My Little "Angel"

Okay, so Lily's preschool is doing a Nativity Play on Thursday (obviously her preschool has no ties to the public school system...thank goodness). Anyways, Lily is playing one of the three Christmas Angels who appear to the shepherds. Her line in the play is "Fear not." Well, little Miss Sassy has decided that's just way too tame a line and is trying to spice things up for her play. So, anytime I've asked her today what her line is, she's responded with something new and silly and she just thinks she's so funny (which I have to agree with her on). So, I thought I'd share some of the best responses...and let me tell you up front, I am not embellishing at all, these are exact quotes from Lily when asked what her line is in the play:

#5: "Ho Ho Ho" (this is the only line that has anything at all to do with Christmas)

#4: "Your wish is my command, oh Princess." (taken from a Backyardigans episode)

#3: "Abra Cadabra" (not sure about the spelling, but you get the point)

#2: "Let's do this thing."

#1: "Underpants."


Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting the actual play. I'm half worried, half excited to see what she'll say when she's on "stage". Leave it to one of my kids to rewrite the nativity scene...I'll keep ya posted. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I'm not totally and completely humiliated by what my little darling comes up with. Love ya-DeEtte

Some Lily

The last couple of posts have been Connor-centric, so I thought I'd grace you all with some recent pictures of the little lady in our lives. The first couple of pics are from Thursday before preschool. They were going on a field trip that day to see Santa and she was especially excited and feelin' a little sassy. She's always the cutest when she's feelin a little sassy. The second set of pics are from church on Sunday. She just looked so darn cute in her new pink dress with her little bows and sweater, I pretty much couldn't resists snapping a few shots of the cuteness. It's getting harder and harder to get good pictures of Lily because she wants to "smile" when she sees the camera and she does this thing where she sticks her teeth out and kind of looks like a rat. But she's still the cutest girl in the universe and even funnier than she is cute. I have nothing of report to share, just super duper busy getting our ducks in a row for Christmas. So enjoy the cuteness. Later.

Connor's Piano "Recital"

So, for some unknown reason, Connor's piano teacher decided that December 23rd would be a good day for the Christmas piano recital...right??!! Seriously, who isn't going to be either out of town or otherwise occupied on December 23rd? Since we will be in Las Vegas on that date, we thought we'd share the song Connor would've been playing if he had been able to attend his piano recital. Keep in mind, the kid's only been taking lessons for like 3 months...I think he's a musical prodigy! If you don't agree with me (and if you don't it's probably just because you're jealous), kindly keep your opinion to yourself. hehehe

Connor's All-Star game

Connor's big All-Star tournament was yesterday. Their team placed 3rd, which was kind of a shock (because they absolutely killed every team they scrimmaged) BUT, let me tell you, Connor was awesome! His team played 4 30-minute games, back-to-back. They were the only team that had to play all of their games one right after the other (which probably has a bit to do with the outcome of the tournament), but they played their little hearts out. You'd think that they'd look like mush by the last game, but that was, by far, their best game of the day. Connor especially rocked the last game, he was great on assists, defense and he came SO SO close to scoring a goal. We were so proud of Connor's performance, he's such a talented little guy. Anyhow, here's some pictures I managed to snap. They're a bit blurry because they're action shots, but we wanted everybody to be a part of Connor's big day.

Thanksgiving at Preschool

It's so exciting. Lily's first year with all the fun Holiday crafts at preschool. They had quite a week and she was so stinking cute (when isn't she, eh?). Anyhow, here's the cuteness...

Here's Lily's "Turkey Cookie". It was equally adorable and delicious. I got all of the candy corns (whether I wanted them or not) because Lily doesn't like them.

Here's our little Indian. Her Indian name is "Runs Like the Wind" and it's so appropriate. She much preferred being an Indian to a Pilgrim. Is there anybody who know Lily that has a hard time believing that?

And here's our little pilgrim. The look on her face says all we need to know about how she feels about being a pilgrim.

Lily's new haircut!

Lily got her hair cut on Friday, and my mom is dying to see a picture. We all really like it, it doesn't look stringy and it frames her cute little face so nicely. Lily really likes it because we don't have to "do" her hair in the morning. We just water it down a bit and we're good to go, Lily's in heaven. Any how, without further adieu....

Halloween!

Here's some pics of the Halloween cuteness that is my kids. Connor was by far the coolest lookin' pirate we saw this Halloween, and there were A LOT of pirates this year. And don't even get me started on Lily! She was so stinking cute, and she was made even cuter by the fact that she was the only girl under the age of 7 who wasn't dressed as a princess! Although, she did insist on dressing as a princess for her friend Sydney's "Halloween Tea Party". We improvised with her dance recital costume, added a tiara and a wand (which we, of course, just had laying around the house) and she became a Fairy! She still looked pretty cute, even if I do say so myself. They had a lot of fun and got a lot of candy, all in all, a pretty perfect Halloween. Enjoy.

