Our Most Excellent Family Pictures Ever!!!!

Whitney took our family pictures and they are by far the cutest ones we've ever had! She does a great job, and I will go to her forever! She takes awesome pictures, and she lets me prance around doing whatever pose I'd like. Plus, she indulges me when I bring dorky props in my lame attempt to be artistic, such as bringing trains to have their picture taken under the train tracks. I am SOOOOO happy with how they turned out, but with a fantastic photographer and such a beautiful family, could they have turned out any other way! (:

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

We had one super cute baby!
Then, fifteen months later, we had another super cute baby!
And now, coming soon, in Aug 2010, super cute baby #3! Yup, I"M PREGNANT!!!!!

The Currys are a Christmas Family!

We LOVE Christmas time! We named our daughter Noelle, as proof! We've been to Temple lights twice, Candy Cane Lane three times, Zoolights, St. Nick Lights, and we made over 200 cookies on Saturday before we went to Sedona to look at more lights. (Don't worry, we haven't forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, we just also really like lights!)
Our Christmas fun started with Noelle breaking Christmas decorations as I put them up.
Then, Daddy took a few days off of work to do fun Christmas things, like take us to the World Wildlife Zoo, for free! That morning Noelle saw a Tapir on Diego, and she said over and over, "I want to see a tapir. I want to see a tapir." It turns out, they had a tapir at the WW Zoo, so Daddy made her dreams come true!
This place is SO cool! You can get so close to the animals. I touched a zebra. I don't think I was supposed to, but I did. (And I almost shook a monkey's hand through its cage, but then it hissed at me, and Stanton said "Mommy, that's dangerous!")
We got to feed the giraffes too!
The fun continued with Daddy's cool Channel 5 work party! Channel 5 Santa gave Stanton Spike Jr, the walking, talking dinosaur.
Channel 5 Santa gave Noelle a scare, and a teapot that sings songs about manners in a British accent. (Robert put this picture in his newscast on the Sketchy Santa Segment, so now Noelle is a celebrity.) Thanks Channel 5 Santa!
We made lots of Christmas frames for people we love!
We had a few friends over to make gingerbread houses.
Then Jackie accidentally sat in my house. Oops!
A fun, fancy dinner and white elephant gift exchange with friends!
Then we went to Sedona with Robert's parents and Alex to look at the lights display and vote on the best one. Let's just say I did NOT vote for this particular one. The other displays were wonderful, and did not include a surfing Jesus.
And after multiple tries with Santa, Noelle still wants no part of him! And I quote, "I no like you Santa! You to scary for me!"

Kimmie's 2nd Annual Christmas Symphony!

Feliz Navidad Amigos! Christmas can finally begin because I've got my trumpet out, and I'm playing, for all of you, my 2nd annual Christmas symphony! Last year I know I did a solo performance, but this year I'd like to welcome Stanton Curry on drums and Noelle Curry on guitar (and books). So, without further au dieu, here it is, from my mouth to your ears...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Can't get enough of my trumpeting? You can catch more carols, as always, on our home answering machine! Merry Christmas!

We love....

We loved Thanksgiving! We went to Robert's parents' house. We unanimously agreed that it was really the best tasting meal we'd ever eaten! I brought stuffing and cranberry sauce that I made from scratch. (Robert couldn't believe how many dishes I used to make two things, so he took a picture. I know that's a lot of dishes, but I'm still getting the hang of cooking.) I also love that Robert surprised me and did all of those gross dishes cause I really was not looking forward to cleaning up after myself!
Stanton loved going on a boy's camping trip with Daddy a few weeks ago. He especially loved shooting BB guns and driving Josh's Daddy's truck through the river like a boat.
We LOVE the new Komodo Dragon exhibit at the zoo. We've seen it three times since it opened two weeks ago. They feed it an entire chicken, and it can swallow it in one giant bite! Fascinating!
We love that it's Saturday picninc weather again! Hooray!
Noelle loves straddling things, and pretending that she's "riding a baby sea turtle." That's exactly what she says, every time.
And who doesn't love the free Santa pictures at Bass Pro Shop and all of the other festivities there at Santa's Wonderland! (Actually, I know someone who doesn't...Noelle. She's not a fan. She says, "I no like Santa. He too scary for me.")

