Turkey Trot

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at our place. For the first time on Thanksgiving, I actually got up and ran 5 miles. My friend Cindy told a bunch of us about the local race and we decided to go for it. I actually didn't register since Andy had to work the night before, but with the thousand or so people they had, I just jumped in and ran it anyway. It was a good course with lots of hills. I'm very sore, even now a few days later. It felt good though and gave me the mental edge I needed to go home and eat my favorite...pumpkin pie! I think it should be a tradition now to go race on Thanksgiving.
Some of our good friends then came over and helped make some delicious food. We are so thankful for wonderful friends and family who show us such love and support.

Powder Fresh

Why is this kid so smiley and clean? Oh he's just being Payton 'Mo' Doodle. He's also just had the best time laughing and making a mess in his bedroom.
Andy and I were just laying in bed talking the other morning while the kids were playing. They were obviously having a great time judging by their screams and giggles of excitement. When Andy got up I heard, "Oh my Gosh!"
Now, if you should every come across a circumstance in your life where your neighbors cook Chim Chi and your trying to find a way to get rid of the disgusting smell in your apartment, may I suggest this: leave your kids alone for a few minutes with a bottle of baby powder. The one hidden behind the diaper stuff but not far enough away that your FOUR YEAR OLD can still see it and for some crazy reason be tempted to throw it everywhere!

There was a basket of laundry on the floor that needed to be washed so I figured they were throwing the clothes around. Nope... In case you wondered the room smelt nice and powder fresh. And much quicker than any candle could have released that sought after aroma. I especially love that there are hand and foot prints on the floor and bed. When the kids left the room, a trail followed. And when I changed Halle's diaper, a pile of white was left on the floor from her hair. They were like little walking Fabreeze's.

We had a quick laugh and momentary thought of, "should we let them do the rest of the house?" (Inner struggle) I decided against it. Hey, it could always be worse.

So Cute

This is how to put your child in time out. I'm only kidding people! Generally the kids like to play 'airplane', but we found they can go higher and farther the other way. :) Payton is in to trying to climb the wall. He was so excited that he 'climbed' up and touched the ceiling.

Halle LOVES her babies. She puts them in the high chair to feed them and gives them naps. Andy walked in to catch her changing a diaper. What a good littla mama!

This is just a random pic I have to show cause she's so dang cute! The kids are very excited for Christmas this year. It's going to be so much fun.

The kids are so cute when dad leaves for work. Kisses, hugs, and lots of "I love you's." Only wish I were a better photographer.

Happy ThanksChristmasgiving

Though Thanksgiving is yet another week away, we are just so festive at our house already. The kids have been watching a few Christmas movies since all the stores here have trees and decorations up. They keep asking if tonight is Christmas and I sadly have to tell them "No."
Everyday I wake up to hear, "Can we put up Christmas yet?"
"After Thanksgiving dear."
Well, Andy put the kids to bed the other night when I was at the gym. Payton was giving him a hard time and so he told him we could put up the decorations if he'd be good. So today I had no choice but to pull out the little fake tree we have. A week earlier isn't really a whole lot of difference I guess. But I don't want to take down the two cute Thanksgiving items I have. I just finished an Autumn wreath I made and was excited to put it up. Acutally, we don't have a lot of any decorations since we didn't really plan on being here originally for the holidays. But I must say our house is very interesting indeed with our Christmas tree, Christmas wreaths, angels, pine cones, and Autumn vines all mixed in together. I wonder what our Thanksgiving guests will think? Oh well. The kids are very happy and it makes me even more excited for Christmas. They are at such a fun age. We are teaching them the carols every time we drive. We'll show those Osmond's!
Thank goodness they aren't really into Easter yet. That would really be a sight.

"We"

I just experienced a frequent scenario that takes place in our home. No, it's not the kids crying for "2 more minutes" before bed but rather a famous quote by my sweet husband.
"Hey babe, 'we' need to do (today he said the laundry). "
Now, as much as I love my dear hubby this cracks me up because what men really mean by 'we' is you, aka, the wife.
It's used for numerous terms and instances such as laundry, diaper changes, dishes, cleaning, cookie making, having a baby, writing the newsletter, etc.
What generally happens is 'I' end up doing it and he watches the kids so I 'CAN' get it done. I'm ok with this.
I was trying to get dinner ready and the kids were really looking for attention. They wanted to play baseball. Yes, we're awesome parents and let them play in the house. The balls and bats are soft, who cares, it's freezing cold outside.
Andy pitched the ball to Payton just as I walked in and "smack," right in my forehead! It was a dang good hit, a line drive I should say. This time 'we' all laughed and by the time we were done playing, dinner was still not ready. So, we went out for a big dinner at Wendy's. Yep, the high life here in NY.

