Shrek: The Musical

When I went to New York last time, I went and saw Shrek The Musical all by myself. When I came home I promptly bought the cd and started letting the kiddies listen to the music. It is a fun cd for ANY car ride, especially the giggle wrenching dual of the burches and belps in I Think I Got You Beat!!! Everytime Wavee would squeal, "again, again" was simply too precious. Anyhoo, I swore that when it came to town I HAD to take Delainee. Then I forGAWT about it! Ü

At bookclub on Thursday night I overheard Kylie talking about Shrek and how it is playing at Gammage and that it is ONLY there until Saturday night--HORROR!!!! I went online to buy tickets and everything said it was sold out--DOUBLE HORROR! What to do, we HAVE to see it!! So on Saturday I tell Delainee to get in the car, we are just gonna go to Gammage and take our chances.

I walked up to the window to purchase tickets only to be told what i already knew--the show is sold out.
"Is there a chance that ANYTHING will open up??"

"Maybe," he says. "If you want to wait over there I will let you know if SOMETHING comes available."

Then we wait, and we wait and we wait. I start to get nervous, cuz the start time is fast approaching.

And wouldn't you know it he DOES call us up.

"Two seats opened up. Row 11 RIGHT in the middle!" he says

"Great, I will take em," says I.

"That will be $69 a PIECE," says he.

"Gulp!" says I. Ü

I am SURE the sick feeling I had in my stomach was showing across my face, as I considered actually spending that amount on the tickets, and trying to figure out how much Court was gonna kill me when he found out!

I shook my head, "I just can't spend that much.. :(" (and you better beLIEVE I gave him a poopy face)

"You know what? How about I ring em BOTH up for $75?" he says

"Let's DO it!" The seats were a-MAYzing. The show was so stinking cute. And it was fun to see the lights going off for Delainee as everything she had been listening to was LITERALLY coming to life on stage. That??? Priceless!



Afterwards me and my 8 year old hit Yogurtland at like 11:00 at night. I am sure all the hip college kiddies thought I was a freak for keeping my kid up. But it was a night to remember for us BOTH!

Living with a Pterodactyl

It has taking me two full days in my jammies, but about 15 posts later I think I am finally caught up on this blog.

This particular post requires a few segments:

My dear Waverly (like all my children) is a little slow in the speech department. When Delainee was born 3 months premature, we expected speech delays, but when Laetner followed suit, my MIL fessed up that not only did Courtney not speak til he was 3 years old or so, but that she didn't as well. Delainee and Laetner responded very well to sign language, Waverly not so much. She is a different breed altogether. We have been working with a speech therapist who comes to the house every Friday, and we have DEFINITELY made quite a bit of progess on Waverly being able to at least label items, but when it comes to actually communicating she mostly does alot of pointing, pouting and grunting. The grunting has actually gotten worse as of late and she CONSTANTLY makes this screeching sound that I can only describe as what I think a pterodactyl would sound like. She KNOWS that is bugs Court to death, and I swear does it more often when he is around just to spite him. So at lunch today I figured I should try and document it. Pretty much you if you say anything directly to her, she will do it.

While I was at it I tried to get her to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has learned this song in nursery at church. I heard her singing it for the first time about a month ago---or at least I finally figured out what she was singing about a month ago. I recognized the rhythm and the melody was pretty spot on, but the words were abolsutely unintelligible. We have come a long way in a month. You can definitely hear almost all the words---bear in mind that she turns 3 next month. Not sure what the rap intro is all about, but it just gives another glimpse into the weirdness that is Waverly.

So without futher ado, here is Waverly singing Twinkle Twinkle

and Waverly screeching like a pterodactyl (the very last one is what I am talking about)


Now I have another story that I will call "Creepy Courtney" that is directly related to Waverly and her speech.

Creepy Courtney

As I mentioned above, Waverly spends time with a speech therapist every Friday morning for an hour. We work not only speech but behavior and transitioning as well (since she doesn't communicate too much, she tends to get pretty frustrated pretty quickly since we don't know what she wants) Mary (the speech therapist) has been coming at 9 am on Friday mornings for about six months now, and pretty much it is ALWAYS the same thing. Waverly is VERY much a creature of habit. Mary rings the doorbell, Wavee screeches at the window until you open the door, and then Waverly runs IMMEDIATELY back to her bedroom where we always play and work with Mary for an hour. Pretty much ALWAYS happens like this.

