Merry Christmas Eve

We braved the crowds this morning to take our kids to the mall so they could see Santa. I'm not sure if the hour wait in line was worth it. But the kids waited it out at the Apple store playing with ipods and trying to figure out how to play "Lego Star Wars" on a Mac. Rachel loved looking at Santa but wouldn't go anywhere near him when we got to the front of the line.

While in line, Hannah spread some Christmas cheer by telling Charlie what to do. Rachel was just happy to get her picture taken.

And I think in this one, Charlie was serenading the crowds. I think the girl in line in front of us was tired of spending an hour with our little group - bah humbug!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas Eve!

New Truck

They say when in Rome, you're supposed to do as the Romans do, right? Does the same go for the great state of Texas? We've been here almost 3 years and that was as long as my husband could last without a Texas Truck. We are now the proud owners of an '08 Dodge Ram. We took the kids for a ride around the block last night when CJ brought it home and they couldn't stop laughing and screaming. I think they're almost as excited as their dad.

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I know this letter is coming at you a little bit late in the game, but since I just realized that Christmas is only a week away, I thought I might as well let you know about the things I'm hoping to find under the tree this year. I'm sure you're well aware of everything going on in our crazy household (you're making the list right? Will you check it once for me?) so you know why this letter is so late.


So I've been a pretty good girl this year, don't you think? Here's my list:

1. Lasik

2. That other little treatment we've talked about (and no, it's not Botox! although I could probably use it)

3. An iphone or a Blackberry storm

4. Bumble & bumble thickening spray

5. A magnifying mirror that lights up and attaches to the bathroom wall (like the one in the hotel in Florida)

6. A giftcard to J.Crew (I want about a million things from there right now, but maybe after Christmas, they'll go on sale. Who knows what size I'll be after this baby anyway?)

7. Clinique dramatically different mosturizer (the gel, not the lotion)

8. Custom blended foundation from Prescriptives (I've always wanted to try it)

9. A shopping spree next spring when I've lost all the baby weight (who am I trying to kid - maybe next fall?)

By the way, thanks for your help in getting our house fixed before you make your big appearance next week! I couldn't be happier to finally have a complete ceiling. And CJ says thanks for the new TV (and I've forgiven you for showing up early) and for the new truck. He must've been especially good this year eh?

Tell Mrs. Claus hello from the Wolf Family and watch for some yummy cookies on the piano bench next week. See you next year!

Love,

Sara

One of my favorite things about Rachel...

She wakes up every morning with "water buffalo" hair...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Okay, I NEVER thought I would get a chance to post about this given where we live. But believe it or not, it is actually snowing right now. My kids haven't seen snow in 3 whole years - and this is a first for Rachel. I know for most of you (my family especially) this isn't a big deal or cause for celebration, but it feels like one for us right now. And I have to say that tonight, I am very thankful that our roof is fixed and the hole in our ceiling is now patched, textured and even re-painted.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Charlie's 5th birthday

These pictures are LONG overdue. Charlie had his 5th birthday way back in October and I wanted to post a few pictures of his fun Star Wars party.



First of all, my favorite present was his Star Wars sheets. As soon as I saw them, I knew he had to have them. He loves 'em! And the funniest thing is I'm pretty sure we had those exact same sheets while we were growing up. Even my mom recognized them while she was here visiting a few weeks ago. A guess everything old is new again...

He had a pretty cool Darth Vader cake. Also notice the Omnitrix on his arm. He has no problem playing the part of multiple super-heroes at the same time.

My favorite photo of the day (except that you can see the hole in our ceiling in the background)! A friend let me borrow her Yoda costume for Rachel but she wouldn't leave the little hat on for long so I was lucky to get this one. CJ was a really fun Darth Vader and had awesome light saber battles with all of the visiting boys. We had a great time and I can't believe how big my little boy is getting.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

I have the nicest husband ever! I have done absolutely NOTHING today. Seriously, I barely even got dressed (and only because the construction guys were here today. Oh, and Charlie had a friend over so I had to so the other mom wouldn't know that I'm a total loser). And right now, CJ is in the kitchen feeding all of the kids dinner. Why, you ask? Why the extreme laziness? It's because I just started re-reading "East of Eden." It's the book our book club is reading for January and since it's so long, I decided to give myself plenty of time to get through it. I read it in high school and I remembered a little bit, but I started it last night and I honestly can't put it down. It's so good.

So, thanks CJ for not having class tonight and for fixing dinner for me. I'm going back to my book...

