You remind me of the babe

If the title of this blog doesn't sound familiar, read on!
The boys were playing at a friend's house the other day when the friend's mom called me:
Other mom: "Adam is ready to come home. He says he needs to go get 'score fried'."
Me: "Huh?"
Other mom: "Maybe he said 'core spied'."
Me: "What?"
Other mom: "I couldn't really understand what he was talking about. I swear he said 'more cried' or something. Anyway, he's coming home."
Me: "Um....Okay."
When he got home continued to go on and on about 'coarse tied'. What the crap is he talking about???? After a lengthy questioning I figured out that he wanted CORPSE BRIDE. He saw a preview for it and wanted to go to Target to get it.
While at Target searching for the Corpse Bride, I found one of my all-time favorite movies. The Labyrinth!!! As far as I'm concerned, Corpse Bride is for the birds. David Bowie and the Labyrinth is where it's at! The kids love it too. I think I've watched the Dance Magic scene about thirty times already. I am a true child of the 80's.
"Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be - take this child far away from me!!!" How many times have you used that line when your kids are driving you nuts?
If you don't know this movie, you are really missing out! It's like the Muppets meet the Grimlins and then you throw in David Bowie. Is there a better combination than that??

Halloween in July

Nothing stresses me out like throwing a birthday party for my kids. But last night's Halloween birthday bash went off without a hitch. You're probably dying to know what it takes to throw a Halloween birthday party in July, so I'll tell you: 30 mummy hot dogs, 24 spider cupcakes, 18 little kids, 2 birthday boys, 1 shark cake, 1 Jack (Nightmare Before Christmas) cake, 6 tons of wrapping paper, 5 packages of fake spider webs, 1 twenty foot spider, 2 inflatable jack-o-lanterns, 6 liters of root beer witches brew and I probably could have used about 30 milligrams of Valium, but didn't. It was a good time kids and parents alike. Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Happy Birthday Spooky Lukie!

To celebrate Luke's fourth birthday, here are four things about him:

1. "Whas what?" This is Luke's famous saying. He means to say guess what. He'll say it over and over and over getting increasingly angry until I finally look directly at him.

2. Luke loves Lightning McQeen and sharks. He has latched on and I don't see him ever letting these go.

3. Luke is intense. He can be pretty sullen, timid and downright shy with people he doesn't know well. UNLESS (and this is a big unless) he is egged on by Adam. Then it's like two Tasmanian devils on the loose. Heaven help us all.

4. Luke loves his gibbie. Gibbie is his blanket that looks more like a disheveled rag. He has a special, unraveled corner that he twirls as he's going to sleep.

We sure love you Luke and we're happy that you came to our family!

Happy Birthday Ad Man!

To celebrate Adam's fourth birthday on the blog, I thought I would share four things about Adam:
1. Adam is happy. He was colicky for the first five or six months of his life, but as soon as that phase was over he became his happy-go-lucky self. Eric and I joke that he has sunshine coming out of his ears. When he smiles his eyes twinkle! He goes to sleep laughing, sometimes even laughs in his sleep and wakes up laughing.

2. Adam's head has it's own gravitational pull. There is ALWAYS a bruise, cut, scrape or goose egg present on his noggin somewhere. A couple of months ago I was playing indoor soccer (impressive I know) with the ladies from church when a stray soccer ball went flying through the air towards the crowd watching the game. Even though there probably close to 40 kids and dads in that crowd, as soon as I saw the ball I knew it was going to hit Adam's head. And sure enough....
3. Adam is a joker. He has a funny personality and likes to trick us all the time. If Adam does something naughty he'll look at me and say, "I'm just jokin' Mom."
4. Adam loves all things spooky. When we took the kids to Disneyland he wouldn't go near the "mascots" (that's what he calls anything in life size costume), but he was so excited about the Haunted Mansion. Go figure!

Driveway of Flames 2008

Some Utah County residents go to Stadium of Fire to see Miley Cyrus and Blue Man Group. No Stadium of Fire for us. We are all about the annual Driveway of Flames. We get together with our neighbors and put on our own show.

Lizzy and Cameron

Jenna is really excited about smoke bombs!

Julie (Lizzy's mom) and me enjoying the view from the driveway

Heidi, Debbie, Kayley, Julie, Laurie, Jenna and Erika

(the desperate housewives of Heatherfield Lane)

Budding pyromaniacs Tyler, Luke and Adam

Roasting marshmallows for s'mores in Kayleys backyard. Luke insists that we didn't make s'mores, we made marshmallow sandwiches with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.

A wheelbarrow of used up fireworks.

Then on the actual morning of the 4th, we went to Provo at 6:00 in the morning to watch the balloon launch. It was a VERY early morning to be up, packed and out the door by 5:45 am.
Adam, Luke and Riley waiting and waiting for the hot air balloons to take off.
Still waiting and not getting any happier....
"Will these balloons just freaking get out of here so we can get some breakfast??"
Finally! And then we were off to start the hell that was breakfast at IHOP on a holiday. I'm just glad that I'm off the hook for another year.

Amazing Gracee

I have a 15 year old sister, Gracee. She is a riot. Not only is she tall and beautiful but she is witty and clever too. (She is, of course, MY sister.) The other night we were out to dinner with my family at Ruth's Chris. The waiter was bringing out our food when I turned to Gracee and jokingly said, "I'll pay you $50 to ask the waiter to cut your steak for you."
Without missing a beat she turned and asked. And he did it. He cut her steak into bite sized pieces for her. I was DYING of embarrassment and she didn't act flustered in the least. Basically the joke was on me. But I am not one to let $50 go too easily. So I plotted my revenge.
Gracee was going with me to my 4th of July Wimmer family party. Keep in mind that the Wimmers are my in-laws and she doesn't really know them too well. I told her that we do a talent show every year for the party and that she needed to prepare a talent. Being the guest and not wanting to be a party pooper, she went about practicing her lip sync routine.
After lunch at the party we set up chairs on the lawn, got out the karaoke machine and made a stage on the deck. Gracee took the stage and performed a lovely Miley Cyrus song. Everyone cheered and clapped and took pictures. When it was over I informed her that we had never done a talent show before and she was the only act. She pushed me off the deck and tried to tackle me to the ground. I was laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants! She was laughing too and was totally a good sport about it. But something tells me that I need to watch my back....
Love you Gracee!