Big Steps for Waverly

Very exciting times at our house. Still need to post about all the fun times that happened at Christmas. Especially how jolly old st 'sick'o'las must have brought something nasty with him down the chimney as my entire household began throwing up Christmas morning. Poor little Waverly is still having a hard time keeping anything down. But that is another post another time. What I really want to share is some exciting developments with our little Wavee. She took her first steps yesterday and luckily we got her to repeat her performance for the camera. She is only 10 months old---SCARY!

Pause the music so you can hear.

Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. Delainee really wanted a pink remote control car like Laetner got last year, but they just don't make pink remote control cars! I told her that the elves sent out a memo that they didn't have any more pink paint and was there something else that the elves could make for her instead? She thought that a chalkboard would be fun, and luckily they had one at Joann's. It was a chalkboard on one side and a dry erase marker board on the other--PERFECT! Delainee actually wrote a little note to the elves so they would know what her new desires were---too cute!

I love that the last statement says, "Please bring these toys Santa!" Kinda bossy if you ask me.

The actual week of Christmas stayed very busy. I had borrowed my sister in laws vinyl cutter and I made jars with the word 'sweets' on them to give as teacher gifts as well as gifts for my family. I think I made a total of 17 jars! Sunday we made candy trains at the Fischbeck's and the kids each got to choose a friend to give their train to. Monday night we had our Fuller Family F.H.E. Scott and Shelby were in charge this year. As usual I was on the piano while we did the nativity. Grandma gave new jammies to all the grandkids and she couldn't have had a happier recipient than Laetner with his new superman 'ba-jammies'.

Christmas eve was spent at the Fischbeck's for dinner, talent show and gift exchange. Delainee played Silent Night on the piano for her talent. She even did a grandiose hand cross over finale. She did so good! We had put curls in her hair and she wore her little Christmas dress. She was so pretty! I loved the grandkid gift exchange when the kids give each other hugs for their new $10 treasures. Our adult game seemed lacking in energy this year, and the pickings were pretty slim, but we ended up with a croquet set that the kids have LOVED playing with us in the backyard. Although it has brought out a whole 'nother side of Delainee that does NOT like it when the ball doesn't make it through the goal!

When we got home Christmas Eve night, we let the kids each open a gift-new pajamas. That way they would look snazzy for Christmas morning! I think the kids were in bed by 10:00 which was amazing, but Court and I had things to do before we could get nestled all snug in our beds.

I love Laetner's face in this---shoulda known he wasn't feelin' good!

Christmas morning started out great! The kids took turns picking gifts and sounding out who they were to and from. Lainee and Laetner both got magna-doodles from Waverly and they thought that was the coolest thing! I think Lainee's favorite gift was the make-up she got and Laetner's favorite was his bumblebee transformer until he realized exactly what his nintendo ds from Santa actually was.

After opening the gifts I went in to start making the kids breakfast when Laetner started to complain that his stomach hurt. I figured he had been snacking on too much chocolate from his stocking, but that was the beginning of the week from hell. Jolly old St. Sick-o-laus brought something nasty down the chimney with him, because Laetner threw up the rest of that day and the next, Delainee followed suit the following day, And poor Waverly couldn't shake it for 5 days. She would just look up at me and then ralph down her front. I took to tying a towel around her neck just to try and catch it before it hit the carpet!

Grandpa Fischbeck had been sick and we think he gave it to us on Sunday at candy trains. It started with Court on Tuesday, and then the poor kiddies got it on Christmas. At least we made it through all the gift opening before it set in. Ahhhh... good times!

The best Christmas present to me was that I never did get it!

Peanut Butter will definitely get that out!

The weeks leading up to Christmas are always so much fun because that is when neighbors and friends are dropping by goodies and gifts. Laetner was soooo excited when some friends brought by this cute 'gummy' ball machine. He steals a piece of gum and about 10 seconds later spits it out and gets a new one. Delainee for some reason does not like bubble gum, so Laetner has had pretty much free reign on the little balls of sugar.

