What we've been up to...

I have been:

• counting down the days til we go to Utah.  Can't wait to see the new babes.
  
• doing lots of Christmas baking. I'm so proud of myself for being on top of things.
  
• getting fatter by the second from all the Christmas baked goods that have ended up in my mouth
• VTing. going to Girls Night & YW & RS activities & baby showers. making dinners for people. doing dishes. laundry. packing. Christmas shopping. Whew!

Brian has been:

• studying for finals
• studying for finals
• taking finals
• playing video games
• watching the kids while I run around doing my thing
• studying for more finals
• studying some more

Xander has been:

• eating a lot of poptarts and lollipops
• coming out of his room a million times, instead of going to sleep
• opening his "doors" every morning (advent calendar) & playing w/ all his mini-toys
• stuttering (I'm not sure what's up w/ this one)
• growing like a weed
• singing "Jingle Bells" constantly, even when we are listening to a different Christmas song
• entertaining his "baby sister" & the rest of us

Lil has been:

• chewing on her tongue
• talking in her "hoarse" voice (I'll post a video one of these days. It's pretty funny!)
• rolling onto her belly 
• pushing rice cereal out of her mouth w/ her tongue, instead of eating it
• playing with toys (she especially likes her soft Taggie book)
• smiling and grabbing at her brother (she LOVES him!)

Giveaway

Here is an email I recently received from my mom (I thought it was funny):

Hi folks,

It's that time of year - company is coming and mom is in overdrive cleaning silly spots that ordinarily get ignored.

 

So...

 

I am finding a lot of your stuff around here.

 

Lay claim to the following and they won't find their way to the dumpster:

• Christmas Pillow
• 2 body pillows
• Heather - boxes of notebooks! You need to go through these?
• Heather - lots of junk left in your room
• Pink Sparkly sweatshirt
• Lots of old baby clothes
• TI 85 Graphics Calculator
• TI 86 Graphics Calculator
• 4th year camp box (including two house keys, black bead bracelet, green hair elastic, white smooth rock  (and I pocketed the 37 cents))

No doubt there is more, but everyone has arrived so I am going to send this out. Love you all!

 

XXOO

Momomomomomomomomom

Anyone need a Graphics Calculator?

Roll Over

Well, she did it!  Lil rolled from her back to her stomach a few times today.  It's too bad she hates being on her stomach.  I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time rolling her back over for awhile.

Routan Baby

Lil's hat

Brian didn't know why I thought this was so funny.  I couldn't stop laughing.

Murder Mystery Dinner

Our friends, the Farnsworths, hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner the day after Halloween.  It was so much fun!  We got to dress up for Halloween without the trick-or-treating.  I was a fortune teller (Tarot Karda) and Brian was importer who likes the ladies (Beau Kay).  It was supposed to be that we were these characters going to a costume party, but I didn't get that till I got there.  Brian was supposed to dress as Jack the Ripper, and I was supposed to be dressed as a genie.  Well, I thought it was a mistake and I went dressed as a fortune teller.  Ooops!! 

There were prizes for the best costume, best acting, and guessing who the murderer was.  I definitely thought the best actors were Brett (Elvis) and Kenny (Dracula).  Kenny actually had real tears at one point.  I had to hold back the laughter.  Best dressed was definitely Lauren (very expensive fairy costume, lashes, and face tattoo), but all of the costumes were great.  

Brian looked so smooth in his Jack the Ripper costume.

Annette got to play two parts: the girl that was murdered, then the police officer who arrested the murderer.  It was the butler in the bathroom with a rope.  Just kidding.  But close.  It was the maid (Maryann), in the bathroom.  

Thanks, Farnsworths, for a great date night!!!

Kung Fu Panda Party

To celebrate the release of "Kung Fu Panda" to DVD, we had a Kung Fu Panda Party.  Xander invited all of his friends (only boys allowed) and their moms.

We ate chinese food (rice, sesame chicken, potstickers, ramen noodles) on the floor.

Then we watched the movie.  Xander had already seen it in the theater and sat thru almost the whole thing (in the theater).  He had been asking for his Kung Fu Panda Party (or "Kung Fu Panda Parade" is what he kept calling it) for a week.  About five minutes after the movie started, he decided he just wanted to read books instead.  I had to force him to sit with me in the recliner and watch the movie.  Funny boy.

