That time I gave my eyes an accidental overdose

I'm rather fond of my eyeballs. Sure, they require super strong lenses to see past the end of my nose. And they did once got a serious tissue-destroying infection that caused me severe light sensitivity and pirate looking eye patches. Oh, and allergies once caused the white part to swell like a blister. But I can't complain about what my eyes have done to me, as I once almost killed them.

What? I never told you how I almost accidentally murdered my own two eyeballs? Well, I can fix that right now.

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It's all the fault of the TSA. Or is it the terrorists? Whomever you choose to blame for the "only 3 ounce liquids on an airplane" rule. We were travelling to Texas for my brothers wedding. (Maybe it is his fault for getting married and making me travel by plane?) Wanting to see more than the end of my nose, I brought my travel-sized contact solution and case. At the time we lived in North Carolina and by the time we traveled to the airport 2.5 hours away and then flew to El Paso with all six kids, we were a little tired. I dug through the luggage, took out my now-glued-to-my-eyes contacts, washed my face, and went to bed.

Something I've done a thousand times, right? Not the travel to El Paso part. The take out my contacts after a long day part. In the morning I completed the ritual by reinstalling my contacts. There was the not-unusual burning the first blink or two, and then... and then ...

The burning seemed to intensify? Ouch! It hurt so badly! When I ran back to the bathroom to take out the trecherous contacts I realized what I had done.

You see, ever since the allergic eyeball swelling incident, I have been very good at using allergy eye drops. Nothing like Frankenstein eyes to learn that lesson. But, the normal small bottle of eye drops was almost the exact size and shape as the contact solution bottle. In my exhaustion the night before, I had grabbed the wrong bottle. I had soaked my sight-giving, water absorbent pieces of plastic in allergy eye drops all night. And then worn them on my equally absorbent eyeballs for 5 minutes. (What can I say, I'm a little slow to respond. I kept thinking the burn would just go away. If I'd realized what was causing it earlier, I would have acted sooner.)

I had just given my eyeballs a major overdose, and they were MAD at me.

You might be asking what three months worth of eye drops absorbed in 5 minutes feels like? Well, my pupils completely overtook my irises. If I didn't know better, I would think it went past my irises. My eyes went from hazel to pure black for over a day. Light became my enemy.

The next day or so, I was the idiot rocking sunglasses indoors. Over my normal glasses (which were held together with tape and wire). It was a beautiful way to meet everyone coming in for the wedding. Luckily, by the time the actual wedding came, I was able to put contacts back in, but I still couldn't handle bright light. Good thing we weren't in the middle of the desert. Oh yeah, we were. I could at least pull off my sunglasses for short amounts of time, long enough to not look dorky in the wedding photos. More dorky than normal that is. It's been a few years for my overworked mind to forget, but I think I did okay in the temple without the sunglasses, too. That would be something I'd remember, right?

On the plus side, I had no itching or redness in my eyes the entire time. My eyes may have never been so black, but they had never been so white, either.

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So the next time your packing all your 3-ounce-or-less liquids for a trip on the airplane, remember to be careful. All those bottles may  look alike, but they are definitely not the same thing.

Strangle enough I also learned about under/over exposure on my camera this trip, too
Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands.

A 4-year-old Birthday Party Under the Sea

Doesn't it seem like I'm doing this a lot? With my once every 4 years rule, this is the last "friends' party" I obligated to throw for two entire years; it might take me that long to recover! So, what does one do for a 4-year-old's party when he has requested a 3-D turtle cake for the last 11 months? Make it an "Under the Sea" theme, of course!

We decorated with lots and lots of fish cut outs. There were fish everywhere! Thankfully, I found them all at the party store so I didn't have to trace them all with my projector. Did I mention the use of fish cut outs in decorating?

