Happy Thanksgiving!!

Doesn't this look nice! We're just getting ready to add the final touches and food to the table. What a nice, relaxing and wonderful dinner I put on...or so it seems. What you can't see in the picture is THIS...
That the kitchen table is on the carpet because if it was in it's usual place we would be getting wet. How many of YOU were serenaded be the sound of dripping water coming from your ceiling while you ate your Thanksgiving feast? We had such a treat.

We went on a bike ride just before dinner and I got into the house first and could hear running water and looked all around and found it coming from the ceiling!!! A nice waterfall (I love waterfalls but this was a little too much!!). A little one in our house went to the upstairs bathroom and washed her hands before leaving on our trip and used the sink that is always plugged up and left the water on (full blast). So we came home to a wet mess. Luckily it all puddled in one spot in the ceiling and so there wasn't water in the whole house just at this one little crack in the ceiling (where Grandpa is cleaning up - THANK YOU!!!). Thankfully none of our stuff was wet and Safeway was open and had a carpet cleaner we could use to get the water out of the carpet and so far the water damage seems minimal, all things considered.
It took awhile for the water to finally stop dripping but I decided the turkey was ready, the rolls were ready to be baked, kids were hungry and dinner must go on! It was a busy house with Daddy using the carpet cleaner, Grandpa mopping up, Grandma entertaining kids, me trying to empty bookshelves so we could move them out of the way so we could dry the carpet and all of us working on dinner. We forgot to make the stuffing and made a last minute decision to use instant potatoes to save time on a chaotic night but we survived, had a nice meal, things are drying and we'll all be happy to go to bed tonight (oh yea, and my wedding ring flew off my finger into the sink (I recovered it), the gas stove wouldn't light (Grandpa lit it), the light bulb blew out in the bathroom, my dessert didn't work but I'm going to bed and hope it's all good tomorrow).

As a side note - we don't think this is the first time it's happened! That sink has never worked (we now wished we had just shut off the water and we wish it had an overflow outlet!!!) and the bathtub has also always had drainage problems (they have to come fix it every few months - these problems have been happening since we first moved in). Where all the water was creating the waterfall there has always been a crack in the ceiling since we moved in and the paint on the wall looks a little funny. Now that the ceiling is wet we see evidence that the ceiling has been patched at the same part....I'm not surprised!!!)

Bike ride!

This is what we were doing when the house flooded....

We borrowed bikes from our neighbors for Grandma and Grandpa and off we went to "Emma's park"

Aren't they adorable!!!

Spin me faster Daddy!

Woohoo!

She LOVES going down the slides now!! She also loves that she can get up and walk to the stairs and go down the slide all by herself, as many times as she wants :)

And Mg can go UP the slide!!!

We had a great time! A lot of work (and shock!) when we came back but we're grateful it wasn't any worse :) Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Uncle Scott Photography

I'm telling you - it's wonderful to have a photographer in the family (and a hairdresser and a cook and a fix everything man - maybe one day I'll figure out what I contribute to the family besides being bossy!). While Uncle Scott was here celebrating his birthday and taking pictures for our family he got some fun shots in, too ("Take my picture Uncle Scott!!!")...Enjoy!!!!

These are her precious "bunnies"...like all good bunnies they multiply - I think we have about 6 in the house (literally!!!)This most definitely captures my little girl!!!

I'm all grown up and I like to do my own hair now :)All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

This is her favorite cat that has been around for a REALLY long time but is still the favorite!!("Don't try to make me SIT on this chair for a picture!!!!")

Rain!

Doesn't Uncle Scott take fabulous pictures!!!! And this is in the rain!! When they came up for his birthday and to take pictures we had a REALLY rainy day (which meant no outside family pictures :( ) but it meant for some happy girls!!! It was the first big rain of the year and we dug out everyone's boots and they have a wonderful time! Thanks Uncle Scott for braving the rain!!

(you can click on the picture to blow it up if you want)

This child LOVES water!!!! Baths, pools, and puddles...she is so completely happy and carefree in the water! It was so much fun to watch her see how big a splash she could make and to have so much fun!!!Why bother with an umbrella!Now this has got to be one of the coolest pictures ever! Nice job little bro! (you've got to click on this one to blow it up!)

