Auntie Autumn Is Awesome

Seriously. Check out her blog post.

The 2009 Christmas Gift Exchange List

Christmas is just around the corner. Did you need me to remind you of that? Probably not. At any rate, here is the exchange list, lovingly created by Apryl. We're going to try a sort of rotation this year and the following years. Please be sure to post your wish list in the comments section so that your gift giver will know what to give you (in the $50.00 budget range - we all already know Mike would like his own big screen tv and Apryl wants world peace...)
Loves!

2009 Christmas List
Dad	is buying for	Apryl
Joy	is buying for	Dave
Alisa	is buying for	Mike
Dave	is buying for	Aaron
Mom	is buying for	Drew
Aaron	is buying for	Colby
Bernadette	is buying for	Autumn
Apryl	is buying for	Joy
Colby	is buying for	Alisa
Mike	is buying for	Bernadette
Adrianne	is buying for	Dad
Autumn	is buying for	Adrianne
Drew	is buying for	Mom

Fall Harvesty-Stuff

Here's the required 1st-post-picture of Gretchen smile/grimacing/whining for the camera. But this week it's topless. Nice!

Gretchen whining? How unexpected!



What else was unexpected? Uncle Ian coming to visit! Hooray for Uncle Ian! And also unexpected? Uncle Ian's awesome brick-red, um....haircut. No one rocks the "Mr. T" quite like Uncle Ian. Ella loaned him some extra necklaces from her birthday party to help him with his Look.



How nice is Uncle Ian? Nice enough to drive 8 hours so we could take Auntie Krista to sushi for her birthday dinner. Grandma and Grandpa even came (they got the chicken dinner).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTA! Sorry about Gretchen licking your face last week!



This is how Colby looks from Ella's perspective. I think it explains many things in their relationship.



Gretchen loves ALL her cousins, but Shaunte holds a special place in the girls hearts. They LOVE him. In a slightly overwhelming, "Can you please get your kids off me" kind of way. Here they are, reunited after, I don't know, EIGHTEEN MONTHS? Yeah, I'm pretty sure Gretchen was only 3 months old last time they met. But her devotion runs deep.



Ella's BFF moved. We now have to drive an hour to visit her. Not cool. But we visited a few weeks ago. Ella crashed C's ballet class. Isn't this the cutest thing ever?



Also cute? Lamas. I know. Ella's school had a Harvest Festival this week. GOOD TIMES.



Last night the ward had a Barn Dance Social. I now know the Electric Slide. I'd survived 33 years without that knowledge, but decided to learn it and OWN IT. If you want lessons, I can totally teach you. Also, Cotton Eye'd Joe. (Which is funny, cause I distinctly remember dancing at the Vortex in SLC circa Fall '94 to that song. But now I know the "REAL" dance to it. And I learned it in the "Cultural Hall" at church. Awesome. Ok, maybe that's not really funny. I am old. The end.)

REASONS MY CHILDREN ARE AWESOME:
Last night at the Barn Dance...
Seminary Teacher: How are you doing Gretchen?
Gretchen: (pulls pants down)
(later)
Seminary Teacher: Hello Ella, how are you?
Ella: Tickle Tickle Tickle (tickles his belly)
Seminary Teacher: Um, you're not supposed to do that to people, sweetheart...

Yes, my children both sexually harassed the Seminary Teacher. Within an hour. So very proud.

So what are your plans this week? Hitting the Vortex? If you are, you should totally call me....

xo

Gretchen Rose Is The Harbinger Of Chaos

I don't need a Cylon to warn me, Gretchen cannot be trusted. And yes, this is going to be one of those blog posts where I complain about my toddler. This afternoon alone:

-She scattered a box of cereal across the living room floor. And threw in some pretzels just for fun.

-Despite the fact that I keep my chair far, far away from my glass-topped art desk specifically for this reason, she still found a way to climb onto my desk and open the pen drawer. You know, the pen drawer that I moved to the top of my art desk to keep her out of it. Then she found a black permanent marker and colored her leg. And her arm. And her hand (so she can say "Bye Bye!" and show off her ink. She showed me.) And the sweet little B&W photo of Ella & Gretchen I have hanging at my desk. They now both have blacked in eyes and gaping black mouths. It's a little "Black-Hole-Sun". Awesome.

