Fun at the Movies

We just came back from "Bedtime Stories." We thought it started at 12:45, but it actually started at 1:30. We had fun just hanging out at the mall and then to the movie. Allie started out saying, "Where is the Bedtime Stories?" I thought we were going to be in for the long haul, but she settled in and we all had a great time at the movies. Chris didn't even fall asleep!! I think our next adventure will be sledding on Monday.

Christmas at the Hislops

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as did we! It was such a fun Christmas. Our children were at the perfect ages too. (We thought that anyway!) Here are some highlights of our Christmas:

• Christmas Eve with Chris's parents.
  
• Crab legs, shrimp, and New York steaks for Christmas Eve dinner--Chick's new tradition.
  
• Allie portraying Mary, Chris--Joseph, Maggie--the angel, Cooper--the shepherd with Spike the rottweiler as his sheep, and Sallie--the pimped up Wiseman.


• Christmas morning starting at 2:05 a.m. with Maggie waking up every 1/2 hour and Sallie persuading her to go back to bed. We finally gave in at 7:00.
  
• All of them exclaiming, "Santa came!!"


• Each of them getting, "Just what I wanted!!"


• Playing games together.


• Designing their Webkinz bedrooms.


• Trying to get Maggie's imitation Ipod to work correctly--note to self, a $12 mp3 player from Hong Kong is just that--an imitation ipod that you got from Hong Kong worth $12--and that included the shipping. I am still working on it.


• Cooper loves his tool workshop--he got every tool imaginable!


• Allie loves her Ariel tea cart. Starburst tea is awesome according to Chris.


• Chris got lots of sports clothing--including boots and gloves to shovel snow off the driveway--hint, hint!
  
• Sallie received an airplane ticket to go to Florida in February to see her nephew, Austin's, wedding. Thanks Chris!!


• Having Chris's mom and dad come over for a while Christmas morning. And then later Jill, Kurt, and AJ came.


• Going to my mom and dad's for Christmas dinner and hanging out with all of the cousins on the Davidson side.


• Cooper got to spend the night there with the Collier boy cousins. He thought he was in heaven!


• Having my little family is wonderful! I enjoy being a wife and mother. I love Christmas!

Pretty Princesses

We had Wakely and Drew over for a playdate. Allie and Drew wanted to dress up in princess dresses, but Wakely wanted to stay in her "new" shirt. They have been playing so cute today. Aren't cousins the bestest thing in the whole world?!

Picture Perfect

I just wanted to show everyone this year's pictures of our children. When I took Cooper on Monday to get his "5 yr old" picture taken, Allie was quite disappointed that she wasn't getting her picture taken. So this blog entry is mostly for Allie, so she knows that I had her "3 yr" picture taken in June on her birthday. (Their pictures are also hanging in our living room, so I don't know how else to convince her--she already has the "I'm the last child" syndrome.)

Cooper's 5!

Cooper had a great birthday. He started off with donuts, chocolate milk and orange juice for breakfast--his choice, pizza for lunch and then Red Robin for dinner. He had an all boy party, plus his sisters. We played "pin the web on Spiderman" and "pop Venom-the bad spiderman." It was great fun and Cooper loved it.

Baby it's cold outside!

It's snowing! It is so beautiful. There is a Christmas song (that Petula Clark sings) that I love with the phrase "...with the snow fluttering down; the world seems new." My kids are watching "Goonies." I am about to make gingerbread to make gingerbread houses--thanks to Teresa for a nice new gingerbread house pan. My Chrissy is out in the shopping world trying to get Christmas presents for me. I think we will go out later and make snowmen--instead we made snow angels. Life is great!

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can...

I just finished Cooper's 5th birthday cake. He wanted a spiderman and so we created one. He is quite excited for tomorrow! He is having 10 boy buddies over--no girls--except sisters.

Jingle Bells

Maggie had a piano recital last week, Dec. 2nd. She played a Jazzy version of Jingle Bells. She had it down, but when she had to play, she forgot where she was and kept repeating a line. (It was memorized.) I could tell she was getting frustrated. Hoping she wouldn't give up, she played through it and remembered where she was and finished. Chris and I were so proud of her as was her piano teacher, Ruth. Ruth is so awesome with her! Both sets of Grandparents came as did Aunt Linda and Uncle Don. She has a great support system. Maggie loves piano!!

What to do? What to do?

