who's rulin' the roost?

ella is the ruler of the roost tonite. she isn't feeling well and is therefore being catered to. ryan just put her in our bed and then ran into the playroom to get a dvd for her to watch. in the meantime, ella yells...

"what's taking you so long????".

quickly jeeves, quickly!

favorite things (ryan's version)

as i was preparing dinner tonite, the thought occurred to me...we need to share with the world how much ryan loves velveeta cheese. he calls it "fancy cheese". he loves to make chip dip with velveeta and hamburger. he loves potato cheese soup with a 1/2 brick of velveeta. he is ecstatic if we're out of regular cheddar or american and he has to use velveeta to make grilled cheese. he told me, with a big smiley face, that he had an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast the other morning...the cheese was velveeta. of course, his love of velveeta goes against everything i stand for. at least i can recycle the container. ry also loves those crazy little puzzles that i can never figure out. i try to find him one or two new ones every year for christmas. i think he has one that he can't quite get together, but for the most part, he figures them out in about 10 minutes. he loves the little metal rings that you have to take apart and then put back together. you know those ones? loves them.

a new favorite is mario kart. the girls got this game for ry for christmas. he's gotten pretty good over the last few days. the girls keep saying, "slow down dad! you're gonna crash!".

and last, but certainly not least, ryan loves chocolate. but please do not give him dark chocolate. he only likes milk chocolate. and wouldn't you think he'd like the movie, chocolat? he does not. my ryan is a complex character.

christmas highlights

thanks for the snuggly blankets grandma!!! a new marble game for ryan. he's a very good sharer. and very handsome in his new red sweater from aftie.

making cupcakes with the new cupcake frosting machine. high tech.

afton's first sephora merchandise. don't worry, just nailpolish and lipgloss. thanks, ella! high school musical slippers! i told afton she is lucky santa brought those, because i would never buy them.

ella scored with these twin babies, a swimming baby and a baby in a carrier.

afton is much, much happier than she looks here...this is alicia elizabeth and her dog coconut, aftie's new american girl doll.

burning letters and new jammies

one of our traditions comes from my dad. we burn our letters to santa. santa is able to read the smoke from the burning letters and then knows what each little person wants. another tradition, is new jammies on christmas eve. here's ryan...

amy...

and two little cutie-bugs...

christmas eve craziness

christmas eve was spent with 60 of our closest friends! we had soup, rolls and chocolate fondue!!!

we even had missionaries...

here, you see a few of the crazy chocolate lovers. they are actually waving, not raisin' the roof. we had the nativity play with 5 mary's, a female joseph, no wise men and a dancing bee. spencer was our dancing bee! isn't he the cutest thing in the world? (that is one of afton's old dance recital costumes)

'twas the week before christmas...

i was almost able to be in two places at one time the other day. ella and afton had their school parties at about the same time. this is what i was able to see...ella singing "santa claus is comin' to town, jingle bells and rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer"ella sitting on santa's lap. she said he wasn't santa, he was just a daddy. what a suspicious girl. afton's class decorating cupcakes at their "winter party". we respect all religions and non-religions at heim elementary.

afton and classmate playing "draw a snowman with your eyes closed". this was the most amazingly well planned school party i've ever seen. i helped plan it, but i was the one saying "oh, we can just pour the candies in a bowl when we get there", but the other mom's vetoed me and we measured 84 tablespoons of sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, etc into a thousand different bags. and a lot of other very well planned things. the agenda read like a financial report from a fortune 500 company. but, we had a great time and the kids loved everything. so maybe planning does work.

grateful

i know i've said this a few thousand times before, but i am so grateful for yoga. it's been a few days of craziness for me. nothing too stressful, but my mind tends to get cluttered with a lot of pointless worrying and it just wears me out, mentally and physically and emotionally. so, after the girls went to bed tonite, i rolled out my fancy new mat and went to work. also, the breathing techniques i've learned make such a difference. i am now feeling so calm and able to breathe nice and deep. i can always tell when i've had too much craziness, because my chest feels tight and my breathing is short. so, if you are feeling this way try a breathing technique. in fact, try this one...

close your mouth

breathe in through your nose counting to 4 or 5

now breathe out through your nose counting to 4 or 5

try to do this at about the same speed, so you reach five at the top of your inhalation and then five at the bottom of the exhalation.

repeat a few times

you'll feel better.

baby, it's worse out there...

really.

also, aftie and i went to see annie at shea's theater downtown yesterday. a group of moms and daughters from school all went. we had a great time! we were both surprised how the stage production is different from the movie. it takes place at christmas time and there is no scary bridge scene. also, no punjab.

baby, it's bad out there...

