Potty Talk

I am in the restroom washing my hands when Cameron comes running in.

Cam:  Are you done goin' potty, Mom?

Mom:  Yes, honey, I am.

Cam:  Mom, I love you.  Can you wait for me?

Mom:  Cameron, I love you too buddy!

Cam:  So mom, can you wait for me?  Because that's why I said I love you?

Santa Claus is Comin' To Town

Snow Fun Take 2!

Normally snow in Vegas only lasts a few hours. This is a rare treat that we can play in it two days in a row. As a matter of fact, we are already on day 3! Maybe a little bit will last until Christmas and we'll have a tidbit of a White Christmas.

Anyway, this smilebox isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it will do. (Too lazy to create another one.) In case you can't tell, the kids are LOVING the snow.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dear Santa

I can't write anything better than this!  Love it.

Hey "San"

Pipa has this huge animated Santa tied to his side gate. 

When Cameron first saw it he said "Hey San." 

Apparently he and Cameron are on a nick-name basis. 

Later in the evening Cameron even called him "Sanny."

All Aboard!

We rode the Santa Train in Boulder City on one of the coldest and windiest days of the season. We were very smart and chose an open air train car too. Man, it was chilly. But no one seemed to mind. Santa and Mrs. Claus even came by to talk to every kid on the train. It was really cool.

Christmas Quiz

I found this on a blog and think it's fun. Lets do it together!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper! It's so much more fun to rip off the paper than it is to just peek in the bag. Plus, saving bags is a bad habit of mine, so if I use paper I know FOR SURE I won't salvage it. However, some gifts with awkward packaging just scream gift bag to me so I don't have to find a box or spend an hour trying to wrap the thing.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial for sure. I HATE to put the lights on the tree (my mom used to do it for me every year.) But now that pre-lit trees are around I can't imagine any other type of tree. Talk about EASY!
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the day or weekend after Christmas. By that point I am so tired of the extra stuff in my house that I want it down so I can reclaim my house and spaces back. I love how empty it looks when they come down.
5. Do you like eggnog? Eh, not so much. But I haven't had it in a while so who knows.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't really remember anything that stands out. Isn't that awful? I loved Cabbage Patch Kids so I am sure those were some of my favorites.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My grandma (GG.) She likes everything and doesn't spoil herself at all. So sweaters and broaches are always easy and fun to buy. And she is always so grateful so that makes it nice.
9. Do You have a nativity scene? Oh yes. One that my mom gave me when I was in college, one that is the kids (that Baby Jesus doesn't arrive until Christmas Day. I wrap him up and the kids have to find him first before they can open any gifts.) And then I got a new one this year for our Village.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail for sure, but this year I am not sure I will get to it. I may have to do a New Year's letter. I don't like to just send a card with our signatures. I like to write about our year and include pictures. I love getting people's letters in the mail as well, since we don't connect all the time.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? My dad bought us fire extinguishers and smoke detectors one year. I know he was concerned for us, but how excited can you be as a teenager about fire safety equipment? It was a good story, though, to tell people what we got. No one could believe it!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I am not really into movies in general, so I don't have a favorite Christmas movie. But if I were to pick, it would probably be Christmas Shoes. I've never seen it but I LOVE the book and story line.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year. The hard part is remembering what I've purchased and where I put it.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Absolutely. One mans junk is another mans treasure.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Lefse! It's a Norwegian dessert that we have at every holiday. And even though I don't like it, I love that we eat Oyster Stew every year on Christmas Eve. It's just a great tradition that we've done ever since I can remember.
16. Lights on the tree? Of course! We have white on our big tree, and colorful on the kids trees.
17. Favorite Christmas song? I like lots of them. Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, Christmas Shoes, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - I like them ALL!
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Stay home. It is so cozy and comfy to be home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes, but I do it in tune with the song. If I had to do it out of order I couldn't!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a Santa that BJ's mom gave him.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas Day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How people get so rude and mean.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We do silver and light greenish and white. It looks very angelic.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Prime rib and crab legs. Ya baby!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? MAC school so I can learn cool things to do with my computer.
Ok... I want to read yours... Do one on your blog and leave me a comment that you did it so I can check it out (I don' know how to do all the link stuff.)

Decorating

We decorated our house the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was really fun to do it as a family and this year we started a tradition where the kids each have a tree that they decorate on their own. I look forward to those trees changing every year. The first several days our trees were up Cameron would keep taking ornaments from our big tree and placing them on his tree. They also like to sort the gifts and put theirs under their own tree. That doesn't work out very well for our big tree, though, because right now there are only 2 gifts that aren't for them under our big tree, so when they take them all away we look like a pretty sad family! They love to take the gifts back and forth.

