BRACE YOURSELF.

Ho! Today I took Chaedon to my ex-Orthodontist who did my braces as a teenager. I love him to pieces. He has an amazing wife and children -whom I used to babysit! It was a total blast from the past.
Chaedon gets his braces on next week...
And I'm getting mine on soon too!!! WHAT, you might ask?! Well, I never got a permanent retainer, and my teeth have moved a lot and crowded somewhat as well. Aesthetically, it's all fixable (7 to 8 months, he says) for the cost of my plan's coverage, which means I'll never have to pay a dime for him re-fixing my teeth! WOO! I felt terrible showing him his hard work/what time has done to it, but it will be awesome to realign everything and put my smile back on track. :D

Look forward to some serious documentation. It's a thousand times more interesting as an adult. Call me metal mouth or brace-face, but look out world, my smile is improving!!

Sweet Slice O' Christmas!

The other day Lance told me he had a surprise for me... He took me out to the van and opened the door. Upon looking in, the BEST CHRISTMAS ALBUM EVER was playing: Kenny and Dolly: Once Upon A Christmas and he'd put a bag of cinnamon pine cones under the middle console. It was SO AWESOME! Nothin' but cheer in that van, baybee.

Love you, Lance.

Harry Potter

Can I just say, I absolutely LOVE these books? They are truly what got me reading as an adult. I have never been much of a reader and unfortunately read quite slowly. Yes, I got good grades in school, but I had to WORK for them!
In my spare time (whilst cartoons buzz in the background for kiddos) I have found a bit of refuge re-reading this series (finished re-reading the Twilight series recently too) -allowing my brain to take a few moments off and visit a different world. Thank you, JK Rowling. : )

me and bri

This is another picture that Mary did.... I thought it was lovely and captured the baby so sweetly! Now I have too many to choose from for our Christmas cards! ...Speaking of which, I'm not quite sure I have my list anymore (lost all our computer files last spring), so there might be a 'holla' for some addresses!

NFCP Planning

Today has been busy. I went to mom's (with le girlz) and we did a bit o' planning for the huge Family Christmas Party. It's always a blast, but December is a tricky month to get things planned. The fam is currently in negotiations for what/when/where any of this will happen.

Right after sending out the email, lots o' opinions started to surface and it looks like it might be harder to plan than we were hoping. If any of my faithful readers have any fun suggestions for kid games or activities related to Christmas, please feel free to leave a comment, yo?

Schneek-Peek!

Here are some of the images that Mary has taken/ edited for us -they're amazing. Mary, I love you so much -this is really becoming quite the talent.

Chaedon and Brina.

Me and Lance -my favorite shot.
Me and Mia-Babes.

The baby!

My Ella.

Milly-Kisses.

HALLOWEEN 2009

Oh my goodness was it ever a BUSY and awesome Halloween this year!! The festivities started with the "parade" spiel that the PM Kindergarten (the whole school had another one at 9:30, but these PM'ers got one all to themselves (thank goodness)) put on. Above is my darling Ella-Boo with the costume that MY MOTHER made for me in 1st grade! Holy schnozz-BLAST FROM THE 80'S BAYBEE.

Here is the hair masterpiece. Yes, I got nervous because time was running out. Why, you might ask? Because Lance had some CRAZY idea in his head that we should do her hair like a pumpkin stem. Now, after quite a lot of convincing, I went for it, but by a miracle (and last-minute poor planning) there was no hair-spray paint to be found in the stores we looked in. Sorry, Ella! She kept saying "I want to go with Daddy's plan!". OUCH.

Here she is lined up with the parade kiddos. Good times.

The next day (Halloween day) my sister Mary had come up to town to take our family pictures for the Christmas card. I'll give you a sneak peak on my next blog entry (they look amazing, Mary!!!). We took some random shots with our camera while Mary worked her magic with her own much more expensive and luxurious camera. :) Above, the Lancenator.

Here's my baby boy Chaedon and Ella -his worshipper!

Here's Mia, Chaedon, and Ella. It was next to IMPOSSIBLE to get Mia to hold still- as this WAS prime nap time, and the leaves were beckoning to her like candy.

Sabrina and Lance. CUTE picture!

Here I am trying to hold my crazy Mia down from jumping into the leaves again. BTW: HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MOM FOR MAKING THE SUPER CUTE FLOWERS FOR THE GIRLZ HAIR! LOVE YOU, MOM!!!

Me and Chaedon. :)

We went straight to Lance's parent's home for home-made pizza and donuts/ hot chocolate. Here is Lance's sister's family (left to right): Scotty-Too-Snotty (as Wolverine), Chazzy-Bear (firefighter), Aneesa (Witch), and a VERY pregnant Candace as a garden gnome. ...KUDOS for the absolute best preggo costume I've EVER seen! She rocked it.

The kids all went trick-o-treating around the neighborhood. I skivvied off to the "Trunk-O-Treat" that my mom's ward was doing with Sabrina... to spend some more time with Mary. Sabrina and I came back and hung out with my in-laws for a few (Mia stayed too) until everyone came back. Here she is trying to eat her pumpkin costume.

Here's Lance and myself at Debbie and Donny's. SHOUT OUT TO THE IN-LAWS FOR A FANTASTICAL HALLOWEEN EVENT -THANKS FOR THE GRUB AND THE FUN!

After all that hooplah, we went home. Lance had gotten the night off and sent me away with my friend Erin to hang out. We had SO much fun!! She was a devil, and I borrowed some of her angel garb to dawn for the event. This is us -just precious. ...See my halo? :) Notice the little red bow between Erin's horns? We thought it was particularly fitting -so she swiped it from my girl's collection! Heh heh.

Halloween is a good time. My mom has ALWAYS hated the idea -doesn't like the idea that people turn into other people and give themselves more freedom to do things they might otherwise not do, etc. I don't agree, but that's okay mom. It's nice to be someone else for a night. It's fun for kiddos to do something out of the ordinary (imagine how boring life would be?!) and look forward to. It doesn't have to be about super gross and scary things (bleh, not my fav -notice my 3 lil' pumpkins?), but can be what we make of it. I'm grateful for a reason to gather -a mile-marker and memory-maker for those who embrace it. Happy Halloween, everyone. ON TO CHRISTMAS!

Watching...

Lance is adorable with the girls. He's so sweet when he holds them and gets them to smile and laugh. Here he is with Sabrina. ...So cute.He had a big ole' cheeze for me when I took the picture!

Sabrina was pretty entertained too.

Sometimes I stand back and watch. There's a lot to take in. A girl's relationship with her dad is SO crucial in her development -how she'll interact with all men in her own life. Today isn't the day I go into depth on my relationship with my own father, but I wish and hope for these girls that they have more than what I did. ...That they'll feel his approval, his love, and always have the special bond that they seem to have even now.

Mi Familia

My sister put this photo on Facebook, and she did such a lovely job with editing it, I thought I'd post it here. This was taken when I was a junior in highschool. It's my immediate family -and yes- we all played those instruments! From left to right: Dave, Me, John, Mom, Dad, Sarah, Mary, Rachael. Aaaah, memories. *Fun to share!

I love this baby

"I love this baby" is what I whisper in my little baby's ear all the time. I did it with Ella and Mia as well. There is nothing more precious in this world. My children will never question their mommy's love.