SAUCER SCHNANIGANS

Alan is now 5 and really starting to "figure" things out. It was only a couple weeks ago that I pulled him aside one night when he was being a big pain. I explained to him that when I said it was bedtime and had a couple things to do it would be a really good idea for him to just "disappear" and be soooo quiet I would maybe forget he was still awake and he would end up staying up way past his bedtime!!! I really wasn't sure how he would process this info until last night. We are staying with Uncle Tim, Aunt April, and Cousin Ian. The adults were playing Apples to Apples (This is an A-W-E-S-O-M-E board game!!!). Daniel told Alan and Eddie to use the bathroom and he would tuck them in. He was then promptly distracted by laughter from the game. It was well over an hour later when I realized Alan and Eddie were sitting at the kids table playing very quietly. I guess this lesson really stuck. I quietly shared the story at the grown up table and continued to ...

Ever wonder if Superman's hometown of Metropolis really exists?? Well, it does and it happened to be just 6 miles from our hotel the first night of holiday travels. My mom stopped at a visitor center near there on her way home this summer and sent the boys a picture of her face in a Superman cut out. We decided since we were so close the boys would enjoy the stop. They were sooo excited to see Superman and even more excited at the memory from the picture telling us that Grandma had been there before. Here are the pictures from our pitstop. SUPER Joey!! SUPER Eddie!! SUPER Alan!! SUPER Saucers!! SUPER Mommy!! SUPER Daddy!!

While a "White" Christmas is something many dream of, I'm pretty confident in saying I dream and pray that this will be my LAST white Christmas!! It's funny how the only things about snow that "stick" in your memory are the snowball fights, snowman building, sledding and FUN!!! Daniel and I decided the boys would really enjoy seeing snow for the first time this year. So we packed up our mini van turned into a sleigh and then hit the highway our destination was 2 days away. Over the highways and byways we glide to grandmother's house we drive. With turn right or turn left we trust GPS to get us there alive. It turns out we have very bad trip coordination with mother nature. She seemed to think this weekend was the perfect time for a blizzard/white out to visit the mid-west. This didn't quite sync with our driving plans. The further north we drove the talk of snow increased until it was finally falling and hitting our windshield. I warned them o...

Here are some video clips from Eddie's Preschool Christmas Program. I was a bit surprised he decided not to sing. I also never should have commented to my friend about her daughter being up there next year twirling and lifting her dress. You'll see why if you watch the clips!!

Here is Joey all decked out and ready for the SNOW!! Here is a picture of the foam ornaments I helped make for Alan's classmates. Each one has a picture of the student in the center. Here is a short clip of Joey trying to walk in his new snowsuit!!

This is a long story that has been going on for 9 months. My friend, Dina Rich, is having exploratory heart surgery today. Her husband is a reservist who works with contractors in Iraq. He was home this spring on leave and they discovered upon his return to Iraq that they were unexpectedly expecting. Then they discovered they were expecting twins!!! The pregnancy was extremely difficult and Dina had to manage care of their incredibly difficult 3 yr. old all with her husband fighting in Iraq. Thankfully he was able to come home in early December. Only 5 days after his feet touched American soil they had a routine OB appointment at 36 weeks and Dina had severe preclampsia so they did a C-section to get the babies out. Dillion and Katia were 5 lbs 11 oz and 5 lbs 7 oz. They are doing great and off all feeding tubes already at 1 week old today. After the C-section Dina complained of difficulty breathing. They discharged her anyway. She went to the ER yesterday and went into congestive hear...

Yes, I know Thanksgiving was a super long time ago!!! I thought you might enjoy some pictures and videos that we took on Thanksgiving anyway. Better late than never :) The first clip is Alan leading the Our Father he's learning in "Religious Education" or what most of us refer to as CCD.

I just finished sorting pictures and have updated the 2008_November folder as well as started the 2008_December folder with our very small tree decorating process. The tree has already had ALL the ornaments confiscated as Joey has had each and every one in his mouth so I decided to leave the tree naked!!! To see the pictures simply click on the link to the NEW Saucer Family website on the left.

