52 Blessings - Week 3

I have been posting my weekly blessings in no particular order and my next blessing is my WONDERFUL HUSBAND, Ben!! He is so Awesome & I couldn't imagine my life without him. We have been married for almost 12 years, 4 kids later, and we are still so much in LOVE!

Credits HERE

If you want to see my first tribute to him (and you didn't see it in my archive tag) you can go HERE.

Ben, I'm so glad that I called you back so we could go on a 2nd date, fall in love, get married & sealed in the Temple for eternity!! You are the BEST thing that has ever happened to me! I will LOVE you ALWAYS and FOREVER!!

WORST DAY EVER!!

**WARNING** Long ranting here...read at your own discretion...YOU have been WARNED!

I'm having a REALLY BAD DAY!!! I guess it's not the worst EVER cuz I could probably name many more days that were way bad (when Nathaniel & Felicia were little). BUT it's bad for me!

I had plans of this being our Super Saturday in terms of actually getting ALL the chores done (since nothing has been getting done for a while) today! I even typed up a nice list of all that I wanted done, including what I needed to do. Half the list was for me and the other half was for the kids to get done. I'm not asking for much, mostly pick up their stuff, put it away, help do some cleaning. The usual stuff that we do each Saturday, but lately NONE of it has gotten done. Especially the girls' room - it's AWFUL!!!

I've had to ask nicely, ask nicely again, ask not so nicely, beg, plead, scream & yell just to get them to do anything! Nathaniel is actually the only one doing some stuff. He got side-tracked a few times by turning on the tv or talking to a friend who came over to see if he could play. But at least he's doing something. The girls on the other hand - NOTHING!! They continued to play & run around. I had a long talk with the girls trying to motivate them to clean their room. It brought Felicia to tears, finally something touched her and they cleaned for a little while, so I let them have a lunch break. That's when it fell apart again. Just before Ben came home, I even started to cry because the house still looked really BAD & yelled at the kids some more. My sweet Nathaniel stepped it up and tried to really help more since the girls were lacking.

When Ben got home, I told the kids that if the house couldn't be cleaned up then I wanted to leave cuz it just makes me sick to look at it. So, I hid in one of the rooms where the kids couldn't see me. They suddenly realized I wasn't around & were looking for me. They even called my cell phone but found it on the counter. So, they called Ben's phone (he was taking a short nap in a dark room). They found him and were ok. They wanted bananas & forgot all about looking for me. They figured if my phone, purse, shoes, clothes & van were still here (I could hear them naming everything they found), then I must not be gone. However, Nathaniel began to cry and look for me everywhere. He was so upset! I felt a little bad. So, Ben convinced me to come out & make an appearance for Nathaniel. He suddenly calmed down. He is SO SWEET! He told me that he was missing me and that I am the only thing that makes him happy!! More tears for me. I LOVE them all SO MUCH, but it just hurts & makes me sad when they won't listen or help! Nathaniel has been helping me do laundry tonight (since there is tons & I stopped working since I totally lost it) and I think he's actually enjoying working with me. I guess he's just happy that I didn't actually leave. Although, I told him I was out walking around & decided to come back (I know it's mean but I was upset). The girls finally made some progress with their room. So, they finally get a little food for dinner (yes I know it's late but in my defense, they did have a really late lunch).

If it weren't for my sweet & amazing Nathaniel & my loving hubby Ben, then I would still be super duper upset! I have calmed down some & now I get to finish my primary lesson. I read it earlier in the week, I just need to do some finishing stuff with it.

Hope y'all had a better day than me!

