How Does Superman's Slogan Turn into a Pooping Stork?

While our parents were here we all decided to take advantage of being together and play a couple games (okay, we had to force our dads, but they were ultimately good sports). Ella had gotten a board game for Christmas that was really fun with the kids, and I thought we be a blast with adults. I was right "toot, toot" (me, tooting my own horn).

The game is Scribblish (which my mom needs to promptly forget so I can get it for her for her birthday). It is as if Telephone and Pictionary had an ugly baby they weren't very proud of and gave it a weird name nobody could pronounce.

You start off with a card with a caption to illustrate. After you draw it out you cover them and pass them to someone else who looks at your "masterpiece" and has to re-caption it. Then you cover it again and someone else gets it and has to illustrate the new caption, and so forth. You don't see the parts people have done before, just the drawing or caption immediately in front.
For example this one was

"The world's biggest toaster"
Which someone drew as:
Which someone captioned as: "There are little people living in my toaster"
Which someone drew as:
Which someone captioned: "I like to see my pet toaster people"
Which someone drew as:
Which someone captioned "How did our canoes end up on the roof?"
Which ended up as:

Some stay pretty close but some get whacked out of proportion (mostly if my mom is drawing or Eric is captioning). It was really fun and I hadn't laughed that hard since Emily Smith wore her surrogate grandmothers orange cape at Thanksgiving dinner!
Here was our favorite of the night:

"It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a tank"

"The bird flew into the tank"
"The hummingbird killed the tank"
"The mutant stork pooped in my wagon."
Ta Da!

I can't wait for the cabin, or even Aspen Grove, getting my siblings and in laws involved and seeing what happens. Hilarity will ensue, I'm sure (hilarity...insanity...it's pretty much the same when we are all together). Get ready, Jes, you may even like this board game!

I Finally Made The Bed....

I thought Livi was being a little too quiet while I was cleaning (in anticipation of our families coming). I turned around to find she had pulled her step stool over to my bed and crawled into the bed I had JUST made. Before I could think I heard her tiny voice say
"Look Mommy, I cozy!"
Ahhhh, how can I get mad at that.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...

I can't believe my baby is baptized. It seems like only 2 years ago that Eric and I were sleep deprived, doing lunges down the hallway in church for all 3 hours (oh, wait we were, with Livi).

We've been preparing Ethan for his baptism for months now. Family Home Evening lessons were on baptism, the sacrament, and the Articles of Faith (over and over). I really wanted him to understand what he was committing to and why it was important. I thought we were on the right track. Then Ethan had his interview with the Bishop a few weeks ago and on the drive home this is the conversation he and Eric had:

Eric: "So what did the Bishop ask you?"
Ethan: "He asked if I knew the purpose of baptism."
Eric: "Did you tell him?"
Ethan: "No, I couldn't remember, but he told me what it was."
Eric: "Well, what is it?"
Ethan: "I don't remember."
I guess it didn't quite sink in, but he still chose to get baptized and the Bishop still let him.
Ethan was baptized on Saturday and we were lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents with us.

I may have stressed out a little before hand, but once everyone was there we had a great time. Livi was crazy all through the great talks Joan and Dad prepared. Melissa was great and tried to keep her quiet, but there is no stopping that girl. She even pulled poor Carter in on it until this is what they were doing in the middle of everything:

Alan was very generous and took us out for a celebratory lunch, which of course meant we fought over who got to play "Angry Birds."(Ella won this time)

My babies are getting older, and one of them just made an awesome decision and took the first step to being a great man. Good job, Buddy, we love you and are so proud!

You Think You Want Them Till You Need Them...

