I heard this and loved it from the get-go. I think everyone can relate to this song on some level. Gotta get me the CD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyX-I-um5Kk
(And yeah, I've never tried to post a youtube video before, so hopefully this works!)
Staceroo and Her Zoo
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Halloween Mania!
Do you remember your childhood Halloweens? You know, parade at school, maybe a class party, and then trick-or-treating that night? A one day event, done and done. I don't know how it happened, but these days Halloween has blossomed into a one to two week extravaganza, with the candy flowing out our eyeballs by the time we're done. I mean this year we had the girl's bus driver giving them candy, and even the dentist, of all people! And today, at church, Lise's primary teacher gave the kids baggies full of all his extra Halloween candy that he had left over from trick or treating. (to be eaten later, of course, as it was Fast Sunday). Needless to say, we've got enough candy to hold us over indefinitely. Or, at least until the Easter Bunny makes his appearance next spring. :)
But anyhoo, back to Halloween mania. It all started in mid-October when Aly's friend had a costume birthday party. Doesn't she make the cutest gypsy? And seeing her in make-up was a trip. We're not too far off from that, but when Aly looked in the mirror she said, "whoa! You can't even tell it's me." I suppose that's the sign of a good costume.
Kylie was our little pumpkin/jack-o-lantern and, amazingly enough, she loved wearing this thing. She would hug it and snuggle it. Super cute.
Besides my gypsy and pumpkin, we had two cheerleaders this year. My mom taught Kate how to make the "U" with her fingers and to say "Go Utes!" whenever anyone asked her for a trick. Lise alternated between being a Gators Cheerleader and a BYU Cheerleader (especially when it earned her extra candy at the Trunk-or-Treat by some very stingy BYU fans in our ward!)
This is the cake we earned at the cake walk: chocolate frosted cake on the inside, surrounded by kit kats and topped with candy corn. Now, doesn't just looking at that thing make your teeth want to fall out?!?
On Halloween day we started out by going to Kate's preschool parade. They went around in little wagons singing jack-o-lantern songs to the college students and staff on campus. Super cute. My favorite costume of this bunch (other than Kate, of course) is the Dinosaur riding witch. Can't beat that. Also, you can't see it very well in the picture, but one of the girls in Kate's class was a mummy. When Kate was telling my dad what all of her friend's costumes were, they had the following conversation:
Next I was off to help in Lise's classroom for their party. They did Cookie decorating, a mini pumpkin hunt, listened to stories, and ate a ton of rot gut goodies.
That evening we went trick or treating on our street. As the only family with kids on the street this was an interesting experience because some people told us they had forgotten it was Halloween, while others told us they had been waiting for us specifically to come to their house and loaded us down with loot. Funny, funny.
Our last stop of the evening was at a friend's house where they had "barfing pumpkin soup", made monster appetizers out of vegetables and fruit, and then spider cookies for dessert. It was fun to hang out and chat, and the girls loved playing and getting out some of their sugar-fueled energy.
So, overall a very successful Halloween season, I'd say. This was my parents first time spending Halloween with my kids. Hopefully they had fun and we didn't overdo too much. We even bypassed a few of the free events going on around town, which I'm glad we did. Towards the end, when I was feeling totally overwhelmed with all the festivities going on, I decided to cancel the "picking a pumpkin at the patch/hayride/cornmazey" thing I had planned to do. So we totally boycotted the whole carving pumpkin tradition this year. Three days after Halloween was over Kate asked me, "so, when are we going to carve our pumpkins?" I told her, "we didn't do it this year because we had too many other parties, but we'll carve some next year, okay?" To which Kate responded with an over-the-top excited "hooray!!" Whew! Dodged that bullet . . . until next year.
But anyhoo, back to Halloween mania. It all started in mid-October when Aly's friend had a costume birthday party. Doesn't she make the cutest gypsy? And seeing her in make-up was a trip. We're not too far off from that, but when Aly looked in the mirror she said, "whoa! You can't even tell it's me." I suppose that's the sign of a good costume.
