Still Here

You know when you are trying to do something quietly you seem to make a ton of noise? I'm trying to type quietly. My sweet niece is sleeping next to me and waking her would be terrible for the both of us. My hand have been so full since Thanksgiving. My sister Wendi is moving to Georgia from South Carolina and is taking finals at the same time so Marilee is hanging out with us for the week. Good luck on your finals Wendi!

So for those who do not know, Marilee is 1 almost 2, Owen is 2 almost 3 and Charly is 8 months old. So our lives are filled with little hands, feet, diapers and tiny attitudes. :) I'm not complaining, just providing an excuse for why I haven't called, blogged, or emailed.

Thanksgiving weather was so nice we couldn't resist going outside to play.
As it turns out, wet sand is way more fun than dry sand.

Sour Cream Pound Cake is a traditional food for nearly all of our family gatherings that include eating. Maybe you care, maybe you don't. But I was so proud of how perfect my Sour Cream Pound Cake turned out, I had to post it. It tasted perfect too.

This Week

For family night we had a lesson on the Savior's birth. And we made this Nativity from the Friend magazine. We read some of the story from the Bible and sang Christmas songs. The kids did a better than usual job at paying attention.

Marilee helped decorate the tree, she found a few "special" ornaments that she wanted to carry around all day. Please note the cute pig tails. I put her hair up and she kept flipping her hair around and saying "Cute!" she really is.

Garett vs Marilee and The Man of Steel
The kids love to play with Garett, and he does a fantastic job of entertaining and winding the kids up right before bed time. I'm happy he makes the effort to play with them and to show them love. I just hope the timing of the rough housing can get bumped up an hour or so.

I bribed the kids with M&M's to smile for me. It so totally worked. The tree is decorated, no ornaments at the bottom, I'm guessing our tree will look like that for a few more years to come.

So here it is after midnight, I finally have my hands free. Dishes are still undone, but I'm on my third load of laundry. Now maybe I can catch some Z's before the nightly ritual of babies waking up starts. :)

Mini Milestones

This past week has been great. Charly turned 8 months on Monday! Hurray! She continues to be delightful and sweet. She is learning quickly how to get what she wants and needs - in that order. She has started to say "Da Da" unless you want her to, then she stops. :) Owen is nearly potty trained. He goes to the bathroom by himself but still needs help with those darn buttons and zippers. He finally went #2 on the potty, not that you wanted to know that, but it's a big deal so we took him to "Chuck E Cheeses' House" for hours of fun!!!

Yea! Chuck E Cheese!

I didn't worry about getting great pictures because the video clips I got were so much fun to watch. Unfortunately they came out choppy, I think it's the camera. Not sure..??

Free "Pepper Pepper"

LOS ANGELES – Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

Just Got Back!

Just got back from a fun and fabulous date with my husband. I took him out. We went to see Twilight, I was much more excited to see it than Garett. Okay, he was only happy to spend time with me, not so thrilled about the chick flick. I enjoyed the movie, the book is always best though. And Garett had fun, he thought the movie wasn't so bad for a chick flick. I think he had a lot of fun watching hundreds of girls squeel with delight and freak out over the smallest parts of the movie. I guess that is what happens when you watch it with hundreds of teens and tweens. :) I agree the audience was so much fun, they made the experience Dazzling!

Here We Are

I know I have disappeared for a little while, but here we are again. Normal life has been all that's been going on for the most part. We've even hit a few milestones in the past few days.

Not a milestone, but worth mentioning. The Swan's baking flour box has recipes on the back of the box and this is my attempt at the Simple Chocolate Cake. It is not as simple as a cake mix but it wasn't that hard to put together. I held back on the frosting because it was so sweet and the layers are not even, but I tried. And it does taste great!

Our little energetic Owen has learned how to fly Daddy's helicopter.
It is kind of hard to fly but he can do it and he does a good job.

Charly has surprised us the most in the past 3 days. Her top two teeth are about to break through. She learned how to pull up on everything! And the next day she started to cruise. She really gets around. The only down side is she hasn't learned to sit back down so she will just hang on and cry until help arrives. This gets really annoying at bed time.

I found her like this after nap time, we lowered the mattress that evening.

What to blog about?

I'm not considering myself in a blogging slump. I know there has been an unusually big gap in my posts but bear with me. I've actually been sparing you the dirty details of my oh so normal life. Here is a hint, it's all about poop. I have no idea what has hit our family (kids) but there have been so many poopy issues lately and who wants to read about that, much less see pictures. I'm hoping with cleaned up babies, clothing, floors, beds and a new office chair that our poopy problems have come to an end. I know I shouldn't jinx myself by writing that but I have hope.

On another note, my obsession to find outfits for the family pictures is paying off. I've got what we need DAYS before picture day! It's a miracle!

I've got a few things to blog about, check in soon!

Our Halloween Night

Trick or Treating was lots of fun. I love how Owen has the hang of asking for Treats and saying Thank you most of the time. He enjoyed it all with the exception of the haunted house (garage) at the end of our street. He refused to go in. I'm glad he has fear of something. Plus last year the people who were doing the haunted house took pictures of the kids mind included with out my permission, not a big fan of that. Especially because I don't know them.

Letting out some energy before the festivities.

My big boy.

He was so happy to be Superman and to be carrying a Spiderman bag.
I drew the line at the Spiderman shoes.

Here mom it's heavy.

By the time we got home we were wiped out and put our candy out on the front poarch for the kids to take. Most were good about taking one or two but the the tweens came and wiped out the rest. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm annoyed by that. That is very selfish and inconsiderate to other trick or treaters. I know, no need to go on about it.