Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Spaghetti Face!

Spaghetti Face-
I have a picture of Bekah much like this one, I can't believe how much he looks like her! He scratched his eye today, unfortunately it is not more spaghetti sauce. This kid loves to eat and can out eat his brother and sister at almost every meal. This is the first time we let him eat spaghetti on his own and he caught right on, with the whole noodle slurping bit!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Basket Cases

As you can see from previous posts-my kids have a wierd obsession with sitting in buckets-but it's not just limited to buckets-they do not discriminate! Buckets, baskets, empty cupboards (or full cupboards if they can fit) if they can get in it, under it, on it then that's what they do. Chad took this picture a couple weeks ago. Bekah was sitting in the empty laundry basket looking through her notebook-and Topher went and found this basket in one of our still unpacked boxes, dumped it out and put it next to Bekah and got in-he always wants to do whatever big sis is doing! Too cute the way these guys are such good buddies!

Not Exactly What I meant!

...when I told the kids to clean up all their Little People and put them in the buckets! Although they are little people in buckets, I guess I need to be more specific when I send them in to clean their room!Do you see our sick addiction to buying all these Little People sets? The 2 huge buckets are for all the Little People and then that whole corner is where all the buildings sit-they are all so cute though! I know, I know we have a problem. As you can see though the kids get lots of use out of them-those buckets are constantly emptied and there are little villages set up all over the room. We still need the school, the circus and Noah's Ark....hmmmm. maybe the Easter Bunny could leave some! I mean look how cute those kids are...they NEED them!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

What a Man!

My friend Heather tagged everyone on her blog to answer these questions and I thought it was only fitting for Valentines Day afterall.
All about my man...
What is his name? Chad Christopher Hewlett
How long have you been married? Almost 7 years
How long did you date? About 3 1/2 months
How old is he? He just turned 35
Who eats more? Probably me, depending on what meal though-he can down breakfast, and I like a bigger dinner
Who is taller? I am by 2 inches
Who sings better? He most definately sings better-he used to sing to me all the time when we were dating, he makes me swoon...
Who is smarter? I'm a bigger smart A, but he is more book smart
Whose temper is worse? Mine by far.
Who does the laundry? We both do, whoever happens to get to it first I guess, and we put it away together
Who does the dishes? Same as laundry, we both do it, sometimes together.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Right now I do, it seems to change depending on where we put the bed, and he always lets me choose
Who pays the bills? We both do, we usually sit down together after we get paid, pay the bills, figure out where we can pay extra, and divide the money into different savings accounts and spending accounts, that way we both know where we are each week.
Who mows the lawn? When ever we have had a lawn he has mowed it, probably just because it bothers him more when it's long-so I don't ever think about it
Who cooks dinner? We both do, we usually do it together, or whoever decides something sounds good and just does it
Who drives when you are together? Usually Chad, it is rare that I drive when we are together, it's usually only when I pick him up and just stay in the drivers seat
Who is more stubborn? Guaranteed that's me, he is very easy going and pretty much lets me get away with whatever I want, there isn't much he is stubborn about, and I have a list that stretches pretty far!
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Probably Chad, though we don't fight all that often or even argue that much-plus I'm usually right!
Whose parents do you see the most? Right now, mine, a few years ago-his. His mom lives in Utah and mine lives here, but before we moved here, we lived with his mom, so we saw her A LOT!
Who proposed? Chad did, 9 weeks after our first date, and he recreated our first date too-so sweet.
Who has more friends? Probably me, but we both would rather just spend time together
Who has more siblings? Chad has 5 brothers and 2 sisters, and I have 2 sisters and a brother-so definately him-his family parties are LOUD
Who wears the pants? Sad to say, probably me, just because I have an opinion about everything though and he is always the one willing to compromise to make me happy-I know I'm lucky, and a bit of a brat!
So I know I have a great man who spoils me rotten and can make me melt when he sings or writes me a sweet love note, right? Well this morning for Valentines Day I wake up to a box of chocolates, a love note and Nacho Libre, (a favorite movie of ours), and I am thinking oh-so sweet! Then I come into my office and there is this HUGE 22" widescreen monitor and new computer that is flashing "Happy Valentines Day" on it. That is what I am writing this blog on right now. He completely surprised me, I was in need of a computer, mine was on it's way out-but I thought I would have to wait until at least Christmas before I could even start thinking about one! To top it all off he is taking me to the Melting Pot tomorrow, one of my top 3 favorite restaraunts ever! What did I get him-oh nothing, a little Valentine card that says "Be mine". I wanted to get him something, but he says Valentines Day is a girls holiday-it's just to spoil your girls rotten! (He also gets his daughters something every year). He always delivers the spoiling, but this year is completely over the top! I love you sweetie, thanks for all the spoiling-I don't deserve it, but I sure like it!He also got the kids chocolates and cards-here are some scary pics of them enjoying their spoils...

