Caroline Turns Five

August Rush

So John and I went to see August Rush over the weekend. We LOVED it. I am a fan of Kerri Russell as most of you know so naturally I wanted to see it. John didn't want to see it but in the end he really enjoyed it. A few weeks ago John rented me The Waitress which I also really liked. It got me thinking of my Felicity days. Oh how I miss them. I used to be sooo crazy. Well I am still crazy but in a different way(married to a med student with three kids). For those of you who didn't know me when I lived for Felicity I have to tell you a little story. I was in my apartment in college watching an episode and my roommates boyfriend was in the same room studying. He looked up at the t.v. and then at me and then back at the t.v. "Misa did you cut your hair like Felicity's?" "Ummm, ya" "MiSa!"
If you haven't seen August Rush yet you should definitely go. I put a Felicity clip under our family picture. Have fun watching it. It brought back a lot of memories.

Eighteen Bags

Last weekend a storm was suppose to be coming into our area. Some of you may have heard about the Ice Storms that hit Oklahoma and neighboring areas. Well there was a possibility that it would come to us also. So I came up with a great idea on Saturday morning. "John, I think we should rake all of the leaves in our back yard and put up the Christmas lights before the storm comes in." Which really meant, " John I think YOU should rake all the leaves and put up the Christmas lights." I had a lot of laundry to do. If any of you know my laundry issues you know that it is usually big. So John began raking with the kids and I did laundry. John raked and raked and raked and raked. I think it was the first time in a long time that another project took longer than the laundry. By the end of the day I felt so bad. I had finished my project and he still had the lights. The kids had a great time though. As you can see John raked the leaves near the swing set so they could jump into the pile. There was 18 bags of leaves when John finished. Luckily he got all the outside stuff done before the storm started to blow in. And I got all the laundry done. Well, now it is all piled up again. That is the thing that I hate about laundry. As soon as I get it done and feel that feeling of relief I look in the hampers and they are full again.
The Ice didn't come this far south so we didn't have to deal with that. I always like to have reasons to get things done. I am big procrastinator by heart and I think I have rubbed off on John a bit. If the storm would have never been a threat we would still be sitting here with a back yard full of leaves and no lights (and no clean clothes). Thanks Texas Weather Men.

Disneyland - Christmas 2007

Socks or more like Pants

I thought any of you that are members of the Black family would find this funny. We always spend Christmas in Utah so we have just left our Christmas socks at my mom's house. Since this year we will be having Christmas morning at our own house my mom brought our socks to us in California.

Yesterday when I was unpacking the suitcases Caroline and Elliot pulled the socks out and immediately put them on. "Look, Christmas socks for us, lets wear them right now". I had to explain to them that Aunt Judy puts a lot of work into making those socks

and we must not wear them. Crazy CRAZY kids!!!

Buzz

We just returned from our trip to Disneyland. We forgot our camera so we only have a few pictures for now. As soon as I get copies from my family I will post them.

Our trip started out with Mei throwing up an hour before we were suppose to leave. She continued to throw up through out our trip adding Elliot to the club on Saturday at the BYU game (luckily I wasn't there for that one, just the guys). And then Caroline on the way home on Tuesday. John and I got the bug mildly while we were in California but not as bad as the kids. Despite the throwing up things still went great.Today is the first day in about a week that we haven't had anyone throw up. Hooray!!!

We made the mistake of taking Elliot on Tower of Terror first thing. Caroline had been waiting for a whole year to go on it. She ate healthy food and worked really hard to grow to meet the 40" ride requirement. When you ask her how old she is she doesn't tell you 4, she tells you 40 because she finally made it just a few months before the trip. She was so proud when they measured her for the ride and continued to love being measured for the rest of the trip.

Elliot was terrified for the rest of the trip of any ride that was dark. He liked the roller coasters so we did those over and over (the Go Coaster in Toon Town). The last day we finally got him to go on Pirates and he loved it. I am so glad he finally gave in. A Disneyland trip without Pirates isn't much of a trip.

But the ride of rides to Elliot was Buzz. We rode it about a million times and I am not exaggerating. If you have ever been on this ride you know that you have guns or blasters that you use to shoot at targets or the bad space men. It is a game and you are trying to get the highest score. I am terrible. Mei is even better than me. I try and try to get the targets but nothing ever happens. Mei for some reason can triple my score and Elliot and Caroline blow me away. It is so sad. You can see the scores on these pictures. I haven't even got close to one of these scores. John takes it very seriously.

