The Haps

Not a lot of blog-worthy happenings around here....

Kids went back on track at school this past Monday (halla-hulla).

Carson went to a birthday party for a girl in his class. I had to call the girl's mom and ask her what a 10-year old girl would want for her birthday (I'm totally serious, the pink aisle is foreign territory).

Cameron started using the word "Kapeesh" in his everyday conversions. Suddenly I feel the need to start cooking Italian meals.

You know, stuff like that! We definitely live a random life.
We had a beautiful sunset the other night that made us all stop and appreciate its beauty!


I figured out an activity for Cameron when he's super grumpy! I put a glass of hot water and a glass of ice water on the counter. I wrap a dish towel loosely around both glasses. Then, I hand Cameron his color-changing Lightning McQueen car. Let me tell you, this has seriously provided HOURS of entertainment for him! Hot water turns the car yellow. Cold water turns the car red. I only ran into trouble when he demanded the car turn orange...but then I gave him props for knowing that red and yellow combined makes orange! Always trying to find that silver lining.....


We had a nice Saturday today. Our friend, Chad Burnside, is a fireman (is that the P.C. term? I should prolly say 'firefighter'). Every year he plays an ice hockey game titled "Guns vs. Hoses", which is firefighters playing against police officers. It's very fun and we try to make it every year.


I must say, hockey games provide some EXCELLENT people watching opportunities. Fabulous mullets, lots of alcohol, brightly bleached split end hair, and some crazy rambunctious fans. It's a blast. Where else can I go in Saturday attire (jeans and t-shirt) and feel totally dressed up? The only other places might be Walmart and the state fair. Like I said, we try to go every year!

$6 bag of cotton candy? Yes please!


After the game, we went and picked up a new twin bed because......we took down Cameron's crib today! It's kind of funny because my philosophy has always been "when my kids start climbing out of the crib, I will take it down and put them in a regular bed.". Well, Cameron hasn't even attempted it. He's almost 3! I'm getting pretty tired of this conversation EVERY morning coming from his room: "MOM! OPEN THE DOOR! I WANT TO GET OUT! MoOoOoOoOoMMMMMM!!!" Yah, it has got to stop.

We bought a Thomas the Train bed spread and let me tell you, this kid is in HEAVEN! Tonight he said "I am getting bigger because I have a big boy bed!"




Next stop: potty training. Say a little prayer for me.

It's About Dang Time!

Parker is half way through his 1st grade year and hasn't lost a tooth yet. The only thing I have to compare this with, is Carson's experience. Carson lost several teeth in Kindergarten so I was starting to wonder when the tooth fairy would pay Parker a visit.

On Monday night we put the boys to bed. About 20 minutes later Carson and Parker were both upstairs, giggling uncontrollably. I took the bait and asked what was so funny. Then they showed me Parker's 2 bottom-center teeth. They were super loose. Yay!!! We did the happy dance and then I chased them back to bed.

On Tuesday I told Parker to start working those teeth out. He worked on it for a good part of the day.



Finally, Tuesday evening he gave one of his teeth a huge yank and the tooth popped right out. He was so stunned, I was doubled over with laughter. Yay, the tooth fairy can come visit!


Today he woke up as I was drying my hair. He was holding his dollar from the tooth fair and talked NON STOP to me while I got ready for the day. Seriously, it's like he had diarrhea of the mouth. He was soooo giddy. It was funny, but I finally had to email Sam and tell him my ears were already tired and it was only 8am.

Fast forward to tonight. At about 7pm I said "Hey Parker, you should try pulling that other tooth tonight because then the tooth fairy can come 2 nights in a row!" That was all the motivation he needed. He gave it about 4 good tugs and the tooth came right out. However, because Parker is random and likes to keep me guessing, he didn't really tell me he pulled it. He just held it in his hand and stared at me like he was waiting for the punchline to a joke. Finally I realized what was going on and asked him to smile. Well.............I guess he is the joke and that smile is the punchline!! I seriously almost peed my pants when I saw his smile. Take a look for yourself!


Not to be outdone by my laughter, as he walked away to spit in the bathroom, he said "Carson, just so you know, I'm using YOUR toothbrush!" Oh my word, I love that kid!


After he brushed his teeth I told him to hit the showers. As he was showering, I heard him say "ahhhhhhh, it's like my reward for pulling my tooth is a nice hot shower." There are so many things wrong with that statement....does he really think he only gets to shower if he did something good?? If that's the case, here's hoping I can bribe him with a nice hot shower if he gets good grades!!

Not related at all:
Check out this puzzle I finished a few days ago:


It was 1000 pieces and consisted of a bunch of gingerbread men who were representing famous people. It was fun, but I'm glad its over. I tend to obsess about finishing what I started. Lots of late nights. I remember my brother Darren saying "I like puzzles once they are about 2/3 complete". I couldn't agree more. That first 2/3 was a killer. I only worked on it because, again, I can't walk away from something I started. I think I'll give myself a nice long break before attempting another puzzle. Maybe I should go take a nice hot shower as my reward!