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Adventures of Flat Asha

My niece Asha, who lives in Mapleton Utah is in the 2nd grade and is learning about geography. They read a book called Flat Stanley, about a boy who was smashed by a bulletin board or something-I know it sounds gruesome, but apparently other than him being smashed flat, he was otherwise unharmed-you can let out your sigh of relief now. Anywho-what the class then did is made themselves flat-not by smashing themselves with bulletin boards, but just by drawing a picture of themselves. Then they were supposed to send their flattened selves to some exotic or far off locale where a friend or family lives to have a little visit and see what that part of the world is like. (You may remember us doing this a couple of years ago for her older brother). Well as you may have guessed sweet little Asha chose us as Flat Asha's host family and we got to take her around and show her the sites, and even dress her in our authentic cultural clothing...ie. raincoat, rainboots, and of course to complete the outfit-matching umbrella.
These are the adventures we took her on, this last weekend...First we stopped off in Depoe Bay-Whale Watching Capital and also the home of the Worlds Smallest Harbor. We took Flat Asha's pictures in front of the signs, in front of the whale statue and in front of the boats in the harbor. She loved it , even when she got splashed a little from the huge waves crashing against the wall while she was looking for whales.Next we took Flat Asha to the beach, it was a little chilly but that didn't seem to bother her, she still convinced us to bury her in the sand and help her write her name in the mountain with a stick, she loved playing with her not so flat cousins and watched with sheer delight as they ran from the waves and built mini sand castles.
On Sunday we took Flat Asha to Bonneville Dam to see the big sturgeon and other fish, she was a little disappointed that the salmon weren't climbing the ladders to get back to the ocean at this time of year, but she still signed the guest register and had her picture taken by the fake salmon and pretended to look terrified that she was about to be eaten-that Flat Asha, such a crack up!After the Dam we stopped at Multnomah Falls and took her picture in front of the sign and the falls, Flat Asha at that point was getting a little upset by all the cold and rain, so we didn't stay long.At the end of our weekend we went to the End of the Oregon Trail site, if you look closely you can see Flat Asha on the sign waving to you all. She had so much fun in Oregon, and we were all sad to see her go this afternoon back to Utah.Flat Asha-you can come back and visit your host family anytime! We would love to see the 3 dimensional you here in Oregon, but understand that your mom and dad are big poo's for not bringing you out-we love em anyway! Love ya!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The Happiest Place on Earth

When we first walked through the bag check and saw these benches-Bekah was so excited-she shouted, "Mom, I think we're in Disneyland now!" Minnie-the first character we met-Topher ran full speed at her and threw his arms around her, Bekah wasn't far behind-it was so great that my kids weren't scared of them at all! Topher showing us his tough guy side in Toon Town. The kids with Flick at California Adventure-The kids LOVED this part of the park, they both hated to leave it.Meeting the man, ahem I mean the mouse himself. It really was the Happiest Place on Earth! I'm telling you-going to Disneyland in the middle of the week, in January when it is raining (not a lot-just light sprinkles off and on) is the best thing ever! We didn't even have to use our fast passes-we got right on every ride-and got to see everything we wanted to. It was fabulous. We spent Thursday at Disneyland and then Friday at California Adventure. It was just as magical as I thought it would be for my kids-they are at such a good age to take-they just believe in all the magic and their eyes were twinkling and excited the whole time. It was so much fun for everyone. Hangin with the Pooh.The fam and my mom and my niece Mckayla at California Adventure.Playing at the 7 dwarves cottage.Me and the kids outside of Soarin over California in California Adventure.A really bad pic of Cinderella in her carriage at the parade-it was the only picture I took of the parade, so I thought I'd throw it in!Getting Princess Jasmine's autograph.My fine catches! They're keepers!The family by the Grizzly River Run-this ride gets you SOAKED-not recommended on a somewhat chilly day! Super fun, except for the after chills! The kids LOVED T-i-g-g-e-r the mostest-they were so excited he was there.Meeting Mulan in the Princess room.After the teacup ride for like the 3rd or 4th time-the kids loved these, which surprised me, as much as Bekah HATED the tilt-o-whirl at Lagoon this last summer.Dancing with Nigel the Penguin and Bert from Mary Poppins. What 2 kids look like after so much fun and excitement packed into 2 very full days, and it's only like 9 o'clock! (That's EARLY for these 2 if you know them and their sleep patterns at all).