Caroline is a Disneyland addict. She lives for it. She went and went until she passed out. I loved taking her on this trip. She loved every minute of it. She wanted to try everything she could and was up for anything. Mei on the other hand was not so happy. She was under the weather. We do have to give that to her. But I don't think she cared much for Disneyland. Hopefully next time will be better for her. She mostly just sat in her Chariot with a scowl on her face.

When it was time to go home we were so sad. We can't wait to go on our next trip. I came home and started thinking and planing when we could go again. It is the most wonderful place on earth. Thanks to all of you who went on this trip and especially to you who helped make this trip possible for us (Mom and Dad, Michael and Chieko). We had so much fun. See you all on Christmas

Spaceship

Today Elliot and Mei took off for outer space. Elliot made this spaceship for himself and his little sister decided to come along. I LOVE it when they play nice together. I remember when I was little and when my sisters and I would fight. My mom would go NUTS. I understand how she felt. I feel like I am in heaven when they are playing nice and everyone is getting along. I also love how creative they are. I like to watch and see what their little brains are going to think of next.

First Snow

Our Thanksgiving started with "Nemo on Ice" on Wednesday night. We got cheap tickets at the last minute. The kids really enjoyed it and I think everyone ended up having a great time.

Thanksgiving morning a city person knocked on our door because they were turning off our water. I had a million things cooking in the kitchen so John quickly jumped in the shower and filled up the tub for me. Luckily the kids were all bathed. We started filling up whatever we could find with water because they said it would be off for the rest of the day. "Happy Thanksgiving to us." Things ended up working out okay. We went to a friend's house in our ward for Thanksgiving dinner. It was very nice. The dinner was wonderful and the kids had a good time with their friends. The highlight of the day was after dinner though. We were all sitting there eating our pie when I looked out the window and it was SNOWING. Everyone jumped up and ran outside. Snow doesn't happen very often in Texas let alone this early. It was so fun. A sister in our ward said it just perfectly. When everyone ran outside she said" there is something special about the first snow." I have to agree. It just made our holiday.

Blog Tag

I have been Blog Tagged by Chalise so here are a few interesting facts about me.

1. My favorite movie is Lady Hawk. Some of you already know this. The interesting thing about this fact is that we have some friends here who love this movie also and have it in their own movie collection. Small world huh.
2. When I first got married I was so afraid that John was going to murder me in my sleep. Then I realized I got it from watching those prime time murder specials. I love them. I love to watch how things pan out or if they figure out if the husband really did it.
3. I love having babies. (Not the pregnancy part) Mei's birth was a lot harder than the other two but I still loved the rush of having all those people around me telling me to push. I always tell John when it is all over that I want to do it again. I know I am weird but I think it is fun!
4. I have a boyfriend on the side. His name is John Elliot. John knows about this and it drives him CRAZY! Elliot is glued to my side. The other day he was crying and I got upset with him for driving me crazy and he said "I just want to tell you that you're a great mom." John makes fun of my boyfriend but just because he is jealous.
5. I found a turtle on my lawn the other day. I drove up to my house after taking Caroline to school and there it was. A turtle. Luckily John was home for a minute so he and Elliot took it to a park nearby and put it in the lake.
6. My most favorite thing to do in the world is to wander around Target. When I have had an especially hard day with the kids I go to Target after John has come home and I wander around for hours. It makes me feel sooo good. And then I am ready for another day!

I tag: Kate, Sara, Jamie, Chelli, and Tiffany:

1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about!

2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.

Gobble Gobble

John and I teach the younger nursery class. For nursery today we had a little Thanksgiving dinner of our own. This was our turkey. Caroline, Elliot, and Mei helped us make it last night. We had a lot of fun. All of the kids loved it in class this morning.

We hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hopefully we will see some of you soon.

Snow Boots

This morning Elliot woke up and got himself dressed. This is what he wanted to wear today because today he is going to Disneyland(that is what he told me). We actually have twelve days until we leave for Disneyland, he got a little confused.

I love that he is going to need snow boots in Disneyland. That California weather. You never know.

Watch out Disneyland, here we come!!!