I am so thankful to have two fantastic kids and a very loving husband who goes along with whatever I have in mind for Christmas. This is, by far, my favorite time of year. The more we can decorate the better. BJ did a FANTASTIC job outside. I'll have to get a pic of it to post. He also put up Papa's village and did a remarkable job on that. Without him our house would look totally boring. I love you, honey.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snow Rocks!

It has snowed 8 inches in Henderson today. WOW! The kids loved it, and so did BJ. I liked taking pictures and video. The snow is so bad here that the City let us leave at 3pm, Highway 95 at Railroad Pass is closed unless you can prove you live there, all other roads out of the valley are closed. You can't get to Utah, California, Arizona, Pahrump, NOWHERE! It is crazy. We don't have snowplows here in Vegas so the roads are a mess. School is cancelled for tomorrow and there is a good possibility that we will be off tomorrow as well due to unsafe roads. So anyway, enjoy the kids playing in the snow. We did!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Mima's house.  We always have lots of fun because Sam & Toby are there to play with us.  When the grown-ups are out front watching TV (daddy's were watching football) we are allowed to go in GG's room and watch TV in there.  We don't usually pay much attention to the TV because we like to play on GG's bed since it is normally off limits.  I am impressed that the kids put themselves in weight order when they make this huge sandwich.  I am thinking Toby must be the brains behind this operation since he is the smallest and has probably learned that he shouldn't be on the bottom.

Dinner time wasn't very fun for us.  The grown-ups made us sit down and eat dinner.  How boring!  Mima's friend Brian was there with his 3 kids so it made it a little more fun, but still, we would have preferred to be playing.
Sweet revenge: We pulled out the Tinker Toys and got them all over the floor!  That was fun, but then we realized they make great drums.  We were really rockin' out!
The other highlight of the day was Mommy making Lefse with GG.  It was so good we ate almost half the batch as soon as it came off the lefse iron.  Perfectly warm lefse - does it get any better than that?  I don't think so.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  We are thankful to be blessed by so many friends and family close by.

Haley's Dance Recital

Tonight was Haley's Christmas recital.  It was small and informal and oh so cute!  Enjoy!

(In case you can't tell, she is the on in the black pants with the pink shirt on.)

First they did a ballet routine and then tap.

H - A - L - E - Y

Haley:  Momma, my name is Haley

Mom:  Yes, that's right

Haley:  When I was a baby I didn't know how to spell H A L E Y

Mom:  That's right, sweetie.  

Haley:  Momma, but when I was a baby my name was still H A L E Y

Yet another reason why I LOVE kids!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

November 17 was BJ's birthday.  He requested to spend the night at home as a family and eat steak and crab legs for dinner.  He also wanted sauteed onions and mushrooms but I totally forgot to buy those at the store.  He invited his sister and her daughter over too.  It was a delicious dinner and a perfect evening.

Here is the envelope Cameron wrote for Daddy's card.  So cute!

Cameron told me Daddy wanted a Speed Racer Hot Wheel, so that is what he got.  I'm not sure who was more excited, daddy or Cameron!

When I asked Haley what she wanted to buy for daddy she wasn't too sure.  Finally she told me "I don't know, a daddy toy!"  So off I went to the store to find a daddy toy for Haley.  I came up with lanterns for our travel trailer.  Daddy loved them, and so did the kids.  They use them at night to walk to their room and find their jammies.  They decided the big blue one is for Cameron and the small red one is for Haley.  So much for daddy toys, huh?

Aunt Kerri flew us in the air on her legs.  She is so fun!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

A dear friend of my grandma's, Flora, passed away last week at 97 years old!  She lived in a beautiful home in Upland California.  It looked like a floral garden the way it was landscaped.  I have a few memories of Flora from taking GG to see her on various occasions.  GG said they were friends for over 30 years and that Flora was the best friend she ever had.  Isn't that sweet? They were really like the Golden Girls when they got together.  Flora always loved to have company and would make special meals and desserts for her whenever she visited.  GG often didn't like to give Flora too much notice when she would visit because she wouldn't want her to do too much, but it never mattered.  Flora was always a great hostess.

