Big morning for Emily

Before . . . 

After!

A Visit From Santa

Santa visited our ward's Christmas party on Saturday morning.  We lucked out this year because it was a PJ party!  We didn't even have to get dressed or do our hair.  I hope we have a party like this every year because I am always looking for excuses to not do my hair and wear my jammies all day.

    

My girls thought wearing jammies to church was a great idea but our cousin Savannah was a little disturbed by the idea.  She kept saying, "My church, dresses." 

Looking good!

How many couples do you know that have a photo of their first date?  And of those couples, how many of them are soooooo good looking?

Tagged

I have been tagged and I'm actually going to respond this time!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning

B. Each player answers the questions about themselves

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. (Yeah, read the bottom - I might be skipping this rule)

5 things I was doing 10 years ago

1. Working at Pottery Barn and accidentally breaking lots of wine glasses

2. Going to GW and writing papers on coming of age ceremonies in Western Africa and portraiture in Henry VIII's court (seriously - I'm very nerdy)

3. Being excited that my first anniversary was coming up

4. Rollerblading around DC

5. Working in the nursery at church 

5 things on my to-do list today

1. Clean the bathrooms

2. Vacuum the whole house

3. Fold the laundry

4. Go to Costco

5. Remove Molly's tonsils and adenoids (This probably won't happen today but I'd really like it to.)

5 snacks I enjoy

1. sugar cookies

2. ice cream

3. popcorn

4. Why am I bothering to list?  I like just about every American snack.

5 things I would do if I were a Billionaire

1. have houses all over the world

2. visit those houses

3. take my kids all over the world

4. have a stylist pick my clothes

5. give lots and lots of money to favorite charities

3 of my bad habits

1. too much junk food

2. too much TV

3. too much wasting time

5 places I have lived

1. Scarsdale, NY

2. Plymouth, MN

3. Provo, UT

4. Washington, DC

5. Roseville, CA

5 jobs I've had

1. Cirque de Soleil

2. smithsonian

3. teaching assistant 

4. substitute teacher

5. delivery truck driver

5 things people probably don't know about me

1. Boys choirs give me the creeps

2. I don't like pumpkin pie very much

3. I would rather a have room-temperature soda than cold one

4. Neil Diamond and Michael Landon scare me

5. In 1990 I was Minnesota's Region 6AA high jump champion!

NOW I TAG ALL OF YOU READING THIS - HA!

Those tricky girls!

Heidi thinks this is the funniest thing she's ever seen.

Tis the Season

Can you figure out who decorated our Christmas tree this year? I'll give you a hint. It wasn't Scott. I was planning on fixing it when the girls went to bed but I think it's so cute that I think I'll leave it.

Bowling for Dollars!

Does anyone else remember that show? I used to love to watch bowling on TV. Sad.



Molly and her buddy H had their first bowling outing on Friday. When they had their turns the other bowlers all took a looooong break because it took a loooooong time for the bowling balls to make it down to the pins. Finally Molly began kicking her ball at the start because then it was a little faster.

Heidi also went bowling for the first time. Look how carefully she leans into the throw! I can already tell she'll get an A when she takes bowling for her PE credit in college someday.


Emily was no bowling novice. We went with the Beehive class a few weeks ago. She loves bowling but even more exciting than getting to bowl was wearing her "Christmas earplugs" all day. They're actually earmuffs (I'm not correcting her - calling them ear plugs is much cuter) but apparently they are more stylish when worn as a headband. She asked if she could wear it every day until Christmas. I told her yes, except for on Sundays. Reindeers are not very reverent.


PS - GUESS WHO HAS A LOOSE TOOTH!!

Somebody's been sleeping in my bed

AND SHE'S STILL HERE!


Our house was extra cold one night this week (it was probably 45 degrees outside - horrors!) so Heidi wore her bear outfit to bed. She must have liked it because she slept all night long. (Do they make summer-weight bear costumes?)

Ballerinas

Molly and Emily showed their stuff during the parent performance at their ballet class last week. While Molly was not so jazzed about following instructions, this year Emily listened carefully and did just what the teacher asked her to do. Wow!


Some crazy ballerina messed up the rings on the floor. Luckily Molly reorganized them when her turn was over.


Why twirl around one part of the room with one umbrella when you can run around the entire room with two umbrellas?


Emily shows of her mad skills as she leaps over the ribbons.


One of the best parts about ballet is getting a hand stamp when the class ends.

Viva Mexico

Right after Halloween we headed south to Mexico City for a week. Scott had a mission reunion there and we decided to bring the whole family. Yes, I realize this could have been a disaster but LUCKILY we all had so much fun. No one got sick, kidnapped, or arrested (initial fears of mine) so it was a success. We did get a little bit sunburned. Oh well.


Emily and Molly loved hanging out with their buddies Michele and Denise on the bus. These girls hung out together for three whole days and it didn't seem to bother them that they weren't speaking the same language. We actually got to watch Shrek 3 a whole week before it was released on DVD. Maybe Mexico just gets earlier release dates than we do in CA. Maybe not.


