Merry Christmas

On Christmas morning Noah woke up at 5:00 am, and I told him he had to go back to sleep until 6:00. Luckily, he fell back asleep, and the next time I heard a peep it was 7:00. I think that's the latest start to Christmas morning that we've ever had (my kids are early risers).

Later in the day, Stefani, Quentin, Haley, and Julian joined us for a ham dinner. It was a relatively low key, quiet Christmas, which suited me just fine! Thanks to all the family members who sent presents to the kids. They loved everything! Merry Christmas everyone!

Just believe...

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Yesterday Isaac came to me and told me he wanted to know the "truth" about Santa. I asked him what he thought and he said that he believed, but he REALLY wanted me to tell him the truth. So... I told him. He felt bad about it and proceeded to ask about the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. It broke my heart, but I really felt that when he asked me in such a sincere way, that I needed to tell him the truth. We had a nice discussion about Santa representing the spirit of Christmas and about how it all relates to the birth of the Savior. Even though I'm sad that he's reached the end of the "magic", these things are all part of growing up. I'm proud of what a big boy he's becoming.

Tis the Season

... to be too busy to blog (for me at least). I've been a major slacker lately. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed about catching up on my blogging, so I decided to just do one post of all the "picture worthy" moments so far this month (with little to no explanation. The pictures are self explanatory - right?). Oh, and excuse the horrible camera work on the videos. I had a little girl pulling on my arm.


Just pretend Emma isn't wearing only a diaper in this picture. We're not white trash. I promise.


Emma was not too happy about Santa...

Isaac is on the far right of the second row from the top (in the white button up shirt).



Grandma Hubbard came to visit for a few days and while she was here we went with her, Stefani, Quentin, Haley, and Julian to Frisco Town Square to see the lights and ride the train.


Noah was the "bright star" in his Preschool Christmas performance.

Emma, Emma, Emma

This little girl certainly keeps me on my toes. She is much naughtier than her brothers were at her age. She has colored on walls, smeared Vaseline all over the play room and herself, and to top it all off, she smeared poop all over her crib the other day. No joke. She was supposed to be taking a nap, and when David went in to check on her, he found her completely naked and covered in poop. She had taken off her diaper and smeared poop all over her crib, her clothes, her blanket, and the stuffed animals she had in her crib. It was even on her mouth. I seriously almost puked while I was cleaning it up. It was so disgusting! My boys NEVER did anything like that! Crazy girl!

Twilight Craziness!

OK, you all know how obsessed with Twilight I am. I had so much fun in Forks with the Twilight Moms, that I decided to try to find a local group of Twilight Moms to meet up with. I found some ladies who live nearby, and convinced my friend Alison (who I met in Forks and lives in Ft. Worth) to come with me to meet them for dinner. We had a blast, and really enjoyed hanging out with the other ladies. We've all gotten together for dinner twice, and are going to the midnight showing of Twilight together tomorrow night. I love these ladies. Twilight Moms are the best!

This picture is from our first meet up: Jennifer, Alisa, Alison, Nina, Donna, and me.

This picture is from our second meet up: Me, Jennifer, Alisa, Donna, Cameo, Lori, and Alison


Then, last week, Rob Pattinson (who plays Edward in the Twilight movie) did a mall appearance in Dallas. A couple of my Twilight Mom friends and I decided we wanted to be in the group of 500 people that got to meet him and get an autograph. Unfortunately, the event was not organized well. We arrived at the mall at 4:30 am to find a big mass of people waiting to buy wrist bands for the event. There was no organized line, and security was allowing people to line up in different locations. To make a long story short, at 5:30 am when they allowed everyone onto the mall property, there was complete chaos as over 2,000 people rushed across the street, and we were shoved towards the back of the line. We were really disappointed. However, in addition to the signing, there was also a public Q&A session with Rob Pattinson planned for later that evening. We decided to come back to the mall for that. There were so many people there and everyone was screaming, so we didn't get to hear anything that he was saying, but it was still exciting to be there and to see him from a distance. I'm not normally the type of person to be "into" celebrities, but I make an exception for the cast of Twilight - especially Rob. I just love him! My pictures aren't good because my camera doesn't have much of a zoom, but you get the idea... right? The first picture is of Cameo, Alison, me, and a Twilight Mom named Kaly that we met there. The others are of Rob on the stage with the lady that was interviewing him. And by the way, the picture that shows the crowd only shows HALF of the people that were there. The crowd went all the way around the stage in a full circle.

