Grayson Broke My Hahgog!

On Friday, I gave the kiddos hotdogs for lunch. Then I headed to the computer to do some blogging. I heard Mabel crying. I went in ready to yell at Grayson. I was sure he had hit her for the 100th time that hour.

I find this...

This is the favorite place to eat in our house. It doesn't matter that I put their plates at the table and tell them to STAY at the table. They can't see the tv from the table. So they move their meals to the floor right in front of the island.

I still don't understand what the crying is about.

"What's wrong, Mae?" I ask.

"Grayson broke my hahgog!" She wails. I'm sure you've figured out that hahgog is Mabelspeak for hotdog. Of course, I ran to grab the camera, because I found this hilarious! All that drama over a hotdog.

When I came back, I snapped a few pics. I told her it didn't matter if the hotdog was broken, she could still eat it and it would taste the same.

She tried putting it back together...

...to no avail.

Then she tasted it.

Life was going to be okay again.

Park Day

Aunt Kendra called to see if we wanted to join her and Mr. Ev at the park for a picnic and a little duck feeding. So yesterday we went to the park in Power Ranch.

The kids seemed to have a good time. We ate. Well, we forced the kids to eat.

Then we fed some ducks.

We could see a blur of some ginormous fish scooping up the fixings the ducks were too cowardly to come closer to get.This little guy was the only one brave enough to surface and snag some soggy bread. When the bread was all gone (and trust me, it didn't last long), we headed over to the play area. The kids had a blast being at a park other than the ones by our house. Mr. Ev took a couple of spills but it never seemed to faze him. He even bonked heads with Gray on this little doozy of a toy (who thinks two kids on a ride where you throw the upper half of your body back and forth to get it to move is a good idea?) and simply chose to remove himself from the wild ride (I say simply because he didn't cry about it, but this is when he took one of his tumbles).

Thanks, Kendra, for a great idea!

Family Day

On Monday, Aiden was out of school so Bret took work off. The kids have been DYING to go to Golfland lately. Every time we take the US 60, they see it and ask, "When do we get to go there?" So we decided Monday would be a good day for it!

We discovered that Grayson just might be a natural! He had FOUR..count it, F-O-U-R! holes in one. It was complete slop, but the blasted ball went in with that one ill-controlled stroke.

Aiden about killed someone with eachof his "putts". He thought he was using a driver instead of a putter. And he was nonetoohappy that Gray was a better golfer than him.

Mabel let Bret "help" her at first. Then she decided there were better things to do.

Play in the water...

See all the sights...

Stick rocks down holes...
I was reminded just how bad at putting I am...or anything "golfy" for that matter.

We had a great time! I enjoyed it MUCH more than our zoo trip.And the new question for the next few months:

"When can we go to Sunsplash?"

Just Who's Party is This Anyway?

On the 30th of December (yes, I'm still playing catch up), my mother-in-law had a birthday party. But you wouldn't know it was her party judging by these pictures...

She let the grandkids pick between Bounce U, Pump it Up and Makutu's island.

The kids chose Makutu's and they LOVED every minute of it!

Grandma Yellow is a sucker for her grandbabies. She would do ANYTHING for them. Even have her birthday party at Makutu's Island, just so she could watch them have a good time.

My mother-in-law goes by many names...but she only really responds to one.

At Gray's b-day party, Cade was trying to get his mother's attention.

"Mom," Cade said.

No response.

"Mom," he said again.

...

"Elaine!" he tried.

Still nothing.

"Grandma!" he chose.
That got her attention!

Thank you for being such a great grandma, Elaine!

PS-I'm not entirely sure what Aiden is doing in this picture. But I bust a gut every time I look at it!

A Very Rowley Christmas

The week before Christmas was the ward Christmas party. The kids got to see Santa again...who, as it turned out, was my Uncle Donald...oops! Luckily the kids were oblivious.

Aiden didn't care to see him, since he already got to talk to him once. He preferred to run around the building with his friends.

We ate a yummy ham and potato dinner and participated in a service project.

The youth then sang a song with a quick Nativity. The Wise Men came out looking like they just got out of the shower. I couldn't stop laughing.
Christmas morning was a hit. The kids played with their gifts for about an hour before it was
time to run off to Grandma Chloe's for some yummy breakfast. Don't mind the chocolate dripping from Mabel's mouth...

Off to Grandma's we go!

Here's Mabel dancing with the snowman. She was playing ring around the rosy with it for a while. Here's Aiden's favorite toy.
A dollar store sword that Grayson got for him!!! Forget about the fortune we spent on his other toys! And who is that hot chick in the background?

Why is John wearing that gay crown, you ask? Well, you may have noticed Christina wearing one in an earlier picture as well.

Christmas Eve tradition (in honour of the English woman, Rose) we pop English crackers and the the crowns come out. You have to be the last one wearing your crown. Malissa ripped Kendra's off for a picture. She was done quickly. You would have thought someone was getting murdered by the sound Kendra made when it happened. I took mine off after killing everyone at Monopoly...give someone else a chance to win at something...heheh. Apparently John, Christina, and Jay all slept in theirs. Everett ripped Jay's off Christmas morning. We're not quite sure who won between Christina and John though. They both claimed they wore it to church (LIARS!). But it was discovered they both took them off Christmas night. No one is sure of the time...as far as we could tell, Christina was the unofficial winner.

It doesn't matter because the crowns were DISGUSTING with the oil from their heads from the first night. There's no way I would have worn that thing for that long after seeing theirs!!! Blech! Anyhow, Rose said that in England only the old people or the Lushes end up winning because they forget they have them on.

Here's me looking hot, sitting on my mom's couch, stuffing my face with cotton candy (thanks Bret). It's apple and (as far as I could discern) cookie dough flavored, in case you care! Mmmmmm.

We opened our gifts from Grandma. The kids went out to play. Niece Tyla, in true Tyla-fashion, found a wounded pigeon and brought it to Grandma's front door. She was sure an adult would help her nurse the wounded flying rodent back to health. We told her to go put it back where she found it. All the kids were distraught over our carelessness. The pigeon got spooked and came fluttering into the house, flapping around like,well, a wounded bird. Bret came in to snap some pics, but it was too late. Tyla caught it again and took it back out.

All Nephew Codey could say was, "Well, that's a first." And hopefully a last.

We headed out to G'ma nad G'pa Yellow's for the overnighter complete with scavenger hunt, children's nativity, and fireworks.Aiden played Jingle Bells for all to enjoy.

G'pa dressed up as Santa to give each of the kids a present. He wasn't fooling anybody though. Especially when he said, "Come sit on Grandpa's lap!" He looked like a rather crazed Santa.

I only have a pic of Mabel. I'm learning how to work my new camera and all the shots of Aiden and Gray were blurred.The fireworks show! Those RAD ones that Arizona now allows.
Eh, the kids sure enjoyed them at least.

Recap: Christmas came...ten pounds later, I'm blogging about it.

Happy New Year, Folks!