The Curry's First Annual Read-A-Thon!

Stanton said to me this morning, "Let's all lay in bed and read lots of books today." Then I said, "Let's read every single book in your room." He and Noelle clapped and laughed, and then I brought every book they own out of their room. (Holy cow! I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into! There is another layer of books underneath the ones in the picture! On one of Stanton's potty breaks, I decided to count all of the books surrounding us, and there were 122. Robert is right, I buy them way too many books, but to my credit, 10 of those are library books.)
So, we layed blankets and pillows all over the floor, and we stayed in our pj's and had a "read-a-thon!" We started around 9:30am, and Statnon picked out the first book we would read, "Everyone Poops," a classic.
And Noelle picked, in advance, the last book we would read, "Curious George's Christmas."
I have to admit, I completely underestimated how long this would take. I imagined maybe two hours tops, but as we took our lunch break around noon, with mounds of books remaining, my throat was getting sore, and I was purposely skipping pages here and there and giving them the abridged version of Curious George and The Berenstein Bears. So we extended our lunch break and played some catch and finally got out of our pajamas. We were refreshed! We got back to it, and finished our last book at 1:57pm. We all cheered, and Stanton asked if we could have another read-a-thon tomorrow, and Noelle went in her room and looked at books. (I'm not kidding!) What a fun day!

My First Rejection Letter!

Let me clarify, I do not want to be a writer. I only wrote and submitted a story to Highlights Magazine because they pay $150 for every story of yours they print, and I wanted the extra money so I could spend it frivolously on a really big fish tank or something. So, just as I was finally healing from having my jokes snubbed by Reader's Digest after all these years, I get a Highlights rejection letter. Here it is:
I have to admit, it was a very kind letter. They even addressed me as "Dear Author" (Now I know how that Stephanie Meyer lady feels.) Not to mention, there were multiple reasons they gave for turning down manuscripts, such as, "It lacks a fresh approach." or "It lacks a strong plot." or "We avoid material that glorifies war, violence or crime." However, I was rejected for the best possible reason, "It is not suited to our present needs."
So, without further au dieu, here is my story... (which is based on a true story but a little embellished. The true part is that we do have a painting of Mt Rushmore that I got from The Goodwill hanging over our fireplace, but Stanton has never asked about it. In fact, he and Noelle often confuse George Washington with Jesus.)

Stanton looked up above the fireplace at the painting that had hung there for years and asked, “Who are those men on that mountain?”
“That is Mt. Rushmore, and carved into it are four of our country’s presidents,” his mother replied, “Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.”
Stanton continued starring at the painting, wondering to himself what those presidents did to get their pictures carved into a mountain.
Seeing her son’s interest, Stanton’s mother continued, “Would you like to learn more about Mount Rushmore?”
“Oh yes!” Stanton replied eagerly.
His mother began, “Between 1927 and 1941, a man named Gutzon Borglum and about 400 other workers sculpted these 60 foot carvings into the side of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.”
She pointed up at the picture. “He chose these four presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt because he said ‘they commemorate the founding, growth, preservation and development of the United States.’”
Stanton looked confused. “Let me explain.” his mother said.
“George Washington was our country’s first president. He is considered the founder of our nation because he fought for our freedom and led our nation into democracy.”
“Thomas Jefferson was our 3rd president. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, and after he became President, he made the Louisiana Purchase from France, doubling the size of our country and adding 14 states.”
“Abraham Lincoln was our nation’s 16th president. He was president during the Civil War. He preserved the Union by keeping our states together and ending slavery.”
“Finally, Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president. He furthered the development of the United States by advancing the construction on the Panama Canal and promoting conservation and business.”
Stanton was impressed. “How did they actually carve the faces into the mountain?” he questioned.
“The stone at the surface of the mountain was too soft for carving, and they needed a way to get rid of it. So about 500, 000 tons of rock was removed from the mountain with dynamite. The workers would have to climb a 760 step stairway to get to the top, and when they were up there, they would use jackhammers and drills for their sculpting.” his mother told him.
“They look really big in the painting.” Stanton said.
“They are really big.” His mother replied. “Each president’s nose is 20 ft long.”
“How long is that?” Stanton asked.
“Well, I am a little over 5 ft tall, so that is about 4 of me stacked on top of each other.” she answered. “Any other questions?”
“Yes. Can we go to Mount Rushmore?” Stanton asked.
“Of course!” his mother responded enthusiastically. “I would love to take you there someday.”
“I hope it’s someday soon.” Stanton said.

