Hangin' With My Homies

I have known Merilee Bogle (now Cameron) since I was a little girl. In fact, I remember in the 6th grade she used to kick me in the shins all the time (or was that me kicking her?). Mer is such an awesome, unique person. And so much fun to hang out with. She now lives in Oregon with her hubby & three adorable kids but was in town this weekend so some of us got together for dinner at Mattas last night. Kevin & Marcy are in town from Slovakia and they came too. It was nice to see familiar faces and reminice. Steve generously offered to pay for everyone's meal (thank you Steve!) and afterwards Elise, Marcy, Merilee, Ian and I hung out at our house until 1:00 am. It was so much fun...although more than one person made the comment that if it were 15 years ago we might be doing something michievious or slightly illegal (cough...sneaking into the cotton gin...cough). I love keeping up with Merilee on her blog and hope I don't have to wait another year to see her again :).

Which reminds me...Ian and I first met at a party for Elise at the Bogle house. So the Bogles sort of brought us together...

Random Stuff

My baby is sick. It's really sad. We've been lucky because Evan has never been sick before...until now. Ian and the boys went over to Jared and Tricia's last night to watch the ASU game (btw...check out Tricia's blog if you want to see some more pictures from Christmas Eve) and I stayed home with Evan. I held him the whole time. During that 3 hours period I dosed him up good with Tylenol and Motrin but his fever wouldn't go below 100. Surprisingly he slept soundly all night but I am taking him to the doctor today.

For the last few days I've been thinking that I'm not as young as I think I am. For instance, if I sit in one spot for too long my knees lock up and then it's hard for me to get going (I blame myself for running up to my 9 month of pregnancy with Max). Also, I love to ride my boys' razor scooters. The are so much fun. So on Christmas Eve I was riding Ben's home from my parents and crashed. BIG TIME. I don't think anyone saw me but I rolled twice. I have a bruise on my hip and I scratched up my elbow pretty good. I think I can do these things and then my body says, "NO!". It sucks.

Something else...the other day Ian and I were watching t.v. and a Target commercial came on. Max sat there, glued to the screen. Then he says, "I know they just want you to go to Target but that was AWESOME!". An advertisers dream. I should have Ian tell the story of Alexander and Benefiber. Alexander is also an advertiser's dream...hmm...let's all hound Ian to tell it.

Lastly (is that a word?), Alexander wants to start a college fund for himself. He is very concerned about going to college. He got a little bit of $ for Christmas and wants to open a savings account. My mom already said she'd contribute to it on his birthday. O.k. what 9 year-old is more concerned about saving for college then having $50 to spend? Maybe he knows he can't count on his parents...

Christmas

On Christmas Eve we go to my mom's for food (Chick-Fil-A & Some Burros) and each grandkid gets to open a present (which is a blanket). Then we go home and open p.j.'s. This year we all snuggled on the couch and watched a movie before we went to bed.

Christmas morning was nice because the kids let us sleep in a little. Nevermind that Max snuck into our bed sometime during the night and kicked the stuffing out of us...Xander & Ben came in about 7:15 - they had already "peeked" at their presents. I tried to be mad, but really it was nice to get that extra bit of sleep (especially since Evan was up a lot with a stuffy nose). We didn't have a ton of presents this year - each child had 3 things to open (including the p.j.'s) and then a present from Santa. We were done opening presents pretty quickly, so we just hung out and played (mostly Ian played with the boys' Star Wars toys).

In following with tradition we all met over at my parent's house at 9:00 am. Every year since I can remember my dad has read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas morning. It always gives me a minute to slow down and reflect. Then we all line up youngest to oldest and file into the family room to open presents. Mom and Dad cooked a big breakfast that consisted of eggs, biscuits, sausage, freshly squeezed o.j. and caribou. That's right, we had Rudolph for breakfast.

