Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful day! Ours got off to a bit of a rocky start, but got lots better as the day went on. Poor Sam woke up in the middle of the night with a belly ache and threw up twice. Ugh. Poor guy! He did fall back to sleep though and felt a lot better in the morning thank goodness. Joshua was up bright and early and dashed in our room to ask if he could begin "the hunt". Since we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before we begged him for a few extra minutes of rest. He crawled into bed with us and russled about until we decided it just wasn't worth it to try to sleep any longer. Especially after Joshua - CONVINCED that Gabe had left his room - went out to find him, only to burst into his room and discover he hadn't gone anywhere afterall and was still sleeping....well WAS still sleeping until the bursting into the room incident. Ah, well....church begins at nine so we DID need to start getting things going. Last night Gabe and I discussed the Easter Bunny and where he thought the furry guy would hide his basket. We thought maybe by the piano, so that is the first place that Gabe went and GUESS WHAT?! There his basket was! He was the first to find his, followed closely by Will who found his on the fireplace. Josh and Sam had high hopes that their baskets would be hidden in very hard to find places so it took them quite awhile to find theirs. Joshua finally found his in the guest bathroom bathtub/shower and Sam (with a little prompting, and help from Gabe and Josh who happened to have discovered it earlier) found his inside the t.v. armoire. Joshua loved his Pokemon board game and his treats, Sam loved his little Ben10 guy and spiderman playdough mold, Gabe loved his new octopus playdough set (I think mom was more excited about this than anyone else...it looks like SO much fun! - I'm really not being sarcastic, it looks DARLING and I am REALLY excited to play with it...with the boys, of course..) :) And Will loved his little monkey rattle and bunny rattle. Mom and Dad enjoyed a few new shirts and lots of treats. It was so fun to wake up to a house full of surprises this morning!

We quickly made some toaster waffles for breakfast and hurried to get ready for church. The boys looked so handsome, Joshua in his Navy blue suit, Sam in his spring sweater (Joshua's from a few years ago), Gabe in his spring sweater and blue/yellow checkered shirt(Sam's from a few years ago) and Will in his blue/yellow checkered shirt (Gabe's from a few years ago). About 2 seconds from returning home the boys had already changed into play clothes much to my dismay. I wanted to get a picture first. Grr. oh well, we still have a lot of spring left, thank goodness. I'm sure I'll have another chance. Church was wonderful. Josh and Sam were really excited to sing their easter songs to us. Sam mentioned to me twice that he "knew ALL the words to the song" and was going to show me and wanted to make sure that I was paying VERY close attention. They sang "I feel my Savior's love" and "Did Jesus really live again" As soon as they started singing I started to tear up. I'm a TOTAL sap when it comes to children singing, ESPECIALLY when those children belong to me. What brought the tears the most was watching little Sam with his eyes FIXED on me, making sure I was watching him sing every word. I didn't dare take my eyes away from his, and only had a chance to glance at Joshua once or twice which worked out fine since Joshua wasn't worried about me at all and was just excited to be part of the scene. All I could think about was how lucky I was to have a little boy up there that cared more about singing to me at that moment than anything else and how I needed to cherish every second of it because that little boy is going to grow up SO FAST! I absolutely LOVE this time in our lives with these amazing little boys. They really seem to be at the perfect ages right now and sometimes I wish I could just freeze time altogether for awhile.

We had a wonderful Easter program, with beautiful testimonies of Christ, and the boys were SO good. It couldn't have been better. We're starting to cut the amount of "things" we're bringing to the meetings little by little each week. We're down to zero snacks, a Friend magazine, a few small books for Gabe and a bottle for Will. It's working out great, we're finding out that less is DEFINITELY more as everyone seems to be getting a little more out of the lessons/talks.