"I'm going to get into this puddle....you better stop me...I'm really going in...here I go...are you going to stop me?" This would be my littlest imps new attitude - life is a game and it's so funny to see if I can get you to come chase me!! (but she's SO cute when she does it!)"I'm in now - are you going to get me!!??"

"This is SO much fun!!!!" I could not believe how much fun she had - it was a giggle and squeal fest as she actually got to play in the puddle. We were shocked that she didn't care about how cold it was or that it was raining and she was getting soaked, although she did look up quite a bit to check out the rain :) We had to force her in because she was shivering and soaked, but ever so happy!!!

Of course this child had to put on her sister's boots - I don't remember any of my other girls being THIS obsessed over clothes and especially shoes!

Of course they were way to big and she couldn't even stand in them, but thanks dad for putting them on so she could try!!

"I'm cold and wet, I think it's time to go inside"

Thanks again Scott for a great day and for great pictures! We love you!

Request...

I'm looking for a really good sugar cookie recipe. I love going to the Safeway bakery - they have the lightest thick sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles in the plastic container....you know what I'm talking about?

Mmm...and speaking of Safeway's bakery...when I have to go to the grocery store and I'm tired and grumpy my special treat is Safeway's sugar cookies with large M&M's baked in. You know which ones I'm talking about? The large cookies you can buy individually or in a plastic box with a mixed variety. Yum. Anyone know how to make those?

Thanks!!!

Jump Rope Assembly

Both girls are in the jump rope club at school and are doing so well!! They both participated in the assembly and I was SO proud of them!!!! E was nervous at first about doing it but on the day of the assembly she decided she wasn't nervous and went out and did a GREAT job with her friends!!! (She's jumping in the middle and got in without any problems! Yea!)

M jumped with two of her friends and they had some neat tricks - here all three are jumping together with one rope (M and the other girl were turning it for themselves and then the third girl jumped in) Way to go girls!!! I'm so proud of both of you!!!!!

Daddy's birthday!

Daddy's birthday was last week! He's really excited about the airplanes the girls gave him (Daddy had pointed out to me the models he flies in his computer games). Of course after dinner Daddy had to get his computer game out and SHOW the girls the planes he flies...

I think the girls were impressed and Daddy was happy :)

Everyone lined up on the couch to sing the birthday song and have a cupcake! Isn't he cute with all his girls!

I'm so glad I caught this at the right moment! A thought the candle was pretty cool!! We had to apologize for the pink candles and frosting - the girls had had a tea party that afternoon with some friends and we had used pink frosting and all we had were pink candles! Daddy said it tasted good anyways!

I tried to make up for it with transformers plates!

We love you so much Daddy!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

Little Bro's bday!

My little bro and his beautiful wife and adorable baby boy came to visit us a few weekends ago to take some family pictures for us and to celebrate his birthday!
WE love Uncle Scott!!!

Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly! My bro loves Monopoly and he was willing to play the littlest pet shop version...I'm told M beat Uncle Scott (but my brother tells me it's only because he was helping his nieces along the way!)

Special time with Aunt Sara

What cute cousins!!!

Thanks for a great visit and amazing pictures!!! We love you!!
(I'll get the family pictures up soon!)

Random

A few random pictures...

Halloween!

I've got a bit of catching up to do and I wasn't going to bother but I am really excited about getting my blog printed to keep as a journal so I figured it would be worth uploading these pictures...so here you go!

Our princess fairy

Poodle girl! (thanks Grandma!)

Mg with her buddy - We had a fun Halloween party with friends (the kids didn't have school that Friday for a teacher work-day) and then some friends came over to watch a Halloween video and Mg wore this leotard. She was SO tired when it was time to go trick-or-treating she didn't want to get her tinkerbell costume on so she added her crown and went as a ballerina!

Thanks Grandma for the fun trick-or-treat bags - they were GREAT!

What a lot of candy! We weren't even out very long!!! We went out with some friends of ours - their daughter was in kindergarten last year with E and she has a younger sister the same age as Mg and they are best of buddies so we do a lot with this family. We got lucky - we told the kids we were going to two more houses and at the last house it started to DUMP the rain so we ran to the car and headed home!

On a side note - I came up with a BRILLIANT plan - we still have lots of Halloween candy left over so I am now saving it to make an advent calendar for the kids for Christmas! :) Happy Halloween!