Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Papa flew in Saturday night. Since then we've been shopping, hanging out and watching movies. We saw Santa today and had the kids picture taken in their Christmas clothes. The only thing I didn't get around to doing this year was baking and getting cookies out to our friends. So sorry!! It's usually one of my favorite things to do.

Anyway, we hope everyone has a safe and warm (or as warm as you can be) Christmas.

Winter Wonderland

There are so many pictures we want to put up while the house was progressing, but this is the most recent. Travis has worked through two blizzard and many many cold days to get the siding up. He only has two small sections left and he'll be done :-) But what this really does is make the garage look like it really is apart of the house. The white vinyl trim brings together the railing of the deck and front porch and the garage door.
Here is the east side of the house. He is working around the bathroom windows (which is not visible in this picture). You can see how much snow we got yesterday and today. It almost covers the raised flowerbeds.This is what he is working on. Brrr!!!Oh, we know your proud of your work...show off!Here I am shoveling. Some parts were up to my knees. We even had church cancelled today. Anyway, you can tell we not from around here. Who else is in the middle of a blizzard taking pictures of themselves?! If you look real close you can see that my eyelashes are frozen together (and the hair in my nose, in case you were wondering)...when do we move...

One thing we know for sure is that the deck is solid. That was one worry we had. But it has proven itself. At least we'll have a white Christmas!!

Trouble's Joke

I think he made this one up all by himself!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. This is the first time since we've been married that we've had no one over to eat with us. When I talked to my Aunt she asked if it was boring :-) Actually the day was very relaxing. I had everything done at the same time, miraculously! (and the house wasn't destroyed by the kiddos in the process) We had turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, candied yams, stuffing, Kelly's homemade cranberry sauce, jello salad and challa bread. The turkey was really moist. Probably due to the fact I left in the plastic bag with the giblets! I pulled out one bag assuming everything was in it, but it was only the neck. Well none of us are sick and the turkey was good so I guess it was okay or perhaps I stumbled upon the secret to a moist turkey. Ha ha! Anyway, we spent the rest of the day calling family and just being together as a family.

Ice Cream

Yes, it is a little cold for ice cream around here now, but I meant to post this a few months ago. It is tradition that we go the last day that Dairy Queen is open, which to us signals the beginning of winter. Anyway, I love this video of Dynomite and Trouble.

On the video notice:

1)Dynomite's look as the spoon comes across the screen

2)Then she actually goes for the spoon

3)Then looks at her ice cream like, "Hey what just happened here?!"

4) Then Trouble's smile

Crazy kids!!

So Long, Freddy

Kelly got Trouble a beta for his birthday last year and we are sorry to say that it gave up the ghost. We thought about just replacing it with a new one, but then we'd have to move with it. So instead we 'mailed' Freddy the fish to Ohio. That way he'll be there waiting for us. Trouble even got to put a stamp on his bag and put him in the mailbox. (Don't worry, it was removed before the mail carrier came.) So long Freddy! We'll see you in Ohio.

Happy Birthday, Trouble!!

We can't believe that Trouble is 4 years old. He had a Blue's Clues Birthday. He had over 4 friends: Ciera, Dakota, Edward and Tyler. They had a lot of fun just playing and hanging out together.

I made Blue's ears for the party hats.And Handy Dandy notebooks to play Blue's Clues.

Shovel and Pail came to visit. In fact, each kid that came went home with a Shovel and Pail filled with goodies for them.Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper helped make the cake and blue ice cream.

We played a rousing game of Blue's Clues. Everyone got their own notebook. We went room to room searching for clues and drew them in the notebooks.First clues was a bandanna.Second Clue was a sticker poster.Third Clue was Stickers.The solution was a game. Each kid picked out a sticker and they we're blindfolded and had to put the sticker in the correct position. It is like Pin the Tail on the Donkey.Then we had cake. I also made blue ice cream and blue Kool-aid.Its a paw print!! See how I put on only three candles... The other candles spell Happy Birthday. Trouble picked those out at the dollar store :-)
We also played Shovel, Shovel, Pail (Duck, Duck, Goose) and Slippery Soap (Hot Potato). I forgot to photograph Slippery Soap, but I did make one.

