Forget to Breathe and Two Weeks Go By

Wow! I've been on the computer A LOT the past two weeks, but not to blog (obviously!). I've been working on a Christmas Project that has a "free shipping deadline of Dec 5." I think I'm going to make it...

We had a great Thanksgiving. We gathered with the Oregon Hancock's at Mike & Tanya's House. It really was a lovely meal and day.

Friday began early for Julie...at 4:45am. Why ruin a tradition that started 6 years ago? She really enjoys going out among the craziness. Something about the thrill of a deal and finding a way to avoid the crowds when it is WAY to crowded. She returned at 8:30 to find everyone, except Trevor still asleep! What!?! Must be nice!

After Josh came to babysit later in the day on Friday, Chad and Julie went shopping again. We think we have all the shopping done now! We enjoyed playing games with the Melanson family later Friday night.

Saturday brought house cleaning (our favorite -not!). Then a trip out to Loch Lolly's to see Santa, have cocoa and hot dogs, see friends, and get a "live" wreath (we're fake tree people). Later that night, we decorated the house all festive-ish and watched a movie with the kids.

Sunday brought out the Becky-Homecky in Julie. She decided it was time to start some treats to take to neighbors. The family all helped. The house was smelling good.

Then we decorated the Christmas Tree with Julie playing the role of "Tree Nazi" (according to Chad). Don't mess with my ornament boxes...put the packaging back in the correct box and no one will get hurt. Oh, and don't hang 5 ornaments on the tip of one branch. Is that too much to ask? Finally, don't touch the 2003 talking ornament unless you are ME...because if it accidently gets deleted, it's going to get ugly...ugly crying that is!

Lastly, I'll end on a Christmas Carol kind of note. It seems that Jason has inherited Julie's "gift" for lyrics. A few carols a la Jason:

"Charlie the Snowman was a jolly, frolly snow" ("He had eyes of coal? I thought his mouth was made of cold (coal).")

"Felix Mar-i-a" (Repeated every time! He really likes this song, because he "really likes Spanish"

Hancock's Dictionary

We've had some real quotables this week. I think it's best presented in dictionary form.

Flu Bug: (according to Jason) is a blue bug that he saw land on his table at kindergarten. "Not to worry, Mom. It didn't touch me, so I didn't get sick."

Mulan: (according to Jenna) is a bra. (Now that your laughing has subsided...she is dead serious about it. She tried to put on one, because she knew that moms needed "mulans." Nice.

Next Beautiful: (according to Jenna) is me...Julie. When we were getting ready for church today, Chad told Jenna "Hi Beautiful" and then turned to me and said, "Hi Beautiful #2." Jenna then proceeded to "help" get me beautiful. She was making sure my shirt/skirt was straight and then told me I needed a bow in my hair to be the most beautiful. After I put a bow in my hair, I was referred to as "Next Beautiful" by Jenna. "Come on, Next Beautiful, let's get our shoes on." "Let's go to church, Next Beautiful." And so forth.

Mrs. K's real name: (according to Jason) is "Mrs. Kirkpatrick" (as revealed by Jason in a real secretive manner). [FYI: Mrs. Kirkpatrick is Jason's Kinder teacher.]

Ranch starts with "W": (according to Jason) Jason's "r" sounds are still sounding like "w's." So the other day at dinner when a debate was had about Ranch, Jason declared that that couldn't be the Ranch bottle, because Ranch starts with the "wa" sound!

Lawn Mower: (according to Chad) is something that Julie shouldn't touch. Just ask her dad, she has a record...and it's not the gold medal kind. It's been YEARS since Julie has mowed the lawn. When she miraculously decided to mow the lawn since it would be dark when Chad got home (and the downpour of rain was due the next day), it seems that the lawn mower cowarded in fright at the thought of Julie using it. An embarrassing phone call resulted in the admitance that Julie could not get the lawn mower started...which resulted with silence on the other line (I'm sure his head was saying, "What is that girl doing touching my lawn...this can't end well...this can't end well...) The end result was Chad leaving work immediately to "save" his lawn from the "non-green thumb monster" and mowing the lawn himself...in the dark.

Movies: (according to the Hancocks) are WAY TOO expensive!!! It's been a long time since we saw a movie at the movie theater and were a bit (read: A LOT) shocked at how much it costs. Crazy!

FINALLY, outdoor soccer is done...for the season!

Trevor had his last game yesterday. Unlike last Saturday, we had blue skies (What?!? I know!). It was a bit chilly, though, especially at 9AM. We doned our winter coats, gloves, hats, and gathered some hand warmers and we were ready to go. It was a pretty intense game. Two teams that were a perfect match for one another. A great game to end the season! Trevor's team name was "Men in Black." At the end of the game, their coach gave them sunglasses to wear. Too bad I didn't have my camera. I think Chad got one with his cell phone. We'll post it later.