Primary Program

We had our ward Primary program today. While the kids are nice, they are terrible when it comes to reverence, obedience, you know, qualities one should use at church. The few weeks prior I kept thinking, "this is going to be a disaster." But, thankfully, the program was really nice and went smoothly. Honestly, I was a little shocked but very happy. Until of course we go back to class and they are jumping and running around crazy. UGH!!!!
I had a proud mama moment though. This is the first time to have my kids participate and it was so fun. Especially since they both looked so dang cute today. Payton had 3 parts to say and he wasn't scared at all. In fact, after each one, he sat down very confidently. It's just so good to hear him give a talk in church. Last year he wasn't even hardly talking at ALL and he has now came so far. He still has a long way to go but it gives us hope that things will continue to get better.
Halle came up with the Nursery to sing 'I am a child of God.' I was a little nervous because last week at practice she saw her friend Zanna and ran over and dragged her over to stand by her. While also shouting, "Hi Zanna!" Today she found Payton and tried to go sit by him but eventually gave up and went back to sing with her class. Being the feisty red she is, she of course told them all to move so she could fit. She then flashes a huge grin. Girls!

Cause we have to watch it everyday anyway

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And the Oscar goes to....

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Classic

When we switched our cable (so Andy could get BYU football) we got 4 months of free movie channels. So I've been recording a bunch of stuff I want to have for later. I love old movies and came across one I've heard of, but never actually seen. Well that's not completely true, I remember seeing about 10 minutes of it when I was like, 11.
Anyway, I actually had the kids to bed early so I watched "Barefoot in the park." It has Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. It's actually a cute movie and I laughed quite a bit.
Got me to thinking that I have seen probably only a hand full of the top 100 American Movie Classics. Yes, they have an official list. I've never even seen "Casablanca." So I decided I'm going to start watching a few more of them. My husband is so excited I know. (NOT)
In fact, he and Payton have already started watching Christmas movies. They insist we are going to put up our tree and decorations next week but I said, "Not until after Thanksgiving!" Payton does watch "Santa Claus 3 a lot though and is now acting out Jack Frost. If you've seen our previous posts, you can only imagine how interesting that is...

Enough movies for a while though. The Twilight movie comes out soon and I promised my mom I'd read the dang book. Apparently I'm some freak for not doing so already. Don't want to be a wandering non-vampiric (yes I made up this word) blurb who doesn't know anything! Ya know what they say about those people...(I can feel the glares of my mom through the computer. Oh the shame she has felt) Hey sweet, 'Roman Holiday' is on, HD too. Guess I'll start the book tomorrow. :)

Privacy Please

Well, we're finally gonna do it. I've decided to go to a private blog. Personal reasons of course but hey, it's my blog. :)
For those of you friends from school who check, you are always welcome to keep looking, just send me your email and I'll add you to the list. I have a lot of your addresses but in case I miss someone, don't get all offended. Just let me know. I should have most of the family addresses.
I'll leave it open another week or so and then we're sealing the vault! (did you here the dramatic music? I was picturing Lord of the Rings.)
Anyway, I have a pile of laundry to iron. Ugh, I hate ironing. Luckily once I do it, it will be done for a while. Andy is back to wearing scrubs this week. Sweet! Never thought I'd miss those things.

Why, thankyou!

I haven't really been in a blogging mood lately but today I received a phone call that cheered me up a little. My dog had puppies about 4 years ago. Nine puppies actually and we sold them all to wonderful families. Anyway, I answered the phone and I had no clue who the person was and couldn't really understand him. He finally explained that he had bought a dog from us and wanted to call and tell us how happy he has been. At first I thought he was calling to say he wanted his money back or something but he told me how great of a dog it was and that it was the best thing they'd ever done. The dog is smart and very well behaved. He also said that he is going to breed the dog and wants to give us one of the puppies. Well, that's a ways away but it made me so happy to hear that. It was sad to give away those dogs and it makes me feel so good. We often wonder about them and hope they are doing ok. I only know of one other puppy and that's because we gave it to a doctor we knew. It was the most beautiful dog I'd ever seen and I was really sad to see him go. He is a white lab and that doctor takes him to work and everything. Makes me miss my dog even more now. I can't wait until we're done with school and she can come live with us again. The kids miss her too. Anyway, just one of those rainy day stories that make you go, "Awe!"

Eeeww!