After chillin' out at home for a while we headed over to Nana & Papa's (Ian's parents). The boys had a blast opening another round of presents :). We stayed a while and had a delicious dinner of ham, potatoes, rolls, veggies & sweet potatoes. There was cranberry cake and apple pie for dessert. (notice I am obsessed with the food). It was a nice, low key Christmas. I enjoyed spending time with my family and just enjoying the day. Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

The Spirit of Christmas

The Christmas spirit has somewhat eluded me this year. On the whole I've been grumpier. My poor children - the littlest thing has set me off and let's face it when I'm not happy - no one's happy! Last year Stacy & Paul's family delivered sack lunches with food and socks in them to the homeless in downtown Phoenix. This year they invited our whole family to come. I hope it's a tradition we continue. We all pitched in and bought enough things to fill about 100 sacks. Last night we congregated at my mom's house and decorated and filled the sacks. This morning we added pb&j's to them. We all caravan-ed over and parked on the side of the street. People started running toward us right away. I had to stay by the car because Evan was asleep inside but I watched my boys hand out sacks. Tears filled my eyes when I saw Ben approach a man, hand him a sack and then the man held out his hand for Ben to shake. I thought for sure that Ben, my shyest child, wouldn't want to participate. Not only did all the kids participate, but they were loving it! Max was just as excited as everyone else - he kept searching for people to give his sacks to. It warmed my heart. I kept remembering the scripture, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (that might not be the exact wording but you get the picture). When Joseph got back into the car he exclaimed, "That felt really good!" I was so happy that my children could experience the spirit of giving.

Merry Christmas!

Another Tradition

Tricia's cute shoes

Yesterday was our annual adult dinner at my mom's house. I cooked turkey & rolls for it. We also had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, salad and yummy cookies & brownies. Good food, great company. Afterwards we had a little program where everyone had to share something. Ian shared how high he can kick :). Jared Ammon & Adam played & sang "Silent Night". Tricia sang "Where Are You Christmas?" beautifully - I love her voice. It was alot of fun. We got a little silly at times...Ian and Tricia thought my lap was comfortable and camped there for most of the program. I love that Ian was able to come this year because we did it on Saturday (instead of the usual Friday night).

Today at church we had a Christmas program. Even though my kids were being horrendous I really enjoyed it. My friend Drea played a beautiful piano piece that was Fur Elise and We Three Kings together. It gave me the chills. My favorite was a couple who sang, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". It's not a Christmas song but there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I bawled like a baby. I'm crying now just thinking of the words. It's one of my favorite hymns.

Merry Christmas (to me)!

Yesterday I felt a little (o.k. a lot!) overwhelmed. I had scrapbooking pages to make, rolls & a turkey to cook, presents to wrap, presents to buy and a house to clean - because I won't be able to enjoy Christmas with a dirty house. I did manage to make & bake 5 dozen rolls and do my scrapbooking pages yesterday. But I still had a lot to do...so this morning I got up early, went running (and about froze my fingers off) then came back and got ready to go out and finish my Christmas shopping. I also wanted to find something to wear to church tomorrow. I left all of the kids home with Ian. Let me just say the Christmas shopping is so much more fun by yourself! I got the rest of my shopping done and then found a skirt for church at Target for $9.98! I had previously looked at Banana Republic, J Crew, jjill and Gap. Everything was either too expensive or didn't fit right. The Target skirt was perfect. I feel energized and recharged! I'm off to cook the turkey...

Oh yeah, another pleasant surprise - Kevin got in last night from Slovakia and he and Marcy brought us a bag full of European chocolates this morning - including those famous chocolate eggs with the prizes inside! My kids were lovin' those!

Let's BOWL!

My children's winter break officially started today. yeah. Yesterday after school I let Xander & Ben both have friends over. The thought of it stressed me out but it went surprisingly well. I thought I would have to do some entertaining. But the boys entertained themselves. We did go to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner but that was as far as me having to entertain them went. They were both great boys. Alexander's friend spent the night and we went bowling this morning (I had a coupon). At first I thought I would just watch Evan and watch the boys bowl but after the first game I HAD to bowl. I love it! It's so much fun. I did win both of the games I bowled but hey, I did take that bowling class in college (I kid you not...I also took volleyball...both classes were with Ian and Kim. If any of you have ever played any sort of sport with Ian you will know that he was the best in both classes...ANNOYING! but I digress). My first three frames were strikes. Max said to me, "Mom, you're supossed to let kids win!" I disagree. Anyhow, I think everyone had a good time and it was a fun way to kick off break.

Holiday Cheer part #2

O.k. here is the picture of us in front of the Dorsey's village. I'd say this picture shows about 1/8 of what the village is. It is incredible! and parts of it moves. The Dorsey's house is decorated absolutely beautiful (I am kicking myself for not bringing the camera). I think they had something like 8 Christmas trees. My favorite thing was the village.

P.S. The jars turned out so cute. I filled the teachers' jars with movie candy and movie tickets. Alexander wanted one for himself!

