Could anyone other than a completely devoted, loving grandma get a smile and a hug like this out of a four-year old?  I doubt it. This is pure love!

I have a fabulous s-i-l that always inspires me with her funny, upbeat blog. I wonder if I complain too much. I vow never to complain again and though we all know life is not always a bowl of cherries, it’s more fun to just laugh about it when it isn’t than to gripe about it.

Anyway…is it too late to talk about Thanksgiving?

I made my first-ever and totally awesome (except for the part where we had to stand around willing the turkey to cook faster because the rolls and potatoes were getting cold) Thanksgiving dinner.

And to christen the experience we invited the Utah-Gowens to come celebrate and give thanks. We feasted on all the proper Thanksgiving delicacies and enjoyed the pies that my mom so graciously made (eight pies – she made eight pies. I would have died if I’d had to do dinner and pie! Thanks, Mom!).

We even learned that when you forget to put sugar in the pumpkin pie, you can salvage it by dumping large amounts of sugar on top of it. The sugar melts and with some coaxing will soak into the pie. Repeat a few more times and you’ll never know the difference between soaked-in sweetness vs. baked-in sweetness.

It was also the first time we had lots of house guests. 10 guests all together. Oh, and I got to meet the newest s-i-l to be…and she is super. I’m so excited to have her join the family. Plus, I pretended to be a real photographer and took their engagement pics. Thanks guys for trusting me to capture the love on film (or rather, on pixels). This isn’t the one they are sending out (don’t want to ruin the surprise) but it’s one of my favs.

Cousins came and Monkey See and Monkey Do got to find out what that is all about – staying up super late, laughing when you are supposed to be sleeping, eliciting stern warnings from parents, and forging ahead, undeterred with the laughing and the not sleeping.

We showed them around town…checked out the Air Force Academy (which turned out to be ok) and Garden of the Gods (which turned out to be so, so crowded and a bit chilly, but as always, awesome), plus a stop to Fargo’s Pizza for the tastiest pizza you’ll ever get in an old west saloon.

It was a fast trip – we don’t get to see so many Gowens in one place for too long. Plus, we only put a dent in the sight-seeing. So I think it’s settled that everyone will have to come again. (and sorry Allie – of the three pics we took, your eyes were never open!)

My friend Brenda always does an ornament exchange. I’ve always been impressed and when I got asked to join one here, I thought it would be cool. With some help from my friends at BHG, this is what I came up with…

I think this is first time ever that the craft I made actually looks as cool as the picture that lured me into the craft store and then stole all my money. Not that the ornaments were expensive, just everything else that jumped into my cart.

They are just glass and plastic beads strung on corsage pins, stuck into a cork painted silver. The full directions are here. The Laurels are going to these for our ward Christmas tree too. I figure once you get a good idea, better get all the miles out of it that you can!

Oops, another holiday has come and gone and I missed Halloween. Behold the monkeys as warrior (not to be confused with a ninja except mom was confused and made him a ninja costume.)

And a pterodactyl (once a dragon costume, transformed into a flying dinosaur with the addition of some wings)

Both these pics are at their respective school parties where they sang, danced, and ate the frosting off of the top of their cupcakes.

The next night was a fabulous night for Trick or Treating. They collected their loot…

…and then got hopelessly drunk on the sugar.

It’s day two of a winter storm. Too bad that it snows sideways here. We never get much accumulation. Oh well, less to shovel!

School was on a two-hour delay on Monday and canceled yesterday and today. The look on the Monkeys’ faces when we delivered the news were priceless. Also, check out the amazing bedhead.

Not sure why Monkey Do is excited about preschool cancellations…I thought you were supposed to like school at this age.

I braced myself for a day of bickering – especially when I got a touch of the flu and spent the day passed out on the couch. Instead, the Monkeys have been caught up in the epic struggle of Pirates vs. Transformers.

The battle has raged for the past 36 hours with no signs of letting up. On several occasions the Monkeys have braved the basement to call in reinforcements. Batman and a few Jedi Knights have joined the fight.

Personally, I’m pulling for the pirates. From what I’ve gathered they are the only thing standing between the peaceful inhabitants of the planet Earth and the evil forces that would destroy the world as we know it.

Ok, so here’s a conversation I had with Monkey See after we dropped the babysitter off.

Monkey See: I wonder what the inside of her house looks like. Can I go in?

Mommy: No, let’s go home.

Monkey See: But I want to go inside everyone’s houses.

Mommy: Then you should grow up and be a Realtor – that’s someone who shows people houses before they decide to buy one.