Well, I was on the phone with Shelby--which has been known to happen from time to time, when in crawls Waverly with a 'horn' on her head. It took me a couple of minutes to figure what it was...

Yeah, that growth is GUM! I knew who had done it--the ONLY person eating the stuff, but I walked into the kitchen and wanted someone to fess up to it. Laetner just hung his head. When I asked him why, he said he just wanted to play with her. GRRRRR! I was still on the phone the whole time with Shelby and I said I better get the scissors out to which she exclaimed in horror! Good thing she is worried about little Waverly's appearance. She told me to get out the peanut butter.

And we did!

And it worked!

Now we just need a bath! Thanks aunt Shelby for the un-haircut!

The end of a Season

Yesterday was the end of our very first season of tee ball. It was a really good experience for Laetner to go through. A huge thanks need to go out to the coaches especially Coach Dewy, for all of the time and effort that they put into these boys this season. Laetner really has come a long way!

One of the best parts about this season is that we got to be on the same team with our best bud and cousin Crew Bob!

And of course we learned all of our basic skills like ......

fielding a grounder,

stepping and throwing,

hitting,

running to first,

watching mom and dad on the first base line while running to first,

playing with your shadow by placing glove on head and twisting body in varying positions, instead of watching the ball,

and last but not least,

learning what all baseball players seem to acquire without any practice at all. The innate ability to 'rearrange' yourself when the camera IS watching.

Definitely my husbands child!!

What a great season. We ended it with a family pizza party where they handed out trophies and cupcakes with their jersey numbers on it.

GO SHARKS!!!

Bearer of bad news!

I hate to be the one to have to break this to you, but

my child is way cuter than your child!!!

McCormick Ranch Railroad Park

Have you ever been to McCormick Ranch Railroad Park at Christmas time? It really is alot of fun. I think this was our 3rd year attending. There are train rides, a carousel, wandering characters in costume to take pictures with, sitting on Santa's lap, and just a really fun playground to get all those wiggles out after waiting in line for about an HOUR to tell Santa that we wanted a bumblebee transformer and a pink remote control car like the blue one that Laetner got last year. Hopefully Santa's elves can find some pink paint lying around at the north pole, or we might really be in trouble! But, the most amazing part was when Waverly did not make a peep when we handed her over to the big guy in the red suit. As soon as the camera flashed she even broke into a huge grin, but alas that shot was not captured. We really had a fun night and Court all I have to see is ASHER MAXIMILLIAN!

Who knew that Shrek was into Christmas!

This train behind us was where Santa actually was.
Thank you Santa Claus!

Breakfast with Santa Convict!

We had our ward Christmas Party on Saturday morning. Great idea to do Breakfast with Santa instead of taking up an evening in December. Anyways we are all sitting there eating our pancakes, listening to a gentleman in our ward sing 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland', when the fire alarm goes off. We all kinda looked at each other, but nobody really knew what to do. The Bishop stole the microphone right in the middle of the song and informed us to EVACUATE! We evacuated to a different side of the building than everyone else, but it worked out great 'cause Santa came out with us and we ended up being able to get our shots with him!

Once outside the building the alarm made an ever worse sound, and you can't see it, but the light was flashing and Delainee wanted a picture with it.

After the fireman checked everything out, they informed us it had been an alarm malfunction, but really I think it was all part of an undercover sting to arrest this man....

I know, I know, what kind of mother would let her children take a picture with a possible criminal. But we had come for the picture with Santa, and we were NOT leaving without it!

I guess we should be greatful that the alarm went off on Saturday morning and not on Sunday morning. It was kind of funny when the next day at church our Bishop thanked all of those who came out to support our fire drill!

