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!