Ethan has been completely convinced that he needs eye glasses. I've told him several times that if he can see the books he is reading and the board at school just fine, then he doesn't need glasses. He does not believe me. I've taken him into my dad's office and had his eyes checked. They are fine. He still thinks he needs glasses.
When I went home at Christmas I picked out some new glasses for myself (it's amazing that after 3 years and a baby my eyes didn't stay the same!). I was telling Dad's wonderful glasses tech, Connie, all about Ethan's obsession when she came up with a wonderful idea. Dad opened a optical shop in his office a few years ago and since 8 year olds don't come in very often (they don't seem to get cataracts or glaucoma as much as 80 year olds) the kids glasses don't sell quickly. In fact there were some frames that they can't even order anymore so she suggested I take a pair for Ethan to wear.
I brought them home and told him to see if his eye sight improved with the new glasses. He put them on, looked around and declared that the glasses (that have absolutely no prescription at all) had indeed helped him see better. I said great, and left it at that.After a few days of wearing them all the time I noticed they seemed not be needed as much as before, and now he has completely stopped talking about glasses. I'm glad that he realized glasses aren't as fun as he hoped, but poor guy, he will probably need them in a few years anyways.
Connie also found a pair I could take for Ella so she didn't feel left out, but funnily enough it was Livi who wants to wear the glasses all the time.

Mom, I Look Like A Pirate!

We have an famous... infamous... (okay, not really famous at all, but our whole family laughs at it) story in which my poor father broke his tooth on a peach. Yep, a peach. Not a peach pit, a soft, ripe peach.
Ethan has had two loose front teeth for a while now and it was starting to gross me out. One was especially bad. He would turn it, and twist it, and stick it in front of his lip. I begged and begged him to just pull it out, or let Eric pull it out, but he said it hurt too much. Finally he bit into a piece of bread and the tooth came right out. Three days later he bit into a soft pizza crust and the second tooth came out (thankfully).
He ran up to me, smiled and said "Mom, I look like a pirate."
All I can say is "Yes, yes you do."

Vegetable Wars

Why I tolerate the Wii...

because even carrots can be controllers.

If you give a boy a bow...

If you give a boy a bow (or man a compound bow) he's going to ask for a deer tag...
If you give a boy a deer tag he's going to go hunting in the wilderness...
While in the wilderness his feet will get cold and he'll need new special water proof camo hunting boots...
If you give the boy the boots he will realize his feet are so much warmer than the rest of his body and he will need full body extra warm, waterproof, camo clothing...
If you give the boy the camo he will go hunting and realize he needs a tree stand...
If you give the boy a tree stand he will need to go hunting all the time....
If the boy goes hunting all the time he will start to realize that bow hunting is hard and that everything that can go wrong will go wrong...
If everything goes wrong he will need to buy another deer tag that lets him continue to hunt in the new antler-less season...
If the boy hunts in the antler-less season he will get invited to help get rid of deer on a private property...
If the boy hunts on the private property he will finally get his deer!!!!!If the boy finally gets his deer he will need to butcher it, get it processed, buy a new freezer (because heaven knows we don't have enough room in our main one for an entire deer) and learn how to cook venison...
If the boy does all that....he doesn't get to complain about my new brown knee high boots!

8, 8 Year Olds; or Losing My Mind

Ethan playing with a birthday present (I'm not sure if the game was the best present or me giving up on trying to keep our house relatively video game free)


Ethan is 8. I can't believe it. Some how my baby boy is old enough to be baptized. This seemed to be the birthday that wouldn't stop, kind of like our Christmas celebrations. Next year needs to be more low key, or my brain is going to burst.
Ethan's birthday was on Sunday, so the day before we went and got his big present: 2 fish and 2 crabs. Our kids "helping" to get the aquatic life situated

The next day church was at 9, so you can imagine what time we had to get up to open presents and get everyone ready on time.
Later that night we had the Bagleys over for cake, and a little bit of playing.
Saturday (yesterday) we had his birthday party. We only have friends over for parties on even years, so this was the dreaded..er...wonderful year Ethan could have a party. I let him invite 8 friends (plus Maddi for Ella) so we had total 8, 8 year old boys. It lasted for 1 1/2 hours, which was about 1/2 hour too long (for me). We played Jedi training with light sabers, pinned the light saber on Yoda and ate pizza and cupcakes.
It was actually really fun, and Ethan had a great time, and that's what matters...but... I get a little sad when one kid comes up and asks "Why is your house so junky?" and another tells me "Your kids rooms are too messy." Ah the problems of moving into a higher socioeconomic area and school. I want to laugh it off, but I tried hard to have the upstairs totally presentable and clean, but I didn't pick up the play room. Shame on me.
I have a migraine and a sore throat this morning and I'm not sure if I'm sick or just tired, but either way I'm going to curl up in a dark room, listen to a book on tape, and put off cleaning until Ella's party in May. I'm going to need my energy if I'm going to have the house acceptably clean.

