Christmas Carol Confusion

The scene: singing Christmas songs with "the boys" and having them fill in the blanks:

Me: You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout I'm tellin' you_____!

Hud: R

Me: Are? No, it's why.

Hud: Oh, Y!

Me: on the phone calling Steve to tell him and laughing hysterically at the mix up.

Me: Santa Claus is coming to______!

Ollie: bring toooooys!

Me: (laughing hysterically again) No, Santa Claus is coming to_______!

Ollie: Meeeee!

Me: calling Steve again. (and again, laughing my head off).

What will they come up with next?

To Infinity and Beyond!

Happy happy birthday to our Huddie Boy!!

He turned 4 on November 22, and we had his party the night before. Sit back, relax and get ready for a loooong post (sorry, but it's my family history)!

Here are his invites. He was desperate for a Buzz Lightyear themed party, so Buzz is what he got...I loved the invites because they were Buzz, without being "in your face Buzz." (you know how I am about "character" themed anything...) The invitation was folded up and put inside the rocket and here's what it said: (sorry about the double spacing. I have no idea what is going on and it I can't seem to fix it)

Calling all Space Rangers! This is Star Command

Buzz Lightyear and Space Ranger Hudson need your help!

Mission: Come join team Lightyear defeat Emperor Zurg's plan to end all birthdays!

Space Launch Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009

Sector: (our address)

Launch Time: 5:30 pm

R.S.V.P. Star Command Control Center

To Infinity and Beyond!

(he loved them so much he carried one around and slept with it everyday)

Festive decorations in Buzz colors-lime green, purple and silver with this cute rocket ship that Steve put together for me (yes, Steve. He's my right hand man when I get way in over my head which is pretty much every day). Here's his rocket ship cake he was dying of excitement over. Our friends Jeff and Lacey were going to make it for us, but Jeff's dad got the swine flu and was in the hospital. I didn't want to stress them out with a cake so Steve and I decided to brave making it---we were pretty excited how it turned out! It was way stressful, but in a good way...I love fun stress!
The tip was a beast to shape, and Hudda was freaking out that it wasn't completely pointy, but hey-it was our first cake!

I don't know if you can tell, but there is a picture of Hud in his Buzz costume looking out the "window". We used sparkler candles coming out the back, but they didn't work very well. I wanted to use real sparklers but I was too worried something would catch on fire.

I found this #4 sparkler candle at a cupcake shop when we were in San Diego and knew it would be perfect! It looked so cute when it was all lit!
Here are the two grandpas: Pop-C and Papa being Vanna White with the Pizza Planet pizza boxes I made.

This is "moon juice" with star-shaped ice cubes that were melting and loosing their shape by the time I could grab the camera to take pictures...they were cute at first (and a lot bigger)!
Hud thought the moon juice was fab and was begging for it for days afterward.

Alyson and Katherine

After we finished eating, our first game we played was The Claw. In Toy Story (if you haven't seen it) there is this arcade game at Pizza Planet that is full of Little Green Men that Sid tries to grab with The Claw. This container was filled with pictures of LGM that I attached to lollipops and then lots of little prizes that they had to try to grab out with a pair of tongs. It was cute to see the kids trying so hard! Eventually most everyone gave up since it was hard and just grabbed with their hands, but Ollie refused to give up. He was working on one prize for a good 5 minutes!


The next game was trying to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg. The original idea was to shoot these pump foam rockets at him to try to blast him down, but the crumby rockets were so cheap they wouldn't work so it was kind of a bust. The kids tried blowing the rockets at him and it worked ok, but not great.
The last game was the Buzz pinata. I explained to Hudson what we were going to do, and he even helped me fill it with the candy. But when it came time to hit his beloved Buzz he just didn't have it in him. Beckett and Sloane were the only ones who were giving it the heavy duty whacks. Way to go!


This was the funniest moment of the night. I should really send the tape in to America's Funniest Home Videos. When the pinata wouldn't budge after a good 20 minutes Steve took a few good swings at it to get it started. The look on Hudson's face is priceless and the video is even better. He was half crying half horrified at what was happening to Buzz before his very eyes!
Thanks, Buz for holding Buzz !


Present time! He got so many fun presents...everyone was very thoughtful, thank you!
He got this rocket ship from Mimi and Pop-C. How could they have known he'd wanted it?
(Maybe because he carried a picture of it around everywhere he went, and when the picture wasn't in his hands it was up on the fridge where he would flap his hands and tap his foot whenever he looked at it:. I don't know though, that's just a guess.)The anticipation!
Make a wish!
Having his cake
and eating it too!

(because everyone deserves that now and then)
Happy Birthday Hudda! We love you so much!

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Last month we went to Sacramento for Gretel's 1st birthday. We had so much fun at her party on Saturday, and then on Monday (her actual birthday) we went to a really great pumpkin patch. Here is a picture of it...it was huge! Actually it is the only picture we have of it. The boys were too busy riding the train (multiple times) and doing all the fun things there, so we don't have any pictures of them actually in the pumpkin patch, which I'm kind of bummed about! I've just never seen an actual pumpkin patch with them still on the vine and everything!

Am I sheltered? Have I been missing out on somewhere great here?

