Foam Gingerbread House

Yes, believe your eyes! The boys were actually cooperating without hitting, wrestling, yelling, or teasing. We put together this foam gingerbread house I've had in storage for a couple of years. My mom sent it to us that long ago, and I finally got around to building it. Am I a procrastinator or what?

Christmas Tree

I let the kids decorate the tree by themselves (except JD put the star on top). You may notice that most of the ornaments are on the bottom half of the tree and in the front. LOL. I don't mind that, though. They had fun. Plus, I don't get out the breakable ornaments. Not with Princess Alina around!

Temple Square Picture

As promised, here is a picture of JD, Alina, and myself at Temple Square taken on the night the boys were at their Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman's house for a sleepover. Coincidentally, we ran in to some of my family when we walked into the Joseph Smith Building. It was great seeing them.

This picture was taken in the summer of 2004 (so Danny was 1). We had the brilliant idea for JD to get on my shoulders. Chris is giving JD a hand to get up there. We're in San Francisco at one of the Piers.

Burning off our Thanksgiving Calories

We had fun sledding down the mountain side at the cabin and then climbing back up.

Pigtails

She was really upset about me doing her hair. I think these pigtails lasted about 2 minutes before she pulled out the elastics. I can't believe it was that long!

What? This? No, I'm not reaching for the camera case hoping to find a camera (a.k.a. a really expensive, cool toy) to play with. See? I'm going for the ball. Look, it's right here in my hand.

I found Sam curled up in our bed one afternoon. He put himself in bed for a nap. How nice. If only he'd parent himself all the time, I wouldn't have to do anything.

Smile!

See, mama, you didn't catch me about to get into Danny's school bag. I'm a perfect little angel.

Tagged

I've been tagged, so here it goes:
3 Shows I Watch

• Heroes
• Office
• Sarah Conner Chronicles

3 Favorite Restaurants

• Red Robin (BBQ Whiskey Chicken Burger w/all you can eat fries)
• Cafe Rio
• Rumbi Island Grill (This is a stretch. We really don't eat out much. I'm the restaurant!)
  

3 Things that Happened Yesterday

• dropped off and picked up Danny from school
• exercised at the gym
• watched a movie with Jayme

3 Things I'm Looking Forward To

• seeing my children open their gifts on Christmas day
• JD being done with his Masters program (he doesn't even begin until January)
• being done with childbearing (so I can finally, once and for all, stay skinnier! ha!)

3 Things on My Wish List

• good health for everyone in my family (it would help if Danny stopped putting his fingers in his mouth)
• happy, caring, and productive children
• world peace, of course!
  

3 Things I Love

• my family
• friends
• home/shelter

3 Things I Can't Stand

• running behind or being late. I'm more tolerant of it now, though.
  
• messes left for me to clean up :)
• someone else being critical of my children. I'm very protective of them. Watch out!!
  

3 People to Tag

• Lindsey H.
• Liz W.
• Clarissa P.
  

It's just Alina and me for the rest of the day. Grandpa Zimmerman picked up the boys for a sleepover tonight. Whatever shall I do? I can think of plenty. The rest of my Christmas shopping, for one! It should be a breeze with only one in tow, right?
Tonight, JD and I will be taking her to Temple Square to see the lights. I'm excited to see her reactions. I'm sure I'll take some pictures of her, so look for those later.

I better not tell Danny where his hamburgers and chicken nuggets come from. He had a major meltdown today when he saw me washing and cutting up the Halloween sugar pumpkins the kids had decorated. While I was cleaning the strings out of Sam's pumpkin, he rescued his own before I had cut it. I explained to him what I was doing: preparing the pumpkins, so we can bake them, and then scrape out the flesh and puree it in order to make pumpkin pies and cookies. He said, "I never want you to make pumpkin pies out of this one. I will not go to sleep if you cut and eat this one."
The other two pumpkins are in the oven baking right now. Danny is carrying his around the house everywhere he goes.
Here is a picture of the pumpkin he saved.

Look at that long, curly hair. If only she'd keep the bows in that I put in it. Pictures taken October 20th.