Fuller Thanksgiving 2008

Well I did it! I finally was in charge of my first ever Thanksgiving. We switch which family we spend Thanksgiving with and this year was my family. (we are on the ever infamous "every other annual' plan. But having it at my house was quite an experience that I am still recovering from. I still do not know how Laetner and I managed to get a brining 25 pound bird into the fridge on Tuesday morning. By the time it had enough liquid to cover it, that thing was HEAVY! Court should just be happy that he didn't have to see 'turkey juices' that had to get cleaned up from off of the counter, the floor and EVERYWHERE!

The food was amazing --although my bird did cook slightly longer than Martha would have liked--and the kids seemed to really have a good time. The women even managed to fit in a vinyl lettering craft while the men watched some football. I don't think, however, that my marriage can handle this event again. So someone else better start gearing up for two years from now!

Here is the 'spread' before the feast began!

One thing I insisted upon was that all 34 of us manage to eat at one long table together!

And miracle of miracle, my children actually ate!

Thank you to whoever brought the soccer ball!

I am just so thankful that it is all over!

Cold Play concert on Thanksgiving Eve!

Court and I had so much fun at the ColdPlay Concert! The last time I even went to a concert was back in 1996---Sting! And I would not even consider that experience an actual concert. We were sitting on the grass on blankets for that one. But at Jobing.com arena we were 2nd row baby! Chris Martin was close enough to touch--literally. They had built out platforms from the stage so he could come out into the audience more, and he would actually walk right by me. At one point they even left the stage and just walked out into the middle of the audience to perform an acoustic version of 'The Scientist.' And, although my ticket said no photography of any kind, apparently security did not care, because everyone was snapping away and pushing record. There was some crazy opening act by an 'artist' named John Hopkins that truly made me want to slit my wrists, but once the curtain began to raise everything was perfect. On Viva la Vida the drummer was going crazy on a huge liberty looking bell on the stage. I guess he didn't realize his own strength because he broke the top of the mallett right off! Court got some great shots with the camera, which is pretty amazing since the lighting was crazy. The first video clip is a short 22 second 'keeping it real' segment. The last video clip is if a live performance of 'Yellow' for any of you fellow ColdPlay fans-so it is a little long, but ENJOY!

Thanks honey for coming along and singing all the songs with me!

Twilight at Midnight!

Yes Tara, I am stealing your title, it is just too fitting.

Thusday night was supposed to be bunko night, but a few e-mails, a few phone calls, and it turned into a Twilight movie premiere night! I have never gone to a midnight movie premiere showing before---I highly recommend it. We started out the evening at BJ's Brewery--YUM! I could live off of Bruschetta and Pizzookies from this place.

About 8:30 we headed over to the movie theater to start lining up--bear in mind that the movie still would not start for another 3 1/2 hours. Luckily we had a few children that saved us our place in line. We all camped out in the hallway waiting for the time that we could make a mad dash for a seat in theater #8. I think all passerbyers were jealous of our game of "Would you rather"

I think we made the employees a little nervous. About 9 'o clock they came by and told us that we could not enter the theater unless we were all lined up against the wall. So we sucked it in and made our line up!

It appears that I missed the memo about dressing in black. I didn't think that Stephenie Meyers' world of vampires was goth--but apparently I was wrong!

Instead of filling up one row, we decided it would be easier to chat if stayed in a pack. So yep, we spanned from the back row to the front--all 18 of us!

Oh my goodness, it was so much fun. Finally at 12:05 the movie began! Thanks so much bunko boobies---I MEAN babes!

I hate to write to much about the movie, 'cause I would hate to spoil it for anyone. I DID NOT love it, but I didn't hate it either. Lets just focus on the positive, shall we? All of the Cullen's were well cast and well acted. Except Rosalie wasn't exactly Miss All That---she was sporting a little junk in the trunk. She had the attitude, just not the visual stunningness that is Roalie Hale Cullen. Billy Burke was great as Charlie. The first encounter in Bio class was so good! Special thanks need to go out to "the wind" for playing a huge role in this movie. THE kiss was sooo, sooo, good (and then immediately awkward) but all and all it was so fun to just see it all come to life. All I can say is Jacob better get a nose job if they even think about filming New Moon.