Dinner & Dessert

Ok, another post about food. I swear that my life does NOT revolve around food, but it's fun to talk about & share recipes & ideas. And since I posted my recipe for Tortilla Soup, it was sounding really good, so I made it for dinner tonight. Here's a picture of my bowl. Ok, I know I don't have the prettiest or fanciest bowls (and I wasn't expecting to take a picture until last minute) but there you have it. It was SOOOO good! (FYI - the recipe calls for about 2lbs chicken breast meat, I used 3 good size breast-halves and it was plenty.) I also added a little fresh squeezed lime juice. Delicious!!!
Last week my Visiting Teacher called to wish me Happy Birthday and also said she wanted to make me a pie. She's SO nice! They came and visited me yesterday, which I totally love their visits, and then last night she came by again to bring me THIS - a Banan Creme Pie with a container of Cool Whip!!! WOW!!! We didn't get a chance to eat some last night because we had to go to the store and it took longer than we thought. So, it was too close to bedtime. So, I snuck a little piece this morning while the kids were at school (I had to share with Anson cuz he caught me - tee hee). It was so good! After lots of begging after dinner, I finally gave everyone a slice with a dollop of cool whip. They were so excited & ooohhh'd and aawwww'd too! It has a pastry crust with lots of slices of bananas and topped with banana cream and then of course some cool whip to top it off!
THANK YOU SO MUCH, Diana!!!!! (<-my VT who also happens to be the Teacher's Aid in Ashley's Kindergarten class) IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! And now totally gone! Treats don't last long in this house!!

9-1-1 IDIOTS

Ok my friend, Patsy, just emailed this to me. It's hilarious!!! They're 9-1-1 calls & oh my goodness! I cannot believe people call in for such stupid things. You have to SEE this!!

Tortilla Soup

I made this for an online Recipe Challenge at DSO. This is a really easy recipe & delicious! So, I thought I'd share it with you! If you click on the picture, it should get bigger & you can copy the recipe, if you want. Let me know if you try it. I actually haven't made this for a while, but now I think I need to. Sounds yummy!

Credits HERE

Girlie Lunch

Today my Mom invited my sister and I to go to lunch! We all met at Subway for a quick one because my sister had to get to work soon & I had visiting teachers coming over. So, it was FUN to have just the girls together (well - Anson was the only boy)! I tried to take a picture since we don't have very many of just us girls, but it was only ok. Then a very nice man sitting behind us asked if we wanted help. YES!! You can barely see him sitting behind my sister in the pic w/ her and my Mom. Here was our girlie time today! We may make this a regular thing! YAY!!

ME, Christy, my MOM

(man who took above pic) Christy & Mom

Anson & Auntie Christy
Anson loving his cookie

FUN Archives

I've been tagged by ONEHM for the Archive Meme (which hers are totally Awesome, so if you want any inspiration go read hers)

Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. But there is a catch:

Link 1 must be about family. (And another one HERE)

Link 2 must be about friends (if it weren't for Julie, I probably wouldn't have started a blog). (Ok, I don't post specifically about my friends, I usually just link to them every time I get an idea from them, so here's another ONE.)

Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about. (More crazy info HERE and HERE) I don't like to talk about myself very much, so you gotta take it while I dish it out. tee hee ;)

Link 4 must be about something you love. My life would NOT be the same without HIM!

Link 5 can be anything you choose - this is what I'm striving for this year!

Ok this was kinda hard cuz I've only been blogging since 9/21/07. Ok, so sometimes I post more than once a day or skip a day here n there, but apparently I tend to post a LOT of pictures of my family and scrapbook stuff. Not too much deep insight of my life, so I guess I need to work on that. Anyway it was fun to go back and see what I've been writing about.

Cold Stone Creamery & S'Mores!!

