Halloween Treats

I know I've been doing a lot of posts lately. Sorry. I guess it is better than only making one every few months. Today, I thought I would make "special" cupcakes with the girls, and they were so funny, I didn't want to forget the things they did. First comes the baking of the cupcakes. The girls then fight over who gets which beater to lick, and then try to convince me to give in to letting them have the bowl and spatula (they both ended up with brown goaties). I totally remember being envious of the spatula. My mom would bake something, and with so many kids, there were only two beaters to hand out, then came the spatula, then the bowl. I would always opt for the bowl, thinking that had the most, but I remember watching my mom scoop out what she could with the spatula.
Next came the decorating, but only so much went on the cakes. They tried to sneak every piece of sugar they possibly could. If I caught them, they thought I was the mean one. I also had to post a pic that showed the little finger prints on the rest of the cupcakes.
I guess I just had to show off the domestic diva in me. Which is really non-existent. Only very rarely will I bake, but that is about it.

Poor, poor Utah

I think Neil and I were not thinking too clearly when we thought that we could handle Utah. I hate being so judgemental or critical, but seriously?! Utah, is this really all you have to offer, that you design a corn maze off of this dude? I wonder what type of royalties they had to pay his dad. When I thought I could stomach the "CTR" graffitti (no joke, people put cups above a bridge that spelled CTR), this is too much for me. Please, people, get a life. For those of you that are Archuleta fans, sorry, just blame it on my pregnancy hormones. It is making me mean. ha!

I posted this, because Neil and I took the girls to a corn maze for my birthday. Not this one, but still a classic Utah event. We forgot to take our camera into the maze, and were too cold to go back and get it. Growing up in snow, it is still hard to get used to cold weather in October after living in Phoenix for 6 years. Oh well, it has been really nice on our power bill, we'll just see if that stays the same when we have to turn the heater on. The girls had fun in the maze, other than the fact, Abby hated her winter clothes. For those of you that know her, that shouldn't be surprising. She can't handle tags in her clothes, or having her clothes slightly wet with a little sand. She is very finicky. Isabel just wanted to be held the entire time, but kept yelling at the corn. "Hi, Corn!" Thanks for the birthday wishes, but especially for not making fun of my horrible picture. Thanks, Neil.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE

I thought I would hijack this blog for a moment and wish Maggie a happy 26th birthday and allow the rest of you to do the same. Maggie, I'm thankful for all you do as a selfless wife, mother and friend. For me, life would be pointless without you and the sweet daughters you've given me. So I'm glad to have this day every year to, once again, thank you and thank the Lord for sending you to us all. So heres to being one year older and a lot of years wiser than most of us. I love you!

I'll add a few more pictures when I get home.

Latest Sharp Vacation (Newport Beach, Disney)

This was Laguna Beach. There was tons of seaweed all over, so the beach stunk. It was a little cold and really foggy, but the girls wanted to stick their feet into the water. It didn't take too long before the girls fell into the water and got entirely wet. The rest of the trip, they were wearing the adult's jackets.









Isabel only wanted to see Minnie Mouse. It took us five times of actually seeing her, to actually get a picture. Every time that we got into line, she had to go back inside. We went through Mickey's house to see him, and after her hug and picture, Isabel said, "Bye, Mickey! I'll miss you, but I'm going to see Minnie!" Of course, that was one of the times that we saw her, but didn't get her picture.





I'll post more pictures later, but this is all I have on this computer. This is the last day, as we were attempting to leave the park. The girls were so good and happy the entire time, but at the end, they were just too tired to even keep their heads up.










This was from our ride home. Abby was still exhausted.

Thought you might like to know...

