Merry Christmas to All...And to All a Good Night

Santa gave the boys a group gift that they all enjoyed until Ben deflated it while they were inside and it scared Carter half to death!

Poor little Carter James received the 24 hr. stomach flu complete with vomit and diarrhea

I'm guessing that little note means Merry Christmas...I'll have to ask Alec

There's nothing like getting matching slippers and a shirt just like your Father-in-Law. Oh well, nobody seemed to mind.

Oh yea, then there was the issue of the UNINVITED Christmas mouse in the pantry. We never saw the little stinker, buy it took my dad and Ben 2 hours to empty, vacuum and re-arrange the entire pantry after we found one dropping on each shelf!

We finally made some traditional pork tamales, chicken tamales and Jalapeno and cheese tamales and they turned out quite good considering it was my first time making them.



Yes!! Christmas is over. I was getting tired of all of the package shaking and Alec telling me that he wondered if "so-called Santa" was going to put anything in his stocking. It is so sad when kids realize Santa is mom and dad and then they feel obligated to tell everyone including the younger siblings that Santa is a sham. Oh well, I guess it is what it is. We will do our best to keep Santa alive for Ethan and Carter while we can.

The good part was that all of my immediate family came out from California to spend the holiday with us. It was the first time they have ever come to our home for Christmas and I hope it won't be the last given all of the little disasters that happened while they were here!

Annalise Gets Hitched

Mr. and Mrs. Kimball Lewis

Carter "Playing Dead" for grandpa at the reception

Kissin cousins

I got really lucky when I married into Ben's family. They all genuinely love and support each other. His wonderful sister Annalise married an equally wonderful man last week. Welcome to the familia Captain Lewis.

We drove to Utah for what seemed like an eternity...got lost in Orem, then in Pleasant Grove...then finally arrived at the home we were staying at...THEN got ready for the reception and finally made it 10 hours after leaving Colorado!!!

It was a nightmare to get there, but we had a fabulous time once we arrived! We enjoyed visiting with all of the relatives, listened to Alec play a few tunes on a Baby Grand and gave Ben's parents a much deserved minivan for Christmas (it was a group gift from all of the Ahlstrom kids). Good times.

First Snow of the Season

Our first snow of the season hit last night on Friday, November 28th. And it was... in Alec's words, "Light, but good enough for some nice snowballs." Notice in the video how Alec is grooming his baby brother in the fine art of how to throw snowballs at your dad!

Happy Birthday to My Sis and Me

I have had the luxury of sharing my birthday with my sister for the last 36 years. She is here in town visiting me for the holiday season. And no, we are not twins...we were born three years apart on November 25th. My mom says it wasn't rigged...but with c- sections, you never know. We are Turkey girls, but we like it! And despite looking younger than me...she is my older sister. My parents and brother have been here as well and we have enjoyed some delicious mexican food...thanks to my mom who thinks throwing together some chile rellenos is "no big deal." I think I've gained 8 lbs. in 8 days!!!

Thanksgiving...Maxine Style

Thanksgiving With Maxine

Ra Ra... Ra Ra Ra... GO COUGARS!

Last weekend we had the chance to go to a true "nail biter" football game where BYU played CSU in Ft. Collins. They would score...then we would score...then they would score...and we would score! The game was total insanity. Being the football fanatic that I am, (not) I managed to bite off my stubby little nails even shorter than they already are. To my surprise, I actually paid attention to the game the entire time!

Thankfully, the cougs pulled through in the last few seconds of the game and BYU survived to play another football game! The best part was celebrating as we slapped all of the players hands as they ran around the field after the game. One of the players was even nice enough to pick up and hand me my sunglasses that had fallen onto the field. Good times with some great friends!!

Maybe I Won't Teach After All

I substitute taught yesterday for the first time in 4th grade here in town. All was going well until it was time to line up after recess and this lovely boy from another class asked me who I was.

"My Name is Mrs. Ahlstrom," I said.

How old are you? he said.

How old do you think I am? I replied.

"50?" He said.

"I look pretty good for being 50...don't you think?"

This is dedicated to the lovely punk kid who thought I was 50.

What Did You Learn at School Today, Ethan?

A day in the life of a Kindergartner...

Today, as I do everyday, I asked Ethan what he learned in school. Most days, he simply says,"I don't know...I can't remember." Today, however, he had 2 bowls of Lucky Charms cereal in the morning and somehow remembered everything.


"I learned about decomposers. The first decomposer is a worm and the second
decomposer is a cockroach. They eat leaves, banana peels, orange peels, other bugs, and sticks. The worm has no eyes, a light sensor, a huge mouth, no legs and five hearts. All of the worms in the whole world are boys and every worm in the whole world is a girl. They are all boys and girls at the same time!"