And The Winner is....

Everyone! Luckily only a few of you commented, (and I like all of you) so you all can pick out a necklace. Send me an email at nikkistott@yahoo.com with your address and your top three picks. I'll try and mix and match and make sure everyone gets an okay one. Here is a pic of what I have available:

I Think He Missed the Point

Ethan brought home this writing project from school. (it reads: "If I were a gift...I would be a Star Wars Legos and I would give myself to myself.")

Next year I think we are going to concentrate a little harder on why giving to other people is so great.

Singing in the Airport

While we waited at the Burbank airport for 5 hours waiting for our plane to come in everyone got a little antsy. There isn't a whole lot to do there, there is only one place to eat, and one little newsstand. The newsstand was having a sale on neck pillows and since we would be landing about 3 1/2 hours later than we planned we hoped to get some sleep on the plane (no one did. It made the next day really fun) so we purchased a couple. For some reason the girls just thought they were the best toys ever.
Then the lack of decent food and time spent in a tiny airport started to weigh on everyone. Livi started running around people as they came off planes, singing at the top of her lungs. We finally got her to sit next to Ella and this is what happened:

It's not that far to jump to this:

Thanks snowstorm. That was awesome.

Post 232: Seems like a good time for a giveaway

I had seen these necklaces on a site I follow. I checked Etsy to see how much they cost. $55 for a necklace and $85 for a bracelet was a little steep, and one of the joys of all my Dad's hobbies is that pretty much anything you can think of he has tools to make. I sent him pictures and he figured out how to do it. I executed the necklaces and VOILA here we are.This one is mine....I love it!

No Christmas is complete without a Dad project taking up space on the kitchen counter :) This time it was really my project, but Dad was on hand to help. Me working in the corner as Ella helps Grandma Sharon bake on Christmas Eve.

Livi thought the drill press was just fine on the counter!Unlike my mean sister, I choose to post my giveaways before they happen. Here is your chance to pick out a Lego necklace just for you! I have 16 inch silver chains that will fit a small neck, or a child. Just leave a comment and I will pick a winner at random a week from today and they can pick out the one the want. Hope you like them as much as I do!

It's Just What I Always Wanted....kind of

This year there seemed to be a lot of funny gifts given at our various celebrations. Sure, most were normal, fabulous, well thought out gifts, (Kids with Santa gifts: Star Wars Legos, Care Bears to love, and a Zhu Zhu pet track)

but what fun would it be to go through those? I am here to share the truly awesome:

Our gift to Dad. It took Dad a little while, and some mistified looks before I explained what this was...any guesses?

This may have been a little self serving, to give your wife mistletoe, but the true kicker is that it suction cups to my head. Awesome.

Dad got another funny one. See if you can tell how the Chinese version differs slightly from our American one.

My Grandma Donna is know for her amazingly funny gifts (Eric wrote a whole song about them) and I just had to laugh when I saw this. It is ONE Child Identification Kit.
Eric and I are still discussing which child we like the most so we can use it on that one.

The piece-de-resistance.
In his defence, Ryan didn't know Jared was coming until about a week before Christmas, and when he did know Jared wouldn't respond to texts or emails about what he wanted, so Ryan improvised.

Reason 2,568,997 I LOVE Disneyland, or Ariel Rocks!

Oh Disneyland, how do I love thee, let me count the ways...one one thousand, two one thousand....
One of the things that made this trip awesome was that it was the torrential rain and so nobody was in the park. We were able to walk on most rides and were able to go on everything that we wanted, lots of them more than once! We did have to plan ahead and buy rain gear before we got to Down Town Disney (or we would have spent twice as much) but for the most part we stayed nice and dry, just a little bulky.

This was such a fun trip to Disneyland because we tried so many new things. It was just our little family and my mom so we were able to do things for the kids and not worry that we were boring 7 other adults. We found some new gems that I hope we continue to do every time!
Just a note: They have "cast members" (employees) that have special pins on their jackets that show they are character experts. I learned that the Beast's real name is Adam. Go figure.