Later that night we let Trouble decide where he wanted to go for dinner. He wanted to go to McDonald's to eat, I mean, to play. It was a fun day!

Moving

If you haven't heard yet, we are moving to Ohio!! As far as we know it will be sometime in March and possibly mid February if Travis can PCS 30 days early. We loved our time in Minot and will miss our friends tremendously. However, Travis won't miss his job and I won't miss the weather. But we had a wonderful 5 years here. We are grateful to those we have met and have made our time here memorable and worth it.

In order to keep the privacy of our family, please e-mail at tubbstribune@live.com us if you'd like more details about Travis' new assignment and where exactly we'll be.

TV Losers

Yes, this is our current pathetic attempt at watching television. I just had to add this to the 'web scrapbook' of our lives. The bottom TV is one that I bought in college for $35 with my roomie, Melissa. (And Melissa, if you are still out there...I still have those lamps and end tables!) On the oldie, the colors were starting to separate into blue, red and yellow and we had to unplug it if we wanted to shut it off. Also it didn't always pick up the 3 channels that we get. We don't have cable, hence the bunny ears. So we just simply placed our other TV on top. But since everything is going digital next year, we had to get the converter. The converter box helps you to place the antenna where you get the best signal, which happens to the exact height off the Lego container. Now we get PBS and CBS great!! (To get NBC, we have to shut off the converter box) Trouble's first comment was, "Wow, Clifford really is red!" Obviously, we don't watch a lot of TV. Anyway, Kelly is generously loaning us a TV stand until we move. Good memories! Good bye 1970 consul TV, you've given us 9 good years of TV viewing pleasure.

Twilight

I saw this quiz on Jerusha's Blog and was curious. Also we may be a little excited, but Kelly and I already bought our tickets for the movie!!


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Backpack says Hi!

Only the first few seconds are him smiling! Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

We had a very busy Halloween!

It all started Sat. Oct. 25th. I got the kids dressed and we went to "Boo at the Zoo". We stood in line for almost an hour to go through the the unscary haunted basement of the one building at the the zoo. The kids made out with about 6 pieces of candy and 3 cans of soda. I couldn't bring the stroller down, so I lugged Backpack in the carrier, carried Dynomite (because she kept tripping on her dress) and dragged Trouble (because it still freaked him out). Finally we get through and two things happen: 1)Travis calls to tell me he's at the zoo (earlier would've been nice, but he did rush in from work) 2)Trouble declares that he wants to go again!! So we walked around the zoo and saw what animals were still around. As we came to the wolf den we saw one of the keepers throw meat over the fence and I casually mentioned that we've lived here x number of years and have never seen that wolf. He drove around and roused her from her den to prove that THERE REALLY IS A WOLF. This is ridiculous, but I was estatic. This made my whole day!!

Okay, later that night we went to the Girl Scout Haunted Cabin. It wasn't really haunted. But the kiddos had fun doing a craft, decorating cookies, fishing for prizes, getting thier faces painted. Except for one the Girl Scouts scared Dynomite :-( So they turned on the lights and gave us extra candy and apples :-)

On Wed. Oct. 29th, we had our church's Halloween party. Miss Kelly and Raina joined us. It was a blast. They had carnival games set up for the kids and a spooky maze that you had to crawl though (Travis went through with Trouble, then made Kelly and I go through). People brought food. In the end the kids went Trunk-or-Treating. It was the biggest we've ever seen!

On Fri. Oct. 31st, the kids and I did the downtown walk were you go up and down Main Street to all the stores and Trick-or-Treat. This year I put Backpack in the Snuggli and Trouble and Dynomite walked. It was slower, but it was so much better than having to push a stroller in and out of all those stores. Since we came the last hour everyone was just trying to get rid of their candy. Plus whenever they got to get thier own candy of the bowl Trouble would grab one piece and Dynomite would grab a handful, but she's so cute that she got away with it.

5pm that night we went to the University dome for more Trick-or-Treating, then rushed over to the mall to do the same. Travis then met up with us and we went to dinner at Subway. It was already 8pm by then. We stopped by Miss Kelly's on the way home. By the time we got home the kids were exhausted, but we had fun. Now we have more candy then we know what to do with. Honestly, the kids probably eat 1 or 2 pieces a day. As for me, I can feel my lovehandles growing!!

