Thanksgibbin's Party at school

Just had to share these two pictures from Little Man's preschool party. It was Mommy's day to volunteer in the classroom but since Daddy had the day off he graciously went into class and helped out so mommy could sleep in. Mommy had stayed out way past bedtime to watch the movie "New Moon" at midnight with her friends....something she will probably never do again....she can wait to watch it at a decent hour next time...June 2010 is when the next movie "Eclipse" comes out :)

Well Daddy had fun helping out and getting to see Little Man's best buds in class. There was a party at the end of the day and Little Miss LOVED the cupcakes of course! We had made it just in time for the food and to see if Daddy did a good job helping in class, which he did.

In class you could choose to be a pilgrim or an indian and here are my festive guys in their hats. Mommy and Little Miss wanted to be Pochahontas but they didn't have costumes for that, so we decided not to wear hats.

Happy Turkey Day

Here is the 10.5 lb bird I brined and cook for my family of 4 on Thanksgiving day. I used a new recipe (by Alton Brown) and followed that thing to a T...it came out very juicy but I think I should have left the foil off that was over the breast, that part wasn't a pretty roasted brown color. Oh well, it was yummy and different from my usual Reynolds Turkey bag that we use every year.

We had lots of left overs and I boiled up the bones to make Jook, a hawaiian/chinese favorite that is basically turkey soup with rice and seasonings. The kids loved that more than the actual turkey. All the hardwork in preparing a nice meal for the family and both kids weren't impressed with turkey for lunch or dinner.

On Thanksgiving morning I had planned to start our annual tradition of setting up our christmas tree & decorations with the kids. So one of the big ideas we had was to have each kid have alittle themed ornament for themselves. Little Man got Legos and Little Miss had some Hello Kitty ornaments that were on super clearance last year. We took the legos we already had and created little ornaments by tying ribbon on them! (I saw it in a magazine) You can't beat FREE ornaments right? plus the kids enjoyed making them.

Hanging the ornaments on the tree is another story. As you can imagine both kids put all the ornaments in one spot on the tree, which drives mommy nuts, so after a little convincing they spread them out and made it pretty for mommy. I know I shouldn't do that but they enjoyed moving it around and picking new spots for their ornaments.
The big tree is actually mommys tree and the kids have their own small tree that they can decorate however they please. This year instead of picking a specific theme for our big tree I decided to let the kids help and have their toys/favorite things on their. So tah-dah....legos & hello kitty along with some other favorites that haven't been put up yet.


And this is what the tree looks like! If time & patience is on my side we may make a garland of some sort to put around the tree this year. We'll get crafty and use pretty paper limks or maybe some foam beads that the kids love to craft with.

Tomorrow is December 1st....It's begining to look alot like Christmas!

Extreme Home Makeover...sort of

Tah-Dah!...we just repainted the house, nothing extreme. I wish it was one of those Extreme Home Makeover's because I would love a craft room all to myself and a bigger master bathroom, new floors & carpet, kitchen counters...the list can go on and on but we need to hit the lottery first. Bummer.

So this was the street view BEFORE, a 10yr old peachy beige & white


and the front door that was BLUE

and after 2days & 28 gallons of Kelly Moore paint, here is the AFTER
Body: Vallita
Trim: Bone white
Rain Gutters/Roof Trim: Dark Oxford Brown
It looks darker in these photos. We also painted the front porch rails Oxford Brown on recommendation from the painter. It's different from the usual all white rails.

and my absolute favorite part...a BLACK front door! I've always wanted a black door. Sure beats our old Blue one. We have a pretty backdrop for our annual first day of school shots now. Love it!

After driving around and stalking local neighborhoods, we really liked the modern color scheme of a few homes in the area. Alot of homes are being repainted and there were a few homes that really stood out..like a wonderful Lime yellow and bright orange. Yikes. Well the night before we were going to paint we thought our colors may be a little too dark and we called our painter to tell him our concerns...but he reassured us that its a great color scheme and very similar to all the homes we liked. I stood outside staring at our swatches for hours. You just cannot tell how your home will look until its done so you need to really be sure it's what you want....And it sure was. Our home is now one of the darkest ones on the block but we love it. No more orangey beige & blue door.

Now we will be focusing on the front yard. We just called to get an estimate on cutting back the trees and I would like to remove that crooked thing called a bush up against the house (left of the garage door) because no amount of trimming or shaping by the Mister will save that thing. I think it's time for the professionals...sorry honey. I have also been banned from touching the yard or starting new projects in the "garden" due to my failed experiments in the past. But I hope to change that after the husband lifts my gardening ban.

Check out these Chompers!