So what did everyone else think?

Meridian Family Picnic

Every semester our elementary school has a family picnic at school. Everybody brings their blankets and scrambles for the little bit of shade that their is by the Basketball Court and we get to spend lunchtime with the kids. I think this was our 3rd one since Delainee has been in kindergarten last year. Usually we do the old drive thru at McDonalds, but this year Shelby and I decided a healthier (and yummier option for that matter) would be Steve's Krazy Sub. Soooo, I dropped Shelby off at school to save us our 'spot' and I went and picked up nine sub sandwiches and chips and drinks for our whole group. Someone should have taken a shot of me trying to carry all of this stuff in, but it all worked out great and it was a perfect day.

Here is part of our group as they chow....

Laetner loves his 'brown juice'
And thank you Shelby for taking some great shots of me and my kids!

I really need to cherish these moments when my kiddies aren't embarrassed to come sit on my lap and be seen by their friends.

I hope they never get to embarrassed.

Viva la Coldplay!!!

I LOVE the band Coldplay, and they will be performing in Glendale on November 26th. I asked Court pretty please if we could get some tickets and 'we' decided that after our NYC trip we probably didn't need to spend money on another 'show'---BUMMER! So I hear on the radio that they are giving away tickets for the show if you call in as the 25th caller when they play a certain song. Right, like those are great odds. But after recently reading a book called "The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio", I thought I should try my hand at a contest! I turned the radio on at 7:20 to hear what the song of the day was---it was CLOCKS btw---and then my poor household had to listen ALLLLLL day long til they finally played the magical tune at 4:45. I had my house phone in one hand and my cell phone in the other, whilst Court sat with his cell phone in one hand and his blackberry in the other. We dialed our phones to 260-0969 and waited for the phones to start ringing, when we got a horrific message that this number is currently out of service. Immediately Court shouts out that is must be a 602 area code so we hang up and proceeded to redial all of our phones with the new correct number. My cell phone was in my left hand and I am not as skillful with my left hand, so when I could hear the phone actually ringing through the speaker phone, I figured I had dialed wrong. Whilst my left hand is ringing I am hanging up my right hand and redialing and then I finally make it back to my cell phone to check which number I actually dialed, when to my amazement it appears to be the correct number. This whole time the phone just keeps ringing and ringing. Finally someone picks up the phone, and I don't think he said anything other than "Mix 96.9" so I waited an instant and blubbered out, "So, am I the 25th caller???"

Indeed I was and I won 3rd row tickets to go see COLDPLAY!!!!!

So if you were listening to the radio yesterday and you heard some deejay berate the caller about a delayed reaction and that her name was Julie, then yeah, that was me!

Hope everyone had a very happy halloween.

Halloween is a bit overwhelming by the time you make it through the ward trunk or treat, the neighborhood block party, the 2 family parties, and the actual night itself. These pictures all happened long before we actually made it the 31st...

This year by the time we made it to Friday, I think the kids had had ENOUGH---candy that is! We met with our cousins to eat pizza before setting out with full bellies---as to avoid trick or treating snacking-- and then we only managed to go two streets before the kids were begging to go back home. Believe me, I am not complaining, I am just surprised thats all. But because the kids weren't all about the candy, they would take an evaluation of the house, and if its decorations seemed Halloweenish enough than it was worth hoofing up to the front door to get the goods. Last year Laetner was sooooo excited by any and all decorations from Halloween onward through Christmas, and I was so sad to think that by this year he would have outgrown it---he has NOT in any way, shape or form! I hope he never outgrows it. This blown up Frankenstein 'lives' around the corner from us and everyday we drove by it Laetner would exclaim,'Frankenstein is dead!" Thank goodness everynight the inflatables 'come back to life' "Put him in a body bag, Johnny!"

Halloween was the one night we finally got out the black hairspray for our little witch Delainee

They are hard to see, but she is trying to show off little press on nails that had black cats on them!

And of course some obligatory group shots....What a group!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!