Cooper woke up last night just barking and hacking! I did everything I knew to do: vaporizer tent, vicks on chest and feet, robitussin, took him out in the cold night air. Well, with Chris in the Chicago area, I had decisions to make. I called my parents. My dad came over to give him a blessing and then make a juice run. He started to feel better and fell right asleep. I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up and watched a movie till 1:00. Dummy!! 2:15 a.m. came and and Cooper was barking so hard and was laboring to breathe. Call my mom and dad and mom came right over. I bundled him up and drove to the ER. The doctor and nurse both agreed that I did the right thing and that he was doing so poorly that he might have to be admitted. After some breathing treatments and x-rays, Cooper started to feel better. The doctor declared him ready to go home about 5:30 a.m. While in the hospital, I told Cooper that this was his early Birthday present (his birthday is on Friday, the 12th.) He cheerfully said, "Okay mommy. The doctor even gave me a present. This cool bracelet." What a sweet boy!

After we got home, we went directly to bed. Maggie woke up at 7:50 and said, "mom, you didn't wake me up." I told her about our night last night and she said, "poor Cooper!" Maggie then went and got dressed and got herself breakfast without being asked and said she was ready to go to school. Allie was cute too. She and Cooper are laying up in our bed hanging out.

Well, I should be sleeping, but I wanted to write it down.

The Hislop Family Tree

Well, we trekked to Park City and found the "Ah-Hah" Christmas tree, thanks to Brad and Jen!! We had so much fun doing it. We were able to get two trees on top of the van--yes we looked like the Griswalds. I love this new tradition--two years and counting. It is huge and beautiful and fills our living room. Love the smell too!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Cooper wanted desperately to get his own tree set up yesterday, so I finally dug his out from under the stairs. His ornaments were in another box and I told him he would have to wait until I got the boxes out. Well, being the creative kid he is, he problem solved. He decorated it his way, with no complaints. He called to Chris and me to see his tree. Cooper decorated his tree with his matchbox cars. Maggie topped it all off with a seashell as the star and added some Smurfs. Cute kids!

Washington D.C.

Thanks to Chris having a conference in Washington D.C., thanks to Chris's boss, John, for providing my airfare to D.C., thanks to Teresa & Lance Hislop for watching our children while we were gone, thanks to David for watching our dog, and thanks to my mom and dad for tucking the kids in Sunday night, we were able to have a MARVELOUS time in our nation's capitol. I wandered around during the day visiting: Natural History Museum, National Archives Museum, National Portrait Gallery, FBI building (couldn't get in though), Arlington Cemetary, and then Chris and I visited together the Washington Monument, the Capitol, American Indian Museum, Holocaust Museum, American History Museum (that opened the day we were there), Lincoln's Monument, Vietnam, WW II, WW I, Korean War Memorials, White House, and the Smithsonian Castle. We found a restaurant called Phillips that is an all you can eat seafood place by the wharf. Chris was in crab leg heaven--big copper pots of crab legs, whole crabs, crawfish, mussels, shrimp, etc. Great eatin!! We had so much fun together. We called it our early 10 year anniversary trip.

Jen and Brad made my blog

This is for Jen and Brad! I took their picture at the banquet and Jen said, "This picture should make your blog." Well indeed it did! You guys are great!!

Fun, Family, and Fancy dinners

This week has been the Hislop family festivities. Elynn came in from Kansas, so we had a Hislop dinner on Sunday and then to Javier's on Monday night and the culminating event was at the Energy Solutions Arena to have Chick inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. It was a great evening. Grandpa Chick invited Maggie to attend this special event--along with the other older cousins. Maggie got a little bored, but she did great at a fancy dinner/banquet--she came prepared with her Tinkerbell purse outfitted with pencils, paper and books. I was proud of my father-in-law to get this prestigious award. It was fun to be with family and friends.

Already fighting lines at Stores

Winegars, our local grocery store, had a 4-8 p.m. sale yesterday. They had great prices on a lot of things and for the 4 hours only. So, the kids and I meandered over there and were shocked at the parking lot--completely full. No baskets. I followed a little old lady out to her car to get a basket. No butter. We were there 10 minutes after the sale started. No eggs. Once again we were there 10 minutes after 4. Well, they substituted the eggs for a different brand, so I got some eggs. We got everything else we wanted, but the lines went from the register to the back of the store. Well, being resourceful, I went to the deli, and they checked me out. Pretty smart! The kids had tons of samples--including a chocolate fountain, got a balloon, saw an elf (it wasn't a real elf according to the kids, because she wasn't short enough and her ears weren't pointed) and got to sit on Santa's lap. Maggie wants a Hannah Montana singing barbie, Cooper wants a Monster truck, and Allie wants a dolly. Where did Thanksgiving go???