Sorry the picture is blurry. One of the many benefits of being friends with Tiffany (besides the fact that she keeps me and my kids clothed) is that she is very creative. We were chatting the other day and I mentioned that I had no ideas for gifts for my kids' teachers. She told me about these cute jars she was making. You can buy the jars at IKEA and get the vinyl lettering from our friend Amy who has a vinyl lettering machine. Just attach ribbon...and viola! a cute gift. I plan on filling them with goodies. The only thing is I feel too nauseous to even think about baking (maybe I'll fill them with m&m's?). Although Ian left me a list of about 20 people to do cookie plates for. Ooops...gotta go...Max & Evan are going at it.

Oh yeah...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!

Holiday Cheer

A few weeks ago Tracy & I were discussing Christmas and different traditions we had. I mentioned that as a kid we went Christmas caroling every year. Thus the first annual Dorsey/Trezise Christmas Caroling party was born! I have been quite bah-humbugish this year and this really pulled me out of my funk. It was so much fun. We met at my house and put together some cookie plates and then practiced our songs (Silent Night, Jingle Bells & We Wish You a Merry Christmas). We then left for a night of caroling. One of my favorite places we caroled to was Tracy's parents and their next door neighbors. They were really touched. Afterwards we went to the Dorsey's for cookies and hot chocolate. The Dorsey's house is decorated beautifully! My favorite was their Christmas village - Jenifer took a picture and I'm hoping she'll send it to me so I can post it. I really hope that caroling will become an annual tradition.

Yesterday was a hectic day topped off by me feeling nauseous once again (atleast now I know the culprit - my b.c. pills). I had no patience and about a million things to do. Then Santa came. First my dad took Max to lunch so that I could get some work done. And then later my mom came over and spread more holiday cheer (I don't want to go into detail). I feel so lucky to have my family. They are my rock. I love you mom and dad - Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Today at 7:11 p.m. Benjamin David Trezise turned 8 years old. I remember the time because it was a Thursday night when Ben was born and I was watching Friends in the labor & delivery room. Ben gave us quite a little scare - he came out blue! I can remember the nurses and doctor crowding around his tiny body trying to make him breathe. When he finally started to cry it was the sweetest sound in the world. Since then, Ben has had quite a few near death experiences. Ian and I both feel like Ben has a special purpose in this life.

Yesterday we celebrated Ben's birthday with a few of his friends. It was a nice, low-key party. As Ian would say - it was old school. We had a treasure hunt, played kickball and had an ice-cream eating contest. All the boys got along really well and I think everyone had a good time (like I said, I was a little under the weather so it was kind of a blur).

Ben brings such joy to our family. He loves to make his brothers happy and can't stand to see them sad. Ben loves to read - he just finished "James and the Giant Peach" and is now reading "The BFG" which he loves. Ben also loves to play sports although he isn't very competitive. He's a whiz at video games. Ben is a wonderful kid and I am so lucky to be his mom. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Am I Crazy?????

Look at that kid. Adorable. A few weeks ago a girl calls the house. O.k. I am aware that Xander has a girl (or a few girls) "interested" in him. I know because their moms have all told me. There is one girl though that he seems to like too (I know this because he told me). They exchanged Christmas cards. She called our house - no one answered (big surprise) but Xander recognized her # and called her back. And then she denied she ever called - HELLO - caller I.D.? The next day at school she apologized for lying about not calling. When she did call and Xan called her back I was not too happy. I really don't want to encourage this type of behavior in my 9 year-old. GIRLS STILL HAVE COOTIES!!! Why can't he remember that?

So today she calls again. This time she leaves a message. Xander calls her back and she wants him to go to the movies with her family. Again I am floored. Is this behavior normal? I am torn. I can see how happy it would make him to go, but am not sure if it's appropriate. I try to talk to Ian about it but Xander comes with me and Ian starts cracking all sorts of jokes and teasing him. I call my mom. We discuss it and decide it's o.k. if her parents are there because she is his friend. She's somewhat of a tomboy and they get a long really well. Xander calls back and says he can go and then I talk to the girl's mom for a while (just to make sure we are all on the same page about this girlfriend/boyfriend mumbo jumbo). So...did I make the right decision? Cause' I'm kind of second-guessing it.

*On another note...we had Ben's birthday party today and smack dab in the middle of it I started to throw up. And our t.v. is broken - unless everything is supposed to look green/blue? My point being be nice with your comments...my day has already been less than stellar.

Tradition #3?

