Whirlwind!
Well we successfully crammed in two birthdays, a father daughter dance, a 10 year old mystery birthday party (with 10 silly girls), Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, and Emma's first ski trip in one week while at the same time managing a house with six kids. Needless to say the kids may not always have fond memories of their parents during the crazy holiday times.

So, Josh was convinced he knew I was going to rant a rave about how annoyed I am with computers on this post. I am officially not going to mention the fact that my email is down. Nope not one word about how I took his advice a year or so ago and started running my life solely on computers and an Iphone. He is so mistaken when he told me I couldn't make it through without mentioning that even my calendar is run off of a computer program and that if my computers (yes plural) stop functioning that I wont know up from down. Not a peep will be said about how I am unable to post pictures to this post at this time because I can't get them loaded onto my computer. Now, that I have proven I am able to make it through the post without so much as a word about my computer issues I can update you on our lives.

Friday evening Graysie had her first date. He was quite handsome (if I do say so myself) and a perfect gentlemen. He didn't just pull up and honk the horn he actually came up to the front door and rang the doorbell. He was let in and stood patiently at the door while she finished "primping". When he greeted her he handed her a bouquet of flowers and a nice card about how he was honored to be going out with her. He took her to dance and they had a great time and he even called to make sure he could take her out for ice cream afterwards. With my permission (and an ice cream request of my own) he took her to ice cream and he had her back home by 9:00. The only problem with the evening? Well now ALL of the girls in our family (myself included) want this same guy to take THEM on a date! A great guy is just very hard to find these days. Again, pictures will be posted when my not mentioned computer problems are resolved.

Saturday evening Emma had her birthday party. I had such a blast planning her party this year but I have to admit it was very time consuming (because I have time to spare). We did a mystery party. I downloaded it from a site online (clearly before my unspoken issues arose) and put it all together. Each girl had a character and a script and they acted out the whole birthday party. I had 4 other adult helpers who showed up and played parts of pirates, island natives, captain of the cruise ship, and rescuers. It was really fun and this group of girls really had a blast with it.

Our Thanksgiving feast was spent with my parents and my brothers family. We have most holiday dinners at our house because I like doing it and it just seems easier for me to do it than to lug six kids all over town. It was a really relaxing day and against Josh's wishes (see he doesn't ALWAYS get his way) we had dinner around 4p.m. and then spent the remainder of the evening having Wii wars. I love that thing! My sister-in-law and brother got into some friendly(?) battles and I realized that I am not the most competitive person on the planet (watch out John and Kate!Gosslins go ahead and have the trophy:)) but that my brother is right up their as competitive/insane. REALLY. I had forgotten! The kids hung out with their cousins all day and I just love that we are so close when I see them all together. I almost forgot to mention that my mom brought a mystery puzzle. You read this short story then you try and figure out the mystery as you solve the 1000 piece puzzle. Yep, it's only about 1/4 put together and still sprawled out all over my dining room table. Memories!

Emma went skiing yesterday with my dad for the first time. For her birthday she got all new ski gear and my dad bought a season pass so he could take her. For those of you who don't know, all 5th and 6th graders in Colorado get a free ski pass. She has always picked things up very quickly and she is determined to "master" things (wonder where she gets that?hmmm...) She said she did really good and my dad said she did good too but the story of her going backwards down a hill just didn't add up. I actually saw video my dad took of her and besides the fact that he let her travel down until she was unrecognizable it seemed like she had picked it up. She wont go again until after Christmas (my dad promised Kaidon some ice fishing) but then she should be going most weekends until soccer starts back up. All I have to say is that I have a GREAT dad!


I want to point out to all of you harassing blogger's that yes, I tried cutest blog on the block and threw in a background really quick. Although I almost passed out because I was holding my breath and crossing my fingers so hard it worked out OK and I can't wait to have some time to play around with it.

That's our update for now. Hopefully, with a little help from the computer god's, I can get back to blogging and posting on a regular basis.