The Kids

Found these two on the couch one morning before Christmas. They were both totally asleep. So cute!!

Marcus - All Tied Up

During the Christmas break my kids all had "Quiet Time" just so mommy wouldn't go crazy. You can all relate I'm sure. Apparently one quiet time Raquel and Marcus weren't exactly laying in bed reading books like they were supposed to be. Raquel had to get up to be somewhere that day and Marcus had already fallen asleep. So, I didn't go in and check on him for awhile. Once I did I found him tied up to his sister's scarf that was looped through the top bunk while he was fast asleep on the bottom bunk. I guess they had been playing and he was the bad guy and his sister just forgot to untie him when she had to leave. Poor guy. How he'll ever make it with two sisters!! And of course, being the good mom that I am, I had to take a picture before I untied the poor guy!!

Candy Trains

We used to make these when we were kids and my sister said we absolutely had to make these candy trains at Christmas this year. I can't remember whose was whose, but they all turned out pretty cute. Can we all say sugar overload?

Christmas 2009

Hello family and friends! I am guilty of blog neglect yet again. I can't believe I only posted twice in November and in December! Yikes! I will blame it on Facebook again and a little tv show called Criminal Minds. My mom is a huge fan of the show and I gave her the first season on dvd for Christmas. There was nothing on tv to watch, so I thought I would watch Criminal Minds to see if I liked it and I was hooked. Zipped through the first season and then borrowed the next three from my girlfriend Vonda. I have been ignoring everything, including my family, because I am so hooked on this show!! I just finished a few days ago and now I'm dying for season five to come out on dvd - not until this fall most likely! Aahh! And I have a tv crush. It's okay, my husband knows about it. Dr. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds and if you've seen the show, you know. He's all dorky smartness rolled into one yummy nerd and I'm crushing on him big time right now. Anyhoo, that is the reason for my long break between posts!!

We had a great holiday. My sister and Nicholas came up from Utah to celebrate the holidays with us. We had a good time fighting and playing games and fighting and going to the movies and fighting. :) I was kinda bummed that I didn't get to decorate with all my Christmas stuff this year because it's still all packed in Spokane. Oh well, next year I'll probably get it out at the beginning of November because I didn't get to this year!!

Santa & The Kids @ Ward Christmas Party

Christmas Morning

Now, I have to explain the next few pics. And yes, Nicholas - I AM putting them on the blog!! Every year since I can remember I ask Nicholas over and over again what he wants for Christmas and he can never give me an answer. I have thus threatened every year that I will buy him pink girl underwear if he doesn't give me at least one idea. Well, this year was no different so I decided to finally follow through on my threat! Yes, I did!! So, I bought him some pretty pink underwear with gift cards taped into the crotch. What? Did you think I would give him only undewear? There was a present, he just had to look for it!! It was ha-la-rious! I don't know why I waited so long to do it. I bet next year he'll give me some ideas, won't he?!?

Our Christmas Tree

My kids are really excited to be staying with Grandpa and Grandma this year for Christmas. We have a fake tree we use every year, but we get to go and cut a real one down at their house!! Here we are finding the perfect tree and decorating it later that night. Marcus came up to me when we were done with a string of lights wrapped around him and told me he was a Christmas tree - so, I plugged him in!! Merry Christmas!

The Long Awaited New Moon Premiere

Again, way behind on posting on my blog!! Aahh!! Here are the pics from the New Moon premiere. Rene, you can stop reading now and go to the next post!! If you know me then you know I had a marvelous time. It was so worth waiting in line outside for an hour and then waiting in the theater for another two hours. It was worth listening to the teenagers behind me get into a screaming match with the mom next to them because she wanted them to be quiet! Hello, we had like hours to wait and they're teenagers for pete's sake!! We had their backs though because they let us watch Twilight outside with them when we were all waiting in line. They nicknamed us their "Hot Mama's". Only because one of them referred to me as Ma'am and I about had a heart attack. I am so not old enough to be a Ma'am. Well, I probably am but I'm in denial. So, they made me feel better by calling us the "Hot Mama's"!! Sweet girls.

Anyhoo, had a great time visiting with Clarissa and Heidi and Susie while we waited and then we watched the movie. LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!! Obviously - since I've seen it four times already and will be going for my fifth time tomorrow!! Oh, and after seeing this movie I have totally switched teams. I was all about Edward in Twilight, but Jacob has now won my heart in New Moon. We'll have to wait and see if I can be flipped back when Eclipse comes out in June!!

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful as these three movie posters together?

The "Hot Mama's"

Me and Clarissa

And me and Clarissa's tongues!!

Bits and Pieces

Just some random bits I thought I'd share. November has been a good and bad month so far! The Good - I celebrated my 34th birthday, Todd and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary, Todd started his new job, and New Moon came out!! Yay!! I'll have some pics up soon on our night out at the New Moon premiere. The Bad - our whole family has had a horrible flu/cold/cough bug for about a month now. Everyone has had a turn being sick and my kids just seem to keep rotating it. Fine for a few days and then back down with a fever and over and over and over!! Aahh! Just be well!! We also had both of our vehicles out of commission for a while. But thank heavens we're with my parents so we weren't totally carless and I have a wonderful friend who let me borrow their extra vehicle until we got one of ours up and running again. I'm sad to say the van is not fixable. The transmission is gone and it would take more to fix it than I spent to buy it, so we'll just be saving up to buy something else. The tragic part is that my Twilight Mom bumper sticker that I got in Forks this past summer is on the van!! Oh well, another trip to Forks. Darn. Thankfully our other car was an easy fix and my dad could do it and now we're up and running again.

Lots of people keep asking me about our blog title. Why is it called the Shelton Seven when there are only six people in your family? So, I thought I would clarify for all the curious out there. We have Todd, me, Nicholas, Raquel, Marcus and Raigan. And yup, that is only six people. Three boys, three girls. When I originally started my blog I thought we might have one more child. Since then, I have definitely changed my mind!! But, I like the title so I ain't changin' it!! Plus, when we had our Great Dane, Lola, I counted her as a part of the family anyway - so it made sense then!! Now, Lola is gone and we're not having anymore kids and well, it's just staying. Besides, the number 7 is my favorite number, so for me, it makes sense. Now quit asking me about my title and just accept it!!

One more bit. This past Sunday we lost power for half of the day. My sweet Marcus just could not wrap his head around this concept. He wanted to watch TV and didn't understand why I just wouldn't turn it on for him! Here was our conversation:

Marcus: "Mom, you turn on TV?"

Me: "Marcus, the TV doesn't work right now. There's no power."

I then tried to turn on the TV to show him how when I pushed the button nothing happened.

Marcus: "Daddy fix the TV?"

Me: "No, Daddy can't fix the TV."

Marcus: "Oh. Grandpa can fix the TV."

He then marched up to Grandpa and asked him to fix his TV. But, alas, even Grandpa couldn't fix it. He thought for a minute and then came and found me.

Marcus: "Mom, you go to the store and buy a new TV."

Me: "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!"

The poor guy just couldn't understand why no one would help him with the TV!! Priceless. The power came back on eventually and he was happily engrossed in Spongebob just a few hours later. Me thinks we watch too much TV my son!! Oh well!

I'll try to get Thanksgiving pics up before Christmas!!LOL!!