The search is over (maybe)

Since we recently moved Rachel out of her crib and in to a "big girl" bed in Hannah's room, I am on the lookout for cute bedspreads for their room. When my parents came to visit a few weeks ago, my nice mom brought an extra suitcase so I could see a few from the Quilt Shop (at Gardner Village) in UT. I wasn't crazy about them, so she got to lug her extra suitcase home and return them - sorry and thanks mom! Yesterday, I stopped in at Pottery Barn Kids to see if they had anything on sale that would work (they didn't) and on my way out, I grabbed a PBTeen magazine to look through. And I'm liking these pink and green ones. The curtains and a few other things already in the room are in these colors and I like how plain and simple these are. I think they would be really cute on their new white bedframes. And I wouldn't have to replace anything else in the room.

What do you think???

Visitor

Look who Hannah found in our house this morning. CJ thought at first that it was a baby alligator (!) but it turned out to be a baby lizard or salamander of some sort. It was the most excitement our family has seen in a long time and none of the kids can stop talking about it. Who needs Christmas presents?

Twilight movie

So I'm sitting here in my freezing cold office (still no carpet in here and all our heat seems to be escaping through the huge hole in the ceiling. Luckily, this is as "wintry" as my neck of the woods gets). And I can't stop thinking about the Twilight movie. I saw it the day it opened. I was in AZ with 3 of my best friends - roommates from college - and we just had to go. So, we did and I have to say that I was kind of disappointed.

But now I keep wondering why? Everyone else I've talked to loved it. And I'm beginning to wonder what I missed? They all seemed willing to overlook the low-budget look of the movie and especially the lame special effects. They all liked Edward and Bella. They loved how closely the movie followed the book - which I admittedly liked too. Maybe my expectations were too high. I wanted the Cullens to be fantastically and unbelievably beautiful like I had imagined. I wanted Edward to be the perfect predator, but he seemed almost as human as Bella most of the time.

I will admit to liking the baseball scene probably because it was just like I had imagined it when I read the book. And I also liked the part where Edward and Bella first kiss in her bedroom - probably for the same reason. But overall, I left feeling let down and thinking that the story was so good and the movie could've been amazing but it wasn't.

Did you see the movie? What did you think?

Tag

I'm sure you've all seen this tag: you upload the 4th picture in your 4th folder and explain. And since I've seen it a lot lately, I decided to finally do it.

This is a picture of Rachel last November. She had just turned 1 and we had just returned from a trip to Albuquerque (for the Balloon Fiesta) where she fell and broke her arm. Hence, the cute little pink cast. And the lips were from Hannah's Halloween pumpkin - Rachel loved blowing into them to hear the whistling sound. This picture made me very glad that our days with the cast are long gone.

I need some blogging time...

I honestly can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on here. I guess it goes to show that I'm a little overscheduled lately. And I have lots of things I want to blog about: Charlie's birthday party (back in October), opinions on the new Twilight movie, my girls trip to Arizona, Thanksgiving, book club tomorrow night (I'm so excited to go after missing the last 2!), etc. But, I'm on my way out the door, so I guess it will all have to wait. Until then, enjoy one of my favorite cartoons:

Bye for now!

I am so spoiled...

This is where I am spending my week. In a beautiful hotel on the beach. And I have absolutely nothing to do. I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. (If only my luggage would arrive...) The staff at the hotel calls me by name - like they know me. And they keep asking what they can do for me or how I'm doing. I'm doing GREAT, by the way.

CJ and I had lunch by the pool today. We're planning a walk on the beach as soon as he gets out of "class" at 4:30. I could really get used to this!

By the way, thanks to everyone who was so sweet about Charlie and his leg. He is doing so much better. And I have to mention that none of this dream vacation would be possible without my parents who are taking care of our three kiddos. Thanks for everything guys! I wish I could bring you here when the week is over - I'm sure you'll need it!

Day 2 - Blessing #2

(Photo of staph bacteria)

So after my Temple post yesterday, there was no way I could NOT post about this.

Charlie got a mosquito bite at soccer practice on Wed. night. Thursday morning it looked really big and swollen and I figured he was having a little reaction to the bite. By the time he got home from preschool, it looked even worse. And when CJ got home from work and we showed it to him, it was really red, swollen, hot and oozing something. So I took him to a neighborhood clinic and got him some amoxicillan - they said it was "cellulitis." (Is that the right word? Sounds too much like "cellulite" to be right but I'm pretty sure that's what they called it.)

