And the verdict is...

Even though baby was being very uncooperative - laying facedown with head toward my back - we were able to get a pretty clear butt shot. Yep! It's a girl. Laynie is thrilled and Gavin is crushed. Jamie is...nervous. I'm just glad that baby seems healthy. Because we couldn't get a clean shot of her face, I have to go back again in a few weeks. But from what they could see, baby girl is growing and healthy.

Santa Claus Came to Our Town

Laynie asked for a "big baby doll" and got just what she wanted. Baby Annie is almost as big as Laynie is.
Here's a very sleepy looking Gav with his remote control race car. Daddy has figured out how to powerslide it across the sunroom floor. Never can guess which boy will enjoy the toys the most!

Laynie also got a treasure chest full of dress up clothes. She's been in full princess mode ever since.

Here she is opening a present. She loved the "Bubba-dog" that Grandma Edie sent.

B-I-N-G-O! Thanks Grandma Edie!! We'll use that tonight.

Uncle Travis came through with an awesome Utah hoodie for Jamie. (He got a BYU one too! Hahahaha!)

Here the boys are working together to build heroes from "Hero Factory." Thanks Grandma and Guggy!

Here's outfit two of three...I'll have to get a picture of her in the pale pink dress.

Christmas was a lot of fun, and we had a lot more gifts to open than we expected. Jamie and I decided that we weren't going to buy gifts this year because our big gift is coming on January 2 in the form of a Vizsla puppy. The kids are thrilled! But it was really nice that Santa, Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles sent fun gifts.

Thanks Everyone! We love you!

But it's just my size!

We picked up our dog crate at PetsMart yesterday (don't ask about the two times they shipped it to us broken). For now it's on the floor in the sunroom. We put a special pad in it to make it soft and comfy. Apparently someone else thought it was a perfect place to sleep.

She dragged her giant body pillow and her blankie down the stairs and tucked herself in.

And the best part...she's totally faking! She's practicing getting Bubba-Dog to "sleep in his own bed." I've said the same thing to her a thousand times this week.

So here's the question: If I bought another crate, would she sleep in it all night?

P.S. The best part of the story is that she carried down the waterless vaporizer and put it next to the bed. We've all had head colds here, and I guess it's one other thing that helps her sleep.

Naughty Babies!

Caught in the act!

So while I was in the shower, Gavin and Laynie decided to finish off the chocolates from the advent calender.

Yes, that is chocolate across her nose.

I guess they are my children. Is there anything better than chocolate in bed?

And Mom, here's the picture I promised a couple of days ago but never got around to posting.

Thanks for the cute hats! She loves them!

The Annual Santa Visit

Since it's Rexburg-like chilly outside and I had nothing constructive planned for the day, I decided it was time to visit our buddy SC.

Yeah....it's always a good idea. The line was only 40 minutes long to get into "Santa's Ice Palace sponsored by Narnia." And forgive me for sounding chauvinistic, but it was totally planned by a man. No woman would have put 55-inch TV screens at adult eye level and had synthetic snow falling from the ceiling. A cool idea (and a great way to market the next Narnia flick) but the snow sticks to our carefully selected Santa-matching outfits. Seriously! Look at Laynie's hair. Can you say horrific case of dandruff?

Luckily, my kids made it out of the "palace" in better shape than the kids who were trying to ball up the snow and throw it at each other.

Then it got to the smiling part of the portrait. You can all see how well that turned out. The elf-chick (who btw was at least 6'2" tall) took three quick pics and then said, "Well...I think this is the best one." In the other option, Gav and Laynie were both looking at the camera but their mouths were open ala reindeer in the headlights. I asked Gavin which one he liked better, and this was his selection. Awesome.

I hope your visits to Santa are memory-makers!

P.S. Gavin asked for dog toys (I'm totally not kidding) and Laynie asked for a "big baby doll." We stopped by Macy's on our way out and let them put their requests on letters and drop them in the red mailbox. Honestly, it was a pretty fun afternoon.

Lil' Biker Dude

Gav's a natural. He hopped on his birthday bike and cruised down the street.

Laynie ran after him like a happy puppy.

This is what I got when I said, "Smile Gavin!"

Apparently it runs in the family.

I wish it wasn't so flipping cold! Then Gavin could be out there enjoying his bike now, rather than making me crazy!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

We don't do "friend" birthday parties every year, just the special ones. (Don't ask what qualifies as a "special" birthday, I don't have the formula figured out.)

SO, this is Gavin's first birthday party! He wanted a Transformer themed party and this is what we ended up with.

Transformers! More than meets the eye. (The cake and goodie bags)

The guests.

Gavin got a little excited and blew out the candles before the song was over.

And the most memorable gift...

Laynie's claw marks! Yeah...sometimes he picks. She's finally realized she has tools to fight back. Great.

If you were wondering...

...why I look green, wear nothing but warm-ups, am confused and forgetful, it's because Wallace Baby No. 3 is on it's way. Tres, as we having lovingly nicknamed baby, is due at the end of May 2011. My ultrasound picture wasn't very clear so this is the closest I could find.

Trunk-Or-Treat 2010

The Royal Family.

