Christmas with the Kranks...

Albert Einstein said..."The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." Well call me insane.

Christmas has come and gone and along with it marks the one year anniversary of when our little blog was started. For those who have followed for a long time...you will remember that my first post was about Christmas...How much I disliked all the running around and stuff...well another year has passed and yet another Christmas came and went...we didn't change anything from last year and once again...I found myself getting irritated midway through the day. This year in fact I was this close...(for those who can't see me...I am holding my fingers very close together)...to calling one of the visits off. I went anyway and I guess things worked out okay. The kids got more stuff...which prompted us to have to buy shelving in order to accomodate all the 'stuff'. Maybe my memory isn't as good as I think it is...but I don't remember having this much 'stuff'. I guess this is the benefit they have of being the first grandchildren on both sides of the family. Although on my side there is another with which to spread the 'stuff'.

Okay I may complain but I am very grateful to all those who helped this Christmas. Because of the loss of job we were very afraid that it would be a lean Christmas but people pitched in and helped, for which I am very grateful.

Well is New Years Eve and it's time to start thinking about resolutions. I have lots of things I need to work on but don't think I am going to make my list too long...goals have to be attainable and all that. But here's to being a better father and husband...to making sure that my family always has what it needs and to being a better person in general.

There at least I look good on paper!

Black Friday

I absolutely LUV Black Friday. I love the rush, and energy and the amazingly great deals! Daniel says that something comes over me around 9pm Thanksgiving Day. It's so fun. This year was totally awesome we stayed out ALL Night Long, and all day long...I basically stayed up for about 39 hours and was so utterly and completely exhausted, my bed never looked so good! Angels sang when my head hit the pillow. But as an avid Black Friday Shopper there are some rules everyone needs to know.

So here are the Ten Commandments of Black Friday!

1- Thou Shalt Have a Plan
2- Thou Shalt Wear Good, Comfortable, Supportive Shoes
3- Thou Shalt Not Take a Cart, Unless you have a designated person with a cart whom stays out of the way!
4- Thou Shalt Go as a Group (besides it's more fun that way)
5- Thou Shalt Have Designated Items For Each Person to Retrieve (ie: 1-gets DVDs 2-gets games, etc...)
6- Thou Shalt Not Whine
7- Thou Shalt Never be a Line Jumper! (at Target you will be thrust from the store or arrested depending on how far you push security)
8- Thou Shalt Keep Your Ads With You at ALL Times
9- Thou Shalt Have FUN, if you don't get what you came out for oh well, no big deal, If you do get what you were after...You So Totally Rock!
10- Thou Shalt Get Out of MY Way! :)

Happy Shopping!

Daniel

Yeah! Daniel has a job, he started on Monday, and is completely thrilled about the great benefits of working for the state. The only problem with the new job is that I no longer have a babysitter for Carter and McKinley. Everyone has been blessed with work right now, and thus there are no babysitters, for two adorable children for three hours a day. Anyway we are happy that he's working. It makes Christmas less than dire for us. Anyway the reason for this post is because one I haven't posted lately and two we have baby pictures of Daniel. We haven't ever had any to see and the last gathering the Tates' had an Aunt had brought her photo album and there he was all chunky and rolls to behold, but the funny thing was that he looked exactly like McKinley (or is it the other way around). So check out Daniels baby pics:

Doesn't McKinley look like that baby...

Playing in the sand at Antelope Island

What a cute little boy

I'm sorry but check out Brian's hair... and that cute little boy in his lap eating...that's where my kids getting playing with their feet and eating.

So there you have it, Daniels baby pics. Anyway not much for this post but it's beginning to be that time of year where there's all the hustle and bustle. Programs to attend, treats to bake, food to eat, time with relatives (could be good or bad), and everything else life throws at you. Well I have to go get things in order for the birthday fun since Madison will be 6 on FRIDAY! Where has the time gone...well that's a whole other post. Until next time...

