Toothless

We have 2 kids with very loose teeth in this house.

Grey had one and the other night he just got brave and said "Mom, will you pull my tooth out." and he was really brave with it, didn't cry even though he was scared. I think it hanging there loose was driving him so crazy, it was worse than his fear of getting it pulled. So, I tied a string around it and popped it out with a swift yank, it flew up in the air and it took us almost 20 minues to find it, in a basket that was on a shelf.

Easy Peasy.

Romy has her 2 front teeth loose and messes with them all day and whines about them, but when I go wiggle them, she freaks out and gets too scared. They hurt when she rushes them and her gums are getting red and today she hit the point where I stepped in. I told her I was just tying string around it and she could tug gently at the string all evening, that really helps loosen a tooth up and that was all I intended to do until tonight, but once I did it she started to freak out and bawl. Nobody was tugging or anything and the tooth was barely hanging on and she was howling over nothing, so with a quick yank---the tooth was out. She screamed for a few minutes and then got really happy.

The other tooth will make it's departure next week. It's not quite as loose as this one, but she is driving me batty. My tolerance level for loose teeth is minimal, I have seen enough baby teeth pulled that were not even loose to know that they will pop right out with a firm tug, and if a child is going to make a federal case about a loose tooth- I'll just yank it out and the tooth fairy can reward them.

Chicago Style

Today was a fun day. I took the older girls shopping to spend grade money. Kate bought matching outfits, Emma went for volume and got a ton of clothes and candy canes from the sale rack,lol. We went out to lunch, just the girls and then got groceries.

Then we came home and made deep dish Chicago style pizza for the first time. It turned out great, Matt and the older girls had sausage and mushroom and the little ones had cheese. Both pizzas had a ton of cheese, true to the style, and we used a 5 lb bag on just the 2 pies.

We did a good job and Grey had thirds and Roe and Jane had seconds.

Temple Square

Went to Temple Square tonight with my Unlce Paul and Aunt Melba and three of my cousins. I haven't seen any of them since PawPaw's funeral, we're all grown up now, its so weird.
I use to take care of Amber when she was little, after her Mom died and she had this long tangly hair and one day ( with MeeMaw's coaxing, I swear) I chopped it all off. Her dad was so mad but she was a happier kid afterwards, no more bad mornings brushing the tangles out. She's grown now, so are Bennet and Cissy. Roe loved Uncle Paul, all of my kids do when they meet him, he's my favorite uncle and always will be.

Christmas Eve

For my birthday, Matt got me a mother's ring, it will take awhile to get use to it, we have a lot of kids, so it's kind of bulky,lol. Today we had a nice low key day, like I enjoy, we went to Marie Callenders for lunch and finished the last of the Holiday errands. Tonight we will put the finishing touches on the top secret massive gift for Roe and Jane that they will love and remember for many years to come. We are so excited about it.

Matt and I have just spent time hanging out together and snuggling, I'm lucky to have him as my best friend, There is nobody on earth I'd rather be with and I never get sick of just being near him. He's so amazing.

Last night Grey and Romy fell asleep in laundry baskets, something I thought kids stopped doing once they turned two,lol. Grey looked so funny.

year in review brainstorm

Spent much of today working one Brian and Paige's album so that it is done in time for her shower, I made a ton of progress. I still have a few more hours I need to work on it, but I put a good 7 hours in it today on top of the time I have spent already.
One of my resolutions for 2008 is to make art a regular part of my week, focus more on the things that bring me joy and make me feel like me again. I'm done trying to save the world.

This weeks challenge at two peas is to creat a year in review layout, as long as I have been scrapping, I have never done this,lol. I thought I'd process what I remember happening this year if I can- Some key happenings I want to highlight
January--Tara Low/Burton visit
February--Emmas slumber party
March--diet coke and mentos day
April Z wedding, Grandpa's promotion
May- vegas getaway
June-- camping
July trip to AZ
August County fair blue ribbons
Sept school started ( very original, I know but I have pictures,lol)
Oct familyhalloween party
Nov-- Disneyland getaway
Dec-- a trillion parties

I'll dig up pictures this week and see if I can't crank out a layout for my own album.