We came home and hurried to grab a light lunch and put the littles to bed so we could begin preparing our Easter dinner. We had the Birschbach's over along with Brandon's girlfriend Vanessa and her two sisters. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Ham, cheesy potatoes, two salads, two jello salads, rolls and cake. We played a game called "Boxers or Brief's" which was fun, except that I lost terribly. We had a great time playing and chatting. It was fun to have everyone here. Shar and I missed our mom who was working in Phoenix today, but we have high hopes of being with her next year if things work out like they should. All in all, it was a great day. Tomorrow is supposed to be SIXTY THREE degrees which I am absolutely PSYCHED about. I'm hoping it will be enough to get me through the days at the end of the week that have a "chance of snow" ERGH. I am SO TIRED OF stinking SNOW! Tomorrow is the last day of the boys' spring break so we are lucky that it is going to be so warm! We hope you all had a WONDERFUL Easter Sunday!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a fun day today wearing GREEN!!! I've been so excited for the boys to wear their St. Patrick's Day shirts ever since I bought them a few weeks ago. My older two and sometimes three used to match ALL THE TIME. They were always perfectly coordinated and if they didn't have matching outfits I would at least put them (and sometimes ME!) in coordinating colors. I know, I'm a total nerd. But I LOVED it! Fast forward to 4 boys and now it is a total challenge for them all to match and I think this is actually their first set of identical shirts, I still try to color coordinate them a little but I'm losing my touch...or just REALLY outnumbered, who knows! Plus, Joshua is getting older and seems to be happier with the "cool" shirts like guitars or flames or skateboards than he is with matching his younger brothers. Sigh. Oh well, they LOVED matching today so it was lots of fun. Last Friday Josh was assigned the "show and teach" task where he is in charge of teaching a craft/project to his class. We did the pins that Sam is wearing in the picture. We went and got Sam out of class so he could come and make one too. They had so much fun with them, especially when it came time to pour the glitter on top of the glue. The whole class just LIT UP! It made me realize how much fun kids have with this kind of thing and that I really need to do more of this at home. He has SUCH a sweet class, they all seem to really respect and like each other which I think is kind of rare for 3rd graders.

Since there's no fun in dressing up with nowhere to go, as soon as Daddy came home we loaded up and went to eat at Cafe Rio. YUM! I was quite festive with my green salad (really, it's the ONLY thing I order there) and Mark with his burrito smothered in green sauce. :) The boys loved their free kids quesadillas and we loved that we were on our 10th punch on our card so we got one meal for FREE! Then, as luck would have it, Daddy went the wrong way in the parking lot and we got all turned around and somehow ended up in the McDonald's parking lot which called out for us to get ice cream cones for our FHE treat. I probably gained 5 pounds tonight! GRRRrr. We came home, had a lesson from Daddy about families and the importance of staying together, took pictures and went to bed....well they all went to bed. I'm still up and blogging as you can tell. Anyway, we had a fun day wearing green. I really should study up on this holiday, but all I know is that it has something to do with a guy named St. Patrick and perhaps something about driving out snakes?? I'm not sure how that has anything to do with the color green, leperchauns, pots of gold or four leaf clovers...but hey, at least none of us got pinched today!

This is the first picture we took at home. Daddy had just told them a dumb joke that they thought was HILARIOUS!

Weekend update...

Okay, so I'm WAY behind and since I'm planning on printing this out at the end of the year to keep as a journal I feel the need to catch up quick. Be prepared for lots of misc. stuff in no particular order at all.... :)