The "Sniffing" Trick

Super-Lil

Go Phillies videos

This is what the ground looked like after the Phillies parade. Yuck!!!



We were trying to get Xander to cup his mouth and yell "WooHoo!!!" This is what it ended up looking like.

Halloween Night

We had a great Halloween night.  We walked to the neighborhood right next to our apts.  It was great because the houses were close together, so we got lotsa loot with little walking.  

Xander was a "Lil Stinker" again this year.

Lil in her hot dog costume.  I love it!!!

Walking home with a full bag of candy and pockets full of chips.  After a week of asking to go trick-or-treating, Xander was ready to go home after the first door.  As we walked away from each door, he would say, "We goin home now?"

Lil slept thru most of the trick-or-treating.

Look at all the loot!

Go Phillies!!!

Well, I missed the final game of the World Series because I was at Girls' Night... which is no surprise, seeing as I have never watched a World Series game before.  I was hoping Philly would win though, so we could go to the PARADE!!!!

And I got my wish!  GO PHILLIES!!!!

So we went out and bought "Phillies World Champ" t-shirts.

We rode the subway into the city.  The trains were so full that shortly after we rode on it, they closed down all southbound trains into the city because they were all full.

When we got off the subway, we could hardly get out of the terminal.  The sidewalks were sooooo full of people.  Here are views in both directions.

Here is the Philly Phanatic.  (Notice the people on the roof in the background.)

Can you see the trophy?  (It's above the "r" in Series.)

As soon as the parade passed, the streets were flooded with people in red.  There were a lot of crazies, drunk people, and Philly fans in Halloween costumes.   

There were bands playing on top of buses, and people playing trumpets out the windows of skyscrapers.

We walked most of the way back to our car.  (I was experiencing a little claustrophobia down in the Subway with all of those people.)  It was better up in the fresh air... plus, it was fun to people-watch... and we never get to go walking down the middle of the street in Center City.

I think this next picture is a cute one.  It reminds me of a story:

When we were at the parade, a man behind us was talking to us.  He said to Xander, "Maybe you will be able to bring your kids to another one of these parades in another 28 years.  Oh wait, hopefully you don't have kids when you are 28."  Brian said, "I'm 28."  Ooops!

Movies yet to come.

HD Cinematic Films

As I said in a previous post, my brother-in-law has a videography business. He mostly does weddings, and he's wicked talented. Here is the trailer for his company to give you an idea of the work he does. If you know of anyone in Utah looking for a videographer, click on his link to the left.


HD Cinematic Films Website
Want to share this video on your blog? Click here.

"Mommy I took a picture!"

Alexander was in the living room playing. Then he brings the camera in to me saying, "Mommy, I took a picture!". He shows me this.

It's so funny, that I scroll back thru the previous pictures to see if he "took" any more.  This is what I find:

There were actually two more of these.  Sooo funny!

Lil's New Trick: Folding Her Arms

She does this all the time now.

Ward Halloween Party

Tonight we went to our Halloween party at church.  The kids did trick-or-treating and played games.  Xander was a skunk again.  Lil was a hot dog.  I was a cat this year (re-used the ears and tail from the raccoon costume last year, minus the black eyes).  And Brian was Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.  His costume was totally last minute, and by last minute I mean he decided to start shaving half of his face as we were about to walk out the door.  He slicked one side of his hair back and puffed the other.  He shaved one half of his face.  He wore two different shoes.  It was very creative, I thought.  I was impressed!

My fave part of Halloween parties is seeing the creative costumes.  Here were some of my favorites from tonight.

The Incredibles

Thing One, Thing Two, and Dr Seuss

Side-note:  After the party, the Green's were AWESOME and babysat both kids so Brian and I could go on a much needed date.  We saw "Eagle Eye" in the IMAX theater.  It was great!  We were both on the edge of our seats.  I had to keep reminding myself to breath.  Plus, I think Shia LeBouf is funny.  The End

NH getaway

Brian was super-busy with midterms last week, so I took the kids on a little getaway to NH.  It was a much needed break from the hum-drum of everyday life, plus I probably would've gone crazy in Philly taking care of my kids all by myself for a week.

After a few setbacks:

• Accidentally bringing ALL of Brian's keys with me... fed-ex and $18 got them there the next day.
• Our car breaking down in Brooklyn in the dark... we went to get some dinner and think about what to do, and the car started when we got back to it. (It must've been a fluke.  It's been working great ever since.)