I LOVE Cold Stone Creamery and I got my Birthday Club Coupon, so FINALLY we went on Saturday night to get my FREE Creation!! That's Dark Chocolate ice cream with Butterfingers!! That was my first time getting the dark chocolate - it's so good!! Yep I ate it all even the cone! Delicious!! Funny story - Ben and I left the kids home to go get these (he got one too - he had to pay for his) and we just said "Lock the door, we'll be right back!" ha ha. Ashley learned a few months back how to call my cell phone all by herself, so she called me as we were on the road back. We only ran in, got our cones, and left. Well, we were driving to Walgreens to pick up a prescription, but apparently they close at 6pm on Sat. Dang it! So, that's when Ashley calls and asks me "Mommy can you please bring the kids a treat, toooo?" LOL. How could we resist that sweet voice? We hadn't planned on it. I know - mean parents. Oh well. I didn't get a birthday cake this year (didn't really want one) so this was my birthday treat! So, Wal-Mart Market was right there on the same corner, so I asked Ben to run in & grab something for the kids. He didn't want to leave his cone in the car cuz it was cold outside but warm inside the car. So, being the super nice wife, I turned on the a/c full blast to make sure his ice cream didn't melt. I think it was warmer outside now - Brrrrr inside. Ben hurried and found some hostess cupcakes for them. Sorry that turned into a long story. When we got home the kids were happy to see us, but they stopped for a minute and were like "How come you guys got BIG cones and we get cupcakes?" I of course reminded them that mine was my FREE birthday treat! That's WHY! ha ha ha

Ok, moving on. So, Sunday evening after dinner, we took the family for a walk including the dogs. We don't take the dogs very often. It was fun, but the kids kept fighting over who got to hold which dog's leash. Ben had Star (even though Anson started out with her but couldn't hold on tight enough) and Felicia started with Pepper, then Nathaniel got Pepper on the way home. We also found a baby gecko, so Ashley got to hold it for a while, then Felicia after she had to turn over Pepper's leash to Nathaniel. Anson kept cracking us up though. He was lagging almost the whole time because every rock or brick trim or hill was a little adventure for him & he had to explore EVERYTHING!! It was fun even with the bickering. When we got home the real FUN began. Ben started a fire and we made S'MORES!!! They each got to roast their marshmallows & Ben helped put the s'mores together. Here's everyone hovered around the fireplace.
Here's Anson taking a big bite!
Felicia being silly & taking a big bite!
Ashley enjoying hers!
Nathaniel trying to eat half of it in one bite!
Ben roasting his marshmallow - didn't get one of him taking bites! Darn
Here's my burnt marshmallow. I like when they catch on fire!
Here's my self-portrait of my bite! These were yummy!
THANKS MOM for the stuff to make S'mores!! They were a BIG HIT!!

52 Blessings - Week 2

I am so GRATEFUL for MY MOM!!! This woman is AMAZING!! She is so thoughtful, nurturing, caring, fun, silly, spiritual, giving (of herself and her time), teaching, compassionate, great listener, helpful, and the list can go on and on! And she's one of my Best Friends! We talk to each other all the time (even when I lived in another state) and we love to hang out! We have fun window shopping (or actual shopping if we have the wonderful email coupons) at Kirkland's & our quick trips to Subway for lunch! She also works at the Temple 2 days a week and is very patient and kind as the Trainer for the new sisters. She's so great with our kids and she's a fabulous GRANDMA! I am so glad she's my MOM!

"God could not be everywhere, so he created MOTHERS"

Journaling reads:

I Love my Mom so much I don't know what I would ever do without her! She is always there for me! She is one of my Best Friends. She is such a blessing in my life. I Love You, Mom!

Layout Credits HERE

Taco Salad

Who doesn't love Taco Salad? We love it!! We also haven't had it in a really long time. I bought all the stuff to make it, and we ate it last night for dinner. Yummy! It was so good. Everyone had their own version of what they wanted, but their plates were clean when they were done! While we were each "building" our salads, I looked over at Ben's plate and his looked so pretty! I think he thought I was making fun of him when I told him it was so "pretty" that I wanted to take a picture! ha ha ha :) I wasn't joking, and here are the pictures to prove it. He's gonna laugh at me when he sees that I blogged his dinner plate. LOL

Here it is - Doritos, tortilla chips, taco meat, lettuce, black beans, kidney beans, can corn and sour cream. Well, then he tells me that he wasn't done "building" his yet. He needed to finish adding the toppings.




