Margie's Blog

We were able to spend 9 days traveling to California, having adventures, and traveling back.  We made some great new memories, bonded with cousins and loved soaking in the warm weather.

We skimped on Disneyland this year and decided to browse Downtown Disney and took the girls to see Toy Story 3 on Ice instead of spending twice as much on park tickets to fight crowds and long lines.  My feet, pocket book, and sanity were grateful.  The girls all loved Disney on Ice by-the-way.

We celebrated my Grandma’s 90th birthday party as well.  Morgan snagged in some dancing time with her dad and Brooke even convinced cousin Grant to dance a little.

Then Monday we spent the day enjoying time together by exploring the Balboa Boardwalk, eating at Ruby’s rooftop, dipping our toes in the water only to get splashed to our thigh and playing at the Duck Park aka Eisenhower Park.

Enough pictures yet?  I’ll save the present and Christmas blog for tomorrow.

If you have ever hung out at 509 for very long you might happen to hear a trumpet being played.  If Jeff is around the trumpet will probably be accompanied by some impromptu jazz piano.  But beware, if Margie is there as well she might wiggle her hips along to the music and since Chandler has been spending the past 6 months working on mastering Lindy Hop he might jump in as well and join in the party.  It is a great time had by all with fun memories.

Paige did a great job performing in another piano recital.  She played a version of Silent Night and loves playing piano especially trying to make up her own songs.

Paige’s piano recital

And then since Morgan heard her Mom practicing months ago for the Stake Broadway night she has learned a new song and it cracks me up every time she rocks out to Dancing Queen.  Enjoy!

Morgan singing dancing queen

Lastly, a sneak peak of Brooke in her dance costume . . .

A week ago we traveled down to Centerville to join some of Shawn’s family for a Christmas Party.  Santa Claus usually appears and gives the kids a toy.  It was fun to get to visit with family and the girls enjoyed an early visit from the man in the red suit.  Although Paige is already smart and realizes Santa has helpers who visit the kids for him because he is so busy.  She and Brooke are wanting to see the “real” Santa with a nice long beard.  Brooke even visited with the Santa at the mall yesterday who had a real beard that was long but that didn’t convince her he was the real one yet.  They are clever girls!

Santa Visit 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Paige has been asking for an American Girl Doll, Brooke a Rainbow Pegasus that really flies (if you find one let me know) and Morgan a Minnie Mouse.  Sydney is happy with anything she can put in her mouth.  Merry Christmas!

Saturday I took to the grocery store with just Paige.  I noticed the gingerbread kits for sale and realized I hadn’t planned on when to make one with the girls this year yet so decided to go for it.  Paige helped me pick up three little kits and plenty of candy to make our dentist squeal and tummies ache.  The goodies have been resting on our kitchen counter since then and being eyed by all.  Monday morning Brooke was ready to get this thing going and I had to remind her to wait until Dad came back from work and after dinner.  So the anticipated hour finally arrived and they had a blast pasting candy to their houses and Morgan enjoyed sneaking as much candy as she could in her mouth.  Shawn even tried to let Sydney test out some marshmallows and peeps.  It was a great time by all and they are now asking when can they start picking the candy off of their houses.  Christmas is a fun time here!

Making easy peasy baby blankets for dear friends

and these girls in their matching nightgowns all bathed and ready for bed.

I’m older, did you know that?  A week ago I celebrated another birthday planting me farther into the 30’s.  It should be a great decade though so I’m not too worried about getting to spend time with four adorable girls and an amazing husband.  Shawn spoiled me with a nice dinner date the weekend before and the night of my birthday we took the girls to go bowling but figured they would enjoy playing in the play area of the Fun Park more so we sat and rested while they wore themselves out for an hour or so.

Thanksgiving is checked off the list.  We traveled to Idaho and spent it with Shawn’s family.  I stress over packing and family relationships and tell myself every time that it always turns out fine and everyone has a good time.  And it did turn out fine and the girls love getting to play with Grandma and Grandpa.  They saddled up the horses a couple of times as well and gave the kids rides around the pasture.  I snuck out of the house early Friday morning and found a couple good deals on Black Friday (something I’ve never done before).  The feast was great as well.

My crazy life recently has been trying to get kids well from nasty coughs and earaches.  I hope we can all get feeling well again soon and move on to enjoy our holiday season.  The decorations started coming out today!  Hooray!

Have you started browsing pinterest yet?  What!?  You don’t want to waste even more time on the computer comparing yourself to others?  Yep, I agree.  But I did find this delicious dessert there and since my husband is a s’more fan and I have some s’more loving kids I thought I would give it try and it was a hit.  Discounted Halloween candy bars made it easy as well.  So give it a try if you are a fan of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows.  Who isn’t?  Plus, it really ended up looking like it did on the blog pictures in real life, bonus!

Can I cram three things in one post?  Let’s see . . .

The girls had a blast trick-or-treating.  We had cousins Claire and Alice join us and they all ran from house to house.  I made a plastic wrap garland out of each girls’ candy stash and they get two pieces of candy out of it each day.  They enjoy picking their candy and seem pleased with the game.  It leads them to a countdown to Thanksgiving.

Friday Morgan decided to see how well she could balance on the arm rest of the couch.  Obviously she couldn’t balance super well because it ended with her head on the floor (carpet part at least) and me holding paper towel to her head while calling the pediatrician to see if we can run in for some stitches.  She did great and is the proud owner of 4 stylish stitches similar to what Brooke had about three years ago.

And lastly the girls had a blast tonight performing with me in the Stake Broadway night.  As a note, they called me to be the choreographer and that led me to being asked to being a lead in the number.  I definitely did not seek out to be one of the leads by any means.  But we had a blast and the little girls loved that they could be included in it.  (Shawn did his best taping it while holding wiggly Sydney at the same time.)

Oh, and we had our first snow of the season.  Luckily Paige’s new snow clothes came today as well so each girl was well equipped for the snow.Even Grandpa joined in on the fun!

Last week was Red Ribbon Week which brought Crazy Hair Day.  Of course I managed to sleep in a bit and didn’t get Paige up until 30 minutes till blast off time.  So that meant it was time to pull out the color hair spray I snagged at Wal-Mart and quickly get her out the door.

Next was Brooke’s Preschool Halloween day.  They got to dress up and sang a few songs for their parents at the end of class.  Brooke is probably the oldest in her class and it’s her second year with Miss Karla as her teacher so she has the songs perfected.

And now that this post is too long here are a couple more cute witches to scare you!

Paige has accomplished a big goal of memorizing her first book of songs in her piano lessons.  To celebrate we held a house concert today with her teacher, Grandma Anderson and cousin Marcy.  If you are needing some entertainment here it is directly to your computer.

“Big Lion is Asleep”

“The Rhinos are Arguing,” “The Hyena is Laughing” and “Brush Your Hair, Little Lamb”

“One Gray Mouse, One White Mouse”

“Growly Black Bear” & “Growly White Bear”

“Silly Big Monkey” and “The Birds are Kissing”

“Funny Long Necks”