Wow!! I'm still recovering from the weekend. Saturday was Christmas at the Fair in Panama City at the Fair grounds. I shared a booth of Stampin' Up hand stamped items with another demonstrator, Tammy. Here is a picture of our wonderful booth. We sent in our application way back in July, but neither of us got to any serious stampin' until very recently. I was up past midnight every night last week and boy did it take a toll on me. We didn't sell as much as we would have liked, but we had some GREAT neighbors. The booth to our right was Les & Lou All Things Beaded. They had some amazing cheese and wine serving products like hand beaded wine charms and cool cheese trays that were wine bottles melted flat in a kiln. The process is called slumping and sounds extremley interesting. Aunt Diana if you are reading this would be an AMAZING research project for you!! They have an online etsy store if you have time to check them out www.leandlou.etsy.com They have t...

Joey enjoyed his morning grits more than usual this morning!!! Mommy wasn't feeling very good this morning so Daddy was in charge of breakfast :)There are pictures in the 008_November web album on the New Saucer Family Website link and here comes the video. The boys also received some great Halloween cards from Great Aunt Kathy. Mail is very exciting at our house. Here is Joey opening his card.

Last weekend we did our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton, AL. It was so fun when we lived close and it's worth the 200+ mile drive to keep the family tradition. We had perfect weather, sunny and 72. The boys had a blast climbing on the huge pumpkins, riding in the hay wagon (Joey couldn't take his eyes off those huge tractor tires), picking out a pumpking with Daddy, and the best part is always jumping in the hay mound!!! Here are a couple video clips from the trip and I have a whole album called 2008_Pumpkin Patch and Carving on our Picasa page. Just click the link to the New Saucer Family Website on the left to see all the pictures. We stopped at the new Bass Pro Shop in Prattville to take a look around. Joey is taking a few steps on his own, but boy can he shoot right up the stairs. He was in heaven climbing!!

Yesterday after school I decided to get Alan and Eddie's haircut since we had a couple other errands on the base and they were WAY past due for one. They climbed right in the chairs next to each other like pros and the ladies flirted with Joey between guard changes. Joey was getting fussy in the stroller so I unbuckled him and put him in an empty barber chair next to Eddie. The lady cutting Eddie's hair was really connecting with him and he sat and watched her every move. When Eddie was done she asked if she was sure I didn't want her to cut Joey's hair. I thought for a second and decided his hair was WAY shaggy and sometimes all the fuss with the camera can make things worse. I took the plunge and he sat so incredibly nice for the first half. Then Alan just walked over and got him a sucker. This was an AMAZING treat as he's never had one and he was happy as a lark while she finished his hair cut. Here are the final results taken when we got home. Alan als...

The CEO of Stampin' Up, Shelly Gardner, appeared on the local news in Utah to share some great holiday place settings. Here is the video from her appearence. You can find instructions and more specifics on the news website http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=61&sid=4573672 Contact me today to find out how to get the supplies you'll need for these great projects!!!

Eddie won 2 FREE tickets to see Elmo and Sesame Street Live at one of the kids nights they have at Chik Fil A. We decided that this would be a special Eddie and Mommy date. The show was last weekend and we went with my friend Missy and her little girl, Emily. They had a great time. I posted the still pictures to the New Saucer Family website link in the 2008_October folder. Here are some video clips from the show.

Joey is taking more and more steps each day. Here are some short video clips of his progress. The first one is from Grandma's visit in August and the other two are from 2 days ago. Here are a few more random video clips of Joey this summer you might enjoy. Joey thinks the refridgerator is super fun to play in!! Joey LOVES the water. Here he's swimming at Missy's grandmother's house in Alabama. Joey isn't scared of anything. Here he thinks he's a rock and roll star standing in he rocking chair with his brother's wiggles guitar!! Cruisin' Sharing lunch with Big Brother Eddie??