I'll start with our day last Friday. Mark usually gets home from work a little early on Fridays so we like to use these days to go places if we can. This is the day we planned to take the boys to the mall to pick out their ornament for 2007, have lunch and go see the Festival of the Trees. We met Mark at the mall at about 2:30 and headed to Mervyn's first as sometimes the Hallmark ornaments go on sale there so we thought we'd check...no sale and hardly any selection so off to the real Hallmark we go... after what seemed like FOREVER the boys finally made their choice...changing their minds a trillion times along the way (and with a little parental intervention) they ended up with some pretty cute ones, I think ....after telling us all day that he wanted to find a Spiderman ornament, Sam gets there and decides he wants a plain old snowman, WHAT??!!! We talked him out of that one because we knew once we got home he'd wish he had chosen the Spiderman after all...and he was SO happy with it when we got it home. Poor Joshua kept getting talked out of every one of his choices because they really made absolutely no sense...I mean, the whole REASON we pick HALLMARK to get their ornaments is because with their selection they can usually find something that fits them perfectly or goes along with something they've done or experienced throughout the year and that is what we explain to the boys before we even go into the store...yet without fail, Joshua's first pick is always something that leaves Mark and I dazed and confused and trying as hard as we can to change his mind. He wanted anything that did something cool, like light up or talk...he wanted a juke box that played music for a whopping $28!! Sorry, kid! We love you to bits but there's just NO WAY you're getting a $28 ornament! He wanted a weird hot wheels car that had flourescent PINK on top, and he wanted a Soccer ball that's about to score a goal....which would be fine, if he had or EVER has played SOCCER! He finally got his heart set on a basketball with a pair of shoes beside it that plays the sounds of a crowd cheering and that one was perfect, everyone agreed (Joshua is about to start Junior Jazz and Mark is going to be his coach... they are both so excited). Poor kids. I hope they remember how much fun we had when we got to go and pick ornaments and not that their parents wouldn't let them get what they really wanted. :) Mark and I realized that when the kids move out and take their ornaments we are going to be left with NOTHING, so we entertained the thought of picking one for us, but the one we really liked was $24 bucks and we just couldn't justify it. Lucky for us when we checked out the lady said "oh, if you buy 2 or more ornaments you get this little snowman ornament for free" YAY for us, our tree won't be completely bare afterall! :) So this is what everyone ended up with...

Joshua's Basketball and shoes:
Samuel's BLACK Spiderman (he was the black Spiderman for Halloween so this really was perfect for him:

Gabriel's Mickey Mouse (LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse beyond MEASURE)And little Will's "baby's first Christmas" ornament
This is the little snowman we ended up with:
Having just watched "A Christmas Story" with the boys we also really loved these: (I love their names!)

a Major Award: Ralphie Saves Christmas:

After we left the mall we headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. YUMMMMM! It was really really yummy, I'd forgotten how good their Chicken strips and fries were, it was a fun treat! After lunch we went to the Festival of the Trees. This is a really neat event that showcases incredibly beautiful trees that are donated and sold for THOUSANDS of dollars and all the money earned goes to Primary Childrens Medical Center. There were some really amazing trees. One of them even had a HUGE flatscreen HDTV that came with it, there were some that included a dinette set and chairs, one with a beautiful bed, and a star wars one that was INCREDIBLE, it had every figurine imaginable attached to the tree and then another HUGE pile of unopened figures that were included. One of my favorites was the giraffe tree, it looked like a giraffe had fallen into the tree with his head on top and his arms and legs sticking out of the front. It was really cute. Another one of my favorites wasn't a tree at all, but a "candy factory" that was DARLING! They also had some pretty incredible play houses for outside complete with carpeting, lofts, electricity and siding! How fun would that be!!! Here are a few of our favorites: (I know they all look like the same but I thought I'd share them anyway).

The Candy Factory:

This is what Will and Gabe did most of the time we were there:

One of the highlights of the day was when the boys got to stand in a GIANT BUBBLE! It was just a kiddie pool filled with bubble solution and a hoola-hoop attached to rope, who would have thought that could be so cool!! The kids really loved it and Gabe even tried it which surprised me because we woke him up from a DEEP SLEEP to ask him if he wanted to do it so he went from dreamland to bubble-ville in about 30 seconds. Right at the end he slipped into the bubble solution and got his feet drenched, the video only shows the first second of this, he was so cute about it though and didn't mind at all that he got soaked, he just laughed it off like it was no big deal at all. Whew.