The service was Sunday at 1pm in Pomona California.  First she wasn't going to go, then she thought about flying there, then maybe she and my mom should drive, then she won't go, and so on and so forth.  Finally it seemed settled that my mom & she would drive to California on Sunday.  That would be a perfect plan, except for the fact that BJ just got done installing wood flooring in mom's ENTIRE house and the house is completely tore apart, so much so that GG has to sleep at my house for a few nights because there aren't any beds at mom & GG's house; mom is sleeping in a recliner!  So I was over at my mom's on Saturday helping her paint baseboard because GG was at my house and it was apparently driving GG nuts that I wasn't working hard enough.  She kept making comments like "Your mom could probably use you.  Is there anything I can do here?  Since I can't help you here, maybe I should go home and paint."  So I got the hint; she wanted to watch my kids so I could go paint!  I was painting when my mom sprung the question on me.  "What do you have going on tomorrow?  Can you drive GG to California so I can stay here and work?"  I say yes, of course, and just figure I'll make the best of it and head to Ikea while I'm there.  I have wanted to go the last two times we've been in CA but we've had the trailer and it's SO crowded in all the parking lots that I hate to ask BJ to go there.

So the plan is to leave by 8am on Sunday morning.  Cameron would stay with my mom and BJ, and Haley would go to Aunt Kerri's house for the day.  We leave about 7:45am and get 10 minutes away when mom calls & says the tags on GG's car are expired and she has the new sticker at her house.  I know that I could prove it later if  I got pulled over, but the truth was, I was planning on speeding and I didn't want our car to have a red flag on it if by chance I encountered a handsome CHP officer.  I wanted to be totally legal in hopes of only getting a warning if I got pulled over!  So, we turn around.  This is where GG starts to make me smile with her comments.  She says "Well, we don't have to put the sticker on, do we?"  Now, tell me, what's the point in turning around to get the sticker if you're not going to put it on?  An officer can run the plate without the sticker to confirm it's registered, so how would a sticker in my purse help?  So funny!  Also, how long does it really take to put on the sticker?  Maybe 2 seconds I would imagine.  But you know GG.  "Is BJ going to be there to put it on for you?"  Are you kidding?  It's a sticker!  I think I can handle it, but thanks for your concern.  So with a cup of coffee from my mom for GG we are on our way again.

The ride was pretty uneventful for awhile.  Then all of a sudden she jumps and says "Oh my that's hot!"  She had turned the cup of coffee upside down in her seat next to her leg and didn't realize it.  By the time she noticed her butt was soaked in coffee all the way across the seat cushion.  Oops!  Thank goodness she had on black slacks.

Ok, wet pants don't phase her.  We eventually get to the funeral home and she says she fine just being dropped off.  "Oh, there's a California license plate.  The family must be here already."   I think to myself, "A CA license plate in CA really isn't that noteworthy, but whatever."  I can't take it any longer and I remind her that we're in California and the plate wouldn't mean anything.  She says "Oh, I know.  But the family is from Frisco."  Um, ok.  Last I checked that's still California which again, would mean NOTHING as far as the plate is concerned.  Silly lady!

So now it's me time.  I head to Ikea for an hour or so and then to grab a bite to eat before heading out.  I love Ikea; who doesn't.  It was a perfect side trip for my day journey to California.

I pick up GG about 3pm and we are back on the road again.  She is telling me about sitting inside the funeral home.  She said she was sitting in a padded cushion and could feel it getting wet.  Haha.  So she has to get up, go to the restroom to try to dab some of the coffee out and then she returns to the lobby to sit on a hard chair until her butt dries.  I guess a few guests asked if she wanted to come inside and she kindly had to say no.  I think that is darn funny!  Sounds like something that would happen to me.

Rumor on the streets is that Flora has loads of money and everyone has been acting greedy the last few years just waiting for her to die.  It's a shame, but I guess it's just the nature of the beast. However, I found it funny when GG said "The nieces and nephew were there because they need to stay in good graces to stay in the will."  I've never heard of that, but I guess there's a new way to change a will from your casket these days.  My how technology has progressed!  If you don't show up to the funeral your name gets deleted from the will.  Oh my!

We made it home about 7pm after picking up Haley from Aunt Kerri's.  She immediately poured herself a screwdiver.  By the end of the night she had three!  Go girl!  It was a long day but I enjoyed it immensely.  I love that woman so much.  As quirky as she is, she always brings a smile to my face.  The few times I've been upset with her (and I can remember them because there really are so few) it never lasts long.  She is quick to apologize and make it right, or explain herself so I realize that maybe it was me that was wrong.  She is the strongest person I have ever known.  I have so much to learn from her.  She is selfless, caring, giving, loving, humble, patient, kind, respectful, intelligent, beautiful, graceful, generous and the list goes on and on.  If I could be half the woman she is I think I could be a success in life.