We lucked out and visted during the Day of the Dead celebrations. It's kind of like Halloween but with more skeletons, less pumpkins, and remembering your ancestors instead of trick-or-treating. OK, it's not really like Halloween except for it's at the same time of year. I loved the decorations all over the place. Here's a big professional wrestling display in the city center.


Playgrounds were everywhere. Unfortunately (for slightly nervous American parents) they weren't quite as safe as what we have here. Here's Emily running on what Scott and I dubbed the bridge of death. Now she can join Indiana Jones on his next adventure and not realize it's something scary.


Here we are at the top of one of the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Heidi is a great climber. (She and Scott were both mistakenly identified as locals that day.)


My favorite Day of the Dead display was set up outside the biggest church in Mexico City. If this had been outside any church in the US people would have freaked out and called it Satanic. We freak out way too much. This was my favorite display of the trip.

Halloween - Part Three!

Halloween was a big day for us. We started the candy haul early in Davis where we trick-or-treated through the stores. Not only is Davis a cute town but we actually get to see the kids in their costumes in the daylight. Another handy thing is being able to see what candies the girls score. Luckily they are good sharers because I don't have a lot of self control.

Halloween - Second Round

We went to a totally awesome 80s party tonight. All the girls have more hairspray in their hair than we have had in about 15 years. I'm afraid that I will have big hair for at least a week. Emily and Molly thought I looked "scary." (So an 80s girl IS a good halloween costume!)


Scott was George Michael and I was just super cool. How do we look?

Cats Love Frosting

Molly didn't want to get her hands dirty while eating her frosting so she licked it instead. Yummy!

Happy Halloween - First Round

Our whole family had a great time at our ward's trunk-or-treat. Scott and I dressed as Macs (you can see the tiny Apple stickers on our sweatshirts). I thought of asking Scott to dress in a suit and saying "I'm a PC" and I could just wear my regular clothes and say, "I'm a Mac" but then I thought it would be more fun to both wear casual clothes and both be Macs. Let's be honest, no one was looking at us. They were checking out our cute ladybug, cat and monkey.


Molly ditched the cat ears half way through the night so I became a mommy cat. I was impressed that Heidi kept the monkey hat on all night. Good work Monkey!


Scott said this picture will have to go in the slide show of Molly's cutest pictures when she gets married. We might as well start planning it 20 years early.


Here's a happy ladybug on her way to score more candy.


Here's a happy ladybug and her feline friend watching TV in the back of our friend's car.

Mice

I guess those little bites out of the cheese weren't caused by mice sneaking into the fridge.

Sloughhouse Pumpkins

Last night was the 5th annual Carruth-Workman Sloughhouse pumpkin picking party. Actually, we don't pick the pumpkins. They are pre-picked, so we just pick them up, pay for them, and put them in our cars. Since we have a total of seven kids now, and we're getting busier every year it was very hard to find a time to go this year. I think we had to reschedule six times before finding a time that worked for everyone.


Of course all the kids had fun but Gould, Mr. Fall Decor 2007 himself, had the best time.





Patrick, Abbie, Michael, Katie, Emily, Heidi and Molly look like they're ready to get back to running around the pumpkins instead of sitting for photos. Whew! What a lot of kids!

Hanging out at the house

Molly was wild for the maple suckers Scott and I brought back from our trip to Canada.


Emily forced Savannah into playing pirates with her on Saturday. I don't think Savannah was having as much fun as Emily was.


Poor Heidi. Poor all three girls. Now I have pictures of every one of the kids taking naps with their legs hanging out of their cribs.

Surgery Day

Today Heidi had tubes put in her ears. She was a great patient until the nurse took her away for the operation - then she was not as good. We've been home for only a few hours and she's already back to normal. I am shocked at how easy that was. Whew!


Here we are, at 6:15 this morning, heading out the door.


Heidi is not sure she loves her tiger gown. She liked her purse pants better.


They're doing WHAT to my ears?

Fair Weather Friends

We love the fair. As much as I hate to say this, we love even more when it is not 109 degrees like it was when we went this week. Luckily, we still had lots of fun.

Heidi loved the cows.


Molly really liked the goats.


Emily liked the fake butterflies. Emily is not as outdoorsy as her sisters.

Totally Tubular

Heidi is going to be an ENT when she grows up. I know this because already, in only eight months, she has become an expert in ear infections. She knows what they feel like, how to tell me all about the pain associated with them and which TV shows are on in the middle of the night if she feels like waking up and telling me some more about the ear pain. She is a huge Conan fan. She also knows which medicines work best (or not at all) and best of all, she knows how to get doctors to call in favors to get on the surgery list for tubes in under a week. We can't wait for next Friday's surgery!

Go Cats, Go!

We went to the Rivercats game last night. Honestly, I don't know if the girls even realized there was a game going on. If you ask them what happens at a game they would tell you this - first you eat cotton candy, then you get wiped with a lot of wipes, then you roll down the hill for an hour and then you go home. It was a successful evening.




Even Heidi tried the cotton candy. In this photo she is triying to figure out how to get more.