As we left the festival there was a HUGE line just to get tickets so we were SO GLAD we had gotten there early. We got home about 8-ish and the boys got to go downstairs to watch the Jazz game with Mark, then they got to sleep downstairs so it was pretty much a perfect day from start to finish for the little guys. I hope they'll cherish the memories of this fun day forever, I know that Mark and I will.

NOPE, I'm not done yet....

So on Saturday we awoke to a BEAUTIFUL BLANKET OF WHITE SNOW! I am not a snow lover...though I'm not actually a snow hater either...unless it's grey or yellow snow, that kind of snow I definitely hate...but this snow was absolutely perfect! We had nothing planned except for staying around the house and getting things done-ish stuff so it was fun just to stay inside with the fire going and watch it snow ALL DAY LONG! It really didn't stop. Joshua's little snow measuring stick measured the snow at 7 inches deep and it kept snowing for at least another 2-3 hours after that! Mark went to pick us up some lunch (grocery shopping actually WAS on my list for Saturday but it didn't get done so we had slim pickin's for lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday) and took a video of the snow falling. He didn't necessarily want me to put it on the blog since he is "narrating" it, but I love that he is narrating it and I'm the administrater of the blog so on the blog it goes! :)

I think that is enough for one night. I've still got to post about Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but those will have to wait for another day. Aren't you excited?! :)

I could watch this all day! :)

Okay, it took forever to upload these last two videos for some reason or I would have added them to the previous post. I know they are all basically the same thing, but all three of them crack me up for different reasons so I thought I'd share them all. :) Man, I love this kid! :)

Are you ready for THIS?

We got our Christmas decorations out this weekend and Gabe has been glued to this Santa ever since. I've heard this song so many times I'm beginning to hear it in my sleep. Isn't he the cutest stinkin' thing you've ever seen? It appears he's got more than just looks in common with Aunt Sharla, he can MOVE like her too!

Wake up MOM!

(Joshua whispering) um...mom...wake up, Mom...Wake Up...LOUD WHISPER...MOM, Are you awake??

Me: I am now...what is it?


Josh: Um, remember how this is the last day of school for the week, um, my teacher told me yesterday that I had to turn in my Indian project...you know, the one that was due yesterday...my teacher said I HAD to turn it in today or I wouldn't get any points so I need to turn it in today... okay?(speaking as if it's totally done and just needs to be put in his backpack)


Me: UH...Joshua...WHAT INDIAN PROJECT???? What are you talking about? Do you HAVE it done? Have you been working on it? I'm totally lost!


Josh: REMEMBER?? That yellow paper that said we had to do an indian project and that it was due on the 21st? REMEMBER??


Me: dumfounded stare....


Josh: Er...so I thought maybe we could work on it before school and we can get it all done and then I'll turn it in and it will be okay because then my teacher will give me the points.


Me: Joshua...it is 7:30 in the morning. Your bus comes in a 1/2 hour, how ON EARTH are we going to create an indian project by 8 o'clock?


Josh: We could just work on it really quick, I'll run and get dressed and you can get out the stuff and we'll be really fast! (my eternal optimist)


AARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!! NOT the best way to wake up I tell you! BUT, AMAZINGLY ENOUGH....we DID get it done and it looked pretty cute I must say, Joshua had some great ideas and loves every kind of craft so it was right up his alley and he had a ball!


This was just the BEGINNING of my horrible no good day on Wednesday...(if you don't like really REALLY long and wordy drawn out stories of a rotten day then please stop reading now and try again tomorrow when the tone might be a teensy bit happier)


Still here? Okay...here goes:

