Baby Jesus wants what?

Today Alex came home from the Presbyterian preschool that he goes to three days a week, and I looked through his lunch bag for papers from school. He had a piece of paper that was typed, "Alex T. - If I could give a present to baby Jesus I would give him..." and (no surprise here) the next part read, "Lightning". Never loved having a boy more. I'm sure baby Jesus would LOVE to have a Lightning McQueen car.

Turkey pee?

I've included some pictures of the past week: my parents and the babies (all born between March and July of 2008), the babies TRYING to stay still for a group shot, the boy cousins, another picture of Alex wtih narcolepsy (he REFUSES to take a nap but I knew he was exhausted after Thanksgiving weekend so I sent him to his room for quiet time. About 10 minutes later, I went up to check on him and this is what I found), and our little kiddos posing for a group shot in our family room.

But, my big question of the day is WHO was in my house and who taught Alex that dead, cooked turkeys pee? I guess I must have been upstairs when the subject began with Alex. So, the first I heard of it was today when Alex was telling me that at preschool he ate the cookie in his lunch and not his sandwich. When I asked why he didn't eat his sandwich, he said "it not jelly, mom". (Yea, I know, but he has a peanut-free classroom and his only option is meat sandwiches. This week it was turkey sandwich meat). He followed that with "the turkey is sticky. it has pee in it." I was completely confused, and kept asking what he meant... finally he said, "last day, mom, the turkey... it go pee in the sink".

I asked Dave about it, and he just laughed and said it was Lori (my sister) and my Dad's fault, that they told him that the turkey juice/marinade stuff was pee as my dad cut a little hole into the pan to let the juices drain into the sink after he took the turkey out of the oven. So, fess up, people. Because I don't think Alex will ever eat turkey again.

BTW- an overdue shout out to my brother-in-law, Chris, who is truely the wind beneath my wings and helped me more than my own husband with Thanksgiving. (I can say that because Dave never reads this blog) :)-

Few pics

Just thought I'd upload a few pictures from this week. Carmen has been so sweet lately after her naps. She just wakes up and rolls around and plays in her crib. She has figured out how to push the button to turn her mobile music on, and pull down a part of the bumper pad to suck on the tags. Tags and paper are her hands down favorite things.

Also, After FINALLY getting furniture in our front living room and dining room (it has been 2 1/2 years, after all!) Hayden has found her favorite nook of the house. She has claimed this particular chair as hers and will just hang out and read books in her chair, with a blanket. Here is a picture of her completely immersed in Katie Kazoo Switcharoo.

Now, if I can only get rid of this sore throat! It's 3:36 in the morning--I've been awake since 2, and just can't sleep because of my massacred throat. A popsicle, two cups of tea, 2 extra strength tylenol and 3 ibuprofen later, I'm gonna give it a shot again. I just can't justify being up in the middle of the night when I'm not nursing Carmen. Here's to sleep? :)

Down dog

Here's Carmen, just wiggling around on the floor after her bath a few night ago. She LOVES to be nude... and to answer your next question, yes the carpet stayed dry. :)

So I'm the youngest...

So, I'm the youngest of 7 kids in my family which, one would think, should get me out of ever having to host any holiday meal because there are plenty of other, older, more established siblings who don't have 4 little kids who would love to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever, at their house, right? Well, I'm not really sure how it happened BUT, Thanksgiving is at my house this year, which means I'm in charge of the turkey. I keep asking people about it, and everyone has opinions about whether to brine or not, whether to get a frozen turkey or a fresh organic one, etc. But no one can answer my most pressing question-- HOW does that bag get up the turkey with all of the turkey "parts". Who puts it there, and why would anyone want to keep a turkey neck? Most importantly, where can I go to get a turkey without that bag in it, because I am NOT pulling that thing out. Any ideas?

Rice cereal!

Carmen's growing up WAY too fast! She'll be six months old next week, so we decided it was probably time she start eating some rice cereal. After the first bite, we could tell that she's probably been ready for five months. She spent most of her time trying to grab the spoon out of my hand, and lurching forward to reach the spoon before it reached her. Carmen LOVES rice cereal... and thanked us by sleeping from 7 pm last night to 7 am this morning. Yahoo!

The other kids are convinced it must taste like ice cream or something for Carmen to like it this much. (Boy was Alex dumbfounded when I let him taste it tonight!! He said, "oh..." and just slowly backed away)

I've got to put on the video of her gut-laughing while Dave was throwing her onto our bed. (Don't judge... she's our fourth!!) Also, the video of her holding her favorite yoga position, down dog, for minutes on end. Soooo cute. Carmen we love you!

Happy Halloween from the Hobos!