Given the attention span of most four-year-olds, we provided plenty of short activities:

• 
  
  magnetic fishing with activites printed on the back (that would explain the crab-walking, fish-face-making kids)
• decorating cardboard fish to glue on gift bags
• creating octopi from paper cups and streamers
• reading the Rainbow Fish
• playing "minnow, minnow, SHARK"
• pinning fins on the fish
• breaking shark pinatas
• and (of course) eating cake and opening presents.

And, at least until we move in a few months, no party at our house would be complete without playing on the beach. Especially appropriate for the theme, too.

It was plenty of fun, even if the wind made it so Matthew only pretended to blow out candles. There was always the fun adrenaline rush from hearing helium filled balloons and/or those 4/$1 punching balloons randomly popping. Thanks to everyone for coming, especially Matthew's special request for his awesome primary teacher to attend. Also, thanks to my friend, VT, (whose blog is private) for taking all the pictures: they're great!

Misadventures of flying home

In case anyone didn't notice, we were on an extended vacation the last few weeks.  Because nothing says Rest and Relaxation like cross country flights, 9 hour drives (twice), baptisms, weddings, limited internet, and 2.5 weeks without your own bed and pillow. 

Tempting the travel gods' wrath

Obviously we were filled with patience and brimming with excitement as we prepared to fly home.  The night before was spent packing our suitcases and heading to bed early.  Or it would have been, if my husband and I had two brain cells left to rub together.  The night before was spent staying up all night trying to beat each other's high scores on various iPhone games. I think we angered the travel gods.

The morning was spent frantically packing bags, cursing iPhone apps, and putting bets on how many things we would accidentally leave behind.  Then we met Peter's sisters at a Mexican restaurant as a final goodbye lunch.  Yes, we chose Mexican before a FIVE HOUR flight home.  To ensure maximum stomach illness, my husband requested his food come "a little bit spicier" than the menu listed.  Did you hear me?  A LITTLE BIT SPICIER at an authentic MEXICAN RESTAURANT.  He ate two bites and spent the rest of the time trying to put out the fire burning a hole in his tongue and stomach.

Now we have gaseous children, semi-ill husband and a slight case of running behind.  Perfect preparation for flight.


How to get on a Terrorist Watch List

Luckily, the rental car handoff went well, as did checking the bag of 30+ golf clubs.

**What?  You don't travel with 5 sets of clubs stuffed into one travel golf bag?  Afraid of the adventure?  Especially if you brought the clubs to take the kids golfing and ran out of time?**

Anyway, we made it through security like pros.  Well, more like incompetent professional terrorists.  You see someone left a water bottle in his backpack.  (I won't name names, Joseph, so you're safe.) We thought we were getting off easy until the security worker dragged over one of our 6 roller carry on suitcases.

"Did you know there were two golf clubs in this bag?"

"Is that a problem?" You see we couldn't fit all the clubs in the bag, so we packed two of the younger kids' clubs in their roller suitcase.  Boston didn't care flying out, but Utah cared flying back.

And yes, it was a problem.  Golf clubs are a weapon, people.  Okay, fine, it made sense, but it's not like that is listed on the prohibited items list or anything. (Just checked, it is.  Don't try pool cues or ski poles either.)

The situation was made worse when yet another worker brought over yet another bag and told us it was riddled with evil liquids.  You see, in our attempt at savvy, we had bought most of our liquid type toiletries while out in Utah.  Our attempt to be frugal led us to try to bring them back with us.

"I'll just put it in the garment bag, since we're checking it," my husband offered as we frantically packed that morning.

"Good idea!"  I agreed.

How did neither of us realize we were checking the clubs not the garment bag?  Remember the lack of brain cells I mentioned?  Or maybe the travel gods were playing with our heads.

Now the {relievingly nice and understanding} worker is unpacking the bags to remove all the weapons we tried to sneak through, putting them into one bag we can check.  She even reminded Peter to grab a credit card to pay for said bag.  As Peter backtracked to luggage check in, I dragged his carry-on, my carry-on, and five kids to the gate.  Ethan's handle wouldn't extend so he was dragging his overly heavy bag a few feet behind me with his 3 year old brother behind him, valiantly trying to carry his booster seat without falling over from his overly heavy backpack.