Heritage Park Little Haunts

On October 17th, we took our kids to the Heritage Village Park (a.k.a. This is the Place Park) for a halloween event. It was fantastic. There were crafts, stories, puppet shows, trick-or-treating, a petting zoo, horse rides, and train rides (my personal fave).
I was really impressed with the park itself. What used to only consist of a monument is now a re-built pioneer village. Very educational.

If I let them do this all the time...

they would be in 7th heaven!

Uber-Geeks

These are funny to me. No, I don't seriously think my children are geeks. Just dorks!! Taken in early October. Playing with nerf dart guns in my living room.

Hooray for Gym Childcare

This past month, I re-discovered how great it is to workout at the gym when it is not the crack of dawn. After spending the past year getting up early to exercise before JD left for work, it is so nice to sleep in until 7:00, get Danny ready for school, drive him there, then head to the gym with Sam and Alina, and leave them in the playroom while I workout. Yes, that means my whole morning is spent not getting anything done in the house. Yes, I admit I'm a wimp and don't want to get out of bed anymore when it's dark and freezing cold. And, yes, I LOVE it.

We went to a "going out of business" department store sale today with the one intention of getting me a new dress, because I rarely spend money on myself, and I really do need one. We walked out of the store with 3 pairs of shoes for our growing kids' feet and 2 polo work shirts for JD!

Boo at the Zoo

On Octocber 25th, we went to an event at the zoo, called Boo at the Zoo. There was trick-or-treating for the kids. It was a beautiful day, perfect for the activity. Sam loved watching the monkeys. Alina was impressed by the giraffes. And Danny was fascinated by the candy! Thanks to JD and his mom for coming along for the ride to help me with the kids.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward had a trunk or treat on Halloween night. Here are some pictures of the kids and JD's family, who came over to our house that evening for chili and pumpkin pie and Ghostbusters.
Alina really got into the spirit of halloween. She loved getting the candy and was always holding at least one piece. Her Aunt Angie is helping her walk in this picture.




I'm just holding the bag for Alina. It's not mine! JD's been the one eating her candy. JD's sister Jayme is also in the picture. (She's a pirate--arrr!)



You can get a peek at Sam in his Spiderman costume and Danny as a veterinarian. This was their 3rd time wearing these costumes this year alone.






This was Alina's first time as Elmo. I wasn't sure if she'd go for it, but once we got her outside receiving candy, she forgot all about the costume. Grandma Zimmerman is holding her.

Free Sandwiches

When we were given coupons for free sandwiches at a Chick-Fil-A grand opening, we couldn't pass up the chance to try it out Monday night. The kids loved being able to release their energy in the indoor play area, especially since it had been raining and cold all day, and they had been cooped up inside. We still have more free sandwich coupons, so we'll have to go back on another rainy, cold day. You gotta love free! And a play area to boot! (I'm cheap!!)

15-month check-up

Alina had her 15 month check-up with the doctor on Tuesday. She remains in the 50th percentile for weight and is now in the 100 percentile for height. Tall and skinny like her daddy. Her doctor thinks her hernia seems to be improving, too. She and Sam both received 4 shots each, so I had some unhappy kids for a few moments. Sam calmed down pretty quickly with the promise of a sticker awaiting him, and Alina just needed me to hold her :)

Jelly

We have a crabapple tree in our front yard that was annoying me last Fall because of all the crabapples that dropped to the ground. I had thought that you couldn't eat the fruit (unless you wanted an upset stomach). What's the point in having a fruit tree if you can't eat the fruit? I recently discovered, though, that you CAN use the fruit for crabapple jelly. So, this Fall, I spent a couple afternoons outside picking crabapples. Another afternoon cleaning and cutting the crabapples and extracting the juice. At this very moment, I am boiling the crabapple juice on my stove waiting for it to reach the gel point. I hope it turns out tasty for all the work involved. Here's a picture of the apple and grape jellies I have already made in the past month.
And here's the crabapple jelly. Isn't it pretty? Red. I just barely took it out of the hot water bath.

Painting on Weekends

We spent nearly every weekend this past summer going up to JD's parents' mountain property to help with the building of their cabin. During the month of September, we painted and painted and painted.

I love the look on Alina's face.

We spent many afternoons at the park this Fall. I would pack a lunch or snacks. Then we'd go pick up Danny from school and head to the park.

