Watch out for the rolling snowball!

We made our annual trip up to Flagstaff to play in the snow and visit the reindeer. This time Aubreigh got to come along.

Spelling Bee

Afton won her class spelling bee and went on as representative to the school spelling bee! We are very proud of her!

Afton is eight!

Our beautiful little Afton turned eight and was baptised this last Saturday. We are proud of her example and are grateful for her spirit in our home.

Halloween 2009

Fairy Good Times

For her special 8th birthday, Afton chose to have a "fairy" birthday party. She invited some of her pixie pals and we had a magical time!

We manufactured our own vials of pixie dust and every one was christened with their own new fairy moniker using the magical fairy wand...:*

We finished off with tiny fairy cupcakes and pixie punch. Everyone had a magical time!

Doing Disney in the Fall

Chicken what...?

OH- our Jorja....Always something new! She has got quite the imagination and personality. She comes up with stuff--well, that we don't know where she comes up with it from. How's that for an awkward sentence? Lately, she has been in naughty mode and has received quite a few swats or spankings (depending on who gives them). The first time my husband reached back and swatted her leg-- because she was hanging upside down in the backseat while we were driving down the highway and she had been asked several times to sit in her booster and put on her seat belt-- she cried out, "Great! Now I have a chicken leg!!" I'm laughing as I write this- as I also did while driving during this incident. My husband is much better at keeping a straight face during Jorja's episodes, so he asks her "What do you mean, chicken leg?" To which she reponded in a weepy, matter of fact way, "Well, just look at it. What do you think?" Which almost awarded her ANOTHER chicken leg, but Doug restrained himself.

We can only decipher that she means it's tingly and rubbery like a chicken?

So, of course there have been many chicken body part sightings throughout this last two weeks- BUT the crowning glory came last night, as it inevitably would, after Doug found her painting the wall with an unknown substance and I heard, "Great! Now I have a chicken butt!!"

Vague Wonderings

Why is it that as you get into the higher numbers of clothing sizes, people think you have a secret desire to join the circus or become a human billboard? Just because I'm "plus-sized" doesn't mean I've shoved all my taste down the hill in a grocery cart. No, I don't like bright, blaring colors slammed together in a frenetic print. I don't want anybody to think I'm more inwardly crazy than I already am. I also don't want to advertise SeanJohn or Babyphat or anyone else. What do I personally have to gain from a t-shirt that says" Eat at Joe's- I obviously do.....alot" ? I don't need extra gauze or gold studs to bring major attention to myself, because when I'm in an enclosed space- let's face it- I'm hard to miss. I don't need to hurt someone with my gold studs or lame' belt as I'm passing by. Listen up, designers of America, big people like jeans too! and not with elastic in the back or giant pleats and leather lace-ups in the front! I'm pretty sure I can make it into a pair of jeans with out an attached, bright pink shoehorn(new accessory!) or the corset laceups.
Now excuse me as I go and change- these red leather pants are making me sweat......

JOJO's Princess Party

Jorja turned 5! on July 1st. We celebrated with a Princess Party, inviting all of her princess pals who could clear their busy calendars for that special day.

All of the princesses were there, from Ariel to Jasmine, all decked out in their finest. There were were even a few princes present, which rounded it all out nicely! We had great fun decorating our new crowns and jumping in the royal bouncy house........

We played the Angelina Ballerina Ballet game and showed off all of our best ballet positions.....

Played Pretty, Pretty Princess (or Handsome, Handsome Prince) depending on who was IT.....

Afterwards, there was the feast complete with flower sandwiches, Princess Pringles and Princess punch!

The finale came with the presentation of not one, but TWO cakes!

The first was an attempt by Mom in the form of a Royal Castle Cake.

The last, but definitely not least, was the magnificent Princess Cake, consisting of one Barbie and her 5 cake mix dress-made by our dear friend and wonder cake decorator-Sandy Wearne- Thanks Sandy!!!

At long last, the princesses and princes bid us adieu and we were left with a Precious Princess Jorja who made a beautiful, 5 yr old birthday girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO! WE LOVE YOU!

Family Reunion at Fool's Hollow

This June we headed up the hill to get together with the Fuller clan. Chris and Myrona were in charge and had some fun times planned for us.