So, here's his plate completed -he added shredded cheese and salsa to top it off! So, was I lying? Doesn't his plate look "pretty"?? Well, I guess the salsa looks a little messy, but everything else looks perfect & colorful.
Nathaniel loves beans, so he finished those off last night including the corn. So, I had a mini taco salad w/ just the basics for lunch. Mmmmm you gettin' hungry yet?

Also, I guess it was about a couple months ago, maybe longer, not really sure. Anyway, one Friday evening a girl knocked on our door carrying a basket with loaves of bread. She asked if we wanted to buy one. She said they bake bread for a store (or something, don't remember) and had some left over. Well, they looked delicious. She said it's a Swedish recipe. Doesn't matter to me what kind of recipe it is cuz it's yummy!! They came by a couple weeks later, so we bought another one. It's kind of like French bread but with a softer outside. We just tear pieces off to eat it. I guess we became one of their regular customers, so now they stop by every Friday night between 6-7pm. Well, our plates were so BIG last night that we didn't eat it yet. So, I wrapped it up & we'll have it with our dinner tonight. I just realized last night that no one tore into the bread (because usually the kids tear into as I barely take it to the kitchen), so I thought I'd take a picture of it.

Ok there's my funny food stories! What are YOU having for dinner? If you want some ideas, you can check out Kristy's Recipe blog. She has some really good lookin' stuff. She has a picture for each recipe she's posted, too. She's so awesome!!

Scrappin Challenges

I did some more scrappin' this weekend (well over the last few days). A couple of the layouts I made for online scrap challenges. I also just wanted to use some of my new kits.

This one I just made today. It's for a Quote Challenge at DSO. It cracks me up how these two act when they're together. Either they're Best Friends or Ashley can't stand Anson. Poor guy, you never know what mood she'll be in. I just love these pictures of them showin' some love. "Love is friendship set to music."

This one I made for the Little Dreamer Designs "Fill it with Hearts" Challenge. Since I used a bunch of hearts, I also found this cool quote:

"A hundred hearts would be too few

To carry all my love for you."

Ok these next few layouts I used the pictures from their Wacky Hair Day at school a couple months ago. I did individual pages for their books and then this one with all the kids.
Nathaniel's Spikey hair
Felicia's many ponytails - 6 total
Ashley's ponytails that stick out
All Credits HERE

New Shoes

I'm not really sure what all Ashley does to her tennis shoes, but we had to get her new ones! Her other tennis shoes have holes in the toes. I saw her drag her feet to stop her bike once, so maybe that's her downfall to her pretty pink tennis shoes! Oh well, we went shoe shopping and Felicia kindly help her pick out the only ones that apparently fit PERFECTLY! So, now she has beautiful black & gold Bratz shoes! Oh and some of the parts are black patent leather. How funny is that?! These were not my first choice simply because I'm a white tennis shoe person with not many colors (even though mine are blue right now). Anyway, she loves them and they do look cute on her. She was so excited this morning that she was running around super fast - like the shoes are the ones making her faster! She's so funny!

Peanut Butter & Chocolate - Mmmmm

Ok, I just found this at WalMart tonight (at the check-out). I've never seen or heard about these before, so I bought one. And, yes, I ate it on the way home. It's soooo good! Mmmmmm. It's kind of like a 3 Musketeers but w/ a peanut butter & chocolate coating (plus I think the "fluff" has PB in it too). Peanut butter & chocolate together is one of my FAVORITE things!

Christmas is Officially OVER

OK, we finally took down our Christmas decorations yesterday, packed them up & Ben put them in the attic. Whew! We also put away our extra table that has been out because we've had several big family get-togethers over the last few months. YAY! Now our house is feeling spacious again! Now if we can just get the rest of the kids' crap put away & clear off our kitchen island (that seems to be drop-off central). Getting stuff put away actually gives me PEACE! Looking at clutter stresses me out. So, there's several mini-projects that I need to do, so I can have more peace & less stress!