MoTab and National Treasure

Last Sunday we went to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform with the King's Singers, an acapella group. It was an amazing experience. We have decided that we will go every year, provided we can get tickets.

Last night we took the kids to see National Treause, we don't go to the movies as often as we use to but since the boys are leaving for the holiday, we decided att he last minute to spend the evening doing something we knew they really wanted to do. They were all wanting to see this, and although Roe fell asleep in the first 10 minutes, the boys were glued to the screen. It was a little cheesier than the first movie, and Nick Cage has had a bad face lift, but it was still really entertaining. I like going to movies with a man who realized they are just entertainment and not supposed to be so historically accurate that they pick apart the plot and don't just enjoy the experience. Everyone can and should know the history, the fun part of movies is to let go and entertain the "what if" aspects in my opinion.

We went to Ihop afterwards, seems to be our new hangout,lol. I had hot chocolate that made me a little sick and I didn't touch my pancake. It was a good night to spend, just being a family before the boys head out today for a week.

Another Party

The Smith/Perkins family party was this weekend and with that- it wraps up the season of parties I have to host outside of a New Years eve party for the teenagers & friends. The party was pretty low key and we had a surprise visit from Santa, Romy was weirded out by the fact that he didn't look like the Santa she visited at the Mall. I didn't even try and pass this off as S"ants helpers" she's a little too smart for that- I just told her he just had different glasses on, and she rolled her eyes and said "whatever." Grey never noticed the difference.

Last night we cooked again as a family- made homemade salt water taffy and I had Matt stir it and told him to tell me when it was 265, but I failed to communicate EXACTLY 265 so when t hit 275 he called me. 265 if hard ball stage, 275, is soft crack stage. So we had candy that could not be pulled,lol. We instead ended up with our new invention the kids dubbed "grinch-cicles" that was a hard green candly that looked like emeralds. We also make rice krispie treats and Jello popcorn and then all watched The Forgotten Carols together.

Today Matt and I are heading out with Sunnie and Chris to go see the Tabernacle's Christmas performance for Music and the Spoken Word, shoud be fun and I hope I don't freeze to death.

Birthday Sparkly

For my birthday this year Matt wanted to go out and have my wedding ring adjusted. It is 2 sizes too big and since losing weight we have been worried about me losing my ring, so I was glad when he offered to go to Sierra West last weekend to resize my ring.

Once we were there he said "Surprise! we're upgrading your stone!" and he wanted us to go from a half carat in the center to a full carat. It was something we had talked about, but not for a few years. I was kind of hesitant but how can a girl say no when their sweetie is offering them diamonds? I mean, honestly? You can't blame me for going along with it.

It wasn't like we were selling the farm, we already had the ringbought and paid for, all we did was trade in the old stone and upgrade another half carat, so don't go freaking out that the kids won't go to college.

Anyway- Sunnie wanted to see the new ring since I missed her at Lisa's reception, so here it is.

Isn't Matt amazing? I mean honestly- he is the perfect husband. Flawless, sweet, romantic and he makes me feel wonderful.

So Happy Birthday to me from my wonderful, adored and freaking hot husband. I love you Matt.

project for my in laws

This is a copy of what we gave Matt's folk's for their anniversary gift. A portrait of all of thier babies, as though they were taken in one sitting. I had the idea, and had input on what looked balanced, and Matt was the photoshop wizard. It took hours to get it so that all the pictures looked similar enough, as the first one was taken a good 10-11 years before the last one and they were all different sizes, shading, poses, textures and whatnot. We have been working on it a few nights a week for over a month and finally finished, and had it framed in a nice antique looking frame.

I'm proud of it and like that Matt and I did this project together.

What a weekend it has been. I think in January I will get to sleep, finally.

