Merry Christmas

To me....

Thankful

I am thankful for.....

My awesome sister Avry who hosted Thanksgiving dinner and did a mighty fine job.

Family, and the chance to get together with them.

Thanksgiving dinner and turkey comas.

Avry's 15 foot Christmas tree - wow. Let us not forget brother Jason hugging it.

My mad Vanna White skills. (Can you tell the pictures I took were a bit random and sporadic?)

And everything else I didn't get a picture of. My loving parents, amazing siblings, wonderful husband, beautiful children, health, happiness, and home.

Rowan's Kitchen

Welcome to Rowan's Kitchen, where everyday is a new gourmet treat. His specialties are concoctions, so you never know what you'll get. We're not guaranteeing that it will be good, but it will be an experience you won't forget.


Today's Concoction:
Italian Celery Egg Soup

Ingredients:

• Italian Dressing
• Diet Pepsi
• Mushrooms
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Cheetos
• Water
• Celery
• Bread

Who wants to come for dinner?

Product Reviews

You know your mom is a product review blogger when:

• You get a package every day and know the UPS or FedEx guy by heart.
• You yell "yay!!" when you see a brown box. (Who knows, it could be lima beans inside?)
• You get get a new toy, and after you ooh and ahh over it, proceed to climb up on the couch and strike a pose, knowing she's going to need pictures to blog about your new toy. (Chan was especially cute today.)
  

And the adorable monkey? He's from Aurora.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live

Back in April, I got a contact for my Babes and Kids blog asking me if I wanted to cover Yo Gabba Gabba Live, and get free tickets to the one here in Salt Lake City. I said yes because I knew my boys would love it. They don't watch Yo Gabba Gabba often, but they know who they are, and we all watch Party in my Tummy often on Youtube. After all, that is the best song. :)
So the show was last night. We sported some awesome DJ Lance glasses that they gave us, and got up to dance at every song. It was super fun and I think the boys really liked it. Of course my camera went on strike, and I didn't bring my flip, so the video I took didn't save right. I was bummed because Party In My Tummy was the last song and they had the food come down a giant slide. It was so fun to watch the boys dance and really get into it, but I was into it too, lol. It lasted about an hour and 20 minutes. After it was over, Rowan kept saying "You like it? You like Gabba Gabba? Chandler, you like Gabba Gabba? Dad, you like it?" It was super cute. I think it's definitely safe to say that we're fans now.

Chandler's 5th Birthday Party

We've never really had a birthday party for either of the boys. We've celebrated with family and a few close friends before, but haven't ever done a real party with lots of friends. Since Chan was turning 5, I decided he would love having a party. I started planning it the end of September, and I shouldn't have told him a month before it was happening. Since he doesn't have a lot of concept of time, he would ask me frequently when it was. I whipped out my mad photoshop skills and made his invitations. They turned out pretty cute, don't you think? (I must also mention that I got 15 of them printed in a 5x7 size for less than $3 and that included shipping. I refuse to ever pay full price for anything. :) )


The day of the party, Chan and I headed out to do some last minute shopping. We picked up Chan's cake, a batman one, and headed home. I must say it was totally worth the $17 that I paid Walmart to make it.No headache, no trying to be creative, and Chandler was definitely impressed.


We had a superhero/hero theme. Chan wanted to do superheros but since we invited girls, I thought we'd just make it dress up. That way kids could dress up as superheros if they wanted, or just in their Halloween costume.


The guests started arriving right before 1 pm. We had 10 kids total, including Chan and Rowan. We played lots of games, did a small craft, had cake and ice cream and then played. It turned out really great! One of the games we played was "Wrap the Mummy" We used toilet paper and I thought this picture was hilarious.

All of the party guests

I also did a short movie with video we took that day as well as a few other pictures I didn't include in the post.

Toenail

You might think I'm weird, or even a little gross for posting this, but oh well. Of course if you are reading this blog, chances are you are already my friend or a family member and read even when I post dumb/gross/weird things. On with it already, right? When I ran my half marathon in June, my one big toenail was just a tad too long. It throbbed for 2 days after. Turned purple, and it's been in the process of coming off for 5 months now. The other day before church, I dropped a binder on my toe and the nail pretty much came off. This is what was underneath. It looks like I had another nail growing underneath the nail. Pedicure anyone? (I made sure to make the picture super big for your viewing enjoyment.)


Reminds me of a sign I saw when I ran my marathon, "Toenails are for sissies." I agree. It is quite pretty as well. ;) Now that it's getting cooler, I haven't been running much. I so want a treadmill and find myself dreaming of one...
I promise I won't leave this post up at the top for too long. The picture is quite beautiful, but there's some birthday pictures and videos I need to edit.

To Chandler

Dear Chan,
You are 5 today! The last 5 years have been some of the best of my life, simply because you are in it. You've been a headstrong boy since day one and have always wanted to do things for yourself and be independent. At the same time you are compassionate and loving, and quick to run and give me a hug if I stub my toe or feel sad.
You are really into transformers, action figures, trains, video games, and crafts right now. You also love to dress up like a super hero and play "battle" with Rowan and dad. Your favorite movie is anything new that is out. Favorite foods are corn dogs, Chinese (Kung Fu Panda food), Ice Cream, and cereal. You also love to drink water. If we give you a choice of any drink, you will always pick water.
I'm not sure how tall you are, (we'll find out when we go in for your yearly checkup) but are wearing 5T clothes and weigh about 40 lbs.
You say the funniest things lately and I'm not as good as I should be about writing them down. A few weeks you asked us if Jesus had feet. :)
When dad decided to grow a beard, you told him that it might grow as big as the house.
You ask lots of questions and are so smart. You can count to 100 and more, know all of your colors, shapes, and are starting to sound out words.
Your smile is contagious, and I'm so happy and proud to be your mom.
I hope you have a Happy Birthday, we'll do something fun today. :)
Love,
Mom