One of my friends sent this quote to me (which I have seen before & absolutely LOVE, but couldn't find it again until now - thanks Janan!):

PEACE - it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

Isn't that fabulous?! So, I'm working on that. But it doesn't mean living in the mess and being in denial. I can be at peace in my home even when it's not perfect (because it's not), but I can definitely improve my space so that I have more peace! Does that make sense? Well it does to me.

Scrappin' Fun

Ok, I just couldn't resist posting this. I think this picture is so cute! I did this for a scraplift challenge & it's my first time doing one of those (and 1st time posting on W&W).

The journaling reads: It's a happy talent to know how to Play
Credits HERE

Also, if you haven't seen already, Tangie just posted some new kits! They are beautiful & on sale!


I have a new Blinkie on my sidebar, in case you haven't noticed. If you haven't gone to DigiNirvana yet, you'll want to. They're having a Grand Opening Sale for the month of January - each day a new kit (or two) are on sale for only $1. And they're so CUTE!

Word of the Year

I've seen that several bloggers are coming up with ONE WORD as their inspiration for their goals for the year. I really like this idea, so I have been thinking and thinking about what I want mine to be. I had two that I kept going back 'n forth but finally settled on this one:

PEACE

(some of the definitions I liked)

~ freedom of the mind from Annoyance, Distraction, Anxiety, an Obsession, etc ~ Tranquility; Serenity ~ Untroubled ~ Content ~ At Peace ~ Keep Peace ~ Make Peace/Peacemaker ~ Absence of Hostility ~ Freedom from Quarrels & Disagreement ~ Harmonious Relations ~ Absence of Mental Stress

"Our Priorities Determine what we Seek in Life." by Dallin H. Oaks (found this quote on Cara's Blog, it's from a book she's reading) I really fell in love with this quote when she posted it.

I really want to do things that give me PEACE. I still need to make a little list (& put it where I can see it all the time) of the kinds of things I think will give me more Peace in my life.

One thing that I've been thinking about a lot since Testimony meeting is visiting the Temple. It really hit me kind of hard when one of the counselors in the Bishopric spoke about visiting the Temple often. We live SO CLOSE to the Temple that we should be able to visit lots! Well, we don't. Actually, we haven't been in a long time. Thinking about it makes me sad. But something else came to mind that could help me accomplish this goal. A gal in my ward does "drop-off" babysitting 2 days a week (during school hours). That's perfect! My hubby has a couple days off the first part of the week (one of them is a day she babysits), so I thought maybe he and I could go visit the Temple on one of his days off and we could drop off Anson for a little while at my friends' house. Awesome! Now we just need to accomplish it. I think it would also be such a neat experience to have a Girls Temple Day! So, anyone who's interested in going together just let me know! (BTW, my friend babysits on Wednesdays & Fridays, so I could go one of those days.) Hey, if you live close, you could use my friend for babysitting if you need to also. She charges $2 per kid per hour. I only have one kid at home during the day right now, so it's totally affordable for me.

Ok, so this post has become longer than I originally planned. Sorry. I'll post the rest of my goals when I finish writing them down.

Inspirational Awesome Video

Ok I will be real quick cuz I know my last post was long. Anyway, just found this on Tangie's blog. This is so Amazing! You have to see this!!!

*just pause my playlist (in the right column, you have to click it once to activate, then again to pause) in order to hear the talking on this video.

We made it!!

We were only a couple minutes late to church, and we slipped in as they finished the announcements before they started the sacrament hymn. WOOHOO!!! And the kids did pretty good sitting reverently (and that's w/o Anson's Diego backpack & coloring book and NO snacks)! YAY!! The testimonies were really great, since the kids were being mostly quiet, I was able to listen to most of them. Several people spoke about going to the Temple. Made me think about wanting to go to the Temple more often. Hmmm I see a Resolution idea!

