Tis the Season

It's that time of year again!  The decorations are up in and on the house, presents are wrapped under the tree and our schedules are filled with things from parties to Christmas programs and everything in between.  We have already done the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens and Jocelyn was an adorable barn animal in the Christmas program at church.

We have had one epic fail already though.  John and I took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop where there is never a line and they have the area decorated so nicely - plus you get a free picture.   Well, we took a ton of pictures of our own on our camera but realized when we got back in the van that we didn't have the memory card in the camera.  Ouch.  We haven't been back to redo the pictures and we probably won't.  Liam and Lizzie wanted nothing to do with Santa and I held them both (yes - 60 pounds between the two of them) while standing next to Santa.  Jocelyn really enjoyed it this year and even told Santa that she loved him. 

This past weekend we did the Christmas Festival for Friendswood with Mom, Jennifer, Kenny and all the kids.  This was a pretty cool event and there was lots to do for the kids.  They got to slide down a snow hill (after waiting in a very long line), meet Anna and Elsa, ride in a cute little train and do an obstacle course bouncy house.  Liam and Lizzie didn't get out of their strollers for those couple of hours because it was pretty crowded but they did get to eat a gigantic corn dog - each ate a foot long corn dog!

Last night (a Tuesday) we went to see the Zoo Lights and it was really neat.  Mom, John and the babies picked up Jocelyn from school at 3:30 and headed to the zoo.  They got to walk around for about an hour before the zoo closed at 5pm.  Then at 6pm it would reopen for Zoo Lights.  We used our membership (which was a gift from John's mom and will be put to good use) to get discount tickets.  The lights were really great and Mom and I enjoyed a grown-up hot chocolate. 

Murder at the Deadwood Saloon

The 4th Annual Wallace Murder Mystery party was this past weekend on November 15th and it was awesome.  This year the mystery was "Murder at the Deadwood Saloon" and we went all out western.  I had so much fun putting together the decorations for the party.  I used a lot of items I already had, borrowed from a few places, made a wagon wheel chandelier and used my cricut to do some cut outs.

Mom and I did "wanted" posters for each party guest with their picture on it.  I looked for goofy pictures off of facebook - but some of people do not have goofy going on in their online photos.

The party guests all did an awesome job with their costumes and really got into character.  I think it gets easier for everyone each year.

The photo booth was great too.  I added lots of props for people to use and be as fun and goofy as they wanted.

I have so much fun putting these parties together, even though at times it seems stressful and a lot of work.  Totally worth it!

Soccer Time!

We signed Jocelyn up for soccer this year.  She loves kicking the ball around the back yard and we thought she'd really love it.  The league she is in is Space City Futbol and is on a U5 team.  They play 3 on 3 with 2 games going on at once and small goals with no goalie.  It really is a neat way to start the kids out with playing and practicing.  The problem is that Jocelyn does not seem to actually want to play.  I find myself yelling at her to run when she's just standing there on the field and not helping her teammates.  She does get very excited when her team scores a goal, but I just wish she would get in there and go get the ball.  It's like if there is any impediment to kicking the ball, she doesn't want anything to do with it.  Then she'll pout and say she's tired one minute but chase her friends around the field when it's break time.

I know I should just give her some time and maybe next year she'll do better.  I am a self-admitted competitive person and when it comes to sports, I want my kids to enjoy playing as much as I did (and want to win as much as I did).  But I have to tell myself not to put too many expectations on them.  I have to find a balance of being firm when it comes to practicing and being on a team (if she's going to play, all we ask is she do her best and put in 100% effort) but I can't be mad at her if she just doesn't have the same competitive drive that John and I did growing up.  I do not want to give my children a trophy just for being on the team.  But I want them to play sports since it is so good for their health and character building.  Plus, I can't see myself as a dance mom - I don't have it in me.

It is cute to watch though.

Girls' Trip to Cali!

In September, Mom, Mel and I headed west to the California coast for a girls' trip.  I wanted this to be "thank you" trip for my mom for everything she has done for me since the babies' were born (and really being just an awesome mom my whole life).  I would not get to do half the things I do (workout, have free time, practice improv, etc) without her.

We arrived on a Saturday around 3pm at LAX, picked out our rental car (a Jeep Compass) and headed south towards Anaheim.  On the way we stopped at Hermosa beach to check out the view and have some dinner. I'm not much of a beach person, but it was awesome to see the beautiful sand and waters - you don't get that in Galveston.

After dinner we headed to Anaheim and pulled up to the Tropicana hotel around 7:30pm (after hitting a bit of traffic, but not too bad).  The Tropicana hotel is a Disneyland Good Neighbor hotel and literally right across the street from the parks.  In fact, I'd say it was closer to the park entrances than Paradise Pier or the Disneyland hotel.  Of course it was a no-frills motel; but, pretty nice and served its purpose just fine - great location, comfy bed, hot shower and a safe place to keep our things.  I'd recommend this hotel to anyone going to visit Disneyland.

We spent Sunday at Disneyland, and the crowds were very doable.  I feel like we got everything done that we wanted to by 6pm (we did arrive before the 8am opening).  We ate lunch at the Blue Bayou Restaurant which overlooks part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  It was delicious!  Melanie and I shared the Monte Cristo sandwich - so good, but so rich - glad we shared it!  We really didn't do much in terms of character pictures or anything, just focused on the rides and shows.  We staked out our spot for Fantasmic at 6:30pm (the show didn't start until 9pm - and we were not the first ones there).  We just relaxed, got some snacks and rested before the show.  It was good and then we watched the fireworks from the same location.  Overall a great day!