He's the Man!

We got a call today from Connor's soccer club and they informed us that Connor made the All-Star team!! He's so excited and we're so excited and proud. They have a 4-game tournament on November 17th and they'll be practicing hard twice a week until then, and learning real game strategies. Up until now, the boys have played 3-on-3 with a goalie, but the All-Star team will be playing with a full 8-man (boy) team and learning positions. It's so exciting to watch Connor play and really fun to see how he excels. I wish everybody could be here to share this with him, but we'll try to take lots of pictures and video.

**On a separate note-we're not burning up. The fires are definitely not far away, but they are not near enough to put us in danger as of now. The air is obviously totally gross and ashy and it's kind of orange outside. The boys don't have work and Connor doesn't have school for the rest of the week. So we're just hunkered down, watching the news and taking it day by day. If things get too hairy, we have things ready to go and we'll head to Vegas. But for now, we're okay and staying put. We'll keep y'all posted if anything changes. Peace.

Connor's Big Save

Today was Connor's last game of soccer for the season. His team, The Blue Lightening, were pretty good and had a great season. At this age, they don't keep score or keep statistics as far as wins/losses goes, but I think we won more than we lost. We're so proud of Connor's skill on the soccer field, he amazes us all the time. He's such a gifted athlete, smarty-pants and all-around good kid! I don't know where he comes from, but I wouldn't give him back for a gazillion dollars. Here's a cute little video of him playing goalie today. The quality's not great, but you'll get the point. Later-DeEtte

Pumpkin Roll!!

Well, I got a bit bored (and hungry) the other day and decided that I wanted to try to make a pumpkin roll. There's this lady in my ward who makes them and I've always loved them but she won't share her family's recipe (hate people like that). Anyways, I went online, got a recipe and gave it a go. Let me tell you (boasting alert), that pumpkin roll was totally delicious. I think I've outdone myself, I might go into the pumpkin roll business. I'm very proud, it wasn't the easiest recipe and it turned out so great. Everyone should come here for Thanksgiving and I'll make 15 pumpkin rolls!! I realize I need to calm down, but apparently I'm high on pumpkin. Anyhow, check out the glory.....

Guilty Conscience

So, you know how they say that when a prisoner is guilty, he always sleeps soundly through the night because he knows he's been caught and there's nothing left to worry about. Well, I think they may be onto something...check out Lily's last trip to time out.




And yet, another eventful (I'm being sarcastic here) day at soccer. Check out Lily's friends, and check out Lily. I swear, I don't know what I'm gonna do with this kid.

R.I.P. Padres

I'm at a loss for words...I feel dead inside. Well, almost dead. There is a part of me that's so consumed with rage that it can't possibly be numb. My guys gave it their all (most of the time) and I have nothing but love for them. All except for Trevor Hoffman, who I hope gets food poisoning every day of the off season. All I can say now is...Go Diamondbacks!

And don't tell Connor I said this, but I kind of hope Matt Holliday has permanent scarring on his stupid, fat, bald head!!!!

Our last Padres game of the season!

We went to the Padres game Saturday night, our last one this season. Despite getting our trashed kicked by the Rockies, we managed to have a pretty good time. My old boss, Mike, is kind enough to let us use his private suite and it's such a fun experience. We're totally spoiled, we don't even like going to the games with regular tickets anymore. It's just cool that there's something that we all like to do together. We're all pretty big Padres fans (Lily included) and Michael is a good sport and goes along for the ride. Connor was a bit disappointed because Matt Holliday wasn't playing and he had really been looking forward to seeing him. For some reason, the kid absolutely loves Matt Holliday. Lily was apparently exhausted and fell asleep on Darrin, which led to the worst (and best kind of) moment of the night....

Darrin and Connor are incapable of going to a Padres game without having some frozen yogurt. But, as I said above, Lily had fallen asleep on Darrin and couldn't really get up. So, I acquiesed and went to get the stinking fro-yo. Lo and behold, what should happen in that 5 minutes that I'm gone? Any of you who know me can probably guess...Khalil Greene hit a home run!!!! Can you believe my luck? I'm pretty sure I'm Khalil's biggest fan in the known universe and I miss his home run! Lily was kind of bummed that she missed it too. She loves Khalil (she's dressing up as Khalil for Halloween). On the way home she was telling us how much Khalil wanted to hit a home run for her, but she fell asleep and he hit it "about" (without) her. She almost sounded upset with him. Anyways, here are some cute highlights of the evening. If you love us you'll add some extra prayers for the Padres to your agenda this week (some serious losses for the Diamondbacks, Phillies and Rockies would not be amiss either)! Love ya all-DeEtte

Beckham she's NOT!