This is our last Halloween here, so we thought we'd make the most of it!

Here is Trouble's 'Bones Dance':

And Dynomite's 'Princess Dance'

Not Broken

The final consensus on Dynomite's wrist is that it is NOT broken. She no longer has to use the split. But if it is causing her trouble, we can just wrap it up with an ace bandage and give her Motrin. The Dr. thinks that the wrist was slightly sprained and quickly healed itself by keeping it wrapped and applying ice when we did. Young bodies repair themselves better and quicker. So that is a huge relief!

Teacher Tells All

This is a deleted scene from the movie "The Incredibles". But it is astonishing how true this really is!

Happy Birthday, Dynomite!!

Today Dynomite turned 2 years old!! We can hardly believe it! She's a smart little lady. She is talking so well and trying hard to keep up physically with Big Brother. Travis and I decided to follow the lead of Dan and Nikki and have a big birthday every 4 years. So this was a little b-day for her, so please don't be offended if you were invited :-) Most of what we did was on video, but we mentioned the kid's names while filming, so the videos won't be posted. If you really want to see them e-mail us at TubbsTribune@live.com and we'll e-mail the videos to you.

Here is the cake I made from a mold. And no, I won't be quitting my day job!!

We just had Ciera and Benjamin over to have lunch, eat cake and homemade ice cream and open presents. Kelly loaned us her ice cream maker that you just roll around. The kids rolled it for about 5 minutes and decided they had enough. But the ice cream turn out just fine.

Dynomite trying the sunglasses from her Mrs. Potato Head! Goofy girl!

Later Kelly and Raina came over for dinner and more present opening. One of the presents she got Dynomite was this doll's play pen. Here's a picture of Raina in it:

Here's a picture of Dynomite it in:She looks like a giant in it!! Anyway, it was fun day had by all!

Dynomite's Turn

Another trip to the ER for the Tubbs' family. This is trip #5 for us in 4.5 years of living here.

Monday, I was sorting laundry in our bedroom when I heard a thump and a "sorry sister" and saw Trouble running to put himself in timeout. Trouble had jumped on her while they were playing. Dynomite was lying on the ground holding her wrist. When I picked her up she was shaking and screaming in pain. I thought maybe she had dislocated her elbow, so I tried to pop it back in, but it didn't work. I called Travis, then I called the Nurse Advice Line. It was a ten minute wait for the nurse to call me back. During that time Dynomite fell asleep. I moved her fingers while she was sleeping to see if she woke up. And she did crying, so I knew something was really wrong. The nurse finally called back and she was trying to give directions like get ice, put in sling, give pain killers...but dynomite was screaming by now and I all really comprehended was, "Take her to the ER". Okay, that is all I wanted to know. Kelly came to the rescue by coming over and taking Trouble and Backpack.

All the way to the ER Dynomite kept saying, "Brober did, Brober did". (This morning she told Travis that Brother didn't love her :-( I hope she gets over this!!) So they took X-rays and put her in a splint. She saw a specialist on Tuesday because we can't actually tell if her wrist is broken because of her little bitty bones. So she goes back to the specialist next week to see if anything has changed. But for now she's stuck with a split and every 6 hours of Motrin.

I gave her a little baggie of frozen corn to put on her wrist. When we went to get X-rays the techs thought it was her snack!

Tag

1. Where was I 10 years ago? Senior year of high school, with a bad case of senioritis. Putting in college aps and working for a Cadillac dealership.

2. What's on my to do list today? Workout, clean house, library, grocery list, bills, YW stuff, find my father, blog, go outside with kiddos. What did I get done...all the important things: Eat M&Ms and not strangle any kids today.

3. What if I was a billionaire? Own a giant house that never needs work, and comes with a housekeeper and cook!! (I had best to make sure Travis has a workshop.) Okay, seriously I'd pay off debt and make sure if the world crashed in we'd survive for a very long time. I'd also throw in a sports car for myself.

