So Gullible….So Adorable!

Something the kids said this morning during breakfast brought back to my mind an incident from a few nights ago. I can’t reveal what they said this morning, not just yet as it would ruin the story. So our story starts a few nights ago at dinnertime when Olivia tells us, dead serious, that she can count to twelve in sign language. I’m really impressed because I know that they use their fingers in a way that doesn’t make sense to hearing people, and I’ve never been able to memorize numbers in sign language. Tyler asks her to show us and she starts… she puts her right hand out palm up and leaves it there, then she puts her left hand out palm up and leaves it there, then she flips her right hand palm down and leaves it there.... Tyler and I start to smile… then she flips her left hand palm down and leaves it there… the smile is getting bigger… then she puts her right hand behind her head….we’re such naughty parents, we loose it, we’re laughing so hard I’m crying and my sweet little girl lowers her head and pouts, she’s embarrassed because we’re laughing at her. Tyler asks her who taught her how to “count in sign language” and she says someone at school but she won’t tells us who, what’s for sure is that they got her good. Tyler explains that we’re not laughing at her, that she’s not counting in sign language but doing the Macarena, and it’s the dance that's funny, but she doesn’t believe us and is still embarrassed. We try to apologize and make her feel better, we even show her people dancing the Macarena on YouTube but we hurt her feelings and I feel bad so I just hold her while Henry is now dancing the Macarena and it's not helping. The evening goes on, life goes on and I forget about the incident... until this morning when Olivia says “I did the Macarena for Henry yesterday”, and Henry adds “she does the Macarena for me because I don’t laugh at her.” It makes me feel terrible that I hurt her feelings but you’ve got to admit that it was really funny.

Our Christmas tree

We didn’t get a real tree this year, but used the artificial one we had in storage. Dad set up the tree, strung the lights and the garlands and the rest of us had carte blanche with the ornaments. I think it turned out pretty good. The decision to use the “fake tree” came after we realized that since we’d be gone on Christmas day anyway and that we wouldn’t be able to water the tree for more than 2 weeks, we didn’t want to come home to a dead, fire-hazard tree at the beginning of January. Ideally, I’d prefer a real tree but it’s just not practical this year and this is a good tree that is serving its purpose. Plus, we light a Christmas tree scented candle by it so that we can have the smell of the season and not just the look of the season. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our new family picture

We finally had our family picture taken this weekend. It was supposed to be done 2 months ago, but things kept getting in the way. So Saturday afternoon, Tyler’s mom took our picture. She’s got Olivia so well trained that she didn’t have to tell Olivia how to pose. I think we have a model in the making. Henry was a little more difficult. He’s such a goof ball that he couldn’t stay still more than a split second at a time. Good thing Grandma is such an awesome photographer. When all is said and done, we are very pleased with this year’s portraits. Thanks Grandma!

Happy Birthday Henry

...and Grandma and me! November is a busy month we had a birthday dinner for all three birthdays at Grandma's and we made Henry's actual birthday as special as we could. First it was a happy coincidence that the 13th was "Donuts with Dads" (the school invites all the kids and their fathers for a donut breakfast at 7:30.) After school, he got to watch a movie with Dad and for dinner he wanted to go out to sushi so we went to Sushimoto in Fernley. O yeah and before we left for dinner, he got to open even more presents... pretty special day for a special boy.

Halloween Part 2

We had a great Halloween. Because Halloween was on Friday, it also happened to be Nevada Day (or Nevada's birthday as Olivia has been saying and she walked around most of the day singing or humming "Happy Birthday"). We had Nevada day off (even though Henry was positive we got the day off for Halloween) and did fun Halloween related activities, including carving our pumpkins and baking treats, as the excitement for the night to come kept escalading... it's fun to bake and do crafts but apparently it's way more fun to walk around town in a costume and receive candy from everybody. My cute children:

Olivia as the most adorable Little Mermaid ever and Henry as the silliest, goofiest Red Dino Power Ranger.

While I stayed home handing out candy and making Caramel Corn, Tyler took them trick-or-treat. He walked them into the ground, for which Henry complained until he got home and surveyed his loot, both were extremely satisfied with their "harvest". We finished the evening at Judge's house for more fun and candy, and the realization for me that it's only the beginning of 2 months of fun and food!

Halloween Part 1

Thanks to School Halloween parties, we had some more baking fun. Both Olivia and Henry had signed up to bring cupcakes (they love to bake and decorate cupcakes) and so we looked for a fun new Halloween cupcake. The one- eyed monster is the one both wanted to bring to their party, and I have to say that they turned out pretty good. Alright, so this blog entry is going to be a little about me... a couple of days ago, Henry and I were walking around in Safeway and Henry was still wearing his plastic vampire teeth, like he had been doing since he got them as a prize at the elementary school Fall Festival (at first, it was hard to understand him, but you get used to it.) Out of the blue, Henry asks me "Do you like me now?" I'm a little surprised by the question but I answer "Henry, I always love you!" To this he replies "No, I mean, do you like me now that I'm a vampire... you like vampires..." I guess I've read the twilight books too much before their bedtime and watched the movie trailer one to many times!