Then this morning, I was at Target and I happened to run into a couple from my ward and I showed them Charlie's leg. Turns out, their little boy had a staph infection a year ago that got extremely nasty and scary and required surgery and a long hospital stay and the poor kid is STILL on antibiotics for it. I knew all this of course - maybe that's why I wanted to show them Charlie's leg. Anyway, they recommended that I take Charlie to our regular pediatrician asap, so I called and got him in. And he has a staph infection in his leg. They changed his prescription (and it cost $94 MORE than his amoxicillan did darn it! And yes, that was our co-pay!) and told us to watch him very closely for the next 48 hours. Now is that crazy or what? I am totally convinced that seeing my friends at Target was NOT a coincidence. It reminded me (yet again) that I am loved, and watched over. Now, I'm just praying that Charlie's infection will go away and not interfere with our trip.

Just what I needed...

Thanks to a great girl in my ward who recently agreed to do "temple swap" babysitting with me, I was able to go to the temple today.

I don't know how to say all of this without seeming to complain, but things have been a little out of control lately. I know, I know - we're all busy and we all have "to-do" lists a mile long, but lately, it has been more than that for me. I guess it's really a lot of things piling up: the kids have added extra things after school, our house is still a mess from the hurricane (though, for anyone who cares, we're actually getting our roof replaced next week which is a MAJOR step toward more repairs!), I'm in a state of panic that another person is about to join our family and I'm barely managing the 3 we already have etc, etc, etc. I've been working on a few projects as well and I just feel like every single minute of every single day is taken up and used and there's not anything left over. No happiness, no joy, no peace, just the frantic pace of life and I can never get ahead.

Until today. I almost backed out. I have so much to do in the next few days, I told my friend that I couldn't go this week. But I felt so annoyed to put off my temple trip - it's never convenient or easy to go - so I called her last night at 9 and decided that somehow, it was going to happen. And wow. It was the best 90 minutes I can remember having in a very long time. So peaceful and wonderful. I didn't really want to leave. How come I forget so easily the meaning and purpose behind my life? Why do I feel so alone sometimes when I'm not? How come I don't remember the promises I've been given? There's really no way for words to describe how I'm feeling right now, but I'm so SO glad I went today. It was just what I needed. And now I feel like I can face the frantic pace of life again.

Hooray (and Happy Halloween)

Hooray for the return of Liz Lemon and 30 Rock -especially loved the line about Colin Firth in the opening sequence. Had a great night (once kids were in bed) watching all my favorite shows. Yes, I copied this post from another blog.

My Sleeping Beauty

Costume: Old Navy ($11.25)

Birthdays...

October is a busy birthday month for our family. It all starts on the 13th with CJ's birthday. We celebrated on Sunday night since Monday is CJ's class night and he was gone all day.
All I can say is this was the yummiest birthday cake (okay, it's actually a pie) EVER! It's from Baskin-Robbins and it was so good. Their mint chocolate chip is the best and just looking at this picture makes me need to go there!
Then, Rachel's birthday is on the 18th. I can't believe she's already 2! Where has the time gone? She's totally into Ariel lately, so daddy got her this great balloon.
The flame on her candle totally scared her. Charlie had to blow it out for her.
She was really excited about her Princess dolls (I got them at Disneyworld and I've been so excited to give them to her). She's been carrying Ariel and Sleeping Beauty around with her everywhere.

Next up is Charlie's birthday on the 24th. His "Star Wars" party will be this Saturday and we are busy trying to get everything done in time.

How low will it go?

I paid $2.59/gallon for gas today and I was thrilled! I guess the oil companies have us right where they want us eh? How much are you paying these days?

Our funny Hannah

Hannah brought a paper home from school a few days ago and I had to share it here because I thought it was so funny! It's called "The Me Puzzle" and hopefully it will help you get to know a little bit more about Hannah:

What is your favorite activity to do alone? Read

What career would you like to have in the future? Police

What is your favorite school subject? Art

What person do you most admire? Jesus Christ

What is your special talent? Leaping (???)

What is your favorite activity to do with others? A park

Describe your family. Mess-making, polite, smart, nice (I hate to admit it, but I'm sure that first response has something to do with me...)

What words best describe you and your personality? Artist, flexabal

What is your most treasured possession? My pink jule (I think she means "jewel")

Looking for a white dress...

