Scary Hair

Back in high school I used to get teased about my giant hair all the time. Its practically the same hairstyle now as it was then. One of my friends upon being able to locate me by the back of my head said "Oh Liz we can recognize you by your hair." In a school of silken haired girls, mine crazy curls were like a beacon of dorkdom. Apparantly it lives on in a more sinister way. I teach the valiant 10's in Primary (basically Sunday School for kids.) On Sundayy a boy in class randomly blurts out, "I used to be scared of your hair." What?! He goes on "yeah I'd sit in church and see you and thought your hair and your kids were really scary. Once I asked my mom who's that lady with scary hair and kids, she looks mean. But I don't think you're mean now that your my teacher." Umm thanks? Glad to know my hair frightens children.

Mississippi Trip

Thanks to the "kind" people at American Express who gave me a ton of miles for getting a card then piling more on it, I had a free ticket that needed used. And thanks to a great husband who has been willing to be ditched with all of the kids on more than one occasion for me to go on trips, I got to go on a girls only trip at the end of January. Nik and I have been friends since 7th grade. She introduced me to the church and her husband baptized me (back when they were "just friends".) We went from living across the parking lot from each other to living across the country from each other, needless to say, its been rough. Funny side note, Nik's husband, Da, once made a comment in Sunday School that if Nik and I could be sealed to each other we would. Da did clarify he meant like a friend sealing, but of course a few guys at church couldn't resist running with it in the other direction. We thought it was a great idea. In lieu of the instatement of a friend sealing, we're settling for arranged marriages for our children. We figure it'll work out in a round about way. ( clairification for the non-Mormons out there: when we get married in the temple, we are sealed for time and eternity. Children born after a couple are sealed, are born in the covenant of that relationship. This chain of eternal families goes on and on. We figure that if our kids got married, since they are already sealed to us, we'll be guaranteed to hang out for eternity also)

Jackson Square in New Orleans.

We went to Gulf Shores, Alabama first. We left Sunday after church, unfortunately I seem to be incapable of Mapquesting because I led us on a two hour detour. A decade ago this might have seemed a funny adventure, not so much now. It wasn't terrible, or wrecked our day or anything. You see we drove Nik's old Corolla that she drove in collge. Fun but zero cushion on the seats and squishier than I remember. Sad to say but after all of these years driving our cushy mini vans, with a lot of leg room, that old college car felt pretty uncomfortable.

Gulf Shores has a beautiful, white sand beach. It wasn't exactly swimming weather, but it was still nice to roll up our pants, ditch our shoes and walk on the beach. I hadn't ever seen that part of the Atlantic before, so that was pretty cool.

The other really cool thing about Gulf Shores is the giant outlet mall! Yeah! I love to shop. Bummer is I married a guy who hates it, and thankfully is a bigger tightwad than me. Otherwise I'd be bankrupt. I love any shopping, bargain or window. Just because I can't afford it doesn't mean I don't like to look. Lucky for my budget, we found some STEALS. Celeste, I did not take a picture of my bargains, sorry. Anyway, it was really fun to just shop and be able to score some cute new stuff without feeling guilty. I mean really who can complain about $1.50 tee-shirts?

After our shopping adventure, we took off for New Orleans. I've wanted to go there forever. Its got so much history, and a lot of books and movies have been based there. The French Quarter is obviously where all of the tourists go. Which means its safer too. The old parts of the city really are beautiful and interesting. We opted to skip Bourbon Street, and once it was dark we hit restaurants and movie theaters. The architecture definately lived up to my expectations. The only thing the dork in me wished for was a plaque or something explaining the history of each and every house. That would have been so great. Instead I had to rely on the guidebook, I'd gotten from the library. Some of the houses histories were in there, but I was afraid to walk around with it out all of the time. I didn't want to look like an easy target, which one should definately keep in mind there.

The buildings above is one of two identical townhomes built on the east and west sides of Jackson square. There's a cathedral to the north, and waterfront to the south. (you were dying to know that part I know). I wish I could remember the exact story behind the buildings, but I do know they were built by a Spanish woman who married a French guy. They both had a sordid (but seperate) love life, after which she divorced him, made off with a truckload of cash (he was some sort of French nobility) and moved from Paris to New Orleans, which she'd always considered home. She built a bunch of fancy buildings, and started the whole fancy scroll work balcony thing. Her life in New Orleans sounded even more sordid, and I believe involved some prominent people. Apparantly there is even an opera about her life that is very popular with the New Orleaners. What does it say about me that I kind of thought she soundedcool? I meant the whole making a name for herself way back when, not the sordid affairs part.

According to a local construction guy we met on the street, this is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house. We were trying to orient ourselves on a map and he came and asked if we were looking for Brad Pitt's house, so maybe it's legit.