Reflection on REFLECTIONS

For those of you that are not familiar with Reflections, it is a PTA sponsored contest to show off your talents in the arts: photography, visual arts, musical composition, 3D, literature, dance, theater, and film. This year Maggie chose to enter 3 categories. I was also the one in charge of the whole shabang: advertising, organizing, getting judges, awards, etc. The award's night was Nov. 6th. Maggie won each category she entered: literature (poem below), photography (sunset), and visual arts (above picture that I couldn't rotate--called When Everything Smiles). People may have cried fowl play that she won, but she sure did a heck of job on her entries and won fair and square. (Nobody actually complained, but Chris likes to make up stories that I fixed the judging.) We were proud of her.

I am soooo glad the bulk of it is over. I am not the soul chairperson any longer. I turned it down for next year.

MY TRIP TO DISNEYLAND
I went to Disneyland last week.
I had lots of fun.
I saw Ariel and her friends
But I am not done.
My sister skipped through Wonderland
With a girl named Alice.
I stood underneath
Cinderella's Palace.
I went on a very scary ride
with my dad and then my mom.
It was really really bumpy
And the driver's name was Tom.
But now I have told you

What I think is WOW!

So what is going to be my favorite
Out of all this now?
It is telling this to you!

Sunset Picture by Maggie

Maggie took this picture of a Sunset at Mission Beach and entered it into the Reflections Contest. I happen to know the person in charge and Maggie took first in the photography division. The award's night is this week and she will be pleased that she won--she won't find out until the award's night. I am so proud of her.

Happy Halloweening

Allie the princess, Maggie the nice witch, and Cooper was Zorro without his mask!

We had a great Halloween--minus our pumpkins being smashed.

Happy November 1st!

Can you believe we are already in the month of November?! Time is flying by!! We had a great and productive week. As I am writing, Chris is out mowing the lawn and getting the yard ready for winter--but then again, I can't believe he is mowing in November.

We had a great day yesterday. First, we went to my parents house and saw my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Perry off. They were visiting from Missouri and left yesterday. We were able to visit with them quite a bit this week. After visiting with them, we went to Chris's work and visit with him and trick-or-treat some of his co-workers. Then we were off to Toys R Us to do some window shopping for Christmas and buy Maggie some roller blades with some birthday money from G & G Hislop. While there, we happened to time it perfectly for their trick-or-treat party. From there, we went to Target to get Maggie's 8 year pictures taken and Halloween pictures of all three. After that we went and picked up Daddy and were off for the evening. We had a great time trunk-or-treating at our church yesterday. We didn't even do the neighborhood thing. We went to both grandparents houses visiting with them, cousins, aunts and uncles, and then came home to our pumpkins smashed all over our driveway. Cooper and Allie both cried because it was their pumpkins all over. Mean teenagers!!! Chris and I were both upset at the blatant disrespect. Our porch light was off and no one was home, so why destroy a child's pumpkin?! It was a good teaching opportunity for us. We taught our kids about respect and forgiveness. All was well in the end.

Pumpkin Mania

We carved pumpkins for FHE tonight. Chris loves to get a handful of pumpkin guts and pretends to sneeze. The kids love it as does Chris. They all got to design their own faces and then Chris and I were the carvers. I love the fall and Halloween. It is just great fun.

Saturday, we went to Chris's work Halloween festivities and we all dressed up. Maggie was a Victorian Lady, Cooper was Zorro, and Allie was Minnie Mouse. I was Malificent from Sleeping Beauty. Chris was dressed as Chris--very original. We had fun and Cooper even won in his age group.

WE'RE HOME!!

Our week in Southern California was a blast! We had so much fun that I will try to give you a "nutshell" report. Here are some of my favorites and ones that left impressions:

• Leaving on Saturday, Oct. 11th and staying in Henderson, NV with our friends, the Neilsons.
  
• Driving on Sunday, watching Jesus DVDs and feeling the spirit in the van.
  
• Going to Cheesecake Factory--yummy key lime cheesecake.
  
• Almost running to Disneyland on Monday morning; dragging our bodies home Monday night.


• Seeing the kids' faces light up upon entering the Magic Kingdom.


• Fighting the Santa Ana winds on Monday Morning.


• Describing to Allie and Cooper that Pirates of the Caribbean are all puppets and not real.


