Friday, December 30, 2011

Funny Girl

Callie is seriously my comic relief. She is so shy and quiet in public, but at home she is totally different. She loves to dance, sing, and yell play with Parker. She really is my little helper...cleaning, cooking, and keeping track of what everyone is doing. I thought I would share some funny Callie moments for your enjoyment.

Here's how Callie cleans her room...

Everything stuffed in the drawers...

But she's so cute with her Febreez

She sure loves using any kind of cleaner. Wonder who she gets that from?


Here's Callie when I told her to pose like a princess...


Here's how Callie puts on sunblock.






Don't trust this girl with a tube of lotion, a bottle of shampoo, or bodywash. It will be gone in 2 seconds.



Callie loves making up friends and has quite the imagination. She makes up whole stories about made-up people and it is so funny. Here are some examples of the crazy stories I hear on a daily basis.

"I have a Grandma Ella. She lives downstairs in the basement. She is in the bathroom right now because she is sick."

Callie has imaginary friends named Sharma and Sherma and they apparently are our neighbors. She says, "They talk to me through the Christmas tree!!!"

Me: "Callie you are growing like a weed!"
Callie: "yeah like an Octopus Tiger in the seaweed!"

Callie thinks my mom gets up everyday and cooks all the food for Granny's Buffet.

Callie spills someone else's drink (on accident) everyday. Seriously. Everyday.

Callie: "Mom, do you like my room?"
Me: "Yes, you have a very nice room."
Callie: "Thanks. I got it at Home Depot."

Callie calls black olives "black meatballs"

The other night while sitting at the table with Cory Callie yells, "I Love Dirty Movies!!" What every mother likes to hear!

So that's my silly girl. I hope this post brightened your day.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

December Updates

How is your Christmas shopping going? Mine is mostly done except for a few items. Who loves online shopping? This girl!

We've been busy with all the usual Christmas stuff. Baking, arts and crafts, singing, drinking hot chocolate, looking at Christmas lights and trying to stay warm!

We had a fun time the other day making Snowman Pizzas and making handprinted Christmas trees. The kids each have their own small (fake) trees in their rooms. They had fun decorating their own trees with whatever they wanted. Yes, Callie's is pink.
Snowman Pizza!
Callie's handprint tree



We went out to meet Santa and his Reindeer recently too. The kids aren't ready to meet Santa yet, but waved at him from a distance.








No snow yet so no sledding or snowmen. We did have 1 day of flakes, but nothing stuck. It's been in the 20's here so maybe it's just too cold to snow. Here are some pictures of the kids on the first (and only!) snow day.





Parker and Callie are at the end of basketball season and that has been a fun new experience. Callie is too embarrassed to play right now. She will wait and shoot hoops at the end of practice when everyone is not paying attention.





Parker is enjoying himself a lot. Dribbling is hard, but he's really coming along. He does a great job listening to his coach (who is Uncle Jason) and practicing fundamentals like shooting, rebounding, and getting your hands up for defense. Parker likes to wave and wink at his family in the crowd, which is funny.




We also had Parker's first Christmas program at preschool. It was ADORABLE. They sang Jingle Bells using actual bells, recited a poem, sang and did sign language to "Happy Birthday, Jesus", sang Little Drummer Boy, and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with cute little hand gestures. Afterwards there was cake and refreshments. I was very impressed with all the hard work the kids and teachers put into the program.




Cory and I have been keeping busy keeping up with the kids and Christmas stuff. Cory has been enjoying hiking every week and hunting when he can. He had his first attempt at jerky and it was yummy.

Exercise for me has sadly taken the backburner. I'm embarrassed to say eating healthy hasn't been a priority either. My goal for this time of year was to maintain my current weight and focus on running and weight loss when the holidays are over. So far I'm maintaining so I'm trying to remember my goal and not get down on myself.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I Got Hacked!

