Snow Day! Snow Day!

We had a snow day in Reno! I know! Here's Gretchen gazing out on the freakin' freezing magical sight.



We bundled up & ventured outside.



Oh man, it's cold! Gretchen's super swank coat is not enough to make up for the frigid temp!



Gretchen bucked up & got used to the freeze. She got a little brave.



She's a big kid. She takes it in stride.





Then Ella & I scooped up snow & made a snowman. Colby called it a midget, but Ella said he was wrong. It's just a short guy snowman. I said that Colby needs to be more sensitive to what he teaches his kids. Ella said, "Yeah, it's not a midgelet. It's just a snowman." Also, my SoCal heritage (and lack of all winter skills including but not limited to - driving in the snow, scraping windshields, remembering gloves, and making snowmen) is on display in full force here.



Today is Gretchen's birthday. She is ONE YEAR OLD TODAY! So far she's spent the day going to church, eating oranges, following her sister & cousins around the house, and wearing bracelets. Tonight, after a lovely turkey dinner, she'll blow out candles (oh wait, we have candles, right? She might be blowing out a tea light...) open presents, and barking at the dog. It's a full day. We'll document & report back.

Does He Really Need More Golf Balls?

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas for Grandpa for Christmas? I have a few that we can go in on (you know, since apparently I'm the Queen of From-All-Of-Us gifts...)

No, Autumn, no tomahawks. Grandpa doesn't need that for his Action Adventure club. (Dude, that link you posted in your comment was awesome. Who knew?)

Here is a golf gift certificate good at a gazillion places from Costco for $100.

He likes this wine (I've gotten it for him for Christmas before...) for $8/bottle + shipping.

Here's a fancy schmancy wine gift basket for $89.

OR we could all give him $ to go towards his "Bucket List" trip to play golf in Hawaii one last time...

Anyone in? What do you think? Write your comment below & let me know.

xo

Yes, It Is All About Her. Thanks For Asking.

Incident #1

A few days ago I asked Ella to come down for lunch. Instead of happily obliging, she threw herself down at the top of the stairs and sobbed.
"What's wrong!?!" I asked (not really concerned as drama is frequent around my child).
"I never got to see Santa deliver presents!"
"Santa doesn't come till all the kids are asleep. Santa comes and brings you presents every year! You don't get to see Santa. If you see him, you won't get any presents!"
"But I want to see him!"
"Are you worried he won't know what you want for Christmas? Is that why you want to see him?" (Because in order to get the drama to stop, you must find the root of the problem & solve it).
"Yes" (big sniff, tears rolling down cheeks).
"Ok, we can write Santa a letter to let him know what you want. What are you going to ask him to bring?"
"A ball for Cooper" (Cooper is Aunt Amber's dog. He visits every Sunday. He eats balls.)
"So if we write a letter to Santa telling him you want a ball for Cooper then you'll come downstairs and eat lunch?"
"Yes."
Problem solved. And she got to tell him herself at the party, so we didn't even have to write him a letter...

Incident #2

"Ella, did you get my book from upstairs?" I asked?
"No, Mom, I forgot."
"Can you please go get it?"
"No, I'm a Magical Fairy. Magical Fairy's don't get books."
pause.
"Stop laughing. Mom. Stop laughing."
pause.
"Mom. Stop laughing or I'll turn you into a frog."
Said to baby sister, "Jump little frog!"

Beware the wrath of Magical Fairy Ella. And she doesn't get books. Magical Fairy s don't get stuff.


Incident #3

After Book Of Mormon Stories recap, Ella style, "The Book Of Mormon was brought to you today by the number 7 and the letter L."


In Other News

Yesterday was Ella's party at her preschool. It was pretty cute, all the teachers manned "stations" where the kids could do an activity (make Christmas Cards, ornaments, play a dreidle, etc.). Moms & Dads got to come. Baby Sisters got to come. But the big draw was Santa.

Here Gretchen is thinking: Crap, I'm not cool with this...