Monkey See: Ok, when I grow up I want to go in every house in the whole world and I’ll travel to different countries and go in all their houses and I’ll make friends and stay with them in different countries and they will let me inside their houses. I’ll look in their houses and after I looked in all the houses in the whole world I will find one I like then I’ll by it.

Moral of the story: You’ve been fairly warned – get the guest room ready (or blow up mattress, he’s not picky), Monkey See is on his way over!

The monkeys are on fall break, which means I am too! I’ve been working as little as absolutely possible…so fun!

Today we went to Garden of the Gods where the monkeys like to climb the rocks. We got in a lot of knee scrapping and bum sliding and escaped serious bodily harm. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for my camera which started smelling like smoldering plastic. (Scary!) I decided not to take pictures after I discovered where the burning was coming from. But I did capture a few fun ones.

Here’s Monkey Do doing his best to stretch out his shirt:

Some of the rocks we conquered:

Monkey See’s shoes. I get such a kick from the massive amounts of verbiage on the shoes. I mean seriously, they are shoes, for walking and such, not newspapers. But anyway, he just LOVES them (plus they light up).

I’m wishing Monkey Do was completely in focus. But still, love his blue, blue eyes, they are just like his daddy’s.

The camera issue is very concerning. It’s not that old, and really at that, I don’t think a smoldering camera is a sign of a healthy camera at any age. It may need to visit the camera doctor before I snap any new pics. On the bright side (I’m really, really straining to see a bright side of this situation) I may be able to catch up on a few older pics….we’ll see.

We started a tradition of going on dates with the kids. Tonight I went out with Monkey Do. Well, actually we stayed in because every time I do a long run I’m toast for the rest of the day.

Daddy and Monkey See went to Wal Mart (yes, it is the happening-est place in town) and tried on Halloween masks.

Monkey Do and I made rainbows.

It’s just a plate covered in frosting and Skittles. So easy and fun! Plus, Monkey Do was really turning on the charm for the camera!

And – viola – the finished project.

And in case we get the munchies later on – it’s completely edible

It got a little cold this weekend. It’s hard to believe that just a few weeks ago we took a pleasant drive to look at fall leaves. Ok, so Monkey See would say not as pleasant since he experienced his first serious bout with car sickness. But we did have barrels of fun up until we had to pull over every 20 minutes to let him out.

See, here we are standing completely in the way of the fall leaves…

…and here are the actual leaves.

But like I said, this weekend fall was officially over.

Hello, winter!

The cold, mixed with freezing rain did a number on the traction you could get on just about any surface. I slipped on mulch, Joseph slipped in the driveway wearing socks. Crazy!

It also did a number on the creepy guy hanging out in our front yard.

He should have stayed in prison, he’d be much warmer.

So we did the only sensible thing you can do when faced with solid sheets of black ice blanketing every possible surface – we stayed home and watched movies and football. In the process a long-cherished philosophy dating back to my early childhood was destroyed.

My whole life I have believed that every musical, without exception, has a fast-forward song. But I now have faith that it is humanly possible to make a musical so good the remote doesn’t have to be within arms reach.

The Little Mermaid doesn’t have a fast-forward song. It’s amazing! The only potential candidate is “Kiss the Girl.” But it’s so good — the song and the animation — that I’ve never itched for the double arrows on the remote. I don’t think I’ve quantified how amazing this is — incredibly amazing! I truly am living in a whole new world. And wait, I don’t think Aladdin has one either! I’m not sure about Beauty and the Beast, it’s been too long since my last viewing…potentially the opening scene is fast-forward material.

But either way – there were several years of fast-forward free movies coming from the Disney studios. But then they lost their mojo with “Can you Feel the Love Tonight.” So sad.

Monkey Do keeps coming into me holding pieces from his US state puzzle.

Monkey Do: Let’s move here!

Mom: To Maine? That’s really far from Grandma.

Monkey Do: Oh (frown, he disappears and reappears with a new state). Let’s move to Texas (the only state he can recognize by shape).

Mom: When you’re grown up you can move anywhere you want.

Monkey Do: Let’s move now.

Mom: We can’t, mom and dad don’t have jobs in Texas. How will we buy food?

Monkey Do: We could go to the grocery store. (very matter of fact and a bit exasperated by my apparent ignorance) They have grocery stores in Texas.

Mom: True, but we’d run out of money without jobs. We’re not moving to Texas.

Monkey Do: Well, (big pause, wheels are churning) I have a ton of pennies. Yeah, I have a ton of pennies, some silver, and a token. So, let’s move to Texas.