Okay, so maybe Lily's not going the be the pro soccer player we had hoped for...she loves going to soccer, she loves wearing the shin guards and the cleats, she loves kicking the ball around and running during practice, but she will absolutely not take part in the actual soccer game. Literally, at one point during the game she was standing there twirling her ponytail with her fingers (I wasn't quick enough on the draw to snap a picture of that). She would occasionally jump up and down in place, but other than that she would only move if Coach Drew was holding her hand. Luckily Coach Drew is a nice guy who didn't seem to mind dragging Lily up and down the field with him. On a kind of separate note, Lily got into an argument with me earlier this week because she was insistent that Coach Drew was a girl because "she wears earrings like a girl". It was kind of hard to argue with her reasoning, but after a rigorous day of debate I finally convinced Lily that Coach Drew was indeed a boy. I'm glad to see that my Lily has such conservative views on gender identity. We're so proud. I just hope she doesn't repeat her theory to Coach Drew.

Lily's soccer team. She couldn't be happier to be there...as long as she's not actually required to play soccer.

I think this is when I yelled at Lily to kick the ball and she pretended she couldn't hear me, classic.

Faithful Coach Drew going above and beyond the call of duty.

our crazy week

Sorry it's taken so long to post again. I'll try to get better, I swear.

What a week we've had! I feel like I've been busy every second of every day and still gotten nothing done. I'm sure most of you can sympathize. I'm still feeling a little tired, and it takes nearly nothing to wear me out big time. I run one errand and I'm down for the rest of the afternnon. It's incredibly frustrating because it's not like life just stopped when I had surgery. There's still things that need to be done and I can't really afford to feel tired all the time. But I do think it's getting better day by day. I can start doing mild exercise tomorrow (Monday) and I'm so excited to reconnect with the treadmill, I've missed it so!

The kids were busy busy busy this week. Lily started preschool on Tuesday. She's going twice a week for 3 hours to a preschool that is run out of "Miss Paula's" house. There are a few kids from our ward that go there, a couple from our old ward, and a friend from Lily's dance class. On the first day, she froze on the curb outside and refused to move an inch. Then Miss Paula approached her and coaxed her inside to show her how to put her sticker on her name on the attendance chart. At this point, I was following behind and Lily turned around and declared that she didn't need any help and I could leave. When I continued to follow, she basically ordered me to go! She's such a silly thing. One moment she's scared to death and the next moment she's little Miss Independent. She's having a good time at preschool and I'll admit it's nice to have those 6 hours a week all to my lonesome (not that I get to do anything fun or relaxing). Lily also started soccer on Saturday. Fortunately, one of her friends from dance (Mary) is on her team so they got to partner up a lot. They spent most of the 1 hour, just dribbling up and down the field and trying to knock cones over, but man they had so much fun! She was so tired. They're supposed to have a little "game" against another team for the last 10 minutes and she just wasn't having it. So we left at that point. Hopefully she'll make it to the game next week.

Connor started piano this week. He really likes it so far (everybody cross your fingers that it stays that way). He looks forward to practicing every day and is always excited to have us listen to him play. We had decided that once he started taking piano, he wouldn't be allowed to quit, even if he begged us. That's why we waited so long to start him in it. So please just say some prayers that he continues to enjoy it, or he's gonna be one miserable kid. On a super fun note, when Lily and I went to pick Connor up from his lesson, a waste management truck backed into my car and completely shattered the back window! I seriously can't catch a break. Fortunately nobody was hurt (he missed Lily's door by a couple feet, thank goodness), but my car isn't looking so great. It's at the auto body shop and they have to replace the entire back quarter panel and the whole back gate as well. So we're in a rental for at least a couple of weeks, fun! But it's still better than having to find an entired new car (like last time, hehehe). I'm honestly considering just selling my car and hiring a driving service for myself, I think I'm some kind of bad luck charm in automobiles. On a happier note, it wasn't my fault so my rates aren't going up, silver lining. I'm going to try to go an entire 6 months without getting in another accident!

I hope everybody's doing well. I miss and love you all so much. Talk to ya later.

-DeEtte

Lily's first day of preschool, isn't she so dang cute?!

Connor practicing piano. Look how intense he is, I love it!

Lily dribbling the ball like a pro!

Lily and Mary kicking the ball back and forth. Check out Lily's side swipe kick action. Can you tell she has an older brother that plays soccer?

Uncle Michael playing horsie. What a sport.

I finally gave in!

After all the begging from my mom and various aunts to start a blog of my own, and after all of my insistence that it would NEVER happen, I have finally given in and created a blog for the family. Why, you may ask? Well, truthfully, there are two reason for this decision: 1.) My lovely cousin Amy basically guilted me into it. She practically begged me and made me feel like if I didn't create one it would be a personal affront to her. She hit way below the belt, and I have to say I respect her a lot more now for the way she "took me in hand". Good form Amy. 2.) It really is easier just to post something on a blog, rather than send out different emails to everybody. My laziness wins again!

So, I'll start by sharing a few pictures of what we've been up to lately. I'll do my best to update, at least once a week, but school starts next week and I might get a bit behind. So just be patient and I'll get around to it eventually. Love to all-DeEtte