Legoland's Holly Jolly Block Party

A few months ago we made plans with my folks and Wen and the kids to go to Legoland Dec 22nd. The kids would be out of school, and it would be early enough in the week we'd have time to go, plus it would be the beginning of the "Holly Jolly Block Party" at Legoland.

Legoland has become a very special place for our boys. They had never been until last year, when Mike took each of them alone for some Daddy & Son time for their birthdays. It was like they had gone to the North Pole. After much begging for return trips I found an amazing deal for annual passes for the kids on Ebay so now they and Mike are annual passholders. Legoland is really cool because they send out coupons for "bring a friend" days for the annual passholders. Sometimes it's for free, sometimes we have to pay a small amount, like $15 to get me in. During Nov & Dec Legoland gave our family 4 free "bring a friend for free" tickets. We could only use 3 of them (only 3 of us had annual passes) so we decided that we'd get me, and my folks in, leaving poor Wen and her kiddos to use their own coupon & free ticket. (Sorry Wen!)

We've been having such cold weather (for So. Calif, 40 degree nights and 50 degree days are cold!) that it didn't surprise us when the 22nd was slated for rain. Lots of rain. Soo, we changed the date, and went on the 23rd. Yes, the day before Christmas Eve. Sounds like madness, I know.

Despite the fact that I left the coupons at home (but I remembered about a mile from home) we all had a great time. My folks and Wen's family had never been before, so we gave them the grand tour, went on a few rides, saw the Lost Temple show, and spent some time seeing the Miniland USA area. That, hands down, is my favorite part. I do have to give Legoland credit for giving the kids a play area while the grownups stand in line for rides. (Mr W is happily building while Mike waits for a "Egypt ride". )

At one point we took the Legoland tour and Mike was able to get us all "Legoland HolidayBlock Party 2008" bricks for free. Love the free stuff and the man that can get it!

As the day progressed it would suddenly get really cold, then warm up again. We ate our packed in lunch (much to Mr. W's annoyance) and were ready to try driving at the volvo kids driving ride. It's like Autopia, but without the rail to keep you on the track. Our boys looooove it. My folks and Wen had decided it was time to go about 4pm, so we were going to walk them to the main gift shop then go use the last hour to see how much we could get the kids on. As we were walking it began to sprinkle. Then rain. Then it really opened up! Everyone in the area all ran to the gift shop we'd been headed to. It was like Heavenly Father had given us the gift of being together for the day, and had held off the rain until we were almost to the gift shop and ready to go. So we quickly ducked into the shop, got a grab bag of legos gifted to us plus a couple of little sets (Thank you!!) and hugged the family goodbye. After they left we debated on if the rain was going to let up or if we should just go. There was a pretty bell choir singing and ringing bells nearby so we enjoyed the music and left. All in all, a really nice day.

Legoland - Holiday Pictures

Okay, I'm going to put a bunch of the Legoland Christmas pictures on this post so if you want to see them, you can, but if you don't then feel free to ignore them!


A few you have to see the big picture to enjoy the little one. Like the one that says "New Video game" with Santa. Then you see the line, the last photo shows the person at the end of the line with the very red face. All of the photos you can click on to see larger.

with love to all my little lego friends out there....

Christmas Morning 2008

"MOM! SANTA WAS HERE!"
"HE LEFT US A NOTE!"
"HE SAID THANK YOU FOR THE COOKIES YOU MADE!"
"HE LIKED THE CHRISTMAS MILK"
"HE SAID WE WERE GOOD THIS YEAR!"
"can we go see Mom? Please? We won't wake up Daddy...."
Me: "huuh? Kids, Dad is just as awake as I am now. Come show me the note...." (Stalling to stay in the warm bed for a few more moments....)

Why as parents do we put our kids to bed as soon as we can on Christmas Eve and then stay up so late ourselves? Oh, because we love our kids. That's right.

