It feels like Christmas...(on Q__)

Thanks to a tip from my sis-in-law, I discovered this morning that when you read my last blog post on an ipod (or I assume on any other similar device), some of the words didn't get crossed out like they did on my blog, so the first line reads, "Last night I got a bee up my butt wild hair".  Nice. Sorry for those of you who had to deal with that mental image. If it happened to you, go read my blog on a computer for heaven sakes, and while you're there, leave me a comment. I could use some love...

I gotta admit, it's starting to feel like Christmas around here.  The tree is lit 24/7, it snowed last night, the van doors were frozen shut this morning, the laundry is piled high, the kids are barfing every other day, there's not an ounce of milk or bread in our house 'cause I haven't had time to go shopping, I still have packages to mail...wait, finish, then mail. I haven't wrapped a single present, the garage has to get cleaned for one of our Christmas morning surprises, I'm trying to finish a quilt that's past due, we ordered pizza for dinner at 8:15 last night, and Christmas George is missing.   I just realized, through typing this, that he's probably hiding.  I can't say that I blame him. 

He was last seen in the following locations:

Cleaning our very dirty french doors (I was hoping the boys would be inspired by this, but no such luck.)

On Sunday, I heard Dillon exclaim, "George is adoring baby Jesus!"

And on Monday, he had a snowball fight with Mr. Potato Head.

The kids and I searched everywhere this morning and we cannot find Christmas George. We are offering a reward if you can find him (a nasty flu bug that you will no doubt go home with if you enter our house).

I'm pretty sure he spent some time practicing his longarm skills on this quilt last night, but there is no other trace of him.

 So, in all seriousness, we have the flu that keeps on giving. I'm going to try to re-construct a timeline for my own records:

Tues. Dec. 4th:  Justin was throwing up all day long.
Wed. Dec. 5th: Justin threw up again after eating breakfast.  His tummy is not used to food, right?
Thurs. Dec. 6th: When we tuck Justin in at night, we discover fresh vomit all over his "best lovie".
Sat. Dec. 7th: I come inside from trying to organize my quilting studio, to find vomit on the livingroom carpet.  Justin again.
Mon. Dec. 10th: I wake up in the middle of the night to my least favorite words:  "Mom, I threw up."  Caleb is the winner this time.
Mon. Dec. 10th:  Dillon finishes breakfast and announces he doesn't feel very good. Within 20 minutes, he's down too.
Tues. Dec. 11th: Caleb and Dillon stay home to recover, but don't seem to feel well all day.
Fri. Dec. 14th: Again, I wake up to those all too familiar words, "Mom, I threw up" from Brayden.
Sat. Dec. 15th: Grandma graciously agree's to tend the kids while Todd and I attend one of six Christmas parties we have on our calendar. We come home, only to find that Dillon threw up all over the bathroom (I'm still finding chunks from this one.)
Sun. Dec. 16th: Todd and I made an executive decision to keep all the kids home from church and just rest. He went to his morning meetings, and then I went for the 3 hour block to teach my primary class.  I got home to find that Brayden had thrown up again.
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 4:30 AM I woke up to my "favorite" phrase, "Mom, I threw up...on the carpet". Dillon... round 3.
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 6:30 AM I woke up to Caleb saying, "Mom, my tummy hurts."
Tues. Dec. 18th: At 7:05 AM I discovered that Brayden is doubled over with stomach pain.  Luckily, Caleb ate breakfast and felt better, so I only had two kids home from school.
Wed. Dec. 19th: Dillon left breakfast for the bathroom, but decided he was okay and went to school anyway (crossing my fingers).  Justin has had three NASTY diapers, but I'm staying positive....and blogging my woes.

*Update:  the carnage didn't end on the 19th.  
Thurs. Dec. 20th: I spent the day with stomach pains, and since I HAD to finish up some last minute shopping, I visited the bathroom in every store. Twice.

Fri. Dec. 21st at 2:30 AM  Caleb woke me up because he had "a heartburn".  I gave him some tums, but his heartburn turned into vomiting and horrible stomach pains.  He didn't know it, but I was watching him closely for signs of appendicitis.  At 4:30 AM, he broke out into hives. Yeah. Hives. Huh?  I rubbed his tummy and back with lotion, told him to try not to scratch, and went back to bed.  At 7:00 AM, I found him watching TV and when I asked how he was doing, he threw his hands in the air and said, "Great!".  He went to school. I figure he's already exposed his class anyway.  

Through all the sickness, I'm grateful to my mother-in-law, for watching our kids while we attended some our Christmas parties.  Please join me in praying for her continued health. She deserves it. Last weekend we had a party with all the therapists (and their wives) from Todd's work.  For the white elephant gift exchange, we gave the following:

a Sigmund Freud bobble-head doll...