With Hannah's 8th birthday approaching, I have decided that we need to find her a baptism dress. And I'm wondering if any of you have any advice for me. I have found a few websites that sell white "first communion" dresses but most of those are a little too frilly for me. I don't even want to show them to Hannah because I think she'll want one but I think they're kind of hideous. I've found a few things that I like but they're not cheap. Someone told me that Marshall's and T.J.Maxx occasionally have first communion dresses but I haven't seen any at our local stores. What do you think of the following dresses? And where have you seen cute baptism dresses for sale?

Are some people rude or is it me?

So two things have happened in the past few days that have made me fuming mad. And I'm wondering if it's some pregnancy-induced hypersensitivity or what. What do you think:

A few days ago, I was in line at a donut shop. I am clearly pregnant, was holding Rachel and had Charlie by the hand. An older guy walked in and gets into line RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! I couldn't believe it! What made me even madder was the woman working there had seen me standing in line and knew I was next but went ahead and took his order before mine anyway. So I was mad at the old guy for cutting in front of me, but don't you think the saleslady should've said something? Maybe like, "I'm sorry sir but that woman was here before you and I'll be right with you?" That's what I would've done. Maybe I should've said something but instead I just waited until he was done and went next. But I've been mad about it for days! What would you have done? I should've said something, huh?

Then, yesterday, my two older kids had dental appointments. So we showed up at the office a few minutes early (by some miracle!) only to be told that the office had lost all of their patient information in their computers due to the hurricane and the dentist wasn't there and would not be able to see them. I was furious! The receptionist even had the nerve to say, "you can give me that look, but this is not our fault." Okay, first of all, what look? Second of all, does she think it's my fault? Does she have any idea or care that Hannah has missed 3 hours of school at this point or that I had to drive 35 minutes with 3 kids just to get there? And then another 45 minutes to get Hannah to school and 20 more minutes home. Don't you think the professional thing to do in cases like this would be to let your patients know that the computers weren't working and to call the office if they had scheduled appointments? How hard would it have been in the 3+ weeks since the computers were damaged to send out a form letter to their clients and ask them to call the office to confirm or re-schedule their appointments? I keep wondering how many other people are showing up there every day only to be told that they're out of luck? Why isn't the dentist there anyway? If I had any choice, I would switch dentists, but she's the only one in like a 40 mile radius that takes our insurance AND will see patients under the age of 8. But I am mad about it.

So, do these kinds of things happen to you? And do you get mad too? Or am I just a freak?

Sunday nights

One of our favorite Sunday night traditions (even though we don't do it every week) is making carmel popcorn and watching a movie with the kids. This past week it was the "Stripling Warrior" video from the animated scripture stories. But I loved this picture of Rachel with her funny hair (her little ponytails fell out during her nap) and her HUGE bowl of popcorn. I bet she could eat the whole thing by herself too.

Favorite things - Canton edition

I originally wrote this post several weeks ago and it got delayed by our trip and the hurricane, but I thought "better late than never" so here it is...

Also, just so you know, the results of Charlie's EKG were completely normal. So we're very relieved to know that his heart is working just fine!

Several weeks ago, I made a little overnight trip with a few girlfriends to Canton, TX. I'd heard of Canton but I'd never been there. Once a month, there's a huge "flea market" there - called Market Days - and vendors from all over set up booths and sell, sell, sell! It's massive and it took us two days to see all the booths (and we probably even missed some). We had a great time, despite the insane heat and humidity, and I wanted to post a few of my favorite Canton finds:


First I have to say, the quality of these photos is not great and they all look a little crooked for some reason so you may have to tip your head slightly to get a better idea... Anyway, this "cubby" near the fireplace of my house really needed a little bit of light. I like the picture but with the red paint, that corner is a little dark - especially at night. When I saw this little "lantern" lamp, I knew it was perfect for our dark corner and I love the way it looks!
I didn't get this candle or candlestick at Canton but I bought the pretty little beads to go around it. It's just a long strand of beads on something similar to fishing line and you can wrap it around anything to dress it up a little. We saw these at a couple of different booths and they had lots of pretty varieties and colors.
I love this clock! I think I've finally decided what I'm going to do on my massive entry-way wall (and it only took me two and a half years too!) and this clock will be a part of the finished product.
Also for my future entry-way decor, I found these cool lanterns. The bigger one was on display decorated with Christmas things inside and I thought it might be fun to change what's inside of it depending on the season.

Now I can't wait for all of our home repairs to get completed so I can finally finish decorating with my Canton finds!

