Influenza and House Guests Don't Mix

My mom came for a visit.  A lot of good things happened.

She brought us this tutu from my brother and his wife.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me.  So stinkin' cute!  Thank you, Uncle David and Aunt Belky!

Then we started a project we've been wanting to do for a while.  I thought I could do it by myself, but Blake wisely told me to wait until my mom came.

This is what our dinner chairs have looked like for a while.  This one is actually pretty tame.  A few had some pretty big holes that Trey has been working on making bigger, while tearing out the padding.

Ta-Da!

Look all the way to the left and you can see the chair we actually tried to temporarily cover with black duct tape a while back.  No go.  The fully re-upholstered chair is so pretty!  And so much more comfy! We only got the one done the first night, because figuring out exactly what we were doing was a little time consuming.

We thought we'd be able to quickly finish up the remaining four (one chair actually doesn't need anything--yet) with little trouble.  Unfortunately, life had other plans.

Wednesday evening, Blake and I went to the temple with a friend.  It was great.  Then, we went to dinner and within just a few minutes, I felt awful.  By the time we left the restaurant, I could barely walk.  We made it home, and I went to bed with a sudden and severe case of influenza.  This is not to be confused with the stomach bug frequently referred to as "the flu".  This is fever, chills, aches, cough, pain, all over yuckiness.

And my mom came down with it the following morning.

So, she and I moped around for the next couple of days.  Doing as little as possible.

The kids were troopers and put up with our barely-moving-ness.

Lanaya's at the super fun stage of toe grabbing and eating.  I love it.  It's so cute!

Thank goodness for my mom's new ipad.  Trey was happy to be entertained in between running around and helping us every time we asked for a tissue, or the like.  He was seriously so sweet and helpful.

People always say how much my mom and I look alike.  You can see why I am happy to hear that.

Love this sweet smile on Lanaya's face.

The first few days of this infection were pretty bad for my mom and I.  We picked my dad up from the airport Friday evening.  He knew we were sick, but I don't think the severity really struck him until he got in the car and couldn't keep a conversation going.  Normally, he can't even get a word in between my mom and my constant chatter.  When we're too sick to talk, you know things are bad.

I actually made this all on my own, before my parents came.  But, my dad hung it on the wall for me.  Not that Blake couldn't.  We just hadn't gotten around to it.  Thanks, Dad!

More grandparents and fun to come...!

How To Throw A Party For the Crafting-Scooby Doo-Star Wars-Lover In Your Life

Come on, I know the children in your life are at least as eclectic in their likes and interests.

We struggled to come up with an acceptable party theme, so we decided to combine her three current favorites in life.

The craft (Make Your Own Bouncy Balls) turned out to be crazy, chaotic, and slightly disastrous.  So, this was one of the better photos I got of the bunch.  We didn't actually get any pics of the craft itself.  Did I mention it was chaos?

The main part of the party was watching one of Kayli's many "Scooby Doo" movies.  I'm not sure her love for The Gang is shared by all of her friends.  But, they also got pizza, so everyone seemed happy in the end.

I gave in this year and bought cupcakes.  Star Wars, representing another love in her life.  I have mixed feelings about the cop out, but it certainly made the day much less stressful.

And I just noticed--You can see the homemade bouncy balls drying there on the paper towels.  At least they looked cool.

Just for fun, I bought her these crazy candles.  They were like sparklers, so sent out random sparks and they re-lit.

I think she got a little scared at one point, but after help from all of her friends, they eventually got all the candles blown out.  Who doesn't want spit from all their friends adorning the top of their cupcake?

The gift opening kind of happened on its own.  Blake snapped a couple pictures.

You can tell that this part of the party was chaos, too.

I thought nothing could be more relaxing than pizza and a movie.

I thought wrong.

How To (Really) Eat A Cupcake, By Trey:

Take that first delectable bite.

Give a "Roar!" of enthusiasm for delicious frosting!

Pause to give your mama a sweet face with those beautiful eyes.

Dust of those frosting-covered hands and demand another cupcake!

Tip:  It's not necessary to actually eat the cupcake itself.  Just the frosting.  And if you are left unattended the next day while the girls in the family are at church and the boys are home sick, no one will mind if you pop the box open and lick the frosting off of all the remaining cupcakes.--Gotta love when Daddy's in charge.

Anyway, it was a great birthday party.  She has some really fun friends.  I think they all had a great time and she got some really fun presents to boot!

