New Kids on the Block

When I was about 7 years old, I fell in love with 5 boys from Boston. They were Donnie, Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, and Danny and they were New Kids on the Block. I don't remember exactly how or where I fell in love, but I remember playing outside and bringing my little pink cassette player with me so that I could listen to their music while I rode my bike. I had various NKOTB paraphenalia ... sheets, nightgown, water bottle, fact book, cassette tape. I recently met up with a childhood friend after almost 10 years and she remembered sleeping on my NKOTB sheets. Jordan was my favorite and I used to sleep on his face every night. Time passed, NKOTB broke up and I grew up. Last May, I was watching the Today Show and who should be on but NKOTB!!! Reunited and announcing their new tour!! My excitement was immeasurable. I immediately called my mom to ask what had happened to my sheets, my nightgown, my tape?? I was informed that they were all most likely in the trash as the sheets, in particular, had been loved so much they were practically rags. I began to wonder about this tour, but was sure they wouldn't come through here. I soon found out that they were, in fact, coming to Denver in November. I bugged Joel for several weeks and he finally gave in and allowed me to spend a ridiculous amount of money to go and see my favorite boys from the Block! Last Friday, the day finally arrived!! After almost 20 years, I saw the New Kids on the Block in concert!!! We grabbed dinner before the show, and my friend, who is as big a fan as myself, brought all 5 of her NKOTB dolls to join us! The show was fantastic!! It was like walking right back into the 80's! It was complete with scrunchies, crimped hair, tons of neon, and breakdancing! They sang all of the songs that I knew so well as a kid (and surprisingly still remember) and they even had the same dance moves! It was worth every penny!!

Chuck E Cheese

Here is our one and only Chuck E. Cheese photo. Gabe is there too, but he was on Joel's lap and he was too low to be captured in the picture :(

Second Haircut

You might remember a few weeks ago I did a blog about Gabe's first haircut. When we did this first haircut we only cut the sides because the rest of his hair was still short enough so that he looked clean cut. Well, since we cut the sides off his hair has grown very rapidly. The back was getting long and very curly and the top was getting long enough that it was almost in his eyes when it hung down. We finally decided that we needed to give him a big boy haircut. It just so happened that Joel needed a haircut too so we decided to invest in a pair of clippers (I usually cut Joel's hair myself, but we have been borrowing clippers up until now), and everyone got haircuts ... except me, I require a trained professional. Anyway, Gabe got a full-head haircut and he looks like such a big boy now. He was very good and sat still while we cut away. He looks very handsome, but I still miss the baby curls a little bit :(

Isabel Turns 4

Isabel turned 4 on November 5. She had a whole week filled with fun and friends! On the 4th she had school and it was her turn to bring snack and show and tell. Since it was her birthday she was allowed to bring an unhealthy snack and she chose to bring Dora the Explorer popsicles. Yum!! I bought these popsicles two weeks before the party knowing I'd need them anyway and stuck then in our freezer out in the garage. The morning of the party I loaded the kids in the car and the very last thing I did was go to the freezer to pull out the popsicles. When I did this I found a very soggy, sticky mess. Apparently the freezer door had gotten left open over night and the popsicles had melted. No problem. I ran to the store on the way to school and bought another box of popsicles and, as a bonus, grabbed a box of juice boxes to go with it. Only problem was that there were only 10 juice boxes and there are 12 kids in the class. I was in too big of a hurry to notice this at the store. Oh well, it all worked out, apparently there were some other juice boxes left at the school from another party and the teacher was able to use these for the poor kids who got left out in my hurry to get to school on time. Anyway, she had a wonderful time at her school party. The kids sang to her and she got to wear a special birthday button!

On her actual birthday, Joel and I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for a night of pizza and games. I'd love to show you how cute they were, but I forgot my camera and this event is undocumented . :( I did manage to get a picture in one of the photo booths, but Joel keeps forgetting to scan it for me so I'll post it when I get it. Since it was a Wednesday night we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. It was really nice to be able to just let Gabe wander freely and not have to worry about him being trampled. He especially loved the riding machines and he loved climbing up on the ski ball machines. Unfortunately, I had to climb up on them to fetch him and this was not pretty. Good thing no one was really there to see it. Isabel won 110 tickets from all of her game playing and was able to trade them in for a lipstick and a lollipop. Chuck E. Cheese was a huge hit!

On Friday we went to see Madagascar 2 at the movies. It was Isabel's first trip to the theater. She was very impressed and especially loved the idea of the little box filled with Sprite, popcorn and candy.

On Sunday we had a big Dora the Explorer party at our house with all of our family to celebrate her big day ... again! Uncle Druh and Auntie Candice were here visiting and they got to come to Isabel's party. This is the first one they've been to!! (Not because they've been avoiding them, but because Uncle Druh hasn't lived here since high school) Isabel got a lot of great new things and had a fun time playing with all of her friends and cousins. So far, 4 is one for the books!!

SuperGirl

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do. We have been trying to reorganize our computer and I'd been given strict instructions not to download more pictures and add to the mess that was already there. The reorganization is not complete yet, but I've been given the go-ahead to unload my camera. So, here we go ....

At the end of October, Isabel had a Fall Party at school. The kids were allowed to wear a costume to school that day and there was a costume parade and a program for the parents. Isabel chose to go as SuperGirl, and Joel and Grandpa were able to make it to her program. Everyone had a great time!!