Buffalo, NY Weather Forecast
Current Conditions
22°F
Heavy Snow Blowing Snow and Breezy
Feels Like: 5°F
Dew Point:
19°F
Humidity:
89%
Visibility:
0.15 mi.
Pressure:
29.78 inches
Wind:
From the East at 25 gusting to 32 mph
As reported at Greater Buffalo International Airport at12:54 PM

it's crazy snowing/blowing today. school is canceled. but lucky for the girls and i, great northern pizza company was open for lunch! we had to go to the doctor for the girls yearly check-up. i could barely see the stoplight to turn to the pizza place, and we weren't sure it was open, but afton braved the blowing snow and ran to the door to see if they were open! hooray, we had yummy, warm pizza for lunch and then we braved the drive home. our road has probably been plowed once early this morning and not since...there is about 6 inches of snow to drive through. it's a little bit fun. i told the girls that GG would say, "what are you doing driving around in this kind of weather?!" we laughed and laughed and then prayed we'd get home safely. we love GG!

something's not quite right

i think it must be the snow...
nothing is bad, it's just off a little today. first off, my tennis game was a disaster this morning. wanna hear a funny story about it?
my opponent lobbed the ball high into the air and i was all set up and ready for the overhead smash of a lifetime. i had the ball in my sights, my left arm raised to focus on it, my right arm holding the racket behind my back, ready to roll...then i'm not sure what happened. let's just say, it was the air-smash (like an air-ball in basketball) of the century. there was no contact, only the swooooosh of my racket hitting the air with all my might. i heard my opponent gretchen, snort-laugh from across the court! (maybe because i had laughed at her earlier, she was getting her revenge)
ANYWAY...then i had to go to 2 Targets instead of one. then i made myself sick from my over-indulgence of pumpkin spice trail mix. then, i forgot to wash underwear, so i'm still in my smelly tennis clothes. i'd really like to take a nap and start over.
however...i have 170 cupcakes to bake.
and now that i've re-read this, i realize how pathetic it sounds. oh well.
on the upside-i have a new yoga mat!!!!! ryan ordered it for my birthday and it arrived all rolled up in a brown bag on the front doorstep, yesterday! i love it. it's sturdy and i'm excited not to find little orange foam pieces all over the floor after practicing anymore. (my last mat was orange) my yogi chantel keeps rolling her eyes and telling me i really need to get a new mat.
so, hooray for ryan and my birthday!

funny, funny

while heading out of the wegman's parking lot (wegman's is our wonderful grocery store!) i was reminded of the time i ran the car straight into the stop sign in the middle of the parking lot. i was pulling out of the lane where they load your groceries for you (especially lovely during the winter and with kids), and there is a little stop sign held up by a big tire filled with concrete. well, i was flustered as usual, and didn't realize it was directly in my path. and bada-boom, bada-bing...i knocked it right over! i was not laughing at the time, but i was totally cracking up today thinking about it!

also, it reminded me of a certain brother-in-law who forgot to take the gas hose/nozzle out of his car before pulling away. thinking of that made me laugh even harder!

i love funny stories! you should send me your funny stories so i can have more laughing enjoyment.

oh, the weather outside is frightful...

it's been snowing for the past few hours and it is really beginning to look a lot like christmas. aftie has been home sick today and so we opted out of our super-fun christmas party at a friend's home tonite. but, it's been okay. i've been downloading christmas music for the past hour or so. i'll tell you, there is nothing like gwen stefani to get you in the christmas spirit! i decided to start baking tonite as well. we'll see how long i last. i usually get excited and plan to bake 20 different kinds of cookies, and then i get burned out with the first batch of chocolate chip cookies! but i did find a delicious looking little shortbread topped with chocolate and dulce de leche. so, that's a definite possibility.

we've started getting boxes from the UPS man, and nothing makes me smile more! i accidentally opened a box that ryan and i had to help santa with. ella saw it, but said "i'm not telling what that christmas surprise is!" so, i had to explain how sometimes mom and dad have to help santa with some things. hopefully that'll do the trick.

we have two advent calendars and two paper chains to help us count down the days until christmas. we're definitely in full swing around here. hope you are too!

