Gingerbread Men Gone Wrong

The girls and I made gingerbread men for the first time ever. It was one of those store bought mixes where all you have to do is add the egg and butter and a little water. You'd think I couldn't screw that up, but alas, I did. The directions clearly said to use softened butter but I melted mine completely! So, the dough was extremely runny when using the cookie cutters. We couldn't properly cut out the cookie shapes. They were all really mis-shapen and messy. They looked like obese gingerbread men after they were baked. We had a fun time making them anyway and they tasted fine. When I posed for the picture above, for some reason I stuck my hand up in the air when I bit into the cookie. So, when I took the girls' picture biting into their cookies they both immediately stuck their hands up in the air like I had. I thought that was pretty funny!

Fall 2008

I'm sorry I have not posted anything since October. I knew this blogging thing would be hard for me to keep up with. Not that I don't have the time, I just have to use my creative side to come up with the words, etc. so I always put it off! Okay, the fall season here was very nice and it apparently lasted longer than past years. We still had some really warm days in November and I think that is not the norm for this time of year. We've had several snowfalls already but not enough to keep us snowed in or anything. It's interesting...life just continues on even when there's bad weather. You just head outdoors and shovel off your driveway and sidewalk so that you can get out and all problems are solved. Can you picture that? Me shoveling snow? I didn't know people actually did that, but they do!

Mike and Carol came out to visit us the week before Thanksgiving. We were so happy to have them here! They did some Christmas shopping for all of us and left it here so that we don't have to haul our gifts back from Arkansas later this month. We ate out nearly every meal and I easily packed on 5 pounds that week! Then, after the Perry's left we spent Thanksgiving here at our house. Our friends, Lauri & Scott McAdory are moving to the Boulder area for Lauri's job. Lauri was a friend in college and they were friends of ours in Benton, then they moved to Scottsdale, AZ almost two years ago. They spent turkey day with us and Lauri and I did the cooking. Everything was pretty good. I didn't care for the turkey, but all in all it was a good attempt at the first Thanksgiving meal that I've prepared. We had dessert with neighbors and played games. It was a good time. Then, Lauri and I hit the sales at 4a.m.! I'd never shopped the day after Christmas. I couldn't believe all the people out at that hour - and men were there shopping too!

Lucy is almost 100% potty trained! She has done so well. Maggie was a totally different story. It took us years to get her potty trained. Lucy is so eager to go and so very proud of herself when she does. We started training about a month ago and (knock on wood) I think it's been a success! Maggie has been playing in a basketball league through our local recreation center and it has been a great experience for her. She loves it and has learned so much. She was a little scared of the ball at first but now she's getting in there and making some shots and getting aggressive.

We went to Dallas the first weekend in December for Ian's holiday party. His boss lives in Rockwall on Lake Ray Hubbard so they invited (and paid for) us and about 15 others to fly there and we stayed at the Westin Galleria for the weekend. We decided to take the girls with us to Dallas because it was cheaper to buy two tickets to Dallas on Frontier than it would have been to pay for one grandparent to fly out from Arkansas on the direct United flight. My Mom and Doug drove down from Hot Springs and kept the girls while we did our thing. So, we were thrilled that we got the chance to visit with them and had a free babysitter at the same time.

We are in the process of finishing out our basement. It should be complete by this Friday. I will post pictures of the before and after so you can see the progress.

Oktoberfest 2008 & Pumpkin Seed Spitting Contest

Our neighbors, the Reneiros, had their annual Oktoberfest celebration last Saturday. Lots of bratwurst, beer and suaerkraut - yum! They had lots of games for the kids. A pumpkin seed spitting contest was the fave and they were all awarded gold medals for their efforts; even Lucy! We have hawks that hang out on our rooftops and make the worst bird noises that you've ever heard, so the hawk has become sort of a neighborhood mascot to the kids. One of the moms did a craft project with the kids and they made hawks to take home with them. Lucy and her buddy Jack are the two youngest and they are two peas in a pod. They adore each other! We had a great day and the weather was a little chilly. Perfect Oktoberfest weather!