Back To Life, Back To Reality

Are you singing that song now? I am. I don't know any of the other lyrics, but "Back to life, back to reality" has been going through my head since about 3pm yesterday. It was going through my head as I did 5 loads of laundry and did some major grocery shopping. It's all good though, after a fabulous week in California I was good and tired so home was a welcome sight. Oh, and I learned that I'm not the only one who likes to come home to a clean house with vacuum lines in the carpet! Thanks to Nalani and Meridith, I know I'm normal. Since Nalani and Meridith are related to me, I can say "Normal, it's all relative"!!! ha ha ha!!! Punny!

Last Saturday we drove in a caravan to Las Vegas and spent the night. We decided to go check out the M&M store on the strip in Vegas. I've been to Vegas before and I've been to the strip before, but not since Carson has become...uhmmm, AWARE of women and the whole 'birds and the bees' talk. Imagine my horror as we're driving around and all the billboards and advertisements of scantily clad women were shoved in our faces. Carson was mortified and I was completely embarrassed! Note to self, don't go to the Vegas strip anymore, at least not with kids! Carson was a good boy and covered his eyes!

The next morning we drove to Hoover Dam. That place is coolio.


Then we hit the road towards Anaheim! Oh yeah!!! We put all three boys in the very back of the van. That way it was harder for the sounds to travel to the front of the van where we were! Don't be jealous of our smarty-smarts. :)
Typical road trip activities: watching a DVD, sleeping, and playing with my i-touch. They are pretty good travelers.


Lots of swimming at the hotels, it's a must because it wears kids out and makes them sleep!


This same night my cousin Cody was holding his daughter in the hot tub. Suddenly Cody felt something warm....and it wasn't the water! He looked over his shoulder and his daughter had horked all down his shoulder and into the hot tub. Soon, chunks floated and everybody scattered! ha ha ha, good memories!


My first time EVER at Disneyland! I loved it! Cameron was a little stressful, but not too bad. Oh yeah, my naturally curly hair wants to apologize right now. The humidity made the curls quite unruly. Not my best hair days, but if anybody asks, it looked bad because of all the gnarly rides I went on!


Besides Cameron locking himself in the hotel bathroom (we had to have a maintenance guy come and unlock it), the trip was pretty flawless. OH yeah, our bank also shut down our credit/debit cards because they thought there was fraudulent activity going on. A quick phone call remedied the problem. :) The weather was PERFECT! High 60's and low 70's. I was in heaven! At one point Carson said "Mom, is Disneyland open in the winter??" Uh, what do you think January 10th is? I guess he forgot it was winter since the weather was so gorgeous!

We kept my cousin's daughter Hailey with us while riding rides because she is super brave and she forced Carson to be brave as well. Carson didn't want to look whimpy after all! She even got him on the "Tower of Terror". Carson's reaction to the ride: "IT WAS TERRIFYING! I HATED IT!!!". I just looked at him and said "well, it's not called the "Tower of Joy" now is it?" ha ha! The Tower of Terror is the only ride I wouldn't participate in. Free falling is not something I handle very well.

The kids had autograph books and got lots of signatures from the Disney characters. It was super fun! Their books have signatures from Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland, The Madhatter, Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, Green Army Man, and Mr Incredible. We never found Donald or Daisy Duck. We didn't go to the Princess area either, my boys were not about to entertain that idea!

Picture time:




















This is the crew that we traveled with on this vacation. I love my family!!


More good times:




We rode the huge Mickey Ferris Wheel. We chose a swinging basket instead of a stationary one. It was all fun and games until Parker flew off his seat and slammed his face into the bench in front of him. Oh man, I felt so bad. I had no idea it would swing that much! After we made sure his face wasn't broken, we really enjoyed it!




Sick of pictures yet?



We seriously exhausted ourselves after 3 days in Disneyland. No rest for the weary though....we headed straight to San Diego for some more fun! One day spent at Sea World:









As we were leaving Sea World, we saw a hawk pinning a pigeon down on the pavement. We thought the pigeon was dead. The hawk was frozen in place. Hailey walked towards it and all of a sudden the hawk started to fly away with the pigeon! Then, the pigeon started fighting and got loose. The hawk started chasing the pigeon and they raced right into a gift shop. All of a sudden people started screaming and ran out of the gift shop. It was AWESOME! The hawk flew away but the pigeon landed in some stuffed animals and it was hurt so it stayed put. We left as the shop employees were wondering what to do. super cool!



Our San Diego hotel was right by the temple. BEAUTIFUL!


At this point of the trip we were going to spend one day at the San Diego Zoo. However, our kids were sooooo tired of being yanked from one exhibit to another. We decided to bag the zoo and head to the beach! It was the best decision ever. The kids could be crazy and nobody cared and the weather was sooooo nice! 75-ish and sunny. It was the perfect wind down activity of our vacation.






Just before we left the beach, we saw a bunch of dolphins, well I hope it was dolphins and not sharks. Seriously, picture perfect!


After San Diego we headed back to Vegas, collapsed in our beds out of pure and utter exhaustion, and went home on Saturday! At one point in San Diego, Nalani, Meridith, and I tried planning the next family trip, but Jed shushed us up pretty quick. What's the matter Jed, too much family time?? Not possible!!!