I am thankful for every day I get to spend with her. I look forward to our phone calls twice a day (7:15 am and 9:00pm.)  There are some days when we call and simply say "I'm calling, I'm tired, I'll talk to you tomorrow."  And that is totally fine!  We are real with each other.  She tells me I've gained weight or I look tired or my hair is messy and I am never offended because I also know she is quick to compliment me and we all need people to be real with us.  I love everything about her.

I love you GG!  Thanks for allowing me to take you to California.  I'll be sure to tell my will hopeful friends that they need to attend the funeral if they want a piece of the pie!

Family Night - Under The Sea!

I stole the idea from a blogger whom I have never met to have a themed family night.  The kids and I decided it would be more fun if we invited Sam & Toby, so we did.  We made an ocean out of crepe paper and the kids got creative and put the slide in front so they could slide under.  They hit their heads a few times but they didn't care one bit.  We cut fish and bubbles out of blue paper to put inside our ocean.  The kids wore their swimsuits and goggles too.

Haley goes for a swim!  Notice Sam is already under water?
We ate Octopus and sea shells!

Yummmm....Octopus is delicious!
We fished for goldfish!  Cameron was a really good fisherman.

Haley did a great job too, she just wasn't too sure about how close to get to them!
We played in the ocean trying to catch 'fish.'
And Aunt Jeny had a great idea to make snow globes.  They have Nemo figurines in a baby food jar with water and glitter. So cool!

It was so much fun to do and the kids loved it.  I really want to try to do it once a week but I think I might need to wait until after the holidays because it is just WAY too hectic right now.  I already bought some circus hats and big clown ties so I think the next theme night will be Under the Big Top.  Keep checking to see when it takes place!  Big thanks to Aunt Jeny for thinking up some cool stuff to do.

Go Team CB!

Here's a few shots from our trip to Disneyland for Cameron's birthday.  The first stop was his first pick - AUTOPIA!  So much fun.  At one point Cameron was driving and he said "We're having some trouble!"  Silly boy.

That's us.  Team CB5.  There were 13 of us total, all with the same shirts on.  It was so much fun to have matching shirts. Cameron picked a Cars character for each of us for the front of our shirts.  And the back said "CB5" in reference to Cameron Blake's 5th birthday.  It was neat to have people comment on our shirts and ask us what the CB5 meant.  Some of us even got Honorary Citizen of Disneyland buttons in the Toy Story line because the line guy said our shirts were the best he had seen all day!  SWEET!   Huge thanks to Aunt Jeny for making such awesome shirts.
Here's two pictures of Haley with Minnie.  Last time we were at Disneyland we never even saw Minnie.  Haley says she must have been on vacation.  I guess we made up for it this time because we saw her twice.  Hi Minnie!

The 4 crazy kids.  In the line for Monsters, Inc. you can look through the window to watch the cars go by.  This window is perfect height for them and they look through it every single time we walk by!
This is Haley having one of 3 meltdowns in the Monsters, Inc. line.  It was entertaining to everyone around.  She would just throw herself in a ball on the floor, then when the line moved I would pick her up and set her on her feet again and she'd ball up yet again.  Can you say DRAMA?!

This trip to Disney was extra fun because we were all finally tall enough to ride on Matterhorn!  YAY!  The kids loved it and wanted to do it again and again.

I finally found some!

Pets that I'm not allergic too!  YAY!  

The kids found these costumes in their closet and had so much fun with them.  I got them for free from a freecycle type site.  SCORE!  The red one is actually a devil costume but since it had a tail and was red Haley thought it was Clifford the Big Red Dog!  Whatever works, right?

Why, oh why?

Why do I love this man so much?  Because he can do ANYTHING!  And also because when I watch 90210 on DVR he tells me he watched it already and admits that his favorite character is Silver.  And he also admits that he likes to watch Priveleged too!  Even though he looks rough and acts tough, he is an amazing man who apparently likes teenie soap operas too!  Ha.  I also love him because he thinks it's funny to put the Outback bread loaves in his shirt pocket.  Nice touch, BJ!  :)  I love you.