Soccer

A couple of weeks ago, we heard about a group of Charlie's friends that were all playing soccer on the same team. So a good friend of mine gave me all the info and I emailed the guy in charge and begged him to let Charlie play on the same team. Even though the team was at it's "limit" they just happened to have an extra uniform in that team's color and the guy agreed to add Charlie to the roster. Isn't the uniform cute???
So his first game was on Saturday morning and even though he'd never even been to a practice, the coach explained the rules to him and rotated him in so he would have a chance to play. I was so surprised at how well he did. He actually even scored two goals! I love this picture of him listening to his coach. He's the first #7 from the left.
I wish I had zoomed in a little for this shot, but he got to do a "corner kick" and I was crackin' up because he's holding his new shorts up - they're way too big for him. He was hitching them up the whole time he played! So his first practice is tonight and he can hardly wait.

Do you ever wonder...

I saw this on a recent email from Boden and thought it was funny. But I actually do have a light in my freezer. Do you?

Jedi Training

One of our Disneyworld highlights was Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM Studios). Our neighbors, who went to FL for Spring Break, loved it and once Charlie heard their stories, we knew it was not-to-be-missed. Plus, since a hurricane had ravaged our hometown, we added a few days to our Disney tickets and decided to spend Tuesday at Hollywood Studios. We loved the Indiana Jones stunt show - I'm sure my kids have never seen anything blow up that close to them before - but like I said, Jedi Training (and the Star Wars store) was the favorite.

As the show starts, a real Jedi comes onstage and talks about the force. "A true Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defense - never for attack." He chooses 12 volunteers from the audience to come onstage with him. I had tried to prepare my kids for this, so they were both jumping up and down and screaming, "pick me! pick me!" and sure enough, the Jedi noticed and chose Hannah. She went onstage to get her Padawan robe and lightsaber and the Jedi taught them a few basic lightsaber moves. It was fun to watch her! (But I will also admit to having a few tears in my eyes for Charlie. He wanted to be chosen so badly and I think he was totally shocked that Hannah was picked and he wasn't. But, true to form, he quickly overcame his disappointment and cheered her on - brave little guy!)
And then, suddenly, the Darth Vader song from the movies starts and out comes Darth Vader with a couple of StormTroopers. It was so cool! Each of the new Padawans got a chance to fight Vader himself.
The Jedi was really cool and knew a lot of fancy Jedi moves!
Luckily, when we went back the next hour, Charlie got his chance! He was chosen and got to go onstage for Jedi Training too!
His fight with Darth Vader was so cute! We spent yesterday afternoon looking at our pictures from our Disney PhotoPass and their pictures were even better so now we're trying to decide if it's worth the huge pricetag to buy the photos on the CD. Both kids graduated and have offical Jedi certificates. I'm sure this is one we'll go back and do again someday!

Getting back to normal...

So today was my first trip back to the grocery store after the hurricane. Since we threw everything in the fridge and freezer away, it was a MAJOR shopping trip and I was in the store for almost 2 hours. Anyone want to take a guess at how much I spent? Keep in mind, I took this picture after I starting putting things away...

Hannah and Charlie are both back at school which is nice - I'm glad I only had Rachel at the store today. We've had a couple of people here to give us estimates on our needed home repairs, but we're still waiting to hear from our insurance adjustor.

I took Charlie to the hospital yesterday for his EKG and we are anxiously awaiting the cardiologist's report. I also faxed a copy of the EKG to a friend whose husband happens to be a pediatric cardiologist so it will be nice to have a second opinion.

I've decided that we, meaning the people in the U.S., are seeing the fulfillment of prophecy. In the October 1998 General Conference, President Hinckley said, "There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed." (To read the entire talk, click here). We watched a couple a different news shows last night along with all the commentary and opinions about President Bush's economic "bailout" plan and I can't help but think that we were warned by a prophet that days like this were coming. It scares me to think about raising my kids in days like the Great Depression and makes me think a lot about what I could be doing right now to prepare ourselves as well as possible for whatever comes next. We've been enjoying the "fat" years and I don't know if I know how to survive the "lean" ones. I don't feel panicky or anything, but one thing I personally learned from the hurricane and it's aftermath is that life isn't always the way we're used to it being - things can change drastically in a short period of time and it takes a long time to recover.

Anyway, those are my random thoughts today and for anyone who's interested, stay tuned for pictures about JEDI TRAINING at Disney's Hollywood Studios.