I've Been A Mama For 8 Years

Which is pretty crazy because I'm still 17.  So, that's just weird.

But, somehow, this little princess turned 8 anyway.

This is the face she makes while determining what to wish for on her Breakfast Birthday Candle.  It's a tough decision.

Fortunately, she was finally able to settle on something so we could continue on with breakfast.

Blake took the day off of work, so we took the kids swimming and then went to Kayli's new favorite buffet restaurant for lunch.  It was thrilling.

Then time to open gifts!

It's just what I always wanted!

It's really hard to be the younger brother.  Amazing how Big Sister got all of the gifts he wants for his birthday.

This little brother had a hard time, too,  But, at this moment he was content to just play with the air bubbles that came with a gift shipped from Grandma.

For dinner, she requested crepes with cream and raspberries.  Raspberries are hard to come by in January, so we had to settle for frozen.  It was pretty fancy, as you can see.  Here she is getting ready to blow out her Dinner Birthday Candle.  Not as tricky as the Breakfast, as you can see.

Really Random New Year's Eve Documentation

New Year's Eve is not quite as fun as it once was.  Staying up until midnight is overrated.  Or, maybe sleeping in is just really underrated.  Or, totally impossible with small children.

But, we still had a great time.

Blake bought these poppers for the kids.  He was super excited.  The kids were super scared.  See Bryce's face?  (I had some lighting issues with the camera.  Someday, I'll take a class, or finish reading the manual, or something and I'll stop making all of these mistakes, I promise.)

How old does Blake look in this picture?  Hilarious.

The suspense!

I got in on the fun too.

See the disappointment on this face?  Future note:  poppers from Target = Big Fail.

But, look how happy failed poppers make us!

Look how happy her paper crown makes her!

Happy New Year!

After the kids were in bed, Blake and I went to a let get together with some friends.  Our hostess is a great photographer and took this, among other photos.  We played games, some of us talked too much (it's a weird thing that happens to me when I'm tired), at yummy food, and had a great time.

Happy 2013!

Joining The Club

This picture speaks for itself:

Oh, the excitement of losing that first tooth!

(Slightly dampened by a forgetful tooth fairy.  Fortunately, when I did a thorough inspection of the room, we discovered she had, in fact, made it.  The money had just gotten a little "lost" in the night.  Is anyone else's tooth fairy as forgetful as ours?)

Dear Santa

Christmas morning started off a billion times better than last year (which started and ended with a whole lot of mess from a prolific stomach bug).

These two know the drill and were pretty pleased with what they saw.

This little guy was just true to form and took sometime to warm up to the change in our morning routine.

That ottoman was in the hallway to prevent tempted peepers from sneaking out before Mom was ready with the camera.

That looks like it could be fun...

There's somefing in here!

A lesson:  If you eat all of your chocolates immediately, that leaves no time for a thieving sibling to eat them when you're not looking.

A second lesson:  If you happen to also be that very same thieving sibling, so much the better for you.

Very very sad for the sibling you share a room with, however.

At our home, stocking gifts have a tendency to be pretty random.  I love the excitement generated by these first gifts, though.

Blake is supposed to be in charge of handing out presents.  This year, he lost control right away and never regained it.

Bryce and Kayli made this train for their train-obsessed little brother.

He loved it.

Sweetest. Thing. Ever.

Her face cracks me up.

Just like every baby, she was far more interested in the packaging than the gift.

Hah!  Here is the proof that no matter what he says about cutting it, he is in love with that little fluff on the top, too.  Have you ever seen someone gaze so fondly at a head of hair?

Lanaya's big gift.  You might recognize it from a couple years ago when it was Trey's big gift.  I wonder at what age we will actually have to start buying her new gifts?

This is at our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast.  She was actually a little under the weather and super snuggly.  I liked that last bit.

This year's Christmas was awesome.  We did almost only gifts for the family--games, DVDs, and books.  When we finished opening, instead of everyone heading off to his/her corner to check out their new stuff, we all played a game together.  Then we read some books together.  Then we watched "The Lorax" together.  Emphasis on "together".  It was so great.  Then we went to a retirement home to carol with some friends.  The kids played their violins and it was really neat for all of us.  And then we spontaneously had some friends over for games and treats.  It was so much fun!

I typically build my Christmas anticipation and expectations way too high and find myself disappointed and sad when it's all over.  This year, I loved it.