You have no idea how many attempts it took for Anamarie to hold a straight face-- even for a second!! (Makes you want to lick the melted chocolate right off their faces, huh?)

HSM3 Hysteria

If you're reading this and don't know what HSM3 is by the acronym, you must not have a girl between 6-12. Because this is ALL Hayden and Anamarie have been talking about for weeks: High School Musical 3. Hayden decided to postpone her birthday party when she turned 8 in September for the opening of the movie last weekend. We had a double birthday party with her good friend, Ava, who turns 8 next month. We went all out on the preparation-- Dave made backstage passes for the invitations, we made iron-on shirts for all 26 girls, prepared a prediction game about the movie to play while the girls were waiting, Ann (Ava's mom) made an awesome cake, Hayden & Ava spent time memorizing the HSM3 edition of "People magazine"... it was a busy week! Dave and Ava's dad waited in line for an hour (while Ann and I had the party at Pat & Oscar's next door) so that we could be the first to be admitted to the theatre, and have our whole group sit together. The highlight for me, though, was watching the girls dance in their seats and in the aisle... and scream on the top of their lungs for "Troy". I think it just might have been my best party yet!! :)-

Waiting for the Material Girl...

I AM excited for election day. Kinda for the president part, but mostly because I get to go to the Madonna concert that night!! Dave got me tickets for my birthday (that's all I wanted) and, since it is just one week away, I figure I'd make you guys listen to Madonna too for a week in my memory... and maybe a week after also. So, turn up your volume! :)-

Alex is 4!!

Alex turned 4 years old on the 15th, and he got his wish... to play on jumpies as much as he wanted for 2 hours. We had about 25 of his friends from preschool, church, and our neighborhood there. He got more toys and cars than anyone could possibly need, so now we're all set for Christmas presents for him! :) (What he doesn't remember wont hurt him, right?) Here are pictures of the party, and a close up of him and his best friend Lily.

Anamarie!!!

So, Ana wins the silly award for this past week!! After her game on Saturday, we went to the new Jamba Juice place in Vons on Scripps Poway Parkway. We went over to the water fountain (outside Baskin Robbins) to sit in the sun and drink our drinks. The kids were throwing pennies into the fountain and climbing on the rocks-- just playing. Everything was fine, and as Dave and I were gathering everyone up to go home, Ana and Hayden decided to walk around the concrete ledge surrounding the area at the bottom of the waterfall where everyone throws their pennies. Of course you know what happened next... Ana fell in. And it wasn't just that her foot slipped in-- she completely went UNDER the water (the 2 feet or however deep it is) and looked like she had just been thrown in a pool! Dave and I were DYING-- laughing hysterically and, unfortunately, weren't able to really soothe Ana because we were laughing so hard! I just started saying, "Quick! Take a picture! Take a picture!" So, we did. :)- You wouldn't believe how much water poured out of her soccer cleats!!

Go Padres!

Our little Padres fan, all decked out with her face tat, stayed awake for the entire game last weekend!! She loved the lights and all of the new noises...

Soccer season!

Soccer season is in full swing. So don't ask us to do anything on Saturdays because we're slammed. :) Dave's dad took some pics of Hayden's game last week, of 2 of her 3 goals. I hope her team starts playing some better teams pretty soon because this little athlete is getting a bit cocky... pics of Ana and Coach Dave next week...

Catching up

Wow, the past 3 weeks have been insanely busy and fun! I've posted a few of my favorite pics from our adventures. The last week of summer, we stayed in a beach house in Solana Beach. We all loved surfing/boogie boarding/building sand castles/sleeping in the tent (Carmen) all week long. The next day, Dave and the kids went boating with Scott- here's a picture of Hayden kneeboarding before she went out of the wake. I guess she also got up for a second on the wakeboard too! Ana and Alex went tubing and everyone had another fun day in the sun before school started the next week...

There are pics from the first day of school with Hayden in 2nd grade, Anamarie in kindergarten, and Alex in preschool. Alex had the hardest time going to school (no surprise) and is still tearing up when I drop him off. Ana loves kindergarten, but says she misses me and our house everyday :).

Yesterday was Hayden's 8th birthday and her baptism. It was an awesome day--funniest part, as I was drying Hayden off I asked what it felt like in the water and she said, "I almost had to pee in the water." HA HA!! Good thing we drained the water afterward- I guess there are benefits to individual baptisms rather than stake baptisms where kids go in one after another!

Three months!

Baby Carmen is three months old today! To celebrate she ran errands with me and Alex, slept, and drank a bunch of milk. Playing with Carmen and seeing her smile is the highlight of everyone's day in our house. We love you Carmen!!