• Waiting in line for an hour to see the princesses, but watching both Allie and Maggie give them each a hug and chatting with them. Cooper had nothing to do with them!


• Three days at Disneyland is a trying experience for Chris!


• Watching Allie run up to every animated character and giving them a big hug.


• Cooper got to watch Jedi training and meet Darth Mol and said, "He is creepy!" (He didn't give him a hug.)


• Maggie's face with a big grin after Indiana Jones ride and Splash Mountain.


• Watching Cooper run through Disneyland and not paying attention. He ran into many people.
  
• Having people give you parenting lessons after standing in line for 1/2 hour--saying we lost Cooper and were not watching him--when he was only 6 feet away from us.


• Watching Allie skip through Wonderland with Alice and the Mad Hatter pushing our Pram.


• Cooper got kicked off of Splash Mountain at the last minute because he wasn't tall enough.


• Many bathroom breaks especially in the middle of the desert!


• Wearing a 3 foot rubber snake around your neck gets about 40 comments a day. Cooper thought it was cool.


• Allie wearing her Princess Aurora dress while talking to Princess Aurora and commenting, "We match."
  
• Watching parades in Disneyland and California Adventure.


• Favorite characters: Maggie loved her conversation with Donkey at Universal Studios, Cooper loved Woody, and Allie loved all of the princesses and Alice.


• Sea World shows keep you on schedule--but we made them all.


• Polar bears licking yogurt off the window right by Cooper and Allie's faces.


• Walruses are huge as are manatees.


• Up close and personal with sharks, dolphins, and penguins.


• Having sandy children, sandy van, and sandy hotel room after an afternoon at the beach. The kids loved the beach!!


• Maggie taking a beautiful picture of the sun setting over the ocean.


• Having Bella, the GPS, as our tour guide. She was very helpful and friendly...sometimes a little pushy.


• Pandas are only at 4 zoos in the U.S. and we got to see them at the San Diego Zoo.


• Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my! The kids loved every minute, but bathrooms are difficult to find at the zoo.


• Driving home after the zoo. We decided just to go all the way home. We got home at 3:00 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 19th and were exhausted, but happy to be home!

It's My Sweetheart's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Chrissy!!! We had a morning birthday party with lots of presents and mini chocolate donuts shaped in a 37 for his cake. The first thing Maggie, Allie, and Cooper said as they woke up was "Happy Birthday Daddy!" (He made quite the haul: basketball from Allie, Rudy and Footloose from Maggie, fishing pole and tackle from Cooper, camo shorts, Tiger book, 3 shirts, Scene It Sports game--thanks Jill, and candy. Chris is such a good dad and husband; we like to spoil him. I think we'll keep him a while longer.

Brain Cramps and more

Have you ever had a brain cramp and totally forgot something that you had been planning on? I did today. I thought, "Oh, we're just going to take it easy and do some fun things today." Well, we delivered the peaches that I bottled to Uncle Kurt and Aunt Jill. We went and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Hislop for a couple hours and then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Davidson's new house and christened it with lots of running around and yelling before the furniture gets moved in tonight and tomorrow. We made it home just in time for Maggie to get home from school. Well, my brain cramp involved forgetting my book club that I was looking forward to. WHOOPS! I even reminded a few people to come and then I didn't show up. Well, I guess that happens as we get older right?!

Cooper, Miles, and Allie were playing in costumes today and then took a rest on my bed. It was cute; all three in costume taking a rest. (Cooper was a dragon, Miles was Spiderman with big muscles, and Allie was Sleeping Beauty.)

Maggie is learning to crochet. She learned the beginning chain stitch on Wednesday at Achievement Days and has been working on it since. She has big plans for her new skill.

Magic Mush

The Magic Mush worked!! No problems in going to bed last night. This morning Allie even said, "I didn't get up last night, so I don't get mush. Right?!"