Anson was very confused about not going to Nursery anymore. I told him he was a big boy & graduated out of Nursery into the Sunbeams class in Primary. He kept telling me "No this isn't nursery we need to go to nursery!" Luckily one of the Nursery leaders also moved up into Sunbeams, so he had a friendly face in Primary. She took him so I could go to my class. He always calms down in a minute or two, thank goodness! After church he said he had fun in primary! :)

I found my classroom & our class list wasn't finalized yet (so many new primary teachers so they had to organize all the classes in such little time). So, Nathaniel came in my class along with the 3 girls there today. The other 5 boys went to the other class. Nathaniel didn't mind that he was the only boy! He just wanted to be with me. Awwww he's such a sweetie! He was a good little helper too. I had stayed up really late finalizing my lesson plans, so I was really tired when we had to get up at 7am! But class went well and I'm glad I get a week off since it's my partner's turn to teach next week. Maybe I'll sleep better this weekend (and get to bed on time). This is the bookmark I made for the kids in my class to go with the lesson. If I had known I was going to have mostly girls, I would have made it more girly. Still think it turned out cute!

One of the kids in my class from last year (and his sister was in my class today) brought me cookies for my birthday tonight! They are the sweetest family! And my teaching partner brought me krispy treats tonight! YAY! Yummy treats! My sweet visiting teacher called to wish me happy birthday and told me she's going to make me a pie this week. WOW! She is so NICE! Thanks for all the Happy Birthday Wishes & treats!!!

New Church Schedule & Random Funnies

Wish us Luck tomorrow because we switch from 1:30pm to the 8:30AM church time!! We are NEVER on time, but we really need to do better. So hopefully this can be the year we do tons BETTER!! I also get my new Primary class (Valiant 10) and the class is split, so I don't know which kids I will have yet. That's Nathaniel's age group (since he's turning 10 this year) so I may have him in my class. That would be fun!

I found this picture online and thought it was SO cute & funny at the same time! Check out the look on that poor kitty's face! Hilarious!! Kitty doesn't look happy! LOL ha ha ha :) I had a cat that looked exactly like that (a Russian Blue) and she could definitely give you the "evil eye" when she wasn't pleased with you. She never really looked at me like that, only Ben. tee hee

And Now I'll leave you with THIS... It's so flippin' funny!!! If you've had a PUG before, you know they can behave a little crazy (but kinda cute)! This dog looks like the dog my Mom used to have.

Have a good weekend!! I'm off to finish my lesson since I'm teaching primary tomorrow!

52 Blessings - Week 1

I got this idea from ONEHM and Cara (you can go HERE to see more fun ideas for resolutions). I really LOVE this idea, so I decided to add this to my RESOLUTIONS. I'm going to take a picture of something I'm grateful for each week of the year & do a scrapbook layout with my photos, so by the end of the year, I should have 52 pages of BLESSINGS!!! I will post my BLESSING each week. If you want to do the same thing, I would love to see your photo posts also (Please leave me a comment so I can see yours too - it doesn't have to be a scrapbook layout that is just what I want to do with my photos. If you decide to do this, you can do whatever you want with your photos.)!

Week 1

Yes, that really does say "Calendars" & I know Calendars may sound like a weird thing to be grateful for, but seriously, I need a calendar in order to keep my family organized! And with the New Year just beginning, I get to pick out new calendars and it's exciting to me! (Yes, I'm very easily amused :)

Credits HERE

More Scrappin'

I have been scrappin' a lot yesterday & today! I'm trying to do a few of Anson as a baby. (FYI - *He was my only baby born in Texas, the other 3 were born in AZ!) So, finally 3 years later, here is his Birth layout! Now all the kids want one of their "Birth" day too!

Ashley LOVES playing XBOX w/ Ben! He got up from playing for a minute and found this when he got back! She was next to his spot w/ my pink controller & headset ready to play!!

(This one was made using my freebie kit)

Credits HERE

Baby Anson - Layouts

Last night Ben was playing on XBOX Live and it's easier for him to connect to his friends' games if he unplugs our router and connects direct to our internet. Anyhoo, that means I get disconnected from the internet when he does that. So, I edited some photos & digi-scrapped last night! Here's a couple layouts of Baby Anson (or as Ashley used to call him "Baby Ah").