I took the boys to school (they missed the bus on account of the indian project) and got home and thought to myself, WOW - a WHOLE day home, I can get everything in order and make sure I'm ready for tomorrow. YAY ME! Then I remember to call the toy store because while I was there yesterday looking for a very popular item that my 8 year old wants for Christmas I was told they were out of stock and to call every morning because they get new shipments in every night. So I call and WOW, they have 26 in stock but hurry up because they go really fast. Okay, so I'll run to the toy store, pick up the toy, come back and still have the rest of my day to clean up and get ready for tomorrow. THEN I remember that Sam has early day because it is the last day of school for the week and I don't have time to make it there and back SO I wait...which ends up being fine because by the time I get myself, Gabe and Will ready it is almost time for Sam to come home. He gets home and I call the store AGAIN just to make sure I'm not too late - nope, not too late, still tons left so we head out (after SLAMMING my two middle fingers in the door of the car...YEEEOOUUCCHH) We make it to the toy store and I happily walk up to customer service and ask them nicely where I would find said toy..."um, we don't have any of those in stock" is what I am told. Wait a minute! I called literally 15 MINUTES AGO and was told you had 26! "Oh, yeah that...SORRY about that, but that number you called is actually our call center and they have access to our store inventory and also what the inventory on our trucks are so they must be on one of the trucks that has been delayed. We should have the truck by Friday - Sorry!" So I say "but the lady I talked to on the phone SAID "Thank you for calling the Murray Toys R US, how can I help you?"..." to which the cust. serv. girl replies "oh yeah, they do that, they'll even say things like "let me check the floor for you" but they CAN'T check the floor because they are in a completely different state!" Oh...isn't that nifty. So I say "Okay, well can you call another store for me?" and she says she will and we head to the phones. After waiting for AT LEAST 1/2 hour for her to call two stores she says "okay, the store in Sugar House says they have ONE left, I've asked her to hold it for you but she can't because we can't hold anything for people until after Christmas so I asked her to hide it and she said she will and her name is....oh shoot, I didn't get her name, but she hid it for you. " ....I am just kind of staring at her right now, not saying anything yet because I'm trying to figure out how to nicely say "HOW ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO GO AND FIND SOMETHING THAT IS HIDDEN IN A TOY STORE WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHO HID IT???" before I can think of a polite way to put this she says "I should probably call her back and get her name so you know who to ask for, huh!" UH.....YOU THINK????? ARGH! So she quickly calls back and tells me I need to ask for Sandy. Ok. Sandy....got it, and we head out. About 1/2 way there I think to myself, I better call her and make sure she will be there when I get there, I can just imagine her going to lunch and me asking for Sandy and being told she'll be back in an hour. SO, I get the bright idea to call and make sure she knows I am almost there. I call 411 to get the number and call the store. "Thank you for calling SugarHouse Toys R Us, how can I help you?" Um...are you ACTUALLY the store or just a call center? "Er...we are a call center ma'am but I can assist you with anything you need!" Okay, can you get Sandy for me? She works in the store. "Ma'am, this is the call center, you'll have to call the store directly" Okay, you see..that is what I TRIED to do, I don't have the SECRET number for the ACTUAL STORE, can you give it to me or transfer me to the STORE? "yes, ma'am...hold please." .....Then I hear the SAME greeting again but this time it actually IS the store so I ask for Sandy. Sandy gets on the phone and I tell her I'm in the parking lot (this is how long it took to reach her) now and do I just ask for her to help me find the toy. She assures me that she has it and to find her in Customer Service. I unload the 3 boys and we head in. There are a few people in line in front of me so I patiently wait. Finally it is my turn and I get up to the counter where Sandy greets me by saying "um...let me guess, you are the person I just talked to on the phone?" Me (still happy at this point) "Yep, that's me!" Sandy: "I am SOOOOO SORRY, but as soon as I got off the phone with you, I turned my back to help a customer and my boss SOLD IT right from under my nose, I swear I had it here for you less than ONE MINUTE ago!!" Me.."Okay, what should I do from here....can I get a raincheck for it?" (I forgot to mention that