You can thank me later

Ever heard

Joshua Radin?

If you answered "no" got to i-tunes and check him out.

Like right now.

Man, I love this guy

(referring solely to his music, of course)

Before I had the baby (you know, in my previous life with only 2 kids) Paul and I saw him in concert in St Paul.

A.MA.ZING.

Such a fun night. It was great to get out of little old Rochester (much as I love it) and into the cities. {Except for the part where Paul saw a guy with a gun walk right up to the other side of the glass window we were sitting at in the restaurant - and then saw 2 other guys come up behind and pull guns on the first guy. Then throw him into a van and drive off.

Turns out they were undercover cops. We did not witness a kidnapping.}

The theater district was pretty cool - we definitely need to go there more often.

The theater where the concert was held?

Well it was flat out gorgeous.

Not only was Joshua great in concert but so were his openers.

Check out

Amber Rubarth's "Edge of My Seat"

and

Gary Jules

(everything Gary Jules)

The concert was months ago and I never got around to posting about it - probably because I had big plans for the post, like including links to all their music.

So not happening.

You're going to have to go to i-tunes all on your own.

But I promise you it will be well worth it.

A few of my faves...

Sky

You Got Growing Up to do

Closer

Only You

One of Those Days

I'd Rather Be With You

Brand New Day

Everything'll Be Alright

Sundrenched World

Lovely Tonight

We Are Okay

The Fear You Wont' Fall

Winter

Sorry did I say a few???

Enjoy

Oops.

Last year, I made the mistake of showing this movie to the kids on Christmas Eve.

Alex has been terrified of the Grinch ever since.

Although she does do a great impersonation

"The, The, The, THE GRINCH!"

First thing this morning Alex said to me,

"Mom, I had nightmares last night! But I don't want to tell you what it was about because it was too scary. Do you know what it was? It was something GREEN!"

Can you guess???

update: Alex took one look at this blog post and said,

"That really creeps me out."

Sorry Alex.

Gourmet Christmas Dinner 2009

Before our family arrived, we attended the annual

Gourmet Christmas Dinner

hosted by our friends the Fowlers.

(Ok, so last year was the first one, but we loved it so much it's become a tradition)

Melissa is an amazing hostess

(obviously)

This year the menu was as follows, with each couple providing one course:

First Course
Hot Mulled Apple Cider
Boursin Creamed Spinach Dip

Second Course
Field Green Salad with Toasted Goat Cheese
Cheddar Cheese Scone

Main Course
Pork Medallions with Mustard-Chive Sauce
Caramelized Carrot Risotto

Fourth Course
Gingerbread Cake with Spiced Creme Anglaise and Caramelized Apples

Besides delicious food and great conversation we enjoyed a game of Snapdragons, a Fowler family Christmas tradition. And anyways, "Any game involving fire and liquor is always a great idea, especially if you are Mormon."

(thanks for the quote Meliss)

exciting, scary, fun, scary.

We may have almost burned the house down. Or maybe that was just Melissa's hair

Thanks for a memorable evening everyone!

Until next year...

A Minnesota Christmas

We were so lucky to have family come and spend Christmas with us in Minnesota this year.

Noah and Avery anxiously awaiting the arrival of Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Landon

The first thing Noah did was show Grandma which present he was planning to open on Christmas Eve

We spent a couple of days before Christmas at the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

The highlights?

Rides

(adults too - Avatar anyone???)

Good Food

Aquarium

Princess Tiana Barbie for Alex and Build-A-Bear for Noah

(Grandma spoils them)

and of course COUSINS!

My sister Michele, her husband John and their adorable kids Boston and Naomi arrived at 2:30am in the middle of a blizzard.

Alex couldn't get enough of "Meeome" and insisted on riding with her all day.

Group picture, except Noah, who is hiding behind my legs.

Shocker.

We headed home on Christmas Eve for a nice dinner, the opening of one gift each, and preparing cookies and milk for Santa.

Everybody loves Grandpa

Noah was so cute with his little cousins.

Except for when he shut Boston up in his room with him and taught him how to jump off of tall furniture onto the bean bag.

My sister probably didn't think that was so cute.

Sisters and their babies

Did I mention I was in bed by midnight on Christmas Eve??? Huge improvement from last year, when I was flying solo - oh it's great to have your husband home for the holidays.

Christmas morning arrived and we had a full house.

The kids are just getting started, but believe me, they provided all kinds of entertainment. Ok mostly just Alex. That girl is crazy-hilarious.

One of the favorite gifts this year was the trampoline from Santa

"I've never seen such a dolly as this!"

Naomi didn't have a clue what was going on but had plenty of presents anyways.

Lovin' their Christmas jammies

Um...Boston loves balls

Even Avery was happy as can be and all smiles

(finally caught on camera!)

Maybe it was that designer outfit Grandma bought for her.

Because, "Every girls needs at least one designer outfit."

Right mom?

Uncle Landon, snuggling the babes on their first Christmas.

Avery and Grandpa, all worn out

Another hit - plasma car for the grandkids

Alex just couldn't wait to watch her new Sleeping Beauty movie with her new Sleeping Beauty Barbie and her giant Ballerina doll

That night we all got to talk to my brother Tanner, currently serving a mission for our church in Mexico City. Once again, Naomi didn't have a clue what was going on.