We woke to a wonderful rainy morning, with the yule log already burning on tv, and the boys ready to be angelic while Mom stumbled around looking for a hairbrush and her camera. The boys "snuggled up" their Daddy while I got ready for the Kodak moments. Then they all came in and the paper tearing commenced. It was just a lovely morning. They were so excited. I think it was all over in about 30 minutes. Less time than it took to drive to Toys R us and back. But they were happy and we now have enough Legos to protect our property from barefoot bandits. (WHY can't they make Legos that don't bring you to your knees when you step on them barefoot? Not that my children ever forget to put them away....ha ha)

I tried making Monkey bread for the family for breakfast, but I called them "Cinnamon Roll Balls" to make Mr. W try them. The house was so cold it took about 2 hours for them to rise, but they are a new favorite! Thanks Wen for sharing the recipe! It was sooo easy.

What is the recipe? Grab a package of Bridgeford frozen bread loaves. It comes with 3 loaves on a yellow foam tray. They sell them at Albertsons. Defrost bread overnight in your fridge. Once defrosted, melt a stick of butter in a small dish and mix up some cinnamon and granulated sugar. Make up a little more than you think you'll need because I had to re-mix and re-melt butter as I ran out. Tear small balls of dough out of loaves, roll into balls, and dip in melted butter then roll in cin-sugar mixture. Put a little of cin-sugar in bottom of bundt pan sprayed with pam, then drop the balls into the pan, going for even height around the pan. Place in warm spot, cover with clean fabric towel, let rise 30 min-2 hours depending on how it rises. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 or so min, you'll be able to tell when they're done. I baked for about 20 min, then since some of my bread was baking out of the pan I pulled those off, and put the rest back in the oven. Some came out doughy, some done completely, all delicious. To please my Mr. W I microwaved a container of vanilla frosting and drizzled it over the masterpiece. Ah, heaven, all for about 3 or 4 bucks. This was soooo much cheaper than buying the pop cans of cinnamon rolls and much easier than making the rolls from scratch!

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas eve was finally here so we packed up the kids and drove to my folks place to celebrate. We were joined by Wen & Rob, Rob's Mom, and needless to say there were 4 very excited cousins. After dinner my Mom has the kids go looking for their gifts, and after checking under beds and in closets they found to their shrieking delight, their gifts on my folk's bed hidden under some pillows and a blanket. They quickly grabbed their gifts and ran to the tree. My boys received books and Legos, Cakes got a doll and some magnetic version of paper dolls but the clothes and dolls are made of wood. Ozzie got Legos like his older cousins and sweetly had Mr. W. building for him before the night was out. (And while we are talking about Oz, may I mention his excellent headwear? He looked so cute!!) It is so fun watching the kids open their gifts. They get sooo excited. It's hard to get them to slow down so we can watch. But it seems that kids are always in a hurry to move on to the next thing, bless them. It was a really nice night, and we raced home so we could get ready for Santa!

After the boys were tucked in bed Mike and I went to the living room to wrap a few gifts and lo and behold - we heard Santa on the roof! We've been lucky to hear him up there for the last few years. He made quite a lot of noise while he was up there, and we could even hear his jingle bells on his sleigh! I ran into the kids room when they started yelling that they could hear Santa! We listened for a few minutes and then Mike came in, all concerned about all the noise he'd heard. I explained that it hadn't been the boys making all that noise, and that it must have been Santa checking to see if the boys were asleep! They quickly pulled the covers over their heads and tried as hard as they could to will themselves to sleep. A few minutes later we heard Santa leaving with his reindeer. It was such a magical night! And I was relieved that Santa didn't fall off the rainy roof!

When Santa eventually did come, he left each of the boys a thank you note folded up in their beds - maybe it had been in their hands when he left them but they'd moved during the night? Santa thanked them for the cookies and "Christmas Milk" (eggnog) and encouraged them to keep up the good work. That is what the boys woke to tell us early the next morning.

What do you get asked to bring?

I was thinking about Christmas, and family meals, and how we usually volunteer to bring something. I was asked to bring Spiced Peach Jello mostly because I am Jello-girl in our family. (I'm not complaining, it's just who I've become. Mike loves jell-o, so I make it.) I wanted to share the recipe here in case anyone wants to try it out. We've been making this recipe for so long the recipe card that I am transcribing I copied down when I was 15 years old, on February 15th 1985.

