the perfect....

thanksgiving.

at our house for the first time......

the PERFECT bird chef (and his assistant), cooking our first bird ...

anna picked the PERFECT place for a pre-dinner nap....
the PERFECT spread (prepared for over 6 hours....eaten in about 6 minutes!)....

i created the the PERFECT centerpiece...

justin found the PERFECT part of the bird for him...while my mum served him.anna discovered the PERFECT spot for her during dinner nap.....

my sister amanda made her PERFECTLY gorgeous (and yummy) blueberry pie....


my dad offered PERFECTLY wonderful headlocks...
the PERFECTLY GINORMOUS sink full of dishes is no more (thanks mum and aunt tanya)... my step-brother Aaron posed as the PERFECTLY stereo-typical teenager....


and to end a WONDERFULLY PERFECT day....the kids were locked in, ready to head over the river and through the woods (to their grandparents house of course.).....so mommy and daddy could.....
fall fast asleep, exhausted from the PERFECTLY EXHAUSTING (and wonderful) thanksgiving day!

to do

1.
read this
....for the first time.

like those who have gone before

with only a "little" help

2.
of course i'll fit in lots of "visiting" with dallin

and make sure to offer easy access to the cheerios, ricemilk and straws. 3.
oh...and i should take care of this too.

wish me luck.

i'm hanging on the bandwagon for dear life

for this:


not that i'm a twerd...

just a wannabe.


i'm just thankful for this newly greenified spot:


....and 75 degree weather in NOVEMBER!


now to decide what to bring for potluck...any bright ideas?

when a bloody nose is funny...

i always have a sticky note handy. when the funny words come flying out of Justin's mouth i want to be ready to catch them. today, i did.

while in time-out (an unfortunate frequent thing for Justin...his mommy is just picky about not being talked to in a meanie way) anyways, while Justin was in for it...

he was being "picky" in his very own way.

the yucky kind of picky. i didn't see it, but i made a few assumptions. when he called out in desperation for a band-aid, i ignored him. yup. i assumed it was the typical distraction tactic of a boy in time out or pathetic plea for early release. plus, i didn't hear any crying. i imagined a sad hangnail or paper cut or something of the sort. there he remained. eventually he was freed. it was then that i saw the reason for the desired band-aid. justin got his first bloody nose (which i am NOT going to note in his baby book...which is mostly blank anyways.) he had wanted a band-aid for his nose....but had since changed his mind about wanting a band-aid, which i can only assume.

i noted, "justin, you had a bloody nose. can you go to the bathroom and wash it off?

then, he replied in the most genuine tone,

"can i leave this until halloween?"

"why," i quizzed.

then, he expounded,

"because, I want to be a vampire for halloween!
then i could suck my own blood."

i hope not to have scarred him for life, but, i laughed. a lot. hard.

after taking his bi-monthly bath, his childhood dream was washed down the drain with the the dirty bathwater. but, now that he knows how to painlessly produce blood, this is probably NOT going to be the end of the yucky tale.

so, i thank justin for adding some enjoyment to my day. a day when i got to: dance with two of my lovely children, waste nap time on the computer, prepare food for all, listen to lovely music on KZION, read wonderful blogs, smooch Dallin's chubby body, read stories to little anna, feed the mom juice to dallin many times, mop the filthy floor, run numerous loads of laundry and stare out my sliding glass door and enjoy the NEW scenery....and i'm NOT talking about the rapidly reproducing fingerprints!


isn't life beautiful...
and wonderfully hillareous in a gross kind of way!?!?

(photography courtesy of Justin Morris.)

for the potrfolio (s)

just when i thought anna's sleeping abilities had reached their height....

she surpassed all of my expectations with this sleeping trick.

oh yeah....pay no attention to the 10lb diaper please....
i'm sure you would NEVER allow such a thing to happen.

what cuddly concrete!

post-breakfast napping....it's what happens when you like waking up at 5:30 a.m.

i can't get enough of dallin's little smirks an occasional full on grins. he has been grinning for 2 or three weeks but not often enough to get a picture....until yesterday.
If only i had a picture of me holding my large camera next to my head...which is probably what he actually thinks is funny!

Through the Lens of a 4 year old...
I guess Justin wanted create his own portfolio too.
I just thank the heavens for digital cameras!

firsts.

dallin had his very first "solid food."
homemade, whole wheat, organic pie crust with ground flax seeds.

he gives his compliments to the chef.



anna created her first (and hopefully last) monotone wall mural.
it's title - "baby"
she did NOT earn a blue ribbon...just a job as a housekeeper.

on a positive note, i was ecstatic that she happened to find "crayola" and not "sharpie" like justin, her predecessor did as a 2 yr. old.
i have renewed love of semi-gloss paint.


justin successfully accomplished his first ice cream purchase from the pedro, the neighborhood ice cream man after several unsuccessful, teary-eyed attempts.

however, it was NOT his first time wasting his allowance money .
when did twin pops start costing a dollar?!?

i'm just glad he willingly shared his spoils with anna.

arrrr halloween voyage.

me thinks that i love arr little family.
we got lots o loot and had fun wearing our peasant pirtate costumes...
here arrr some pictures for ya of arrrr halloween highlights from the the trunk r treat halloween night.

the highlights

the long awaited day when justin could eat all of the candy he wanted FINALLY came...and is now gone...and so is most of the candy. thank goodness.

i met sarah pallin (at my dad's ward trunk 'R' treat of course.) i was delighted.

justin got to wield a sword (until it was confescated of course.)

anna just walked around amazed at all of the interesting costumes trying to define reality.

i saw my first virtual digital halloween decoration display. i just laughed.

patrick was a good sport...letting me rip up one of his older church shirts and all. i just think he looks cute with such a long mustach.

dallin did what he does best. sat there and looked cute.

it was an eventful week and we had lots of fun, ...i'm just glad it comes only once a year. whew.

Rebel Mother

This notice was just a suggestion, right?

Not intended to hold children....but it does dang good job.

Too bad the seat belt is only velcro.

Kid tested, mother approved

My excuse.

My Camera is HOLDING MY PICTURES HOSTAGE....

.....but only until I find that dang USB cord which has been MIA fo a month.

Too bad the missing cord is an indicator of the lack of organization around here.

So, in my camera, the cute pictures I would be sharing right now remain until further notice.

As a result...not much blogging been going on around her....which is not a really bad thing sadly enough. I've actually been getting a lot done...which is a good thing.

*this post became irrelevant when my brain (which obviously isn't running at full strength) remembered i could even post pictures from the past. however, i would still like to find the aforementioned cord.