Sled Masters

My wonderful husband Doug bought me iLife 11 for my birthday. It has really cool iPhoto and iMovie features. He made this movie trailer for the boys and the full movie may someday be finished.... It looks better on YouTube, so click here to watch it.

Worst Commute Ever

Doug documented his horrible commute home last Wednesday and I thought I'd devote a post to his bad night. The above picture shows people in line to catch the bus huddled like cattle. Doug waited for an hour and a half for the bus. He was lucky enough to get a seat instead of stand since once he got on the bus, he was there for 4 1/2 hours.

Those three cars on the right are abandoned. The day after the storm, police had to go wake people up in their cars since a lot of people just gave up and slept in the car.

The Fed Ex truck couldn't even stay on the road. I think as far as commutes go, this was the worst commute of Doug's life. He finally got home at 1:10 am, nine hours after he left work.

What a Weekend

This weekend was pretty gross. It started Friday night when Spencer threw up. Then Doug. Then James. Faith throws up when she sees throw up. I'll spare you the details but I'll just say there was a lot of stuff shooting out of both ends and it didn't always end up in the right spot. It has been a long time since our family has been that sick. As I type this, Hope and I are the only ones who didn't get sick (knock on keyboard).

Jumpin Jimmy's

Too many days home from school means we need to get out! I took the kids to a jump house place yesterday so they could run around there instead of in my house.

They got Their Wish

My boys are in heaven. Snow means no school. This week they went to school one day. They get tomorrow off as well. They were thrilled to use their new sleds all day.

Hunger Games

Tonight I hosted book club after we read The Hunger Games. I fed them dinner since it is the hunger games. I made food from the book.

This is a cornucopia full of weapons. We played a trivia game about the book and if we got the answers wrong Spencer shot us with Nerf guns.

For my Birthday...

I got snow.

This was not just any snow. This snow kept my kids out of school all day. Lucky me--just what I wanted. This snow also turned Doug's commute into over seven hours instead of one. He didn't get home until after 12:30 am. So that snow kept me home with my kids all day and all night. I tried to take the kids to dinner since I don't cook on my birthday, but after I got us all bundled up and in the car, my neighbor got stuck. I figured I'd have to do a whole lot of shoveling to get us out, and I don't do that on my birthday either so we went back inside.

On the brighter side, I do have awesome visiting teachers and friends who took me to lunch before the snow came down. My dad gave me this awesome dessert for my cake. My mom's package arrived, and I got cards and calls from friends and family.

And my dear friend Valerie braved the snow to bring home this cake to me from Wegman's.

I guess we can celebrate another day.

I Can't Get Enough of Her

If you give Hope even the smallest amount of attention, this is what you get. Love that.

Pack Meeting

I can't believe Spencer is in Webelos. He looks so good in his uniform.

Webelos were in charge of the flag ceremony tonight.

And Spencer got his Bear that he earned awhile ago.

Tangled

The dollar store hair is a hit at our house.

Laundry Makes Me Cry

It all started the day I found balloons in the boys' pockets while doing laundry. I cried and cried because I knew exactly where they got those balloons. It was at Dollar Cuts. I had to chase James down that day outside the store (he has a tendency to run away when he's mad) and threaten him that I wouldn't take him to Disneyland the next day if he didn't get in there and get his haircut. We never made it to Disneyland that day. It was the day Katie died. When I saw the balloons I knew that the last time the boys wore those clothes Katie was alive, and I cried and cried in the laundry room. Months and years later I've cried a lot over clothes. I remember crying because as I was folding laundry

I didn't have any pink laundry to do.

Now I cry because I do have pink laundry to do.

You've heard me before, but I will never stop expressing my gratitude and love to a Heavenly Father who blessed me with two more reasons to do pink laundry.

Bedtime and Other Stories

Faith doesn't always make it to her bed...

but she sure looks classy going to bed. Faith's big girl bed has been waiting for her for a few days, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She insisted that the crib was her bed. It just took princess sheets, and she became a big fan of her big bed.

In my defense, Faith usually starts out the day looking OK. Today we put her in church clothes, but she wanted to wear this pink dress and a leotard underneath so badly that she carried them with her. It was the only way to get her in the car. When we got to the stake center for stake conference, she carried her clothes she wanted to wear inside. She held them during the meeting then half way through insisted she needed her diaper changed. That was her chance to get these clothes on, and she wore them the rest of the day. I have a new appreciation for my boys and the fact that they wear ANYTHING you give them to put on.

The Cheetah Girls