today is the LAST day this toy is on sale...for TWENTY DOLLARS OFF I might add!) Sandy: "Well, if it says quantities are limited we can't do a raincheck but lets see if it says that in the book" We look, and it does NOT say quantities are limited so she says: "Oh, good, this should be okay, let me just check with my manager" and off she goes. She comes back and says "my manager won't let me do it, he says that we can't do a raincheck on anything that is in the toy book...I'm really sorry!" me: "Okay, do you think I could speak to him?" Sandy: "yes, if you think that would help, he's in the baby section." SO off we (the boys and I) go. We find him and I go up to him and politely say "I'm sorry, but Sandy just came and asked you if I could get a raincheck for a sale item and you said no and I just wanted to explain to you that I have been dealing with this ALL morning long and have been told conflicting things from two of your stores AND came ALL THE WAY out here because I was promised that I would find the LAST one only to find that it has been sold a mere seconds before my arrival. I have a suspicion that the reason all your computers are showing you have this item in stock but you actually don't is because the sale ends today and you are purposely not putting them out until Friday when you can sell them at full price (admittedly, not the best thing to say to the guy but I REALLY DID think that is what they were doing!) All I'm asking for is a raincheck so that I can come this weekend when I KNOW you will have them available and get them at the sale price - why isn't that possible?" The Manager tells me that he is sorry but he just can't give me a raincheck for anything in the toy book for the sale that ends today and then totally looks away from me and continues to stock a shelf. - UH, HELLO! ARGH! - So I say "so, what are my options...is there ANYTHING I can do?" Manager: "No, I don't think so, I'm really sorry" so I start to walk away and with every step I'm getting angrier so I turn back around with tears brimming in my eyes (yes, this is a toy I'm talking about...I'm actually almost CRYING about a STUPID TOY - I should have known at this point to just give up on my day and go home and crawl back into my bed...) Anyway, with tears welling up I look at the guy and say "you know what...I really DON'T THINK you ARE sorry, I mean WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL about just writing a raincheck for something that doesn't say limited stock and that I can come back and get in ONE DAY?" ....to which the Manager replies..."Ma'am, I'm just afraid that I'll write you a raincheck and you won't be able to get the item" (oh YEAH RIGHT) so I say "I don't think that is possible when ALL of your stores say they have 25 in stock RIGHT NOW, which means that there are trucks CARRYING this item that will arrive probably tonight if they aren't in the back already and besides, what is the harm in just writing a raincheck just IN CASE?! I mean, if I don't get one I don't get one but at least if I see one I can have the chance to actually get it at the sale price and I JUST DON'T SEE why as a MANAGER you can't make the executive decision to do that for me!" (looking back, I think that was the phrase that finally got him, I think it made him feel very important - like he really could make executive decisions or something...DUH!) ANYWAY, with a HUGE SIGH (seriously, like he was about to sign over his first born child to me), he looks at me and says "okay, let's do it" ... AAARRRGGHH!! BUT, PHEW! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! SO, he takes me back to Sandy who is very happy for me and glad (and a little surprised it seems) that I got through to him and writes out the raincheck and we are able to FINALLY leave with BARELY enough time to get home before Joshua gets off the bus. Thankfully about 1/2 way home my friend Tricia calls to ask if it is okay if she gives Joshua a ride home because she is there to pick up Cydney and Joshua wants to go with them. I explain that I'm not home yet, but is it okay if I pick him up from your house? Absolutely! she says and we decide to let them play for awhile which gives me time to run to the store to pick up a prescription and a few other items. We get to the store and the pharmacy is closed for another 15 minutes (just keeping with the same lucky theme!) so I go to get my items only to find that they are COMPLETELY out of frozen strawberries. I get everything else on my list and go back to the pharmacy. They don't have it ready, they don't even have record that it has been called in but it is "probably on the managers messages and he's trying really hard to get them all cleared off so if you'd like to finish your shopping and come back..." Well, the manager doesn't look NEAR ready to finish clearing messages and I am ALREADY