Well... on our last visit we had been a little off schedule so when Mary rang the doorbell as usual, Waverly did meet and greet but then she ran back to the kitchen and sat down at the counter to continue munching on her breakfast. Mary thought this was great so she could see Wavee in a bit of a different setting and we sat and chit chatted about schedule for the next year a little bit while Waverly ate.

This went on for about 10- 15 minutes. Wavee decided she was done and started running around the kitchen. She runs up to my pantry door that was closed, but wasn't completely shut. She throws her body against the door so that it does slam shut, and then it immediately bursts back open. I was freaked for just a split second when out walks Courtney from the pantry. Ummm... cuckoo! He walks out in his jammies (thank heavens this consisted of more than just his G's,) claimed he had been playing hide and go seek with Waverly and then acted like nothing happened and heads down to our bedroom and shuts the door.

It took everything in my power (and I am sure Mary's as well) to not say something. We hadn't moved from that spot for 15 minutes, which meant the psycho was just standing in there the WHOLE time.

At that point we did head down to Wavee's bedroom and I caught a peak of Court sneaking out the garage door and he left to run some errand or something. He didn't return until after Mary had left and I just started laughing at him when I saw him, asking "What in the world???"

He knew the drill, he knew that as soon as Mary comes that the party always goes straight to Wavee's bedroom. He was still in his jammies and didn't really want her to see him that way, so he figured he would duck into the pantry real fast and wait for the three of us to make our way down the hall and then pop out and get on with his morning. He says he was HORRIFIED with indecision the moment he realized that we did not follow the plan. He had just about decided to come out, for fear that we would conduct the entire session in the kitchen when Waverly knocked the door shut and he figured it was now or never.

I can still picture him coming out, and still feel the awkwardness, but boy howdy I wouldn't trade that memory for ANYTHING. Ü

The Great Wall O' Cheer

I love getting everyone's Holiday greeting cards each year! We got a Thanksgiving one, and just received a Happy New Years! Did you make it to my wall???


Shame on you if you didn't!

(this post is CLEARLY sponsored by Costco!)

Happy New Year

Fuller tradition is to have a HUGE crepe brunch on New Years day.  We happen to be crepe connoisseurs over here! Ü  Ooh, i SHOULD have taken a picture of the spread from the special crepe shmear, to the orange drizzle.  We mean bid-nezz!

After breakfast we all had fun taking a round at Just Dance.  But the BEST was when the 'big' boys took their turn!  Meaning my father and brothers!  A little less conversation a little more action, takes on a WHOLE  new meaning! Ü  (I think the view is BETTER from the back)

Christmas Morning 2010

Our kiddies gave the first present of all by not waking Court or I up until 8:00 am to begin the festivities. And shockingly they were so patient as they waited for mommy to grab her camera to take pictures before the choas begins!

So here it is BEFORE the unveiling. Of course Santa's gifts were left out unwrapped with their tags....

To: Delainee
From: Santa
"What a good girl you have been this year!"

To: Laetner
From: Santa
"Woot, woot you stayed on the nice list!"
(laetner had been very concerned that he wouldn't make it)


To: Waverly
From: Santa
"You don't know how close you came to being on the NAUGHTY list!"

Down the hallway 1st was Waverly, who seems to have the same reaction as last year---she just doesn't get that Christmas morning is a good thing...Luckily daddy is always there to help her see the light.



Then came Laetner...


and finally Delainee


we spent some time reading the tags and enjoying all that Santa had left us(including the stockings,)



See this last shot??? That is the only PROOF that I was even in attendance on Christmas morning. At least I brought my candy cane inspired pedicure to the party...


and then we began into the 'rounds'

Outside of our gift from Santa, each family member gives everyone one gift. This makes up the four rounds of Christmas. In each round each person gets to open one gift. To help keep track of things each person wrapped their gifts in their own special wrapping paper---thank you Target Dollar Bins.

All presents that Delainee wrapped were in the polka-Dot paper. Laetner's were wrapped in the striped/Lined paper. Waverly's had the Words on it. Mommy's were snowflakes, and Daddy had the 'crazy' paper. I know it seemed cheesy, but it was so cute when the kids would immediately recognize who it was from and already be thanking them or being excited to see what a certain person had given someone else. Seemed to help it be a little less about, me, me, me and more about EVERYONE!

