Parties, parties, and more parties

Nate had his birthday party on Friday and it was a success. Nate had around 30 kids show up which was a nice change from the 50 he invited! We had a few fires going in the front yard, hot chocolate, and I made cinnamon rolls for a treat. Despite a few dramatic happenings, it went over well and I think the kids all had a nice time together. As far as the gifts he got goes, let's just say he's loaded now. My favorite part of the night was watching him open all the cards with money and handing the money to his business partner, I mean friend, Tanner D. to count for him. I had to take the money away from him so he could focus on entertaining his guests. Later I had to go to Brent's parent's house to borrow some heavy duty tape for a game. I showed the wad of money to his sister and she immediately had to count the money. Now I know where he gets it from...

Last night Brent's family had their annual "Brother/Sister" party at his parent's house. We had a nice dinner with everyone, played our usual white elephant game and exchanged our Christmas gifts. Mainly we just enjoyed talking without a million kids running around. I love that they have this tradition and I hope to carry it on to my own kids.

Tonight was Brent's mom's "Grandkid" party. Another great tradition I will definately carry on. Steve drove the kids all around on the train when they got there. Then we had dinner, watched a short video, and the kids opened their gifts. They gave all the grandkids banks this year "because of the economy" according to Glenna. They even gave each of the grandkids some change to stick in their banks. The banks were adorable and the kids loved every second of the night. Thank you Krummenachers for a great weekend!

My Daughter is not the crazy one...

I just sent out an e-mail to everyone and their dog that I will be selling rolls for Christmas. As soon as I clicked "send" I realized that I apparently am not happy unless I have a huge project I'm working on. So these are my projects for this week:
1. Still need to figure out Christmas gifts for several people.
2. Christmas sharing time on Sunday
3. Christmas CD's for the primary children wrapped (I finished burning them last night and with the help of my awesome friend and other counselor in the presidency, Alicia, put all the stickers on today)
4. Put all the Primary worker Christmas gifts together. My awesome Primary President bought everything, I just need to wrap them.
5. Nate's birthday tomorrow: I get to go on his field trip with him! still need to figure out what treat to bring into the classroom
6. Nate's non-party on Friday (remember: 50 10 and 11 year olds!)
Actually, I think that's it for this week other than the great parties we get to go to. I guess it's not that bad now that I wrote it all down. Once I get through this week, I can then focus on the rest of the Christmas odds and ends and then the rolls. I guess this is why I blog. It's my form of therapy. Now I feel better.

My daughter is crazy

Brent just found this on Rebecca's facebook as her profile picture. I had no idea she knew Zach.

Nate's non-party-party

Nate is turning 11 on the 18th of this month and really wanted a party. I told him this is not his year for a party (we only do a party every other year for our kids since parties can get so expensive). Nate kept trying to scheme up some plan or another to get himself a party. In our neighborhood the kids Nate's age get together quite often at around 7 at night and have what they call night games so Brent and I told him he could invite who ever he wanted to come over and have night games. We would supply some hot chocolate and donuts but that is all we would do and he couldn't ask for presents from his friends since it's not really a birthday party. Well Nate immediately went to the computer and wrote up this invitation: (exactly as he wrote it)

BIRTHDAY

Youre invited to Nates 11 birthday

where? Nates house (our address) we will be in the front yard

When? Dec 19 at 7-10pm

What? we will be doing night games eating homemade donuts drinking hot coco and opening presents

If you have any questions call (our phone number)

I went and typed up an invitation of my own and deleted the presents part. He came home and told me that he and his cousin Emily had made up a list of 25 boys and around 20 girls. I asked if he told all the kids that he wanted to invite yet hoping that I could get this list a little (or a lot) smaller and he said that he did. Okay. So much for no party this year! Maybe we won't be doing homemade donuts. Anybody have a good deal on donuts somewhere? And does anybody want to come help me do some crowd control? 45 ten and eleven year olds. Seriously I feel like my life lately is one crazy thing after another and the worst part is it's all my doing!

Sarah and Tate

This is a picture sent to me from Kim. The Mountain View High School choirs have their holiday dinners this week but I didn't get my order in for tickets fast enough. I was glad that Kim was able to go and get this great picture! Sarah has really enjoyed going to the same school as Tate. She said they hung out a lot last night during the dinner and she had a great time with him. I've said it once or maybe a hundred times but I'm going to say it again, I love that my kids have such great cousins that they are so close to. We really miss the ones who live so far away!

Here are some fun pictures I found on Sarah's camera from Amy's wedding day...

The beautiful bride.
Nate and Mitchell at the luncheon.

Sarah and Rebecca on their way to the reception.The back of either Sarah or Rebecca's hair. Any guesses who that is because I'm the mom and I don't know.

