It's Pizza Day people. Own it.

One of my favorite things to do is "bake" with the grand kids. It's just FUN. Yes, it's messy but who cares. Besides, if you remember, Charlie likes to mop. Without further adieu---in no particular order:

These three love to watch TV on my bed. It could be animal planet, it could be Dora or Curious George. . .doesn't matter.


LOVE, LOVE, LOVE SKYPE. Thanks to Becca and Jason we (and Kevin) now have Skype and can video call our munchkins. Best invention ever!!! This is Rachel and Luke telling us about their day.
Charlie loves pizza, loves it.

Demo on how to roll out the dough.

The finished product. He ate a lot.

I asked Owen to smile for the camera. He did. . .but could not take his eyes off animal planet.
Liesl does not like pizza so she covered her dough with cinnamon and sugar. Owen's was cheese only. Clara had to have her own little ball of dough.
What? I only ate a little bit.
Fun times people, fun times.

The Reason for the Season

I'd like to pay tribute to Flem's latest post. Beautiful picture--brings back such fond memories. Cris and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple and we're grateful for all that it means to us. We celebrate the birth of Christ at this time of year in many ways. It's a beautiful thing. . .all the lights, the decorations, the giving of gifts to loved ones, the music, remembering those in need in some way---make your own list. We enjoyed our Christmas sooooo much. Here's why:

Nick, Bella and Tasha came to visit. Score!!! Zhu Zhu pets!! Three days after Christmas Toys R Us got in a new shipment. We then had to make little pillows and blankets for our new babies.


Christmas dinner--just some of our peeps.


The prime rib roast before going in to the oven. Forgot to take a pictures after in came out but it was AWESOME.

Cris and I went house hopping Christmas morning sharing gifts and watching children's faces. Oh look!! Memzy got new knives!

Shed is impressed with his new iPhone car charger.

Memzy made us a "travel quilt" with embroidered patches of our travels. LOVE IT!

Riles and his new Wii game.

Jack got one too.

Camcorder. Skype, Skype, Skype. Excited.

Charlie yuvs his trio building set.

Clara loves FP Little People so gramma stalked eBay. Lost 4 bids--won 2.

Owen LOVES Legos
Liesl is very happy with another new Webkins.
And My Pretty Ponies
A Christmas angel.

Good times, good times. Thanks to our children, their spouses and our grand kids for making our life so full of joy.

How Well Do You Know These Boys?

Are they standing by the right Chipmonk?

Chistmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat. . . (muppets singing)

Landee inspired some of us to post our decorations, so here they are. This beautiful snowflake glass ornament was purchased at Buchart Gardens gift shop, Vancouver Island, Canada. Oh yeah!!!

It looks prettier in real life. Most ornaments are collected from our travels.

Hurrah for outside lights. Next year I will be paying a scout to put them up. Non negotiable.

Love the red front door. Just love it.

Clara's stocking. I know---she's 1 1/2 years old. Better late than never.

Packages color coded. Green for Memzy's family. Red for Becca's family. Nick and Kevin's mailed long ago. Phew.

We are so PSYCHED!! Panera's is coming to town. Look out!!

We took Crackers out for breakfast last Saturday for his birthday. What an angel.

Can he get any cuter? I think not.

Tuesday was date day for these 4. We went to Barnes and Noble. . . . . .

And then to "Moo" for lunch and ice cream. My idea of holiday fun.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

A tribute to Shed and Memzy

I present to you (drum roll please) THE MAN OF THE HOUR!!! He may look a bit nerdy, goofy, silly, etc. But he has a heart of gold. I was struck with the stomach flu Sunday night at precisely 8:30 P.M. I am usually a very strong woman with a can-do attitude but when it comes to vomiting--I am a wimp/looser/reject. I simply hate it. I'm sure you all feel the same way.

At any rate, we needed help both in the form of Fenergen (anti nausea meds) and taking care of Cris. Memzy and Shed came to our rescue presto pronto. (Let it be known that Becca, Owen and Liesl were all experiencing the same thing having started only hours before. Yah, we spent part of Saturday together and probably all got it from the same source.)

Shed took care of Cris (this includes every possible activity you can think of) Sunday night and again on Monday night. He had no idea he was signing up for this kind of duty when he married Memzy. We just wanted to say THANK YOU. We think you're pretty terrific.


He took care of this guy.



Memzy brought Gatorade, lunch for Cris and much needed support. Love you both.

Gingerbread houses--round two

Jack and Charlie came over Saturday for their turn making gingerbread houses. We had a ball!!! It takes so little to make a 5 year old happy. And an almost 9 year old was a great helper and a good sport with said 5 year old. Sharing candy decorations was successful--lots of trading going on. Charlie never stopped talking (see video below) and Jack sang as he worked. Note the frosting on Charlie's face. . . . not bad really. . . .couldn't been worse. THIS is what Christmas is all about--my little sugar plums. Explanation: Jack did not want to be videoed. He said a nice picture would be just fine. Love that boy.

Some Thanksgiving Fun

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving. Here's the proof.

We made bows.


We did all sorts of crafts.
We lounged around.

And lounged some more. Please note that little Miss Clara was not to be left out and Owen didn't want to actually lay by the girls so found his perch at the top of the bed. Movie time.

Oh yeah. . .and we made gingerbread houses/trains/villages. (kits at Target are awesome)

Liesl was thrilled to have girl cousins in town.

Gratuitous picture of Clara.

Uncle John (Cris' brother) came from Virginia.

Nick and Family came from Henderson.

I do love my girls.

It was a perfect Thanksgiving (except we missed Memzy and family and Kevin and family. . . .but you can't have everything all the time. Right?