The Great Elevator Rescue of 2011

On our way out of the library on Saturday I was talking to a friend. I basically ditched her mid-sentence when Whitney came flying upstairs telling me Tennison was stuck in the elevator. She wasn't quite sure if he caught his hand in the door, he was screaming and crying so hard you couldn't tell.

Here is the scene of the crime and the ensuing rescue...

The dramatic re-enactment of Super Dad talking Tennison through the near 30 minute wait for his rescue. He was stuck in the one with a front & back door- girls on one side, Scott on the other.

Finally!!

I wanted to tell him his rescuers had come with an axe, but Reagan said DON'T!

There was a key to open it that only the fire deptartment has. The girl at the library tells us, "When the firemen let people out it goes pretty quick." Reagan gives me a look and says, "So, this has happened before?" Stairs from now on.

3, 2, 1...

Free. I'm free at last!!

Tennison was pretty scared, but he had his new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book to keep him company. Apparently once the elevator started going up is was bouncing and the lights started to flicker. That was the cause of the crying and yelling! Can you blame the kid?

Whitney was the true hero of the day!

She jumped into action when she heard him crying. She ran upstairs to get me while Scott ran to the back elevator door. She was talking with the staff getting them into action. We were so proud of her!!

They got ice cream!!

Thanksgiving Celebration

We got our day going with caramel steamers and cinnamon rolls a la Tennison!!

Again, those hands. One day I'll forget how little they once were!

He's using a frother for the steamers.

We then went into veg mode...

Some of us read the ads.

Others watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

A little later they set up a net and played volleyball.

Thanks to Grandpa Skip they had a net!

Easy there big guy... you have some work to do.

 Like serving up the turkey.

Dad started drawing on his fingers and then showed us the little men he created. The "caps" were table decorations. Whitney drew a couple hugging!

Scott brought out a fun new game. We had to write 2 things were thankful for and then he read them out loud and we had to guess whose was whose.

Round 2 got a little creative in order to throw everyone off.

At one point Grandpa Skip had all fingers pointed at him!!

This one had a hard time hiding which was hers.

How lucky to fall asleep on the sofa with a full tummy!

What a day!

Pre-Thanksgiving Fun

What a rush! It never ceases to amaze me how much can go into one meal when it is a special occassion. We started the kids Thanksgiving Break by going out to breakfast and then a walk around our favorite park's lake.

Then we got home and prepped some stuff for the big day! Here we go...

Centerpieces ~ The one above were grasses and leaves from our yard. The one below is just some fun festive items we bought as well as gathered from the yard.

I can't resist those little hands.

Reagan got a great shot of us rolling up the cinnamon rolls.



 Looking forward to a great Thanksgiving with our family!!

Meet My New Neighbors

We live about a block from my new neighbors, and I really like them. They've never stopped by to introduce themselves, but I've kind of stalked them since they moved in. They are great, just a little loud... which I don't mind. I heard them all the way from their place to ours. It was awesome! I joked with the kids that I should really refer to them as my NEIGHbors!! Ha.

Here they are:

Stunning!

Big eaters!

Their place!

I have never seen such physical horses. They run so often in their little pack of 3.

I can't count the times I've said, "Oh, I wish I had my camera."

At the end of our street is an amazing farm next door to our new neighbors. I'd love to know the farmer, but I don't. I would secretly like for him and his wife to not have kids so I can inherit the farm.

A small view, but isn't it great?!

They too have horses, they are equally as beautiful, just not as playful.

This one looks a lot like my horse from when I was little, Holiday.

If I'm not mistaken this is a donkey. Still cute!

Forever 21... or not

Reagan has been asking if we can go to Flatirons Mall to find some shoes. It took me a while, but we went last weekend. It was my turn to take her on a date, so off to the mall we went. When we got in the car I mentioned we'd be eating at the food court... jumping with joy she squealed. I think that is so funny... we never eat at the food court, so this was a highlight. And I might mention this pizza place was slammin'! We got these crazy amazing bread sticks that were so garlicky and Parmesany... I was happy too.

