Halloween!!!!

N liked this from his Laffy Taffy....

What do you call a sleep walking nun?


So here are a few pics of our pumpkin carving. S got to paint hers. She used every color she could and covered every possible spot. She also thought that Daddy should paint his orange, despite the fact that we kept telling her the pumpkin was ALREADY orange.

N carving his pumpkin in his new birthday tee.

Investigating....

Try some?



N's grumpy pumpkin and S's painted pumpkin. Originally I had thought we'd make a witch, but S preferred smearing paint everywhere.


S in her second Halloween costume: an Indian!

Cowboy and Indian





Looks like S's got the faster draw!


My Busy Bumblebee

We had fun Trick-or-Treating. There aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood so all of the households without children were throwing away their candy in an effort to get rid of it. We went down just one street and S's bucket was full. She was so excited and could hardly hold still the whole night!

Answer: A roamin' Catholic!

Gorgeous Missouri Skies

http://www.missouriskies.org/rainbow/february_rainbow_2006.html

This is currently my favorite picture. Scroll down to see the tree in the rainbow.

http://bestpicever.com/pic-132-Tornado-rainbow

This one is pretty good too.

Wednesday Night Adventures

So last Wednesday was the Ward Fall Festival and Trunk-or-Treat. We were all excited to go and S was sooo cute in her little costume. Here she is as a little Dutch girl. No, I didn't make it. I borrowed it from a friend who also gave us an Indian dress which S will wear on Monday to the neighborhood party.


So we're all ready to go, and we pile everyone in the car, head out of the neighborhood, and there looming in front of us is the giant hulk of a train just sitting on the tracks blocking the only way in or out of our neighborhood. Needless to say we weren't too happy. S wanted to go to the party and M was antsy because we weren't moving and he was hungry, which made Mom antsy, which made Dad antsy. So we waited a few minutes and nothing was happening. I was considering just going home and worrying about what on earth I was going to tell S (especially since she was all dressed up and we just forced her to finish her dinner so she could go to the stupid party). N started wondering if he could off-road down this dirt path and get around the train. We knew that eventually that long, dusty expanse was eventually (years maybe?) going to connect to a neighboring road but there was no pretense at preparing it for paving as of yet. Well, I didn't know about this but I did want to get to church. Then a car in front of us pulled out of line and started going down the dirt way. N watched and kept saying, "He's still going....he's still going.... Alright, I'm doing it!" Well, it was quite a bumpy ride but N was right - it connected to the canyon road. When we got to the tracks on that road we could see the end of the train not 50 feet away. That was a close one! N would have been irrate if the train had blocked two roads. So we went to the party, S got candy, and we came home... to find the train still blocking the road!!!!! It had been over two hours at least! There were cars everywhere waiting to get in. So, N being so noble and chivalrous, he ran up and down telling everyone to follow him through the secret entrance to Madera Highlands while I sat in the car with two screaming children. So, N ran back, everyone turned around, and N became the Pied Piper of Madera Highlands! N only lost the path twice on the way back, putting us in sandy washes, but luckily we never get stuck. But I'm sure the truck following us was laughing at the idiot who couldn't drive. But we made it. Yea! And so did all of our neighbors. Stupid train.

N's Birthday

It's official! N is now 26 years old and he's an old man! (At least he is until I turn 26 and then he magically transforms into a youthful young adult again!) So here are a few pictures of the day. There's S just being cute in her new clothes and then there are the birthday pics. S was ready to blow out N's candles long before he was! And his gifts were as follows: from M, the Fully Invested tee from BYU, from S, Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star, and from me, the boring ol' wireless computer router. Why did mine have to be the most expensive AND the one with the highest NERD factor?!?!?!?!




S is the one who insisted on the Birthday hats (and her's HAD to be green of course). And she kept talking about how Uncle John needed a birthday hat. Kind of hard when he was in San Jose. No idea where that came from.

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we made a trek out past the western side of town to a farm where there was a pumpkin patch and corn maze. We were surprised that they could grow corn in the middle of the desert but it was there! The little ones weren't interested in hiking through acres of corn, so we skipped that attraction, but it was still nice to be reminded of the Midwest. But there was no way we could forget that we were still in this forsaken state as we were picking pumpkins in 90+ degree weather. Sometimes I despise the desert (well, actually it's more like all the time). But we had fun nonetheless. S enjoyed picking out a pumpkin and wanted the smallest one she could find. In the search for this petite pumpkin she fell head first into a pumpkin vine and came out very grass stained. She also enjoyed feeding the ducks from her open hand, which was surprising because she wouldn't touch the goats or pony at the petting zoo. Her favorite part of the day was riding the horse-drawn wagon that took us out to the pumpkin patch. We had to go and ride it once more before we left.



N and M on the wagon.

Our Day Outside

So, it's really not fair that all summer we've been seeing pictures of our family and friends doing lots of fun things outside while we've been sequestered in the house due to heat. Well, everyone else is now winding up their summertime, play outside season and we're just starting ours! These are pictures of the very first time it was cool enough for us to go and play outside. S took her bike out and M was chilling with Mommy. It was probably in the 80s and so it was very pleasant but the wind was a bit too much for M so that's why the sweatshirt.

Adventures in Brownies

Last week we had company for dinner (in an effort to make friends) and S helped me make Sister Cahua bownies (yum!) for dessert. I love brownies and there are too many good variations to pick a favorite, but this recipe is near the top. And I always have everything on hand to make them so they're great for a last minute dessert.


