Superman . . . To the Rescue!

My dear friend helped me make these sooo fun capes. My intent was for them to be for Nate and Zack, but Olivia has been enjoying them more than I would have thought. The kids have been playing non-stop in them today. It has been funny to watch them. They were pretending to be superheroes and were camping out on the kitchen floor. They started a "fire" and then went to sleep. In the "morning" they woke up and Livvy says, "Oh no, Nate! We forgot to put the fire out! Guy! What kind of superheroes are we?" It was hysterical! It's nice that a few dollars and an hour of work can provide such great entertainment for two kids.

Tubes in the Ears

So, I now realize why I haven't blogged in three months. It mostly has to do with the fact that my baby has been having such a hard time with his ears. Since November, he has had 5 ear infections: an average of 1 every 2 weeks. We have been to the Doctor's office so many times they know me by name, and my bank account is empty from all the copays and prescriptions! Finally about a week ago, we got into the ENT doctor and Zack had tubes put in his ears yesterday.

It is really scary sending your baby off to surgery with strangers. It was something we have never had to deal with as parents. Of course they make you come way early in the morning and wait around FOREVER until it is time for the surgery. And, Zack was not allowed to eat anything. And if you have seen Zack lately, you have probably noticed that this kid does not miss a meal! (Almost 24 pounds!) He was such a good boy though, and really handled it well.

During the whole ordeal we saw many different people and many different nurses, all doing different things. But, the moment the "surgery" nurse came to take Zack, it was almost like he knew exactly what was going on, because he held out his arms to her as if saying, "I'm ready, take me" and he let her take him and was fine. It was really funny how he knew.

So, all that build up of nerves, and the procedure took less than 15 minutes. Before we knew it the doctor was out saying everything went well. He did tell us he was worried about Zack because he seemed to like the anesthesia a little too well. The doctor said most babies take a whiff of it and start crying, but Zack sniffed it, and looked around and then took a big breath of it. The doctor said we should definitely not let him join a fraternity because it looks like he might be an experimenter and that would not be good!

So now we are hoping we have solved the ear problem and everything will be a little less chaotic around here!

R U Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin?

Nate is the craziest kid sometimes, and he just cracks me up with what he says sometimes. His newest thing that he likes to say is, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" We were with my dad and he asked my dad that, in which my dad sarcastically replied, "No, Nate, no one thinks like you think." Well Nate got really mad and said, "Grampy! You can't be on my pit crew because you aren't thinking what I'm thinking!"

Halloween

What a wonderful and creepy night we had on Halloween. My three cuties dressed up as a dragon, Alice in Wonderland, and a race car driver!



I think this was one of the few times we could actually get Nate to walk and not ride in a stroller. All the anticipation for a bucketful of candy was good motivation for him!

Happy Halloween!

Disneyland

We finally were able to cash in our winnings and redeem our trip to DISNEYLAND! Back in April, I won a trip to Disneyland from the radio station. We also got a two night stay at the Disneyland Hotel. We had a MAGICAL time! Here are some pictures of the grounds at the hotel.

Look at this pool! Unfortunately we didn't have time to swim in it, but it looks so fun!
Ready for Disneyland . . .


We were lucky to have family come meet us and hang out with us. My mom and sister came . . .

and my father in law came, too.

Nate was so excited to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater!
And what Disneyland trip wouldn't be complete without a face painting fit for a princess. Livvy saved her money for this, and wanted to look pretty for when she met the princesses. I did my best to make her hair "princessy," and then she put on her Snow White dress.

Olivia loved every minute and liked all the rides. Nate was a little leery of most things, and did get quite frightened with the character rides. Too many scary images, I guess. He loved Mullholland Madness, but when he rode on Thunder Mountain, he yelled to me, "This ride is not safe!" It was so funny. And Zack, was Zack. So easy and calm and happy about everything, no matter what! Personally, my favorite is California Screamin' and Midway Mania. We are so grateful that we had this wonderful opportunity to go to California and go to Disneyland. It was great!