My rockstars

We borrowed RockBand from JD's parents for a little while. Danny and Sam enjoyed releasing their inner rock star.

Sam's Haircut

I finally buckled down and tortured myself (and Sam) by cutting his hair. Here are the after and before pictures taken the same day. I had to change his shirt after the cut, because hair covered his shirt. He didn't want to take it off during the cut. I like to style his hair now with a little gel to make a mohawk (like in the above pictures).

What happened to Fall?

When I got up this morning, it was snowing! There was already a 2-inch blanket of snow covering our lawn and sidewalk. A total surprise. It was supposed to be dry today--it rained Monday and Tuesday. I'm not ready for winter yet. I better go shovel.

Welcome back Pumpkins! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cream cheese roll, pumpkin dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, and lest I forget, pumpkin pie. On halloween night, I had my first piece of pumpkin pie since last year. Oh, the joy! We scarfed down 6 dozen homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies within 1 week! I have a pumpkin cake recipe begging to be made. Guess I'll have to kick it up a notch at the gym!

Birthdays!

We just celebrated a couple of birthdays this past month: JD and Sam. Sam is now 3 years old, but if you ask him, he'll adamantly tell you he is 2, and he's "not a big boy, I'm just Sam". He's my rough and tumble, destructive monster. Yet he is so sweet with Alina, who adores him. He loves to play with cars, trucks, trains, dinosaurs, play-doh, blocks, dogs, dirt. He especially likes to take things apart then ask me to fix them. He is obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers are not far behind. He's definitely been the easiest of my children, starting right from the beginning. I think for that reason, he is not given as much attention as the other two--he doesn't demand it like they do. Sorry, Sam!! Lately, he has been wanting to help me in the kitchen with the cooking. He stirs and dumps in ingredients. He vacuumed the playroom all by himself. He'd love to eat pb sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Too bad he can't!)

Eight Fantastic Years

JD and I recently celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on August 12th. We didn't have a babysitter for that day, so we took all our kids to dinner with us, and then we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. Very romantic!! Ha ha! With three young kids, one of whom is still a baby monstrously attached to mommy, I'll take any outing I can get!
We did go out on a date the previous Friday without the kids, so I count that as an anniversary date. (Even though JD's siblings and parents were there too.) We attended a Brian Regan comedy show at Thanksgiving Point. It was hilarious. I had a stomach ache from all the laughing.
I love you, JD! You're my best friend, you make me laugh every day and make me a better person. I'm extremely lucky and blessed to have you!

Mario what??

Maybe some of you have noticed I had put a game called Mario Rampage on the sidebar (now at the bottom) of this blog. When I chose to put this game there, I just thought it would be something my kids would be interested in. They like Mario from Nintendo. I didn't test or play the game at all before adding it to our blog. Last night, I was showing JD some of my new posts. He noticed the game, and I suggested he try playing it. I was shocked! Mario carries a shotgun and blasts away the enemies, who splatter red blood all over when they are hit. This was not what I expected. I suppose the title of the game should have clued me in a little bit. Mario on a rampage. Not suitable for 3- and 5-year olds!

All Caught Up

OK, I think I am all caught up posting the major events of our summer for which we had pictures. You'll probably notice a general trend in my posting. Feast or famine. I usually wait until the camera video card is completely full before I upload the pictures to the computer. At that point, I can post pictures to this blog. There are still several videos I would like to upload, but I plan to do those later. (Danny's singing program from preschool, Alina's birthday cake and song, Alina playing with a balloon, Sam dancing, etc.)
We had a fun labor day weekend, but I didn't ever get out the camera. We went to a Sheepdog Festival in Soldier Hollow near Heber. The kids enjoyed watching the dogs herd sheep and ducks. They particularly liked the splash dog jumping contest. I'd try to explain it, but I am too sleep-deprived right now for my brain to function properly. When I can think better, I'll come back to this posting to edit and add an explanation.

Sprinkler Time

My kids decided to play in the sprinkler while I was watering the lawn. Danny was out there, too, but I couldn't get a picture of him. Sometimes he gets in moods when he doesn't want me to take his picture. The boys got soaked. Alina just poked at it. Pictures taken September 4th.