"I Cweams" & Zoo for the Day

We took the girls to eat "I Cweams" (as Lucy calls it) at Maggie Moos on Saturday night. There is this great outdoor shopping mall called Southlands that is fairly close to our house. They have great shops and restaurants and a giant movie theater, not that I would know because I haven't been to a movie in ages, but there's really stuff for the whole family to do there. There are fountains of water that shoot up from the ground and in the warmer months you'll see kids in their bathing suits running around in them. It's a little too cool already for that now, although we did see some wet kids! We like to do dinner, walk around and then go for ice cream.

Sunday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. This zoo is built on a mountain and is made to blend with the natural environment. It was really beautiful, but stinky. The coolest were the giraffes, which were standing down on a lower level so that we were eye level with them and could feed them. There was a carousel for the kids and lots of exhibits. We spent over three hours there! The funnel cakes with strawberry sauce were to die for. The girls loved the day and so did we.

Sick Girls and Crappy Labor Day

So, Ian had the bright idea of traveling to Arkansas for the Labor Day weekend by himself. Yes, I said by himself for four days over the holiday. When he was in the planning stages of this little trip I guess I wasn't really thinking clearly or was drugged or something because at the time I thought it was just fine with me. Besides, I was hoping to go on a trip with some girlfriends in late September, which is not happening now by the way. He departed on Thursday for a long weekend of fantasy footballing and poker playing with his Benton buddies from high school. In the meantime, back here in reality the girls and I had a good evening doing outdoor movie night with the neighbors. We had a fantastic time, then Lucy got sick from both ends. So, on Saturday we had big plans of going to the pool but since Lucy was sick from both ends we didn't think we should spread it around. Sunday I awoke at 4a.m. with the sickness too! I guess a stomach virus. So that continued all day but we decided we would go to the neighbor's Labor Day party and infect them too. Maggie was feeling her usual normal, healthy self. She NEVER gets sick and Lucy gets sick if I just say the word sick. I don't know how I had two children with completely different immune systems. Anyway, the next-door party was very nice and the kids ran wild and I ate way too much for feeling sickly. Everyone, and I mean everyone, asked "where is Ian," "he went where to do what," "fantasy football?" I'm sure my neighbors think we're totally weird for Ian having a guy's weekend on Labor Day. By the time Monday rolled around I was about to go postal after basically being in my house with kids and two of us being sick all weekend long. It was just about enough to make me lock myself in the basement until Ian returned. Luckily, the neighbor invited Maggie to the pool with them that afternoon so she got to do SOMETHING on the holiday. All in all Ian had fun and was glad he went but I informed him that there will be no more holidays spent away from us! He agreed.

Movie Night Part II - Hoodwinked

We had another neighborhood movie night on the neighbor's garage door. This time it was Hoodwinked. Tons of kids showed up in their pajamas and their sleeping bags and pillows. The kids had popcorn, Twizzlers, soft drinks, Junior Mints, Whoppers, your typical movie snack food. Lucy was cramming Twizzlers in her mouth so quick that I was afraid there wouldn't be any left for the other kids! She's the youngest kid on the street so she is a hand-full at events like this. I can't take my eyes off of her or she'll be destructing something. Unfortunately, she got sick in the middle of the night after movie night - it could have been all the candy she ate but it has lingered so I'm thinking it must be a stomach virus.

Maggie's First Day of 1st Grade

Three Weeks in Arkansas

We spent three wonderful, hot weeks in Arkansas in July visiting with all of our families and friends. Maggie and Lucy thoroughly enjoyed getting all the attention, hugs and kisses from all the grandparents. We were on the move the entire time. I don't know if we stayed in one place more than three nights in a row. They loved getting to see cousins Ryan, Betsy and Ethan. They all just picked up where they left off as if they just saw each other last week, like we never moved across the country.