This is part of Lafayette Cemetary 1, which I convinced Nik to hunt down with me. The cemetaries there are really cool looking. They had to do above ground burials because of the water levels. They use them over and over again as bodies decompose. Creepily interesting.

On the beach in Alabama. Boy my hair never looks so great as on a beach, when its blowing wildly out of control.

Nik on the beach. Already sporting the baby bump at 14 weeks. That's what happens when your so incredibly thin there's no where else for the kid to go.

The other great part about traveling the south is the food. Oh my gosh. The food there is so dang good. I literally gained 10 pounds, I came home to tight pants! There are so many good places to eat and so many things to try, we didn't even come close to touching on the possibilities. We had alligator, crab stuffed catfish, crab stuffed fried mushrooms, jambalaya, cheese fritters (awesome btw), po boys, amazing honey rosemary glazed fried chicken. beignets (extraordinary French donuts and I don't like donuts much), croissants. Mmmm. Oh wait and I had a side salad once. We'd eat when we weren't hungry just to try it all. Combine that with two days of airport junk, and its easy to see how I could pack on a few. Can you tell I like to eat?

Being two

Connor will never be two again. This suddenly occured to me tonight while I was watching Con "swim" in the tub like a chubby Michael Phelps on speed. All of his cute little two-yearisms. That sly little look they give you out of the corner of their eye when you tell them no. Its still so cute and funny when they do it anyways just to see what happens, rather then because they know that they can out run you and will ignore you anyways so it doens't matter. Only a two year old would pour his sister's juice on the floor so they could lay on their belly and lick it up. Not to be funny or act like an animal, but just because that seems like a great idea. Only a two year old would let his sisters dress him up like the leader of a gay Mardi Gras parade. Two year olds have no self doubt, they are sure they can do anything you can do. No challenge is too big because they haven't learned that some things are just too hard yet. Everything that comes out of his mouth is cute. Minus the frustrated screaming that comes all too often when I don't know what he wants and he can't tell me. One of Connor's well mastered words is "please." He knows the sign and can say it fairly clearly. He just walks around pointing to what he's after, gives you his most charming smile, sign, and say "peeze." Its hard to say no, but don't worry after a time you learn to turn him down quite easily. The sheer joy on a two years old face when they get what they want cannot be matched. Nothing lights up Con's face like handing the kid an almost can of diet pepsi. Its like he won the lottery every time.

I'm sure some of my sadness in my realization that Connor will never be two again lies in the fact that I will never have a two year old again. For those of you naysayers who don't believe I am done having kids, no this is not my hinting at additions to the family. Despite how long each day can seem, when you really sit back for a minute it becomes painfully obvious that those little hellions that make you want to run screaming from you house, are going to be snotty, self important teenagers way too fast. And they won't seem nearly as cute. People always complain about the terrible twos. I've always felt that between one and three is the best age. Their little personalities are coming out, and everything is a new discovery. Plus they lack the vocabulary to let you know what they really think. With Connor, I feel like I'm just trying to slow time down. I keep hoping that if I really savor as much of it as possible maybe it won't see like time is flying before my eyes. I keep hoping but its not working.

Back your bags Ha!

I'll post some Christmas pictures and more as soon as I dig myself out of the Christmas mess. Oh and tear myself away from Rockband!

Hailey is using her newly discovered ability to almost write to leave mean notes on my bed after she gets in trouble. They are always delivered on pink, letter sized paper and written in marker. Her hand writing is a little like deciphering hieroglyphics since she has yet to decide its worth sitting still to learn. So yesterday after another fun filled day of raising hell and me screaming, her activities finally resulted in a wild chasing game through Target with Greg and breaking stuff at the store. Not a happy mommy. They were both sent to bed early, only made worse by Kenzie's sleepover and rockband going till 10 (which they really wanted to play.) When I went to hop in bed there was my hate mail for the evening. All it said was "tomorrow I am moving to Mississippi" That's it. I laughed so hard I almost had an accident. I'm still kind of laughig about it now.

Santa's little helper

Greg has been a religous Santa visitor this year. Everytime we are at a mall (which is more often than I'd like to admit) he makes a point of visiting Santa to "tell him one more thing I want." He doesn't actually talk to Santa, he sits on his lap and whispers to me so I can relay the message for him. The other day he very thoughtfully told me "Mom, I think when I grow up I want to be Santa's helper instead of a Nascar driver." Since then he has contantly been thinking of new issues and working them out in his head. We'll be in the car and he'll say "Mom are you going to visit me when I'm at the North Pole?" "How am I going to get there?" He's figured out what we're going to eat when we visit each other, what I'm going to wear so I'm not too cold, where we'll sleep and how much I'll miss him. It's really quite sweet how much he believes its all going to work for him.

