Thursday, October 28, 2010

He's Found Them...


It's happened! I dread the day when my babies find their nostrils...the only thing more disgusting than a nose-picker is a booger eater. So now begins the training of picking your nose ONLY when you're in the bathroom, and WITH a tissue. I told Brie and Drew I would cut their fingers off if I caught them picking their noses and eating it...it worked like a charm :)



He finds the fact that he has two holes in his nose so comical...why is that?



Cute little nose miner!

Pumpkin Festival


Happy Halloween! We took the kids to the Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival last weekend and it was so much fun. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids...here are some highlights...

Mitchell eating his baby pumpkin. The other kids got to decorate theirs, he chose to eat his.


George and his new LOVE...


Cambrie, Drew, and Max got to dress the scarecrows...



Such a fun idea...they had a ball doing this!


Just a taste of fall in Georgia. I'm going to do an entire post on the colors we have here right now. It's breathtaking. Everywhere I drive I am in absolute awe.



On top of Stone Mountain...


Look how thick the trees are...amazing.


Having a picnic, eating non other than FRIED CHICKEN, before the lazer show.


Mitchell getting his groove on before the show started...he LOVES music!


The lazer show was awesome, we can't wait to go see it again. Notice how we're in shorts, t-shirts, and light sweatshirts, and Mitchell is full on ready for snow. LOL. I forget I'm not in Utah anymore. And yes, the beanie came off right after the picture...it's still 80 degrees in Georgia, who needs beanies?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Mario Birthday Party


The Mario party was a hit! This is the cake I made for the family party we had (which is very low key now that "family parties" only consist of the six of us).



Max as Mario, and Drew as Luigi



I threw Max a friend party the day after his birthday. The kids helped me make the loot bags by coloring pictures of Mario and Luigi...


And of course, 1 up cupcakes where hidden under the big coin box on the table...


The kids had to play games, earn coins, and then they went on a scavenger hunt to save Princess Peach. I had to post a picture of the posters I made because they ROCK! I am not an artist, and yes, it's a bit budget, but they turned out so much better than I anticipated. These babies are going on Max's wall in his room until we paint...I spent way too much time on them to throw them away.





Pin the mustache on Mario...


At the end of the scavenger hunt, the kids found Princess Peach in this "cage" at the playground. Cambrie dressed up and pretended to be Princess Peach..she's such a good sport. They got medals and then they got to turn their coins in for treats.


Princess Peach's Heroes!




I got to have lunch with Max at his school on his birthday. It was so much fun and it made his whole day. He passes out doughnuts to his class when they were finished eating lunch...he felt very special and loved being in the spotlight for two days.
This party was a lot of work, but in the end, it is always worth it when you see how happy it makes them. I only do friend parties for my kids on even years, so next year I get a break.

Whew.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Happy 6th Birthday Max!


Today Max woke up and said, "Have I grown? How much have I grown?"

Yes Max, you've grown.

Way too fast...






And now you're SIX! I know, you are so very happy that you will NEVER be five again, and I'm very happy that you're happy.

But secretly, I'm a little sad that you'll never be five again. Because five was really fun, and I'll miss you being five.


However, I look forward to the privilege I'll have to enjoy you being six too!



Max asked for chocolate chip pancakes this morning in the shape of a balloon. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the pancake, but here are the leftovers...


and...

the "You Are Special" bear. When I was growing up, my mom used to put this on our plates for various reasons and she has passed it on to me. The kids love when they get the special bear, and birthdays are definitely a reason for them to have company on their plates!



Happy Birthday Max!

We love you so much and are so proud of the little, I mean BIG, boy you have become.

**Mario Bros birthday party is happening tomorrow...stay tuned, it will be SUPER awesome!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Visitors-Soccer-Conference-Etc

Yep, it's another MEGA post. Seems to be what works for me but in my defense, we have had a very busy three weeks! We've had two visitors, soccer, conference, ER visits, Columbus day events, etc...