After some technical difficulties..aka I got hacked...I'm back! I hope you guys have had a wonderful month. Everyone at my house has been icky sicky so you didn't miss much around here.

Callie had her 3 year old check up and checked out puuuurrrfect. She has a total phobia of doctors, so getting her in the door took some pushing.. literally. No just kidding. She went in but whined, shook and pouted, refusing to get off my lap. That's okay though she did it and it's over! She ended up weighing around 27 pounds and is in the 25th percentile for weight and height. She's my little petite girl.

Parker was up next with his 4 year old check up. He weighed somewhere around 43 poundish I think. He's in the 50th percentile for height and 90th for weight! His doctor said he isn't concerned in the least with his weight because he's very proportionate to his frame and he's just going to probably be a stalky kid and adult. Hmmmm..maybe built like his Daddy?

As for Parker's health, everything was fine. Parker's doctor left the decision up to me if I want to go back to the ENT to have Parker's adenoids and tonsils taken out. I decided I'm going to wait for now and see how the winter goes. We both came to the conclusion that if he's getting more than a couple sinus infections a year, he should probably go back. OR if he gets just a simple runny nose, and it always turns to an infection-time for another consult. For now, we are going to keep on zyrtec and flonase through the winter, which seems to be Parker's allergy season, and see if that helps.

Another thing we talked about was Parker's leg pain. Every 6-8 weeks Parker's leg pain comes back. Sometimes it lasts a couple hours, sometimes all day. We haven't had an episode in quite a few weeks, but I still wanted to mention it to the doctor. Parker's doctor has never got to actually see him with the leg pain, so next time we are to call and get him right in. He says he will probably order a bone scan. He was trying not to freak me out, but I'm a mom and a nurse, so I think a little freaking out in my head was allowed.

Bubs also got 3 shots. I decided to split them up so he would get so many next year before Kindergarten. He had to be pinned down and screeeeaaamed his head off. When we were leaving the doctor office he was still crying and said, "I can't stop crying Mom!" awwww shots suck!

On another doctors note, I gotta brag about my mama. With all her hard work, exercising and running, her latest lab work all came back NORMAL! No pre-diabetes, no cholesterol problems, kidneys and everything looked great! Her next goal is to get off all her meds. Good job Mom, I am so proud of you!!!! Sometimes when you work so hard and are running mile after mile, it's tough to remember the payoff for your health. It must feel so good to see you just bought yourself years with your family. Run on! :)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Go Cougs!!!


Uncle Trek signed with WSU today!! Congrats to Trek for such a great accomplishment!!

We got to go to the high school today and watch him sign his papers. It was pretty cool. The news was there and did a little interview. Not Trek's favorite thing to do, but he did great.

Parker was bummed that Trek won't be a Lion for much longer, but I think he'll grow to like Cougars too :) He also thought we were going to get to watch Trek play some baseball. It's hard to explain these things to a 4 year old!!

Callie keeps saying she's a big girl now because she went to high school.

Anyway, we are very proud of Trek and can't wait to head up to Pullman next year for lots of Coug games!!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

October Fun Times

I'm not even going to bother with an October Review because as far as exercising, blogging, or reading...well, I've been useless. We had 2 birthdays, a huge vacation, Cory and my anniversary, sicky kids, and oh wait- let's top it all off with Halloween! It was actually a fun month but just so busy my brain is still spinning. It's no wonder I ended up sick too. I think all of us just need to s...l...o...w...d...o...w...n... and what's that thing again? Oh yeah. Relax.

First off, I already mentioned Cory's birthday in a previous post, but it was pretty low key. He turned 29. Yay for being in your 20's!

For our 5th wedding anniversary we didn't do much. We actually have been together for 11 years now..can you freaking believe that?! I was 17 when we got together. IN-SA-HANE! We got New York Richie's, which is Cory's favorite, and Corona's, which is also Cory's favorite, and an ice cream cake, which is also Cory's favorite. We pigged out, sat around our fireplace, and watched movies.




