Hotel Havoc

I have a kid who is ALMOST 10...December 28, to be exact. When to plan birthday parties for him can be a little challenging given the *other* excitement this time of year. In fact, last year we never did manage to put together a party for his friends, so THIS year, I was going to be on top of it. I mean, it's not every year that you get to join the ranks of double digits, right??

There is a hotel in town that has a big waterslide in it, and that is where Drew decided he wanted his party. We debated as to whether or not we should have his friends stay overnight like our family was going to do, but Drew was persuasive and so we gave in. 6 friends in all, plus our 3 kids. I was impressed by the amount of pizza that boys this age can manage to inhale! They were very well behaved and Jamie and I enjoyed ourselves as well.

I think the pictures speak for themselves...the kids had a blast, they stayed up WAAY too late, and did I mention that the kids had a blast??!!

Happy ALMOST Birthday Drew!

Teacher Gifts

Every year, I develop grand visions of the perfect teacher gift...handmade by the kids, very meaningful, of course cute and useful.... you get the idea.

Well, our first blizzard of the year was coming and I was so proud of myself that I thought far enough ahead to go out and purchase some items for the kids' Christmas boxes that they were going to make for their teachers. I had convinced myself that my usual last minute purchase of GIFT CARDS was getting a little dull, and I had grand plans of the kids decorating boxes, putting hand stamped coasters in them, and attaching a nice Christmas mug with some fancy hot chocolate packets. Thrifty, cute, and most importantly--handmade by the kids! Awwww---what a vision!

Blizzard in full swing, I start arranging all of our craft items on the table. I though I would start with the easy one, stamping the coasters. I bought 3 1/2" x 3 1/2 " tile squares from Lowes, found a cute Christmas(y) stamp, and thought this would work great. It did...but only when I did it. When the kids tried it, the stamp slipped and made smudges, or only half of the stamp would get pressed down properly...you get the idea. We made "happy accidents" with most of our tiles, rendering them useless, at least as gifts anyway. Let's move on to the boxes.

I found the 4"x4" boxes at Michael's and cut out strips of scrapbook paper the kids chose to decorate their boxes with. With help from the ever popular Modge Podge, the kids glued on their strips of paper and actually created some very cute boxes. Not sure at this point what we were putting in them since the coasters were a bust, but time was still on our side.

By this time the kids (and I) were a little crafted out, so after the boxes dried I decided to put them away for the next week and figure out what to do with them later. Fast forward one week, and it is all of the sudden time to take the gifts to school. D'oh! What are we going to do with those darn boxes!? Well, once again, down to the wire it is, and I decide that candy (sooo original!) and a nice (dull/boring/insert euphamism here) GIFT CARD would fit nicely into the box. So much for meaningful, but the kids were proud of them and the teachers loved the fact that the kids made the boxes--or at least they were kind enough to tell them that.

I can't wait for next year because I'm sure we'll be on top of it ;)

Thanksgiving 2009

standing by the Yampa River with Mt. Werner in the background

The kiddos downtown

The Lars Man

Taking a break

Jamie and Lars

Drew

Katie and I waiting for food at the Cantina

Cinnamon rolls from Winona's...a MUST!

Steamboat Charm

Oops! Just realized that Christmas is almost here (only 9 more days!!!) and I still haven't even posted about our FABULOUS Thanksgiving trip to Steamboat Springs, CO! Where does the time go?

Actually, I know where it goes this time of year...it goes to shopping trips, grocery store visits, holiday work parties, cookie making--(mostly *EATING* for me), more shopping trips, school functions, planning birthday parties--yes, birthday parties, (I have one that turns 10! 3 days after Christmas this year), wrapping presents, dance classes, basketball games, wrestling practice...ok, you get the idea.

I am actually getting tired just from writing all these activities down, almost makes me feel like I need to rest awhile before finishing up this post! JK! Ok, so without further ado...here goes.

We decided to meet our Denver friends in Steamboat for Thanksgiving this year. The plan was to leave on Wednesday morning, bright and early, about 5am. The Friday before, Maddi's school called and said she had thrown up. "Poor Maddi" I think, sure she'll be feeling better soon. Well, my little whisper of a daughter proceeds to be sick every 15 minutes or so for the next 4 hours, not even able to keep teaspoonful size sips of water in her poor little body. Jamie and I are beginning to wonder which one of us is gonna get it next. Apparently, it was me. By Saturday evening I am starting to feel *funny*, and at midnight, it is official--- same sucky thing; can't keep a thing down for what turned out to be 2 days. At this point, we are starting to question our Thanksgiving trip because a)we realize everyone will probably get this, b)we aren't sure how long it lasts, and c)we don't know WHEN everyone will get it.

Sunday now rolls around and Drew starts to mention that his stomach hurts. Not a good sign. I am still *dying*, Maddi is sleeping so hard I think she may never wake up, Drew is feeling funny, and poor Lars is hungry for some supper. My friend Vicki happened to call and see if we needed anything. At first I said no, and as soon as I hung up the phone, Drew started throwing up. I immediately called Vicki back to see if she would run to Quiznos for Lars. What a lifesaver! Now, this is all starting to sound a bit comical really, because what more could happen, right?? Well, let me share. Two hours later, Jamie comes home from his shift early because he threw up at work, and 3 hours after that, Lars starts throwing up in the middle of the night.