It was a picture of tenderness ... especially the part where I told them all to get over it and hurry up, I wasn't waiting.

Sanitation Smanitation, That's What I Say

Finally at the gate, there were no chairs available so we, um, gently placed our suitcases and backpacks down.  Peter caught up and we began our preboarding drugging.  If you have ever had several children puke on you during a patch of rough air, you would understand the importance of this ritual.   What?!? Dramamine makes kids sleep?  I had no idea.

My five year old took one look at the Dramamine pill and declared it would make him barf.

"No, it will make you NOT barf."

Let me explain that he has taken this pill 3 times in the last year (this being our 4th flight) without any trouble.  Mind over reason; he puked ALL OVER THE FLOOR.  At least we know he only ate chips and salsa at the restaurant (and chewed well).

Despite the queasiness of the Peter's over-spiced stomach, he drew the chore of cleaning up the floor while I ran to the bathroom to clean up the boy.  You see I had my hand under his mouth to catch the said pill and not waste it, so I needed some major hand washing.


Good thing I packed wipes in one of the backpacks.  Bad thing I could not for the life of me find said wipes.  Three hours into the flight they magically appeared in the first bag I checked.  I suspect the travel gods were just poking fun at me by then.


The flight home was uneventful.  No one seemed to notice the odd smells left off by the, um, kids' gaseous digestive system.  Actually, they were extremely well behaved and the plane landed early.  The only sad part was when I dropped my brand new bag of Reese's Pieces on the floor, they all spilled out (ALL!), and I couldn't bring myself to eat them as I had just seen the quality work done cleaning up barf in the airport.


 A Parting Gift?

Two hour drive home was equally non-eventful.  Despite my trepidation, the car battery was still working.  We even found out there was a shuttle to the parking lot.  Something that would have been nice to know when we flew out and made the mile trek to the right terminal.


We pulled up to the house.  It was still standing, although an apparent growth spurt of the lawn and bushes made it look abandoned.


At three in the morning, with weary children, we walked into the house...


It was covered in spider webs.  Like all over the doorways and hallways and floor to couch to light fixture.  It was like wading through a haunted house to get to the beds.  We quickly brushed most of them aside and I spent the next day disinfecting and killing spiders.  And now I know: hell hath no fury like Charlotte's Web.  

Still better than driving.  I hope those travel gods are happy.

A 12-year-old Boy's Birthday Party

Throwing a twelve-year-old's party is not the same as an eight-year-old's. Especially when that twelve-year-old is a boy. For some reason the thought of pin the tale on anything wasn't appealing to him. I didn't even try suggesting crafts.

After weeks of prodding and disappointment over a *slight* overestimating of my cake making abilities (a stand up 3D version of Super Smash Brothers is not something I could do), he finally decided on a golf cake.  Well, he wanted the clubs and the ball and it was the least I could do after denying him his first option.

Instead of a big couple hour party, he opted for a sleep over with just a few friends.


We started the night with Monster Mingolf. I think we hit a record for most balls hit out of play in one round.

Then it was home for pizza and beach. They would have stayed out in the water longer, if they didn't have to share the water with jellyfish.

And then video games and more video games and finally threats if they didn't stop playing video games and go to bed.

Most of the evening we had the cake out and ready, but only a couple boys ate a piece. When I woke up the next morning, however, the entire thing was GONE. As was most of the 4 large pizzas. Sleep was no match for the bottomless stomachs of boys!

They interrupted their morning playing of games long enough to scarf down some pancakes and then the party was over.

I'm pretty sure they all had fun. Repeated calls of "That game is sick!" is a good sign, right?

