November was a ROUGH month!

November started off like any other month.  But on Sunday, Nov. 4th, Max said that he was feeling really sick.  We had stake music practice that night and Max was suppose to go and sing in the children's choir but I had a strong feeling to have him stay home.  Well, glad I heeded that prompting because he began throwing up immediately after I pulled out the garage that night.  Good ol' dad was here to take care of (and clean up after) our poor sick son.  Well, I kept him home from school on Monday, Nov. 5th.  I was NOT feeling good by Monday night and woke up about 2 am to run to the bathroom and throw up.  I haven't thrown up in over 10 years!  I definitely don't throw up often so it's very traumatic for me when I do.  So that was the most sick I have been in 10 years!  On Tuesday morning, Nov. 6th, Max was back to school along with Ethan and Tatum.  Carlie and I stayed home feeling HORRIBLE!  But it was November 6th and I HAD to go and vote.  So I told Carlie, "Hey, come with me to go vote and then we will go get big Sprites from Circle K."  I was in and out of the polls within 5 minutes and I came out to discover Carlie throwing up in a garbage can outside--THANK YOU Carlie for NOT doing that in our car:)  So from there we were en route to Circle K when I got a call from my kid's school informing me that Ethan was now throwing up at school.  SERIOUSLY?!  So we went and got poor Ethan--I called down to check on Tatum because I just knew she would be next but she was fine (and she stayed fine--the ONLY one not to get this horrible flu).  So Carlie, Ethan, and I got our Sprites and headed home.  Chris came home about 2 that afternoon because he was sick too!  So we were all laying there on the couch the sickest we've been in years, watching Mitt Romney loose the election, and the to top it all off....we got a call telling us that Chris' dad had passed away an hour earlier.  SERIOUSLY?!?!  What the HECK happened today?!?!

Well, we were all better and back to normal by Wednesday, Nov. 7th.  Tatum remained healthy thru it all.  It was a fast and furious stomach flu for sure--knocked out 5 of us in 3 days--and we are so glad to be past it.  Chris' dad.....now that is a TON more complicated.  My husband's parents were divorced when he was very young.  His dad is....complicated.  Fred had a serious prescription drug abuse problem for the past 10 years.  About 3 years ago, we had to ask them to NOT stay at our home anymore because his drug abuse affected every aspect of his life.  We could no longer allow our children to be around him because it was seriously dangerous to do so.  And over the last 3 years, Fred's health seriously declined as he could not get on top of his addictions.  He passed away Tuesday, November 6th--he was 61 years old.  Chris mourned the loss of his dad years ago and my kids never really knew him but we did pay our last respects at his funeral the next week.

I am grateful for Fred.  My husband joined the church and went on a mission because of his dad and I will be eternally grateful for that.  

"Little Luncheonette of Terror!"

Whew!  I can ALMOST breathe again!  It has been a whirlwind of a month here at the Meekers!  Carlie just finished up with her 5th show!  This was by far the FUNNIEST show she has been in.  We were laughing through the entire show.  The kids were all between the ages of 8-13 and they just did a fantastic job.

This show is a spoof off "The Little Shop of Horrors."  But instead of a man-eating plant, this show had "Mongo" who was a creature from the center of the earth who ate rocks and drained all the knowledge out of the teenager's brains.  So Carlie was a "Featured Dancer" in this show which meant she had a wide variety of costume changes--teenager, cowgirl, showgirl, and ZOMBIE:)  Here are some pics:

TEENAGERS:

Izabella, Carlie, & Alyssa

Carlie & Savvy:)

Carlie, Nathan, & Alyssa

Parker & Carlie

"TEENAGE ZOMBIES OF THE WORLD:"

Diana & Carlie

SHOWGIRLS:

Carlie, Diana, & Annie

Carlie and Mongo:

As always, Carlie absolutely falls in love with everyone in the cast.  She is always super sad when a show is over:(  But guess what???  She's already been cast in the next show--"Jolly's Toyland."  This play is happening in December.  So maybe after that we can breathe again:)  Awesome job Carlie.  We are SUPER proud of you!!!

Happy Halloween 2012:)

Pumpkin Carving with the Parks:)

We LOVE Halloween at our house.  And we LOVE carving pumpkins.  My husband is actually an amazing artist so carving pumpkins for him combines two of his most favorite things--drawing and power tools:)  We invited some good friends--the Park family--to come and join us this year.  They were NOT fans of pumpkin carving but we had so much fun that I think they may have changed their minds:)

All the kids had chosen their pumpkin faces (from online) and brought their print outs to trace onto their actual pumpkins.  Then the REAL fun began:)  These are always my most favorite pics--the gross out faces as they are cleaning out the pumpkins:

 After the kids did their part, they were off to play while the men took over with the cutting tools.  My husband's tool of choice is a jigsaw.  Lots of loud noises going on between the saws and the kids yelling--it was quite a madhouse:)  But just look at the finished product!!!  AMAZING!  Chris and Kevin really out-did themselves this year:)

Definitely WAY more fun with friends so we'll be doing this again next year:)  Fun new Halloween tradition:)

Here are some close-ups of the kids's pumpkins:

Carlie's: 

Ethan's:  (Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas)

Max's:

Tatum's:  (from Monster High)

The Grand Canyon....FINALLY:)