This picture is actually taken at my moms, but in our house, sitting down is the signal for Halle to jump on your lap for a story. I have never seen a child so in love with reading books. Of course I only have two kids but still, she loves it! I literally cannot sit down without her jumping on me with a book. We've even had friends over who sat on the floor and then she jumps on their lap too. I have to admit I secretly love it though. Payton wasn't really into books until she came along. We now have a nightly routine of story time before bed. I have had to start earlier and earlier because like most kids, they say, one more book!
We've been reading the book, "Everyone Poops." I don't know how many of you have seen this book but it's pretty funny. It's a little more........graphic, maybe, then I'd probably do but hey, kids gotta learn I guess. It actually shows people and animals pooping, (illustrations of course). Halle is so funny. She opens the book and goes, "EEEWWW!" She turns the page again and I hear, "EEWW, POOP!" Turn page, "Eeeww! EEWW!"
It's so funny. She talking so much and it's fun to hear all the things going on in her little head. Especially when she jumps in our bed and tells dad, "MY bed. Stop it dad!" She then waves him bye bye and blows a kiss. She is definitely a sweet, feisty red and I love it!

texan kids

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Halloween Fun

Halloween night we joined our friends for a party at their "mansion" of ghouls and goblins. This is us with our friend Cindy.

We have finally recovered from our Halloween weekend. I say recover because we ate so many cupcakes and cookies that I still want Andy to check us for sugar shock. Don't think I'll look at the scale tomorrow when I hit the gym.
We had a fun week though. My mom came out last Sunday night and the kids have been so happy to have her. Heck, we all have enjoyed it!
I'm sad to say that we didn't get to do any sort of pumpkin search of hay rides because my kids are just getting over being very sick and with the cold weather we stuck to mostly indoor activities. I did let them pick a few pumpkins out at the market though, yahoo I know! How lame! They didn't care though. We carved them basically to say we did it because the kids had no interest in it until we put the candle inside. Then they thought it was very neat.


We took the kiddos to the primary Halloween party and they had a great time. Halle didn't really understand the trick-or-treat part but she loved knocking on the doors.
Payton is of course a NY Giant and Halle is Strawberry Shortcake.
I found out that the Natural History Museum and FAO had big Halloween parties but with the cold weather I didn't want to have them walk all over the city. I felt bad we had to miss it but we had a great time hanging with our good friends. If only we could get dressed up more often.
On a side note, Payton said," it's time to do Christmas tomorrow!"

More Adventures

Quick update, Andy's almost done with his 4th rotation, he's at a hispanic Pediatric Clinic rotation in Richmond Hills, Queens. It's not so much of a scary area, even during halloween. The kids were actually behaving for this picture!!With the weather finally turning cold, we had to bring the kids in to his clinic with colds and for antibiotics. Andy said it was like it was 'bring your kid to work day' earlier this week because all the staff had their kids there sick. Halle was the first red head many of these mom's had ever seen...it was hi-larious. Lots of asthma, newborns, ear infxns, etc, with a little bit of scabies and lice to keep him wanting to scratch and on his toes. He's enjoyed the nice hours though for once and feels a lot more comfortable of how to handle the teeny ones. His next rotation is a Pediatric trauma rotation in Brooklyn. I'll update y'all on Halloween later, we had a blast!!

Good nights

The last few days my kids have been quite a handful, mostly because they've been sick. Luckily for them they manage to be all cute when it's time to go to bed. Just trying to get that last minute awake. Or as my kids say, "two more minutes." After the crying and dragging I lay with them for a minute and that's when they pull it out. "Mom, I love you. Mom, you're the best." Hugs, cuddles, laughs, sweet talks. If they could just be like that all day we'd have so much more fun. They really crack us up. I can't imagine our boring our life would be without them.
Tonight, Payton had a cute prayer. He loves to pray but in his prayers he basically blesses everything we've already done for the day. Now normally we pick up Andy from work but today he had a dinner meeting with drug reps at some fancy place. Payton's prayer went like this. "Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this day. Please help us to make a tent and be safe. Please help us color and be safe. Please help us pick up dad and be safe. MOM!! We forgot to pick up dad!!" I reminded him we aren't picking him up since he took the car. "Oh, Amen."

Does that come in 'covers me' size?