Spontaneous Dancing

It is completely normal to break out into spontaneous dancing, right?  I was going to cut down the video into smaller clips, but I figured some of my friends and family might enjoy the entire 2.5 minutes.  A  few notes:

• Elise was once grounded from her ipod and I begged Peter (who had done the grounding) to finally give it back because repeats of songs like this were making me crazy.
• Last time my sister was here, her husband concocted a plan that involved running around the beach on New Year's Eve in boxer shorts.  Took video of Peter and him doing it, but Peter didn't want me to post it.  So I didn't.  May not have told him about this video.
  
• This was during Thanksgiving break.  I had 6 adults and 10 children in my home (although at the time one sister and family had already left to go home), so judge kindly the state of the kitchen.
• Don't ask about the kitchen cupboard doors, it is a sore spot and one of the joys of renting.
• Don't ask about the decorating, either, as I am reluctant to spend too much money decorating a space unique to a rental (first person to point out we may live here longer than any other house our married life will get their pinky toes broken).
• Yes, my sister really is that skinny with 2 babies the age of my youngest or younger, and yes, I am behind the camera the entire time so you can't compare our stomach sizes (or dancing ability).
  

Thanksgiving Update

Being so far from family is by far the hardest thing about living where I do (although a lack of CiCi's Pizza and Sonic and many other fast food chains I have come to crave) come in a close second).  In North Carolina, I had two sisters a couple hours away; now they are my nearest relatives, but at a 12 hour distance.  Somehow I was able to bribe and beg (and possibly add a slight bit of guilt) both sisters to drive up for Thanksgiving.  The good news for them is that after holiday traffic added an extra 3 to 4 hours to both their drives, the balance of guilt capital has decidedly switched back to them.

It was a wonderful, but too quickly over, few days.  I enjoyed seeing my niece and nephews.  Um, my sisters and their husbands weren't too bad either, but I couldn't hold and love on them nor smile at the things they say and do (at least not to their faces!).  I intended to get copies of all the photos everyone took, but forgot so I will share the sparse ones I took.

Thanksgiving itself went wonderfully.  My brother-in-law, Ken, spent Wednesday night making a pumpkin cheesecake that I accidentally dropped.  Luckily it more imploded than splattered and still tasted wonderful (although it looked a little, well, dropped).  That was the worst mishap of the day and for that I can be extra grateful!

So in the last week of preparation, company, and recovery I haven't had time for much else.  Now that all I have left is Christmas, I'm sure to have lots of time to hang out online.  Actually I do have a story about my husband's Black Friday experience,  my Christmas decoration preparation (I wasn't kidding about going slightly crazy), a video of my family dancing, and other sundry things banging around the inside my head. 

We Finally Remember to Visit a Corn Maze

A couple weeks ago we decided to get lost. And we decided to take some friends with us. After years of remembering I wanted to go to a corn maze only after they had all closed for the season, I actually dragged the family out at the beginning of corn maze season.

We learned a lot. Important things like no matter how fast you're going, if the other group has a navy sub navigator with them, they will beat you out of the maze. Also, giving 11 year old boys control over navigation will lead to dead ends not shown on the map (Peter learned this, not me). Also, a large black pipe is all children really need to be happy. And I will forget to get any photos in the maze, only playing outside it.

Lastly, it looks like fall is arriving in New England. Be still my heart.

What Harm Can 13 Legos Do?

You may not want to know the answer to that question. Consider that your warning.

Legos- those simple little toys that keep my children busy for hours. As I watch them play, I can convince myself I am raising both unique creative expressionists and genius structural engineers. Until a few months ago, I never understood the dark, evil side to Legos.

If you remember, I mentioned then some trouble I was having with our bathrooms, partly due to the main bathroom not flushing correctly. We couldn't figure out what was wrong: the plunger would eventually get it down, when we snaked it the auger seemed to meet a little resistance and then go through, but left on its own it just wouldn't flush down. Oh, what could be the problem?