Of course, Disneyland was amazing. See my previous post.

Right when we got back it was time for my favorite son's 4th birthday. We were all totally pooped from vacation, so we kept it very very small with just a few family members coming over for cake and presents. Parker had preschool that morning, and when he got home, magically the birthday fairy came and decorated the house in a "Go Diego Go" theme. He got lots of cool presents. Cory and I got him that new Hot Wheels track thingy that sticks to the wall. He also got a RC Helicopter, a scooter, clothes, a glow in the dark art board, a giant bowling set, games, and a Thomas follow the light. I think I might be forgetting some items there. A lot of stuff for just a few family members, huh? Our family is so generous. We are very blessed.

Being sung Happy Birthday at Red Robin

The kids started YMCA basketball that weekend. Most of the kids on the team are family friends, so it's great getting together for basically a big basketball playdate! Callie couldn't make it because she was fighting a fever. She wanted her Daddy to stay home with her, so he did and I took Parker. It was so cute to watch all the kids. Uncle Jason and Auntie Corrin are coaching and they did a great job. Go Red Team!




Next up, was Halloween! Parker missed the school field trip to the pumpkin patch since we were in Disneyland, so my mom, sister and I headed over one day after class.






The kids decided to paint their pumpkins this year instead of carving them.

Can you tell who painted which pumpkin?



Parker had a Harvest Party at school where the kids could dress up, play games, and win candy. It was a really cool event. I was able to take my lunch break from work during the party so I could go. Parker's cousin, Avah who's older, goes to the same school-but different classes, got to play games together. Callie was feeling better, so she got came and it was triple fun! Parker's trick or treating costume was a ghost, but the teacher requested no scary costumes. I didn't want to take the chance of scaring anyone, so Parker decided to be "Super Parker". He got a customed made Parker Cape for his birthday, so it was perfect. Callie was Cinderella. Avah was a butterfly.

Callie, Parker, and Avah

Super Parker!



They had different games like a cake walk (except the winner got a regular sized candy bar), fishing, bowling, ring toss, frog walk (they had to balance a rubber frog on a fly swatter and walk around), basketball, croquet, and face painting. At the face painting table Callie didn't want anything. Parker asked for "a circle". We decided a spider might be better.











We left with lots of candy and tired kids. Callie had been fighting off a fever for the past couple days, so she was extra tired.

My sick Callie


After getting off work, I met Cory at my parents for a quick bite of pizza and left to head over to Cory's parents house. Parker was crabby and Callie was still tired. Parker refused to get his face painted and Callie didn't want her hair or makeup done. Cory dressed up as a hunter man. It scared the heck outta me!! I was very creative and stayed in my scrubs. I went as a nurse. Good one, huh? By time we got to Cory's parents, the kids were shot. Next stop was Grama Lucy's house for a visit and more candy. Callie fell asleep in the car on the way over. We had plans to head back out to Parker's preschool for "Trick My Trunk" where people decorate their car in a theme and do a trunk or treat type event. On the way over, Parker fell asleep too. We ended up just calling it a night, and headed home.

The next day we figured out why the kids were so crabby and tired. They were both sick. Parker ended up going on antibiotics with a sinus infection, cojunctivitis, inflammed throat and ears. Poor guys was just miserable. And you know what they say about misery...within 12 hours, I was down with the high fever, bodyaches, sore throat, cough. Callie's been hanging tough and just has a stuffy nose and her fever had broke a night or 2 before Halloween. Cory's sick now too with same symptoms I had. Ugh. Parker starts his second round of antibiotics AGAIN tomorrow because his sinus symptoms are still lingering. He has his 4 year old check up coming and I think we might need an ENT visit. Anyways, not the way I wanted to start off November, but it is what it is. I wish the kids could have got to go trick or treating but luckily they got lots of candy and fun stuff from Grandparents. They didn't even realize they didn't go. And can I gripe for 1 second. Why the heck do we have Halloween during the weekdays? Can we just switch it to the last Saturday of October for stinkers sakes?!