Credits HERE

Early Birthday!!

My Mom took me to the Franklin-Covey store today to get my calendar refill pack for my planner (for my Birthday present - early)! Woohoo!!!

While we were looking around, we found these magnets. Aren't they the cutest? They're small like the size of a thumb print. My Mom is SO NICE that she said I could also get these. I stuck them to the side of my computer tower (which is pink & on my desk, so now I can hang notes where I can easily see them)! I LOVE them!!!
When we were ready to check out, we noticed more magnets by the register. Of course, they're there to lure you in (and it worked)! I fell in love with this quote, so being the AWESOME Mom that she is, she let me get this TOO!! (I scanned mine cuz I couldn't find this same quote on their website, but they have lots of other great quotes.)

THANK YOU MOM!!! YOU'RE THE BESTEST!!!!

Color Test

You have to check THIS out! It's a color test and it's harder than it seems. It took me 2 tries to get a 100%. (the 1st time I only got 38% - quite an improvement, huh?!)

My Birthday Kites

I had to scrap the pic of my daughter's kite! And when my son saw it, he said "Take my picture too & make a scrapbook page of my kite!" My hubby thinks it's funny that I take so many pictures of every little thing. BUT as it turns out - the kids LOVE it! Especially now that I've started scrappin' their photos! Everything they do, they let me know that they want a scrapbook page for that exciting moment! Awww that makes me so HAPPY!

So, here it is, Ashley's beautiful kite!

Credits HERE
Here's Nathaniel's Awesome Kite (I think he was the inspiration for Ashley)!

Credits HERE

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We had a fun New Year's Eve! We never really do anything except just hang out at home watching a movie or wondering what we could do that may be fun or exciting. BUT not this year! Our friends Aaron & Alicia invited us to come over for dinner & hang out! Aaron made his super delicious pulled-pork. My first time tasting this...SO GOOD!!! It was great cuz our kids all played together & had a blast! They were in-n-out of the house playing in the backyard all evening. I don't think the cooler weather really affects them. So, while they played, the grown-ups played Karaoke on the XBOX. It is always so much FUN! We did husband-wife team duets. Some songs we totally stunk but others we did great! Each team even scored a "perfect" for at least one duet. WOOHOO!!

Then like 2 minutes before midnight, we switched over to live tv to watch the ball drop in Times Square. We counted down and we each had little poppers (thanks to Alicia)! We all got a glass of sparkling cider (well we had a variety of flavors). So, the kids starting picking up the confetti from the poppers & put it all on Ben's head! They thought they were being SO SILLY! tee hee :)

Ben, ME, Alicia & Aaron
The munchkins - Felicia (making a totally weird face, I don't know why), Nathaniel, Ashley, Aidan, McKenna & Zane (Anson hopped out of the picture & Tate was so tired he was in bed)
There's Anson, hiding under the table!

We finally got exhausted and left just after 1am, I think. Thanks Aaron & Alicia, we had a great time!!! Our resolution should be that we need to have more fun evenings together this year!

My Mom offered to babysit for us this morning, so Ben & I could go on a date! Yipeee! We've been dying to see I Am Legend, so we went to the first showing this morning. Boy were we tired. But it was a really good movie! Thanks Mom, you're Awesome!

Then, we decided to be really cool nice parents today, so we took the kids to see Water Horse this afternoon. They did good in the theater. Ashley had to go potty & get a drink, so Felicia was kind to help her with that (the bathrooms & drinking fountain were right outside our cinema, so we felt it wasn't too dangerous going by themselves). Nathaniel even took Anson to go potty once. Such great helpers! And the movie is SO CUTE! The kids loved it & so did we!
Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve & DAY!!!

HAPPY 2008!!!

I haven't made resolutions yet, I usually do just a couple, but I'm still thinking.