-While I was making dinner she did the classic "MOMMA MOMMA MOMMA" whine-cry/step-on-my-feet-while-simultaneously-pushing-me-from-the-counter for approx 10 minutes. I thought I bought her happiness with a few slices of cheese, but then realized she snuck one of the chocolate cupcakes we made for tomorrow's Harvest Festival & smushed it into the carpet in front of the TV. After that was cleaned up, I found the cupcake wrapper chewed into a lovely little turd-shaped curl that she left next to the water filter. Aw, thanks Gretch!

-Apparently full of stolen chocolate cupcakes, she then proceeded to grab handfuls of her dinner and rub them into her shirt. When her dinner was confiscated, she took her sippee cup & shook it onto the dinner table. Then she splashed her fists in it. Then she laughed. Then she cried because I took her milk away too. Then Auntie Krista showed up and took pity on her. Then Gretchen LICKED HER FACE. Auntie Krista didn't have much pity for her after that.

-She brought me another chunk of hair that she'd removed from her sister's head.

-She is now in bed.

What am I going to do with this kid? Anyone? Anyone?

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday Shaners! We hope you had an excellent time. We love you!
OUR WEEK:
Gretchen did a striking Sasquatch impression and foraged for food in the background. She likes Grandma & Grandpa's grapes.


I know, practically separated at birth...


Last Sunday, or "Ella's Actual Birthday", we had cake and presents.



What's that? AN EASY BAKE OVEN? Boo-yah! We busted that bad boy out after school on Monday. 1.5" cookies baked under a 100 watt light bulb with adult supervision? Delicious!!! Thanks Auntie Amber & Uncle Dan!



We continued the Birthday Celebration by going out to eat on Monday. In-N-Out! Why yes, those ARE teal leggings with socks under her skirt. Why do you ask?



Gretch got in on some sticker action. And ate almost 1/2 a burger by herself. Dude.



This Saturday was the Big Party! Auntie Amber led the girls in some rousing games (both Ella's boyfriends had soccer games, so they didn't get there till later... But look at how cute these girls are!) Red Light, Green Light. Mother May I. Good times.



Does Amber have some competition? Gretchen was totally working Uncle Dan.



After lunch we had our Dance Off! Woot!!!



These girls were serious dancers. SERIOUS.



After the Dance Off, Ella opened presents. Who's that in the background? IT'S MISS VALERIE! Ella's favorite Preschool Teacher came to her party? How awesome is that? I know!!!!



Good times being had by all...



Then, the TREASURE HUNT!!!



Miss Valerie took pity on the kids and helped them interpret my map. (Apparently I need some cartography lessons.)


Action Shot!





Gretchen isn't really sure what's going on, but she knows it's awesome!



So yay! That's it! We had a great time. Wish y'all could have been there. Maybe next year Colby will have a job in SoCal. (I can dream, right?)

Loves!

Creative Outlet

Let's say you got a fabulous new camera for your Photography class. And, perhaps, you also have 2 super cute kids. You'd use them as your subjects, right? Ok, now lets say your daughter has a High School Musical obsession, and has all the HSM dolls. Instead of photo shoots of your darling children, of course you'd have to use the semi-creepy dolls, right?

I got to help with the shoot. I held the "diffuser" (the soft natural light really brings out the highlights in Ryan's bowl cut, dontcha think?)



Oh Gabriella, it's so sad about your boyfriend...



I'm so proud of my husband.



This one is a little more "Raw" and "Artsy", right?



I can't wait to have these blow up to poster size. And just wait till we have our OWN HOUSE to display them! Hooray!

Gretchen spent the week keepin' it real:




And we spent the rest of the week getting ready for Ella's birthday!!! IT'S TODAY! Don't tell her, but we only got her one present. Mostly because there's 2 garbage bags full of toys that were confiscated by Colby when Ella refused to pick them up. Oh yeah, also we're poor. But the toy we did get her is AWESOME. It's a Barbie Dream "Environment". A modular home. In pink. I know.

You can go to my illustration blog to see the cool craft Ella helped me make for her party favors. And yeah, you'll see how I totally used the same silly story about Ella's party planning again. Because I'm turning into Mom and tell the same story to all my friends. Again and again. I can't help it.

Stay tuned for BIRTHDAY PICTURES!!!

HE'S A STAR!!!

Look who's going to be on Yo Gabba Gabba this season! Guest starring on Yo Gabba Gabba is AWESOME! (Just ask Jack Black and my favorite Super Music Friends, Mates of State!) We'll be watching fer sure.





(I love his hair in this picture. Snicker!)