Turkey Day 2011

 We spent Thanksgiving over at my parents house again. I love being able to get some cooking and baking done in my mom's huge kitchen (total kitchen envy here, by the way) and the kids like hanging out with the cousins. It's always a laid back day with way too much food and Black Friday planning.

Nana had a fun craft for the kids to make. They were foam turkeys and the older kids had a lot of fun with them. It was fun watching Rix and Olivia help their younger siblings make their turkeys.

While the older kids crafted, the younger kids played.

He looks evil, or like he's scheming about something not good.

Olivia helping Jack with his turkey.

Adam being super helpful. In his defense, I told him I didn't want any help. And he did a good job keeping Madelynn entertained for me.

Papa giving Jack tickles. Jack looooves being tickled. Looooves it. Seriously. He gets sad if I tickle one of my other kids and not him.

Celeste and Nana putting the finishing touches on the turkey meal!

Madelynn was being, well, Madelynn, and wouldn't smile so Bryan tried his best. Love her bow too. I got it from this page I found on Facebook called Blushing Baby Boutique. She has ones for each holiday and ones that look like all the Disney princesses, Pinkalicious, Dora, etc. So. Cute. And all made out of ribbon!

Ah, there she is!

Jack and Olivia ready to eat!

After the kids were in bed, Celeste and I braved the crowds at WalMart and ended up getting almost everything we wanted on our lists. I even scored some things I wasn't even planning on getting but were great deals. We thought about hitting up Target too at midnight, but in all honesty we just wanted to go to bed. So we went to Target the next day and they still had everything that we had wanted from the night before. So glad we went to bed instead!

Review: Listerine Total Care Zero

Okay, so I'll admit it. I'm a dentist's wife who doesn't use mouth rinse. I guess most people don't. It stings and isn't usually pleasant, and afterwards everything tastes like mint for at least three hours. I've used it now and then (like, say, after I eat lots of garlic or onions) and it's not like a regret it, it just isn't my favorite part of taking care of my teeth and gums.

So when Crowdtap gave me the opportunity to try out a new kind of mouthwash, I was interested. They sent me a bottle of new Listerine Total Care Zero, which promises less intense flavor. It came in a clear bottle with a pretty pale purple color. However, the taste doesn't match the color. It still has a mild minty flavor but it doesn't sting like normal Listerine. It was easy to use without making my eyes water, but I didn't love the after taste or the film that it left in my mouth and on my teeth. These don't last long, but it wasn't necessarily ideal. However, if you do care about your teeth and don't like intense mouth washes, then this one is for you. I'll give it a try while I have the bottle, but I'm still not sold.

Adam even tried it out. He also noticed a film on his teeth but said the flavor was slightly minty and bearable compared to other mouth rinses.

Just for fun... and Cole's birthday

 We all met up at Chuck E Cheese to play some games. My dad had promised to take my nephew Cole there after he was potty trained and that was a looong time ago, so he finally came through for Cole's 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun to just play around and let the kids run wild for a while. They looove Chuck E Cheese, and while I don't mind the games and all, we can't stand the food so we went out in Hjelm-style to Costco nearby for some hot dogs afterwards!

Bryce playing Skee Ball. My kids are banned from this game because they release the ball a little too late and it ends up flying high in the air while everyone around ducks for cover. Thankfully no one has ever been hurt.... yet.

Olivia loves this game. It's like jump rope, digital style.

Jack and Papa playing basketball. Jack couldn't get it over the net but it was sure cute to watch him try.

Madelynn loved this ride (a huge rocking horse) and Olivia was a good big sister who would sit in it with her to make sure she was safe.

Bryan and Cole playing. The adults had fun too!

Nana was on Jacob duty, and she didn't mind it at all!

My kids love Chuck E Cheese and he happened to actually be there that night. Jack gave him a big hug...

Followed by Olivia...

And then Madelynn who didn't seem to love the big huge mouse but didn't seem to hate him either.

Jacob even got to go on a ride!

