A "Magical" Day

Monday we went to L.A. to celebrate Rylie's friend Sam's 6th birthday. We went to heaven on earth for a little girl...the American Girl Place!!!

Here the girls are ready to go in! Sam got an American Girl doll for her birthday...Kit...she is so cute!
We ate lunch at the Cafe...it was the ultimate tea party! Each little girl got to pick out a doll to eat lunch with if they didn't have their own. Rylie has had her eye on Elizabeth for a while...she loves her! The server even brought Elizabeth a cup and saucer...not only did he wait on us...he was waiting on the dolls too...it was so cute! All of the moms had just as much fun as the girls did!

Here are Rylie and Sam with their dolls! Rylie begged for an Elizabeth of her own...and thank goodness they had miniatures...so she has a tiny Elizabeth! Santa was in the quad of the shopping center. Rylie whispered to him her wish for an Elizabeth of her own for Christmas. He heard her...after she said it to him...he looked at her and gave her a wink!

Afterwards, we were walking through the quad, and as we passed Barnes and Noble, we noticed that Magic Johnson was inside signing his new book. Of course, Adrienne and I were all over it...so yes...here Rylie and I are with Magic! He was so nice...he posed for lots of pictures with us!

Of course Adrienne and I had to get a shot with him...look how tall he is! Ok...yes, we are short...but again...look how tall he is!
So...not only did the girls have the ultimate tea party at the American Girl Cafe, they also got to pose for a picture with Magic Johnson! What more could they want! It was a great day in L.A.! (And no...Adrienne wasn't moving from his side!)

The Christmas Tree Farm

Yesterday was one of Rylie's favorite days of the year...our annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch/Christmas Tree Farm!!!

Of course...I made the kids pose for me next to the pumpkins...
...and in the corn!
The big tiger slide has always been Rylie's favorite! She loves to scream her head off as she slides down!
Parker loves the Rat Race Maze!

This year they had the bungee trampolines...all of the kids loved those! Rylie even did back flips...her gymnastics classes are paying off!

We were there for a church activity...so Shane was the root beer float guy...yes, root beer floats at the end of November...and yes...it was hot enough for them!

Any one want to guess what I said?! Just kidding...Shane HATES wet-willies!

One of the reasons I love So. Cal!

We couldn't leave without getting lost in the corn maze...and literally...we did! We had a great time!

Twilight at Midnight!!!

So...as I mentioned yesterday...I went to the midnight showing of Twilight last night! Adrienne and I headed over to the theater around 3:00.

Here we are at the end of the line...which was already wrapped around the movie theater, next to the trash dumpsters, by the man begging us for money, with ALL of our kids! At 3:30 we were numbers 156 and 157 in line...and 1800 tickets had been sold. The theater was going to be showing the movie at 12:01 in all 14 theaters!

So our plan was that I would stay in line while Adrienne took all of the kids to see HSM3, and then we had people coming to pick up the kids after that. We had someone save our place in line while I helped her get the kids all situated in the theater. While we were going in, we started talking to our favorite Krikorian employee, and he introduced us to his friend Carlos, who was also waiting in line for the movie. Turns out, Carlos had been there since 7 a.m. and was in the third group of people in line...like in the front of the theater...still on the main entrance sidewalk! Well...let's just say that at 4:30, we were numbers 20 and 21 in line!

So, I hung out in line, with quite the professional midnight movie going crowd (they had card tables, games, etc) making lots of new friends! Paula got there around 5. One of the people we were hanging out with was the big brother of one of her students...NO...we did not feel old...and NO we weren't the oldest ones there...just in case you were wondering!
Adrienne got out of the movie...and we had to pose in our BITE ME t-shirts for one last time! Jessica arrived around 8 with YUMMY burritos from Rosies! Paula and I made a Hot Chocolate/Coffee Run around 9...we had a great time just hanging out! Thank goodness it was a warm night in November...I can't imagine all of the people waiting around the country in the snow!
At 10 they let us into the theater! We chose number 14...we were informed by the people we were in line with that the double digit theaters are the bigger ones...who knew! We had AWESOME seats...and again...NO we weren't the oldest ones in the room! Around 11 Jessica and I needed to wake up a little bit...so we roamed through the entire movie theater, checking out all of the different theaters, just to see how crowded it was...it was pretty packed...and there were still kids coming!

This picture was taken in the dark, just before the previews...the flash was very bright! Adrienne has a pic of all 4 of us on her camera...as soon as I have that...I'll add it in!