Never the procrastinators, we trained the kids (sort of) to use other toilets and did our best to ignore that bathroom for a couple months. When Peter's parents flew out to visit, his dad gave us a stern look and took matters into his own hands. He removed the toilet and flipped it on its side. After a long while finagling, we could finally see what was stuck in the U-turn of the toilet. Guess what was lodged there all that time? Yep. Legos. And they weren't coming out.

So we snaked the auger from above while trying to chopstick them out underneath. When they came down low enough, I got a chisel and hammer. I was the one to actually get the 1st pieces separated. Once apart, they fell out easily enough. If only there had been one set. There were three different statues flushed down that toilet. The process reminded me (a little uncomfortably) of giving birth. To triplets. Only without the screaming and with a chisel.

All finished, 13 Legos exited that toilet. My brother-in-law, who happened to be in town and was coerced into assisting my father-in-law with the whole operation, offered to grab the camera for a picture. Think about where those Legos had been for weeks. Think about the multiple bumps and indentations a Lego contains. Now thank me that I declined the offer.

December visitors

MIL reading with Kirsti * MIL kissing Matthew * Kirsti with her cousin (they sure had fun together, Kirsti is such a little mother)

Matthew enjoyed spending time with his same age cousin. * Peter's parents helping Joseph with his puzzle * Uncle Gordon on the beach with Joe (everyone else was wearing coats, he is just nuts!)

Me, my mom and my sister practicing our eye crossing * my dad is known for his great story telling (here he is entertaining Kirsti)

Jessica and Matthew on the beach (I told you we all wore coats) * my mom with my niece.


December was wonderfully filled with visits from family! My brother, Gordon, and his wife, Jessica, flew out to visit in the middle of the month. We had a lot of fun with them and were glad they were able to take some days during their vacation to share with us. Besides spending more time on the beach than is decent in the middle of winter (including going on the sandbar during low tide), the highlight of their visit was our day in New York City.

Two days after they left we (and by we, I mean Peter) picked up his parents. We decided to save the $150 per ticket and fly all our parents into New York. What we didn't realize was that meant 5 5 hour round trips instead of 5 1.5 hour trips (we won't make that mistake again!).

Anyway, they came just in time to save the day. Since Peter had been out of town or working every day (except the New York trip day with my brother) of December, I was a little unprepared for Christmas. They watched the kids while I took several trips out to finish up shopping. Plus the extra help around the house ( including fixing the heat AND the 4 month broken toilet). Plus all the yummy food. Plus finishing the scarfs I had barely begun for my girls. Plus the great company. Thanks guys!!

Five days of Christmas preparation later, my parents finally arrived. Late the same night my sister's family arrived. Then there was the hustle of Christmas Eve, Christmas, the baptism, sister's birthday, seafood restaurants, confirmations, etc. My in-laws left the Monday after Christmas. My parents and sister stayed and partied longer. My sister left the 2nd, my dad finally had to go back to work the weekend after New Years, but my Mom was able to stay until last Wednesday.

It was so nice to have them all stay longer. I loved watching Matthew play with his cousin. She started vocalizing more (still getting used to hearing with her implant) and his language exploded while they played together. Plus my sister and her husband help keep her boring older sister and husband young (if I get brave I will post the pictorial proof). My dad entertained the kids with stories and my mom and I tackled my disorganized craft room. I tried to get them all to just come and live at my house, but no takers. Yet. But I'll keep working on them.

Ethan's Baptism

Top to bottom, left to right:

My sister and her family; moments after the baptism; Dad and Ethan;

Elise did great conducting; Ethan; Matthew getting desperate for his turn;

watching the font fill; did I mention Matthew was a little obsessed?; Ethan; Ethan again;

my mom with my nephew; My parents; Dad and Ethan in white; and Peter's parents

We are so proud of our Ethan. It seems like yesterday he was on his way home in a stocking, and now he all baptised and a member of the Church! Eight years and his smile still takes my breath away. He is very much like his father, both in looks and personality (which might explain my reaction to his smile).