Spiced Peach Jello

2-4 cans (depending on size of cans) to equal about 2 lbs of sliced cling peaches
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar (yes, we're going to add sugar to jell-o)
14 whole cloves (if you only use the ones with the ball at the top still attached or only the ones that don't have it then you won't have to wonder if you lost a spice ball or not. Either they'll all be there or they won't.)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 large box of orange or peach or orange pineapple jello
1 1/2 cup cold water

Drain peaches, measuring 1 1/2 cups syrup, chop peaches coarsly. Bring syrup, vinegar, sugar, and spices slowly to a boil. Add peaches, simmer 10 minutes. At this point I pour the contents into my colander with a large measuring cup underneath the colander or I have the colander sitting in a large bowl with a 1 cup or larger measuring cup under the colandar so I can measure the syrup as it drains out. The peaches will be left in the colander with the cloves. Strain syrup and discard cloves. (yes, you dig thru the peaches with a fork and count very carefully to make sure you get all the cloves out. You don't want a guest to bite down on a clove!) Hopefully you now have 2 cups of hot syrup. If you don't have enough, add boiling water to bring it to 2 cups. Dissolve Jello gelatin in hot syrup. Add cold water and peaches, chill until slightly thickend, then pour into mold. (Or put it straight into a bowl and be done with it.) Chill until firm.

For a while I got lazy about making this and rather than stewing the peaches in the syrup I would just toss them in at the end. My sister prefers this method because she feels the peaches get too soft in the cooked method. But everyone ate them so I don't know what to say. Maybe next time she'll get her way. *grin*

Thanks Mom for letting me into your recipe file all those years ago! I love you!

Happy Boxing Day

I came online to write about our Christmas and went to Amazon first. Then I was reading about Boxing day when I saw an ad for this. The comments/reviews are soooo funny. I love all the people that have so much time to kill that they can goof on Amazon....just wanted to share.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZING44

Sorry, I'll work on getting a bit about Christmas next....

The Nutcracker - A Success story

Last Saturday, Dec 20th, we went to see the Nutcracker with my folks and my sister and her kiddos. I wish I could prove to you that they went, but you'll have to trust me. While we were there we saw some friends in the audience getting ready to go into the theater and we even saw a dear little Primary friend in the program.

It was a special night because I went to see this particular showing of the Nutcracker as a teenager and fell in love with the special effects and dazzling abilities of the ballet company. I always pictured taking my children to see it, but Mr. W had no patience for any such nonsense as a show with no words and a bunch of people dancing. Finally, a few years ago I decided to bite the bullet and we began taking them to the show at the local community college. It was much cheaper than this theater, and the audience was much less concerned with a little noise made by one kid with autism. That first year was sooo hard. It took a lot of M&M's and offers to earn something fun at home if he could just sit still for 5 more min.

As time passed Mr. W got more and more accustomed to attending and better at being behaved at the performances so that we were able to invite Mike's daughter and his folks to go with us last year. That was so fun! Mr. W now loves the show so I decided this was the year. We bought tickets on the first day possible in October or November and it was a really great experience. I'm not going to say he was perfect. At one point near the end the adult dancers (much less fun for a kid to watch) came out again to dance for Clara and Mr W loudly said "OH NO! Not them again!" (I was feeling a bit the same way - this show is longer than the one at the local college.) but overall he did great. Not perfect, but he did great. I am so pleased with both of our boys for allowing me to share something I love with them. After wards we enjoyed a ritzy dinner of In-N-Out chesseburgers and fries with my folks and Wen & Rob & kiddos. Only the best for our family!

*Speaking of the best, may I point out that both of my boys are wearing Dollar Tree matching Santa ties? I yanked the music boxes out of the ties so as to not interrupt church or the ballet, but I love them! Mike has one too! I love dollar stuff!!!!!

What could be cooler than a luggage conveyor belt?

If you are an 8 year old Squish on his first trip to the Airport where he got to go partly inside, the answer is "seeing my Grandparents!" But the luggage conveyor belt is pretty amazing.