I think it's #3. I'm way too lazy to check. Last Sunday we were supposed to go to Jared & Tricia's to do gingerbread houses but we were all sick. I was a little bummed because I knew since Ian could come this year that we would rock the competition. One year he made an exact replica of our house. I wish I had the picture. Again, too lazy to look. Anyway, we had brought a kit and some candy so Ian let the kids do our house (kudos to Ian - sometimes it's hard for him to reliquish control over artistic things). The result is pretty pathetic but the kids had alot of fun and that's all that matters to me :)

*Please try to ignore the pigsty that is my house. Or try not to judge me for it.

Stage Moms

There is a man who goes to my church who is a photographer. He mostly does sports figures but also shoots pictures for different ad campaigns. Anyhow, his wife called me on Monday asking if Max was available for a photo shoot today. I told her about how cute Max's friend Liam is so he got to come too. The payment was a $50 Target gift card. WOOOHOOO! Towards the end of the conversation Kim (the wife) asks if these boys can take direction. I think I laughed a good 2 minutes.

On Tuesday Tiffany goes to pick up Liam from pre-school and Lisa (Liam's teacher) says to Tiffany, "So, Liam won't be here on Thursday?" Tiffany laughs, "What did he say?" Lisa replies, "Only that he was going to a rich man's house to take pictures and if he did whatever the man said he would give him money." As Tiffany said, it's a bad afterschool special in the making.

We went over to take the pictures today. We actually ended up at the Costco parking lot. The boys were really good. The only horrifying part was when I go to change Max's clothes (we were instructed to bring a few changes of clothes) and you guessed it, he has no underwear on. O.k. I SWEAR I checked this morning. He must have taken them off when he used the bathroom. I get Max changed and the boys are hanging out. Tiffany and I are trying to keep them entertained and Tiffany says, "Hey, let's skip!" Liam starts to skip, I look at Max and say, "Do you know how to skip?" To which he replies,"Mom, I skipped my underwear." I promise. That is what he said. He is the king of one-liners.

On a side note, Tiffany and I have decided we could totally be stage moms. There was minimal effort on our part (although Tiffany did hold up the sun shade) and the pay was great. Yep, our kids are for hire!

*Note: The above pictures weren't taken by the guy - Jill and Kim took them.

It gets better at the end

If you want happy and bright stop reading NOW! I feel like I'm juggling 50 balls - which ones are going to drop? Will it be the Ben birthday party ball? Or the homemade gifts ball? Or the clean house ball (oh yeah that one dropped months ago - still looking for it)? Or the holiday baking ball? Errrg! To top it off the kids are being (to put it nicely) brats! That's right, I said it! And guess who is the worst? The teething baby? No. The argumentative, crazy-yelling 4 year-old? Nope. Perhaps the stubborn, whiney 7 year old? Wrong again! That's right - sweet little angel boy (ha, ha) my 9 year-old who definitely knows better is driving me bonkers! I won't list all of the offenses, but they were topped off this morning by him shoving his brother on the way down to Stacy & Paul's house and then when Ben ran back to our house to tell me, Alexander told Paul that Ben wasn't going to school so they left him. That kid is in so much trouble. I've had all day to cool off and I just keep getting madder by the second. He will be grounded indefinitely and he will be cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming and doing the windows. Yep, I'm that mad.

O.k. on to the holiday cheer portion of this post. Saturday night was our Christmas party at the church. My boys were all in the program so we had to go. I probably wouldn't have went if they weren't just because I hate trying to wrangle 4 active boys at the church. It's always so chaotic. This year was different. The highlights of the party were Jared Ammon playing the guitar with Adam singing "Silent Night". I might have even shed a tear or two. And Stacy sang too. I just love her voice. It's so clear and effortless. The kids program was so cute. Max and Ben were Wise Men and Max stood in front and sang right into the microphone (well, he started to sing and then just sorta mouthed the words). Alexander was an angel and he wasn't too thrilled about that but he did it and he did a great job. Later, Evan sat on Santa's lap and bawled his eyes out. I tried to take a picture but my dad's flash stopped working.













I made the Max with Santa picture the biggest because I am still amazed that he would sit on his lap. We have walked by Santa a few times at the mall and Max will stare at him and then refuse to go near him. I admit I did bribe Max with a sucker this time. It was so funny. At first he wouldn't even look at Santa and Santa was asking Max all sorts of questions like "What's your name?" "How old are you?" When Santa finally got to the "What do you want for Christmas?" question Max looked at him, puffed out his cheeks and said, "I really don't know." WHAT? This kid asks for something different from Santa every 5 minutes. Then he jumped off Santa's lap and asks, "Now can I have my sucker?"