Since his birthday is so close to Christmas, we hatched an evil plan; family would want to be there, and if they were coming out the weekend after Christmas, why not just come for Christmas itself? We knew this would limit the friends who could be there, but it did allow both grandparents and his Aunt Tami and Uncle Jared to be there.

Ethan and his Dad did wonderfully! We ordered him a tie from our Church distribution center and the night before I made up some easy white pants. Grandpas were witnesses and Grandmas gave the talks. Uncle Jared played the piano, Elise conducted, and Aunt Tami and I gave the prayers. Thanks to those who were able to make it, I really appreciated it (even if I forgot to get any of your pictures!)

Matthew was fascinated with the large "bath" and thought he could get in (if only we would help him undress). He was not happy when we drained it before he had his chance!

2 Birthdays

If I ever had cause to worry that Ethan would feel bad about a birthday so close to Christmas, his choice of birthday cakes would calm that worry. He ALWAYS wants something Christmas related. Normally I force suggest he make a different choice, but sometimes I give in. Since he is having a friend party in January with a cake, I didn't mind making him the Santa cake he wanted. I did try to talk him out of the lemon frosting (clashed with the red), but he persisted. I was pretty happy with the results. Unlike my regular cake decorating (described by my sister in this post), I hand drew this one.
Getting his gifts (he asked several times for those Perplexors- the level C was too easy, he wanted level D and Expert). If you look closely at his gifts you'll notice I'm still in love with Mindware. Almost as much as Amazon and Google.
Blowing out the candles. We picked up my parents on Ethan's actual birthday. Why we thought picking someone up in a NYC airport on the day before Christmas Eve was going to be easy, I don't know. It took WAY too long and the presents were opened late that night. The cake had to wait till the next day (because I hadn't decorated it yet- I underestimated the driving time for my parents by hours). I just noticed that he is wearing the same shirt two days in a row and the second day it is a LITTLE dirty. Oops!


My sister has a birthday 2 days after Christmas. This happened to be Ethan's baptism day and she happened to be at our house (a mere 12 hours away) so we had cake. Actually we had cheese cake.

This is her husband lighting the candles and everyone digging in.

I left my pants in NYC

Have I ever mentioned we can be impulsive about day trips in our family? I'm sure I have. Well, since my brother and his wife are in town visiting and she had never been to NYC, I decided to spend Saturday making Christmas graham cracker houses. Then my husband adeptly pointed out we might want to take them to see some of the sites. So we did the houses the night before and I decided to take them into Boston. Finally, I had a glimmer of reality and realized they really wanted to go into the BIG city. We decided to make this trip. About 1 hour before we actually left.

Luckily, while my husband cleaned out the van so we could actually put our feet on the floor, he noticed it was a little chilly and we decided to dress extra warm. We FINALLY pulled out of the house, but made a "quick" stop at the warehouse store to buy a GPS. Because we have no idea how to get anywhere in NY and it isn't a good place to "just try to figure out."

Plus the night before, I got lost, on the road I drive down almost daily, trying to find Dominoes Pizza. Why didn't I have it delivered like I would normally? Thought I would save some time. But in my defense, there was NO lighted sign at the road and the building was down a long narrow drive that you would only see if you happen to look directly left as you pass it. I would still be driving around looking if I hadn't seen the delivery guy pulling out of the parking lot. Needless to say, the GPS was going to come in handy.

Finally we were off, with an early start of 1:00PM. While driving we tried to decide where we were going to go. I mean, there are so few options available...we decided top priority were for Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. Our new GPS told us our arrival was 3:00. When I looked up the ferries, the last one went to Ms. Liberty at 3:30. Impulsiveness does have its drawbacks. So we hit no traffic, didn't get lost for the 1st time EVER, and found parking for the cheap price of $28. And Peter made me carry our new GPS, my old XM radio, and my cell phone. Plus my wallet, car keys, and extra diapers. Luckily I just bought a coat the contains about 300 pockets- this should explain the bulges in pictures (the candy I've been eating have nothing to do with it).

