Live and Learn

While clicking around on my blog settings I realized that my blog was set to "public". I didn't want a public blog, I thought the only people that could see my blog was people that i gave the address to. Apparently not.
When you make a blog here it automatically becomes public unless you change the settings. I didn't get that memo.
So being that I don't want my beautiful face smothered all over the computer monitors of such lovely places like Tijuana, Pakistan or Detroit, I decided to make my blog private. That entailed me having to invite you here.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but I want privacy.

Pirates Dinner Adventure

We surprised Ethan for his birthday with a trip to the Pirates Dinner Adventure show in Buena Park. He loves anything that has to do with pirates so we knew he'd love it. It was neat that my father in law was down visiting during the week of Ethan's birthday so he was able to come with us.

The show is spectacular and the food is really good. Ethan had so much fun rooting for his green pirate. Travis, Ethan and myself all got selected to participate in the show. That was really cool. Ethan got called up onstage and was sworn in as an honorary pirate. That was awesome! We even had a birthday cake delivered to our table and we sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a fun evening!

Conversations with Faith

ME: Faith, your room is dirty
Faith: I know
ME: Let's clean it
Faith: You clean it and then I'll come check on you
ME: no, you are going to help me
Faith: Now why would I do that?


*silly mommy, thinking Faith would clean up her own mess.

My Christmas Cuties

It goes without saying that I took a ton of photos to get this one perfect one. Getting two kids to sit still AND smile at the camera takes lots of skill and patience.

AC/DC Concert

Travis and I were fortunate enough to be the recipients of two tickets to see AC/DC in concert. Travis's boss is a big fan of AC/DC and wanted to get a bunch of people together for the concert. The really neat thing is that his boss *Hi, Paul!* bought our tickets for us. It was a huge act of generosity on his part. He even rented a super stretch limo bus for everyone to ride in. It's safe to say that everyone that was going to the concert was going to partake in some adult libations, the occasional cocktail or bottle of beer. Being able to drink without worrying about driving was awesome!

The limo bus was really cool, it had tv screens, a bathroom, a good sound system, and a little room in the back with a stripper pole. Yep, just what we needed to get the party started. I wouldn't touch the thing, honestly. I wasn't sure what type of DNA was on that thing. My germaphobe self stayed away. But I got some good shots of other more daring people on the pole.

Before the concert we had a BBQ at the office, and then had some good fun playing AC/DC songs on the ROCK BAND. It was fun watching everyone pretend to be a rock star.

Travis had terrific seats, he was right next to the stage. As a lifelong fan of AC/DC it was truly a treat for him to be that close. He got some great pictures with his iPhone.

The night was perfect from beginning to end ( except a little part during the middle, and it had something to do with being stuck sitting next to people who like to smoke the Mary Jane, and I'm not talking about the shoe)

Reason # 53453 why I love my Husband

He has mad stripper pole skillz. He went upside down, around and around. Be jealous girls, be very jealous.

We are family

Travis' dad, Vern, came out for a visit this week. He arrived the day after Thanksgiving. We haven't seen him since 2006 when we went to DisneyWorld with him. It took a while for Faith to warm up to him, but after she warmed up to him she wouldn't leave him alone! Poor guy, while he's been here he's had to color with her, help dress her itty bitty dolls, and he's had to pull her around the house on a blanket. She's got him wrapped around her little pinky finger already! Faith and Ethan have really made out like a bandit since he arrived. They've gotten too many gifts to count. Ethan has got Vern playing Wii, they've done Guitar Hero and MarioKart. Since he arrived we've done lots of fun stuff together. We have to squeeze as much fun into 5 days as possible. Hopefully we don't have to go so long in between visits again. He's an awesome Grandpa.

And a little puke to go with your Thanksgiving turkey

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Knotts Berry Farm. Mom and Jim paid for the entire family to get in. They get an awesome discount using Jim's status as an ex-military grunt. It's cool that Knott's give such a great discount to military families, especially with the economy the way it is. Mom and Jim got in for free and the rest of us had a deeply discounted admission price. It's really cool.

We got there as soon as it opened and didn't leave until right before it closed. It was a very fun day! Travis and Danny took the older kids on the scary, stomach turning rides while the rest of us settled for taking the younger ones on calmer rides. I've been going to Knotts since I was a little girl, and several of my favorite rides back then are still my favorite rides now. The log ride, the gold mine train ride and the bumper cars are so fun for me.

Faith did absolutely fabulous waiting in line. She had one minor breakdown when she exclaimed, " I don't want to wait for my turn!" and then she slapped me. Strangely enough that's the first time she's ever hit me. I was mortified that she picked a public place to smack the daylights out of me, but then again, she likes to show people who wears the size 3 pants in this family. After that incident she went back to being sweet as sugar for the rest of the day. My nephew Tyler had a breakdown at the same ride, but instead of slapping his momma he choose to take off running, because nothing spells fun like making your mom chase after you in a crowd of people.

Towards the end of the evening Ethan went on this horrific ride called the Revolution. It's a ride that not only spins really fast but it swings up and down while spinning. The first time on Ethan loved it so much he went on it a second time. The second time he went on it he loved it so much he went on it a third time. After the third time he turned green. And then later he puked. And then after that he ate a churro, because sugar-coated fried bread makes a sick tummy feel better, right?

All in all it was a fun evening. We went to TGIFriday's for our Thanksgiving Dinner. It was one of the few places to eat that opened on Thanksgiving. So for our traditional dinner we had deep fried macaroni-n-cheese and mozzarella sticks. Yum! Doesn't get any better than that, does it?

Thanks Mom..Thanks Jim..for a fun day!