Hair Cut

Okay I have an announcement to make...I was brave. Not just any kind of brave, the brave that mom's fear, the day their child becomes independent and knows what she wants and how she wants it. Madison wanted to get her hair cut short like mine. There was absolutely no way! I have NOT cut her hair since she was born (other than the occasional trim of the split ends). She has been pestering me and pestering me about cutting her hair. And I must admit that brushing the tangles and snarls out of her hair and having her cry HUGE crocodile tears was not pleasant for either party involved. So then having Daniel home and having him hear the morning routine, he started pestering me about it. Saying "it's just hair"...and for any mother who has any child born with no hair knows that... it is NOT JUST HAIR! This hair symbolizes alot ...like when she was a baby and people asked you what your baby is, you can now plainly see that she is a girl! with beautiful golden straight hair that comes down almost to her butt. I love her hair. You can do so many things with long hair... piggy tails, pony tails, all sorts of braids, you can have it curly, flat, kinky, twisted. However I slowly came to a conclusion that long hair for her wasn't fun, she would like it flat with nothing in it, but she's still an active girl and being outside running, playing, riding scooters and bikes her hair would come in a complete mess, and that's when we would brush her hair again and the tears would inevitably come. It would break my heart, a mom doesn't enjoy her kids crying, especially over hair. I bawled when Madison cut her own hair and she was then given bangs...that was a year and a half ago.

So now Daniel is pestering me, and Madison. Then Daniel pulled out the stops by saying "you know she could donate it." How sweet and tender to be able to give to someone in need, and who am I to deny my child that gift of giving. Dang it all Daniel! So I resigned to the fact that we were going to let Madison cut her hair, as long as she donated it. So we hopped on the Locks of Love website and explained to Madison all about cancer, and how this illness and the medicine made the little girls hair fall out and how sad she would be without any hair. We showed her pictures of patients, and pictures of how they donate it to make wigs. She was ecstatic about it. That was what she wanted to do. So now we have the task of setting an appointment and actually going through with it. So last week we called and set the appointment with Penny. (She does my hair and nails, Lindsay's hair and nails, and Karen's hair.)

So today is the day at 1:00 we head to Penny's with a car full of mostly excited people. I'm still not sure about this.
Here's our before pictures:

getting ready in the chair.

Penny gets her in the booster and puts her hair in a pony tail and measures it. Then she gets the scissors. There's only a split second left to turn back. I'm screaming STOP! NO! DON'T DO IT! oh wait that's all in my head...however I am holding my breath and might pass out. Breath Jennifer remember it's only hair and it will grow back.

There's no going back now.


Here it is her golden locks of hair and yes...sniff...I'm doing okay


Now its in the talented hands of Penny.

Have to have a picture with our talented stylist. SO CUTE!
Would you just look at that smile, she's practically bursting, she absolutely LOVES her hair!
Here's the back, a cute little A-Line.
And here she is holding her chopped locks to donate. Can you believe how long it is! But the end result is gorgeous!

Now it's off to the Grandma's and Grandpa's to show them her new look and we have already texted those out of state about her new do.

Halloween

Well here it is a week into another month and things have not slowed down any and we have been completely slacking in the blogging department. I completely blame Daniel, well not completely...I've been doing couponing lately and this wonderful website of fantastic freebies. Well on the website it had if you become a fan on facebook of edible arrangements they will send you a coupon for 6 CHOCOLATE dipped fruit for FREE...well who could turn an offer like that down...definitely not me, it had two key words CHOCOLATE and FREE. So I joined facebook. Well that was a mistake..I found this game, I already own a version of this game, but not this fast paced, one minute timed, bonus crazy version...I'm addicted. I've now spent quite a bit of time playing this game. It's Bejeweled Blitz. Yes I'm pathetic I know.

Anyway I made McKinley's Halloween costume, with some talented help from my mother and grandmother. I'm getting ahead of myself. Thursday Madison was allowed to wear her costume to school. Only the kindergartners get to wear costumes and they do a little parade to the other kindergarten classes and up to the office. Madison went as a genie, since I wouldn't take her nice Wendy costume (night gown) to school, and recess. So here's our genie:

Wish granted


We carved pumpkins, Daniels absolute favorite part of this season. The kids absolutely hate scooping out the pumpkin guts. What's funny is that Carter is such a boy and can miraculously get dirty or dirtier in .05 seconds but he absolutely hates to get dirty with slimy pumpkin guts. He can't even finger paint without wanting to wash his hands every 5 seconds. So here he is scooping pumpkin guts not touching the edges of the pumpkin

disgusted look on his face

Madison concentrating on her pumpkin


Ewwww~! Pumpkin Guts

And now drum roll please....
Our finished products!
Mine is Malificent's dragon..the epitome of evil


Carter wanted Bruce for Daniel to carve..."Hello, name's Bruce" (insert Australian accent)


Madison chose Snow White for Daniel to carve ...."I'm wishing..."