Look at all those teeth! Little Man's had his very first set of dental x-rays on his latest visit to the dentist. Being that it was his birthday he got to pick a special toy out of a different basket that day. He was very thoughtful and asked "can I choose something for my little sister too?"... so cute. Both kids left with new tooth brushes, stickers & toys and Little Miss isn't even a patient there yet, bonus for her! Well being the xray technologist that I am, I was very impressed with their xray equipment, love the digital technology. You get to see the xrays immediately and this is his upper teeth. The bottom baby teeth are what we see now and the top HUGE permanent teeth are hiding up top just waiting to knock out those little teeth.

Currently Little Man has a "Good Luck" tooth. Kids his age usually have only 20 teeth but he has 21. He has a extra k-9 (the fang looking tooth) and he got that bad boy from Mommy's genes...sorry kid. When the time comes for those baby teeth to fall out we may have to pull out that extra tooth so it doesn't block the front teeth from coming in. K-9 teeth (the ones next to front 2teeth) usually fall out later then the front baby teeth. So if we don't want him with crooked permanent teeth we have to yank the "good luck" toof out. But so far from what we can tell there aren't any extra permanent teeth up there, thank goodness. He's got perfect teeth otherwise and you would never know he has a extra tooth. Size and shape are perfect per the Hygenist & the Dentist. So hopefully no major dental work until we have to yank out that K-9. No cavities either BUT we need to keep an eye on a back molar since xrays showed very slight shadows which means potential decay :( We are being deligent and spending extra time brushing those areas.

That's all that happend on Little Man's dental visit. The whole time I was prepping Little Miss for her first appointment (when she turns 3) and she wants nothing to do with the dentist. She will be the screamer of the two for sure. I think she may even bite! The sad thing is I think she will be the one who will need the most work. The Dentist said by the looks of it (he peeked at her teeth before) she will be the one who will need braces since her baby teeth are so crooked...another trait from Mommy's genes. Sorry kids. Mommy had really bad teeth as a kid and wore braces, had extra teeth, the whole 9yards...guess we can thank your Papa or Nana for that one or we have some ancestors to thank for passing along extra teeth to us. Thank goodness for braces!!

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to Grandpa Clarin & Papa Danny. Virtual hugs & kisses to you both.

Papa Danny served in Vietnam with the Marine Corps a long long time ago...Semper Fi, Hoorah! That's what Marines say right? Well Veteran's day reminds me of something every year, here's a story for you. For many years I believed my dad was shot in the belly button during the Vietnam war. Lo and behold when I got older & smarter I asked my Grandma why my Dad has a funny looking line for a belly button... I was told "they cut his umbilical cord too short!" Needless to say I was a little confused and got a good laugh out of my Dad when I confronted him with the truth. Real funny Dad. We all (my siblings & I) believed that one for many years. Geez.

It was neat to hear stories and see a few pictures of my Dad back in those war days. Scary stuff thinking about having loved ones faraway in the middle of a war. My heartfelt thanks and appreciation go out to all those serving in the Armed Forces today.

We also cannot forget to Thank Grandpa Clarin who is retired from the AirForce and for all his years of service.

We miss all of you!

ETA: this picture was taken back in March of this year and the kids have grown a TON since then. Aiden looks like a baby, his hair is long, Kayla has bangs & crocs with socks....and I am making a note to never wear that shirt again.

Today my baby is FOUR

Little Man has hit the big F.O.U.R today. My baby is four and looking back at all our old pictures makes me a little sad. Time really passes by SO quick even though somedays I can pull allllll my hair out when the kids drive me nuts. I've said on many occassions that I wish I went back to work and staying home with the kids stresses me out, but in the end it really is worth all the stress & drama. Although, I will not take credit for ANY of the bratty attitudes and ridiculous things my kids say or do :) I have no idea where they get that from.

We will be visiting the dentist today for his 6month checkup and he is super excited to get a new toothbrush & toy for his birthday. He loves his dentist. He also gets to pick a restaurant of his choice for dinner tonight and it looks like it's going to be McDonalds.

So here are a few flashback pictures, Happy Birthday Little Man!! We Love you soooooo much.

Look who's going to be FOUR soon!!

We had a mini celebration this past weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Clarin, the Pismo Beach Clarin's and the Silver Creek Manuels :) Thank You for celebrating with us at Chuck E Cheese. It was a kick off to the Little Man's birthday week and a great day spent with Grandma and Grandpa before they headed off overseas. We will miss you Gma & Gpa Clarin!! Our Birthday Star
Little Miss says "too yow'd" aka too loud plus she was scared of the big hairy mouse
Mr.B the eldest cuzzo aka cousin.
and introducing the newest Clarin princess...the youngest cuzzo :)

It was a wonderful day with our Clarin family.