Lets Just Agree

Yesterday, I was minding my own business, cleaning out the shower, when suddenly I realized that I haven't done a blog post since like NOVEMBER.  Oops.  I think in the 6 years I've been blogging, I've done 2 posts in a timely manner-introducing Riley and Emily to the world.  That's it.  And Dave did the first of those two so it doesn't really count.  The rest have all been late.  The title of my post usually has the word late in it or at the least, I mention it in the first line.  Dave says I need to stop announcing my faults to the world because it just draws the focus to it.  So here is the last time I'm going to mention it-I'm always late with my posts.  Always have been, always will be, let's just agree to understand one another and still be friends ok?  Deal.

This last Thanksgiving was truly one of the most wonderful I can remember.  We started off by driving up to Lake Tahoe where Dave's parents were staying for the week to visit them for a couple hours.  Debbi is the queen of holidays-I have officially declared it so-and she had a small feast prepared for our arrival. After monkey bread, shrimp, walks on the peer and some time playing at the playground, we got back in the car and headed farther west to Sacramento to spend the rest of the day with my family there.  My cousin Cathy has a new house and Thanksgiving was our first time in it.  It was a great place and we enjoyed dinner with my family, some play time out back and even spent some time at the park just across the street.  We had an awesome time there with everyone.

WE GOT TO RIDE THE POLAR EXPRESS!  It's in caps.  Because if the kids were here they would scream it to you at the top of their lungs while jumping up and down.  Mental picture accomplished.  My in-laws surprised us with tickets to ride The Polar Express in Carson City.  You did know that Aaron is obsessed with trains right?  You have to know.  What you may NOT know is that he is equally obsessed with The Polar Express.  He watched it about hmmm...50 times in 2 months.  Not.Even.Kidding.   We didn't tell them where we were going.  We just got them in their pajamas, put their bathrobes on and loaded them up in the car.  They had no idea.  We arrived and went inside a big tent where there was a gift shop and such-they still didn't know what was going on.  We lined up.  Then we told them what exactly we were lined up to do.  Aaron didn't get it.  His eyes got big but he couldn't comprehend it.  Riley surprised me by being beyond thrilled-eyes wide, grin the size of Texas, and hopping up and down on his toes for barely being able to contain his excitement.  Then the train pulled up before us.  Aaron had never seen one driving on a track up close and he started to get very excited.  He looked at Dave who was holding him and said, "Look Dad!  A TTTRRRAAAIINNN!  Can we go see it???"  Dave looked at him and said quietly, "Aaron, we get to go ON it.  It's the Polar Express and we are going to ride it!"  Aaron took Dave's face in his hands and repeated every word back to him.  Like don't you dare trick me Dad, could this be real?!!  It was the cutest thing ever.  We loaded up on the train which was filled with christmas lights and rode slowly to the "North Pole" while they served hot chocolate and cookies and read The Polar Express out loud to the kids.  Aaron spent the first 10 minutes with his face pressed up to the window.  We arrived at The North Pole and they had houses lit up and "elves" dancing around.  And then Santa appeared.  He boarded the train and on the way back to the station visited each and every child and gave them a bell.  It was a truly magical night that the kids will never forget!

Was Christmas too quick for anyone else?  I wasn't even CLOSE to having everything ready by the weekend before.  I was out there with the crazy crowds trying to get everything done and it was ridiculous!  But we got it done of course.  We had a full house for the morning and enjoyed every second of it.  The rest of the day was spent the usual Olsen way with family brunch right after and then pan roast (my FAVORITE meal of the year!) that evening.  I know I keep saying it but really, we were so blessed this last holiday season with wonderful family and two incredible holidays celebrated.  The only thing missing was a nap for Dave and I...

                                 

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we suffered a great loss with the death of David's grandfather. Norman was an incredible man and a wonderful great-grandfather to the kids.  He was David's only surviving grandpa and since I've never had one, he was mine too.  It was heartbreaking.  We know without a single doubt that he is in heaven now and in no more pain, which is so very comforting.  Dave's grandma-Margie, is doing very well and we are so thankful we have her in our lives.

This picture makes me sad and is so precious at the same time.

Well...that pretty much wraps up our holidays.  I expect you won't hear from me again until Easter/Aaron's birthday but hey-I might just surprise you.  Hope you are all good and had a wonderful holiday season! 

Oh Oh!  I have to leave you with one more thing.  A short clip.  A glimpse in to my life.  Which I am learning to enjoy every day of.  Apparently this kind of thing ends at some point.  Very important to remember.  

I'm Late I'm Late for a Very Important Date

With You!

This is going to be another long one, but hey, you've come to expect nothing less by now right?

Ya, I know.  At least I'm posting something…that's something right..

Let's move on.