Kylie was our little pumpkin/jack-o-lantern and, amazingly enough, she loved wearing this thing. She would hug it and snuggle it. Super cute.
Besides my gypsy and pumpkin, we had two cheerleaders this year. My mom taught Kate how to make the "U" with her fingers and to say "Go Utes!" whenever anyone asked her for a trick. Lise alternated between being a Gators Cheerleader and a BYU Cheerleader (especially when it earned her extra candy at the Trunk-or-Treat by some very stingy BYU fans in our ward!)
This is the cake we earned at the cake walk: chocolate frosted cake on the inside, surrounded by kit kats and topped with candy corn. Now, doesn't just looking at that thing make your teeth want to fall out?!?
On Halloween day we started out by going to Kate's preschool parade. They went around in little wagons singing jack-o-lantern songs to the college students and staff on campus. Super cute. My favorite costume of this bunch (other than Kate, of course) is the Dinosaur riding witch. Can't beat that. Also, you can't see it very well in the picture, but one of the girls in Kate's class was a mummy. When Kate was telling my dad what all of her friend's costumes were, they had the following conversation:Grandpa - Oh, she was a Mummy, not a Daddy?"
Kate - Yep
Grandpa - Was that funny?
Grandpa - Was that funny?
Kate - No, Grandpa. That wasn't even a joke!
Next I was off to help in Lise's classroom for their party. They did Cookie decorating, a mini pumpkin hunt, listened to stories, and ate a ton of rot gut goodies.
That evening we went trick or treating on our street. As the only family with kids on the street this was an interesting experience because some people told us they had forgotten it was Halloween, while others told us they had been waiting for us specifically to come to their house and loaded us down with loot. Funny, funny. 
Our last stop of the evening was at a friend's house where they had "barfing pumpkin soup", made monster appetizers out of vegetables and fruit, and then spider cookies for dessert. It was fun to hang out and chat, and the girls loved playing and getting out some of their sugar-fueled energy.
So, overall a very successful Halloween season, I'd say. This was my parents first time spending Halloween with my kids. Hopefully they had fun and we didn't overdo too much. We even bypassed a few of the free events going on around town, which I'm glad we did. Towards the end, when I was feeling totally overwhelmed with all the festivities going on, I decided to cancel the "picking a pumpkin at the patch/hayride/cornmazey" thing I had planned to do. So we totally boycotted the whole carving pumpkin tradition this year. Three days after Halloween was over Kate asked me, "so, when are we going to carve our pumpkins?" I told her, "we didn't do it this year because we had too many other parties, but we'll carve some next year, okay?" To which Kate responded with an over-the-top excited "hooray!!" Whew! Dodged that bullet . . . until next year.Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Hooray for Grandparents
How much fun can you pack into two weeks? A whole heckuva lot more than normal when you've got Grandma and Grandpa around! It's amazing how having two other adults around full time to help with homework, housework, and shuttling kids to appointments frees everybody up for extra fun. Oh yeah, it was good times!
Oh yeah, my parents are awesome! My mom helped me make freezer meals, pick out photos for Kylie's first year calendar and the Christmas letter, sewed Kate's bedspread, you name it! My dad fixed Chris' truck tire, fixed up my yard, and also did projects around the house. My parents are amazing and I love having them come to visit. But don't let this deter anyone else from coming to visit - I promise I'm not a slave driver to my guests! And it wasn't all work either. There were puzzles to do, walks to go on, ice cream to eat. And that's before we even left the house . . .
We checked out Baytowne Wharf, something I've been wanting to do since moving here. Fun little outdoor shopping mall that also had a rock climbing wall and a park. (Plus I love the oversized beach chair Kate and my dad are in!)
