Ramblings: Jam-packed weekend o' fun

Alex turned EIGHT on Thursday and we celebrated by going CrAzY for the next few days....or maybe that was just me. The weekend was sort of a blur.  Jeremy's parents flew in from Washington on Thursday night and were in town until this morning.  The kids loved every minute of being entertained by Grandma and Grandpa Apples. 

(This name evolved when Alex and Maddie were little in an attempt to help them distinguish between sets of grandparents. Jeremy's parents live on an orchard, and the logical name of G&G Apples has stuck every since. And since my parents have the ranch, we'll just call them G&G Manure Factory. I'm still trying to get that one to stick.  When we told Aidan that G&G Apples were coming, he got all excited and screamed, "Yeah, I gonna EAT ONE!" I don't think he really quite got it yet. But after a few days, he has decided they are not actually giant apples with arms and legs.)

Since they don't get to see them that often, we let the big kids skip school on Friday which is about as exciting as Christmas morning I guess. I don't really know why--they really like school--I think it was just the thrill of knowing they were skipping and bragging to all their friends. Jeremy's brother's family even made the long haul from Dallas (heehee) to hang out with us. Alex spent every spare moment training Grandpa in a variety of sports and trampoline skills. He kept saying stuff like, "I'm turning this old man into a real football player," and Grandpa agreed because now he can throw a nice spiral. 

Grandma braved Gingerbread House making with the kids while the boys were napping (wise decision, Grandma). And that project just allowed them to make sneaky candy-snatching trips into the kitchen over the next two days until they ate it down to the gingerbread two by fours.

We had a little birthday party for Alex, complete with the chocolate cake he requested. I wrote '8 is great!' in icing and then Aidan walked up and stabbed his fork straight into the 'great' because he "needed a taste." Eight didn't look so great after that. I tried to repair it but it just ended up looking like I had a momentary bout of Parkinson's when I was decorating it. 

On Friday night we even managed to sneak out for a dinner with just the adults...and the world's cutest little newborn.  And Andrea, since you are slacking on your own blog, just refer your friends and family here to see recent pics of the little guy. Even though those 2 AM feedings would be perfect for a little computer activity---think of it as mulit-tasking for the grossly sleep deprived. And I'm guessing it would be a funnier blog when you're half asleep. Seriously though--don't you just want to eat this little guy? Especially in that last one with his little kangaroo hands in his papoose. I was mean enough to post this picture even though G-ma was in the middle of enjoying her enchilada and not saying cheese like instructed. 

I took a picture of Spencer and Andrea (who will from now on be referred to as "Spandrea" in Brangelina's honor ) with little J.A., who thought Grandpa was telling a pretty funny joke at the time.  I have mentioned the Fielding boys have the mouth-gaping-open tendency in photos, right? More evidence-from both Spence and the wee one. 

   

The worst news of the night: my purse with my Nikon camera inside fell off the counter when we got home. I realized the lens had broken when I tried to take pictures during our game playing later that evening. Jeremy insisted on testing it before he'd believe me...and I was right--busted lens meant no focus. I wanted to barf--I think you can tell that in this pic even without the focus. I don't usually haul around my nice camera to restaurants but I knew they'd turn out better, but now that was the most expensive dinner ever. 

Saturday was Alex's baptism at our church. (In the LDS church, age 8 is typically the age that children are baptized. They are baptized in white in a font (or tub sort of thing) of water--which Alex was majorly stressing would be too cold.) He was doing all sorts of jobs around the house Sunday morning and when I asked him why, he said, "Well, I'm like an adult now so I've got to do lots of work and more jobs around the house." If only that attitude would stick...

We had alot of friends and family attend and it was definitely a special little program. Maddie and her cousins did a fabulous job singing together and I was just relieved that none of her bootie-shaking moves emerged.  The boys were HORRENDOUSLY CRAZY, and left the room screaming about gum and finding the shoot-its (basketball hoops) in the gym. Luckily someone volunteered to play with them in there so I didn't miss the whole thing.  I think Aidan confused the quick picture-taking with a frantic game of head, shoulders, knees, and toes. 

Pretty much right after that, Jeremy and I had to leave for his firm's Christmas party. UGH is the only thing I can think to say about it. Finding something formal-ish with the necessary coverage is practically impossible.  If

I needed something that barely covered the business, then I would've had plenty of "dresses" (a.k.a. tiny, spandexy patches of material) to choose from. But getting all dressed up at the end of a long day, and heading downtown to stand around, chatting while everyone else drinks isn't my dream night on the town without the kids. 

 

Jeremy can't ride three minutes in the car without hooking up his ipod first. He has to know that he can reach Manilow and Archuleta in under five seconds in case he gets carjacked by a middle aged woman, a gay man, or a geeky tween. The idea being that he could woo them into submission and then bond with them over Copacabana. Here I am annoyed that we're running late and he's getting it all cued up...

The party's never as bad as I convince myself it's going to be in the weeks leading up to it, and by the end of the night, it actually becomes funny being the only entirely sober people there. We were taking bets on how long it was going to take before some inappropriate photos were taken in the mall-type photo booth they had set up in one corner. 

On the way out, some dude perched by the valet stand made about $1000 forcing everyone leaving the party to buy completely overpriced and wilting roses. The funny part is that he asked Jeremy and another attorney we left with for their cards because he needed a lawyer that would appear in Federal court. I'm thinking....drug charges? kidnapping?possession of stolen roses?? I'm pretty sure on the back of the Rose Guy's business card, it would read "Inebriated lawyers make the best customers." 

Sunday was much more relaxing--that is after we fought the boys for the first hour of church to keep them from running around and getting into the gym to "shoot it" again. They are so ridiculously obsessed with basketball it's starting to cause some serious issues. 

G&G Apples had a long day of traveling today to make it back to their B&B in Washington. We loved having them for the quick visit and hope we didn't wear them out too much. Today I had to get back to the normal routine that I've been neglecting all weekend. I tackled 8 loads of laundry, vacuumed three times due to some major cracker fiascos, attempted to scrub ink pen drawings that are carved into one whole end of the kitchen table, and grocery shopping. Now I'm going to vege out and watch a most cheesy episode of Prison Break--where the lead guy squints for a full hour. And tomorrow I'll tackle the rest of the cleaning and start on my Christmas shopping...Any bright ideas (or requests) out there?