We had to get a shot of Prince Philip with his helmet on...not that it stayed on his head.

Do you see the sparkly pink princess tennis shoes? Jamie's a total sucker. The went to Target today and they came home with three pair of shoes.

Ahhh...the handsome prince fighting to protect his lady's honor.

Pumpkinville (two weeks late)

It was FREEZING with a Capital "F" when we went on Gav's field trip to pumpkinville (which is a total misnomer, but I'll get to that later.) Thankfully my friend, Stacy, had a bag of hand-me-downs, which included this darling hat. Too bad Laynie wouldn't pose.

Have you ever seen a cuter chicken? It reminded me of the costumes that samba dancers wear. You know, the type with the rows and rows of fringe down the pant legs?

This is our buddy, Titan. Yep. He's a big, slobbery camel. Gavin fed an entire bad of feed to him. Gav's cool with drool.

This is Gavin with some members of his class. The kid on his left is Matthew, his "brother." Don't worry he's not actually mine, but Gav would like to adopt him.

Gav going for speed on the super-crappy, super-bumpy slide. Pumpkinville is in Leesberg. That means that it's a little more hicktown than Cox Farms. (Nothing against all the Lesebergs we love though!)

See! I do have a friend! Laynie likes Stacy better than me too. In fact, she ran and jumped in Stacy's arms on Sunday when she saw her at church. I guess I'm just not that awesome any more.

Gav decided it was cooler to ride with his friends than with his mom (isn't he a tad young for that?). I did get a couple of fantastic shots from my trailer into his, which made it well worth being separated from my four-year-old for a few minutes.

See how red Gav's nose is? That's because it was cold! And after two hours in the weather he finally decided to put his sweater on. No amount of begging (or bribing) on my part could convince him.

Best picture of Laynie. Yeah...she's sassy. Check out that pout!

Pumpkinville is really just the Leesberg Zoo in disguise. And by Zoo I mean farm animals plus a few monkeys (and a camel...I guess Titan should count). The pumpkins for pumpkinville came in three cardboard boxes as you exit the park. Yep. And it's still called Pumpkinville.

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The good news is that this isn't the worst hair cut I've had. Anyone remember the Heidi Klum fiasco? If not click here.

My nine inches of hair is safely enveloped and waiting to be addressed. I just hope that Pantene will be able to use it.

Initial reactions:

• "Wow. You just aged five years."
• "It's okay. You just need more product."
• "I just want to know why." (Jamie)
• "It's ugly." (Gavin)
• " I want my hair cut!" (Laynie in tears)

It's done. It will grow back. It's too short to pull up in a pony tails (there are some really short layers). But it's all for a good cause, right? RIGHT?

Wuv Weft to Woose

Last week Gavin wandered around singing the lyrics to a song a didn't recognize. Perhaps that's because it sounded like "Wuv Weft to Woose." He and Laynie (aka Waynie) have a hard time with the "L" sound.

Finally I googled the lyrics (or what I thought I was hearing) and came up with a video from a band called Sons of Sylvia. The kids were entranced and built their own platform so they could watch it over and over and over again on my laptop.

Then they became the Sons of Sylvia. Laynie is apparently on vocals (with a lip gloss mic) and Gav...I guess he's playing the violin. When I tried to correct his axe and sword hold, he convinced me that was exactly the way they held it in Love Left Lose.

Here's a link to the video. You can decide for yourself.

Cake Balls for Breakfast

Laynie is a world class thief! I helped with a baby shower last week, making a few treats and attempting chocolate covered cake balls. They didn't look like much, but they tasted great!

Saturday morning I heard my fridge chirping (it does that if you leave the door open too long) and found this waiting for me:

She got the stool, opened the fridge, pulled out the tupperware of left over (which really means too ugly to serve) cake balls and helped herself to a few.

I wasn't kidding when I said they were too ugly to serve. Here's the recipe and a picture of what they are supposed to look like, if you're interested. Out of the 50+ that I made, I had maybe thirty that actually looked like balls and not...well...chocolate covered turd.

So it's done...sort of

The painters finished last week, and I've almost got my house put back together. I've been a little nervous to put holes in my freshly painted walls. I've got some things hung - the things that went back in their old places - but I'm debating on placing the old things in new ways.

Whatever. Nothing's going in the dining room for now, so here's what it looks like:

And here's the laundry room. I personally think it's a VAST improvement over lime green with flip flop wallpaper stickers. But, that's just my opinion.

I'm So Bright My Mother Calls Me Son

Please tell me you can see the perfectly round bruise in the middle of Gavin's forehead?!?! He found one of those old-school-plastic-popper-things and got it stuck on his head. Awesome, right?

Boo Box 2010

A few years ago my mother-in-law started giving (mailing) the grandkids awesome Halloween prizes. They've come in the form of books, bags, buckets, boxes and now lunch boxes, all handmade and decorated! We got the package today and couldn't wait to open it up.

The boxes have stamps, coloring books, scary-looking-rubber-duck things, a bevy of treats, puzzles, etc.

And of course a Halloween flashlight.

My sister-in-law Looli made the super cute shirts. I love Laynie's witchy boots!

Thank Guggy! We love our boxes!