4. Five places I have lived: Modesto, CA; Portland, OR; Corvallis, OR; Nottingham, England; Anges, France; Vandenberg AFB, CA

5. Snacks I like- Slurpees, Doritos, Chocolate, Root beer Floats, Dairy Queen, Dill Pickles...was this suppose to be a healthy list??

6. Three bad habits- 1) Cracking knuckles, 2) Yelling at my kids, 3) Opening my big mouth!!

7. Who am I tagging? I tag Erin H., Regina D., Jen R., Jen H., Jerusha S. (sorry if any of you have been tagged before!!)

Rubbing Alcohol Saver

Did you know that rubbing alcohol removes ink from microfiber couches?

So Trouble today was quitely doing Hidden Pictures from his Highlights magazine when I was feeding Backpack. He had the book on the couch while kneeling on the floor. I told him he could use a pen to circle the pictures...big mistake. However, Trouble wasn't the problem. Monkey see, Monkey do! In this case Monkey was Dynomite and there was no magazine, just the couch. The funny thing was that she confessed to the crime. She actually handed me the pen and said, "write on couch". I thought she was tattling on Trouble because they are both already banned from any writing instruments unless under parental supervision. But it was only till later that I found pen marks on our new couch. *Deep Breath, count to 10 sigh* Deep down in the recess of my mind I would like to think that children DO actually care that their parents might actually WANT to own nice things. So I raced upstairs to seach the internet for other violated couches and found that rubbing alcohol is used for more than cleaning your kid's boo-boos.

I have to say that Dynomite has me trained. When I finished de-inking the couch I left the bottle of rubbing alcohol on the table, but suddenly had visions flash through my mind of her thinking it a bottle of delicious clear juice and prompltly put the bottle on a high shelf out of her way (with everything else hazardous, breakable, or shiny). I'm getting better at this 2-year-old-proofing-the-house thing. Totally different than Trouble. For one, he was the only kid. And two, he never cared to get into stuff.

Anyway, couches and sanity saved. Thank whoever invented microfiber!!

Travis' current project

Yes, Travis decided that since it would be winter soon he would start an outside project.

Please do not ask if the bathroom is done.

Backpack 6 weeks

I lied and said that I'd stay on top of blogging. The house is back in order now and we are working on some kind of routine in our day. But I have to say that 3 kids is taxing. I can see why people stop at three!! We've forgotten how fussy and demanding babies can be. Ali had blogged about her son not liking being a baby, we think that is how Backpack is. He sees the other kiddos playing and his legs start kicking and his arm flail around. He's eager to go!! But Trouble and Dynomite have been very good with him. A pleasant surprise for us.

Backpack's six week pictures:

With Big Sister:
The boys making goofy faces:

Clarifications...

Living with nuns:
Travis and I went to a two month language immersion program in France to learn french in the summer between doing a nine month study abroad program in England and going home. The school we attended set up the accommodations. There were two locations. One is for mixed company and the other location was a nunnery that rents out the rooms of vacationing nuns (apparently religion is put on hold in the summer?!?) and that is used for only girls. It is rare that a married couple attends the program and the first location was filled. So that is how we ended up living with nuns for two months. Travis actually taught one nun the first discussion and gave her a Book of Mormon. We never saw her again after that. The other nuns said she went on holiday. There actually was another married couple there, they were also Mormon :-)

As for being homeless... When we left England we shipped all our belonging to my parents home, which fit in a 4 foot cube. We each had a backpack when we arrived in France for summer school (as explained above). From August 30th to September 12 that year we had no home, no address, no dwelling to call home except for various hostels and hotels in Russia and China and a week spent on the Trans Siberian Railroad. Believe me, this did not go well for Travis' Top Secret Clearance. But it made for a good adventure!

Another ER visit...

Yes, this was the 4th visit to the ER during the 4.5 years we've been in Minot. Travis pulled his hamstring playing football. He didn't really need to go to the ER, but the base Dr. was gone. The funny thing was that his mandatory workout time is at 2:30 but didn't get to the ER until later that evening. What took so long? He had to finish the game!! Silly me!

For the fans of the Twilight Series...

Grammy and my sisters-in-law all love the Twilight series like most of us do. Grammy made me this bracelet. Way cool!