We had a talent show and crafts.

Uncle Scott brought up some canoes and we all had a turn at the oars.

We enjoyed seeing everyone and spending some time in the great outdoors!

Newsflash!

Now hear this!!!! Heather has a black thumb! Not only does she kill plants, but she keeps them from growing in her garden. Does TRYING to grow a garden count???? or am I on that glowing road to you-know-where that is paved with good intentions?....and dead plants.

Seen and Heard in the Fuller Household......

At LoLo's Chicken & Waffles last Wednesday:
"Mah --um! I'm capable of ordering for myself!" - Jorja pointing to the jumbo platter....

"This place is a slice of Heaven!" Afton- mid-mouthful....

Everywhere in our home lately:

"That's RIDONCULOUS!"

Little Green Men Strike Again!

Well--it happened again.......the little people struck and our milk was green! This was much to the delight of our girls who wander throughout the house muttering aloud warnings for a week in advance to any leprechauns who might be listening nearby. "Our milk BETTER not be green again this year ......! We've put traps in the fridge....!"
This time, in addition to the green milk, there were pieces of green leprechaun gold left haphazardly in the fridge and in a trail on the kitchen floor. I remarked that we must have almost caught them in the act, because they seem to have left in a hurry, to which my clever husband added that he was almost overrun by what he thought was a giant green rat this morning! He also added that he must of scared the little guy half to death as he escaped quickly farting shamrocks all the way! This was infinitely amusing to my little ones and far better than any warnings they could have mustered.

The Latest Seen and Heard at the Fuller Household

Afton: "This year, when we start our new class in church, I think I'm graduating into the Violent 8's......."

No dear, I think that's Valiant 8's (for 8 yr-olds), but your teachers may agree more with you than with me!

Jorja: "Boy! You're Bunco Buddies sure must have been hungry!!" as she surveyed the table upon coming downstairs. Unbeknownst to her, I had already put most of the Lettuce Wraps, cake and candy away before she came down to raid.

"YOU GUYS REALLY HAVE A BAD ATTITUDE!!!!!!!!!" yelled from her bedroom after being sent to bed and being ignored after many attempts to lure Doug and I into her lair to read her yet ANOTHER bedtime story or give her water.

Breaking news...

I should have posted this back in December when it happened, but I am behind -so - better late than never. The Bonds had a Christmas party for adults and we all brought a White Elephant gift. I was feeling rushed and melancholy while getting ready for the party, so I picked up something at the Goodwill on the fly. Despite major expectations that I would, AGAIN, show up with something clown related, I came with something different and somewhat disturbing.

Amazingly enough, these two frightening creatures became the "hot thing" of the evening. I watched as three of my grown brothers fought over Watto and Darth Maul (I personally think it's odd that I know these names-but my brother-in-law Chris would be proud). There were claims that they were for the children (bring on the nightmares), but it became clear that the contest was closer to home. One brother threatened to never let another brother accompany him to the movies again, if he stole the objects of desire. Another kept claiming-"but they're for my boys".....Another -when confronted with the fact that he had no children, said they were for the children of the person he was in fact trying to steal them from. What?! After all was said and done, these objects that I figured I would probably be taking home with me, were hustled away and hidden by the victor, while others pouted and threatened to carry out aforementioned threats. Bonds are not the most gracious winners.

After that, we played a couple of games, the most amusing of which was where you had to come up with an answer about your spouse in one word that started with the first letter of your last name. The all-time favorite was when Carrie came up with "Beaches" when asked to describe her husband when they were first dating. My oldest brother looked on -mortified- as everyone else broke out into "Wind Beneath My Wings" and dubbed him "Uncle Beach"from there on out. His wife claimed it was a movie they saw at the time, but we were sure that it was a comment on his sensitivity-but I digress...

I think we came out the winners in general, because we went home with a highly amusing, if not somewhat twisted book of postcards called "Breaking bad news with baby animals". Inside are tons of adorable animals delivering news such as "You're bankrupt." You get the idea.....In honor of this highly amusing book, I thought I would come up with some of my own.

Goodtimes On Mt. Lemmon....