I love it here!

I am slightly afraid of posting a few things on my blog, there are just too many weird stories out there, so in interest of protecting myself and my family I am not going to name the city I love in, however this post is dedicated to how much I love this place! I love, love, LOVE living on the west side and seeing the mountains in the east. They are so beautiful! I grew up on the east side and never really appreciated the beauty of these mountains. Now that I am on the west I see them everyday and LOVE them.

The other thing I love about living here is that for a few weeks every winter the bald eagles fly through here during their migration. It is amazing. We have hundreds of bald eagles, they are so beautiful! Their "stop" is only about two miles from my front door. I took the girls out to see the pelicans and eagles. We ended up staying for two hours just watching the birds it was so much fun! As you know, I am usually all about industry and was a supporter of Legacy (down with the special insects in the wetlands---I need a road!) But every now and then the "nature-lover" in me comes out . . . I think living here does it to me.

It's not a great picture because my camera isn't that great, but here are some of the bald eagles in the tree.

Here are some of the pelicans. The pictures are not doing the experience justice, but oh well.

Aubrey and Hailey watching the birds. I'm so glad they get to grow up with these experiences.

Pippi Longstocking

Today was Hailey's preschool day to dress up like a book character. All the kids pick their favorite book and dress up like that character. A few weeks ago Hailey and I went to the library and pick out some Pippi Longstocking books, thus she was Pippi. She was so darling about it! She pranced around the house and made goofy faces, just like Pippi. I had tons of fun putting her costume together, it was really easy and turned out really cute, if I do say so myself!

Are you kidding me?!?

Really, my children needed to come with manuals that say in big bold print "WARNING: IMAGINATIONS AT WORK" I think they get their ever vibrant imaginations from my mom, the queen of make-believe. This week, my children's imaginations got them in situations I never even thought to tell them that was against the rules.

Monday: Hailey and Aubrey are playing quietly in the basement. I keep listening from the top of the stairs and I can hear them giggling and calling each other "friend." About two hours later they come up the stairs crying and scratching themselves all over. They said it was the cotton-snow they were playing in. Upon further inspection, they pulled the insulation off the walls of our unfinished basement and rolled in it like it was snow! I called Poison Control to see what to do. They said it was the fiberglass and it creates little cuts all over. Needless to say, that was a really bad evening.

Thursday: I am at Enrichment night and Hailey decides Aubrey is watching TV too loud. She breaks an eraser off the end of a pencil and then breaks it in half and stuff it down her ears. Ben was able to get one out, but not the other one. We had to take her to the pediatrician and he digs it out with his tools. She bled out her ear for the rest of the day.

Sunday: Getting ready for church, Aubrey decides to do her own hair . . . and thinks that spray butter will work better than hairspray . . . we never made it to church.

The words "are you kidding me?" came out of my mouth more than once this week. I taught my kids not to run into the street and not to put their hands on hot stoves, but pulling the insulation off the walls, putting erasers in ears and using butter as hair products; I guess I just forgot to mention those.

AquaGlobe-this!

Yes, I admit. I am an infomercial junkie. I love watching them and I occasionally even buy the stuff. LONG before AquaGlobe was everywhere, it was on TV, and I bought one . . . off the TV. For some reason I imagined it would water the plant without my babysitting it. Keep in mind I received this plant as a wedding gift and we are coming up on our ten year anniversary so I've managed thing until now. (note: plant=not good wedding gift) Well, my plant slowly started to die. So, I did what any amazingly brilliant person would do . . . I put TWO AquaGlobes in it! Yeah, so it still looked pretty bad. Grrrr! I was so bothered because I hate wasting money (I also hate feeling duped into buying a crappy infomercial product) so to remedy the situation I went to Walmart bought a cheap plastic plant and ta-da, put the AquaGlobe in it! Much better!

BEFORE

AFTER :)

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas. It's hard to capture the magic of Christmas in a photo. It's the feelings that make the season so special. I must say, I enjoy Christmas more as a parent watching my children, than I even enjoyed it as a child myself. Here are a few photos.

In case you didn't recognize him, Santa put his name on his belt buckle. Personally, I thought the red suit and white beard were a dead give-away.I love this picture. To me it is magical. This is a picture of Hailey and Aubrey putting out the reindeer food. I love the mountains in the background and the grey sky. I sewed the skirts they are wearing (they got to pick their own fabric). It is a very sentimental picture for me.

And of course, I had to include the "Night Before Christmas" new Christmas PJs photo. (The girls picked out Ben's PJ's!)

Preschool Christmas Program

Both my girls go to wonderful preschools. Aubrey goes to Miss Lisa and Miss Shaun, just up the street from my house and Hailey goes to Miss Stephanie (my sister). Steph's preschool is only senior preschool (year before kindergarten) Aubrey will go to Miss Stephanie next year. I know that I might be bias, but I really do think Stephanie has a supreme preschool. She is amazing with the children. She plays the guitar and sings darling songs with them. They performed at a Nursing Home for Christmas. It was darling. Here are some pictures and clips from it. This kind of stuff melts my heart and makes me so glad to be a mom.

Tinker Bell Retraction

Okay, so many of you know that I have been totally anti-Tinker Bell. It has always bugged me that she seemed so sexual and had a very immodest outfit. It might just be because I really wanted things to work out between Peter Pan and Wendy and Tink always got in the way. Well, I just watched the Tinker Bell movie and it has changed my mind. I need to issue a retraction on my original opinion on Tinker Bell. I liked that she is a worker fairy and learned to love herself for who she is. I think it is a good example for my girls. (although I still think she is very immodest, but really all the Disney Princesses are too. I mean really, Ariel? Jasmin?) Anyway, I retract my original "Tinker Bell is a slut" comment.