 ...and plush "Syphilis".  Wish you could've
 been there when Todd's co-worker opened the gift and Todd shouted from across the room, "I just gave you syphilis!"

We came home with juggling balls, and a package of Bull Elk Urine.  I've always wanted some of that.

And lastly, I'm less than proud to tell you that when Todd accidentally reset our TV to it's factory settings, and for a few minutes we didn't know if we'd be able to watch Netflix Instant ever again (Dillon and his drama...) Justin surprised us with his newest phrase:  "Holy Crap!" which he either learned from Todd, or Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond.  Either way, there's room for improvement.

I'd better get quilting. So I can get it in the mail, and get to the laundry, and the shopping, and the wrapping, and the cleaning.  Did I mention I have company tomorrow night 'til New Year's?  Well, I do...and and the napkins are not freshly pressed. No wonder my left eye keeps twitching.

In the past two weeks...

In the past two weeks:

My oldest, greatest papa turned 80!

He brought Burger King crowns for all the kids to wear at the party :o)

Someone cut the butter with the apple slicer.  Someone also forgot to remove a foil-wrapped chocolate Easter egg from their pocket before their pants went through the wash.  Luckily, when it came out it was still in the foil and intact.  Thank you Hersheys.  

A bike fell on my foot on the dock at DI.  I had a bump the size of an egg on top of my left foot.  After icing it for a couple days, the bruising appeared. When I took Justin to the pediatrician later that week, I asked him if he thought I should have my foot "looked at" and he said that if it's broken, it's broken on top (since I can walk on it with no problem) and the treatment is a good lace-up shoe.  I think I can handle that.

Brayden learned to mow the lawn.

(it's kind of nice that our boys are getting old enough to be "useful")

While I was making dinner for a neighbor who just had a baby, Justin stole the measuring cup out of the flour bin, scooped water out of the toilet, and put it in his potty.  When I found him he was soaked so I put him in the tub and asked Caleb to sit with him while I hurried to get dinner in the oven.  While playing with "Bub-bub" Justin stood up, and then slipped and hit the faucet with his eyebrow.  It popped open.  I didn't think he needed a stitch, but wasn't sure so I called the urgent care clinic to ask their opinion.  They suggested I bring him in, but luckily as the swelling went down, the cut closed up on it's own and he didn't need any stitches. (Both Brayden and Dillon have the same injury, only they each needed 6 stitches in their eyebrows)

I've waited my whole life to trap my kids in a bottle of soap (or at least the past few weeks).  I took their pictures in crazy positions, used Photoshop to take the background out, and had their pictures printed on a transparency at a copy shop.  Then we rolled 'em up and stuck 'em in the soap. It makes me smile.

Todd's mom came to visit and took me and the boys shoe shopping.  Brayden's new shoes are 1 1/2 sizes bigger than his old ones, and they fit ME.

We also had our first school track meet, Brayden and Caleb got awards at school, Grandma came to visit a second time, our friends Travis and Cami stopped by on their way through, we finally planted our tomatoes after getting our sprinkling system fixed, and we took a day trip to Vegas to have my quilting machine serviced and visit a 120,000 gallon aquarium with a Mermaid show.  Whew!  It's been a busy couple of weeks!  I'll blog about this other stuff soon...

Pirates of the Caribbean Party

 Dillon chose a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme for his birthday this year.  It was perfect timing, because last week I walked into Walmart and found a Jack Sparrow costume, and two action figures on clearance.

I usually don't like making birthday cakes, but I have to admit that this one was kind of fun.

 I used one cake mix and made a 9" round, 6 cupcakes, and 1 mini-loaf.  I cut the round cake in half, stacked it (with frosting between) and stuck it in the freezer while I worked on the skeleton cupcakes.  The ribs are white chocolate covered pretzels, and I used a black sharpie to make the faces on the marshmallows (the kids have strict instructions not to eat the heads). The mini-loaf became a treasure chest with mini M&M's for the gold.

I knew these sword picks would come in handy someday :o).  Dillon wanted either pizza or Ramen noodles for dinner. I had Brayden and Caleb make these kabobs to go with our pizza.  We also ate apples and had "rum" (cream soda) for our drink.

I bought a skein of brown flecked yarn, dug my sewing machine out of the garage and used this tutorial to make Jack Sparrow hair to go with Dillon's costume.  I left the chocolate on his chin for this picture since it looked like a goatee :o).  The hat is super cheap and chintzy, so I will be making another one for sure.  His costume also came with the sword, a map, some pirate gold, and several rings.

Drive-in movie night

Last Sunday, Dillon asked if we could watch Cars 2 for Family Home Evening this week.  It was perfect timing since I wanted to do a fun family activity every time there's a 5th Monday.  I taped up some of the boxes from our garage (that I'd just broken down the day before), and the boys each decorated their own "car" for our drive-in movie night.