We spent all day Monday at California Adventure.  We did pretty much everything here too.  The crowds were predicted to be a 1 out of 10 and I think they lived up to that.  We did Radiator Springs Racers (the newest ride in CA) with a fastpass twice.  The stand-by line only got up to an hour that day which is way shorter than what had been reported on peak or busier days.  Carsland is really awesome.  The imagineers did an amazing job with the theming of this part of the park.  We rode Tower of Terror, California Screamin', Toy Story Mania, Soarin', and saw Aladdin the Musical,  We had lunch at Wine Country Trattoria and really enjoyed the food.  It was extremely hot (100+ degrees), so we ended up sitting inside, thank goodness.  We did a World of Color dining package and received reserved viewing section for the night show - World of Color.  This show was amazing!
On Tuesday, we had breakfast at the Grand Californian hotel and then spent a couple hours at California Adventure.  We left the park at noon so that we could get to the car and head north to West Hollywood.  We stayed at the Le Parc Hotel and Suites and really enjoyed our stay at this hotel.  It was a large room with 2 twin beds, a living room with a queen pull out and a kitchen.  The bathroom slanted quite a bit which was strange but wasn't a problem.  We needed to change and get cleaned up and head to the CBS studios for a taping of The Odd Couple - a new Matthew Perry show.  This was really cool to watch.  The audience liason guy was rather annoying.  He was there to keep the audience entertained in between takes and tell us information we needed (which was a good thing) but his jokes were so lame!

On Wednesday morning we had to get up bright and early to get to the Price is Right!  We arrive around 7:30 and there was already a line.  We had priority tickets and had no problems getting in.  We were numbers 69, 70 and 71.  Once you get your numbers you pretty much stay in numerical order the entire time.  You sit in one area to fill out forms, then take you picture (individually and as a group), then you go to this other area where you wait and the producers interview all the audience members in groups of 20.  They ask you very simple questions - where are you from and what do you do - and during this chat is when they decide who to select to be a contestant on the show.  Of course you don't know whether you've been picked until it's announced during the show (but it's not random).  Then we go to another area where we wait and there is a food cart that comes around selling basic stuff (burgers, pizza, soda, etc) and the last chance to use the bathroom before going into the studios.  We were let into the studio at about 12:30pm.  Mel and I split a quesadilla and mom got a snack.

The taping was so much fun.  We were sat in the front row to the left of the stage.  It is much smaller than you'd expect, but the studio holds a lot of people.  It looked like they sat the larger/younger groups towards the front, just behind contestants row.  Well - it got down to the last contestant to be called and we thought our luck had run out - but then they called "Carolyn Wallace come on down!"  "What? Me? Oh my gosh!"  So I ran down to the front - unsure whether to high five or hug but really excited and nervous.  The prize to be bid on was an elliptical trainer and I bid $1500 (hey, it's California and those things are expensive) - well, it was only $1000 so I didn't get to be on stage but I did get a consolation prize.  Lots of fun.  We finally got to leave (after filling out forms) at 2:30pm.  We had to hurry back to the hotel to change and then leave again for the Mike & Molly show taping at the Warner Bros studios.  This was an awesome show taping - even though we had the exact same audience liason guy (and he told the exact same jokes!).  Melissa McCarthy is amazing!  She seems like she'd be so much fun to hang out with.  If only we could be friends...just kidding.

Thursday we had a "free day" (my initial plan was to have Ellen tickets for this day - but I didn't get those tickets even though I relentlessly stalked the website and requested the tickets as soon as they became available - but no luck).  We went to Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica, the Grove, Hollywood Blvd and did some general sight seeing.  Then we readied ourselves for dinner at Madeo's.  A really great restaurant recommended by my step-mother in law.  We were hoping to see some famous faces, but no one we recognized.  Then we went to the Improv for some standup and had a great time.

Friday we went on a tour of the Warner Bros Studios - the deluxe tour.  This was a 5 hour tour which actually turned into almost 6 and was just awesome.  We got to see all around the sets (outdoor and indoor), a Foley sound studio and got to eat lunch at the fancy commissary on property.  We didn't see any of the actors but one of the heads of development sat right behind me.  We also got to see the Central Perk set from Friends!  With the regular tour you only get to sit on the couch - but with the deluxe tour we got a few extra minutes to roam around the whole set, so much fun!

After that we were back at the hotel to change and then went to dinner at Fig & Olive on Melrose (yummy) and then went to a show at the Groundlings!  So funny.  This sketch comedy group is amazing.  I was watching Modern Family a week ago and one of the cast members we saw had a small part on that episode.  Very funny stuff!  Highly recommended!

We came back home on Saturday, bright and early.  John was brave enough to stay with the kids by himself all week.  He was still standing when we made it back.

We had an awesome time in California!  Can't wait to go back.  I will get tickets to Ellen one of these days! And we really wanted to see a taping of the Big Bang Theory - but they were not taping the week we were there.  I do have to wait 10 years before I can try and be a contestant on the Price is Right again but I can go to the taping (i just can't be picked even though I didn't even make it on stage).