"Cockroaches feel scaly, smooth and a little bumpy. Every cockroach in the whole world is not a boy. Some are girls and some are boys. Both of the decomposers eat their dead friends to turn them back into dirt for new plants to grow."

"Ethan, that's a lot of information. Can I write down everything you told me today about worms and cockroaches?"

"Yea, I better sit next to you in case you forget something that I told you."

Basement Finish Part 3-Finally!

One toy room, bathroom and closet down....1000 sq.feet to go. Stay tuned in 2009 for the rest of the work. YUCK. Oh yea, don't look too closely at the closet. We still need to build the shelves for all the TOYS!

The Last of the Ahlstrom Garden

Last week we picked the last of our garden. I could totally do a VISA-like commercial about it. It cost way more to organize than the few veggies we harvested during the season, but we're hoping to get it planted sooner in the season next year, before all of our green tomatoes freeze!

Retaining Wall stones- $300
soil, vermiculite, manure- $100
Whiskey Barrel Planters- $50
Home grown vegetables- Priceless

Notice our mini watermelons that never had a chance. Alec wanted to play baseball with them and our mini cantelopes too. I said,"NO! I just want to look at them a little longer before we throw them away."

Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live

Here's a link to a couple of video clips of Sarah Palin on Saturday night live. The link opens in Yahoo, and you'll probably have to click on the 'Read Full Article' button to see the 2nd clip, which is of a rap song. Pretty funny stuff.

I LOVE THE 80's

Yes, our highly anticipated(by me) 80's party finally happened and we had a totally trippin' time. I regret that many of you couldn't make it, but we will do it again some time and the rest of you BETTER come. Words can't describe the "FRESH" people that showed up to party, so I will have to just share some pics.The food was incredible, I loved the bacon wrapped Jalapeno's and cream cheese. YUM!! Thanks to whoever brought those.


This shot is of many of the sexy chicas that wanted to strike a pose. A few of the others were in the kitchen having some chili.








Next, we had the 80's bride and the 80's prom Queen struttin' their stuff.














Eileen and Tony, the High School sweethearts, showed up with matching hickies they worked on prior to coming to the party. Then, there was Tasha with her brooch and "Talking Heads" style shoulder pads.












I want to give a shout out to my friend Trent who was our freakin' awesome DJ for the night. I even learned how to scratch( yes, I literally scratched up Trent's vinyl records). I thought I did pretty good until, of course he told me to go away.

Then there's the 80's snow boarder that showed up with Cindy. Isn't he FINE!
















Allie brought her Back to the Future Michael J. Fox look alike. Except he didn't show us his Calvin Klein's.


Michelle and Adam did some serious booty shakin' and Adam showed off his SHORT SHORTS.


Stephanie's date was this fine rocker dude that I've never seen before.

Notice the Fresh Prince of Firestone with Sam who went all out to carve lines in hair for the evening.

Ben did manage to capture a few grainy videos with his Blackberry.
So, I apologize for the crappy quality...but I bet the dancers are grateful for the grainy images!
Notice Adam in the last video... his footloose kicking lasted about three seconds when he realized he was being recorded. That's alright we got ya anyway. Good Times.

Toilet Training gone Awry!!

Easier said than done. I tried the Allie Thornbrue method of potty training Carter James two nights ago. We set up a stock pot, put a liner in it and a potty seat on top of that in the kitchen. Carter sat on it for 2 seconds, said, "psssss.....all done" got up and ran away. Well a few minutes later, he wanted to be funny and put the seat on his head and wandered around the house making funny faces.

About a minute after that, he ran over to me frantically crying because he'd gotten his head stuck IN THE TOILET SEAT!!Im not talkin' on the crown of his head. I mean totally through and around his neck stuck!!!( Sorry we have no pics of that...too much drama going on)How he did that?? Who knows. Carter finds a way to do all kinds of crazy stuff.

The other two boys tried yanking it in all directions as I yelled for Ben to come and help us. I admit, I was yelling and laughing out loud at the same time. I then said, "Do I need to call the Fire Dept?" Ben finally got nervous...shooed us all away and gently squeezed his head and ears out of the toilet seat. After a big hug from mommy, and a deep breath Carter finally said, "Potty seat stuck my head no more."

So Long Summer

Since we completely and totally busted our digital camera by dropping it one time too many, I can only resort to pictures taken last month.

Funny how some beautiful things on this earth take absolutely no effort at all. This sunflower plant was a volunteer under my bird feeder last summer and this summer, the flowers returned more beautifully than the first time. I had to cut them so I could admire them in my kitchen before they died. Tonight, we will get our first frost of the season. So long summer, hello warm soup, beautiful leaves and crispy cool nights. I love Autumn.