Well Gramps and Mary are staying at the beach this week so here are a couple beach videos for you to enjoy. I'll start with my favorite of Joey on his new sand diet. Playing Frisbee at Schooners where they serve kids meals on frisbees instead of plates. Playing in the water after school today.

  Here is our new living room floor. Daniel has been hard at work all week and we just have a small hallway and corner rounds to finish the project. Hopefully it will all be finished by bedtime tomorrow!!!

I just updated the September Pictures on Picasa. Simply click on the New Saucer Family Website link to your left.

I have created an album just for Baby Jack and his family on my Picasa page. There is a direct link to his album on the left side of my blog. I will add pictures whenever I get them as he grows so check back often to watch him grow!!!

Congratulations New Mom Laura and New Dad Barry!!! We are so glad the baby is here. Also congrats to the New Grandparents!! Baby Jack arrived via C-Section at 7:02pm. He weighed in at 9lbs 2oz, was 21 inches long and his head was 37cm!!! I have a new Picasa album of pictures just for Baby Jack I will add to it as I receive them in email. Here is the link http://picasaweb.google.com/saucersrus/BabyJackNeil#

I just discovered www.scrapblog.com where you can do digital scrapbooking online for FREE!!! Here is my first page.

  Here is a collage I made with Picasa 3 of pictures from our last visit to the beach.

I was talking online with Dad today and he convinced me to upload the new Picasa 3 to my computer. Here is a practice "movie" I made and uploaded to YouTube. Just getting a feel for how this works. Please let me know what you think!!

Alan has been a very busy bee. He started Kindergarten on the 20th!!! Here is a picture with his teacher, Ms. Vann, on the first day of school. Here he is with Mommy on the first day of school. Here he is working on the first day of school!! Alan has been working very hard in Kindergarten. He even got his paper on the cupboard in the classroom. Ms. Vann was so proud of his attention to detail she hopes this will inspire Alan's classmates to work hard to get their papers on the cupboard as well. Here is a picture of Alan with Ms. Vann in front of his work. Here is a close up of the paper itself. Here is his first progress report on learning the classroom rules. If only he would apply them at home too!!! Alan also turned the big 5 last week. He opted to have his best buddy Aidan over for a sleep over instead of a bunch of friends for just a BBQ. Daddy surprised him with a Burger King happy meal at school for lunch and he took Alan and Aidan to the Star Wars Clone Wars after sc...

Pass this info on to anyone you know that complains of spam!!! Advice from Snopes.com 1) Any time you see an E-Mail that saysforward this on to "10" of your friends, sign this petition, or you'll get bad luck, good luck, or whatever, it almost always has an E-Mail tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and E-Mails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of "active" E-Mails to use in SPAM E-Mails, or sell to other spammers. 2) Almost all E-Mails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of E-Mail is, a way to get names and "cookie" tracking information for telemarketers and spammers - - to validate active E-Mail accounts for their ow...

Citizenship is something many of us take for granted. Today I was witness to 40 people from all over the world become American Citizens. My friend, Dina, took the oath among them. Dina is from Iraq and has been married to an American and living here for 4 years. She has been waiting and waiting for this day!!! Her husband, former USA army and now contractor, is working in Iraq now. They have a 3yr old daughter, Dania and are expecting twins in Dec/Jan. My friend, Missy watched all 6 of our collected children today so I could go be with Dina on this very special day. Here is a picture of me with Dina and her friend Erica. There are more pictures on the NEW Saucer Family website link.

We have been super busy lately, but I did get the pictures sorted and updated on Picasa. There are 3 new albums to look at: 2008_July, 2008_August, and 2008_August_Sears. If you would like prints from the Sears folder please let me know the best email to send you the copyright release letter.

What a Wiggly weekend!!! My friend, Missy and I threw 5 car seats in the back of her van and loaded up the kids on Friday morning. We headed north to Birmingham and spent the night with her mom. The next day we lounged around visiting. We had to do so threatening to be left out of the big surprise we had planned on Sat. night, but made it through the day. I couldn't believe that Alan remembered seeing the Wiggles 2 years ago when we pulled in the the Civic Center!!! I got a bunch of short video clips from the concert. They allowed pictures, but no video so I had to be discreet about it. The people in the row behind us were actually told to stop video or they would have to leave. This was one time my camera was so little they wouldn't know whether I was taking video or just waiting for a good picture opportunity!!! Here is a video of the Wiggles coming out on stage singing Eddie's all time favorite song, Big Red Car. Here is the Wiggly Polka Hoop De Doo!! Here is the Wiggl...