The boys even managed to squeeze in some sledding - it was Boston's first time

Noah couldn't wait to show off his personal sledding hill

Did I mention how much fun my kids had with their cousins?

And this is the most snuggly baby ever.

Christmas day was great.

The next day we went swimming/hot tubbing at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel

Alex is getting brave (sort of)

The cousins enjoyed a movie (or a few) together

Sunday we all went to church together and enjoyed Paul's last day off

(He got 5 - sooo lucky).

And ate. and ate. and ate.

On Monday it was time to say goodbye. And it was hard.

Really hard.

So...not my most exciting post.

But a very exciting Christmas.

It doesn't seem like it from this post but it was a crazy busy 6 days. It felt like we were going non-stop.

Guess that's what happens when you put together 12 people, including 5 kids under the age of 6, lots of cooking and eating of way too much good food, holiday shopping, gift wrapping, staying up late and other holiday activities.

We loved every minute of it.

Thanks for coming everyone! It couldn't have been better.

(except if Tiff Randy and Madden had been there - we missed you guys!)

A real Gem

"What can you do about not having an itchy bum?" [pause] "Because I already have one."

Priceless:

A picture of the grandparents with 5 of their 6 grandkids.

Getting Noah in the picture???

I don't get paid enough.

Here we go.

He's in the picture frame...

Getting closer...

Closer...

And closer...

Made it.

Now if we could get him to look...

Or smile...

And we have a winner!!!

(or as close as we're going to get)

Uh-oh...

We're losing him...

Things are rapidly deteriorating...

And he's done.

SMILE!!!

only those present at the time will understand the significance of the above.

But while we're on the subject...

Quotes of the week:

"Grandpa, you are just so obsessed with loving me."

"I just googled great wall of china."

"I just want to sit here and keep pretending that fire hydrant is Grandma's house."

"The Circle of Death."

"You wouldn't eat hot tamales in Hawaii."

"Would you rather..." [there are just too many ways I could finish that sentence]

"Fork!"

"I've never seen such a dolly as this!"

"I'm not an American anymore."

"A year is a long time."

"Bosty and Meomee."

"That's Alex's favorite game."

"80."

"what the what!"

[That wasn't nearly as fun for you as it was for me]

But...

Hope your Christmas was Merry.

Ours was.

and maybe you'll hear about it next month

C.R.A.Z.Y. FUN

I could give you all kinds of details and tell many a funny story about last week - but for some reason (i.e. three kids) my "free" time is extremely scarce at the moment.

So I'll keep it short and get right to the point.

But...it was awesome.

First, my sister Tiff, with her husband Randy and baby Madden, came from Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with us.

It was their first trip to Rochester, I hadn't seen this guy since he was a newborn, and I can't tell you how much I loved having my sister here.

The day after their arrival, and the day before Thanksgiving, we had Noah's 6th Birthday Party at Soccer World.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Here's a few action shots...

I'm a great photographer, no?

But you get the idea. He had the time of his life.

These are the only photos I have of Thanksgiving day...

the babies lying in their boppys like perfect angels while we feasted.

But I can tell you it was enjoyed by all.

The highlight just might have been drinking straight from the Martinelli's bottles, which is becoming something of a Thanksgiving tradition for us.

On Friday evening my parents arrived.

And on Saturday morning Paul's parents arrived.

All just in time to celebrate Noah's ACTUAL 6th birthday.

Think balloons, more presents

and an ice cream cake from Cold Stone, per Noah's request.

Then the gifts were enjoyed

and games were played.

Including, but not limited to, the Limbo.

Which Alex is the star of - or at least she had us laughing while trying.

Noah was not the only one who got a gift that day.

My mother-in-law brought me (and Avery) this baby sling designed for the "overwhelmed caregiver" (seriously, it's in the manual - and I definitely qualify).

It is now where she spends the majority of her time. We both love it.

Thanks Grandma Gunn!

And speaking of Avery, she is much more alert and so fun.

She's full of smiles (although none caught on camera yet) which means Paul is going to have to give up this lovely imitation of Avery's facial expressions.

(pretty good, no?)

And speaking of faces, here's Alex's face after eating donuts (the top only) for breakfast (and possibly lunch and dinner too).

Sunday was the day Avery Jane was blessed by her father.

It was a wonderful blessing and we are so grateful to all of the family members who were able to be there to participate.

As for this family photo...well, what can I say? We'll just add it to our collection of ridiculous family photos - we're really good at those.

(although it is getting semi - embarrassing.)

Avery was a sweetheart during her blessing, but less than happy to take pictures afterwards.

(yep, definitely one of ours)

Paul's parents

My parents and youngest brother

And my sister Tiff - who had to leave immediately afterwards.

Yeah, I cried. And I want her to come back. And I've been missing her everyday since.

And I'm not the only one. Alex was so sad to see them go.

Here we are with our beautiful (screaming) baby girl.

(and someone please tell me that's not what I really look like!!!)

My parents took off the next day but we spent a couple more days with Paul's parents - this was their first visit to Rochester as well.

We were able to sneak in some Christmas shopping AND a date for me and Paul.

In summary:

8 days

13 people

2 birthday parties

1 Thanksgiving

and 1 baby blessing

Like I said...

C.R.A.Z.Y.

FUN

One Month Old

(Told ya she was fatter)

Love you Avery - even if you do cry a lot