Here's Madison's she designed on her own. It does not have three eyes, the square in the center is actually its nose.


And then Carter had to have one that was throwing up it's guts. However he did not want to spew the guts everywhere, mom and dad had to do that because he had had enough guts. Blech!


Madison then had to dress up in different costumes and have us take her picture. So here is Madison's very own Halloween parade of costumes (there's only two you saw the third...the genie. First we have the devil ... check out my spooky decor behind her


And here's the most wicked witch you've ever met


Really isn't she cute?


Well here it is Halloween night and our dressed up Halloween crew. It was wonderful we all participated and coordinated our costumes. Daniel normally doesn't dress up but this year he did. We were from Peter pan. Madison went as Wendy, Carter obviously went as Peter Pan (there was no way I was getting Daniel in tights) McKinley went as Tinkerbell, I was Captain Hook and Daniel followed me around as the crocodile. He was vary clever and had a metronome in his pocket to simulate the tick-tock of the crocodile clock.

Here's Wendy and Peter hugging


This is "we can fly" pose

Captain hook and Tinkerbell join the picture (let me tell you the mustache was completely annoying, I don't know how men stand to have them. It kept tickling my nose and would get in the way when I ate or drank.) And check out the awesome Tinkerbell costume.
you have to see the whole Captain Hook costume
Here's the whole crew with the crocodile too.

Here's all the kids together (and you can get a better look at the awesome Tink costume, Daniel convinced me that I could make one for cheap and it turned out awesome...not that I have any talent in sewing, Grandma and Mom helped ALOT, but it's shiny and sparkly and it zips all the way down the back, so we put a white onesie on and then wrapped the costume around her and zipped her up and then put the elastic wings around her arms. Form fitting clothes (like Tinkerbell's are not only hard to sew but extremely difficult to maneuver a 9-month little girl into). So I'm extremely pleased with the way it turned out. Without any further delay here's the kids:

And we hope you all had a safe and...

McKinley's 9-months and Family Pics

Well today we took McKinley in for her 9 month check up and she's an average cute little girl. She ways 18.25 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long. She's growing and is a pleasant little girl unless you put her down, or is hungry. Let me explain... McKinley cries when you put her down but as soon as you pick her up she is quiet and completely content and sometimes (most times) is pleasant in your arms. When Carter was this age he would cry whether you were holding him or not. So since she's so good in your arms it's hard to put her down. When she's hungry she growls at you if you don't feed her fast enough...especially mash potatoes, you don't get to have a bite in between hers, you can only feed her. This is how pleasant she is... today while we were at the Dr.'s she didn't have to have any immunization shots however she is in the high risk group for flu so they suggested, recommended she get the flu shot...so we said definitely give our girl the shot! So the Dr comes in and checks her over, then he lets the nurse come in to do the dirty work. They lay her on the table and the nurse stabs her....I would be in tears, but all McKinley did was whimper a little sigh and THAT WAS IT! No sucking in and crying huge crocodile tears, no screaming or gnashing of teeth....just a little whimper and we went on with our day.

Also today is Rodney's birthday...so a happy birthday wish goes out to him, he turns 20 today so he will be no longer labeled as a teenager. However he doesn't get a birthday bash, party, cake or any well wishes. He's in basic training at Lakland Air Force Base. We all miss him but hope all is well there. It's been hard for our family to see him go, but he left very excited to be going on such a grand adventure. He's at basic for 8 weeks and then goes to Maryland for 15 weeks. I had a hard time seeing him go, he would take Madison swimming about once a week, and she loved it. That was one reason why it was so hard to see him go, that and it's always hard to see family leave. It was the same when Daniels sister and her little family left. I love our family and hope all of them know that...