Mish, Mash, Mush

Well, here are a few things that have been happening:

• Friday we went to Kung Fu Panda with our kids minus Maggie and our neighbors. Maggie was spending the night with Makayla, Alicia, and Aunt Stacy. As we were entering the theater (a discount one in Kaysville), Stephanie, our neighbor, said "Hi Maggie!" Thinking she had mistaken Maggie's name for Allie, both Chris and I turned around and lo and behold there was Maggie. Aunt Stacy had the same idea and we were all at the same movie together. It is a fun movie.
• Saturday was the day for soccer again. Maggie had been tripped and fell hard. She bounced right up, but we could tell she was hurting. She then burst into tears and came running back. Apparently, when she fell, her foot ended up where her private parts are. As she was feeling better, she said, " I didn't know that cleats were so dangerous!"
• Sunday was our primary program. Whew!!! It is all over!!!! I didn't know writing the whole program and figuring out the seating chart for 40 kids could be so nerve-racking. Cooper froze up and wouldn't sing "I am a child of God" with his class and he wouldn't say his part. I inquired later and he said, "I was stage-frightened! There were too many people out there." Maggie did great with her little song and her part, but she has a few years of practice on Coop. It turned out well and even ended on time!!
• Our stake was also divided on Sunday. Our ward was not affected too much; we only gained and did not lose.
• Monday and Tuesday, I taught preschool at our house. Allie is so into color day that she even had Chris wear pink on "pink" day.
• Monday, Chris almost won their softball game; they lost by one.
• Tuesday, Allie and I went to lunch with Nikkie and Melinda and a few of their kids to P.F. Changs in Salt Lake. That was an adventure; taking 4 rambunctious kids and three moms that want to talk to a nicer restaurant. It was fun and Allie wants to play with her friends some more.
• Allie and Cooper had to have the dreaded MUSH for breakfast this morning. They have once again vowed that they will go to bed good tonight. Let's see if the magic mush works again.
• Today was book club at Teresa's house. It was my book pick, therefore, I had to make lunch. I made chicken pot pie soup, drop biscuits, and peach crisp. I did not have vanilla ice cream, so I made do with neopolitan. I chose "The Hero and the Crown" , a recommended book by Lucy. My kitchen is still a mess, my floors need mopping and vacuuming, everything needs a good dusting, but right now, Maggie is reading to Cooper, Allie is taking a nap, and I am reminiscing the week. I am very content and happy.

With a Moo, moo here...

Cooper, Allie, and I went on a fieldtrip to Wadeland Dairy to see all of the milk cows. Before we even got there, we had an adventure of a dead van. It took over a 1/2 hour to charge it, so we were late to the dairy. Cooper had no problems in going right up to a calf and letting it suck his fingers. We then went in to see the cows being milked. The cows are up on platforms, so you get the undercarriage view of a cow. Allie then exclaimed, "Are those the cow's penises?" "No, no, no! These are girl cows! These are like a cows boobies called an udder." It sure is hard explaining things to a 3 year old. It was quite the fieldtrip.

A little bit of this and that...

Well, there have been a few happenings that I wanted to write about. Here are the few that my aging brain remembers:

• This morning Allie came in to wake me up and asked, "What color day is it?" It took me a second to figure out she wanted to know what color she was learning about in preschool. I told her there wasn't preschool today, so she could pick. She responded with, "Well...I think it is PINK day!!" Grand idea. She came running back wearing her favorite pink skirt and shirt. She then said, "Pink's a GREAT color!"
  
• Yesterday, Cooper had turned on our T.V. and was watching a show. I walked in and he asked, "Mom, is this a good show for me to watch?" I looked at the T.V. and saw Seinfeld on. "Maybe not." I turned it to a kid cartoon.


• Do any of you read the comics? I love "Baby Blues." This little comic strip family has the same dynamics as our little family;mom, dad, girl, boy, girl. I can relate with the mom all the time. Today's strip was about the little boy finding his shoes in the freezer. I find all sorts of stuff in ours! Another one that made me laugh was her sitting among the piles of laundry. Does laundry ever end?!


• I am not buying Christmas presents this year. I am buying cases of canned food. My kids have been building towers with the green beans that I bought--so why spend extra money on toys. Right?!


• Maggie had a friend over that she loves to play with. She is such a polite, sweet girl. I love having her over. Yesterday, they were playing and Alayna ran to the bathroom and barfed all over. Her mom came at that moment to pick her up and then had to clean our bathroom. It is nice and clean...even the bathmats and shower curtains.


• We have a new discipline tool--MUSH! It is actually oatmeal made with just water. Nothing else. So far it is working wonders! Our kids are going to bed better and listening better too. They hate it when they get it. So far Maggie has had it once, Cooper once, and Allie twice. (I can't give it to the kids any more around Chris because he kind of giggles when they spit it out and I make them eat more. I need to have Chris eat it too--his Scouts think he needs it.)
  
• All three kids were in our Primary talent show. Cooper did a cartwheel. Allie turned a somersault, and Maggie played the piano. It was a fun little event.

Well, if my feeble brain works better and remembers more, I'll post it.