Well, we never did find the shoes. However, on the way in we noticed that a store called Forever XXI was in a new place. Hmmm, if I have my Roman numerals right, that is Forever 21. One of our favorite stores and has the best deals on cute rings, my thing.

I made some observations while waiting forever in the dressing room... in the area us moms are banished to while our daughters only want us to see them clothed. Standing under what felt just like heat lamps at a buffet, I observed:

• What, you don't like them? - No! - Why? - Because they're UGLY! If you've heard this once, you've heard it a million times.
• A mom older than me in an over sized 80's shirt with a horse on the front, the length of the shirt. The shirt went almost to her knees and all I wanted to yell to her from the other end was, "Please, spare your kid some embarrassment and ditch that shirt."
• A girl saying, "It makes my hips look all the way out to here." I've so been there.
• Out in the "fresh" cool air beyond the dressing room, we saw two teenage boys in bathrobes with 3 sets of earmuffs each on their heads... like spiders. We finally realized they were playing dress up to impress their not-even-21-year-old girlfriends. We chuckled!

The kicker to my dressing room experience was this: I had been squatting down for a break against the wall by Reagan's dressing room. I offered to take a few of her non-wanted items. I grab my purse, the items, and head down the hall to hang them up. As I'm walking back I notice another banished mom took my spot. Can I tell you that not only were my feet on fire by that point. It took everything in me not to say, "Um, hell-o. That is my spot." That seemed way too immature and possibly damaging to Reagan. So instead I stood with my bootie turned to her and made it real clear she was tickin' me off. I had been in that place FAR longer than her and had earned that turf.

A couple minutes later Reagan opens the door to show me item #152. She gets big eyes, looks down, and cocks her head like, "Who is that?" In my head I yell, "A MOM WHO TOOK MY SPOT!" She let me into the dressing room, she must have felt bad for poor ol' mom who was acting like a tired toddler. She tried on a few more items and we left. That was when we saw the boys flirting with their girls, we needed that after the other mom incident.

We got a lot of laughs out of that day. Especially when Reagan tried on a dress for fun, looked cute, shut the dressing room door, re-opened it and said, "I'm stuck." I love my time with my kids. Dates are big around here, I highly recommend the one-on-one time. We plotted out the dates where we can spend money, and dates that have to be free. It has caused us to get creative for sure!!

P.S. I knew for a long time that I am not Forever 21... but I had some fun.

Cooking Club

I'm so excited, I started another cooking club. I did this with a friend of mine years ago and had such a good time, I couldn't resist round two! I love cooking and found 3 other friends who love it enough to cook with me. We'll meet every other month to cook, ditch the kitchen & go out for dinner, or BBQ with our families. We'll each take a turn teaching something new to the Club... no secret handshake, just a love of cooking.

I hosted first. My friend Sasha had mentioned wanting to learn how to make peanut sauce, so I decided to teach Thai Chicken Wraps with Peanut Sauce, Hot Sesame Greens Beans, & Ramen Cakes.

More ingredients!

~ Sous Chefs Sasha and Kendra ~

Getting the filling for the wraps started.

Pondering all things cooking... or just chattin'!

Kendra, well done!

Sasha was on those green beans and did a great job

with the peanut sauce! She even liked it!

The Ramen Cake was all Janet's, look how it is getting nice and toasty.

Kendra, Sasha, Janet and me... the Cooking Club!

Janet's Ramen Cake was yummy.

I made it again for my family and I wished she had!!

We ended our meal with Thai Fortune Cookies and ice cream. Words of wisdom from a  Disney movie: Shangi Hi, Hong Kong, egg foo young, fortune cookie always wong (wrong). 

I can't wait for their turns to teach me something new! Cheers to cooking!!