Many Happy Returns...

Merry Christmas

and a very happy New Year to all!

We hope everyone's 2009 was as blessed as ours!

Love, The Faulconer Family
Brian, Lori, MaryEllen,
Henry and Emmett

I am thankful for family, pizza, and that Soccer is over!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! Starting, as always, with the Run to Feed the Hungry. I didn't do great, but did better than I thought I would! Brian opted to forgo the run to play Football with the ward and then go to bed. (he came home cold, tired, and with a slightly black eye!)

We spent the day with my Family this year, and enjoyed seeing my Aunt Bonnie and most of her family who were in town from Southern California. We had a spectacular feast and the kids had a great time playing with their 2nd cousin Zoe.

Black Friday shopping was successful for me... I scanned the ads days before and was able to narrow down which stores I needed to go to get just what I needed. It also helps that I went with my sister in law Francesca, who could take the gold in the Shopping Olympics, if there were such a thing. (She shopped for almost 24 hrs. straight! I took the easy way out and went for a mere 4 hrs.)

The next day we went to "Happy Hill" (apple hill... Henry really likes it, and has changed the name for all of us.) with Aunt Bonnie and the family. Henry rode the Pony this time! He was so brave and the whole way home he said, "I'm a cowboy!" We all got treats and froze our rears off, which made for a very cozy ride home with the heater at full blast. Overall, it was an excellent holiday!


My cousin Lindsay, rocking the cranberry sauce.


Avery shares the gorry details of his ER visit and stitches just days before Thanksgiving.


Ashley's daughter, Zoe. (slightly younger than Henry.)


My brother Logan cooked the bird this year.


Henry and his pony.



MaryEllen has always wanted one of these caramel apples covered in chocolate and m&m's. I finally gave in and she only ate about 1/4 of it... guess who ate the rest?

The following week our big event was the end of the season party for Brian and MaryEllen's soccer team, the Kickaroos. We pigged out on way too much pizza (that's what happens when you ask Brian to order!) and cake, and the girls all loved being able to hang out and play together one last time. MaryEllen has made some really fantastic friends through soccer this year and we are so glad we will be able to stay close to most of them !


I made the cake. The little soccer balls on the sides were made of gumpaste and had each girls # on them, so they each got one.



Brian's coach plaque.


The trophy's were super cute... they each had a little posable soccer guy on top.


One last game of foose- ball before parting ways!
(Does any one know how to spell fooseball? I tried several different ways and got hit with the wavy red line EVERY TIME!!!)

Finishing the big fat post

Here are the rest of the pictures from the post before last. I'm so far behind!!!!

First we finish up Halloween...



MaryEllen, demure as ever, in her beautiful Rosetta costume. Did I mention I made that? It was HARD!!!! She'll have to be Rosetta for the next 3 Halloweens to make it up to me.



Henry was supposed to be Nemo again, but decided he was too cool for that. (he wouldn't put the costume on!) I threw together this Baseball player costume in 1 day by getting baseball pants and socks in the athletic section at Target, (yes they carry them all year round!) and buying a plain white t shirt and some iron on transfer paper and printing up Cubs images and his name on it. We already had the hat.. I think the whole thing turned out awesome!



The little fat chicken is always a crowd pleaser.

Next, on to Brian's birthday.

Thanks to all of our family members, we were able to get him what he really wanted this year! His 2 requests were the complete set of "Avatar: the Last Airbender" on DVD (pricey!!!) and A set of Adjustable dumbbells which would go up to 50 lbs each. (WAY pricier!!!) I asked our whole family on both sides to pitch in and we were able to get them both!!! (I also had to drain my Uppercase Living account to make up the difference... Ah the things we do for love!) He loved both gifts, though I don't have any pictures to post of either party.

I made him 2 cakes, 1 for each party... a red velvet layer cake (my new favorite thing) and a chocolate and butter layer cake, which I let the kids decorate with Halloween candy. It was so much fun, and since his birthday is a week after Halloween, I figure I will probably make it a yearly tradition.