My sister came to visit over her birthday and we had the best time. Here we are eating breakfast after a soccer game at the Waffle House (a MUST when you come to the south)! Max REALLY likes the Waffle House :)


This is what Cambrie is most often doing at Drew and Max's soccer games. Actually, you will find her reading anytime, anywhere!


Waffle House


Cort and the boys after their games.


This is so unfortunate. The night Cortney got to our house, George and I made sushi, Thai noodles, and pot stickers for dinner. I was in charge of the Thai noodles which called for red and green chilis. And yes, I cleaned the seeds out with my BARE hands and I paid for it for hours! My hands were ON FIRE and I was ready to seek medical attention until my dear husband googled "how to stop your hands from burning after cutting chilis" and discovered the milk remedy. HEAVEN. I'm not joking, I've never experienced anything like that before. Next time, I'll be using gloves.


Cort and I just before heading out on the town for her birthday celebration. It consisted of eating dinner at Sonny's BBQ and some shopping. We had so much fun spending time together.


Underground Atlanta



And of course, I had to take her to the World of Coke!


Mitchell loved this guy.


When your tour is over, you get to taste Coke products from all over the world. This is Mitch sipping back on something from, oh, probably Africa or South America. So cool (notice the cup is not quite held correctly...it went down his shirt EVERY time).



Bedtime stories with Cort.


I have been searching for canned pumpkin for weeks and NO ONE has had it. It's a problem because Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are Georges favorite thing in the fall and we NEED pumpkin. Apparently, there has been a shortage of pumpkin because of some flooding and I even had my sister and my mom bring some from Utah afraid we weren't ever going to find any.

But then George found some in a corner of Wal Mart and he bought it ALL!


We have enough to make cookies for the rest of the season :)


Every Sunday morning we have french toast, berries, and cool whip. The kids LOVE it and Mitchell makes an awesome mess of himself.


Yeah for cool whip ;)


This is a new tradition of ours called Conference Camping. We don't get conference on T.V. so we have to watch it on our computer. We set up the camping chairs, put the couch cushions on the floor, popped some popcorn, and had ourselves a little camp out. In April we're setting up a tent and we may even roast some s'mores.

We went for a walk in a park after Conference and found this wild lemon tree. The kids wanted to pick one so they all walked through the knee high weeds to get them. Brie is very allergic to weeds but chose to go along too. She had shorts and flip flops on...not a good idea. This ended in about five days of head to toe hives the size of grapefruits and one trip to the ER when she came out of her room and her lips were GINORMOUS and her face was swollen. Poor girl. Now, she stays far away from anything that even resembles a weed :)


We gave the kids a skittle during conference for every important gospel principle they heard the speakers talk about. They had to keep them in their mouths until that particular speaker was finished. It was disgusting! Max could barely breath and had to spit his out in the sink before the speaker was even finished. He had twenty plus skittles in his mouth.

They listened though.


The best surprise EVER! My mom came to town and the kids had no idea she was coming. She rang the doorbell and my kids answered and were so pleasantly surprised. Brie just cried...it was so sweet.



Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival with grandma.


On top of Stone Mountain. Check out the view...so breathtaking!



The sky ride up to the top of the mountain.


They have a few different attractions at Stone Mountain and one of them is a Plantation. It was so much fun to see the old restored buildings and the kids got to pet animals in the barn.




They also got to go to the pumpkin patch and pick their very own pumpkins.

Welcome fall!







And of course, when my mom was here, she also got to see the boys play soccer. Every Saturday we have two games and we love it. The boys are so good and they look forward to practices and games each week. It pretty much consumes our lives right now because they are both on different teams but it's worth it, it keeps them busy and out of trouble.



Tunnel...a big thing in Georgia. We do it for the players after each game and then, they feel like real superstars :)






We loved having my mom here and can't wait until she comes back and brings my dad with her. We're also looking forward to our other grandparents visiting...hint hint :)


Columbus Day at Stone Mountain.


We're going to the Pumpkin Festival again this weekend because we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do yet. Any one who comes to visit can plan on a trip to Stone Mountain...it's so much fun and there is TONS to do!

The leaves are starting to change now and it's amazing here. I love fall and love that it's still 85 degrees :)