Cute and crazy cousins at the luncheon.
Jake isn't sure he want's to claim these girls as family.
A little cuter and a little less crazy cousins still at the luncheon. I'm not sure Sarah heard that this was the "nice" picture.

Brent and Andy ....

Such sweet girls!

We were TPed tonight

Seriously, if you're going to TP us, please have the decency to use at least one roll of toilet paper! Coming from a master TPer in my time, I'm offended!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sad to say, this is the only picture I could find of my mom on this computer and I think I stole it from Kristen's blog. Apparently I need to start taking more pictures at family gatherings. I want to pay tribute to my mom on this, her birthday. My mom has been through A LOT of trials in her life and although I know she doesn't think so, she has been a wonderful example to me. I was just talking to my friend on Sunday about how hard it must have been for her when my dad died and she was left with 4 teenagers to raise on her own. My friend asked how my mom got through it and if she was sad all the time. I honestly can't remember her ever crying in front of us about my dad. I remember her telling me a few years later how she felt that she had to be strong for her children because she didn't want us to have to deal with worrying about her on top of grieving over a lost father. I have learned so much from my mom's example. I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is her faith in prayer. I found my mom on her knees by her bed more times than I could ever try to count. She has struggled so much in her life with her health issues but continues to always have a good attitude about it. I couldn't imagine trying to raise my four children while constantly struggling with pneumonia, shingles, etc. etc... My favorite picture of my mom is the one where she's in the kitchen cooking dinner like she did every single night (very unlike me) and she looks so beautiful with her make up and hair all done like she did every morning (very unlike me) and she has the most happy and radiant smile on her face. One day I'm going to sneak in and steal that picture from her! I remember my mom singing to wake us up or to put us to bed, dancing while she worked, and always staying up and talking to us after our nights out with friends or our dates. She was always willing to share her bed when we had a bad night or just needed the comfort of her by us. Most of all I am so thankful for my mom's testimony. She made sure that we as a family went to church together every week even though my dad wasn't a member of the church. She taught us the gospel in family home evenings and scripture study whether it was family scripture study or her own personal scripture study. I have to admit that sometimes if I saw her reading the scriptures I would try to duck away before she saw me because I knew she would want to tell me about what she just learned. If mom is reading something and you happen to be near, she WILL share! I want to be a better person because of her example. Thank you for all you did for me mom! I love you so much! Have a wonderful birthday!

Warning: post about weight again...

We were watching The Biggest Loser tonight. We are down to the makeover week and I got very depressed while watching it. Heba was trying on a dress that my favorite guy from Project Runway, Christian told her to try on. She said there was no way it would fit her because of it's size. Well it did fit her. I'm depressed because I still think she looks pretty big but the size she tried on is smaller than what I wear. I know I'm a big girl but I didn't think I was bigger than Heba. Oh, how it hurts when reality hits you! I told my family right then and there to never ever let me eat again. I'm now telling all of my friends and family, do not let me eat that cookie that I want to eat! To those friends who I work with, do not let me put mayo on that sub! And for heavens sake, will somebody just drag me to the gym?! I can't get there on my own. I know it and you know it, so just get me off my fat duff and get me to the gym. I'm obviously not adult enough to do it myself. P.S. Please no comments about how I still look good no matter what. We all know it's a lie. What I need right now is some tough love from everybody around me. I'm begging you all!!! I don't want to look bigger than Heba anymore!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

Here are a few pics I stole from Glenna's blog for Thanksgiving. I think I left my camera at my mom's so I'll have to post more later if I get the chance.

Here's the start of the annual Turkey (chicken) trot. Nate was excited to be the chicken again but I think we might need to have a smaller cousin as the chicken next year. That costume was small LAST YEAR!

The poor chicken looks miserable!

I had to wake Sarah and Rebecca up as the race was starting so they ran out the door so fast that Rebecca forgot her SHOES! She complained later that day that her feet hurt. Crazy girl.

Here's Jake running in to the finish!

And this is what I was doing while they were running. I woke up at 3:30 and was totally done making all 77 dozen rolls by 11:30. I really only needed to make 65 dozen but didn't keep track well enough and mixed up two batches too many. Whew! What a project! I actually didn't hate it and think I will make this a tradition. What else do I have to do on Thanksgiving morning?
My awesome husband got up at 6:30 after staying up late the night before. He woke up at the exact time that I started to need another person to help me. Brent ended up doing most of the baking, buttering, and bagging while I did the mixing and forming.

Here are about half of the rolls ready to be picked up. The rest of the day was spent at my mom's. Janet, her kids, and Grandma joined us. It was a small group but we had a nice time and the food was soooooo good!