Think about growing up. You went to the airport to pick people up. Probably a parent on occasion. Ever since 9/11 you can't go in an airport unless you are flying. Well, you can't go into LAX at least. It was a big disappointment, but we did get to see the luggage conveyor belt spew forth luggage and watch it go around. This amazed both boys and when I teasingly asked Squish "want to ride around once?" I almost had to jump after him to "encourage" him that I was in fact, kidding. *grin*

It was great to see Mike's folks on their way to Hawaii. Grandma had made Grandpa a neck pillow so he could nap comfortably, and he willingly modeled it for us.

We spent an hour or 2 with them until their flight had to leave, but we can't wait to see them next week for New Year's Eve!

Living Like a Ninjabread Man!

It's no surprise that boys (and girls) like martial arts movies, but it cracked me up to hear my boys asking to watch one while they did the gingerbread house. It reminded me of a video game that I've never seen played called "Ninja Bread Man" (like Gingerbread...ninjabread....) Anyway.... This year instead of doing the graham cracker houses (which are always a rectangle unless you are Mike or Dave J and you whip out your Dremel hand tool and make balconies and other such things out of your graham cracker house.) we bought a kit at Sam's Club and actually were able to SHARE 1 house instead of having to make 2 full houses with decorated yards. We followed the directions to decorate, then assemble and oddly enough, the company knew what it was talking about and the results were much better! *grin* Strangely, I don't seem to have a photo of the completed house, but since we left after assembling it and went to look at Christmas lights I think I must have been distracted. But you get the idea.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Here comes Santa Claus

We saw Santa at our ward Christmas party in an attempt to save the usual $$ we spend to go see Santa at Knotts Berry Farm. Needless to say, the results were less than ideal. Someone else shot a few and I'm hoping those turn out better, but for now, here's our boys with Santa.

We sure do hope he comes to our house tomorrow! (And that he's good to you too!)

Stake Christmas Program

Last week on the 14th Mike participated in our local Stake's Christmas program. He sang with 4 different groups and did barber shop quartet music, as well as a duet "When the Son of God Was Born" and sang with a group of primary children dressed as adorable angels. There were many people we knew in the program and it was heartwarming to see so many faces that we have missed since the reorganization of the stake. Many thanks to all of those that made the night a huge success!

One more reason why I love California

I've been wanting to go look at Christmas lights so Mike got us in the car on this Sunday evening and we went for a drive. We ended up in the Long Beach Belmont Shore area, and were delighted with the lighted trees on the water. They are so beautiful. We drove around and found a empty section of beach and got out and stuck our toes in the oh-so-cold sand. Squish showed off that he could still make a "sand-ball" even if there was no snow, and we really enjoyed driving around and enjoying the sights. We drove around the Naples area, but since Mr. W was in his robe and I in my flip flops and no coat we thought it wasn't really the night to go for a walk in the low 40 degree night. BRRR. Thank goodness for heaters in cars!

With money being what it is, we've been doing more "free" things - which if you know me, is hard to do because I'm already all about "the free." But it's been great focusing more on us rather than "the stuff". While I can look back on the month and think of a few things I would really have liked to have done, or gifts I would have liked to have given, it's been a great month.

A Christmas Carol

Last night, on December 12th Mike got to go see his daughter in " A Christmas Carol" at a local theater. She played one of the members of the Cratchit family. He was sooooo excited to get to go, it was very last minute but he was thrilled to jump in the car and race out to see her perform. In one of my first posts I said I was going to call her "Belle" in this blog for "brown eyed love" and then accessorized a little. (She does have beautiful brown eyes!) So here is a photo of Mike with Belle! (Maybe I'll change her name to "Bella" because I think that does mean "beautiful"....hmmm.) Gee...maybe I should let her choose....She is pretty grown up! We are so glad to have her in our lives. The boys fight over her "No! She's my sister!" "No, she's mine!" Yeah, it's cute.

We believe!

Last week on December 2nd Mr. W went with his class to see Santa at a local store. This morning I found this squashed in his backpack.