The 2nd Cutest Baby in the World

Rowan is the cutest, sweetest baby. He will smile for anyone and he gives the best hugs. He's only 3 months older than Evan so I look forward to them being great friends. My dad took this picture a few weeks ago. Apparently Rowan was tired so he climbed under my mom's kitchen rug and layed his head down to go to sleep.

I have a lot to blog about...but it's not happenin' today. Darrel & Trina - I hope you don't mind me posting this. It was too cute to pass up :)

Tagged Again

Joe tagged me but I've already been tagged atleast 2 times (and responded in past posts). Instead, I've decided to write my 6 things you may or may not know about Ian.

6 things about Ian:

1. His stories will either have you rolling with laughter or wishing you would've went to the bathroom, snacked and/or napped ahead of time.

2. Whenever we have to be somewhere at a certain time Ian will find something time-consuming to do 10 minutes before we need to leave. i.e. ... watering plants, starting an oil change, or maybe a long sanding or painting project. IAN = SLOW

3. Ian is an awesome artist. Really - his talents are being grossly wasted. Everything he does turns to gold (or if it doesn't he throws it away).

4. Ian thinks cheese goes on everything. And I am using the term cheese loosly. As long as it says it's cheese, then Ian will eat it.

5. He is an advertisers dream. I cannot tell you how many times he's wanted to buy something after watching the informercial. Also, he drinks Diet Coke Plus because of the vitamins (not kidding) (Tina - I laughed so hard when I read your post)

6. He loves me best of all. He is on my side 95% of the time. He hates it when I'm mad at him (although he does keep doing dumb stuff like leaving me on the side of the road).

P.S. I posted the above picture to really irk Ian.

Tag, I'm I.T.

...but you can call me Ian Trezise. I have been tagged! Six things you need to know about me---or wish you never did---are:

1. I was pretty dang good at skating back in the day- and I don't mean skateboarding like Tony Hawk. I'm talking third grade through seventh grade at Skateland. You know they put on the Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees tracks when me and my bud Johnny Moronez stepped into that place. The reason I remember it was third grade is because I skated the spotlight dance with two girls at the same time. Yeah... Kris and Tara were kinda fighting over me, and I just couldn't have that. So I just spread the love all around-the rink that is. I really didn't have any game back then, but I remember Kris was my girlfriend because someone told me to mouth the words 'olive juice' to a pretty girl. I did that very thing to her as she was getting on the bus, and apparently she liked how I silently proclaimed to all, those three words-'i love you'. Next thing you know I had my first girlfriend. It was a serious relationship. I think we played board games, ate spagettios and watched Dukes of Hazzard together.

2. I have played Dungeons and Dragons and other similar nerdy dice games. I was also Dungeon Master once. I know, I know. I'm sorry, okay. Yes I had a half-ling with a + 2 striking magical sword and invisibility cloak. Can you believe this is what I did after my glory days at Skateland? Know wonder I didn't have a girl on each arm at this time in my life.

3. I have been face to face with a brown bear in the wild. I was biking in British Columbia through some trails near Whistler. I had Alexander in a travel trailer hitched to the bike when he was one and a half years old. It was so peaceful and beautiful ...and BEAR! It came out of the forest onto my trail and I skidded right before I hit her. Then the bike skidded just like I had done two seconds earlier in my shorts. Seriously scary moment. I don't think I would have put up much of a fight to protect Xan though. Thank goodness it got spooked from my skidmarks(read into it however you like). All I know is that I couldn't move my legs to pedal after the bear jetted back into the forest.

4. On a serious note, I guess. I do have a love for creating. My boys and the men they will become. My life drawing artwork. Lyrics for Jason's guitar music. Writing and illustrating a series of books with Nate. Fixing anything that needs repaired. Helping build a pretty mean looking Pine wood derby car with Xander. Building a Home- I was involved with everything from day one, and I am still trying to finish it to this day. I did get a lot all help from both sides of my family, and I will never forget that. You know who you are so thank you again.