Did you know that they practically strip search you to get to the Statue of Liberty? Well, we had to take off our coats, shoes, hats, etc. And as we crossed the metal detector, the speakers kindly informed us the last ferry was leaving in one minute with or without us. What took us 3 hours to do at home, we accomplished in 45 seconds in NY. Mainly, loading everything back into my pockets and dressing everyone for the cold. We made it. It was beautiful. And COLD.



We headed back on the next ferry (COLD COLD COLD). Once back on shore we decided to walk around. Because obviously that is the easiest way to find places in NYC. I mean, everything is so close together. After making it to the 9-11 site, past the Meryl Lynch bull (yes, we joked about the kids being bull crap and took pictures of it), and then a few blocks more, we noticed a few things:

• First of all, Joseph was wearing pants with the adjustable waist strap broken. And no belt. Every three steps his pants were halfway off. Look closely in all the pictures, he is pulling his pants back up. THE ENTIRE NIGHT.
• Second, Matthew does not like me to carry him when Dad is an option. Sorry Peter.


• Third, Joseph will let me carry him. He is heavy. Too heavy to ride comfortably on my shoulders for several blocks.


• Fourth, Ryan thinks every cab in NYC is the Cash Cab. He thought for sure that if we would only take a taxi, we could play on the Cash Cab. Because there are only a couple million taxis in NY. Needless to say there were numerous "sightings".


• Fifth, Kirsti does not like the cold. Poor Uncle Gordon had to carry her almost the whole night. This is because her own parents were not kind enough. We would have made her walk. We made her younger brother, whose pants were practically at his ankles, walk a lot of the time. She for some reason brought her stuffed animal with her and it had to be carried, too.

So, after our legs were about to fall off from walking and our arms and shoulders from carrying the younger children, we decided we needed a new plan. Walking around in the hopes of eventually hitting on Times Square was not working. Even though we had no idea where it was. Go figure. Peter wanted to take a taxi. (Ryan almost exploded from excitement. "I know it will be the cash cab!!") We would only need 3 taxis to fit us all. I convinced him the subway would be a better option. Ryan was a little disappointed, until he saw what a subway was.


My conversation with Joseph went something like this:

"Is this a train?!?" Kind of. An underground train.
"We're underground?!?" Yep.
"Watch me circle this pole and then fall over when the car stops." Turns out even me, the queen of ungermophobia, can get grossed out by some things. And three of my boys sliding stomach down on a NYC subway car is just the thing to do it. (Luckily we were the only one in the car)



We finally arrived at Times Square where we ate pizza (yes, you observant people, that is pizza two nights in a row), took pictures, and Peter almost got stepped on by a police man when he lay down to get the right angle. Then we asked that police man how to find the Empire State Building and found out we only had to go down a mere 15 blocks and over 2. So we walked. And walked. And held up Joseph's pants. We did pass Macy's window display. Beautiful!


The Empire State Building was very cool. You know NY is big, but to see the lights going out as far as you can see on every single side? Awesome. We were definitely tired and frozen by now. We walked a few blocks to Penn station and caught the subway all the way back to our original starting point. If we had used the subway at the beginning, we would have had to walk about 3 steps to get there. That is about how far we walked from the station to our parking garage.


GPS took us out of the city and we got home at midnight. All in all a perfect family day.

