Santa's THE MAN

We have now joined the millions of Americans who own Wii and Guitar Hero World Tour. My kids can now invite friends over to numb their young minds in my very own living room. There is now no need for them to go to their room and actually use their imaginations to play together. So, yes, I caved. I allowed Santa to bring a video game system into my home. I have to admit that Guitar Hero is pretty fun. Although, if I have to listen to "Barracuda" or "Slow Ride" one more time, I just might have to poke holes in my own eardrums.

After this CRAZY year filled with new baby stuff, sleep deprivation, stock market crashes, recessions and gloom and doom, I feel grateful to have been able to celebrate Christmas with family and friends, to have a warm (albeit ugly) apartment to live in, food to eat and paychecks coming in regularly. I know that so many Americans don't have these necessities and luxuries at this time. I feel grateful to have the freedom to celebrate this holiday the way we choose and for the reasons we choose. And last, I am grateful that in less than a month we can say GOODBYE and GOOD RIDDANCE to Geroge W. Bush, hopefully forever.

Grant and Cara in the House

We had the pleasure of having Grant and Cara visit us on Christmas Eve. Their little Elle Louise is an angel and Max is awesome. He sang some Roy Orbison for us and asked everyone what their favorite song was. I got some tips from Cara about what digital camera is the best because from the quality of these photos, you can see I really need a new camera. I better start being good so Santa will bring me a Canon Digital Rebel next year.

Gingerbread Mania

On December 22, 2008 we hosted a Gingerbread House Decorating Extravaganza. Everyone brought their own pre-assembled g-bread house and we decorated them together. We shared lunch after the decorating frenzy ended. I think everyone had fun. Grandma Stubblefield and Jill and Robert and cousins made the trek from San Diego and we had a fun day with them. Everyone was talking about "Next Year" and I don't think they realize that THEY will have to be inviting ME from our new house or, if we don't have a new house, they will have to be checking me out of the psych ward at UCLA to join the festivities.

Christmas Card Photos

Well, Lindsay did it again! She was able to get some excellent shots with two uncooperative children (Jackson and Allie) and one overly dramatic one who kept doing these over the top poses (Rachel.) I left the photoshoot thinking that I had just wasted time and money and that I was going to have to ask Allie to draw a picture of the three of them for our Christmas cards this year. But when I got the disk back I was very happy to find that there were quite a few keepers.

Are we Jewish?

I was helping Allie with her homework and I was trying to get her to answer the following question: "Which winter holiday does your family celebrate?" She didn't know the answer to this question so I was trying to get her to think of the correct answer by asking one that I thought was clearly incorrect, I asked "Allie, do we celebrate Chanukah? " She looked at me for a minute and said "I don't know mommy, are we Jewish?" Only in LA.

Dance Performances

Rachel and Allison had a dance recital last week. They LOVED putting on fancy dresses and makeup. I never thought I'd give birth to not one, but two blondes who like to dance. Go figure.

Do Ballerinas Pick Their Noses?

I guess they do, sometimes.

WAAAAAAAAAAA.......

I finally hit the wall. Jackson can no longer decide when to take a nap, how many times he would like to eat during the night, and if he wants to be gently rocked to sleep and put softly into his crib only to roll over, wake, start crying and demand to be picked up. THAT'S IT! I've had it and I am going to take charge. After close to 11 months of waking up 4 times (or more) every night, I am ready for some tough love. It is 10:00 am and I just put Jackson into his crib, awake, for his morning nap. I'll keep you posted.....

10:15: Screaming Bloody Murder
10:30: Crying and Gagging
10:45: Screaming Bloody Murder
10:50: Phone call to Shannon for moral support. She reassures me that Jackson will survive this.
11:00: Screaming
11:15: Wailing pitifully
11:30: I open the door to see what's going on, Jackson is standing up in his crib. I say "night night Jackson" and shut the door, which elicits more SCREAMING
11:45: suddenly it is quiet for 10 seconds, then CRYING AGAIN
12:00 Jackson is finally asleep.

Do you think he will hate me when he wakes up? Let the chips fall where they may but PLEASE let him sleep for at least 2 hours.

I solemnly swear....

That I will NEVER AGAIN go to an amusement park in the summer. We went to Knottsberry Farm yesterday and we were a few of only 1200 people in the ENTIRE PARK. We didn't stand in line once to go on a ride, we just walked right on. Nobody bumped into me. Nobody ran their stroller up the back of my heels. I didn't feel like I was getting heat stroke. We didn't have to park 3 miles from the entrance. It was AWESOME. Therefore, if you ever come visit me in the summertime and ask me if I want to go to Disneyland, Magic Mountain, SeaWorld etc. with you, the answer will have to be no. Thanks to Tanner Baker for being born so we could celebrate his birthday. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Stubblefield for springing for the tickets and dinner afterward. We had a great time.


The Gang, before the lame Wild West show


Jackson with Grandpa


Grandma and Grandpa with the "Bald Ones"


A Triple Threat


These two were too short for all the coasters, so they went on the teacups about a thousand times.


Missing from photo: Snoopy's Security Detail, equipped with walkie talkie and stun gun. I guess sometimes the kids can get tough.


Uncle Rico, I guess it's him we have to thank for our day at Knottsberry Farm (think back 10 years and 9 months ago....) Thanks, Uncle Rico!

A Modern Day Alfalfa

Jackson doesn't have much hair. The hair that he does have sticks straight up from the back of his large head. Add in the four-snaggle toothed grin, you have one cute boy.

Allie's Only Friend

The other day, Allie was having a hard time. She was fighting with Rachel and she felt like I wasn't taking her side in the argument. She came in the kitchen and said "Everybody is being mean to me." I replied "I'm sorry you feel that way." She turned around and as she was walking away I heard her mutter "The ONLY person I like in this family is Jesus." I replied "Allie, I know exactly how you feel." She cracks me up sometimes.

Jackson's First Halloween

Wasn't Halloween just yesterday? I can't believe it has been a week and I am just getting around to posting some pics. I think Jackson had a fun Halloween. He didn't really like the bee hood, but he couldn't get it off (and yes, he tried to get it off, repeatedly.) The girls looked cute in their costumes. Allie was a kitty. However, she decided that the mask was "bugging her" and she took it off as soon as we got to the church. We spent the evening explaining what she was supposed to be. Rachel wanted to be a witch. We found a website that had about 100 versions of a witch costume. So, after steering her away from the teenage witch costumes with the REALLY SHORT skirts, she decided on the "classy witch" costume. They got so much candy that we are still eating it one week later. Happy Belated Halloween!

8 is Great

October 25, 2008 was Rachel's big day. She got baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was so excited and happy and has been planning the event for months. She has invited everyone she has met for the past few weeks to attend. She looked so grown up and beautiful in her white dress. The service went really well with the help of both sets of grandparents. We want to thank everyone who took time out of their lives to come support Rachel and our family. I especially want to thank my parents for coming and helping me out. They were the victims of my disease. It's called Martha Stewart Syndrome. I only get it when I have 20+ people attending an event I planned and it's not pretty. It was a great way to bring Rachel's "Birthday Week" as she called it, to a close. Who gets a "Birthday Week?" Rachel does.