...we arrived in beautiful New England safe and sound.  

The fall foliage was at it's peak.  Here is a view from my parents driveway.

Xander and Lil had some good quality time together watching tv shows in their jammies in the toasty warm back-room.

Xander helped Buddy work on the house.

We ate at Texas Roadhouse with Buddy and Grammie.

We went to the toy store with Buddy and Grammie.  I found this really cool play-doh set where you can learn how to be a dentist, but because the bread-winner is learning how to be a dentist right now, I didn't buy it.

We played with Bethie and William all week.  The boys had some good "bonding" time.

We played at the park.

We played with "Kehwehw" (aka Keller) and his many trucks and riding toys.

It took us 11 hours to drive the 7-hour-drive home.  Xander was great.  He read his magazines (aka the YMCA schedule booklet and a Lancaster County tourist mag) and his books, took a little puppy nap, and watched veggie-tales on the Ipod.  And Lil was nice and quiet unless we had to slow down for traffic (oh, and she screamed for the last 30 minutes of the trip... she'd had enough).

We stopped for dinner at a huge McDonald Playplace.  Xander had a blast playing in the playplace and the arcade, while Lil enjoyed some yummy m-i-l-k.  I only had to rescue Xander once from the playplace, when he got stuck at the very top and was too afraid to climb down one too-high step to the slide.  PS - the booths were in the shape of a trolley... very cool!

We had a great time in NH, but we missed Daddy so much!!!!! It's good to be home.

Do you think he's regressing?

TOFW

That's what we do, right?  We abbreviate things?  Like, SYTYCD.  And DWTS.  And FHE.  

(Notice the drool on my shirt... nice, huh?  What can I say... I'm a mom.)

Time-Out For Women

My mom, Aunt MaryEllen, and (SURPRISE!!!) cousin Bethie came down from NH/ME to go with me.  Lauren joined us, and we had a great day.  

I was worried I would be bored listening to church talks for 7 hours straight, but I was wrong.  It was very uplifting and very funny instead.

I was worried I would miss it all cause Lil would be fussing, but I was wrong.  She was a little angel and slept, smiled and drooled the whole time.

We got cool new bags that I'm sure all of the women will be sporting to church now.

We had a fantastic lunch at the creperie at Reading Terminal (chicken pesto for lunch and nutella/strawberry/banana for dessert... yum!yum!).

We ate cheesesteaks at Chubby's for dinner.

Then swam at the hotel swimming pool.  Those bubbles were really nasty in the hot tub, but the pool was stinkin' cold.

HD Cinematic Films

My brother-in-law has a GREAT videography company.  He is very talented and makes wicked awesome wedding videos.  He just made a new website.  Check it out.  It's www.hdcinematicfilms.com.  

If you go to "theater", you will see his "trailer".  If you go to "about us", you will see cute pics of my sis and the video-master himself.  And make sure to click on "blog" to view many of his wedding videos.  

If you know of anyone in Utah who is getting married, pass this along.  They won't be disappointed.

Weight Watchers

So my friend asked me today if I wanted to do Weight Watchers with her and another friend.  We were in our cars talking thru open windows.

L: Kelley, I've been meaning to ask you if you want to do Weight Watchers with me and T.  I've lost 5 pounds already.  We weigh in every Weds.  

me: Oh, I don't think I can do it while I'm breastfeeding.

L: Oh sure you can.  I have all the info for it.

me: Ok, well I'll think about it and I'll let you know.

L: Ok. Sounds good. 

We roll up our windows and as I back out, I open my bag of Double Chocolate Milano cookies and dig in.  Maybe next time...

toothbrush thief

Xander's new fave thing to do is play with the water in the bathroom sink.  He brings his Lightning McQueen cup in there and fills it up over and over again, drinking endless amounts of water.  He also likes to bring his little plastic polar bear in and have him play in the sink.  

Today I found him in there, standing on his stool at the sink...

SUCKING ON MY TOOTHBRUSH!!!! 

Ewwwwwwww!  Let me tell you, that toothbrush went straight into the garbage.  I wonder how many times he has done that already, without me knowing, while I was still using it.  I'm going to go puke now.

Daddy's little babies

CUTE!!!!