Merry Christmas!

Christmas time!  Heidi and family are here from Chicago and we got to have them spend last night with us and Santa came to OUR house this year!  I will post pics later of that but wanted to post this one shot I got today!  I'm used to kids bundling up and playing in the cold and/or snow on Christmas Day.  Today, Kira, Evan and Collin played outside in their fleece pj's!  They played with shovels and the old Tonka trucks.  All their new Christmas toys are in the house!  Current temp is 53.  A beautiful day and a wonderful time with family.  Hope you are all having as wonderful time as we are!

Wedding cake!

Kimberly has a co-worker who was in a 'pickle'.  Her sister was getting married on Saturday and for whatever reason, the cake didn't get ordered until it was too late to get one.  Nikki really wanted her sister to have a cake (duh - what's a wedding without the cake?)  So, Kim said "I make cakes." And the rest is history!
(Did I mention this was on Wednesday?)

They found a cake they liked, sent Kim the picture and this is the result.... No, this is not the picture of what they wanted, it is a picture of what they got!  Except for the background and table, they look like identical cakes!

Everyone was delighted and Kim was so happy that it turned out.

Special thanks to cousin Maria for the wonderful yummy fondant recipe!  And, after we figured out how to get the fondant off the table and on to the cake, it was easy!  Only one disaster and voila!

The cake was a delicious, made from scratch, chocolate with raspberry filling.  The top was made with the kids in mind...It was made of marshmello treats!  It was a big hit!

Thanksgiving

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving - even though there was a hole in our hearts with Heidi, Shawn, Kira and Evan not there!

Phoebe had the tables set beatifully but Collin thought they needed a five-year-old's touch.  So out came the Legos! 
Nothing says Thanksgiving like Lego decorations!

 

You have to admit it, they DO add something!

 

Collin and Liam were the only kids there this year. 

And they were so cute that I had to get their pictures.

Seriously, could YOU have resisted?

 

This is my favorite of the ones I got with the boys and Poppa! 

Collin - being, well Collin!  (the bandage is covering where the stitches were from his meeting with a pole), Liam poking his big brother (they learn early to be pests, don't they?) and Poppa laughing at the sillyness that is little boys! 

(I think maybe he was having flash backs?!)

All in all a wonderful day.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family!  And for Lawson and Phoebe 'adopting' us - since they are Heidi's inlaws!  Little did they know when Shawn married Heidi that they were going to eventually have the lot of us to dinner!

Helping family

 

We (the whole bunch of us plus friends) helped Katie and Terry move their stuff from one office to another, much larger nicer one. EVERYone helped - including Collin. He worked his little tail off!  This dolly of product was quite heavy, especially for a 5 1/2 yr old but he insisted he could do it!  Problem was, the dock has a slope to it and the dolly started to get away.  I put down my camera and helped after I got the above shot!

(Nice of me, don't you think?)

Then he got it going back up hill and actually managed to get it into the other dock!  He did have a BIT of a problem at first, because as you can see by this pic - he was pushing on the boxes not the dolly.  Yep, we had to reload the end box!

Chicago weather

As you know, Heidi & Shawn are in Chicago for a temp kind of thing..... and after this AM, I'm sure it will be!  Katie is there helping out with kids and etc while Shawn has been sick.  She is NOT a fan of snow...so, she is not enjoying this!  She sent me this via text with a frownie face!  LOL

I teased her that she needed to get home to AZ before she got snowed into Chicago and she said I wasn't funny!  Strange, I'm pretty sure I AM funny!  :)

Oven Safe!

This just struck me as really really funny! 

 Why on earth would they need to make these two statements on the same bag? 

Wouldn't it naturally follow that if it was a 'Roasting Bag' it would be 'Oven safe' ?

Babysitting!

We had the boys while Katie and Terry were at game night.  We had a ball!

I tried to upload the video of Liam giggling but..... no luck!  And now he's asleep.

So, we just go with Collin!  I DID post the video on Facebook, if you want to see it.

I bought pipe cleaners and Collin really loves playing with them!

Here he made his name.

He was awfully proud that he figured out how to make the 'n' with one (well, two twisted).

He thought he would have to use three!

We also made cookies....well, I cheated.  We sliced and baked!  I know, I'm bad!

Then we frosted them.  He decided since it was not Christmas time, we couldn't use Christmas colors,

so we made yellow frosting with green and used Halloween sprinkles on some of them.  Messy fun!

The first time we watched Liam, he was a PILL!  But it was mommy's fault cuz she ate something he didn't like (when it got to her milk).  So he had a tummy ache.  We walked a lot.  The second time, it wasn't as bad and tonight it was an absolute delightful time!  No crying or anything!  He was so darned cute and giggly! 