The Olson Xmas Party 2007

If you click on the picture it will get bigger.
SO much fun today. We made gingerbread houses and brian and Paige went all out and beat us all out, although not enough attention was paid to the amazing Trailer Park Christmas House that Z,Aaron, Calb and Shell brought to the party. Zane got what he wanted for Chirtsmas, Aaron whipped everyone at pool, Romy and Jane hung on "Uncle Carl" and Grandpa knocked Grandma out in Wii boxing. After the party we took Zane out for a birthday dinner to Ihop and then the kids wanted to spend their giftcards from Grandma and Grandpa at Barnes and Noble. To finish this day we are all about to have a slumber party in the family room and watch Planet Earth and drink hot cocoa.

Wedding

Went to my sister Lisa's wedding reception tonight, I am happy and hopeful for her. Rori was a cute bug who loved that I kept sneaking her chocolate. We didn't stay long, but I saw a few people I haven't seen in about 20 years- cousins and Aunts I really don't keep in touch with, and won't see for another 20 years, I'm sure. I know it's hard for them that I don't stay in contact with them, but it's not worth it to have to run into my insane stepdad. Matt was my total hero tonight keeping him away from me. I don't know how I got so lucky to find this amazing and perfect husband, but holy crap-- he is perfect. He's smart, loyal, honest, brave and freaking hot.

Thanks Moe

Surprise! Our family Christmas gift came yesterday from my mom. We have been wanting a pool table forever, it is one of those things I have always wanted, and she got us one this year for Christmas. I like the idea of having a family room that teenagers can hang out in and enjoy and relax with their friends while having stuff to do to keep them out of trouble. If they are playing video games or shooting pool at my house, they are not doing things that could lead to trouble at someone else's house. I always wanted a home with a defined teenager space and with the pool table, I really feel like I have that so all the kids will have fun up there and not be enbarrassed to bring friends over. Thanks so much, Mom.

I also included apic of Rori, my niece-bug. She is visiting from California and we made cookies last night. I'm not sure she has ever frosted cookies before, it was funny and she kept taking globs of frosting and eating them and then gagging on how sweet it was and spitting it out. About 2 minutes later she just could not resists and would take another huge glob and eat it.

Obsessed

I am not muchof a cook, it's not that I don't know how, it's just not the most interesting of activities in my book. I was taught to cook at a young age and did a great deal of it, I burned out on it early. But I learned how to do it and how to do it well, we laugh and joke and say I can't cook, but I can, I just dont really enjoy it. That's not to say I have not created some serious disasters in the kitchen, but for the most part, I find cooking to be more of a chore than part of my domestic identity.

Then Christmas comes and the switch flips and I live in the kitchen. I remember my mother would spend every day baking and making all sorts of candy and sweets all holiday long with the Christmas music playing and us kids running around hyper anticipating Santa and all those yummy treats. I remember her teaching me how to make candy- and showing me how to stir he pot of melting Karo and sugar just right so it didn't burn on the bottom and cook too fast, how to tell the difference between hard ball and soft ball and hard crack stages without using a candy thermometer. The color, the texture and the scent of each stage of each sweet she made. I do the same each holiday.

I never mastered divinity and I never got good at making fudge, but the rest of the sweets I make just like my mom did- from scratch and they are delicious. They sitin holiday trays throughout the house and my kids and husband snack on them and then complain that I made too many treats, but they keep nibbling away and ask me to make more when we run out.

This year my kids and I have been at it. Last year I had surgery and I did not bake at all, but this year I have shocked the crap out of my sweet new husband who has never had many of these things. We've made caramels twice, Almond Roca ( Matt's favorite-- everyone's favorite,lol) we made fudge that turned out weird, Chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch haystacks, Christmas Crack, banana bread, gingerbread, sugar cookies, and tonight- a new recipe- oreo poppers. Very rich and delicious. The kids asked to do extra chores if I would give them an extra one.

I am still not sick of cooking, my family is not sick of eating, therefore tomorrow I will be back in the kitchen, baking away.