A Thanksgiving Musical

Last night set records for the most hilarious holiday-- I am sure of it.

At a delicious, traditional turkey dinner with our friends, we shared our thoughts of thanks and gratitude for our many blessings.

Then we threw all inhibitions to the wind and played this into the early morning hours:
What ensued was over six hours of laughter. Gut-wrenching, gasping for air, my stomach and cheeks muscles are still sore, kind of laughter. Non-stop.

I see a new Thanksgiving tradition in the works.

Here is a picture of our friends, the Garcias-- singing their hearts out. (I can post this picture because they don't read my blog). Just be grateful that I am not posting one of the many videos I took.

Giving Thanks

We have so much to be grateful for this year. Going around the dinner table, everyone has to pick just one thing that they are grateful for in that year.

So in 2009, I am grateful for Chase.


Of course I am so grateful for all of my kids, but as of this time last year, we were done having kids. Heavenly Father went through much trouble to be sure that Chase came to our family. As an added bonus, he made this little baby good and easy (a first for this family).

And I'm grateful that I was, at last, able to capture this kid's smile in pictures (albeit fuzzy, out of focus pictures). Enjoy.

A Thanksgiving Horror Story

It is a dark day, complete with torrential downpour. A Chevy Tahoe pulls in to the local branch of the post office. A happy (albeit chubby) mom climbs out and proceeds to strap a newborn into her Snugli carrier. She then whisks out the umbrella stroller and straps in the one year-old boy she babysits. All the while, a rambunctious two year-old and four year-old climb out of the now empty SUV.

The gang slowly make their way into the crowded building-- struggling to all stay beneath one umbrella. She gets in line and congratulates herself for making it this far. She eventually achieves the coveted position of front of the line. As she is called to the counter, chaos erupts.

The one year-old manages to elude his strap and is now standing dangerously on the stroller and is screaming. As the mother tries to re-strap him, the baby she is "wearing" cries out in discomfort at her bent over position. The two year-old who has managed to escape the mother's grasp in all the chaos has climbed to the top of a nearby counter and falls dramatically to the floor. The four year-old who was instructed NOT to touch the nearby greeting cards now has a handful of them.

Gasps and murmuring from the very long line that the frustrated mother is now holding up. She smiles and pretends everything is fine and attempts to mail her international package. She has filled out the wrong customs form. In the time it takes to re-fill out the very unnecessary form, three out of the four children are in the midst of full-blown temper tantrums. The mother can feel all eyes on her back.

Just when it seems that things could not possibly get more humiliating, the mother begins to laugh. Hard. It is just too much and too hysterical to do anything but laugh. The antsy crowd of onlookers is sure that she has lost her mind. She very well might have.

In related news-- Mom and Dad, I have mailed your package. The very last one you will be receiving from me. Expect it in 3-5 business days.

Advice Needed

One of the items on my "Things I Want to Accomplish Before I Die" list is to take beautiful pictures. As I have made abundantly clear previously, I have no nice equipment-- nor do I have any natural artistic talent.

But I am obsessed with pictures. I love looking at them and I love lugging around my old, scuffed up Canon and taking pictures until my children are seeing stars.

I have decided (on a whim, of course) that I would like to learn to take pretty pictures now-- while my kids are young. I think I will regret it if I wait. It is just plain wrong to have such great-looking kids and not be able to take good photos of them.

I have no desire to be a professional photographer-- just to take photos in which my children do not have red eyes. I would also like to be able to capture their personalities in a picture and not be embarrassed to hang the pictures on a wall.

I need a good camera, but I don't know where to begin looking. If you know of a good camera for beginners-- nothing too complicated or fancy, please let me know. And please keep in mind that I am cheap. REALLY, REALLY cheap. (Like-- I have been known to balk at the prices at the Goodwill cheap). But if you give me an idea of the type of camera to look for, I can start scrounging around for a good deal.

I just don't have a clue where to start. I'd appreciate any and all ideas!

Hubba Bubba

The bowl of Halloween candy has dwindled into a mess of stale bubble gum and cheap lollipops. (Honestly, if the ingredients don't include chocolate-- consider it a waste of money to buy the candy!)

Last night, Lance decided to blow the biggest bubble possible out of Double Bubble gum. He had moderate success, but changed agendas and began to see how many pieces he could conceivably fit in his mouth.

After 20 pieces of sickeningly sweet pink gum, we ran out.

My first thought was, "What a sweet Dad that he would do all of this to entertain his kids." (They really were enraptured by it all.) But as I looked at his big goofy smile stuffed to the brim with pink goo, I realized that he would be doing this whether the kids were here or not.

I just love that goofball.

The Joys of Self-Deprecation

From time to time, I have this experience:

I say or do something to make fun of myself and then laugh-- cause I think I am hilarious.

The recipient of my wit and humor gives me a blank stare or says something "reassuring" which does nothing but reassure me that they don't get my joke.

The best part of making mistakes and humiliating oneself is sharing the experience with others and laughing so hard that your stomach hurts.

More and more I am coming across people who take themselves so seriously. It has become one of my pet peeves-- people who can't laugh at themselves. How boring.

I came across this quote on a friend's blog and I just love it. Enjoy.

A Love Letter

Dear Babywise,
Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for saving me from the depths of sleep deprivation. It is all because of you that my son began sleeping for 6-7 hours at a mere 4 weeks old. It is due to your one of a kind approach that at 8 weeks he slept for 10 hours at night.

You must know that I am a person who loves and cherishes sleep. And now, Babywise, I love and cherish you.

Sincerely,

Well Rested in Tampa

My Fancy Pictures

I love looking at people's bogs. I have noticed, over the course of my blog-stalking, that there is a trend among the "mommy blogs." When a new baby is born, there is always a plethora of pictures-- either professionally done or taken with an expensive, sophisticated camera. This is not a criticism. I am a picture junkie and I love looking at great photos.

However, I do not own a sophisticated camera. I have no eye for photography, nor do I have the energy to coordinate a professional photo shoot (and by professional, I mean Sears).

Therefore, I took it upon myself and my beat-up, four year-old Canon digital camera to capture these pictures. They are not well-done. They are not black and white or sepia. There are no special effects. I was not able to capture my kids looking wistfully out the window or sweetly kissing the baby. They are not sitting on the beach or teetering on a mountain precipice. I didn't even pick out their outfits. These are good old fashioned "smile and say cheese" pictures. Nonetheless, I think my kids are pretty cute-- red eyes and all.

The Lost Cause

I love this book:

And I REALLY love this book:
But I could not have been more thoroughly disappointed with this book:

I heard bad reviews about The Lost Symbol, so my expectations were low. I did not expect the plot to blow my mind and hold my attention in the traditional Dan Brown style. I did, however, expect the plot to make sense.

I guess my expectations were too high, after all.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was once a favorite holiday for this family. If you recall Halloween 2007:

This year, we were a bit relaxed and lazy when it came to costuming. Does this mean that we are getting old? Anyway, sorry to disappoint.

The kids decided (after our weekend at the rodeo and ranch) to be cowboys for Halloween. And we also had a cute and cranky little Tootsie Roll.

Enjoy the pictures:

Happy Halloween