OK I had to have a shot of him.....here he is sleeping.

I think we will keep him!

Friends

Three of my 'girls' - Dawn - a long lost 'daughter' from Pocatello, Kimi & Katie, two of ours.

We had such fun last night!  Dawn found Heidi (our first) on Facebook and she is living here in Tucson!

 She said it is sometimes lonely in the desert with friends so far away.... now she has 'family' to spend time with.  She MAY be sorry she found us!  We tend to get together often!  :)

We are so glad she is here! (and Kimi fixed an EXCELLENT dinner last night!)

Free ZOO Day! Horray!

Saturday was School Day at the zoo - all the Tucson School dist had booths promoting their schools - It was free from 9-1 so we went..... I think, looking back, we were totally CRAZY! That place was absolutely packed with people, big and small. Cheerleaders walking around the zoo cheering, mascots wandering around! I'm surprised there were any animals out to be seen!

But there were! This is a black panther that was just cooling it by the glass! Kids beating on the glass and he just lays there. Collin didn't beat on the glass, he just looked. I wanted a picture of him with the big cat so he obliged. When I took it and showed him, he was impressed that his reflection was there! So it looks like two Collins!

Of course, Collin had to climb on rocks! Actually he climbed on all sorts of things. Katie kept telling him to get down - does anyone else see the humor in Katie telling HER kid to not climb?!hehee

Anyway - I told him this was proof that there ARE monkies at the zoo! :)

And his name is COLLIN!

There were these pretty vines hanging down at one of the exhibits.

Collin tried to swing from them!

He says he doesn't think they are strong enough to hold for someone to swing on them!

Ya think?

(He's holding the ones that broke off when he tried -

yep he tried!

Not surprised, surely?)

I JUST LOVE HIS FRECKLES!

Liam was so funny! He'd smile and make noises at us about every time we looked at him!

And he has figured out sticking out his tongue!

Isn't it cute?

(He was sitting in his stroller. I have no idea why it is upright in my Pictures but sideways here! And I can't figure out how to rotate it once it is here!)

All in all, we had a good time! And I'm sure the animals were glad when the zoo closed!

I really enjoyed the otters. We were there at 'lunch' time and they were getting minnows and apples and zuchini chunks! This is the boy. He was waiting for his next catch! He actually got TWO fish this time, one went immediately into his mouth and he held the other in his hands and floated on his back! But I was enjoying it so much I forgot the snap a picture! His little mate was too busy showing off to the crowd so I don't think she even realized he got one of hers!

Happy Halloween!

Dellas decided that $50 to get both dogs groomed was a bit much. After all, he sheared sheep, how much harder could a little dog be? So we bought clippers and he dug in! Actually Rascal did pretty good! His groomers have always said he just stood there but we weren't sure how he would do. Turns out, he just stood there! I took pictures through the screen door in the hopes he wouldn't see me and jump down.

He got tired after a while - apparently Dellas takes longer than the groomer! So he laid down! I took a shot of him looking longingly at me through the screen......

but I apparently accidently deleted it.....oh well. It was sad....

They BOTH got tired so Dellas stopped. His hair was really long and it's thick so he is doing it in two stages. This is the result of stage one. As you can see, there is still alot of hair there!
Last weekend, we went to the pumpkin patch. This is Collin.

This is Liam - see Poppa's hat?

We tried to get Liam to pet the little horse but he wasn't really interested! Man, I'm really bad! I deleted one I took of Collin in the petting zoo too! Dang it! How am I doing that? sigh....

This is a really bad shot of our house last night. I guess I need a tripod for night shots!

But you get the idea. The pumpkins were mostly done by Katie.

Mine is the little one on the lower right.

This is Katie, Terry, Liam the Lobster, and Collin in a Ghost costume he made with a bit of help from Grammy. He knew what he wanted and there ya go!


We had homemade potato soup and homemade bread before we started eating candy.

I think we all had a good time. Kimi and Jason came for dinner then went to Jason's folks for a while. Not may treak-or-treaters and not many places passing out candy which seemed to work because Collin really raked in the candy!

Hope everyone else had a fun Halloween!

Mt Lemmon

If you have ever heard the story of how Katie broke her arm - when she was a teenager - you will really appreciate this picture and story! Collin climbed this tree and was swinging from this branch. I was taking pictures of it and Katie actually says

"Mom, get him off that branch, it's dead!"

Really? As dead as the one YOU were on? Hmmmmmm

Fortunately, HE didn't fall! Pay backs, Katie!