We ate lunch in the Golden Horse Shoe, which we had never done. The food was fried, but the entertainment they put on was very funny. The inside is beautifully done as a theatre, and we got prime seats in the balcony.
While the brave 3, Mom, Eric, and Ella, went on Splash Mountain.... (like we needed to have more water poured on us) Ethan, Livi and I explored the candy shop right at the exit. We tried their mini cupcakes and (take note Jes) they have the most amazing dipped marshmallows. I got the kind dipped in caramel, and then dipped in chocolate. Delicious.

While the big kids went with Eric on Matterhorn we took Livi to Toontown to meet "Mihee Mouse." She is just in love with Mickey Mouse so we thought it would be fun. Normally the line to meet him in his house takes FOREVER, but because no one was there we were able to walk through the house, meet Goofy and Minnie too, and then go right up and meet the big mouse himself. Livi was in heaven and still gets excited when she sees the pictures.

Also new for us, in Frontier land they had turned an area into Santa's Home. They had all 8 reindeer, and a keeper we could ask questions to. Santa had the cutest decorated little cottage and Ella waited in a short line to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. He was the best Santa I have ever seen in person.

But the thing that TRULY made this my favorite trip to Disneyland was going to see the princesses. We have never done this because the line is normally 2 hours long, but this time it was only an hour, so we braved it because Ella really wanted to meet them. It was finally our turn and she was so excited she ran over to Ariel, slipped on the wet stones, and fell hard on the ground. Ariel picked up her dress and RAN over to Ella, hugging her and soothing her, all in character. My favorite line was "I slip all the time while I have my human legs."
She spent 10 minutes just talking to Ella and making sure she was ok, the whole while keeping everyone in line waiting, just for my little girl. She wrote a long note to Ella in her autograph book, asked about what she wanted for Christmas and then they did a special princess handshake to promise to be best friends forever. I cried. It was so sweet that she would take so much notice and care to be sure that Ella had a good experience. Thank you Disney for employing such wonderful princesses.
I just included this picture because I like the look on Ethan's face. It's like he is expecting the horse to break and come crashing down at any minute!

A Very Hobbit Christmas... or 4 Christmases

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are finally back, and almost functioning at 50%. We've had a busy Christmas season with all sorts of fun (craziness), but for this post I am just mentioning the 4 celebrations we were able to take part of.
We started on the 12th with a dinner and present exchange with the Bagleys. We ate a ton, and it really started to feel like Christmas.

In California we able to spend time with both our families on Christmas morning (although since Jared wasn't up until 9:45 it was a good thing we did the actual morning at my parents and went to Stotts for mid-morning). All of my siblings were at their in-laws so we were the only ones with my parents. It was weird and shorter than usual, but we had a great time anyways and it was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa with us enjoyed the kids' enthusiasm. Around 10 we headed to Stotts and waited for Jared :) When we all ready we opened presents one by one for the first time and it was fun to see what everyone got. Joan and Alan were nice enough to get us a Wii (yes, I finally gave in) and everyone had a fun time playing with it, until the Laker game came on. We finally got home very early Tuesday morning (thanks east coast storm for delaying everything) so Tuesday evening we finally were able to open the gifts I had left here in Nebraska. All day Tuesday I heard lots of whining about "Can't we open our gifts yet?" "What time does Dad get home?" and my least favorite "Let me open just ooooonnnnneeee!" When the kids were finally able to open the long awaited gifts the dug in with so much enthusiasm there was paper all over the living room.

Little Lithe Livi

I've been meaning to post this video for a few days, but I had to swallow my pride first. Livi is adorable and funny while she dances, but she had just eaten and I had to take off her clothes, so she looks like a rag-a-muffin. Also I had been working on roman blinds for the kids rooms so all my sewing stuff if strewn about. If you can get past how messy my house was and how dirty Livi looked, then by all means, click and watch the video. If you can't, and you will be forced to judge me then don't click on it and next time you see us I'll act it out for you. Totally worth it not to be judged!
p.s. My favorite parts are when she runs over intermittently to get a snack of frosted flakes, and when when spanks her own bottom (thanks to Ethan for teaching her that move).