Happy Birthday, Doops

Wednesday, November 12 was Cameron's 5th birthday.  WOW!  It was a school day for him but that made it that much more special for him, I think.  I picked him up at lunchtime and we met BJ for lunch.  Cameron chose McDonald's for his special lunch.  He wanted his hair in a mohawk that day too.  He even got a Happy Meal on his birthday and it had Gloria from Madagascar in it.  (For those who don't know me well, I'm not too quick to purchase Happy Meals because aside from the toy, the food can be purchased for $1 and I just don't think it's worth it.)  Anyway, he was in heaven.

He got to play some too, of course.
Then I told him we would go to the store and buy cupcakes for his classmates.  We didn't buy them because I am too lazy to bake them myself; we bought them because that was the only way we could bring treats to school.  They only allow store purchased treats, and honestly, I am glad.  First of all it's so much easier to hit up the local Albertson's for some super cute cupcakes, not to mention that the thought of some of those school kid's kitchens and hygiene skills makes me SO happy that they can't bring in homemade food either.  The kids were so excited to see me because Cameron had told them early in the morning that he was going to bring cupcakes after he came back from lunch.  Many of them even gave me hugs.  It was so cute.  Haley got to join him in his class during the celebration, so that was a special treat for both of them.  I think Cameron really loved being in school on his birthday because of all the attention he got.
And to wrap up a perfect day, we went over to GG and Mima's house for pizza.  Daddy had to work on the new wood floor for a few hours so Mima bought pizza for us all.  YUMMY!  This picture here is of GG with the kids.  They just love her (and she loves them a little bit too!)
I can't believe my son is 5.  Where has all the time gone?  I love you, buddy.  You make my life special every single day.  

**In case you're wondering, Doops is what I call Cameron most of the time.  It's short for Doopa (I have no idea how to spell that) which means butt in Norwegian.

My Resignation

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a 5 year old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it is a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples in a pond with rocks. I want to think M&M's are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under a big oak tree and watch the ants march up its trunk. I want to run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day. I want to go fishing and care more about catching the minnows along the shore than the big bass in the lake. I want to think the world is fair. I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all I knew about were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes. When I didn't know what I know now. When all I knew was to be happy because I was blissfully unaware of all the things that should make me worried. I want to think that a quarter is worth more than a dollar bill because it is prettier and weighs more. I want to think that everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things in life again. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, dreams, the imagination, the Tooth Fairy, a kiss that makes a boo-boo go away, making angels in the snow, and that my dad and God are the strongest people in the world. So......here's my checkbook and my car keys, my credit cards and the bills, my 401K statements, my stocks and bonds, my collections, my insurance premiums, my job, my house and the payments, my e-mail address, pager, cell phone, computer, and watch. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this with me further, you'll have to catch me cause........ tag! You're it!

Cameron turns 5!

We celebrated Cameron's 5th birthday party on Saturday.  There, of course, were a ton of pics so I attempted to make a slideshow. This is my first one, so be patient.  I see now that it isn't starting with the picture I chose, but oh well.  You get the idea!  :)  He was so excited to have his party, but when I mentioned to him that we had to make some girl goody bags he advised me that he didn't want girls at his party.  I explained to him that in exchange for the goody bag, he will get a gift from the girls.  He didn't care - no girls.  "I don't want any presents from girls, mom."  Silly boy!  As you can see, there were girls here - and as it turns out, he is playing with the things they got him.  Go figure.  

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Halloween

Aunt Jeny was there to do Haley's hair.  She is SO good at making Haley extra 'girly.'

Haley loves to wear sunglasses.  We call these her Elton John glasses.

The final hair look.  It had glow sticks in the ponytail and hair glitter.  SO cute!

Here's Cameron getting his awesome red hair.  3 days later and his scalp is still a bit red!  We even washed it out as soon as we got home on Friday.  
The 4 kids.  Haley = fairy, Sam = Peter Pan, Cameron = Optimus Prime, Toby = Captain Hook.  Jeny sewed Sam & Toby's costumes.  Impressive, huh?  I bought mine at Wal-Mart!  :)
We were only about 10 houses away from ours when Cameron decided he had to pee.  So BJ dropped his costume and let him pee in the street.  Nice, huh?  And this is the same BJ that has a fit when I let the kids poop and/or pee alongside a rural highway.  Um, ya, ok...I think the highway is a little less 'visible' but hey, who am I to judge.  See how far he can pee?  That's my boy!  And notice Captain Hook in the bottom of the pic checking it out...
Now Captain Hook decided he needed to pee.  Oh my, what have we started?  BJ says "At least they peed in the street; no one will have to walk on it."  I'm not sure that makes it any better...