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!!)