Great. Now we've all GOTTEN it...when will we be OVER it? Our Colorado plans depend on us knowing! By the time Tuesday rolls around, we need to make the call. Since no one has anymore fevers, and for the most part we are just a little weak from not eating much, we decide to go for it. You gotta pay to play, right??

As it turned out, we all ended up being fine, but I think the altitude kicked our butts a little more than normal. We had beautiful weather and the boys did AMAZING on their snowboards. I was so proud of how well they did, and it was great to see how much they improved even by the second day. In fact, Drew and his buddy Alek rode in the terrain park on the second day and were able to start grinding on the rails--there was lots of talk about who they were gonna get to be their sponsors since they were getting so good ;)

As always, we had a great time seeing our friends, and the kids had so much fun with their buddies.

Ice Skating 101

Any ideas on what to do on a *no*school*because*it's*conference*time*Friday? How about ice skating with the kiddos?

Well, that's exactly what we did last Friday with our good friends the Cupps. The kids ALWAYS ask me whenever we walk by the ice arena (which in our town happens to be in the mall, therefore we walk by it often...) if we can go skating, and in true parent fashion I always respond with a lame, "ohhh, maybe next time" type of answer. Can you imagine my children's surprise when not only did they get to go skating, but it was MY idea?? (or at least not their's, maybe it was Vicki's? I don't really remember...) They were SOOO excited to go skating, and we all had a fun time.

Drew and his buddy Ben did pretty well all by themselves. Lars and Matthew did great after a few trial runs, and then could pretty much hang with (or fall with) the big guys. Maddi and Abby relied on lots of hand holding in the beginning, but by the end, they too were ok with trying it out on their own. All in all, they had a GREAT time, and it was a nice way for two momma's to fill the day for some active little kiddos!

Elephant Hat

Maddi came home from school the other day and was very excited to show me her art project she got to bring home. She told me it was an elephant hat. I expected gray. It was pink. With *tassles* or something. It was adorable...

Rockin' it Miley Style

I was first made aware that Miley Cyrus was coming to Des Moines' Wells Fargo Arena back in June 2009. I never even flinched when it came to deciding whether or not to go, for my daughter's sake of course. Now, telling a 5 year old (actually she was 4 at the time of ticket purchase) that she gets to go see Miley Cyrus in concert is one thing, but the fact that the concert was still 4 months away would have been too much to bear. (For me AND her)

My friend Vicki, who also has a 5 year old, and I decided to not tell our girls about the concert until the actual day arrived. After many conversations, phone calls, trips all over town trying to find Miley t-shirts, and trying very hard not to actually slip up and spill the beans, the day finally arrived. We were so hopeful that they would understand that they were going to see Miley... LIVE, onstage! and we may have been *slightly* nervous that all of our planning may have been in vain.

The plan was to pick the girls up at noon from school, and then take them to the car and explain to them that we had a surprise for them. We had put their new shirts in gift bags and the girls opened them and squealed with delight. I'm pretty sure they thought that was the surprise--and they would have been thrilled with that! But when we told them that they were going to the concert, they LITERALLY squealed with delight...and didn't stop for several miles ;)

We met up with some other friends and we all had a great time! Maddi was all about the *hot pink* hair extensions we found at Claire's, and the pic of her rockin' out is to Hoedown Throwdown. She did get a little tired by the end and even though she sang the songs, she wanted me to hold her while we danced for Party In The USA (the first pic in the post). But all in all, Maddi loved it. When we woke up Saturday morning she said, "Mommy, thank you for taking me to the concert!"

I think the surprise worked!

Lars' 7th Birthday

It must be impossible that my little Lars is now 7! You have brought such joy to our family and I am so proud of the boy that you have become! You have such a wonderful sense of humor and happy-go-lucky attitude, and are completely driven to be able to *hang* with the big boys. It is this same determination that makes me admire you, yet also creates some challenging moments for me as your momma. This challenge is good for me, and even better for you, and I hope you always keep that level of determination as it will serve you well someday!! You are a bright, lego-fanatical, video game loving, momma snuggling, action packed, energy filled kid and I am completely and totally in love with you!

Happy Birthday Lars!!

Flag Football

Football time is here once again and the boys are playing flag football--Drew for the Jaguars and Lars for the Redskins. Lars was *BEYOND* excited that he finally got to play a sport this fall, now that he is a big 1st grader and all. The first game of the season found Lars at the QB position and he relished the spot. My favorite moment is a toss up between the time when Lars tried to yell out "HIKE!" and the kid playing center didn't hear him, so he literally SCREAMED it the second time, and the other moment was when one of the kids tried to yell hike! and his mouthpiece fell right out of his mouth. These little munchkins with these huge mouthguards making their mouths/lips look ginormous just cracks me up. That being said, Lars' team is 3-0 as of this writing, so something must be going ok!

Drew has also had a good learning year. His team is 2-1 and during the second game of the season he caught a pass and ran it in for a touchdown. Very EXCITING!! It is interesting to see just how much bigger the 3rd/4th grade teams are compared to the 1st/2nd grade teams, and kind of sad to remember that Drew was in that league just a few short years ago, and is now going to be ready for pads next year!!

We have lots of fun watching the boys play this fall, and even Maddi is capable of making a friend or two each week to play with for our 3-4 hour marathons at the football fields!

Bike Ramp

One of my sons' favorite pastimes includes riding their bikes over ramps and they LOVE that they get "AIR" when they fly over the ramp (read--a few inches). Here are some pics of the two of them tearing up the pavement...