Gingerbread Houses, if Gingerbread was made out of Graham Crackers

As a Christmas tradition, Gingerbread houses are awesome. As a reality, they are a lot of work. Because they involve mixing, cutting, baking, etc. So we use a simpler, lazier alternative. Graham Cracker Houses. One box makes 5 houses. I doubled the frosting recipe (but you could also half it easily)

Notes-

• Make one bag of icing per person, it is easier!!
• This is a great project for inviting people over (the frosting and graham crackers are cheap and the candy lasts FOREVER- even making 10, we had tons of leftovers)
• You can dye the frosting red and green (forgot till after I made the houses)
• The houses need to set for an hour before using, but put the rest of the frosting in bags right away so they don't also set
• Waffle Icecream Cones are great Christmas Trees

Cookie cutter houses are so boring!!

Wouldn't you rather live in this neighborhood?

(minus the frosting splattered EVERYWHERE)

You'll have to click to enlarge this collage:

1. Ryan likes to build walls 2. I have my white picket fence

3. Uncle Gordon likes lots of SNOW 4. Matthew enjoyed eating the candy the most

5. Kirsti added presents around her tree 6. Ethan likes the overgrown garden look

7. Elise added a little of Everything 8. Simplicity was the key for Aunt Jessica

9. Joseph takes us inside the mind of a 4 year old 10. Peter likes Candy Pavers, Stones, and Ponds.








Here are pictures of Uncle Gordon setting up the frosting, the mess left over, and what we did instead of cleaning up (which made the frosting set on the table=a lot longer to clean up)

More Visitors!!

Thanks Kevin and Louise for coming to visit us! We always love visitors and sharing our beautiful view. Peter's brother and sister-in-law were gracious enough to spend Sunday with our family. It was a great day watching our church's General Conference and letting the kids get reacquainted with their aunt and uncle. Then they headed off to visit some Church History Sites. We appreciate that they took a day out of their schedule to visit with us. (The offer still stands for anyone willing to make the trek to the North East)

Also, a big thanks to my friend who came over to watch Saturday's conference sessions, which we watched back to back thanks to DVR's and Ethan's football game inexplicably going an hour over time. During that time, she helped me sort and fold 1 1/2 weeks of laundry. I couldn't have gotten the house ready for company without her help. Did I mention that Peter told me 3 months ago his brother was coming and then not mentioned it again until the day before his brother arrived? And I had spent the week preparing for Joseph's birthday party and ignoring my upstairs and laundry. At least I had a clean house for Sunday!

And can I just say, I really enjoyed conference this time around. There were some really great talks and I can't wait to read them in the Ensign next month. I may even cheat and listen online when the audio becomes available.

All in all, a very satisfying weekend!

Party Time

My children only get parties every fourth year. This means that this was Joseph's first party. We went with a Pirate Theme. I was too busy to get many pictures before hand, but here are the pre-party ones:

The invites

(I got the cute text from online somewhere- Sorry, can't remember where):

The Entryway:

The Map:

The Map:

(explained)

Stop 1- "Lets Begin"

Drop presents, get pirate hat and party bag

Stop 2- "Eyeless Bay"

Play pin the patch on the pirate and earn your own pirate eye patch.

Stop 3- ""Gold Coin Beach"

Play Island Walk (like cake walk) to "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" and earn chocolate gold coins

Stop 4- "Treasure Cove"

Decorate own Treasure Chest

Stop 5: "Book Rest Stop"

Read How I Became A Pirate by Melinda Long

Stop 6: X Marks the Spot

(of the Pinata)-

put candy in party bag

broke my broom handle

Now we Eat Pizza, Open Presents, & Eat the Cake and Ice Cream

Once again I got the cake idea from this site

If you include my children (6) and little baby siblings of the older kids (3) and a couple of older siblings (3),

there were 22 kids at the party

Before the party I made the cake, cleaned the house, wrapped the presents from the family, put together 24 eye patches, and decorated (I finished up the games last night during the debate). Peter took the boys for several hours so I could get done, thanks Sweetheart.

I will be sleeping well tonight.

(And maybe tomorrow I will show the presents, the extra cake we had last week and the story on why we had two cakes for Joseph's B-Day)