Another quick story from the life of Greg. He discovered a while ago that if he sticks his butt forward just right when he pees, he can go without touching his penis, which in his mind means he doesn't have to wash his hands (if he doesn't get caught.) His technique is usually pretty successful, we haven't had too many bad misses. Yesterday while he's in the bathroom I hear "Auugh penis!" I ran in and he throws his hands in the air out of frustration like it was totally out of his control, "mom my penis missed!" I've been trying to explain to him the necessity of aiming, but what do mom's know. Funnily enough later in the day I hear him yelling at his penis again like an out of control child. I just don't know what to do with little boys.

Late to School

My chronic lateness is either genetic or contagious. The girls have taken on a very relaxed attitude about getting ready for school. Nine o clock usually arrives to me on the stairs screaming at the girls to get some clothes on we are leaving. If even I can beat them ready, with the boys, that is pretty bad. I admit that sometimes it is my fault we don't leave on time but there is an awful lot of people in their underwear wondering what to wear at 8:55. The school has this very lax policy of "talking things out" (even fights on the playground) with no real consequences or phone calls home. So when I saw the principal at the Halloween party, I made sure he knew who I was and who my kids were and that I would like phone calls home to be made and I'm ok with consequences for tardiness. I get the feeling there is a lot of "now Jimmy don't punch Sam in the face, run along now" at the school. That being said, I now have to make extra sure I am not the reason for their tardiness just in case there ever is a consequence.

So now our mornings look like this. Celeste and I throw the strollers over the gate (ok its mostly Celeste) and as soon as the girls turn up we tell them to run! and we'll keep up. Bad weather or extreme lateness means I drive. Our school has this policy that we all wait in a tidy little line and wait for the lady to open the door and let your kid out. While I appreciate the reasons for this idea, when kids are making it by the very skin of their teeth, they need to get out now, not in 5 minutes when its our turn. So I fly into the parking lot, slam the brakes at the beginning so as not to disrupt the line or run over a kid. The girls are ready for "catapult" as we call it, then I yell GO! GO! GO! like a Navy Seals mission leader as they throw open the door. They chuck their backpacks on the grass then jump after them like their parachuting. Between my yells of GOGOGO, I hear the sound of slews of empty Diet Pepsi's hitting the ground, as the girls jump for it. I'd love to know what the door opening lady thinks of me as I fly around the line leaving the door openers in my path. One more day of promptness under our belts.

Halloweeen

We had a really fun Halloween. The girls had their class parties on Friday and I got to go and make a craft with McKenzie's class. We went to our ward party Friday night for a chili cook off and trick or treating. (Go Celeste, ward chili champ!) Our ward uses the stake cener for trick or treating instead of trunk or treating outside. You can sign your family up for a room and decorate it all up or donate candy to a room. Its kind of fun to go around the building from room to room. Some people went all out with haunted rooms, one couple made Peter Pan's Never Never land in theirs. And its a whole lot warmer than trunk or treating. Here's some more of our fun holiday. Sorry the pictures are completely not in order.

This was the first year Connor got to enjoy trick or treating. Once he figured out that all he had to do was cruise up to each door, smile cute, and hold out his bag he was way into it. He climb up the stairs and shove the other kids out of the way to get in front. People would open the door and awe at him, then give him extra candy. At one house the guy put a mask on and crawled to the door. He just stuck his masked face out at the kids to scare them. Poor Con burst into tears and backed away as fast as he could. It took him a few houses to get over it. The guy felt so bad.

Just like Charlie Brown, after each house Greg would dig whatever he got out of his bag, hold it up and annouce what he got. The girls joined in because they thought it was funny, like the special. Kenzie said she kind of hoped she got a rock because that would be funny, then she was like, no not really.

We bought one of those pumkin carving kits with the stencils and tools this year. We made a raven, monster, scary pumkin and a haunted house.

Connor was scared of the inside of the pumpkin. He'd walk over, look in, then back away freaked out.

Dave and I dressed up in our awesome 80s rock star outfits. I teased my hair to the sky and put on tons of glittery eye makeup and false eyelashes. I hit the Value Village up for a short torn skirt, a tee shirt to cut up, and the ugliest belt I could find. Leggings, knee high boots and my giant hair and I was looking awesome. I bought Dave a mullet wig and some fake tatoo sleeves.

The kids all dressed up and ready for the ward party. Hailey dressed up as a witch complete with hideous striped tights. She had glow in the dark, sparkly face make up and nail polish. Kenzie went as a nurse. She was very original. Greg had his beloved Buzz Lightyear costume. There was another boy there with a Buzz costume with no wings, greg kept saying, I'm the real Buzz Lightyear because I have wings. Connor got to recycle the beaver costume for the 3rd kid.

Dave carving pumpkins. He got really into making cool designs. As is tradition in our family, we carve all of the kids pumpkins and always end up with one or two uncarved because we ran out of time.