There is an AWESOME recipe for Pretzel Bread in the Breads category of Mary's new website www.recipestoeat.com. The recipe calls for one 12 oz beer so it's known as Beer Bread at our house. Mary gives the directions to use the recipe in the bread machine on her website and the boys LOVE LOVE LOVE making it. Their favorite part is pouring in one of "Daddy's Beers" and watching the foam. They also enjoy breaking the pretzel sticks in half. The first time we pulled the loaf of bread out it may have lasted all of 5 min before it was completely devoured!!! After a couple loaves disappeared I really got to thinking about the danger of this recipe with trying to loose some weight (maybe more true to say trying NOT to gain any more) I tried replacing the white flour with wheat flour. It still tasted great, but was heavier and a bit dry. I also think adding honey would enhance the taste so I tried one cup wheat flour and two cups white flour as well as adding 2 tablespoons...

Sorry this post is late. We have been sick and traveling and sick of traveling!!! I spent the 4th in bed with a sinus infection and head cold. Daniel took the boys to a BBQ at a co-workers. They had some king of 9ft tall inflatable waterslide and the boys had a BLAST!!! I was rested enough to go downtown to the Marina to watch the fireworks with our good friends, Aidan and his family. Here is a family picture Missy took for us.

“Yellow M” On the road again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again!! We started our journey yesterday afternoon. Daniel had a couple meetings get cancelled at work so we left home around 2pm. The boys are so pumped to go to Texas!!! They can’t wait to see Grandpa Bear, Big D, Kristine, Aunt Nikky and Uncle James. Alan has taken on the family job of scout. He like to point out all the “Yellow M”’s and Burger Kings he sees. He can spot them from miles away and thinks he is sooo cool saying “Yellow M” instead of McDonalds!! On the way into Pensacola he heard Daniel and I talking about stopping for dinner and was very upset when we decided to eat at Dairy Queen instead of a “Yellow M” or Burger King. He was very quick to point out to Daddy that we had just passed two!! He calmed down with his Green Mr. Misty aka Incredible Hulk Juice and ice cream cone for dessert  We had hotel reservations on the other side of Baton Rouge (almost half way) and rolled in to the Holiday Inn ...

Here are some more video clips of Joey playing. Original Video - More videos at TinyPic Original Video - More videos at TinyPic Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Here is Joey with the 5 de mayo sombrero this year. I was amazed he could move at all with the weight of this authentic sombrero. He is a fast little bugger!! Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

The boys are soooo excited to have Joey join them for part of their bath time to play!! Original Video - More videos at TinyPic Original Video - More videos at TinyPic Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Here are a couple old video clips of Joey eating his first hard pretzel, and learning how to crawl. Original Video - More videos at TinyPic Original Video - More videos at TinyPic Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

We had an AMAZING Memorial Day weekend. Daniel's unit got Friday AND Monday off so we loaded up the van on Friday morning and drove 6 hours south to Orlando. Daniel signed us up for some timeshare lecture that got us 3 nights at the Holiday in for $100 (normal rates for this location on Universal Ave are $129+ per night). We got checked in and walked over to Mommy's favorite restaurant, Carrabas for a late dinner. On Saturday morning we did our required tour of the timeshare and listened to all their rules and regulations. It wasn't difficult to say NO as the lowest price they could come down to was $28K AND $650 in yearly maintence fees. I couldn't even believe it, after we told them no, they actually offered to set us up with a mortgage. After catching my breath I told them with bugged eyes "If we can't pay for vacation up front then we don't go on vacation!! There is absolutely no way we will go in debt or MORTGAGE a vacation!!!" I think I a...