How We Do V-Day in AZ (and how we do the Amazing Race, too)

Valentine's Day...starts with me making heart-shaped waffles with homemade whipped cream, red sprinkles and pink milk. Then Evan makes this face because he doesn't like whipped cream (I guess) but has forgotten how to tell me this before I serve him and then refuses to speak until I remove the offensive substance (because it has a texture he doesn't like) completely from his field of vision.
Grandma comes to visit so we play hopscotch outside on the driveway (because having Grandma around reminds me of the oldy-but-goody games we can play that I sometimes forget).
We make "interpretive Hopscotch" courses...Evan's has hot lava and a square that you have to dance in.
(Evan dances his heart out, not caring whether cars are passing by or not)
Annie strikes a weird pose (I think we were practicing freezing for when cars pass by--see, sometimes I can be safety-minded!)
Then we go to a birthday party at the Library.

"A birthday party?" you say...
Yes! Arizona's 100th Birthday Celebration, of course.
(Evan is behind these girls....he may have gotten his picture in the paper because the reporter asked me for his name and permission to use his picture, but seeing as no one actually reads our paper, I have no idea if he is famous or not).

(that's our state flag on the cake, FYI. I guess they decided that one candle was more appropriate for the preschool crowd than 100)

We partake in more traditional Valentine's Day activities, such as exchanging homemade Valentines with friends and neighbors.
Annie and I wear matching outfits for the second time. Is that totally cheesy? I know what Jeremy will say.
And here's our Amazing Race party we had recently with some friends, just because. The boys (the little ones, definitely not Jeremy) and I threw it together one morning because some friends were coming over for dinner that night.

Team Cornelius and Team Lundgren at the Pit Stop. (If you see Sam, tell him he did a good job with the Pit Stop sign...he was very proud of it.)
Reading clues torn out of envelopes like in the real show. It was a little stressful for our 7-year-old readers to read my cleverly-worded clues. Next time I'll stick to "Go to the Pit Stop." instead of "Make your way to the blah blah blah, warning, the last team blah blah blah"
Obstacle course with clue hidden in it...much more difficult than I anticipated (as the garlic bread for dinner burned in the oven)
Clue found!
"Flying" to the next location on our silly little globe game...
In "Spain" teams participated in a Bullfight Detour and a Flamingo or Flamenco Road Block...
(The fathers looked on in bewilderment as to why we would put so much effort into a silly game when dinner and dessert should have been the main event)

So we stopped to eat...
The kids made chocolate-dipped marshmallows that looked like little worlds (or Frankensteins).
More frenzy of activity as they traveled to China and had to build a lego car for their Chinese dolls and choose between Chopsticks and Chopsticks.
The last leg was in Egypt where they searched for a camel, chose Excavate or Build, and raced to finish a snack of carrots and a tall glass of water before they crossed the desert to their final Pit Stop. The Corneliuses were the winners of a plastic trophy and everyone got silver chocolate coins. And Christy donned appropriate headgear for every pitstop but sadly, I only got one picture to embarrass her with.

I know, I have far too much enthusiasm on my hands. You don't have to try to understand it.

Visions of Grandeur

It's been hard to find time to write on my blog lately because life has been...FULL. I was going to say "busy" but I am really enjoying the blessing of having lots of good work to do and great people to spend time with. So I've decided to view life right now as full because I wouldn't want to change any of the things I'm doing. Well, maybe I would change the existence of laundry, but that's all.

My blog is also empty because I suffer from visions of grandeur. It's like a disorder (yeah, I suffer from VOGD). I make up elaborate posts in my head and then never get around to writing them. I also have visions of grandeur about pretty much everything: How I'm going to spend my days cleaning the tile with a toothbrush or going through all the of the kids' baby books with great thought and care or how I'm going to make some craft I saw on someone's blog or how I am going to teach my kids to make friendship bracelets or what great deals I'm going to find if I go to all my favorite thrift stores...if you were in my brain you would be shocked at the ideas that sprout up and then die a horrible death when I realize that another day is over and I still haven't even hauled the bag of trash that has been sitting by my front door to the trash can for the sixth day in a row, much less sorted all of my children's old socks or started the book I want to write. So I think my days seem even fuller and more stressful than they actually are because of all the noise in my head. Phew, it's tiring being me! (And I haven't even joined pinterest yet...can you imagine what THAT would do to me?!)

So here are the pictures from the funny Thanksgiving post I never got around to writing:

Here's a small fraction of what Thanksgiving looks like (though it gets all the attention):
The actual dinner

Here's what Thanksgiving actually looks like, at least in my family

My mom's silly but fun idea of something to do together after dinner

Oh, if you couldn't tell, we went to San Diego for Thanksgiving. The kids usually end up doing something Navy-ish while we're there.

And I usually make everyone do something especially festive, even if we are tired and cold

The hotel we stayed at by Aunt Kendra's house...not too shabby!

My sister and I playing the part of rich ladies at the spa...my lips look like that because I was pretending to have just had my lips done. I think my sister is just using the pose as an excuse to look something up on her phone.

Back in Flagstaff...

Silly snuggle time on top of the bunk bed. I just ignored the pee smell
and the cardboard mattress.

Gamma and Pa J came for a visit:

Here's Gamma and Annie reading about Annie's hair on this blog.

Back to California for the youth group trip to Disneyland.

The kids stayed with my parents while Jeremy and I went to Disneyland. I imagined Samuel telling his class back in Flagstaff, "Yeah, we drove all the way to California and my parents went to Disneyland without us."

I remember doing exactly what Sam is doing in this picture when I was a kid...pretending to be Krampa (my dad)...I could never figure out what was so interesting in the newspaper.

Annie got to meet her "cousin" Mikaela (my cousin Jenny's daughter). They went through many stages of clothes on and clothes off as they played together in the backyard.

Mikaela, Jenny, Jon, and Kendra

While in California, I saw some old friends from church, yeah!

Tricia and Diane

April

Evan stayed in California "on my very own special trip for 9 days without Sam or Annie or mommy or daddy just by mineself." He got to play with Grandma and Krampa's neighbors, go to a children's museum, go to the beach, make a new friend, go sandboarding, ride a big ferris wheel and fly on an airplane with Grandma. Rough life.

Waiting at the airport for Evan and Grandma...

Evan was welcomed home by a large Yoda marshmallow sucker? and was back to his ole rascally self within no time.



Goodbye for now from chocolate milk moustache and Oreo beard.