Saturday Night

Saturday night Ian's parents invited us over. There was a big hubub (yeah, that's right) going on at a church near their house. They had tons of bouncy slides, bounce houses, obstacle courses, etc. and free ice-cream and snow cones. Is there anything better? To top it off there were fireworks! The boys all had a blast. I loved it because there were 4 adults and 4 children - that way everyone stayed safe and accounted for. It was nice to spend time with Ian's parents - they are such wonderful grandparents. We all had a blast.

I was surprised at how much Evan enjoyed the fireworks. He cried a little at first, but quickly got over it. He must have said "Nana, Papa, fycack (firecracker)" all the way home :)

P.S. Who do you think Max looks like in that picture?

Facts

I stole this picture from Trina's blog

TERESA IS THE WINNER! Yay for Teresa! And yay for Liz for encouraging me to put my cookies up for bid in the first place. You girls ROCK! Teresa - all you have to do is click the "donate to Nie" button on the left on my blog and you should be able to pay through pay-pal. E-mail me the receipt and I will bring the cookies over the next day. I am that good. Thank you so much, it is for such a great cause.

On another note, yesterday was Addy's birthday. Addy is one of Max's very best friends. And while she likes girly things, she also loves Spiderman. Which means her and Max get along great. She is such a cute girl and is bursting with personality. I'm so glad we are related!

Other irrevelavant facts:

Ian is still a blanket hog.

I'd give my right arm (and that's the one I use the most) for a yard.

Evan can now work our dvd player.

I love rain, but hate humidity.

Tricia is wonderful and so is Tiffany.

Alexander loves the bass and soccer.

Ben will make friends with anyone.

My sister Kim is the best aunt.

That's all.

Just do it!

I won't be blogging today - I'll be too busy checking out all the awesome auctions going on for Nie and Christian's recovery. Go here for more info.

I've already bid on this and this. There's tons of stuff ranging from homemade jewelry and purses to a signed Maroon 5 guitar and concert tickets.

And I am auctioning off 2 dozen chocolate chip or oatmeal butterscotch cookies. Bidding starts at $1. If you want to bid on them leave me a comment. (please, someone leave me a comment!) All proceeds will go to the Stephanie and Christian recovery fund.

Things that go thump in the night

Probably after a good thumping

I love to eavesdrop on my children's conversations. It gives me great insight on the job I am doing as their parent. Most of the time it's all good. However, there are those other times...

Today we took Alexander to soccer practice and stayed for the whole hour and a half (dang coach made us). Ben quickly made friends with another boy and Max tagged along. Ben and Matt (the new friend) are swinging and talking about their families.

"I have 3 brothers!"

"No way! I have 3 brothers too!"

"I was born in December!"

"No way! I was born in December!"

"I'm the second boy and I love Star Wars!"

"Me too - o.k....this is crazy....we're like twins!" (that was Ben)

Pause (the wheels are turning)

"My dad is mean!" (Ben again)

"No way! My dad is mean too!"

"Yeah, but does he thump you on the head when you are being too loud?"

I laughed the whole way home. And couldn't wait to tell Ian.

On an unrelated side note: Notice the size of Ben's feet. Holy sausages Batman!

Where's Evan?

I don't know if you can get the full effect of what is going on in these pictures. My main goal right now is keeping Evan alive. And I can't say that I'm doing a great job.

Note: the front of his shirt is wet because he has taken to chewing on his shirts. Great.

Unprecedented

I wish I were more competitive. Or that I cared more about winning. I think it stems from never winning anything as a child (unless I cheated). So I just stopped caring about it. I do try my best (but sometimes I don't) but I've come to realize that I'm an average person. Like I'm average at sports, at games, at life. You know? and when you're average, you really don't win a lot. And I'm fine with that.

The thing is, Ian is not average a sports, games, etc. He is exceptional. He wins all the time. And Ian loves to win so much that he refuses to "let" any of our kids beat him at anything. This drives me crazy because I think it's good for a child's self esteem to let them win every once in a while. Ian's theory is that it's better not to let them win because they will appreciate it that much more when they do. This is just one of the many areas where we don't see eye to eye where parenting is concerned. Yeah, it is annoying.

So you can imagine my joy today, as we were all wrestling on the bed when I found his "weakness". Every super hero has one, and so does my husband it would seem. While I don't want to write the specifics (trust me, it's tmi) it worked like a charm. One minute Ian was beating Ben, Evan and I and the next we had him cowering in the fetal position.