October 20-25

Las Vegas Weekend

We had a fun weekend in Las Vegas to go see my dad race in a vintage car race.
On the drive up, we stopped in Kingman, AZ and went to Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner for dinner. This was one of the places Oprah ate on her cross country trip with Gayle. I thought it would be fun to check it out. We loved it. They had excellent hamburgers and they make their own Root Beer.
I loved the cute high chair they put Zack in. Jeremy wasn't too thrilled about the color, nor was he too thrilled that I took a picture of our boy in it! Hee Hee.
The kids liked the bathtub the best out of our trip in Las Vegas. It was a jacuzzi tub. They had a lot of fun! It was a little shocking the first night when the jets started shooting water everywhere. We were laughing so hard.

The race was a success. After a rollar coaster day of the clutch breaking, and not being sure if he could fix his car, my dad was finally able to race.

Nate in his race car suit . . .

Woo hoo! You win the checkered flag in our book, Dad.

October 17 - 19

Pima Air and Space Museum

Over Fall Break, Jeremy and I took the kids and my sister to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson. We had a really fun day and enjoyed our time together. The best part was that the kids were excellently behaved! That always makes things nice!

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the cockpit of this airplane.Wouldn't it be so much fun to have this in your backyard. My kids could play for hours in this. We had to tear them away.

My little astronauts . . .

We saw a moon rock, but my sister and I named it the moon pebble. Livvy was really confused when we left. She said, "We didn't see the moon rock." I guess it didn't make that much of an impact on her! Hee Hee!

Zack was all smiles on our trip. I especially like this picture because it shows of his crazy hair! It just sticks up all the time like he has major static electricity!

We took a tram ride around the 80 acres of outdoor musuem. At this point I decided I should probably take some pictures of the airplanes since I hadn't taken any yet! I really liked this one because it was so HUGE. I forget what this one is, though.

I know this is a Corsair. This is one of my Dad's favorite airplanes. I like it too!

At the end of the day, we took a trip around the AMARG boneyard. This was the reason we came, actually. Jeremy saw it in an email, and decided we should go check it out. It is the only place in the U.S. that stores all the old military airplanes. It was a sight to see! It was like a sea of airplanes. All in line and in rows. It was cool.

We had a most excellent day, and the weather was beautiful. My favorite part was on the drive home when I asked Nate if he liked seeing all the airplanes, and he responded, "What airplanes?"

Umbrellas and Marshmallows

On Saturday, we had a huge garage sale. I also made a huge discovery. My daughter is a nut!

A lady was looking at an umbrella, and was asking me how much it was. I told her $2 and she proceeded to open it up. I noticed that the tips of the umbrella was covered with marshmallows. I said out loud, "Why are there marshmallows on the ends of this umbrella?" Olivia told me she had done it. Why in the world would she do that? Like I said, she's a nut!

So if you back up an hour, Livvy was playing with the umbrella and was bumping into people. Jeremy told her to stop playing with it, and noticed that the ends were pokey. He told her to put it away before she hurt someone with it. Well, her little genius mind thought of a way to make it safe, and so she ran inside and grabbed the bag of marshmallows. She safely covered all the tips so they would not hurt anyone. Silly, silly girl!

I told the lady she could have the umbrella for a $1 since now it was sticky, and she bought it. She didn't know her umbrella would be a good snack, too.

Gettin' Crafty

I got hit by a craft bug yesterday. I decided to make a 'bow board' for all of Olivia's hair bows and clips. My friend made one and it turned out so cute, I had to do one too! Here's how it turned out:


It was a very easy project.

After that, I made some more hair clips for Livvy. Ya know, those flower clips are all the rage right now. I made lots to match her school uniform colors. Here are some of my favorites:
Now, I plan on making lots of bows once I get a tutorial! :)

First Day of School

Olivia started first grade today. She looked so cute in her little uniform dress. She was very excited! She was excited about her teacher, taking a lunch with her new matching lunch box and backpack, seeing her friends, seeing her brand new school, and wearing her dress.

She had a great day and was all smiles when she came home. She said it was fabulous! I am sure it will be a great year!