Yesterday I made a quick run to one of the Halloween stores. It was a big store and I was enthusiastic that I would find what I needed in the rows of ghouls and goblins. I was looking for a hat for Halle's costume. I pretty much have everything else here around the house. I could not find a little pink hat! I decided to look at all the other costumes just in case I could find something for Andy. OK, what is up with all the costumes these days. I love getting dressed up but not like a Playmate. Even the Snow White costume was barely there! I left disappointed and looked online. Still, most of the costumes are pathetic. When you can't even find a modest Disney character there is something wrong with the world.
We have our ward Halloween party on Saturday if the kids are feeling better. Andy and I have to hand out candy so we need a costume. I may end up just making a hat for Halle. She's hopefully going to be Strawberry Shortcake. Don't need a wig cause she's got the red hair. :) Payton will be a football player and he's very excited. He keeps telling everyone that Andy is going to be a witch but Andy doesn't know that so we'll have to negotiate that I'm afraid.

Hold your tacos!

I finally have a few minutes to write. Sweet! We've had some fun things happen lately. Not just all sickness going around thank goodness. The other week our neighbor from across the street had a garage sale. He's been pretty nice to us, visiting and such. We went over and got a little rocking horse for the kids. I kind of thought some of this stuff was a little high priced for a garage sale but oh well. The next day he still had a lot outside and came over to tell us just to take whatever we wanted. There were a ton of toys and so our friends helped us basically just take everything. He said he was just going to set it out for the garbage men so why not. We got a pretty good pile including a desk for Payton, a small TV with a VCR, ice-cream dishes, trains, a toy box, a book table, buses, and a car to drive. Sadly, I forgot to put it in the back yard the other night and someone stole it. I feel so bad for the kids cause they loved fighting over it. What kind of jerk steals a toy from a kids yard. Oh well. He's also given us several little tricycles we keep in the basement for cold days so I can't complain. Some of it I'm kicking to the curb but it was fun for the kids. Which reminds me. We always have to sit our garbage out in the morning because I've seen people going through it several times when I leave it out at night. If someone sits something out to the curb, it's generally gone within a few minutes. Maybe that's what happened to Payton's car, even though it was right by our front door. Glad we at least have a shredder for all our papers.
We also took the kids to see the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. They LOVED it! They are both going around saying, "cause you a Chihuahua Mi hija!" and "hold your tacos!" Of course HSM 3 comes out this week and Payton is really looking forward to that. Have to wait till the nose dripping subsides though.
We went to our old apt today to get some mail. Don't know why they had to google our relatives to find us when they had us on file and I had called back in May when we actually moved. oh well. We got another government check but I'll have to shred it since they had already sent the one we supposedly didn't get. Too bad. Don't think they'll let me keep them both. Anyway, the kids saw "our other house" as they call it and got so excited. They wanted to go "home" but I explained to them we don't live there anymore. I think we all miss our 'old house.'
Our newest thing lately has been to have family sleepovers on Friday night. Of course we've only had it one Friday......but we Plan to have them all the time now. We blew up the mattress in the living room and pulled out the popcorn, juice, and every pillow we could find. Last weeks showing was " Little Mermaid." It was so much fun for us all to cuddle together. The kids were so good. It was cute, after the movie Payton gave me a big hug and asked, "are we a family again?" He got that line from Angels in the Outfield I think. They never fail to entertain us. It's Andy's turn to pick out this weeks movie. He always has crazy ideas. Heaven help us. :)

Quick update

We've all been on the couch this whole week. Andy and the kids are sick and I had a very bad sore foot. Don't have any clue what I did but after a week of nothing and icing, I can finally walk without wanting to cry. Andy is feeling better but the kids are getting worse. We've had no sleep the last few nights, mostly trying to keep Halle ok. She has a very bad cold and keeps choking from her coughing. Long story short, I haven't had much time to write. The kids argue over who gets to be held the longest since they don't feel well. We've gone through most of our movies so I hope they get better soon. Course I guess I could just go rent some. Well, it's almost midnight and Halle just came in to have me rock her again. I figured if I'm up I might as well do something instead of try to sleep and wake up every few minutes to hold her. It's nice to cuddle with the kids though. Can't do it forever.

Buns not made of steel

We officially re-started our 'we're getting back into shape' yesterday. I hurt my foot a few days ago and after my first day I officially cannot walk. Not because I'm sore but because there is seriously something wrong with my foot. Still trying to give it an official name but it hurts pretty dang bad. Anyway, because of it we decided to do the spinning class. We as is me, Andy and our good friend, Cindy. Funny enough, our Bishop was also in the same class. I've never done a spinning class before and I actually really enjoyed it. My legs don't hurt but dang my butt does. Andy and I can both hardly sit down. We need to take pillows to the next class. It's an hour of cycling and I mean we'd give Lance Armstrong a run for his money. We'd lose all our money of course but ya feel like your working hard.