Anyway enough emotion...here's some pic's we took before he left...

The whole family


Mom and Dad with their kids


The boys

All the boys


Just the girls


Mom and her girls

Mom and her boys...

The grandparents with their grandkids

Aaahhhh how tender...


my cute brood


McKinley not handling any more pictures...possessed baby...I love that Carter is huddled in the corner as if saying save me from Kiney...and Madison's expression is priceless...



Anyway enough for now, until the next post...

We WON!!!

Go Northridge! We won, it was a great game full of excitement, running, screaming and I'm not just talking about my kids...hey who am I kidding both Carter and Madison were out cold by the end of the first quarter. Carter did end up waking up during the last quarter but Madison as we speak (or type) is still out cold but at least now she's in her nice warm bed instead of an ice cold metal bleacher. Take notice that McKinley was not asleep (she did sleep through the third quarter but was awake for the excitement of the fourth) she bounced on my lap as she always does, I figure that it's her inner cheerleader, cheering on Austin, or maybe she bounces from all the excitement and being outside. Anyway...It was exciting, I got there late (I had a class to attend) and when I got there the score was 14-7 Northridge leading. There were some great plays, however there were some interceptions...tsk tsk. But we still ended up winning 49 to 21 however this game has a HUGE moment to one player in particular. Austin scored the last touchdown of the game which was his first touchdown for Northridge! We screamed, we yelled, we cheered, we cried...no wait there's no crying in football! We were ecstatic for #28 and I am glad we were there to see it, I wish we had video of it, maybe we can score some team footage from one of the coach's or maybe they don't have that in high school, I don't know these things, but I do know we are thrilled and excited for Austin! I just had to post this once we got home and the kids warmed up. We are all very fired up over this, Brian was practically giddy walking away from the car after dropping off an asleep Madison. Well goodnight all and one more for the road...
GO NORTHRIDGE!
..28...28...GOOOO TATE!!!

Northridge Football

Okay so Austin (Daniels brother) is playing on Northridge Varsity football team. We couldn't be more proud...well we had a lot to do with it :) anyway Daniel is all about supporting his brother which I completely agree with so we go to as many games as possible within our range and it nearly kills him when we're late and if we have to miss one...I mean for heavens sake he's only a sophomore and more than likely he will be on the team when he's a junior and a senior there will be plenty of more games to see. However we support the Tate team and can I say how proud I am of myself for making something for football to cheer on the team... and if I don't say so myself looks dang cute! Marla and Brian bought the 2 kids t-shirts that say Friday Knight Lights...well I thought McKinley was left out (not really...they just don't sell support the team onesies at the football games or I'm sure Grandma would have bought one) So I took it upon myself to have McKinley included. I made her a cheerleader. We had to search everywhere for a black onesie....hello can't anyone sell a plain black onesie? No of course not that would make this undertaking a whole lot easier. Finally I found one at quilted bear. I have some iron-on material that I can print the image from my computer, and got going. On the front of the onesie is the Northridge emblem, on the back it says TATE with a football with-in the words. I then made a tu-tu and a matching headband.
The front:


The back:

So the we have all enjoyed going to the football games...Madison usually ends up falling asleep, but hey that's Madison, McKinley usually falls asleep as well, but hey that's a babies life, and then there's Carter who absolutely loves it. So Last Friday (yes this post is a week late) was the homecoming game...so we all got dolled up in Northridge colors to cheer on the team who played against Roy High and we WON! 36-0 this is huge since it's been a while since we've won, but that's best left to the rantings of the parents of the players. Anyway we have a cheer for Austin... he is number 28 so we say..."28, 28, gooooo Tate!" Yes I know it's simple but the kids LoVe it, they sit and watch for Austin and have a blast here's our Tate team photo:


Tonight is the game against Clearfield and I have an inside tip actually it's from Clearfields coach that he had to suspend some of his starters...so he's pretty sure they are going to lose so Yeah another win for us...knock on wood. Don't want to jinx it. Well wish us luck against the Falcons tonight and I'll post tomorrow about our long week. Till tomorrow...