I love IKEA

I went to work yesterday and only stayed for two hours. It was really slow so BK decided to let someone go home - I very generously volunteered myself!! When I got home, we decided to go to IKEA! I got a couple of new pots, a couple of new pillows and cases, a couple of cute vases (isn't that weird? I got two of everything) and something for BK, but I can't tell you what it is until I give it to her. We also got some Swedish meatballs and some very yummy cinnamon rolls. Which reminds, I was supposed to have one for breakfast! After we left IKEA, since we were so close to Mercedes of Chandler, we went there to check out the SMART car. They had one there to look at, but they weren't ready to sell it yet. It's one tiny car, but it is roomy inside. Jeff definitely fits in it (I wasn't sure that he would). We can even stuff the children in the "trunk" (not that there is a trunk) if need be. In about two weeks Jeff should be getting a call from them, since he pre-ordered one on line.

Randy pulled out another baby tooth the other day. Now he has the two bottom teeth in the middle and is missing the next ones on both sides.

So far the winter break is going well - I'm not wishing that they'd go back to school yet. Both boys are enjoying their Christmas presents and spending lots of time on their computers.
I want to go to Flagstaff and play in the snow! But Jeff doesn't want to go!!
I want to go to the Flea Market/Swap Meet too, but Jeff doesn't want to go there either. Both boys just want to stay home and compute. Maybe I'll just have to go out by myself!
I want to go to Delaware - yes Delaware and now I'm off to take a virtual tour!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!! May you all be safe, healthy and happy in 2008!

It's Not Christmas Anymore

Christmas is officially over at our house. Ginger let us know this, by knocking the Christmas tree over Christmas night. Instead of righting it and readjusting everything, I decided to put it away - along with the rest of Christmas. Today I took the lights down outside - so it's official - Christmas has come and gone!! So, Happy New Year!! Here is a picture of our "new" living room -(thanks for the tables Beth :-).

Christmas!!!!

It was great! Everyone got some really cool presents. We had a nice day playing with everything and enjoyed being together.

Christmas Eve

Well it's Christmas Eve and Keith woke up at 7am. He came to my room, hopped in bed and excitedly told me "Merry Christmas!". He was a little disappointed when I told him it wasn't quite Christmas yet. He wants to open presents! Me too!! I want to open presents. Actually I want to watch everyone else open theirs'. I love to see the reactions that everyone has when they see what they've gotten. Randy came into my room a few minutes later and we decided to go downstairs. We left Dad in bed and now we're watching Christmas stuff on TV. Hurry Santa - we're waiting for you!!!

DECEMBER 19TH

Randy's birthday!!!!!

He's 8 years old!!!

I baked him a lop-sided cake and he got to open some pretty cool presents!
My parents and grandparents came over for dinner and cake.
Randy got Electronic Battleship - from Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Alissa.
He got an Air Hogs Helicopter from mom and dad.
He got a "Forces of Valor" tank from Keith.
Mama and Papa and Auntie got him a Star Wars playset and money.
They even bought an i-Dog for Keith.
Both Keith and Randy got money from "Old Mama" and "Old Papa".

Yesterday Keith stayed home from school.

He has pink eye!
He was going to miss out on making a gingerbread house in class, so we got the fixins and made one at home.
Today I took him to the doctor's and we got some ointment to put in his eye.
Let me tell you how much fun that is...
Ok, I'll spare you the details. Hopefully it works.
It seems like Ginger kitty really likes our new friend Mr. Wiggles. I spotted her hanging out on top of his cage twice today. I leave his door open quite often - maybe one day I'll find her inside there with him.

A sad day

Sunday we all took a ride to Petsmart. We were all excited because we were going to get a new friend for Mr. Wiggles! We picked out a super cute little piggy... Snickers. We should have noticed that Snickers was probably not the healthiest little guinea pig. Monday the boys woke up and were getting ready for school - I took Snickers out of his cage so we could pet him and love him. Afterwards, I took the boys to school and then went shopping. When I got home, I found that Snickers had died. It was really sad, even though we only had him for a day. He was so cute and sweet. But looking back we realized that Snickers never made any sounds like Mr. Wiggles, he didn't ever flinch when we touched him, he sat with Ginger kitty and didn't have any reactions and his eyes weren't fully opened liked Mr. Wiggles. I don't think he ate anything either - I tried putting food right in front of him and I never saw him take any. Of course the boys were bummed out and felt bad about losing our new little fuzzy friend. I did take him back to Petsmart, where I'm not sure what they did with him. They offered me a new piggy, but I declined. Here are a couple of pictures of the sweet little thing.

New Addition

Yesterday we acquired a new addition to the family. Jeff brought home a guinea pig! His name is Mr. Wiggles! He's very cute. Today he went to Petsmart for a manicure and pedicure! We bought him a nice new "tiki hut". It's an edible natural hideaway - aka "Snak Shak". It's as cute as Mr. Wiggles is!!! I have a lot to learn since I've never had a guinea pig before. And I have to go shopping. We need some celery, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and some other yummy veggies and fruits. The little guy is a vegetarian and I think he may encourage us to eat better as well. At first the cats were very interested in our new guest, but now they seem to stay away. Far away - they've been upstairs all day. I guess they'll just have to get used to him.

Yesterday (very last minute) Jeff got Suns tickets from work!! I had to call my mom to see if she'd come over to put the boys to bed and she did. The game was a good one - very close, but the Suns pulled it off!! Woooohooooo!!!

Well, I'm tired, but I had to share the news. Later there shall be more.... A sneak peek - tomorrow the boys will be sleeping over a friend's house for the first time because Jeff and I will be going to a Christmas party.

It's Pizza Night!

It's pizza night!

Pizza, I say!

Pizza!!!!

In case you couldn't read the sticker on Randy's forehead. Every second Tuesday of the month is pizza night and the kids are sent home with these stickers on the their shirts (or heads) so we don't forget. They also have a little Papa John's blimp anchored at the school too. I'd say this is the best fund raiser ever!! The school gets some money and I don't have to make dinner! It's win-win!!

I took Randy's lunch bag out of his backpack yesterday... It felt heavier than when I packed his lunch in it. So I opened it up and found about 5 rocks in it!!! Apparently my boy has a new hobby. He collects smooth rocks. I have limited him to one rock per day! I don't really know what he plans to do with all these rocks, but so far they are on the headboard of his bed. Boys.....

What is Keith up to, you ask. Well, what else - guns, shooting, sniping (once in the head, twice in the stomach), referring to Randy as commander and requesting supplies. I hear things like - "I need a medic", "I need repairs", "artillery strike here!"

By the way, if you'd like to order Papa John's Pizza http://papajohns.com/ tonight (from the store on VanBuren in Goodyear) make sure that you mention you're ordering for the Centerra Mirage fundraiser - and the teachers' names Crowe (2nd grade) and McEldowney (kindergarten). Which ever class gets the most orders, wins a pizza party. So far Randy's class has won all the pizza parties, even though I give both teachers' names each time I order.

It's raining (again) and I'm cold!! It's 57 degrees and icky. I don't think I'll ever live here long enough to enjoy it when it rains. This weeks low temps are supposed to be in the 30s. It does make it seem more like Christmas is coming. 14 Days!!!

Ben & Jerry's and the Simpsons

Have you all seen the Simpson's Movie? We haven't, yet. The DVD will be released on December 18th - (the day before Randy's birthday!) At one time our life had to be scheduled around the Simpson's - we always had to be home to make sure we'd see the latest episode being shown. Nowadays, we don't watch it too often and I prefer that the boys don't watch it just yet. I was on Ben & Jerry's website (one of my favorite websites and definitely my favorite ice cream) and I came across this........

Come celebrate the DVD release of the Simpsons Movie and try “Duff and D’oh!Nuts” our one-day, one-time only beer and donut ice cream flavor... (click on the red link) Contact your local Scoop Shop to see if they are participating.

Thought this seemed neat - that is if everyone isn't too busy with all the Christmas and holiday stuff going on .....

Lazy Day

Have you tried a BK Mocha Joe? If not, you should. They're yummy! I stopped at Burger King on my way home from work last night - such a nutritional dinner- but the Mocha Joe makes it all good. In case you were wondering, NO, the boys didn't get to have any Mocha Joes.
Last night the boys hosted their first over-nighter. They celebrated by having a light saber battle, among many other fun, loud and goofy things! It went very well. We'll definitely have to do it again. I made some snowman cookies - yeah, after a hard day's work, I took those little refrigerated cookie dough blobs out of the fridge and placed them in the oven! Then we all enjoyed a few of them for a snack before bedtime. Impressively everyone brushed their teeth and used the facilities, then each one got in bed and we all said good night. Jeff and I went back downstairs, to do what we do best (I watch TV and Jeff of course gets on the computer). Not long after coming down stairs, we started to hear some noise... who might it have been your wondering... Keith of course - starting trouble! He got out of bed and was inviting everyone else to do the same. Do not fear - order was restored in moments and we didn't even need Jeff to get involved.

Work was pretty busy yesterday. Everyone is getting ready for the holidays. Lots of Christmas parties and some pretty fancy ones I guess! Quite a few people getting up-dos for these parties. Last weekend, a girl came in with hair down past her butt - I had to give her an up-do!!! Ahhhhh!! I had no idea what to do with all that hair!! I ended up tying her hair in a couple of knots - it looked nice -- very simple. She liked it and it only took about 15/20 minutes to do it!! I wonder if it lasted through the swing dancing that she was planning on doing!!!

In ten days Randy will be 8 years old!!! Can you believe it? 8!!!! I am having a hard time with it myself. No big party plans - just family, some dinner and cake. Oh yeah, presents too!!! Can't forget those! I wonder if I should take some cupcakes in for Randy's class that day? They're so nice and messy, I'm sure his teacher would appreciate that. I have to see what we're going to do for school, maybe nothing - everything costs too much!

We went to Pei Wei today - teriyaki beef bowl - yum! It's nice that they give you so much food, because we had it for lunch and dinner!

Tomorrow I get to help out in Kindergarten as usual and then lucky me - I'm going to the doctors. I figured it was about time to make an appointment since I don't believe I've seen a doctor in two years (or more?). I don't fear the doctor, just the bill!!!

Last week Randy's class went on a field trip to the see the Polar Express and lots of parents went along to chaperon. Keith's class is going to the Phoenix Theater/Cookie Company to see the Quiltmaker's Gift. I thought the teachers would want as many parents as they could get to go - not so... apparently they had to hold a raffle/lottery because only a limited number of parents could go. And I am one of those lucky parents. I have to wonder though - why does it cost an adult twice as much to go and see the same thing that the kids are seeing? Well, I'm going because Keith wanted me to go and I was lucky enough to be chosen, so I won't complain (too much).

I think I'll stop now before you all fall asleep reading this!! BTW - the Cardinals lost - is anyone surprised? And the Patriots are still undefeated! Go Patriots (even though Jeff wants to see them lose).

I've been slacking!

There hasn't been much going on, so I didn't have anything to write about.

Friday we didn't go to P.F. Changs - we ended up at Manuels. I had a shredded beef taco and it was very good, but now I still need wonton soup and some cream cheese wontons!!!

I put up our Christmas lights outside a while ago - plugged them in and blew some fuses or something. I kept putting off trying to fix them because I thought Jeff would help me (hahaha!). Yesterday I went out there pulled some lights down, threw some lights out and hunted down some extention cords. Now all the lights I put out actually light up!!! Except, looking at the pictures, I see that a part of lights on the garage aren't lit and neither is my ladder!! UGH!!!

Yesterday was Randy's class field trip - we went to the IMAX theater to see The Polar Express in 3D. That was my first 3D movie ever and my first IMAX movie. It was really cool. Randy enjoyed it. It was funny to see the kids reaching out to try to grab the stuff coming towards them.

Randy's class met a goal with their AR reading (don't ask me what that stands for - I'm not sure), today they had game and craft day. Everyone was supposed to bring in a game. So Randy informed me that he would like the Talking Battleship game - he even went so far as to find it on Ebay and left that screen up on my computer!!

Today I took down the tree that we originally put up. My mother gave us the one that we took down (it was her old tree because she got a new one), but we all decided that we liked our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree better. And the cats can't do as much damage to this one!! Another plus with this tree is that we can fit a lot more presents under it!!

My Christmas cards have been written out and addressed for quite some time now, but I'm not sending them out yet because I keep thinking that someone will write a Christmas letter. I doubt Randy or Keith will write it. I'm trying to get Jeff to write it, but of course he doesn't want to. I guess if I really want a letter to include with the Christmas cards, I better write it. Only problem is that I can't even remember last week, let alone what happened through-out the year. I should just put the cards in the mailbox before it's too late!!!

Of course the boys were up to their usual antics after school - after the homework was finished... plenty of computing, but they also did a lot of running around, acting out scenes from Battlefield. That's always entertaining!

Since today is Wednesday, I met my friends at the Wildflower Bread Co. again. I am hooked on the Feta & Roasted Vegetable Frittata!! YUM! You should try it if you get the chance!!!!

I guess I'm done for now.... oh, just so everyone knows, the Suns won yesterday and today!!!! Wooohooooo!!!!!