It was a gold star day at the Trezise household. Maybe winning ain't so bad.

Ian drowning his sorrows in a tub of cheese balls

Unstoppable

I was in the bathroom for a whole 45 seconds. I promise. And when I came out I found my 21 month old Houdini on the kitchen counter sucking on a bottle of anti-bacterial cleaner (which he had sprayed everywhere first) and holding a pair of scissors.

Is it bad that I thought about getting my camera?

Don't worry, I didn't.

Prayers Needed

If you blog stalk at all, you probably have heard about devasting plane crash that killed the pilot and left a couple - Stephanie and Christian - in critical condition. This tragic accident has consumed my thoughts in the past few days. Mostly I have thought about their 4 young children. And how painful and long Nie and Christian's recoveries will be. Although I don't know them personally, I feel a kinship - maybe because I read her blog or maybe because I am a mother too. Whatever it is, I know they can use all the prayers they can get! I know from personal experience the power of prayer and what the power of many prayers can do. If you are interested, Go to her sister's blog here - to find out more about what you can do.

Suprised

Jared came over to jam with Xander before the party. I'm not going to lie, I love raising a little rock star.

It occurred to me on Friday as I was sitting in the Sonic drive-thru that not only was Tuesday my mom's birthday, but HOLY COW! it was her 60th birthday (sorry mom - but most everyone knew anyway). So of course, we had to do something. I quickly called Tricia and she agreed to have it at her house and to put together a slide show. Kim agreed to help with the present, make treats and help organize. I started making phone calls.

Yesterday we all got together for the surprise. And she was surprised! Highlights included:

Jared's red velvet bundt cake with cream cheese filling

Tricia's slide show - complete with facts from 1948 (the year mom was born)

Kim's "How well do you know mom?" quiz - my dad was determined to win

Ro, Evan and Joshua playing with the dogs (sorry - no pictures)

And getting together with everyone! (we missed you Teresa)

Mama Mia

Today is my mom's birthday. The funny thing is, my mom doesn't seem very old. In fact, I think we're the same age. Which is impossible, I know. She is still so much fun to hang with and be around. She loves Disneyland, the beach, Sonic, Broadway shows and shopping at Target. No wonder she is my best friend. She is hardly ever mad and always kind. She tells stupid jokes and loves cheesy movies (we have that in common). She is spiritual, gives great advice and loves to serve. She is the best babysitter and grandma. She is fair and honest. I don't know how I lucked out getting her for a mom, but I'm sure glad I did. The best thing I can hope for is to be like her.

I love you mom! Happy Birthday!

Catching up

Pictures from pipsqueak's birthday on Thursday....

On Sunday after church we headed over to the Ganems to BBQ and have a bake-off. We had two recipes to test - one for butterscotch brownies and one for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Both turned out stellar. Tayler polled everyone and the brownies won, but I liked the cupcakes better.

The boys swam while the women folk baked.

The fruits of our labor (we also had chicken and shrimp shishkabobs (sp?) - the kids devoured the shrimp...who knew?):

It was a crazy busy weekend and I am sicker than a dog today.

Does anyone know what movie this is from: "Blaine - that's not a name, that's an appliance"?

Tiffany was astounded when Jason, Ian and I had no idea...no cheating...just let us know if you know - you know?

Things I Learned Today

1. It's o.k. to be late to a PTA meeting

2. It is better when Ian meets with repairmen

3. I can fit in the tubes in the McDonald's play structure

4. Two Evans are better than one

5. Max can get along with another child (besides Liam)

6. Ben can talk forever (wait! I already knew that one)

7. My dad can talk his way out of any situation

8. Barefeet are safer than flip flops when walking in a rainstorm

9. Tiffany doesn't care if I whisper to her during movies

10. I could talk about Twilight forever

A regular occurence

the perpetrator

Why does it seem like I'm the only one who can find anything in this house? Yesterday was a prime example. A few weeks back Ian got an X-Box 360 (I don't want to talk about it). Since he got it off E-bay, it came with lots of extras. Yesterday he discovered that one of the games that came with the system was missing. Chaos ensued. He banned all the boys from playing the X-Box until the game was found. Never mind that we all knew who the culprit was (cough, Evan, cough). Ian turned the house upside down looking for this game.