finished with my shopping so I bag it...it's just vitamins anyway, I can get those later - so we FINALLY head home. I'm in charge of the Turkey for Thanksgiving and I've been anxious to try a new recipe from a friend in my ward that raves about how tender and juicy the Turkey turns out so I stop by her home for a copy of the recipe and the roasting bag she is donating to me (since I didn't know I needed one). I get home and start preparing things and realize I don't have ANY Chicken stock and the recipe calls for at least two cans. I can tell at this point that loading my kids back into the car to go BACK to the store is JUST NOT an option because I'm quite certain they'd hang me by my eyebrows just for mentioning the idea so I call my friend again to ask her if BY CHANCE she happens to have any leftover that I could borrow until Friday. She does and ACTUALLY BRINGS IT TO MY HOUSE! (Okay, so there WERE bright parts of the day) THANK YOU THANK YOU! So, I get my Turkey in the bag, and put it in my biggest casserole dish because I also forgot a roasting pan and figured it would be fine in this. My baby has been asleep since we got home allowing me to get the Turkey in AND the bulk of the house cleaned up (another bright spot) and I'm feeling pretty positive at this point that things are looking up. Right as I am thinking this I begin to hear a hissing sound...getting louder and louder...I creep to the oven and look inside to find the juices are spilling over the top of the casserole dish onto the bottom of the oven and into the gas flames below (because putting something underneath the dish to catch the drippings would have been MUCH TOO EASY!) So I RUN downstairs to Mark (who is studying) and tell him to hurry up and come upstairs and tell me what I should do because now smoke is beginning to come out. Mark comes to my rescue and we get back to the oven, he opens it and quickly closes it again and says "MEL! That is SO DANGEROUS, this could start a grease fire!" and WHHOOOOSH! He was right, all of a sudden there was an actual FIRE IN MY OVEN!!! AAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKK! I quickly turn off the gas, which puts out the fire and Mark and I just kind of stare at the stove while the kitchen quickly fills with gray smoke. We check on the Turkey and suprisingly it looks just fine so we decide to move it to the downstairs oven and put the one upstairs on self clean to get rid of all the mess. Um. BAD IDEA. REALLY REALLY BAD IDEA! About 20 minutes later the 3 boys run frantically down the stairs (where I'm talking to Mark a minute before returning upstairs) to tell us that the whole house is filling up with smoke so we all RUN back up to find the ENTIRE UPSTAIRS in a thick thick fog of gray smoke and a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SMELL! ARGH!! So we go to the oven and it appears that the worst is over because there is no longer any smoke near the oven itself so we decide to leave it on self clean and open all the doors and windows to air the house out. It takes about 1 minute for the heat to air out with the smoke and soon our house is FREEZING! Our thermometer said it was 46 degrees INSIDE by the time we were finally able to close the doors and turn up the heat again. PHEW! SO, after that fun adventure I move on to make the Strawberry Pretzel Salad that I have been craving for MONTHS and have been SO excited for this excuse to finally make it. I start by making the crust, but wait...it needs to bake and BOTH of my ovens are unavailable so I have to wait until the Turkey is done (thankfully only about 30 minutes) to bake the crust. I finally get it baked and cooling (oh, and I decide to PICK UP the burning dish with my fingers to move it from the stove to the table, thus burning two fingers on my right hand so now I've crushed two fingers on my left hand and burned two on the other hand) and start working on the first layer only to find that I am short a container of cool whip. I thought it only called for one, but alas, it calls for two (I'm not surprised at all, at this point I have accepted my lot for the day and am just rolling with it) so I call down to Mark to let him know I'll be back and I'm running to the store. THANKFULLY, I am able to make it to the store and back, finish the dish, wake up my baby to eat (who has STILL been sleeping this ENTIRE TIME) and make it to bed by 11pm (which is a pretty reasonable hour for me) with no further catastrophe's. HALLELUIJAH! SO MUCH FOR MY EASY GOING, JUST STAY HOME and casually get things ready for the big day DAY. WHEW!!! Oh well, some days are just like this I suppose. I will post about Thanksgiving later because it was really fun but my fingers are about to fall off and I'm sure (if you've stuck with me) that you're about to fall asleep from boredom so I'm going to end this post finally. HOORAY!