Thanksgiving 09

Curtis came to our house for Thanksgiving. It was a blast as usual. Curtis helped with all the cooking, and I must say the turkey was perfect! We cooked it in a bag. Curtis started teaching Lizzie how to make his mom's famous rolls. The kids really loved Curtis's visit this year. As is our tradition, we went to Weinerschnitzel on THanksgiving Eve, and stuffed ourselves with chili dogs. We ate on the patio this year, and things got exciting when a swarm of bees descended in a black cloud on our orange tree in our backyard. I guess they were looking for a new home, Curtis and Mark took care of the few that stuck around the next day. We quickly relocated to the house, luckily we were done with our meal. It was a great, quiet Thanksgiving, full of lots of laughs and dominoes.

Buddy Walk 2009 Oct 31

Alex had his annual buddy walk during the ASU Homecoming Parade. We had a great time as usual. It is an amazing experience to walk with Alex and many other young individuals with Down Syndrome in the middle of the ASU Homecoming Parade. There are always lots of cheers for Alex, and with his "cheer for Alex" sign this year on his wagon, he got more than ever! It is so much fun that his cousins get to walk, or ride, with him. Bella still wears her shirt with pride and remembers her "march with Alex". For something new this year we rode the light rail down to ASU, which the kids loved. The last pic is Alex with the women's softball team from ASU. Way to go Alex!

Vegas Girls Trip

We had our Vegas Girls Weekend a couple of weekends ago to celebrate myself, Wendi, and Deanna turning 40. We stayed in the same time shares that we did for Kim's b-day weekend. Wendi, her mom, Kim, myself, Elaine, Deanna, Amy, Trish, Pam, June, and Jennie all were there. Many more gals were invited, but sometimes life gets in the way, and as we all get older life gets more complicated. I appreciate everyone who came, we had a blast. Kim, Elaine and I drove up Thurs. night. It was a nervewracking drive as Kim likes to tailgate and is afraid to pass on some of the two lane roads. We made it safe and sound at around midnight. After settling in to sleep, Deanna, Trish and Amy came home from clubbing in the wee hours of the morning. D was so excited to see me, since she lives in FL and our visits are few and far between, she began jumping on me and yelling loudly about their evening. Yes, they had been drinking. The next morning some of us went out for a wonderful, lazy, kid free breakfast, with time to enjoy our coffee for as long as we liked. We headed to the mall where they have an awesome Macy's. As I realize I am going into too much detail, I will summarize the rest of the 4 day weekend as best I can.
U2 & Black Eyed Peas Concert - amazing
Bette Midler - in awe of her humor, voice, and humble manor
Gambling - not so kind to most
Brunch at the Rio - could hardly move after
Outlet Shopping - spent too much
Laughs with Old Friends - priceless
We are planning to go in Oct. 2010 if anyone wants to join us!
It is the time with the girls that regenerates me and reminds me of where I come from and who I am. Thanks for the memories gals!

Trick or Treat 09

Another successful trick or treat night for the Phipps kids. Alex and Ben came over and we all had pizza and then the kids went out to get their candy door to door. Bella started off in this dinosaur costume after refusing to put on the adorable tinker bell costume I had purchased for her. After Tater kept biting her tail, she decided to take the dino off and was going to go trick or treating in her t-shirt and nothing else. I finally convinced her she had to wear a costume to get candy, so she put on Markie's old pirate costume, which looked great on her. The little ones just did one loop and settled in with a movie. It was cool enough for a fire pit this year, so that was nice. The kids had a great time and all got lots of candy, which they ate all day Sunday....I love Halloween, as I got the candy nobody else wanted! I just wish they hated reeses...

Lizzy's 9 yr old slumber party

Ten little girls, make your own pizzas, guess how many m&ms, who can blow the bubble with bubblegum drenched in whipped cream, bingo with prizes, lots of laughing, ICarly new episode, everyone asleep by 12:30, making up dances to MJ, chocolate cake & cupcakes, Aunt Kim over to help. I hope Lizzy's whole life she is blessed with good friends like she was on this Saturday night.

Lizzy turns 9

Lizzy's last year before she hits double digits. She had a great birthday, it was on a Tuesday this year. She wanted to go to gymnastics practice, so we had to work our celebration around that. After school we started by meeting Kim and the boys and Nana at Culvers for ice cream and Aunt Kim gave Lizzy her presents. Her practice went until 8:30, after that we hit Oregano's, her choice for dinner. It was a late night, but she liked all of her gifts and we ended with a pazookie.

Things Lizzie loves at 9: anything chocolate, ice cream, cucumbers w/ ranch, wheat thins dipped in cream cheese, coke zero w/cherry, protein chocolate milk, grapes, gymnastics, swimming, listening to Taylor Swift on her Sansa, Michael Jackson, Blackeyed Peas, school, ELP, her hair that is now long enough for a ponytail w/out clips, playing outside with the neighbors, playing with Ben, birthday parties, hangin out at Aunt Kim's house, going roller skating with Ben and Uncle Bill, the movies, Stick It, Hairspray, H.S. Musical, Freaky Friday and Biggest Loser.