also, thank you kara for the beautiful sweet rolls! i had to duct tape my mouth closed so i wouldn't eat them right away! you think i'm kidding.

happy weekend-ing to you!

bff (best friends forever)

i am such a lucky girl. i have the most amazing friends. i have friends with great taste, friends with kind hearts, friends who take time out of their day to bring me flowers and presents and call me and send me birthday greetings via mail, email, blog, etc. i even have friends who plan a whole lunch party and when i can't make it because of my sick little girl, they celebrate without me and then bring the lunch and presents to me. WOW! so, a BIG THANK YOU to each of you lovely people for your love and gifts. they made my heart swell! to be honest, i can't think of one reason i deserve all this adoration. i mean, i'm usually good for a lunch date or a funny joke, but is that really reason enough? i don't know, but i'm not complaining and i'll take it! i love you friends!

also, i have a pretty amazing little family. as usual, the girls and ryan went above and beyond for my birthday. breakfast in bed, flowers, yummy pizza from Siena, fun presents and lots of love.

and don't let me forget my extended family with the phone calls and cards. lucky me!!!!

our trees

it's official, i've crossed over to the dark side...the tree-buying gene i inherited from my mother has finally been activated. this year we have two big trees and two small trees for christmas.
my mom, anne guthrie, has been known to purchase eight trees for one christmas. it makes her feel better that three of them are just little small trees that she groups together, but all the same, there are eight trees. but they are lovely and wonderful and they make her happy.
so, i have been so tired of our christmas decor for the past 5 years, i decided i wanted a change, so we bought two big trees. one for the front room to put in front of the big window and one for the family room. i picked up a little tinsel tree for ella and a little green one for aftie.


the tree above is in our family room. ella says, "those twigs sticking out of the tree "creep" me out!".

these are the girls trees for their rooms, but they keep putting them in the front room. they decorated them all by their-little-selves.

also, they decorated the front room tree. it may be difficult to tell for sure, but yes, that is a red-haired fairy on the top. afton's pick. also, those are silk flower bunches stuck in the tree.

afton was very adamant about decorating. she wanted to be in charge of all the decorations. by the end of the night, i had come to the end of my rope and told her she could decorate the three other trees, but the family room tree was mine. all mine! i want to do my own tree!

after the girls went to bed last night, i finished my tree and then redid a few of their displays, which i found redone this morning. the nerve of those two! i heard ella yell, "mom moved our trees and we're movin' 'em back where we want 'em!" i think there might be an overload of girl power at this house.

time with friends

we decided to take a very quick trip to salt lake city (while in idaho) to visit our friends, the lambournes. we love them! ella and avery are only one month apart. ella thinks it's pretty neat that she and avery were in their mom's bellies at the same time! jenn and i are sort of secretly hoping that we can arrange the marriage of our two oldest cuties. that way we will be assured of holidays and vacations together. that's not so wrong, is it?

here are the two beauty queens up close and personal.

we love this family. they were some of our first friends in buffalo. but they left us for a job. we understand, but we don't like it. we make sure they are part of our vacation plans whenever we travel west. we love them and miss them everyday!

we wish we had more time in utah to visit our other loves, but we just couldn't make it happen this trip.

we were however, able to visit ry's sister, natalie and her husband mike. they are so cute! we love them! and guess what????? they have a new baby! he is beautiful and handsome and i can't believe we missed him by only a few days!

presents from gg

after some not-so-subtle hints from our sweet aftie to the sweet gg(the spoiler), regarding a strong, strong desire for webkinz seen in the airports on our way to idaho, here's the result...

a round of gifts! here's ashton with his new airport set.

aftie with 2 new webkinz! score!

peri getting her teeny-tiny little puppy and purse.
and the best present in the whole world...a nap and a snuggle with gg.

ella's birthday!

we celebrated ella's 4th birthday and ate turkey on the same day this year! we started the day with a pool party & muffins & smoothies. ella opened her presents. we sang happy birthday and then got ready to start the thanksgiving festivities. it actually worked pretty well. i think ella was happy and we kept saying happy birthday to her throughout the day.

the party guests in the pool.

this is one amazing cake, wouldn't you agree? okay, if you can't tell what it is, i'll tell you. it's a swimming pool cake. see the little bears floating in their tubes? and those aren't real rocks on the side, those are chocolate rocks. i didn't even know they made chocolate rocks!