No subtitle needed:


Gretchen escaped to a different room while Ella played maraccas for her teacher.


And then she made out with her friend in the phone booth. Altogether, a typical day.

Christmas Yay!

Remember how we posted the gift exchange assignments???

And remember how only 3 of us commented back our wish list? Maybe you want to get on that & post what you want lest you get a bunch of ugly ties featuring horse heads...

Things that have happened to me recently.

I will figure out how to post pictures on here soon, otherwise, you should get facebook cause there's whole bunches of pictures of me there.

An article about battlestar galactica's Jamie Bamber I wrote will be in the winter issue of Eliza Magazine. Continue to check the Eliza blog for my makeover updates. Summer through all my dickies (except 3 pairs!) away last week. I was pretty sad until she gave me new clothes on saturday, guess it helps when you're the same size as an editor of a fashion magazine, eh.

My new bff Christy and I formed an Adventure Club, consisting mostly of excitement. We go hiking and camping in an organize-dly manner.

They put me in hr/billing at work. So that's wierd.

I got a new bed. My first new bed since we got rid of the bunk beds! When I was, what, five? It's a queen (and boy do I feel like one when I sleep on it!)

I bought a hammered dulcimer of my very own.

I have a bluegrass band that I play it in. We've played in public once, and by public I mean Larry's living room during his birthday party.

Don't you wish you were on facebook right now looking at those pictures?

yeah.

Hello Edward!

I don't even have to ask. You loved it, right? What am I talking about? TWILIGHT! Hello!!! So the glittering was a bit cheesy. So Bella stumbled through all her lines & didn't make us understand why Edward would fall for her. And the special effects left something to be desired. But helloooooo, Edward is hott.

Here we are, waiting in anticipation. OMG, I can't wait! SQUEEEEE!



Quick! Let's document this moment!



To think, we're surrounded by 12 year old girls who share the same obsession!!! Let's text all our friends about it!



Wait, is that.... Grandpa?



Yes, he's contemplating the events in his life that lead up to this moment (somehow talked into attending the opening night of a teenage vampire romance movie...) (And unfortunately I didn't get any photo documentation of Amber & Liz, who got to the theatre 90 minutes pre-show to save us a sweet place in line. Yes, there was a line.)



WAIT!?! Is that Edward? Oh no, it's not. Crap.



It's him! It's him! (I think I was laughing = shaky camera. Or do vampires move to fast to be captured by my Canon PowerShot?)



But this week wasn't all slightly embarrassing obsession over teenage vampires. We also had some fun time with the girls. Including Ella descending from her room in this lovely outfit:



Top to Bottom: Dalmatian Print Beret, Purple Flower PJ Top, Flower/Camo PJ bottoms, Hello Kitty Slippers. She knows what looks good. It's an innate gift.

And we took the girls to the "zoo" (AKA the pet store). Here we are in the "Reptile Exhibit" looking at chameleons. Yay fake zoo!!!



Now I'm going to leave some extra space for you to scroll down & enjoy the view....
































So what have YOU been up to?

Danielle's Baby Shower

Alisa, Mom, Bernadette and I went to Danielle's baby shower Saturday (Autumn was off camping/hiking/lighting fires with flint). It was lots of fun. It was at a nice house in San Clemente that belongs to a family friend of Aunt Patti's, I guess. Beautiful pool!


The food and drinks were good (trader joe's sparkling blueberry/cranberry/apple cider - yum). She got a LOT of presents, several of which were handmade and beautiful (crocheted blanket, 3 quilts, beach bag - one for mom, one for baby), some were funny (baby-kini - a teeny tiny leopard print bikini), and some were just plain awesome (like a collection of baby books and a picture of Aunt Patti with Danielle when she was a baby - oh wait, that was OUR gift!).



There were a lot of people there, but we only knew the family...





My awesome sisters!



And the best for last, Danielle's pregnant belly picture!




A few months from now I think we might need another shower for someone else we know. . .