Halloween Cuties, More Toilets and Adios Amigo!!

For Halloween Robert was Bob the Builder, I was a giant present, Stanton was a pirate and Noelle was an angel (with a devil tail in back and dyed red pig-tails for horns.)
We went to 3 trunk or treats, one Halloween party and actual trick or treating. We got an obscene amount of candy, and if I had to guess, Stanton probably said "trick or treat" over 100 times!
Noelle ditched her wings and halo, but kept her devil tail on all night(:
Other Halloween week activites included:
a trip to the dinosaur museum. Daddy got to come along too!
A fun day at the pumpkin patch/farm place.
Dropping Daddy's wedding ring in the toilet. (He kindly told us before he flushed, but after he peed. We were honestly so happy with him, we gave him a sucker.)
And a visit to The Desert Botanical Gardens butterfly exhibit with Grandma and Grandpa Curry and Great-Grandma Hurley. (I have a membership now, so anybody let me know if you wanna go. I can take you for free. That goes for the Zoo and the Mesa Children's museum too.)
This week also included a most sad good-bye to one of my best friends Shelly, who is moving to Flagstaff.
This picture with us and a very tall man reminds me of how we met. I think it was 2003, and she was on a first date with her now husband Jeff, and a bunch of us met up with them, and I said,
"Hi, I'm Kimmie. You guys are so cute! You would have really cute babies together!" Everyone thought I was a little weird at the time, but turns out I was right! It was like foreshadowing cause they have the very cutest little boy Brady!
Anyway, a few weeks later she found out I was living in a creepy barn owned by a man with Elephantitis, and she said I could share a room with her at her sister's house. We've been bosom buddies ever since!
We have had so many fun/weird times together, and even though Flagstaff isn't super far, I will really miss our weekly play-dates!
P.s. Shelly, you better not find anyone in Flagstaff that you like better than me! (: Miss ya!

My stud hiked to the bottom of The Grand Canyon and back out IN ONE DAY!

Robert, his Dad, and his bro-in-law Adam all hiked to the bottom of The Grand Canyon and back out IN ONE DAY!!!!
This sign says: "Warning, don not attempt to hike to the bottom and out in one day due to serious exhaustion and death!"
This is the before!
And this is the after! I'm so proud of them, especially Robert! He is like Hercules!

Zoo Mishaps, Overpriced Trains and The Toilet Bandit!

People always say, "Kimmie, you're such a laid back mom.You never worry, and you don't care if your kids get messy."
But maybe that's not such a good thing. Maybe I need to be more of a safety mom so my daughter doesn't fall in the gross green zoo water.
My friend Stacy said, "Do you think Noelle will fall in there?"
I said, "Naaa."
Then, splash!!!
This zoo mishap involved Noelle sticking her hand so far down her throat on the way to the zoo that she threw up all over herself and the car, and her swimsuit was all I had to change her into. She actually does it semi regularly, and it's usually when we're in the car. I think maybe she gets bored. I can't see how she would get bored though because I always sing when I drive.
Stanton is really excited for the "Wild Things" movie to come out. We just went with Grandma and Grandpa to see the "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" movie, which was an awesome fun time!
I finally broke down and took my kids on the overpriced train at Chandler mall. It was $9 for the three of us to enjoy a 4 minute ride. I held out for three mall visits and watched them politely chase the train every time, like little hobos, saying "please come back train." So during Stanton's birthday week I gave in, and they did love it! The Scottsdale train park is a much better deal though!
Now that Stanton is potty trained, Noelle thinks she has the green light to stick paper towels, hair ties and cutips by the dozens down the toilet. We've had to plunge it almost daily, and this particular incident required me to stick my ungloved hand up inside the toilet to recover two toilet paper rolls. Does she look guilty?
And in my opinion, there are just not enough pictures of my cute husband on my blog, so here he is with his brother Alex and Stanton on one of Stanton's many birthday celebrations!