We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas, I just wanted to share this picture and wish you all a very merry day!

I apologize in advance...

You have to love Cub Scouts.

For some reason my boys have never picked up on the idea that they can answer the phone. I think it's because you have to push "talk" to answer our cordless phones. I don't know. But today Squish and I were working on a Cub Scout requirement that was all about answering the phone, and what you would say if you were home alone.

First off, how many of us leave 8 year olds home alone?

Secondly, if you call us while Squish is learning, then I apologize in advance for whatever is said!

Those comments aside, this is how the discussion went:

Me: Okay. The phone rings, what do you say?
S: hello?
Me: Good. Now what if (trying to think of some scenario where I would leave him home by himself....) I said that I was going to be down the street talking to someone and that you should stay home by yourself, and the phone rings. The person asks "Is your Mom home?" What do you say?
S: I tell them "None of your beeswax" and hang up quick.
Me:"No, honey, that would be rude. You say "May I ask who is calling?"
S: "and then hang up quick?"
Me: "No, you find out who it is, and you remember the name."
S: "I HAVE TO REMEMBER THE NAME?"
Me: "yes, and be nice." "Offer to take a message."
S: I say "May I take a message? and hang up quick."
Me: "No, you offer to take a message and then you write down what they say."
S: "I have to write it down?"
Me: "Yes, and ask them to spell any hard words."
S: "How about if I just hand you the phone?"
Me: "Yes, perfect, but if I'm not home, that's what you do."
S: "And then I hang up quick."

I tried to teach him to be polite in asking "May I ask who is calling?" before just answering questions and to not give out his name if he didn't know who it was that was calling. We were practicing answering the "who is this?" question from an unknown caller...

Me: ring!
S: Hello?
Me: "Hi! Who's this?"
S: "I'm sorry, may I ask who's calling?" (good boy!)
Me: "Um, It's Ted!"
S: "Ted who?"
Me: "Ted Jones, I work with your dad." (We don't know a Ted Jones)
S: "Uh, I don't know who you are so you're going to have to talk to my Mom."

It was said with so much skepticism in his voice, like - "riiiight, your name is Ted Jones! Mr. Bad Guy!" I can't wait until he says that to someone."Um, *insert the name of a family member or dear friend* I don't know who you are, but you're going to have to talk to my Mom or Dad." Which is probably why they were calling in the first place. *grin*

A little Disney Christmas Magic

Last night we made our annual family trip to the happiest place on earth. Wen's mom-in-law is sweet and signs in our folks and we take the kids to Pizza Planet for dinner, then go on Small World - Christmas style and the Haunted Mansion - All dressed up for "Nightmare Before Christmas" and the Pirate ride. It may sound silly, but it's one of those traditions that we really look forward to and book months in advance so we can all go together.

My favorite parts last night? In line for the Haunted Mansion, the lines were incredibly long. My boys were worried about going on the ride, as I was at their ages. It was about 9ish at night, and it was really dark. The line wound back and forth curving on itself. At one point Wen jumped out at Squish, yelled "boo" and kind of grabbed his arm as he walked past her. He almost went to his knees. It's not that I'm a mean Mom, it's just that he really likes to try to scare people all the time so it was kind of a poetic justice moment for me.

Another highlight was riding Small World next to Wen. I was videotaping and she was...a little hyper (as we all were.) We had a great time being silly and I am really hoping that our comments are not preserved on the video I made while we rode. *grin* Disneyland just re-opened Small World. I wasn't sure how it would be different. Overall it's the same, but the children in the ride got new yarn hair and the boat's seats, while still bench style, now are plastic and have a grab bar in the head rest of the seat in front of you for all the waterfall drops and rapids section. (Just Kidding!)

I loved watching my nephew hold either of my boys hand's as they walked. It was cute seeing my niece say that she didn't like boys and didn't want to be in a picture with any boys. (Then to hear Squish ask her - "well, why are you related to boys if you don't like boys?") She just looked at him. Yes, 2nd grade logic cannot be argued with.

I wish we lived closer to more family, but I am grateful that we are close to some, and that we can do things like this together. Merry Christmas!