This is the kids reward for not breaking anything in the shops we looked in. Kylie threw a fit when we took her out. I really noticed while my parents were here that Kylie has become a bit spoiled. I mean, you know it's bad when she's trying to bully her older sisters by pulling them out of my lap, telling them off (in baby talk), and trying to push them out of the tub. Mission Despoil Kylie is now officially underway. But I just want to clarify that she was this way before my parents got here. They didn't cause the spoiling. :) It just became so much more apparent when we were out and about a lot more.
Chris was here for the first week my parents were here, and for that Saturday we took the family to what Niceville is famous for: The annual MULLET FESTIVAL! (I was pleasantly surprised, and yet, at the same time, a little disappointed to find out that the Mullet they are referring to is actually a fish, not a hairdo.) Above you can see Kate and Chris holding the alligator outside the Reptile tent. Too cool. We actually ended up eating some fried alligator a little later on. Go figure. The mullet festival was fun. We went on the ferris wheel and some other rides, and of course had some mullet and other treats. However, everything was WAY, WAY overpriced. Totally not worth the dough. But, like Chris said, we had to go at least once while we lived here. So I'm glad we checked that off our to-do list. It was the best money we ever wasted.
Oh, and my parents also let Chris and I go out on a date before Chris headed out on a month long training exercise in the woods. Thanks guys, we loved it!
The weather was great while my parents were here. We hit Harborwalk Village one day where we did some fun shopping and then headed off to the beach! This time there was a neat sandbar about five feet out where even Kylie could walk around because it was so shallow. The kids also caught a bunch of jellyfish in their nets. (Not sure if that's totally safe, but no one got stung, so all is well.) They also found half a fish that was still alive! Chris thinks that a shark may have bitten it in half, but we didn't see one, thank goodness! Mostly it was just fun in the sun and waves. (Kate refused to be part of the below picture, but ended up in it anyways. Just having her pouting in the corner adds so much more character to this picture. I love it!)
Another fun thing was that my parents were able to come to the girl's Mile Club, and both of them finished a card while they were there (each card represents 28 laps, or 5 miles) - cool beans. They got to pick out their necklace and toe token as their reward. I also finished a card on the same day - oh yeah!
We also took my parents to the Niceville High School Homecoming game. Unfortunately, this one was not quite as successful as the previous one, since neither Kate, nor Kylie took a late afternoon nap before the game. They were all happy during the pre game parade and for the 1st half, but it was downhill from there. Kate fell asleep on my mom's lap, then woke up screaming because she needed to go to the bathroom. And Kylie just wanted to be held by me the entire time. Thankfully we were next to the student section so that some of my children's crying was drowned out in their cheering. Oh, la. My parents were good sports about it, and it's like I said to my mom, "I said, 'let's go to the game', I didn't say 'let's watch the game'!
On top of all of this, we had a lot of fun trying out some of the local quisine. One day for lunch, we went to "Hog Heaven", which I thought was a family restaurant, but turned out to be somewhat of a biker joint. Good BBQ, although I wouldn't go there at night! But anyhoo, we made the best of it and managed to get these 3 generation photos taken:
Oh yeah, my parents are awesome! My mom helped me make freezer meals, pick out photos for Kylie's first year calendar and the Christmas letter, sewed Kate's bedspread, you name it! My dad fixed Chris' truck tire, fixed up my yard, and also did projects around the house. My parents are amazing and I love having them come to visit. But don't let this deter anyone else from coming to visit - I promise I'm not a slave driver to my guests! And it wasn't all work either. There were puzzles to do, walks to go on, ice cream to eat. And that's before we even left the house . . . 
We checked out Baytowne Wharf, something I've been wanting to do since moving here. Fun little outdoor shopping mall that also had a rock climbing wall and a park. (Plus I love the oversized beach chair Kate and my dad are in!)
This is the kids reward for not breaking anything in the shops we looked in. Kylie threw a fit when we took her out. I really noticed while my parents were here that Kylie has become a bit spoiled. I mean, you know it's bad when she's trying to bully her older sisters by pulling them out of my lap, telling them off (in baby talk), and trying to push them out of the tub. Mission Despoil Kylie is now officially underway. But I just want to clarify that she was this way before my parents got here. They didn't cause the spoiling. :) It just became so much more apparent when we were out and about a lot more.