Another Henry moment: This morning at breakfast, Olivia asked Henry what he wanted to be next Halloween and he answered without hesitation "a crystal shrimp!" He meant a Sushi Roll like the one Amber is making Mitchell this Halloween (Amber and Mitchell came to Lovelock to watch our Primary program last Sunday and showed us pictures of the costume. It's awesome. I got this picture from the Family Fun magazine which is where Amber got her inspiration.) For those who do not know, Henry loves sushi, even the raw stuff, but his very favorite is the crystal shrimp rolls.

So excited for Twilight

It seems that lately this blog has been more about me than the kids... not to worry I will soon blog about them again but I couldn't pass this. I found the clip on MSN and I love it... enjoy!

I've been tagged...

8 T.V Shows I love to Watch: I don’t watch all of them but I wish I had time… 1. Lost 2. The Office 3. Ghost whisperer 4. Medium 5. House 6. Numbers 7. Criminal Minds 8. My Own Worst Enemy

8 Favorite Restaurants: 1. Chili Pepper (Thai restaurant in Reno) 2. P.F. Chang’s 3. Sushi Time 4. Cheesecake Factory 5. Bajio 6. Ciao (too bad they aren’t there anymore) 7. Famous Daves 8. Panera

8 Things that Happened Yesterday: 1. I did laundry (didn’t get to the ironing though) 2. I straightened the house. 3. I made more pumpkin bread. 4. I took Olivia and Henry to a birthday party. 5. I took Olivia and Henry to the elementary school Fall Festival. 6. I cleaned the bathroom and moped the kitchen. 7. Tyler and I went to a “game night”, we played battle of the sexes. The ladies won! It was also a congratulation party for Tyler and his friend Bryce who have just passed the Nevada Bar Exam. 8. I went to bed with a migraine.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to: 1. A Sunday afternnon nap. 2. Some quiet time to finally read the book club book. 3. Halloween…and the candy witch to take most of the candy away so I don’t have time to get into it! 4. My birthday…I can’t wait to see what the kids will do this year. 5. The Twilight Movie!! I loved the books and I get to go see it with my girlfriends. 6. Going to France for Christmas. I haven’t been there for Christmas since 99. 7. Going to Disneyland Paris at least 3 times in the two weeks will be in France. 8. Catching up on my scrapbooking.

8 Things on My Wish List: 1. A weekend all to myself. It wouldn’t have to be a weekend any two days would do. 2. A weekend with just my husband and I. 3. New dishes. 4. Children who never fight. 5. More time in a day. 6. To know more about computers. 7. More patience. 8. More understanding.

8 People I Tag: 1. Florine R. 2. Heidi G. 3. Merideth A. 4. Alicia L. 5. Coleen A. 6. Emeline T. 7. Christine A. 8. Lauren A.

California

We went to L.A. for a wedding but we couldn't pass the beach. We love the beach and decided to go check out Malibu. We couldn't get there until Sunday and still managed to have a grand time without swimming (although Henry got awfully close and didn't seem to mind that he was fully dressed, including his blanky he uses as a cape.)

Olivia preferred to stay as dry as possible and found plenty to amuse herself away from the water.

And finally a picture from the wedding feature Zack, Jocelyn, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids. It was a beautiful wedding. We got to see many friends and family at the wedding and reception.

But best of all, we stayed with Craig and Jennifer (Tyler's uncle and aunt) and their family and got to spend time with Wade and Merideth who blessed their precious baby boy Crew Benson Altom.

Only in Lovelock

Yesterday, I went to our little Safeway to buy milk and eggs. As often, there was no skim milk on the shelves but we were out so I found someone and asked them to check if they had some in the back. The woman was gone for about 10 minutes (and I’m not exaggerating) when she came back to tell me she couldn’t see any skim milk but she would go check with ______ (I can’t remember her name) because she “worked in dairy”. The two of them had been gone a few minutes when they came back and the one who “worked in dairy” said “I’m sorry I don’t have any skim milk, all I have is fat free, 1% and 2%”. I could have said something really mean but all I said is “I’ll take 2 gallons of the fat free.” I kept my rude and sarcastic comments for Tyler when I got home. I have to give it to those two ladies; the jug does say Fat Free and not Skim. I know it's hard to tell but I'm really not a good photographer and I couldn't get the camera to get a clearer picture of the label.