The kids (and us) had a few days off school and we decided at the last minute to jump in the car and drive to VEGAS!!! It was so fun, and super relaxing. We shopped, and did a little sight-seeing, but we basically went to spend some time with Raul's sister Patricia, (who lives there) and her 1 year old little girl, America, who has the cutest dimples you'll ever see. My kids adored her, all she had to do was grunt, and they'd do whatever she wanted. If they weren't paying enough attention to her she just grab their hair and pull, untill they would. We stopped by my Moms on the way back, and that was great too! Yeah Fall Break!!

Get Serious!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So I had this assignment for school, and Madison nicely offered to help. I had to do a photo shoot that was not your typical "Smile-and-look-at the -camera" kind of pictures. My teacher says that too often our pictures are boring, and that they're just "Here's Timmy standing in front of a mountain, here's Timmy standing in front of disneyland..." but that they all basically look the same but with different backgrounds. And that if we really want to make a picture memorable, we need to try to capture the personality of the person, at that moment, so that the picture makes us feel something. He also talked a lot about finding interesting backgrounds that offered textures and colors, but that wouldn't overwhelm, and become the main focal point. So, When we went to see my mom this weekend, I was inspired by this old Mill by her house. My sister Christi and I dressed her up, and walked over there to take pictures. If you know Maddy, you'll know she is such a goof-ball, and I really wanted them to be more serious pictures. But of course we were laughing like crazy at her "trying" to be serious. You can see her "fake-seriousness" in most of them. Then she was like "lets pretend I'm spiderman, and I'll climb the walls." ??? So she kept fake climbing walls between each shot. She'd be really funny, then I'd try to take a picture and she'd just go really stiff... anyway, I was shocked with how cute some of them turned out.
She may be a Goof-Ball, but she's a cute Goof-ball!

Soccer

Ethan and Madison were on the same soccer team this year. It was so fun watching them! Ethan has always loved playing soccer, but Madison hasn't been on a team since she was four, and we signed her up, and forced her to go to every game, even though she just sat on the sidelines and cried and whined the entire time. But luckily for us this time it was actually her idea, and she did great! It was great to see their dedication, and determination playing in weather that ranged from super hot, to pouring rain ,(well, Madison did sit that one out, however she did have one day where she went from school, to cheer practice to piano lessons, to a soccer game, and never complained!) They had a great team, they all worked hard and did really good.

This is what Ethan and his friends all did when they got a goal, if you ask me, it looks really painful.

What's up with the Left Knee Already!!

Okay, this is serious. Ethan goes through one pair of pants every two weeks. What happens to the pants every two weeks you ask? One has only to look at the left knee of every pair of pants he has ever owned, and you'll find a whole. Why the left knee you say? Well the answer is one of the great mysteries of the World, right up there with the astrological alignments of the great pyramids of Giza!!! I have done everything I can to observe this process, but to no avail. I have bought ever brand you could name. I used to buy several pairs at a time, but then they'd all wear out at the same time, so now it's just one pair, every two weeks. I'll either go crazy, or broke before I figure it out...

Pants he's gone through so far this year

Pet Rocks

Madison’s grade is having an economics fair. She had to make something to sell at school. She came up with the idea of pet rocks, I grudgingly agreed, and put it off as long as I could, I figured it was just going to turn into a big mess, that I would get stuck cleaning up. But, oh my Gosh!!! It was so stinkin’ fun!!! We were laughing so hard at these little rocks, with their giant eyes forming their own distinct personalities! Madison started to name them, and then we decided to make costumes for some of them. We made little boxes, and added the names Maddy made up. It was a blast... Even Dad thought they were awesome! We had a hard time stopping. I haven’t laughed so hard for a long time! What a great memory! Let me just say that, even if you are having the worst day of you life, you have to laugh when you see these things. I'm secretly hoping she doesn't sell any on Wednesday, and they all come back home.


*Update*
Madison did awesome at her economics fair! Although she just couldn't let Chuck go, so he came home to live with us. :)

We're BAAAAACK!!!

How many of you want to hear a list of excuses why I haven't been on my blog in 5 Months???? Anyone???? Well here goes..............
1. School got out, and I realized there was life going on behind me. Without the constant pressure of a due date on something graphic-designy (if such a word exists) my time on the computer became less and less untill the thought of going back on made my back hurt.
2. The farther I got behind, the longer I knew it would take to catch up on showing all our marvelous adventures. I didn't know where to start, but I didn't want to leave anything out!!!!
3. Um, we moved. I was stressed and tired.
4. School Started again. Lots to do.
5. Started a new Job, less free time.

Things that inspired me to get back on, and not let the Cuckoo's Nest die a premature death!!!!
6. I decided not to stress about all the stuff I've missed, I'm sure I'll get to it someday.
5. My kids missed being famous
4. Ethan came home and told me about a kid in his school, who's mom has a blog. She writes about her everyday life which is apparantely pretty interesting because a lot of people read it, I guess she just loves and quotes a lot from the show "Phinias and Ferb", well Disney caught wind of it, and they flew their whole family to Disneyland and they got to go to the studio where the show gets recorded, and they got to sing a song that will be on the show!! All because this lady didn't give up! So Neither Shall I!! And then maybe one day, I'll like win free cheese or something!!!
3. I miss hearing about you Guys!!! Yes loser me, I only link to your blogs, when I'm updating mine. (Bad, bad Dori) And since I'm never on mine, I haven't been on yours! This has to change...and it will!!
2. I miss the vent of frustration, and the outlet for creativity. I never realized how much I love writing. And when I'm having a problem I love to get you guy's take on it.
1. My Jen inspired me!!! She's my biggest blogfan and now she too is part of the blog world. If she's doing it, then so am I.


So get ready, cause we're back!

Happy Birthday Madison!

Recipe for the perfect Fairy Party

First, adorn tables with delightful flowers

Next, add fairy wands with fabulous, sparkly fairy dust.

Ballons, are fun, but optional...as they tend to make the

littlest fairies upset if they can't all have one.

Just wouldn't be right without a sprinkling of crazy girls!

One dress up box. Filled to the rims with fairy wings,

feather boas and preety much anything pink, puffy, and sparkly

A small amount of Scavenger hunt. To find fairy-like items, is good fun for all!

Just be aware this brings out loud squeels, might need

to warn neighbors.

A crucial ingredient, LOTS OF HELP!

(Thank you Tiffany, Becky, Yazmin, Nate, and even Raul!, you are all honorary Fairies!)

Add at least two extreamly messy crafts!

The messier the better.

No Fairy Party would be complete without a bunch of

boys, sword fighting on the side.

Mix One treasure map, leading to the mystical
Fairy Gift.

Now wasn't that easy???

Madison's Party turned out great, It was worth the effort and planning.

Every year I yearn to hear that she'd just like to take a few friends to the movies, and that parties are lame. I know, I know when that day comes I'll be sad, but it's hard to believe that after this one.

Her friends and cousins were so cute, and they really got into it. One of her friends kept saying. "This is for reals right?" and " I just knew that fairies were real, I knew it!" When they dressed up we took a picture of each of them by the stream. They turned out so cute!

And again thanks to all of you who helped! Nathan for running for drinks, Tiffany for making their faces sparkle, Yaz- for running around at the scavenger hunt, while carrying two children, with one following after you yelling Ma Ma! (and you weren't even his Ma Ma!) And Becky, for bringing all the stuff I couldn't find, and doing it all 8 1/2 months pregnant! Love you all! Oh yah, and thanks Raul for watching the boys, and keeping your complaining to a minimum:)