Laetner was especially happy with a little tent that Delainee had given to him. He immediately gave the box and Delainee a great big hug! Ü


and I missed my oppurtunity to have on record the words "You are the best mommy ever!" to actually come out of his mouth. **SIGH** He still wins the prize for showing the best Christmas spirit and excitement!

As usual, Court and Waverly steal the show...


Outside of EVERYONE having a bit of a cold, Christmas was aboslutely wonderful. We spent the rest of the day playing card games, board games, putting together puzzles, tyring out a new waffle maker, enjoying our new spoils, and of course a 'little' bit of wii playing--Elfis had taken our wii to Santa and he returned it to Daddy on Christmas morning with a 'few' modifications.Ü

What a great Christmas! Only 364 days left until next year right??? Ü

Phew!

Luckily Elfis DID gain his magic back, and he continued to report back to Santa until Christmas eve. On Christmas morning we found him near the scene of the the 'crime' and he had found his way back into his box, ready to put away until next year.


Not sure if he went back into his box on his own accord or if he was ordered there by the big guy after his devouring of milk and cookies.

Christmas Eve

We invited my parents over for a small Christmas Eve dinner. My first try at a ham and basically Thanksgiving all over again. We ate dinner, opened up pillow cases from grandma, played a few rounds of chicken foot dominos, and then Delainee gave her first solo performance on cello--accompanied by her mother of course!



What a nice evening. Papa and Grandmas headed home and the kiddies opened up the traditional Christmas Eve jammies to nestle all snug in their wee little beds to await St. Nick and his ELVES!

Tangled

So stinking cute!!!

Thank you Disney for finally bringing us some cute songs and a fun story!!! Best---Day---EVAH!!!! Ü Delainee, Laetner and myself decided to head out to the movies on Chrismtas Eve, Eve. Court told us we better get to the theater EARLY or there was no way we would get a seat. We did as we were told, showed up a half hour early, and FOUGHT the one other family sitting in the theater for our seats!

Near the end of the movie I got a little teary, so I looked down at Delainee to see how she was handling things. She was trying to hide her face with her hair so noONE could see her crying---but I caught her in the act. Once the movie was over she asked if I had cried. I told her that yes I got a little teary, and she admitted that she had indeed cried a little bit as well. "But don't worry mom, I only cry when I watch it the first time in the theater, I won't cry when I watch it again on dvd!"

Good to know....

Christmas Lights Traditions Part II

Of course we have to hit the Temple Lights as well, and oddly enough (just like last year) it was raining. But our night devoted to the Temple Lights also has a few other must sees.

First stop the house of the inflatables. There is this random house just off of Lindsay between Baseline and Guadalupe that has the most inflatables on the planet! We found it by accident last year and it is now a must see. Just south of these houses is a neighborhood we always drive by as well becuz the whole block is pretty spectacular. Then we also have to run by 2540 to see the huge snowman. 2540 is our first little house that bought, and in that neighborhood there was this house that would put up this HUGE snomman with a twinkling eye that you could see from Baseline. It now appears that the other houses in the circle have caught on to the Christmas spirit, cuz now along with the snowman the houses in the entire circle outdo themselves, there is a huge star, and a live Santa. Like I mentioned previously it was raining that night, and not many people were actually getting out of there cars, but there were 4 elves (dressed from the green outfit to the striped stocking) that were coming out to people's cars with umbrellas.

Next stop: Cherry Tree Lane in Gilbert. Yet one more neighborhood where an entire circle seems to outdo themselves. This one (sad to say) was a little sad this year. Not sure if it was becuz of the rain, but while we could see that decorations and lights did exist, not everyone had remembered to actually turn them on--BOOO!

Then comes the annual stop for hot cocoa. We stopped at QT, where everyone filled their cups and then the kids went CRAZY with all the flavor add ins. I think Delainee ended up with a french vanilla, butter pecan, and I went for the french vanilla with a shot of cinnamon hazelnut AND amaretto.

Finally we made it to the temple, where the rain had FINALLY died down a bit, but still was drizzling.

(Poor Wavee looks like a mental patient with that bandaid on her head)