 We ate homemade "kids meals" for dinner, and then we had popcorn and movie theater candy while watching the "big screen" (we don't have a TV downstairs--just a projector that we watch on the wall).  Justin got a box of raisins instead of a box of candy, and his "popcorn" was really freeze dried yogurt.

Justin sat in his car for all of five minutes, and then toddled off to the playroom, where he discovered our Lightning McQueen, Sally, and Mack toys and brought them back to the family room to play.  

Brayden's car was cleverly changed from a "Fragile" to a "Ford".  He drew the appropriate guages/radio/clock/lights, and added an "I love bats" bumper sticker on his car.

Caleb, as you can see, brought his three brothers along in the backseat:

The best part of this activity was that the popcorn and snack mess was contained in the boxes :o)

Brayden's Harry Potter Party

 We celebrated Brayden's birthday a few days early this year, so that Todd could be with us.  I cannot believe that on Wednesday I'll have an ELEVEN year old.  It just doesn't seem possible.

I had fun planning this party, even though I've never read the books and I've only seen part of one movie.  There were tons of easy idea's online, and my mom and sister helped as well.

I set up the candy store on my hutch.  From left to right we had:  Exploding candy, chocolate licorice wands, lemon drops, acid pops (fizzy pops from the dollar store), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Blood Pops (pomegranate raspberry suckers), cockroach clusters (candy coated peanuts), salt water taffy, and crystallized pineapple (freeze dried).

I actually spent nearly $5 on a teeny tiny box of "Beanboozled" jelly bellys so we could have barf flavored beans.  I thought it was a bit ridiculous until Brayden got a rotten egg bean.  It was hilarious and I definitely got my money's worth!

The day before the party, I put a few drops of food coloring in the bottom of these paper cups, and let it dry overnight.  When it was time for dinner, I added ice to the cups so you couldn't see the food coloring.  The kids watched me pour my magic potion (sprite) into the cups and each one came out a different color!

I made a Quidditch cake using barbecue skewers, paper flags, and a Ferrero Rocher candy with gold ribbon "wings" for the snitch.

 I used my two least favorite cakes to get the Gryffindor colors: Yellow and Red Velvet.  Can I just take a minute to give you my opinion of Red Velvet cake?  Every single bite is just a reminder that you're not eating chocolate and you're wasting perfectly good calories on cake with no taste.
I did, however, make homemade frosting.  I'm not a frosting lover (more like a frosting hater) but it actually turned out pretty good....for frosting.

 My mom gave Brayden three Harry Potter robes (for his brothers) and some Harry Potter glasses.  Dillon wanted to try the glasses on, but instead of Harry Potter, he looked more like...

...Chicken Little!

 Here are my little wizards.  Harry Potter and two red-headed Weasley (sp?) boys...Fred and George, I think.  Now if I can talk my mom into making a snitch costume for Justin...

Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

The boys and I have been planning Justin's "Very Hungry Caterpillar Party" since last December when I bought a stuffed caterpillar at Kohl's for $5.  There was no way I was going to try to take the party to the trailer, so we celebrated at home this weekend.

"In the light of the moon, a [deviled] egg lay on a leaf..."

The Saturday night portion of his party was in our front yard

I dipped the sugar cones in melted almond bark, and then rolled them in sprinkles. My favorite part of the party has to be the straws.  I love them.  I found them in St. George and spent a whopping $4.50 for 25 straws.  Ridiculous, but I bought them anyway. I "threaded" a picture of the leaf from the book on the straws, and used those little pearl sprinkles for the egg.

I found the watermelon napkins, as well as the "leaf plate" above on clearance at Michael's.

I bought this polka-dot wrapping paper for the presents, but decided Justin didn't care so I used it for the table liner.  All the kids ate through one (or more) lollipops.

 My friend Kristy posted these cute caterpillars on her blog awhile back, and we made some and clipped them onto a snack bag full of Trix cereal to make "beautiful butterflies".

Todd hooked up our projector outside, and we invited friends over to watch Despicable Me.

We stapled a white sheet to two 1x4's and attached it to our house over the living room windows.
It worked perfectly!  Watching a movie outside with friends has been on my bucket list forever.  Next time we'll haul the Wii out there too :o)

On Sunday, we had our own little family party.

This Jello reminded me of the artwork from the book.  It was actually a lot easier than it looks and it was a hit with the kids.

We also had fruit kabobs, ham and turkey sandwiches (with one slice of Swiss cheese, a pickle, and lettuce "leaves"), and deviled eggs.

My other favorite part of the party, besides the straws, was the bib I made for Justin.  It was so fun to make! I used this "bapron tutorial" that I found online, and appliqued the caterpillar on the front using embroidery floss for the "fringe".

I think he likes it...or maybe it's the swirly lollipop.

And here's the famous "first cake" picture.