If you have had the opportunity to see Abby in the past few months, she has probably told you our little "secret". She has been taking pride in telling people about the "baby in mommy's tummy". So, if I haven't told you personally, please don't take offense, I've kind of let Abby take over in that department. This morning we were able to check out the gender... and surprise!! What do you think it was? Here's a hint, Gardner's get girls, except for a couple bonuses on the side (ie. Phil and Jackson). So yes, we are having another little girl. It was a little disappointment, but I think we'll get over it. Girls are sweet, but I'm finding that they scream.....a lot. I just hope this one will turn out more like Abby when it comes to bed time. I also wish I could add images where I want them. I always have trouble with that. I could post "proof" of the gender, and also a pic of her face, but those are a little creepy to me. Especially the face shots. They look so alien. I thought this was cute, though. You can see her

fingers! When I set up the appointment, I asked if I needed to have a full bladder, and the lady just laughed at me. In Surprise, I'm used to a whole painful ultrasound process, where I have to have a full bladder, and they get to push on it while checking out the baby. I'm glad they have

better equipment up here. We will now be accepting name suggestions if any of you have some to add, please share. I'm out of ideas. Also, if you don't mind, if you could send your condolences to Neil. We were all sort of hoping for a boy, but even though we love our girls, we may very possibly be done, so that would mean no boys for Neil. It is a sad day for him. Abby, too. We walked out of the office and we showed her the pictures, and told her she was going to have another sister. She pouted and said, "but I wanted a brother"! It will all be worth it when the baby comes.

Bed time nightmares

When I talk about bed time nightmares, I'm not talking about the girls. I have been having such a hard time putting them to bed ever since we got rid of Isabel's crib. From 8:00 on, it is such a struggle to get the two (Isabel mainly), to go to sleep, and stay in their beds. We still have a toddler bed in Isabel's room, but she chooses not to stay in there. And by not choosing to stay in there, I mean that she will throw an irate temper tantrum, and will not listen to any type of reason. Although, I do know safety procedure, and know better than to put my two year old on the top of a bunk bed, that is where she will stay with the least amount of trouble, not to mention that Abby likes the bottom better. Isabel is constantly getting out of bed, and trying to see how far she can get before we catch her. She has often made it to the basement, claiming that she wants to sleep there. Is it strange that I feel safer with her on the top bunk with the possibility of her falling, rather than in the basement all alone? I got these pictures a few days ago, when they had tired themselves out completely. I think poor Abby was being pushed off the bed. Now, aside from forcing my children (cross that out) forcing Isabel to stay in her room when we put them to bed, after that is my struggle to keep her in her room without waking Abby. After midnight sometime (but every night) Isabel comes in our room wanting to sleep with us. Okay, I am a light sleeper, and cannot stand to have people inching their way underneath me as I lay there. Isabel is no exception. I have ended up putting a couple blankets and pillows on the floor as her bed. I have been so tired of getting up with her, and of course, she will throw a fit if I try to put her back in her room, or Abby's. Thus my meaning of waking Abby up. Enough rambling, anyone have ideas for an easier way for bedtime and keeping children in their beds. Yes, I realise that this blog is quite redundant. Oh well, such is my life right now.

Abby's preschooling

This year I started my own little preschool with only a couple other little kids from the neighborhood. Unfortunatly, Abby is the oldest by a few months, and when you are pre-kindergarten, months make a difference. Abby seems to be bored when I try to help the other little kids. She finishes her worksheets quickly, and just wants to play the rest of the time. This is something that made me laugh. Abby's favorite things to do is to play games on the computer and write letters to her grandparents and friends. When she writes her letters, there really isn't any semblance or order to any of the letters. Except or her name and "mom" and "dad". Yesterday I set up nickjr.com for her to play some games, and this was my result. She opened up a Dora game and decided to copy what she saw. She doesn't really know what she is writing, but I have to say, I was impressed. She hasn't figured out how to put spaces in between, and to either finish a word on the same line, or at least put a dash in between. If you'll notice, she has "backpack", "boots", "benny", and even "senor tucan". I guess I'm bragging a bit, but this is nothing I have done. This is all Abby's doing, she loves to copy things. She makes me laugh.