So in a nutshell, that was my October. I'm ready for a more relaxed November!!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

BACK FROM DISNEY

Disneyland was so much fun!!!! Going as a 18 year old and returning 10 years later with my family was a much different experience, in a good way! Being there with kids is waaaay more fun. Seeing their little faces light up in excitement over everything.



It started with the plane rides, which the kids did great. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck for the take-offs and landings.

Callie waiting at airport-"There's our plane!"



We stayed on Embassy Suites South, which was just a short shuttle ride to the park. The good things worth mentioning about the hotel was it had a free breakfast buffet, really good room service, a really pretty lobby, and laundry rooms. The negative parts was, first off, the cab company the hotel was supposed to send to pick us up never showed! We ended up just getting our own cab, but to make up for it, the manager gave us a $100 gift card for room service and a free limo ride to the airport at checkout. How nice, huh? So it ended up actually good! Other than that, the rooms had thin walls...kids were running up and down the halls at all hours of the night/morning. Also, the showers were ALwAYS cold-warm at best. The decor was really outdated too and didn't match..but that seems like every hotel to me. All in all, it was an average stay. We will probably try another hotel next time just to see what else is out there.
First Limo Ride!!

As far as the parks, the wait times were awesome compared to summer hours. At disney and california adventure, most wait times were 10-20 minutes at the most. The longest we waited was for the Peter Pan ride at Disney at 30 mins. Disney was for sure the most crowded. When we went to Universal and Seaworld, there were practically no wait times at all.

All the parks were decorated up for Halloween, which is super fun. It's my favorite holiday and the kids loved seeing "spooky things".










Callie's favorite parts were the teacups, meeting the princess, and seeing the castle. She also loved "driving the cars" (Autopia). Her number one favorite part though was seeing Tinkerbell. We never got to meet her in Pixie Hollow, but she got to see her at the parade and during the fireworks show. She enjoyed snacking on cotton candy and was really good about taking a short nap each day in the stoller.
Pretty as a princess

Seeing Tinkerbell for the first time

First Mickey Ears

Meeting Ariel

Seeing the ocean should always take your breath away!


We got a purple teacup! Yess!

Look There's Ariel!

Learning how to eat crab at Joe's

Waiting for Bugs Life 4D..Callie didn't like it!

Look at those shark teeth!

Keeping Mommy entertained while waiting for World of Color

Yeehaw!

Come on muscles!

Meeting the princess from the Seaworld show



Parker's favorite parts were Autopia, the Nemo submarines, and getting splashed by the whales at Seaworld. He also loved the Buzz lightyear ride and rollercoaster in toon town. Parker did not take any naps while we were at the parks, but definately could have used them! He was really good though about riding around in the stoller and waiting in line- both of which I thought would be hard for a 4 year old, but no problems. He enjoyed telling the workers everyday, "It's my birthday today!" I think he just loved being told Happy Birthday all the time and getting to say he's 4. Another cute thing was when we went to Turtle Talk with Crush, he lets the kids ask a question. Parker wanted to ask Crush if he likes baseball. His Dad was proud.
Meeting Shamu

Buzz Lightyear, To The Rescue!

Wish Cars World was open! Oh well, meeting the cars was still cool

Look Dad, Ferris Wheels aren't scary!








Look, it's Crush!

Mmmmm, a giant turkey leg!

At the Handy Manny Show

Petting a baby alligator

Parker on Splash Mountain- he's in front of me

I thought I saw Parker at Universal for a second...



I enjoyed being there so much and am hoping the kids will have snapshots of memories in their minds for the rest of their lives. I know they won't remember everything- but that's what this blog is for! It was so magical because the kids just soaked up every show, ride, character..everything. They have that innocent imagination and belief in dreams that Disneyland is all about. It was so special. Now I just keep asking, when can we go back?!

Here are some extra snapshots: