Are YOU smarter than a first grader?

Since you enjoyed the last post sooo much, Derek, here's some more banter for you. I thought it was funny.

Aiden: Dad, which do you think is the powerfulest weather?
Bret: A tornado because it can pick up cars.
Aiden: What about an earthquake, because it can shake the whole earth?
Bret: Well, a volcano is pretty powerful, too.
Aiden: That's not weather, Dad.
Bret: Neither is an earthquake, so...

FACE, Aiden!!

Watch out Wonder Woman!

A few days ago I was asking Aiden if he was sick of his cast yet.
Aiden: No, it's cool because it's hard.
Me: That makes it cool, huh?
Aiden: Yeah, if someone throws a rock at me, I can't feel it.
Me: What if it's not at your arm?
Aiden: I just (he moves his casted arm around as if warding off rocks being thrown at him).
Me: Wow, just like Wonder Woman.

PHEW! and Consider the Bar Raised.

Another Gingerbread party done! It was a lot of work, but I did it and it was well worth it. I really enjoy doing these parties and I hope all the guests had as much fun as I did. So you're all waiting to see the houses, I'm sure. The competition was intense this year...lots and lots of good ideas.

Here was the first place winner:

Todd and Christina (and newbies to the party I might add) with "Polar Express"

Second place:

Rachael (sans John) with her "'Deck' the Walls" house

And Third place:

Peter and Connie with "Christmas Cabin"

The rest of the HONORABLE mentions:

Noah's Ark-Ryan and Tracy

The Station- Mike and Rene'
Where Christmas Ham Comes from (gave me a giggle)- Kevin and Gennifer

The house that Crack built (another giggle)- Tim and Nancy

The "Green" House- Shane and Kayleen

School House Rock- Dave and Sherri

Arizona Christmas (yet another giggle)- Jay and Kendra (featuring Mr. Ev)And our house was Whobilation Celebration.

I really wish I could have gotten close ups of all of the sides of every house...there was some SERIOUS detail on all of these but that would have been SERIOUS blog overload. I really don't know how the judges (THANK YOU John and Rose) did it! John even pulled a dad this year and came up with his own scoring system...like father like son ;).

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I(t)'ll Make You Famous

So if you haven't yet heard, Aiden broke his arm on Saturday. He fell off the neighbor's trampoline. Here he is at the hospital that night

The ER never casts we learned, so they splinted it and told us to see a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon later. We were able to get him into the Orthopedic today. He picked a red cast (probably to match his hair).

A few good things about his broken arm:

1) He keeps listing all the things he won't be able to do, like get stuff for himself, write, and go to school (I told him about the error of his ways on the latter, although we did let him stay home today).

2) It makes him look tough.

3) We let him wear the same shirt for 3 days (Gross, I know. But you try moving his arm and having him scream bloody murder the entire time.)

4) It made him quite famous. Everyone wanted to sign it!

Three weeks of this. We'll see how much he loves it after one...

Consider this my Christmas card to you!

You better watch out

You better not cry

You better not pout

Pictures from our ward's breakfast with the big guy!

I don't think I need to tell you why...

Aiden is getting his two front teeth for Christmas already. Santa's really on the ball! I keep playing the "Santa won't bring you any presents if you're naughty" card. It doesn't really work. I've used it too often. He's sweet for about the next fifteen minutes and then asks if I think Santa put him back on the nice list. Aiden is in the first grade. He has been taking a Let's Play Music class and seems to really enjoy it (except when it interferes with his play time with the neighborhood kids). He's learning the fundamentals of music and it's really laying a foundation for piano lessons. He's really got an ear for music.

Gray is so excited for Christmas this year. Every time I tell him it's time for a nap, he pouts and says, "But I will miss Christmas." It was cute. It's been going on now since Thanksgiving. It's getting old. We've been to two parties with Santa now and every time he has to go say Goodbye before we leave and he always tells Santa, "I love you, Santa!" Awwww! Grayson is 3 now. He's my little fireball these days (I know it's the age). He is really smart but becomes completely oblivious when it comes to punishments...interesting. He still loves puzzles, cars, and tormenting his little sister.

Mabel, of course, is terrified of Santa. She's almost 18 months (nursery here we come!). She's getting a mind of her own now. I mean really getting a mind of her own. She bullies the four year old girl I babysit...go figure. She's becoming quite the parrot these days (I'll have to start watching what I say). She loves her big brothers, candy, and sleeping (she's her mother's daughter).

Bret is working hard in the bishopric and at Nikko.

Hollie is hardly working at home.

We wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and all that jazz!

Thanks Given.

To start I must admit, I didn't take my camera with me anywhere this weekend...I am a loser mom. I hate blog posts without pictures, so I'm a hypocrite. Our Thanksgiving "weekend" began on Wednesday evening with dinner at Matta's (man oh man, I love their chips and salsa) with Grandma Chloe, the Skinner clan, and the Guerrero clan. The next morning Bret played a little Turkey football with ward members then we headed out to Gram and Gramp Yellow's for a Thanksgiving feast. Bret's entire family was able to be there. Then it was time for family pictures. With 16 kids. You can imagine how that went. Then Bret played with some kids and did who knows what while I tried to take a nap. That didn't happen. So I played a little Rook with the ladies (Sarah, Diana, and Crystal), then one gentleman (Ryan) stepped in to replace Sarah who desperately needed some sleep (which she didn't get). I had a very good night with my partner, Diana...we won both games! Then it was time for some sleep. Which Bret and I didn't get. It's difficult when you have Mabel and Gray sleeping in one room. They both woke up about every hour and they weren't on the same schedule (please tell me someone else's kids do this when they don't sleep at home as well). But a thank you to Chad and Sarah for opening your home to our sleepy heads and all the chaos that comes with it. Sorry Cade and Diana that you had to be down the hall from us.


The next morning a few crazies (Diana, Crystal, and Ryan) braved the Black Friday nightmare. But I thank those crazies for my Elf movie for only $4!!! We had a huge breakfast (there's always yummy food a-plenty in Coolidge). Then we headed for the Ostrich Farm. The kids loved this. They got to feed deer (imagine adorable picture of one of my kids feeding a cute little deer here). They got to feed ostrich (another missed photo op here). And they fed some goats, donkeys, and pretty birds as well (3 more pictures here). We rode on a huge monster truck/bus with the whole fam. That was a lot of fun...pictures, pictures, pictures. And, oh yes, here is one picture I can show:

A little souvenir for the kiddies. And proof that this all actually happened and it wasn't a dream.


Then back to the Rowleys for some leftover snackage and a little down time while Bret shot skeet and the kids ran amuck (I love this about the location, the kids run free for hours. It reminds me of my holidays as a kid when we did the same at Uncle Donald's while the adults enjoyed their time together). More card playing...Sarah, it was a pleasure loosing to you in Five Crowns; you were a worthy opponent. Chad, better luck next time. Followed by a delicious lasagna dinner.

We headed back to Mesa so I could attend "New Moon" on Saturday with my sister, Kristin, my awesome friend, Derek (who won't be back for Christmas, BOO!), and my nieces, Karli and Maddy, and nephew, Logan. What can I say, I have to see the movie because I read the books...it's an obsession. I had low expectations and the movie didn't surprise me. But I saw it. And now I can sleep at night. We hit Chipotle!!! Bret went to the ASU game and that's all we'll say about that. I went to Bahama Buck's for my favorite treat ever! We played 20 questions a few times. I must now admit, John came up with a good stumper...I actually knew who it was but never in a million years would I ever have guessed it. (Hey, Jay...20 Questions...there's another safe game for all! And you can't lock it up!) Then we played Settlers...that's all I'm going to say about that. Then Jay, Kendra, Derek, and I played Hearts...Kendra won thanks to an "I don't know what I'm doing" shot moon. Kendra and I lost in Spades to the men folk. Bad results all around for me. But I love cards, so a good game night!

B'dee, b'dee, b'dee. That's all folks!

All He Wants for Christmas...Again

I don't know why, but I love this picture.

It's a little scary...that's probably why I like it.

He's such a goof ball!

Aiden lost two teeth in one day yesterday.

Just plucked them right out of his head himself.

Is that normal?

He asked if I thought the Tooth Fairy would give him an extra dollar for having two in one day.

I told him I didn't know.

Turns out, she did.

Confession: I am a Carnie at Heart

This year, to celebrate having this little monkey in our lives for 3 years,
we did a carnival themed party. I stole the idea from Martha. I figured with our white trash backyard it was perfect. No winter grass in the back this year, we're cutting costs :(. We started with hotdogs and hamburgers. Then it was time for some fun!

There was "Bottle Toss" (Kaleb showed some mad skills at this game. I was impressed! And check out this photo courtesy of Bret...impressed once again!)

"Ducks on the Pond" "Spray Away" "Tic-Tac-Throw" (another action shot by Bret. Pretty good.)
and lastly, "Clothespin Drop"

I let the kids run wild for about a half hour, earning tickets and having a gay old time. Then they cashed in their tickets for some awesome prizes. Awesome/lame, same thing. The kids were happy with the junk, so I was happy.

Here's a shot of Miss Mae, or Miss Mess as we called her for the day. What a little piggy.

Then it was time to sing to the birthday boy.

I love this picture with Sadee...these two fight like husband and wife!

Anywho, we gnoshed on cake and ice cream and then it was time for the presents.

All in all, a good birthday party. But apparently not the best, because Shelby didn't tell me it was the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER....maybe next year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyway, Mr. Monkey!

Thank you's go out to Christina, Kendra, Crystal, Grandma Chloe, and John for being honorary carnies. If you guys are ever looking for work, consider yourselves trained. You can thank me later. And thanks to Grandma Yellow for helping me make the signs and collect stuff for the games! You were missed. We hope Ressa is feeling better.

Halloween Review

Another Halloween down, another 20 lbs of candy to eat!

What a fun Halloween. Can I just say I think Halloween should always be on a Saturday. It's so much less stressful. I wasn't racing at the last minute, trying to find pieces of costumes that had been strewn around the house from the Trunk or Treat. It was actually...nice.

Bret took the boys to the ASU Homecoming parade for the day. I don't have too many specs on it, but I do have pictures! So they had a day of this:















































And I stayed home and scrubbed the house (by choice, I ain't no Cinderella, nor am I a college football fan).

The boys got home in time to eat and get their costumes on, then it was outside for some pictures.

Here is Count Aiden
He wouldn't let me put any make-up on him because make-up is for girls.

Grayson, the scary spider And this was about as long as he wore the head part.

And Miss Mae, the Monarch butterfly

Excuse the dirt. The wings put her a bit off balance so she fell a few times.

The kids had a great time. I made it around a block trick or treating with them this year and they were driving me nuts. Grayson kept saying between houses, "My feets are hurting mommy. My shoes are hurting and my legs, my legs are hurting." Then he'd get some candy and say, "My legs don't hurt anymore." It was great.


Aiden was the first to call it quits. We went back to our house, then they decided they wanted to go again, so Bret took them and the Monarch went along for the ride this time.

We headed to Grandma Chloe's to show off the costumes and see Mr. Ev's Charlie Brown costume. No pictures because, let's be honest, I'm doing good to get pictures of my own kids.


We hope everyone else had a great Halloween!

***And, oh yes, you can still vot for Aiden here through November 9th!***

Lost in Hawaii

Okay folks, here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for! My LOST experience. In other words, if you have no interest in the show, stop reading now; it'll be a waste of your precious time.

So as I mentioned earlier, we attended the Hawaiian International Film Festival. The creators, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were given awards. They were two very funny guys I might add.

For just being the creators of the show they're two very well known guys. So the emcee asked what that was like. Carlton (yeah, we're on a first name basis now, sometimes I just call him Carl) responded with a story about being in a grocery store. He said this lady just kept looking at him, and looking at him. Finally she approached him and asked, "Are you Ted Danson?" I got a good laugh because he kind of does look like Ted Danson.

Then they brought out four cast members. Recognize these folks?

Terry O'Quinn (John Locke)

Jorge Garcia (Hurly)
Yunjin Kim (Sun Kwon), sorry for the blur, she was clapping and this is the best I got.

And my most favorite, Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus). This dude has some of the best one liners and he delivers them so well. He looks like he has a growth on his cheek and I'm not entirely sure why.

They did a short Q & A with all of them and showed some old clips. Finally, they gave us a little tidbit into this season: Ben will get beat up a lot more, hehe.

Now, see if you recognize these two places at Kualoa Ranch:

If you knew this place, you're good! It's Hurley's golf course.

This next one is easier.

This is from the Jughead episode where they bury the atom bomb.

And as I said previously, we accidentally found this little gem:

We drove past this YMCA and I jokingly said, "Look, the Dharma Camp!" And then Bret said, "I really think that's it." Then I spotted all the props kind of stashed back behind the yellow tape and picket fences in the second picture and I knew it. I wish we would have gotten out and walked around a bit, but there were kids there doing some obstacle course deal. So I had to be content to snap a few pictures and go.

That's all folks!