Savior of the World

This past summer/fall our entire family participated in the Savior of the World musical. It was a multi-stake production with people from all over Pierce County and it was amazing! It started out with just Olivia and I auditioning, then somehow Adam got looped into the whole thing and ended up with the role of Peter (who has a ton of lines in the second act). Jack and Olivia were angels (uh, Madelynn didn't participate for obvious reasons) and I was Joanna (one of the women at the tomb) in the second act. We had practice every Thursday night and every Saturday from September to November, with performances the first two weekends in November.

We made so many friends and memories in the production. It was great to spend time as a family, even if it was a sacrifice to be at the church late on Thursdays (my kids weren't in bed until 10pm on practice nights and way later on performance nights), be there all morning on Saturdays and then be at all the performances (Thursday, Friday, TWO on Saturday, then Friday and TWO more on Saturday). It paid off though because we had so much fun. We met people we would have not met otherwise and the musical itself is just awesome. Beautiful music, plus we had beautiful singers to sing it! Olivia is already asking when the next Multi-stake production will happen! (In the summer! Yay!)

Thanks to Celeste and Bryan and their family and my mom and dad for watching Madelynn for us sooo many times so we didn't have to worry about her while we were practicing or performing!

This was how we would find Jack pretty much any time he was not needed on stage. Next to an outlet so he could plug in his DS and play (and it kept him really quiet!)

Olivia was in the first act with Adam and I as our daughter (shocker) for some family scenes. She loves being on stage a lot.

My costume. I ended up taking it in (a lot) and taking off the weird kimono-style sleeves and it ended up looking much better. Well, as good as a sack dress can look.

Olivia and Jack sang in the angel choir during intermission. It was a great way to lure the audience back in after a few minutes of break and to set the tone for the second act, which starts at the tomb.

Peter (Adam) with Thomas (who is Jonathan, one of my sister-in-law Ana Lee's cousins, we figured this out after being around each other for like two months!) and John.

My cousin Austin played the angel proclaiming to the shephers, and I am at the very top on the left as part of the angel choir.

See? I'm there, I promise!

Jack and Olivia were part of the children's angel choir that sang "Glory to God in the highest! And peace on earth, good will to men!" And don't worry, this was dress rehearsal and Jack did get a costume that fit him (not this one that was obviously meant for a 2 year old!)

The whole scene. This was my favorite, and I always got a little teary eyed seeing the kids come out and sing in their sweet voices.

There were some professional pictures taken during the actual production and maybe I will post those later once I actually download them (if they are still available!). We had a wonderful experience and the place was packed every night. I can't wait for the next show!

Olivia's Reflections Pictures

Last year, Olivia did really well in her school's Reflections art contest. She drew a picture and made it to state (but didn't place there). She loves drawing, coloring, writing, taking pictures, etc. She has written soooo many books (most of which are so random that they make me laugh) and always has some sort of project she's working on.

This year, Reflections had a theme of "Diversity means..." and she had to come up with something to reflect that. Now, a lot of 7 year olds don't really understand the concept of "diversity" so I had to come up with a way to explain it to her. I told her that if all the trees were green and leafy and looked the same and grew the same, etc, that the world would be pretty boring. Sure, the trees themselves would be pretty, but there would be nothing different about them to give variety to what we see. We talked about how there are different types of trees and colors and shapes and it makes the world beautiful that way. She understand what it is now, but wanted to take a nature picture to show this off.

We took a few treks to Steilacoom Park and the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, and then chose her best picture. I was nervous letting her use my nice Canon DSLR, but she put the strap around her neck and I showed her how to turn the lens to zoom in and out, how to hold it properly and how to take the pictures. She did great! I reminded her to look in the camera and when she saw what she wanted in the window, to press the shutter. FYI- all the following are her pictures, unaltered.

Steilacoom Park:

Nisqually Wildlife Refuge:



In the end we chose the one at the very top, put it in photoshop and added her definition of diversity. She won first in her school for her grade, but lack of a district committee forced the contest to end there. She was happy with her project and her trophy, so that's all that matters!