Hud and Pop-C riding the rails together
Chels, Gretel and Teato
They had this really fun mine and slide area where you could mine for marbles and then slide down these huge slides. Hud thought it was the best!Teal frequently flashed us his "Blue Steel" pose throughout the trip. I think it's pretty spot-on!

The Girls (minus Mom). She stayed in the car while Ollie was napping--which I need to add she chose to do. She didn't really think this place was "her scene." (any place that isn't a "boutique" or more specifically a "children's boutique" isn't really her scene.) Love you Mom!The Petting Zoo. This section of the farm was so cute! The boys even got to brush the goats right in their pen. (Is that typical of a petting zoo? The only one I've been to you stuck your arm through the animals' pens to pet them. Once again...am I sheltered? Have I been missing out on some great petting zoo here?)


Some side notes from our trip:

1.We cut it really close getting on our flight due to Steve and his expired driver's license. By expired I'm talking a year and a half. How do you not notice that?

p.s. He still hasn't taken care of it. Please don't turn him in! He says it's "on his list."

2. The airport security people thought my mom had "had a little fun that night" from the way she was acting after taking her pill to help her relax on the plane. Let's just say nobody wanted to sit by her. Love you, Mom!

3. My dad went to the security checkpoint to help us with our stuff and the kids, and somehow got lost...I can't remember for sure what happened. Anyway, to make up time he had one of those guys on the shuttle drive him right up to our gate. We were all pretty embarrassed. We're just a regular old family circus!

4. When we (finally) got to our hotel that night, Oliver (who was looking pretty green) proceeded to throw up buckets in his car seat. Nothing like cleaning up barf at 1:00 am from your child and their car seat. The Barf Brothers strike again!

5. I stayed at Chels and Johnny's house every night until about 1:00 a.m. doing hair for everybody. I've got a pretty good system worked out in her kitchen and front room now--this time we even rigged up a mirror on the piano. Bonus! Thanks for letting us turn your house into a salon, Chonny!

6. My poor mom threw out her back and spent all day Sunday down flat. She was up and going again the next day though. You're such a trooper, Mom!

7. We watched a new show on TV called The Middle. It's pretty funny! If you have a minute (which I haven't since I got home) you should watch it (and then fill me in!)

8. Our flight home was filled with so much turbulence that they didn't even serve drinks. Ollie held a barf bag on his lap the whole flight, in the car on the way home, and even the next day he asked for one! Poor kid--he's got my lovely motion sickness genes. I still get car sick to this day for crying out loud! And don't even get me started on planes and cruise ships. Have I got some stories for you...

Thanks for taking us to Sac Town, Mom and Dad!

Trick or Treat!

Our Halloween started out with a costume party---so much fun! Steve and I were (if you can't tell from the pic) Juno and Bleeker. We had so much fun getting our costumes together...we were pretty excited how they turned out!

And now...for the moment you've been waiting for--- how I ended up pulling off the

Holy Ghost costume.

Ta Da!! I think it's hilarious...hopefully not too sacrilege!

Ollie was pleased as punch with it, which was a huge relief for me because he has such strong opinions (wanting to be the Holy Ghost in the first place, for instance).

Buzz? Buzz Lightyear? Is that you??

I said that to him when he put on his "costoon" and he said

"Don't say that! I Hudson Rex S_____!"

Hands down---the best Buzz we've ever seen. His wings were electronic complete with Buzz phrases at the push of a button.We even drew Buzz' swirly "beard" on his chin and he thought that was the coolest. To infinity and beyond!!

These pics are a little out of order (Blogger is so frustrating sometimes!!) but I wanted to show my two fave costumes from our costume party. They were "Octo-Mom" and Fat Man. Look closely at his power belt...it's hilarious! So creative.

We also had a spooky treat contest so Steve and I made these yummy eyeball sugar cookies. They were lots of fun to do!

Huddie had a little Halloween parade and program at his school. They sang some Halloween songs and then acted out the book "Where The Wild Things Are." It was so cute!

He's singing "The Ghost of John". I didn't know what to expect since he never will tell me what he does at school but I was pleasantly surprised! He knew all the actions and words to the songs!

And now I thought I'd let you all in on a few tidbits about the Holy Ghost that you might not know.

First of all, he's reverent (but you already knew that).

But beware...he can be scary sometimes!

And when he's with his best friend Buzz, he can get down right crazy!

He's also very angelic

and has a great sense of humor!

And did you know he can fly?

It helps that his best friend Buzz knows how to fly too. That way they can fight evil together at the speed of light!

Halloween night was spent having a yummy chili dinner at Grammy's friend's house and then trick or treating in her neighborhood. After that we went to our neighborhood to go to a haunted house that our neighbor put on. It was sooo creepy! Then we went to some clients and good friends of mine in my parent's neighborhood to trick or treat and finally ended up at Mimi and Pop-C's house for the annual scones and homemade root beer. It was tons of fun and the kids had so much energy from all the sugar! (They insisted on eating almost every piece of candy as soon as they got it. They were so slow trick-or-treating because they spent all their time trying to unwrap and devour their candy in between every house!)

Happy Halloween to the two cutest boys I know!