/ the movie, the end involves a really bad, big robot-o-destruction. Apparently if Mr. Incredible could be walking around looking just like he does in the movie, that means the Robot must be around somewhere. Not good. To make matters worse, on the last day we were there, we went to the Pixar parade. Lo and behold the robot was there. The only "bad guy" from any of the movies, and it had to be the robot. Jeesh. Major freakout once again. She's now over it, and knows all is well and that Disneyland wasn't destroyed, but wow. Did I mention she has a really vivid imagination?

Probably the highlight for Serayah was eating at Ariel's grotto. She and Cam (who was diggin' the cutie princesses.. seriously!) met Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora, Mulan and Belle. Life was pretty terrific.

Anyhoo, here are a few of the many, many pictures taken from the trip. Some of them aren't terrific, but we were too busy having fun! Enjoy.

Here's a family shot (complete w/ Grandpa!)

Serayah and Woody (She LOVED the show.. Cam not so much)

One of many teacup shots (daddy got out of all rides this way)

Serayah, Cam, and the mouse Himself

The kids with Jojo and Goliath

Random Cam shot (I LOVE the hat!)

Serayah walking w/ Pluto (Serayah not sitting still... who would have thought?)

Another walk, this time w/ Goofy

Mommy and Serayah on the Dumbo ride (Cam was with Grandpa)

An idea of the AWESOME Halloween decorations throughout the parks

Cam again

The princess lunch, and Aurora

Meeting Ariel (You know, Cam's gotta be thinking "What a babe!")

Halloween Party

Well, I decided it would be a terrific idea to throw a Halloween party for a bunch of 2-5 year-olds. Actually, everything went really well, and all of the kids had a great time. We ran a relay race, played throw the hoop over the pumpkin, and a couple of other games. I made some spiderweb cookies (complete with spider rings on top)... they were really terrible... but looked fantastic, if I do say so myself! (Note to self... don't use an untested recipe for party food), Skeleton cupcakes, Rotten Apple punch (with gummy worms inside the frozen "apples"), witches brooms, Orange-o-lanterns, & spider peanut butter, ritz, and pretzel sandwiches. Other than the cookies, everything was very yummy. Everyone had so much fun that this might turn into a yearly event!