Ryan and Lucy "cutting a rug" at Sam's Pizza. Maggie danced so wild and crazy that she flailed about and knocked a drink out of someone's hand. The lady was a little ticked off but there was a sign that clearly read "no drinks on the dance floor" ... so there!

We stayed with Dad and Anne for several days and they kept my kids while I worked in the Acxiom office. Uncle Bennett and Cousin Natalie were in town staying with Mawsy and Papa. For some reason Maggie is just now realizing that Bennett is my other brother and she thought that was just about the coolest thing she'd ever heard. She told Mawsy she thought maybe I was trying to keep him a secret or I was trying to keep her from knowing that he was my brother!

Yummy dinner at Flying Fish!

Cousin Ethan's 4th Birthday Party

The girls enjoyed going to Ethan's birthday party in Benton. Lucy had no fear in going down the giant slides at Party Central. Ethan had a great party and we were so glad we were in town to attend. He had an adorable Kung Fu Panda cake.

July 4th Weekend

The girls were in a neighborhood July 4th parade. We decorated Maggie's bike and Lucy's stroller and all the kids and parents walked the parade route around the neighborhood pool/park area.

We attended the Parker fireworks display later that night with some neighbors. It was the best display I'd ever seen!

Ian's company was sponsoring a pro volleyball tournament in Boulder, CO all weekend on the Colorado University campus. We stayed overnight and took the girls to that on Saturday and Sunday. We stayed at the St. Julien Hotel, which was one of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed in.

At the CU stadium they created volleyball courts on top of the turf, but it actually felt like we were at the beach. I fell in love with Boulder! The Pearl Street Mall was really great. It reminded me a lot of Dickson street in Fayetteville, but even more weirdos.

All the sponsors of the tournament got to compete in a tournament of their own on Sunday morning and here is Ian serving the ball. He played really great!

Lucy, concentrating so hard to do her pretty smile.

Movie Night - Ratatoullie

Last Saturday our neighbors had a movie night and invited all the kids to watch Ratatoullie in the driveway on a sheet that was hung up on a garage door. The weather was perfect for an outdoor movie. Lucy kept walking in front of the movie projector so that nobody could see the screen. We had to put her to bed early and Maggie conked out half-way through the movie, but it was great fun while it lasted!

- Don't these two look guilty -

Lucy's morning hair.

They thoroughly enjoyed licking the chocolate!

Maggie Brooke

Things that tickle me about Maggie:

• When she gets a new pair of shoes she MUST tell everyone that she encounters that she has new shoes, forcing them to pay her a compliment on her great shoes!
  
• I love that she always wants to be a part of whatever is going on. No wallflowers in this family!
• She's so in to fashion. If she thinks she looks cute in one thing then she'll wear it over and over and over. I'm getting pretty tired of the floral tubetop that is currently her go-to outfit.
• She thinks she has died and gone to heaven if she gets to eat at the mall food court.
• She says my breakfast casserole is better than eating at the mall!
  

Maggie's Art Camp

Maggie attended art camp this week at the Rec Center. She really enjoyed it. They created paintings and sculptures using different mediums. I was very impressed with her art. See for yourself....this one is an abstract self-portrait inspired by the artist Paul Klee...

This one is inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Maggie's Art Camp

Inspired by the artist Renoir.

Lucy Jane

Things that tickle me about Lucy:

• When she takes her diaper off and runs through the house naked.


• I love that she calls Maggie "Mammie"


• She's so cute when she tries to sing her ABC's, which goes "ABCD won't you sing at me" and also Itsy Bitsy Spider is "It bit Pider."


• I love that she makes a scribble mark on paper and holds it up and says "look mama, goldfish!"


• When I pick her up from daycare and she says "Donalds?" because she wants to go eat at McDonalds...every day.


• She's just like her mama because she loves to eat chips and cheese dip!