december randoms

well what do you know? just in case you have those letters.... you can think of me ;)

this child needed an elf costume for her christmas play at school, so by golly we whipped one up. she loved it. i was so glad.

we had a few more bouts of sickness....

once we were feeling better, we hiked a few mountains.

the end.

thanksgiving

my grandma & grandpa were able to come to sunny az for thanksgiving.

it was so special having them here.

the kids all loved the attention and would do anything to get my grandpa to do his big laugh.

i wish they would move here.

 we hosted the feast at our house.everyone brought a lot of food, so it wasn't a big deal. i was bummed that my turkey was dry. but my grandma saved the day by making gallons of gravy.

gravy fixes everything.

it was a beautiful day. until one of the children opened the rv gate and let the dogs out. it was like a scene from a movie. the children ran in terror. my grandma braced herself. the dogs jumped up on the tables and were in heaven eating the food off the childrens' plates. luckily we were pretty much finished eating. it was mayhem.

quick trip to the windy city

pscrubs and i got to have a quick getaway to visit my cousin and her husband in chicago.

it was COLD!! 

they just moved into a huge fancy house, which was awesome. 

we made the most of our time eating, eating and eating some more.

it's pretty much my favorite thing to do.

we found my favorite...gino's pizza. 

paully wanted to explore the polish neighborhoods. so we found an authentic polish restaurant.

soups, sausages, blintzes, potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage and some weird red juice.

it was amazing.

we also went to my cousins' favorite sushi restaurant. paul was more adventurous than i, but i still enjoyed trying new things.

it was a very fun relaxing getaway.

 our wonderful hosts spoiled us.

although part of me thought it just didn't feel right being so close to an american girl store without my little cherubs.

little s's 6th birthday!

my teeny tiny baby girl turned 6.

back in november.

she wanted to have a class party. that in itself was pretty funny, trying to reason with a 6 year old was somewhat challenging... deciding who she wanted to invite and who she didn't.

we decided on all the kindergarteners in her class.

it's montessori, so the classes are mixed ages.

anywho, it was a fun party.

it was a trampoline place.

a good time was had by all.

thx to my sis for making the cake & cupcakes.

i look back and laugh because i must not have been feeling too hot that day.

the kids' hair is looking a little un-tended to and the clothing choices?? well i guess you have to pick your battles when hosting a class party and puking at the same time.

oh well. she had a blast.

catching up

i am going to attempt to catch up. i am still having trouble figuring out space on my blog. it says i have to have a monthly payment and i'm just not digging that. does anyone else have these issues?
i would like to have a one time payment to add more space, but that is not an option. ugh.

why me??? why me???

just kidding, i'm being melodramatic.

hope from newtown

http://pieceofcakeafterthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/12/this-week-in-newtown.html

december blues

ruby finally had her puppies on dec. 8, 2012.

it was a very eventful weekend. my family was just arriving for a big dinner when we noticed ruby acting a little strange. we assumed she would go in to labor in the middle of the night, when the house was quiet. but no, it happened at the craziest loudest time of day. it was just like when we helped deliver patches patches the wonder cats kittens right in the middle of the hallway when i was young. old pro. paully jumped right into dr. mode with rubber gloves and all. i think he was a little excited. after a few hours, she had 7 healthy puppies.

that night was not so fun. the puppies cried all night. we had NO sleep.

the next night was much better.

monday morning rolled around and i snuck big S out early for some dunkin donuts & and early school arrival time. while in the drive thru, i got a call that our carpool was sick & wouldn't be attending school. so i needed to get back home to do another round of school drop off.

i got home, loaded round two of kids in the car, and hit up dunkin donuts again. pulled up to the pick up line & forgot that i had switched cars and did not move my purse. no money.

the guy gave us the donuts anyway. the kids were in awe. donuts for free???!! yay!!

winning? maybe.

they came home from school & D was feeling a little under the weather. didn't think much of it. just fed, cleaned, got her warm & put a nice movie on. she'd be fine.

noni stopped by & somehow got roped into bbsitting for the night. we got a text later that D had thrown up. uh-oh.

we headed home & checked on her. she got up and puked again. we tried to calm her down & get to sleep..... another child stumbled in the room holding her tummy..... " i don't feel good"......

barfed.

they continued to take turns barfing & running to the bathroom (for the other end) all night. intertwined with barking dogs needing to be let out & crying puppies.

another night of NO SLEEP.

"woke up" and got the kids settled. dropped two kids off at school..... not an hour later got a call that one of the said children was sitting in the front office with a garbage can in her lap.

barfed.

3 kids home from school. a tornado toddler with a pretty major runny nose very excited that "the sisters" are home for him to torment.

i am praying that we get some sleep tonite. praying.

a little catch up....

HI!!!!!

i am finally caught up on all my editing and have just a few moments to share with you some funny (to me anyway) and ultra dramatic short videos done by my video person (paul)....

a little love story about our highly trained dogs...






and the highlights of D's soccer season.....


Baxter and Ruby from whoanellie on Vimeo.

D's Skills from Welter Videos on Vimeo.

halloween 2012

we were off to a very slow start this morning....

but that's because we had so much fun last night.

i really wish i would've taken pictures of all the trading that went on post trick-or-treating.

it was a major affair.

it was getting dark by the time we pulled out the camera... so these pics are kinda blurry.

boo.

hoo.

 R was a cowboy, but refused to wear his bandana & hat. he never once forgot about the gun tho.

 L was katniss from the hunger games. she looks a lot like her... people tell het that all the time.

 D was a candy corn witch.

S was an angel.

 cuuuuttttteeeee!!!!!!!!!

S was a peacock.

 moustatch girl, wwwhhhhaaattttaaarrreeeyyooouuudddoooiinnggghhheerree???, and some sort of emperor/goddess/roman.

 awww. the sweetest angel.

the whole group ready to go.

happy halloween!!!!!

best deal ever

 last weekend, we decided to take the kids up to the local ski resort. they were having a canned food drive and in return for bringing cans, each child 12 & under could receive a FREE season ski pass.

ummm... yes please!!!

the kids had to recite a rule from the ski rule book, bring canned food, proof of identity & ride the ski lift.

it was a beautiful ride but we were not prepared for the freezing temperatures at the top of the mountain. i wanted to walk back down, but i was out-voted.

when we got to the bottom, we got mugs of hot chocolate, kettle corn and cinnamon roasted almonds.

yummmmmm.

delicious dates

no, not the kind of date i am over due for, but the kind of dates you eat.
i ran into trader joes on sunday, to gather food for lunches & such, and came across this delicious display of samples. can i ever pass up the samples at trader joes? the answer is no.

i purchased the ingredients and made them as soon as we got home.

everyone loved them :)

prepare as pictured below, bake at 275 for about 15 min.

enjoy!

stuff...

the boy found some boots.

                                   when you can't get a sitter, have a double date at the park!

                                      here are our lovely friends at our fancy italian restaurant...

this girl started soccer

                                       now our saturdays have been renamed soccer saturday.

                                              after D's game, we head to daddy's game.

                                 the kids bring lots of toys and gatorade to keep themselves busy.

one night we were lucky enough to hang out with these two kids.

this little man was baptized.

it was precious.

little S approving her new "russian" inspired curtains.

we finally finished this puzzle.

but alas, we were missing one peice!

luckily daddy found it somewhere several days later.

this boy is starting a new habit.

silently sneaking out of his crib after we put him to bed.

who knows where he will turn up next.