Before...


The creative process at work!


and after!

Empty promises again! I never have time to finish! Next post: Thanksgiving and the Kickaroos end of season party!

P90X results!!!!

Well, you won't be seeing any before and afters of me. I gained 5 lbs. of muscle underneath my pre-existing fat. What a freaking waste of 90 days!!!!

However, Brian's results have been impressive. The after shots were actually taken after 120 days. (he started the program over, adhering more strictly to the diet, and has seen much better results.)

He'll probably kill me for posting these... but I'm so proud!!!!



Before...


and after! (Get me some tickets to THAT gun show!!!!)


Before...


and after! I may be biased, but that is one sexy man... am I right?

{don't worry about me by the way... I started going to the gym again last week and I've lost 4 lbs! It may take a year or more, but I think I actually do have a shot at getting the baby weight off! Now, for the unlost weight from the first 2 babies... we'll just have to wait and see...}

A BIG FAT post

I haven't posted in so long, and we've had a lot of fun events to document, so I'm going to try to catch up in this one BIG post. Here goes...


Emmett and Clara are kindred spirits. They totally love each other and are always showing affection. Maybe it has something to do with "Back to the Future: 3" ?


Clara in her Halloween costume... she's a squirrel.


MaryEllen's debut of her Rosetta fairy costume. This was right before the Fall Festival at her school.


MaryEllen's friends Kirden and Haley at the Fall Festival.

Apple Hill 2009





The ride there is 1/2 the fun!


Not sure why the weird face... she was super excited to ride the pony. Henry was excited until we got about 3 feet from the ponies, then he was hysterical.


The great pumpkin search


Our friends Matt and DeeDee came with us, and I was sure glad DeeDee was willing to go in the hay maze! (not my favorite tradition.)


Baby Envy?


This baby is CRAZY in the tub... I have a video for another time to show his enthusiasm for baths.


These were our pumpkins this year, Brian did the Tinkerbell for ME and I did Blue for Henry.


So I did my best but blogger is super slow right now and I'm too impatient to keep waiting for it to upload my photos. I guess this will be a 2 part post!

A little freaked out

I am very grateful we have a dog. Sometimes I complain about her; she is very needy and has some OCD tendancies, which can be hard to handle in a person, let alone an animal, but last night I was reminded of how important she is.

I always lock the house up like a ship going into a hurricane when I go to bed, but that doesn't keep me from being a little scared of all the "what- if's" when Brian is at work and I'm on my own. Last night at about 3am Clara started barking ferociously! This was not the first time she had done this, and in the past I have seen cat eyes glowing back at me from the back patio, so I usually write it off as some sort of scurrying animal. I did check things out this time, because she was barking louder than usual and much more angrily. I even let her into the backyard where she ran around sniffing for about 5 minutes an then came back in still growling. Nothing seemed too unusual, so I went back to bed and assumed it was nothing.

Then Brian came home this morning and pointed out that the front security door was standing open! I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check to make sure it is closed and locked before I go to bed. It has a sticky lock that sometimes tricks me, so I can see how it may have been left unlocked, but I KNOW it was closed. That can only mean that someone came up to the door and opened it. Sure, the front door was locked also, but I'm sure it would take a not- too- skilled thief to figure out how to get past those rinky- dink contraptions. Just the thought of someone lurking outside my front door while the kids and I sleep inside makes me shudder!

All I know is that I am grateful for a dog who barks at everything that comes within 20 feet of the house, even if it is annoying when it's just a cat. I will never complain about her again!

Walking to school

On days when the weather is nice and we are running on time we like to walk to school. MaryEllen rides her bike there and I push the double stroller with the boys and hang on to Clara's leash. (She would never forgive us if we went on a walk without her.)

It gets a little hairy walking back with MaryEllen's bike, but I think I have it figured out.


This is how I rig it up. (yes, my right shin gets a bit bruised up, but it isn't that bad.)

Then precious little things like this happen!