Trunk or Treat

Last night we went to the 'trunk or treat' at our church building. 'Trick or Treating' has changed a lot since John and I were kids. Kids don't go around the neighborhoods anymore. Some of our friends told us that they tried to go around their neighborhood a bit but most of the houses were not participating. When we got to the church Caroline hoppped out of the van and we didn't see her for the rest of the night. She and her friend Kassi ruled the night on their own. Elliot started walking around with some friends while John and I got the van set up and the Oingo Biongo playing (Dead Man's Party - Wouldn't be Halloween without it). When I caught up to Elliot I realized he didn't have any shoes on. We forgot them. Thank goodness it was a nice night and not too cold. John stayed at the van while I walked around with Elliot and Mei. Elliot was a Dinosaur, although people kept asking him if he was a dragon. I guess a dragon goes better with the princesses. Easy mistake. Mei was Snow White and Caroline was Sleeping Beauty. (Thanks mom for the great costumes, everyone loved them.) Here they are with their friends. It was so difficult to get a good picture of Mei. We tried all night. They had such a good time. I think after this year Elliot will be a pro like Caroline. They (Caroline and Kassi) went around about five times.

After 'trunk or treating' we went to dinner with some of our friends. On the way home Caroline said "Mom, how about next year we get to eat all of our candy in one night." I looked back at them and they were all covered with candy wrappers. When we got Mei out of her car seat she had a few suckers stuck to her dress. As the sucker got smaller she got rid of it quickly to start on another. When we put them in bed Elliot kept saying "I need my bag" John would say "You need your bed, you're in your bed". "No, MY BAG." I asked if if he was talking about his candy bag and he said "Yes, I need it." Don't you just LOVE Halloween.

Chicken

For my birthday this year John gave me a plane ticket to go to Utah and see my family. I turned thirty, I guess you could say it was a monumental birthday (although I still feel the same). Anyhoo, I had not yet seen my parents new house in Southern Utah so we went on a girls trip to see it. I took Mei Mei with me and Caroline and Elliot stayed home with John in Texas. We had a great time. (Thanks Mom, Kate, and Candice for the wonderful birthday).When we arrived at my parents new house we realized we needed to run to Target for a few items. While shopping Kate found the greatest buy of the century. A Halloween costume for Montey. We had to purchase it. I forgot my camera for the trip, so this is the only record I have of my Thirtieth Birthday in Utah. Kate sent me the picture to show the kids.

For some reason Montey is the most favored family member (this is especiaaly odd because Montey could care less about any of us especially the kids). We have to bless him in our prayers just as we would bless grandma's, grandpa's, aunts, etc... When I showed Caroline the picture she couldn't tell that it was Montey. She asked me why Kate was holding a chicken. So Happy Halloween Montey...You make a great CHICKEN!!!

What?

While making this blog, Misa kept asking me to help her, but I said "I'm sure you're doing just fine." "But John, I really need your help." "Misa, I've never made a blog before--I'm sure you're doing great."

...

"John, how do you spell PhD again? I always forget."

That's when I decided maybe she does need just a little bit of help. But the blogs look fine to me, so this is mine. I couldn't think of what to say so here's a picture of our innocent little Caroline. Hope you like it.

Uno

We have been trying to create a Blog for our friends and family since Candice went to India. We loved her blog. We read it everyday. But for some reason we couldn't get ours to work. Finally we are up and running.

We have been here in Texas for over four years now. It has become our home and our friends have become a part of our family. We are excited for John to finish up his PhD so he can start his clinical training. Hopefully that will be in the next year or so.

There are five of us now living in our little house. My mom recently asked me why our house looked like a bomb had just blown up while watching one of our home videos. I replied "that is how it always is". And that is the truth. Since Mei came into our family it has been as if a bomb blew up. We are constantly picking up messes or eventually picking up messes. But this is our life. We have had a wonderful adventure and now we can share it with you.

The Great Pumpkin

I LOVE HALLOWEEN. It is my favorite time of the year. I love it more than Christmas and Birthdays. I usually miss Utah at this time of year because Texas doesn't always cool off by Halloween and it just isn't the same. But luckily this year it has cooled off and we are having a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful fall weather.
Yesterday John didn't have to go into the Lab so we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. We had such a great time. The Kids rode a little train pulled by a tractor, jumped in the bounce houses, and searched for the perfect pumpkin, The Great Pumpkin. Luckily we found the perfect one. John has never been able to go to the pumpkin patch with us because of school so it was especially fun to have him there with us.
Today after church we made pumpkin stew and decorated a haunted house made out of ginger bread. Well, John did the decorating with some help from three little people. They did a great job. I was cooking the stew. We won't be staying up all night waiting for The Great Pumpkin on Halloween night. We are known for crashing early but we will be going trick or treating. This entry will be continued then.