Things Lizzie hates at 9: ants, washing her hair herself, cleaning her room, going to bed early, doing her homework.

Happy Birthday Lizzie Phipps!

Bella's three year pictures

Bella and I headed to Portrait Innovations on a Wednesday morning in hopes of getting her three year pictures. Sometimes she is not in the mood, so we started the day off slow and I washed her hair in the sink, which she loves, then I brushed it out and blew it dry, she didn't like the blow dryer so much. Then I had her help me pick her two outfits, one was a gift from June and Jayna for her birthday, and the dress was one Moonbeam had given Lizzy a few years ago that Lizzy had long ago outgrown. Bella was great for the photos, and then we went to Target for coke and popcorn while we waited for the pictures to print! A great day!

My lttle ones havin fun doin hair!

Markie grabbed a brush the other night and started brushing Bella's hair. Bella normally does not like anyone doing her hair. She not only let Mark brush it, but spray it and style it as well. Those two have a blast together. Then Markie found the hair gel and spiked up his hair. He is currently "growing out" his hair. This should be interesting!

Another summer of ISR

I am backing up to cover some stuff from the summer I did not have a chance to post as things are crazy around here with three home every day of the summer, not to mention the three vacations we went on! We had another great summer of Infant Swim Resource with Julyann, this marked our 5th summer with Julyann, and the first summer Markie and Lizzy did not get in the water with Julyann, as they did there own swim stuff since they are finally really interested in strokes. Bella really had a lot of anxiety about swim lessons this summer, but by day two in the water she was full of confidence and smiles. She loved to "swim to the bar" and although her favorite is not floating, as you can see from the photos she did well with it. She only had to go two weeks for a total of 9 fifteen minute lessons and she was fully "refreshed" and survival ready. Luckily we got in for lessons right before our Sedona vacation and she was able to have a great time in the water there. She asked for Miss Julyann every day and as every summer, I feel so lucky to have found such an amazing swim instructor! Way to go Bella, my swimmer girl!

Bella Cadella

Some random thoughts about Bella as she turns three.

Raising a third child is different than my first. I don't know how tall she is or how much she weighs. I do know she has a commanding presence and can make her older brother and sister do just about whatever she wants. I don't know her favorite food, she really doesn't eat much, her favorite drink is chocolate milk. She wears anything but a dress, so her birthday party was a treat when she put on the dress I presented to her to wear. She hates getting into a hot car seat. She loves to dance and immediately starts moving to music, esp. the Black Eyed Peas. She loves to play her older brother's d.s. She likes to play with whatever is Markie's actually. She still sleeps in her crib, whats the hurry to grow up when she is happy there? She loves when older kids come over to play, joining them in any activities she can. She is my swimmer baby, proficient in ISR. She wants to go to school so bad she can practically taste it. She likes to sleep in. She wears her hair in a cute bob cut always that does not require a lot of brushing since she hates to have her hair brushed. She has recently discovered showers and will stay in as long as you let her. Bella loves to spend time with Alex and Ben and loves to go to Aunt Kim's house. Bella is a great kid and we are glad she is a part of our family! We love you Bella Cadella!

Bella turns three!

Bella had her 3 year birthday party at Chucke Cheese as her brother and sister did. It was a lot of fun for her, she has been talking about it for months now. Guests included her dear friend Jayna, her cousins Alex and Ben and her siblings, Lizzy and Markie. Adults were her mom and dad, Aunt Kim and Uncle Bill, June, and Tamra. When Chucke came out all the kids were so excited. Bella was the only one having a birthday party that night so Chucke gave her lots of attention. When Chucke was singing to her her face had a look of amazement like, this is all for me? It was a great time for everyone!

Corn Anyone?

My kids sure do love corn on the cob!
My blog will be going private in the next few days, I plan on posting more now that I know I can eventually publish this into a memory book for my family. If you'd like to continue following my blog, leave a comment or email me and I will add you to the list. I am going private because then I can post more details with names of the kids schools, friends, without the whole web being able to see. So let me know if you'd like to be added to my list and all you'll have to do is enter your email and password and you can see my blog, it is easy!

Dinner and Sundaes

Dinner at Tony's at the lake, the kids at the Cd'A resort dockside eating really big sundaes, and of course Markie chose a vanilla milkshake. We are eating well as Mark is trying to load up on calories before Sunday's race. And I posted a picture of my dinner, I was inspired by Becca's post and had to order the Gnocchi, I know that is spelled wrong, but when you see the picture you'll know what it is. It was most excellent.

Coeur d' Alene 09

Some pics of the vacation we are on. We came to Idaho for the Ironman. We are here for 5 nights. Sunday Mark will attempt his third ironman. We brought all the kids. Everyone is having a blast. The kids did a fun kids run last night complete with medals. The two older kids wore sandals for the run. Lizzy ran a mile, Markie and Bella about a half. Bella ran almost the whole way. We had a great Italian dinner last night on the lake, followed by amazing sundaes at the resort here overlooking the water.