5. I showed interest in a Garfield comic once when I was like six. My Mom thought it was just the cutest darn thing. SOoooo, she proceeded to buy me(for at least 5 years)every stinking collectible Garfield book, toy, pen, stuffed animal, glass, banner---seriously anything that a fat orange cat can fit on. My brothers would open their presents at Christmas, and get remote controlled cars or BB guns and I would get a Garfield merry-go-round complete with all his friends. YEAH! Thanks Santa. This orange pile o' ..still taking up space at my parents. Mom always 'threatens' to throw it out. Oh..I'm sad, maybe I'll go cry on my Garfield pillowcase.

6. I was going to list all the broken bones and stitches I have had, but it was too long and boring. Plus it's not as impressive as my little brothers list of injuries. So, I will leave you with this fun fact about me. I have very pointy elbows. I'm a borderline mutant with these things. It's extra bone that I can bang into a wall and not even feel a thing. When I wrestle the kids they always say, "Dad, your elbows--please watch out, they kill." I just tell them I'm trying to be like Chuck Norris.

That's me.
P.S. I posted this because Sheri has her own list of six things she made for me, since I was taking so long from when Kim tagged me.

Clean Up On Aisle 7!

It's never good when you hear that and realize that you are standing in aisle 7 and your 4 year-old just peed his pants. I just roll with the punches. Atleast he had underwear on.

Update

Life here is crazy! I have been working on a big project for work. Blah.

Alexander's team is in the playoffs. They won last night - YEAH! Alexander bunted and got to 3rd base on an overthrow. The kid is seriously fast. I missed it because the game started late so I took the other kiddos home. They play again Friday night (sorry Ian - you'll be missing another workout - unless it rains).

Ben refuses to dress warmly. I know, it seems trivial. But I don't want to be the mom that sends her kid to school in shorts and a t-shirt in 59 degree weather. But I am that mom because it's not worth the fight anymore. If he gets sick I will be seriously upset.

Conversation with Max yesterday:

"Mom, how come we didn't bring my Spiderman bike home from grandma's?"

"Because I didn't know we'd be going home before we went back to Grandma's."

"Mom, sometimes you are kinda stupid."

"Max - don't talk to me like that. It hurts my feelings."

"Sorry mom, I love you but it's true."

Evan is INSANE! He climbs everything, gets into everything, tries to break everything. The only things he leaves alone are his toys. On the plus side he gives the best, wettest, sweetest kisses. And he jabbers all of the time.

Ian has been tagged so the next post will be by him. Or I will write his answers for him ;)

P.S. I love that picture. Ben was upset and Max went over to comfort him.

Holiday Tradition #2

Grandma & Mom

On Saturday Laura and Cathi had their annual cookie exchange. It's a favorite for me. I love to go and eat yummy cookies and visit with everyone. I made chocolate brownie cookies with andes mints melted on top. They are so easy and so good. My favorite cookie I took home was oatmeal with peppermint in it. I'm not sure who makes it but it's there every year and I love it!

When I got home from the cookie exchange the house looked like a tornado hit. I started to clean, got overwhelmed and made the boys come inside and help. Alexander vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom. Thank you so much Tina. When you told me that you showed Jack how to clean the bathroom I was inspired. Alexander was a big help and did a great job. It took Ben and Max the whole time to just clean their room.

Later Ian and the boys went to Jared & Tricia's to watch the ASU/UofA game. I took Evan over to Tiffany's and helped her with party favors for the Ganem Jewelers Christmas party. I really enjoy hangin' at Tiffany's house. Her kids are so fun to be around and were a big help with Evan.

On another note...Alexander's team won tonight! Yeah! They play again tomorrow night - GO A'S!!!!

Someone give me the handbook!

Yesterday was a little frustrating. Max didn't wear underwear to church. I'm still grossed out by that one. Max hit Anna with a game controller last night at FHE. Max also slapped Rowan in the head. Ian tried to put him to bed early but that didn't really work. So when Max came into our room at 4:00 am this morning I was more than a little irritated. Until he said, "Mom, can you protect me from my nightmare?" Even at four in the morning that will melt your heart.

Bigmouth Strikes Again

I have a hard time with silence. It's great when I'm reading a book but in social situations I always feel the need to fill in the gaps. If no one is talking then I will! Sometimes this gets me in trouble. I say stupid things or give out too much information or worse - personal unflattering information. A lot of the time I stick my foot in my mouth. I say something then berate myself silently for hours afterward - afraid that it was misconstrued or just wishing I had kept my big mouth shut. I am apologizing now to any of you I have or will offend with my stupid ramblings. Someday I will learn. But not today.

On the upside I can keep a secret. Just not about myself.