Mini-PHX Update

I have so much to write about...

"Dad" doesn't have wireless in his house (something we will have to fix before we leave here), so my laptop has been collecting dust in the carry-on for days. So I am using G-Pa's Ultra Command Center 'Puter. Anyway, the visit is going awesome! The kids are having a blast be-bopping between the G-Parent's houses since that means Teage can play with "Lady" and the "small dogs" no matter where we are. Saige is enchanted with all the shoping at her fingertips...JD would rather just sit and play the Wii or have me hang out in Fry's Electronics with him all day, but he's still having a good time.

The visit with Jenny is going FANTABULOUS! All the days she has been my road dawg, and this visit couldn't have come at a better time in our lives or location. She has been my sanity this past week (more on that later). So far we have hit up the Arrowhead Mall, Target, Wal-Mart, the Dollar Tree, Arby's, Village Inn, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Ross, and the salon. So Far, So good...with much more to follow!

It's so refreshing to visit with the in-laws (mainly, because you realize that your extended family is not the only one that's crazy LOL). G-Pa has been GREAT! He's braved all the "on the go" moments and keeps throwing in his one-liners, which personally I can't get enough of. G-Ma has spent some good quality time with Saigie and had big girl bonding time...the boy bonding will soon follow. Plus, I finally got to meet the other Isla chil'ren. Granted it was 11pm and they were sprung from the car following their road trip. Which means they weren't exactly feeling Aunt Diane's desire to roll around on the ground and play kissies. All good things come to those who wait, I guess.

I have pics to post from the trip, but I must wait till the laptop is on full swing to upload. So get prepared for "photo phun" coming soon. I hope everyone is doing great and getting all the last minute shopping completed. Will blog soon....right now, it is EARLY and there's a party in my mouth that I need to take care of :o)

Love ya....

The Snow is HERE!

I am so excited that I trumped the blog post I WAS working on to interrupt you with this special bulletin:

The snow has finally arrived in the KMC!

George came bursting into our room (he and Teage fell asleep on the couch last night) and yanked the rolladens up to show me the magnificent white outdoors. If you had been paying attention to my Facebook comments, I had given up all hope that we would see snow before we left for our trip tomorrow. And the Gods made sure not to disappoint me. Thank you...

This was Teage's first snow and I could tell he didn't know what to make of it all. We quickly hammered the big kids to "wake up" (they appreciated that) and slapped on the rain boots and gloves. George was a party pooper and watched from inside because he was "COLDY" (what a wuss)...I just called my husband a wuss on the blog...oh well, anyway immediately the snowball fight began between the big two.

Teage had other plans...first thing's first, gotta see what it's made of:

Planning strategic stealth moves...

He's planning his attack!

Retaliation...

Teage getting in on the action...

Two against one!

Trying to recruit a little girl for his snowball team...

Can you see it?

Our lamppost near the rock fountain...

Catching flakes...and flies?

Busting out the sled...

She makes winter look GOOD!!

Snow makes everything so pretty, doesn't it?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

I'm so happy they got to enjoy it before we left for 'not so snowy' AZ. God really does love me...

If we get more inches later today (after I finish packing ALL the dang bags), I am SO throwing them back out there to make snow angels!

Love ya and Happy Snow Day!!!

A Dozen for JD!

Well, the middle one has officially entered "pre-teen" status. My not so little JD is 12 and on his way...

I love celebrating his birthday because he always gets super excited and he's so genuine with his reactions (that's all the days actually). Anyway, this year (as most) it was pretty low-key. While the big kids were at school, Teage and I quickly got working on his cake. What a big helper...

After they got home, we enhanced the celebrating by going to the FRG Christmas Party. It was nice and they all had a great time decorating cookies and such.

They even had a Holiday photo spot...which I couldn't resist.

After we snuck out of the party early, we headed to Chili's for dinner (his choice)...but by then all he wanted to do was get home and open presents. Of course, we had to do the cake first.


I love how in this picture he is basically telling Teage to back off the cake.


But, as all good parents know and do...we relit the fire and let Teage get a turn. I'm screaming "Back up, you're going to burn your face off!"


First gift...open it up brother!


It's a...pair of shoes?! Ahh...the fake smile, which let's me know my plan worked!


He said, "OH...shoes, thank you". Open the shoes, JD. "What? Another present?" (Teage could hardly contain himself)


And the struggle begins...


He wanted the Lego Indy Jones Games 2 on the Wii, BAAAD! He was so happy...

OK, on to the next one. Now, let me just give you the comparison. Here he is getting his Visa Gift Card...

What is up with that? His reaction is like he almost is disgusted with it. He could care less about this cold hard cash right in front of him (ahh, the innocence). Hilarious.

Finally, the next gift...from Teage and Saige! (Again, Teage was about to burst!!)

I guess Shorts is a boy type movie. All I hear is about the Booger Monster...mmmmm!

I think he enjoyed his day. I can't wait to celebrate again when we get to PHX...Dave and Buster's is gonna rock.

Birthdays make me so nostalgic. I think about how fast time zinged by and how much growing up has taken place. How did it go from here to now, SO FAST?


HAPPY BIRTHDAY my J-dle Deedle...

Santa!!

My kids finally got to see the one and only true Kris Kringle (alright, maybe he was just a guy "helping" Santa...and not the real one).

The only issue I had with the whole first time Holiday meeting was that I think Santa was hitting the bottle before chair call time (allegedly). OK, just take a look for yourself (these dramatizations have been created for this blog, and YES...it went down exactly like this):

*please click on the pics to see them larger*

I could not stop laughing the whole entire time. It was like they just picked this guy up off the street and threw him in a red suit. His beard gave me problems from the get-go. What is that? It totally makes me think of Bad Santa. And the look on my kids' faces...they're not dumb...they could probably smell the Jim Beam on his breath. I should have taken a hint when I saw that NO ONE was in line to see him when we walked up. I thought we scored...but apparently Santa was the only one scoring that night...with a flask and some Visine. So what do you do in a situation like this, you ask? You tell your kids Santa's being goofy and to join in...they gladly obliged!


I was in such a delirious state, that I said we ALL have to get in on this one...and I'm glad we did. Who knew inebriated Santas could be fun for everyone! HA!


Check back for JD's Birthday post later today...LOVE YA!