Family picnics can really wear a boy out, ya know?

I'm really bad about pics - so this is basically all I got - shots of baby and of Collin in a tree!

I'll go 'lift' some off Brie's and post! Boy, Heidi, we really miss you!

OK, these are some from Brie - Glad SHE did better!

Katie wrapped Liam so he could take a snooze!

We were teasing her about looking pregnant again. She thought we were funny!

This is a pic of Dawn holding Liam. Good idea how big he is by this shot! And only 9 weeks old!

This is just a cute picture of Ethan, Dawn and Dan's youngest!

Great shot Dawn!

Collin surfing on a log!

Super sweet shot of Caleb, Dawn's oldest.

Caleb waiting for Ethan to 'fuel up' so he can push!

Kimi in her cool hat!

That's enough! You get the idea! A good time was had by all!

YARD SALE!

I had my very first EVER yard sale! I know, it's hard to believe that I have never done it - but that's the truth! Katie had this really cool machine that makes a fresh cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa in a matter of a minute! She sold them for $1 a cup. (by the way, I have NO IDEA why this is in blue and underscored!~)This wasn't all MY stuff. (Had to clarify that! hehee)

I have a friend who is moving so she donated a bunch, plus Kim and Katie added stuff too!

After the sale, we boxed up everything that was left and Kim took it to her house to have a sale later at HER place......

Those white boxes? Packing peanuts! $5 a box - a real deal. Funny how no one took Katie up on it. So they are now listed on Craig's list. I may keep one for mailing stuff for Christmas...

Kimi thought it would be funny to put signs on Collin and Liam and see if we got any takers! Collin wondered why he only cost $5,000!?! He's five - surprised we didn't get any takers?
We weren't!

But how could they have resisted? He asked me later if I would pay 1 penny for him!

Awww I told him I would pay all I had for him. I think he felt better then.......

After this wonderful experience, I could barely move and only wanted a nap! So I'm not sure if this will be repeated at my house! But it was a fun experience!

Speedy grow!

This is the yard at work - they reseed twice a year - I went to work on 9/28 and they were thatching and then reseeded with natural fertilizer - yep, poop. Smelled really really yummy-NOT!

EXACTLY one week later - Oct 5, this is what was there! This week they are going to have to mow it. Crazy how fast stuff grows sometimes!

Beep Beep!

Look what was on our truck this beautiful October morning!

He pranced around on there and kept looking in the window at us wondering

"Why haven't they gotten out the camera? Don't they see how cute I am?" So........
(I didn't see Wiley - he must have been asleep....)

MEOW

Isn't she Pretty? This is Luna and she belongs to Kim and Jason.

They came to grammy and poppa's house for a visit. VERY interesting considering I have two dogs! She had them both intimidated before the evening was over! And yes, she is as soft as she looks!

Helping Out!

Terry called and said they really needed help with a shipment they got in that was kinda messed up. Not bad but it still had to be sorted and cleaned. So Dellas, Kim, Jason and I along with a friend of Jason's showed up last Saturday to be put to work. They have a warehouse where they keep products they ship. This is AZ and it doesn't have AC so things got toasty! This is what we were faced with. We had worked off about 6 or so boxes by the time I thought to get out my camera! But this is what we were working down.

Some of the product got dripped on the tops of the bottles in processing so they had to be cleaned off. Katie got the short straw! So she got cotton balls, qtips, gloves and alcohol and spent the day on the floor! Atleast she had AC!

Collin was helping us in the warehouse.

Daddy was giving him instructions on what not to jump off of.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to climb on paletwrap?

Grammy decided to box up the boys!

Here's Liam. He actually loved the box!

We thought about sending him to Aunt Heidi at one point,

but he was being so darned cute, we decided to keep him! (Sorry Heidi!)

Collin, of course, had to go in the box too! He's being such a cheezy kid here!

After he got out of the box, we found jobs for him to do to help. We kept the poor kid busy the rest of the day! But he was a great helper and did everything he was asked to do without a bit of complaint about being hot or tired or thirsty or anything! It was awesome.

I was really proud of him and his hard work! Good Job Collin!

Here's proof we all worked! (I had the camera but I did work too!)

PoppaAunt Kimi

Uncle Jason (I wish I had taken an after picture of the warehouse before we cleaned it!

This shot actually looks pretty good! But it was covered in peanuts that fell out of boxes, empty boxes and liners and general dis-array!

Took about 1/2 hr or more for all of us to clean up after we were done!)

This is what it is all about. Family. I'm so blessed!

(Only thing that would have made it better is Heidi and her bunch being here.........)