Then, as if I haven't had enough Twilight fun lately, Alison hooked me up with a pass to an early screening of the Twilight movie. So, I got to see the movie last night - 3 days before it's official release date! It was so much fun, and I loved it! It really was pretty much exactly what I expected. No complaints from me. And, as an added perk, they were giving out a bunch of Twilight swag at the theater. Check out all the goodies I got!

And even though I've already see the movie, I'm just as excited as ever for the midnight showing tomorrow night! 27 hours to go!

School House Rock

On November 7th, I went with Isaac's class on a field trip to a production of School House Rock at the Plano Children's Theater. It was really cute, and the kids all loved it. Isaac laughed and laughed! He was sitting right in front of his best friend, Drew, so I snapped a picture of them before the show started. After the show was over, we enjoyed lunch together at Frisco Commons Park. Thanks so much to Stefani for watching Emma so I could go on the field trip!

33 and 30!

David and I both had our birthdays. He turned 33 on November 1, and I turned 30 on November 2. We enjoyed a nice birthday dinner on David's birthday (a Saturday) - thanks to Stefani and Quentin for watching the kids so we could go out.

My birthday, however, didn't go too well. It started out great with a nice breakfast cooked by David, but went downhill from there. After breakfast we headed off to Stake Conference, but we had to leave early because I wasn't feeling well. So, we came home and I took a nap. When I woke up, I knew I had the stomach flu (David, Emma, and Noah had it earlier in the week). So, I spent the rest of the day laying in bed feeling nauseous and eating nothing but Saltine crackers. Happy Birthday to me!

Halloween

We had a fun, busy Halloween day. We all went to Friday Morning Live to see Isaac (actually all of the 2nd grade) perform. Later in the day I joined Noah's preschool class for their Halloween party. It was lots of fun. All the kids were dressed in their pajamas (which Noah thought was really cool), and they got to decorate cookies, play games, eat snacks, and watch "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin."

In the evening we went trick-or-treating. Cousins Haley and Julian came along for the fun, dressed as a princess and a red ant. Isaac, Noah, and Emma were Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Harry's owl Hedwig. First Stefani and I took them out, then we came back and stayed home with Emma and Julian while David and Quentin took the older kids back out. When Stefani and I were with the kids, Stefani kept telling Haley to ask for a candy for "her brother" (Julian). Haley would then get the candy and put it in Julian's bag for him. Well, when David and Quentin were out with the older kids, at every door Noah kept saying, "I need an extra one for my brother." So, people would put an extra candy in his bag. David couldn't figure out why he was saying that, and no matter how many times David told him to stop, Noah kept saying it at every door. By the end of the night, Noah had a bunch more candy than Isaac. What a little sneak!

I also had fun dressing up for Halloween. My costume consisted of a pair of honey colored contacts and a Twilight shirt. Pretty fun to be a Cullen for the day. :) I love Halloween!

Wow, that's a lot of headbands!

I guess she finally decided to wear all those headbands I bought for her when she was a baby...