I had so much to do yesterday that I was kind of oblivious to it all. I did hear the whines and complaints, but blocked most of it out. I had to go to a PTA meeting last night and I came home later to a sad scene. Xander was curled on the couch crying. Ben and Max, with red-rimmed eyes ran up to me and proceeded to "tell" on Ian. Apparently Ian had went around the house looking for the game, emptying drawers, etc and then told the kids to clean it up....sigh.

We finally get everyone in bed and I'm busy printing something on the computer when a thought occurs to me. I go over to the DVD player and cable box and lift the cable box up. Sure enough, underneath the box and on top of the DVD player was the game. (Evan has a fascination with the DVD player - he sticks DVDs and Cd's on top of it all the time). Ian stares......then screams, "WHAT THE....? I MADE THE BOYS' NIGHT A LIVING HELL AND YOU JUST WALTZ IN AND FIND IT?"

Peace restored.

Birthday Wishes

So now that I've started this Music Monday...I kind of hate it. Because now I have to do it. Uggg. I'm thinking of actually not doing it and just posting about music when the mood strikes. So that might be once a week or 5 times a week or once a month. Also I thought Ian would be doing some of the posts and since he's not...

So...today was crazy busy. Tonight we all headed over to Darrel & Trina's for Rowan's 2nd birthday party. He's such a cute and quirky boy. Ro did such a great job blowing out the candles and opening presents. He's growing up too fast! I feel so lucky that Evan has cousins his age. I loved growing up with my cousin Wendy. It was the best. I'm glad my boys have that opportunity too.

It frustrates me to no end when my boys pick on each other. I always tell them, "Friends come and go...but families are together forever!" I know growing up I loved having my sister Kim. In college we had so much fun hanging out, sharing clothes and double dating. I want my boys to have that kind of relationship with each other. If they don't kill each other first...

So last night when Xander was running around Ben & Max's room telling them all about the superhero he made up, I didn't want to make him go to bed. They were all giggling and taking turns coming up with "powers" for the superhero. It makes me so happy that even though they annoy the heck out of each other, they still like each other. If only these moments weren't few and far between.

We spent part of the weekend at my parent's timeshare in Scottsdale. The boys (including Ian) had a blast. It's amazing to me how much more you can relax when you aren't worried about laundry, a dirty house and lessons to prepare. Ian, Ben and I all enjoyed massages by standing directly under the waterfall. It felt amazing. I would've liked to do some shopping in Scottsdale but I can't have everything I want...although I do need some new church shoes. The ones I wore today were matronly and ugly (for lack of a better description). I felt like saying "Don't judge me on my shoes!" to everyone. Who knew I could be so vain?

Battle of the Poppers

Seriously...if you have the time, watch this video. That Robert guy is amazing. Next time I'm in the L.A. area I'm going to go to the Promenade in hopes of seeing him...

P.S. If you want to skip the intro fast forward to 1:22

You knew it was coming...

Tonight was the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. It was bittersweet. I wanted Twitch or Katie to win (and they didn't) but the show ROCKED! When past SYTYCD contestants performed I was so happy I could've died. I only watched it twice, but tomorrow is another story...


First off, we had a little contest to see who could come up with the best dish using words or phrases from the show. We had: Tyse Dioreos, Wade Rollsons, Adam Shankham, Berry Krumpbell, Cha, Cha, Chips & Salsa, Cup Contemporary Cakes, Mandy S'mores, M&M's (for Mia Michaels), Kit Kats (for Cat Dealy) and the winner: THE HOT TAMALE TRAIN! That's the kind of entry you get when you invite Tiffany to your party :)

We had so much fun. The highlights included: Ian visiting us in his "grandpa" outfit, Tricia and her crew, James breakdancing...


Highlights from the show:

-the Dance Off between the 2 poppers - no one should be able to move that way. I will post it when it becomes available - prepare to be AMAZED

-seeing most of my favorite dances performed again

-A SHANE SPARKS ROUTINE - I love you Shane! Come back...

-Wade Robson. You are one freaky genius, Wade.

-Mary dancing with swarmy Demitri. I could've done with him taking off his shirt.

Only 9 more months until season 5. What will I do until then?

P.S. Drea - I forgive you for not coming. But only because we are going to the tour together and I bailed on your Office and Bachelorette parties.