Another soccer season in the "Done" Pile

Matt had his last soccer game on Saturday. We nearly made it through a soccer season without a downpour...until Saturday. By the time Matt's team hit the field, the "field" was a gigantic mud pit. I had never seen Matt's grin so big as when I told him before the game, "Have fun and get muddy!" When does your mom EVER tell you to play in the mud??? I think it was hard for the boys to remember to play soccer when the mud puddles were calling their names. They would often "pause" to jump in the puddle as they ran down the field.
Matt's shoes were so full of mud that when he took a step, mud would ooze out of his lace holes. Gross!
The one positive thing about daylight savings occuring this week was that it was too dark to have soccer practice. After 3 1/2 months of having dinners on the run, we reclaimed our dinnertime and actually ate as a family. What a concept!
So, the questions arises, is the soccer sacrifice worth it? It's tough on the family schedule, but this has definitely been a year of great learning and confidence building for the boys. They have really enjoyed soccer.

Shi-Zam!!

What to know what happens when you put an unopened can of pop in the freezer??

(The picture doesn't accurately show how bloated this can was at both ends. We're lucky it didn't burst!)

For the record, I'm not sure who had the zany idea to put the pop in the freezer. There are 4 likely candidates, 1 unlikely candidate, and 1 who knows she DID NOT put it in the freezer. We'll leave it at that. "Some people" are pleading that it is the result of the new pull-out freezer..uh-huh, sure.

A Tic-Tac in My Nose

Sitting quietly (somewhat) in our pew in church today, Jenna informed us that she had a tic-tac in her nose. One glance up the old nostrils confirmed her truth: there was a tic-tac in her nose and it was not reachable by finger or tweezers.
The Bishop had just born his testimony, so we were in the middle of Sacrament meeting. What to do? Luckily, she was breathing well and didn't see to be in too much pain. She just wanted it out. We tried to have her blow it out, but she just kept sniffing up. Yikes, wrong way!
After a few minutes, we noticed that clear boogers were coming out her nose that smelled, well, minty. (Hey, what a concept...good smelling boogers!)
By the time Sacrament Meeting ended, Jenna was feeling much clearer and quite minty. The tic-tac was dissolving. We wouldn't need urgent care today. Later, she informed us that she had swallowed the mint. Maybe when she is older she'll be able to do the the ole' "spaghetti noodle through the nose & out the mouth" trick. GROSS!!

The Long and the Short of It (ok, actually there is nothing short about this post)

So, on Saturday, I planted myself down with a blow dryer, a flat iron, and the partial-draft of Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun on my computer. An hour and a half later, I had straight hair! My hair is longer than it's ever been...probably since I was 10. I just couldn't resist the temptation to see it without curls. With curls, I lose about 5-7 inches in appearance. That's a crazy thing about curly hair.
I haven't had a haircut in a LONG time (dare I even admit it!...15 months! What?!? My mom is probably twisting in her sleep right now! In my defense, the way I have to "product" my hair to avoid the Portland frizz limits the damage since I don't use a curling iron or much of a blow dryer.)
My childhood dream was always to be a "Mom with Long Hair." From my childhood perspective, it seemed that when you became a "mom," you had to get a short haircut. Then a lady moved into our Richfield ward, who was a mom with long hair! I vowed then to be a mom with long hair. The other day, recalling my vow, I had a "ah-ha" moment and discovered I had arrived!
Mind you, I've NEVER had the neck length hairdo...it just doesn't bode well with my type of curly hair (imagine Ronald McDonald...).
Reactions from the family were comical: Jenna noticed right away and had to touch it. She proudly exclaimed that my hair now looked like hers (straight) and that I had princess hair. She was excited to find out that I would let her comb it (something that NEVER happens with curly hair).
The sad part came when I went outside to take the kids to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. It was raining. My hair caught one wiff of the humidity and began to grow. Darn rain! Foiled was my plans for silky, straight hair as "Jungle Woman Hair" was quickly materializing. Darn rain! Oh well, a quick braid job made for good Princess Leia hair (Straight hair always looks better in braids than curly hair...so I told myself to justify that my 1 1/2 hours of pain was worth the sacrifice). Good thing Midnight Sun was a good read!

Happy Puke-o-ween!

Trick-or-Treating started with quite a treat in Oregon: no rain and not that cold outside. In fact, some of my children did NOT wear coats! We went up and down the streets, gathering the few kid neighbors that we could. By the time we crossed to a new street, Jason said he was tuckered out and wanted to go home...WHAT?!?

Chad valiantly (ha!) volunteered to go home with the "too tired one." As Chad opened the garage door, Jason proceeded to puke on the sidewalk. It was a long night for Jason as his body erupted too many times. He's such a trooper though. When he woke in the night, he would take care of his business and never holler for us. The only way we knew he was "busy" was because Julie could see the bathroom light from her bed. Poor J!

The rest of the crowd enjoyed gathering their treats on Halloween. Jenna even got brave enough to go to the doors on her own (with her friend, Sarah, of course). At one house, our little girl, dressed in an angel costume, gave an impromptu performance of "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat, if you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear." Ugh! Thanks a lot brothers! How embarrassing!!!! The "you have on purple underwear" would been a slightly better way to handle the song. Oh, the influence of brothers...

Our costumes were thus: Trevor-Clone Trooper, Matt-Obiwon Kenobi, Jason-Boba Fett, Julie-Princess Leia, Jenna-the angel (cuz she didn't want to be in Star Wars), and Chad (who was supposed to wear his "I don't do costumes" shirt, but bailed because Jason was sick...).