A Random Conversation with Isaac

As we were driving down the street today:

Isaac: Look Mom, that guy has two dogs! (points to a guy walking his dogs)
Me: Cool.
Isaac: When can I get a dog?
Me: When you're grown up and move out of the house, you can get as many dogs as you want.
Isaac: Will you come and visit me if I have a dog?
Me: Of course. I like dogs, I just don't want to have to take care of one.
Isaac: Yeah, I'll pay for the dog and it's food. And I think I'll like to play ball with the dog. And I'll take it for walks. Mom, do you think I'll live in Texas?
Me: That would be nice.
Isaac: Then maybe I can bring my dog in the car over to visit you. But I'll bring food for it to eat while we're at your house. Maybe Emma and Noah will live in Texas too, but if they don't, I might still be able to bring my dog to visit them. Can dogs go on planes? I don't know how to do that... Mom, policeman [what Isaac wants to be when he grows up] probably get days off, right? I think I'll take a day off and play with my dog. Yeah, and I guess when I'm at work my wife can take care of the dog, too.

Poor kid. I guess he really wants a dog. He's got all the details worked out. For some reason, it just tugged at my heartstrings. Don't worry, though. There is 0% chance that we will be getting a dog.

Halloween Boo Party and Pumpkin Carving

All week Isaac has been planning a "Halloween Boo Party" for our family. He's been making little games to play and even decorations for the walls. So, today after school, Isaac, Noah, Emma and I had the Boo Party. We played: pin the eye on the monster, hide and go "boo", Halloween fishing, Halloween relay race, vote on your favorite decoration, and find the bat. The kids had fun, and Isaac was so proud of himself for making such a great party. :)


Then this evening we finally carved pumpkins - with one day to spare!

Harry Potter and Friends

When I took the kids to the Picture People yesterday, my intent was to get one (free with a coupon) 8x10 of all 3 kids together in their Halloween costumes. Oops! They're just too cute. I can't resist!

California Trip

We had a nice trip to California for Matt and Sara's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and everything went well except for our children's behavior at the temple. Both Noah and Emma were screaming their heads off by the time Matt and Sara came out of the temple, and refused to be in pictures. Luckily, they acted nice at the reception (after a rest in the car). Noah was absolutely in love with the bride at the wedding. He wanted to follow her around, hug her and kiss her. Then when it was time for us to leave, he cried because he didn't want to leave her. It was so cute. Isaac was a sweetheart the entire day, and very patient. I'm so glad!

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to the wedding, so I don't have any pictures to post. I will post some of them as soon as I get some...

While we were in California, David and I spent a day at Disneyland by ourselves. It was nice to spend a day with each other. Then the next day, we went with my mom and the kids. They loved it! I was so proud of Isaac because he finally was brave enough to ride all the "mountains". Space Mountain was his favorite. Noah's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and he was thrilled to meet Mickey Mouse. Emma also enjoyed meeting Mickey and Minnie. All in all, a great day at Disneyland!

The kids and I also had a good time hanging out one afternoon with our good friends, the Hansens. Blake and Ryan were Isaac's best friends in Kindergarten, and their little sister Alli is Emma's age. All the kids had a great time playing together, and I had fun chatting with Nicole. Nicole was also nice enough to call and invite some other friends to drop by while we were there. Rebecca (and kids), Stacie (and Tyler), Kate, and Kandy - it was great to see you! I miss all of you so much! I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends. Thanks for making me feel loved!

Of course, our week in California went way too fast, and before we knew it, it was time to come home to Texas. Noah, especially, was really sad to leave Grandma.

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us stay at your house! And thanks Mom for watching the kids so David and I could have a "date" at Disneyland. We love you!

Aaaah....

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

I took the kids to the pumpkin patch today. It was tons of fun and free (which makes me smile). Of course all 3 kids refused to look at the camera at the same time, but that's nothing new. :)

So, although the kids didn't really enjoy getting their picture taken, they did enjoy all the other activities (bounce house, maze, etc.). Their favorite part was the hay ride around the big empty field behind the pumpkin patch.

By the way, I know no one really wants to see my face as close up as it is the picture above this, but I think it's really cool the way you can see the reflection of my arms and the camera in my glasses and in Emma's eyes. It reminds me of "The Arnolfini Marriage" painting by Jan van Eyck (where you can see the reflection in the mirror on the wall). OK, it's really nothing like that painting, but it made me think of it anyway.