Summer ended.  It had to.  The kids would've done pretty much anything to NOT let it happen.  I saw another post from the blog I told you about last time, with a Fall Bucket List.  I thought about it.  I sorta did it.  Maybe the giant Summer Bucket List was still weighing on me.  Maybe I got stressed out just thinking about another one.  Maybe I overdid it last time.  Me?  Overdo something?  Maybe…

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays!  Our INSANE birthday week came and went with more than one up-till-midnight-gotta-finish-this-one-last-thing episode.  I used to wish Aaron was born in the same week too so I could just get it all over with at one time but then something happened this year to wipe that thought completely from my mind…school…  I'll explain in a minute.  Emily's birthday came first of course and it fell on a Friday.  Riley proclaimed that he didn't want to share a birthday party with Emily this year, he wanted his own.  I tried to do the friend thing but with him having started Kindergarten at a new school 6 weeks before, I didn't feel like he (or I) was close enough to anyone to be like, "Hey!  My kid's turning 6, mind if I take your kid with us to ride some go carts?"  A nice thought.  Wasn't gonna happen.  So we made the day of their birthdays more substantial by having their fancy cake on that day instead of at the party and let that day be pretty much all about them.  Emily chose a dancing theme for her party (are you surprised?)  and I looked long and hard online for some dancing themed cake idea that I could actually do.  Dave and I gave her our presents that night and sang to her and did her cake.  She loved it.  The fact that her birthday fell on the same day she has dance class was a double win in her book.

                                                 

               

I made her that tutu for her birthday.  It was a no-sew tutu and thank goodness she loves it because I think it's just about awful!  Ok not awful, but pretty bad.  Oh well, live and learn.  I made her another one for halloween and it's much better.  Tule like this is just so crazy though, I have to learn how to sew so I can make something calmer…  *grin*

Emily's birthday was also the day of Riley's Jogathon at school.  It was a good thing because Riley was just about sick of all about Emily day and the relief of going to an event just for him was enough of a break to get him through the rest of the day.  Surprisingly, Riley absolutely fell apart at the Jogathon and I was very glad I had decided to skip The Littles naps and attend because 1 minute in, he came to me crying and freaked out.  Just too much going on for our boy.   

Speaking of our boy, his birthday followed on the next Tuesday and he asked for a Transformers Rescue Bots themed Birthday.  Have you heard of this show?  Best.Show.Ever.  Can't say enough good things about it.  It has heart, good morals, rescue vehicles and for some reason the whole transforming thing seems to satisfy the super hero in Riley.  Thank goodness.  Those super hero shows brought nothing but grief to The Littles who took the brunt of Riley's super hero powers.  He basked in his all-about-Riley day and made the most of it.  I had been so behind on his cake that at 8 o'clock the night of his birthday I was still working on it.  My incredible husband willingly stepped up and helped me with the Transformers decal-cutting it from fondant- and we finished it before bedtime.  A serious accomplishment.  

       

Why does my frosting always bubble up around the middle?  It's nice and smooth, it sits for a bit, it's not smooth any more!  Too much frosting in the middle?  Diane Clair would know…

Why, you might ask, was I so behind on Riley's cake?  Remember in the beginning of this book of a post when I mentioned that I no longer wish for Aaron's birthday to be the same week as the others' because of school?  Well here's the scoop.  Emily goes to school on Tuesdays, so she wanted to take cake pops to school with her.  Riley's birthday was Tuesday, and he wanted to take cake pops to school with him that day.  Two kids, two schools, two parties, 45 cake pops, up till midnight the night before, didn't get his cake done in time for the next day, no more wishing for a third kid in the mix.

There you have it.

Now, off to Halloween.

I might as well continue in my quest for the longest blog post ever and post about Halloween too.  I can't talk about Halloween without first addressing the best pumpkin patch in town.  We went there again this year after such a great experience last year, and this time I dragged Dave along with us.

                                      

  

 

We had a great time!

Here's some other fun Halloween stuff we did last month

 

They had 3 opportunities to dress up this year with class parties and all, so Emily and Aaron picked different costumes from our dress up box to wear each time!  Riley was dedicated to being a skeleton this year.  He has wanted to be one since he was 3 but when the time came, a super hero always won him over.   Until this year.  He LOVES his scary costume!  Aaron wanted to be a train so I found an example online and made one for him to wear out of cardboard.  Dave helped me with the all important accents and although Aaron wore it for all of 3 minutes while trick or treating, he loved the idea enough to make it worth it.  And our little girl?  A dancing flower of course!  I made her a flower hat and mini cape and a tutu and we called it good.  Did I mention she loves to dance?  *grin*

Honestly I could go on and on (too late?) posting pictures of the kids-I love to take them and post them and Instagram is my new best friend for that reason-but I'm sure you've had enough.  I'll try and update our Shutterfly page in the next couple weeks and put them all up there for anyone who wants to see more.  I hope your Halloween was lots of fun and that you've been enjoying this beautiful Fall we've been having!

Ok. Can't refrain.  I leave you with one last picture.