Rudolph Competition

My boys have been having a contest to see who can look the most like Rudolph.

You decide.

Frank: Bonked his nose on Emma. So, since it hurt, he rubbed it on the carpet. And then he rubbed it again, and again. This is the result. Go figure, it hurts worse now than it did before!

FYI: this picture is after 4 days of Neosporin & Band-aids.

It was WAY worse than this.

Jack: Managed to pull open the partially-closed front door & do a head-first tumble down our front steps. Nice.

I think I vote for Frank as the best Rudolph. His is just more red!

But Jack definitely gets an honorable mention, just because I feel so sorry for him. Look at those bruises!

Boys, sheesh!

Creation of a Masterpiece

You all know how creative & over the top my husband is, right? Well, he outdid himself today. Behold, Emma's spectacular birthday cake.

How did he do it? I'll show you.

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Step 1: Layer up the cakes.

Step 2: Shave them down to create the dress shape.

Step 3: Frost, frost, & frost some more!

Step 4: Present your masterpiece to the princess for consideration. I think she approves!

Step 5: Get it to the party destination. Now this took some doing & a whole lot of stress on the part of the party chauffeur. I literally had a stomach ache by the time I got to town from watching this thing bounce & sway as we went down the road. Glad that's over!
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Step 6: Dig in!

We had people OOH-ing & AAH-ing all over this thing at the pizza place. I even had someone ask where we bought it so that she could get one for her little girl. Too bad, we don't take orders. Maybe we should!

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Thank you, Daddy!

The Big #6!

Emma turned 6 this last Saturday, the 19th. Unfortunately, I've been struggling to get my camera software re-installed on my now-fixed computer. So it's late, but it's here.

What a busy day it was! We started out with some pink french toast & moved right on to the important part: PRESENTS!!

Grandma & Grandpa drove down from Thatcher & we all went out to lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ.
[I'd like to put in a plug for Famous Dave's here. Not only is the food amazing, but a few months ago I joined their e-mail birthday club for everybody in the family. We ended up getting a kid's rib meal for Emma, a birthday sundae, & a FULL RACK rib platter (with sides) for Andy---ALL FOR FREE!!! Seriously, about $30 of food for absolutely nothing. Do it! Be cheap! It really does pay!]

Like those ribs, girl?

Anyways, after lunch we came home just in time to head back to the church for the ward Christmas party. Frank was invited to do a little nativity program with the Joy School kids last week, & he's performed a program for the parents & also at a local assisted living home. It's been a great time with him being able to have something just for himself. But for the ward party, a few other children were invited to join the crew & Emma made the perfect angel to his shepherd. It was so fun!

Then today (Monday), we had planned a big princess bash at the park for Emma & all her little princess friends. Unfortunately, people apparently don't know the meaning of RSVP anymore, & we literally heard from 1 mother to tell us that her daughter wasn't coming. Unwilling to plan a party for imaginary children, I made the executive decision to bag the park party, grabbed a few kids from the ward & headed to Chuck E. Cheese. Not the most personal party, but Emma did tell me about 3 times this afternoon that it was "the best party I could imagine." Mission accomplished. Besides, since it wasn't a princess party, Emma could invite her bestest friend in the whole world, Ben. These 2 are such good buddies!

Jack was completely mesmerized by Chuck E. Cheese. He stood like this for almost 5 minutes- just watching the giant mouse dance around. Good times.

This is my new favorite picture of Emma. This is her personality in a nutshell. Silly, fun & totally loveable.

Emma has grown so much in the last year. She is more & more a young lady & ever so compassionate & loving. I tear up frequently as I watch her care for & dote on her younger brothers. We are all truly blessed to have her as a member of our eternal family.

Happy Birthday, Emma!

We're Back!

No, we're not dead. Nothing tragic or horrible has happened. Well, unless you're like me & consider your computer being sick a horrendous & painful experience. Being disconnected from the Internet is kind of like missing an arm or leg. For me, at least.

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Nothing to post right now, I just had to get those yucky pictures of Jack's toe off the top of my blog. Sorry to anybody that's been looking at those for the past couple of weeks. His toe is healing really well. He still has his toenail, but I really can't tell if it's going to survive the trauma. He's such a trooper & is doing amazing!

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So, have a great day everyone.

I'll try to post something super interesting & awesome soon!

One Size 3, One Size 4

That's an awful title, but it's true (for now, at least!)

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Our thoroughly enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend has been overshadowed by our first accident-related ER visit as parents. It's been almost 6 years that we've been parents, so I count it as a miracle that we made it this long.
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Daddy took Jack to Checker Auto early Saturday morning so that everybody else at Grandma's house could keep sleeping. But we were soon awakened by the 2 of them crashing in the front door & into my room. Apparently there had been a little accident involving Jack & a trailer hitch. Specifically, Jack pulled the hitch off the shelf & right onto his big toe. Seriously, YIKES!
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Off to the ER we go, & we're ushered right back. Our good buddy Myron snapped a few x-rays, & the nice nurses cleaned his little foot up as best they could before the Doc let us know that my poor 1 year old's toe is broken! Cracked, anyways. And that's secondary to the fact that the entire nail & top of his toe was pretty much torn off. The bottom of the toe is crushed beyond recognition. So now his left big toe is about 1/4 inch longer than his right big toe. When Andrew first showed me, I really didn't think that his injuries were that bad. But when Grandma started cleaning off the blood, it became a little more obvious how bad it was. And then when it got really cleaned at the ER, I was shocked at how serious it is.
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Yes, he has 2 different size feet for now. The swelling is incredible! HOPEFULLY the nail will heal itself. If not, I'm sure his little toe will be cute even without it. The Doc thinks there's a good chance it will fall off & never grow back. Poor baby.

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WARNING: BLOODY PIC AHEAD!
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YIKES!
Hmmm, it actually looks better in this pic than in real life.

I just want my Daddy.

All better now.
He was walking on it within 20 minutes of getting back to Grandma's. He's a little limpy, but he's really not even acting like he's injured! (Except when I have to change the dressing, that is!)
Another day, another disaster, right?

Silly Turkey!

I absolutely could not resist.

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When I found THIS last night, I immediately got out my pipe cleaners.

Emma thought I was such a cool mom.

I think she's a pretty cool kid.

Not every 5 year old could wear a turkey in her hair & still look so pretty.

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Although, after I finished it, it totally reminded me of a mullet. You know.....

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Business in the front....Party in the back!Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

So Cute? Funny? Sad?

Hmmm, I'm not sure which category this falls under, but maybe a little bit of all 3.

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Last week I was in town all day accomplishing super important tasks. Unfortunately, I had no other option than to drag all of the kids along with me. When I eventually got home, I had just enough time to run in & take a quick 3 minute shower before I needed to race the kids to the babysitter (for the 3rd time that week) & head to another meeting.

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In the house I run, leave the kids in front of the hypnotic power of the TV, & hustle in to wash off the grime of all-day errands.

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When I came out of the bathroom, I spotted 2 little shadows underneath my closed bedroom door. What was that?

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I open the door to find this.

Emma reported that he didn't want me to leave again, so he parked it outside my bedroom door to wait for me. Poor little bug was so tired that he slept here for over an hour (my meeting got postponed).

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Eventually some noise disturbed him enough that he stirred just long enough to roll over. I was so sad to wake him. What an angel.