FINALLY...at 12:01 they started the previews! And after TONS of those they started the movie!!! Yes, this picture was taken of the screen...no I wasn't the only dork taking a picture of it! (Adrienne did too!)

So...to my opinion of the movie. Honestly, I HATED IT! As a true fan of the book, who has read it more times than anyone needs to know, it didn't even come near to doing the amazing love story that it is justice. Now, mind you, I do realize that the movie is never as good as the book, and I really didn't have very high expectations of the film going into it...but I had hoped to be pleasantly surprised...not completely disappointed...like I was!

I thought there was NO character/story development. It seemed very choppy, and I honestly don't know if a person who hasn't read the book would even get what was going on. Nothing was ever explained and Jasper was killing me! As my friend pointed out, he reminded me of a bad Edward Scissorhands! Emmett on the other hand, he was pretty ok! I liked Charlie and the Edward was even ok. Other than that...UGGG!!!

Now there were some good scenes. I didn't hate everything about it...that was just my over all impression. I am planning on seeing it again just to make sure I hated it as much as I think I did, and to make sure the idiot boys I was sitting next to (that I actually did have to tell to SHUT UP half way through the film) weren't the entire cause of my not liking it. Of course, I will buy it because it is Twilight...but I won't rush out to see the next one at Midnight!

I had a great time hanging with Adrienne, Paula and Jessica! That made the night...so thanks for the crazy girls night out!!!

In Case You Were Wondering...

When the countdown hits ZERO...Adrienne and I will be there! We're going to the midnight showing!

A Saturday Without Soccer

Soccer season ended last week...

Rylie...about to do something great, I'm sure! She scored her first and only goal of the season in our last game!!!
Mason played goalie, stopper, and defender for the Strikers this season.
Parker played just about every position for the Flamin' Cheetos. He loved playing in the Under 8 division this year...much more of a challenge than last year!
Mason with Coach Andy at the end of the season soccer party. Wouldn't you know it...there was a girls U-10 team named the Strikers...and the league gave us their medals!

In U-8 and U-6, all of the teams get trophies. Here is Parker at his last pizza party!

Rylie with her first soccer trophy!

So...with no soccer today, I'm sure you all think I finally got to sit around and watch college football all day...right...WRONG!!!

Here is what I got to do:

A bunch of the parents in Parker's first grade class went over to the school for about 4 hours this morning and transformed the classroom into a Wampanoag Village! It was so fun! Here I am working on the Wetu!

Rylie even got in on the action!

Here I am with my room mom partner in crime, Susie! She is the best! Like the village behind us...it turned out so cool!

Parker Lost His Tooth!

Wednesday Night was an exciting night at our house...Parker finally lost a tooth! He got a caramel apple at Mason's soccer practice. He was eating it in the car when he said, "my tooth just fell out!" We were all so excited!

He immediately stopped eating his apple because he didn't want his other loose tooth to fall out...because "then he wouldn't have any more front teeth"!
So...here he is...FINALLY with a hole in his smile!

Halloween!!!

Here's a little recap of our Halloween Festivities!

The day started off with Shane making the kids orange scrambled eggs...he's so creative! Check out Rylie's scary face!!!

Heaven forbid the kids wear costumes to school here...LAME...I know!...so Rylie had silly hair day and the boys went to school in their PJ's!

It was fall craft day in Parker's class...so I got to hang out with him all morning...it was so fun!

Rylie's best friend Lauren came over to trick or treat before her brother's football game! Ry and Lo are "my girls"!

One scary family! Shane surprised me and came home with costumes for us...so we got in on the action this year!

We had the Woods and the Jordan's over for our Halloween Buffet and trick or treating. Unfortunately, the Jordan's had to take off before we pulled out the camera...and the Guitar Hero! (Mariah was the cutest Pebbles EVER!) So...here I am kicking Greg's butt! (It was his first time...so I took advantage of that fact!)

This is Shealyn, Greg and Karolin's oldest. She was the cutest Supergirl I've ever seen!

This is Jaden...Greg and Karolin's baby...isn't he the cutest EVER!!! I absolutely love this kid and love that I'm his "Aunt Kristen"!

Me and Mason...after a very long night!!! Karolin and I had a great time watching all the kids take Greg on in Guitar Hero...he was the celebrity of the house!
Rylie, Jaden, and Andrea...just before the sugar high hit!

We had a great Halloween! Notice...I put way more pictures of myself up than I usually do...I figure that it's ok on the scariest day of the year!!!