Chris was here for the first week my parents were here, and for that Saturday we took the family to what Niceville is famous for: The annual MULLET FESTIVAL! (I was pleasantly surprised, and yet, at the same time, a little disappointed to find out that the Mullet they are referring to is actually a fish, not a hairdo.) Above you can see Kate and Chris holding the alligator outside the Reptile tent. Too cool. We actually ended up eating some fried alligator a little later on. Go figure. The mullet festival was fun. We went on the ferris wheel and some other rides, and of course had some mullet and other treats. However, everything was WAY, WAY overpriced. Totally not worth the dough. But, like Chris said, we had to go at least once while we lived here. So I'm glad we checked that off our to-do list. It was the best money we ever wasted.
Oh, and my parents also let Chris and I go out on a date before Chris headed out on a month long training exercise in the woods. Thanks guys, we loved it!
The weather was great while my parents were here. We hit Harborwalk Village one day where we did some fun shopping and then headed off to the beach! This time there was a neat sandbar about five feet out where even Kylie could walk around because it was so shallow. The kids also caught a bunch of jellyfish in their nets. (Not sure if that's totally safe, but no one got stung, so all is well.) They also found half a fish that was still alive! Chris thinks that a shark may have bitten it in half, but we didn't see one, thank goodness! Mostly it was just fun in the sun and waves. (Kate refused to be part of the below picture, but ended up in it anyways. Just having her pouting in the corner adds so much more character to this picture. I love it!)
Another fun thing was that my parents were able to come to the girl's Mile Club, and both of them finished a card while they were there (each card represents 28 laps, or 5 miles) - cool beans. They got to pick out their necklace and toe token as their reward. I also finished a card on the same day - oh yeah!
We also took my parents to the Niceville High School Homecoming game. Unfortunately, this one was not quite as successful as the previous one, since neither Kate, nor Kylie took a late afternoon nap before the game. They were all happy during the pre game parade and for the 1st half, but it was downhill from there. Kate fell asleep on my mom's lap, then woke up screaming because she needed to go to the bathroom. And Kylie just wanted to be held by me the entire time. Thankfully we were next to the student section so that some of my children's crying was drowned out in their cheering. Oh, la. My parents were good sports about it, and it's like I said to my mom, "I said, 'let's go to the game', I didn't say 'let's watch the game'!
On top of all of this, we had a lot of fun trying out some of the local quisine. One day for lunch, we went to "Hog Heaven", which I thought was a family restaurant, but turned out to be somewhat of a biker joint. Good BBQ, although I wouldn't go there at night! But anyhoo, we made the best of it and managed to get these 3 generation photos taken:
Like Grandma . . .
Like Mother . . .
Like Daughters . . .
**Oh, and a few quotes of the week **
And finally, some of Kylie's new words:
Like Mother . . .
Like Daughters . . .
**Oh, and a few quotes of the week ***A conversation between Kate and I when I told Kate she couldn't have the ice cream I promised her because she didn't clean her room like I asked:
Stacy - Kate, the ice cream boat has sailed.
Stacy - Kate, the ice cream boat has sailed.
Kate, looking all worried - Who did we sell it to?
* Me having an argument with Kate over which hand is her left:
Kate (pointing to her right) - No, this is my left hand.
Me - Kate, make your finger and thumb into an "L". Whichever one is facing the correct way is your left hand!
Kate then pulls in the thumb on her right hand, shows me her pointer finger and tells me, "this is a lower case 'l'."
One thing's for sure. I can rarely argue with her logic.
And finally, some of Kylie's new words:Sit Down ("dit dow")
Ready, Set, Go! ("day, deh, doh!")
Here you go ("Hee, go")
Yay! (yay!)
Banana (nana)
Strawberry (da baby)
Thanks for a GREAT trip, Grandma and Grandpa!
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