So Chris and I have been married for 14 1/2 years and have lived in AZ the entire time.  We have taken some amazing trips over the years but had NEVER made up to the Grand Canyon right here in AZ.  Well, fall break was upon us and we had absolutely no plans--between Carlie's rehearsal schedule and Ethan's basketball schedule we really couldn't do much of a trip.  So we were not going anywhere and I was totally fine with it but then....just like so many of our other trips that just happen....Chris said one night, "So I have some Marriot points for hotel nights, why don't we take off for a couple days to northern AZ."  WHY NOT?!:)  So we drove up to Prescott, AZ late on Thursday night--after Carlie got out of rehearsals--and saw as much of northern AZ as we could in 1 1/2 days:)

Our first stop...Grand Canyon!!!  Yahoo!!!  And it was spectacular!  I've always been told that pictures don't really capture the beauty of the canyon and after seeing it with my own eyes, I totally agree:

There were 3 trumpeters sitting on different ledges echoing each other--made for a really cool mini-concert!

She's just so darn CUTE!!!  Couldn't resist taking a pic of "Gangsta Tate"

Ethan like to give his mom heart-attacks!

On Day 2 we drove through Sedona, AZ.  I think this is the most gorgeous area of all of AZ.  LOVED it!  

My favorite pic of the day!

My kids can NEVER resist these silly things!

On our way home we also hit "Montezuma' Castle."  NOT as cool as the Gila Cliff Dwellings in NM but still worth the stop.  You don't actually get to go inside this dwelling (in NM you do get to go inside) so we walked around the outside and took some pics.  Really interesting history to this place.  People lived here for about 400 years and then they suddenly disappeared and they are several theories why but no one knows for sure. 

We then had to rush back home for rehearsal and a game:)  But hey!  We made it to the Grand Canyon FINALLY!  Huge check off our list!  Plus it's always fun to get out of town for a few days as a family.  We love family trips no matter how long or short:)

Tatum's 5th Birthday!!!

This has been a long-awaited birthday (almost as long-awaited as Carlie's 12th:).  With both of my girls being the youngest in their classes, it just seems (to them) that they are LAST in everything:)  But the day finally arrived!!!

Tatum was born on a Saturday night--the first day of fall break 5 years ago.  And her birthday just happened to fall on a Saturday again this year.  Funny birth story:  I was in the hospital in full-blown labor on Saturday, September 27th--right at the beginning of an ASU football game.  I had gone in about 7:30 that night and because of past experience I knew that if I had let them give me an epidural that the nurses would then make me sleep through the night and push in the morning--NO WAY!!!  This was my LAST baby and I wanted to be D-O-N-E!  I figured there would be time for an epidural later.  Well at about 8:45, my water broke--this was right at the start of half-time in the game--it was then that I realized that there was NO TIME whatsoever for an epidural!  So after a small panic attack and without even a tylenol in my system I truly experienced natural childbirth as she was out in 2 contractions at 8:53 pm.  The baby and I were all cleaned up and moved to our new room at the end of the ASU half-time.  Chris got to watch the rest of the game and ASU WON!!!  What a nice wife I am right???  BTW...ASU again had an afternoon game this year (2012) and yep...they won.  September 29th is a lucky day for them:)

So here is my beautiful little girl in all her birthday glory.  We had a fantastic birthday party with all her friends.  I have learned by experience that over-planning a party always backfires on me.  So my only plan...HUGE beach balls!!!  Everyone got to take one home:)  SUPER fun:

Birthday guest:  Bianca:)

And of course, a Chris obstacle course--which are ALWAYS a huge hit:

Max got a SERIOUS work-out today--he pushed ALL of the guests on the tractor:)

Birthday guest:  Barrett

Birthday guest:  Chloe

PIZZA TIME!:

Barrett. Tatum, & Natalie

And then we all decorated cupcakes!!!

Chloe's Creation:)

Mmmm...Looks good:)

Singing to the Birthday Girl!!!

Presents:

From left to right:  Ryan, Natalie, Sydney, Chloe, Tatum, Bianca, Barrett, and Ella

The doggie door was a HUGE hit with the kiddos--it was their "secret entrance"

And my good friend Nicole came at the end of the party to give Tatum her last gift....PIERCED EARS!!!   My friend Nicole is one of my dearest friends and she always keeps the crazy in my life which is what I love about her the most!  I had NOOOO idea that you can buy the earring gun kits at a beauty supply and pierce your own kids ears at home:)  I was just going to take her to the mall!  But Nicole put in all in perspective when she said, "Buffie....WHO do you REALLY want to pierce your daughters ears...ME (she was an EMT for many years) or a "trained" teenager at the mall.  Okay, okay.  Great point.  Tatum was a SUPER trooper and NOT A TEAR was shed!!!  And now her ears are OOHHH sooooo beautiful!!!

Nicole explaining it all to Tatum:)

I'm a wimp so my mom is holding her head just in case:)

WOO-HOO!!!  NO tears!!!

And later on that night--after Ethan's basketball game and Carlie's rehearsals--BUSY day--we headed out to T.G.I.Friday's which is my kid's favorite place to celebrate their birthdays!!!  (SOOO glad that we've moved on from the McDonald's phase:)

Then we headed over to the San Tan Mall for Tatum's final request of the day:  Build-a-Bear!!!

Tatum's creation which she named "Love"

And we made it!!!  This was the first real party that we had for Tatum and we sure had a BLAST!  I can't believe that my baby is 5!!!  We just love her sooooo much and are sooooo blessed to have her in our family.  LOVE YOU TATUM JANE!!!