S always enjoys baking, but it's sometimes difficult to keep her little fingers out of the batter! She was very happy when I finally let her have a beater to lick.


Here's the mess that I made when I attempted to put away the flour and it flew out of my hands and the lid popped off. This is only half of the flour that made it to the floor.


And here's the end result! They were yummy!

Here's S helping me put the duvet cover on the comforter. A picture we took when we missed Dad at work.

Just M

I had difficulties posting this a few days ago, so here it is. Cute little bugger, isn' t he?

And P.S. Anonymous comments weren't allowed on our blog before today, but now they are. So anyone who has tried to comment in the past and couldn't, you can now, so post away!

One project down, 99 more to go...

So here is one of my many projects completed. It only took three months. I made these curtains for S's room, which has a bug theme. My sewing machine was on the kitchen table for weeks, much to my husband's annoyance I'm sure. All of my projects just take a million times longer than I expect them to. For instance, I had wanted this entire wall of S's room to be completely decorated this past weekend, but it didn't happen. I still have two more projects to finish for it. But back to the curtains.

After weeks of working on the curtains we began to search for a curtain rod. We wanted a nice wooden one that matched the blinds, about the color of the crib which you can see a piece of in the above picture. Well, the biggest problem we encountered is that curtain rods come in 4 and 7 foot standard lengths, neither of which fit ANY of our windows. Adjustable rods are almost impossible to find in wood finishes. We found one at Lowes, but each piece was sold separately and would have cost a fortune. We had settled on a white wood adjustable rod from Target but the wait for shipping was 4-6 weeks. So we finally settled on this one. Not our first choice (it's metal and not at all the classic piece I was envisioning), but it was fairly inexpensive and did technically fit the theme of Sadie's room. Too bad I made the curtain loops with a thicker rod in mind.

Why the guilt?

Why is it that we, as mothers, are so stinking hard on ourselves? So often at the end of the day, right before my husband gets home, I feel like a failure? My house is a mess; I didn't spend enough quality time with each child; S didn't eat a single vegetable; I gave M a bottle because I just couldn't stand to hear him cry anymore; and the list goes on.
Now, I saw/heard of a study... Now, I should preface this. I don't remember where this came from. It was probably a segment on the Today show, which I'm addicted to. I hate it when people start quoting things that they don't have references to (especially in Sunday School), but I'm going to do it anyway. So, back to the beginning. I saw something on the Today show probably that compared the amount of time mothers spend with their children. Just for illustration (these numbers are NOT right), let's say in the 1950s women spent 10 hours a week with their kids, and today women spend 14 hours with their kids. Yet, women today feel much guiltier today than 60 years ago. WHY is that?!
Typical day for us: I get woken up at 5 to feed a baby. Go back to bed. S gets out of bed before I go back to sleep. Put her back to bed. Go back to bed. Before I get back to sleep it's 6am and S's up again. I get her up and ready for the day. M wakes up. I get him ready for the day. It's now after seven. I help N get off, put M down for a nap. I know get to eat finally. It's 7:30 or 8:00 and I've been awake and starving since 5. I try and watch the news while eating breakfast but S is all over me, putting her fingers into my cereal and getting whiny and mischievous. I feel guilty and frustrated and turn off the news. Why?
And the day continues in a similar fashion. Much of my frustration stems from the fact that my darling little girl won't be separated from my side for a second. She's constantly following me, even if it means leaving her snack or tea party. It doesn't matter that I tell her I'm just going to put M's pacifier back in or go brush my teeth and I'll be right back. Nor does it matter that I'm already going back downstairs by the time she reaches the top. So, for instance, today while I was cleaning my room (which needed to be done very badly) she insisted on being there instead of playing by herself. This resulted in nothing being done satisfactorily. I wasn't working effectively because I was constantly pulling S out of something that I had already cleaned up and telling her 'no.' She was getting frustrated because I wouldn't play or let her play with anything. Never mind that I would have time to play with her if she would just go away and play by herself while I finished the job. And in all of this I feel guilty.
So why do we do it? Yes, we're not perfect, but no one expects us to be. So how on earth are we supposed to find a balance between taking care of and playing with our kids and working and cleaning the house? Oh, and maybe do something for ourselves every now and then - preferably guilt free.

A M Update

S has been receiving more than her fair share of coverage lately, so I figured now it's M's turn. And there's so much to tell! But I must admit, you can't really appreciate just how much he's growing up without being here to squish the little cuddlebug.
First of all, he's growing like a weed, which is uncharted territory for us since S was always a runt. (A cute runt, but a runt nonetheless.) He was around the 80th percentile for height and weight at two months and he's growing out of clothes much faster than S did. The hospital was freaking out when he was born because he was way too tired to eat. But don't worry, he found his appetite. In fact, he found he liked food so well that the doctor worried he was overeating! Oh, and he's got some nice chunky cheeks and thighs that are just perfect to nibble on!
So, speaking of eating - he's finally quit spitting up! Yea! It has been determined that milk was the culprit (sad for me!). And since he no longer spits up everything we put in him, we no longer have to feed him constantly. That has made our life a little easier. But the no milk thing is horrible. The one nice thing is that the spitting is in proportion to the amount of milk consumed. So if we go out to eat or are at a church function, I don't have to worry too much about what I eat because the small amounts of spitting the next day are bearable.
Some of M's favorite things are: eating(no surprise there), dancing with S, looking at his reflection in the mirror, grabbing objects dangling in front of him (usually rings) and stuffing them in his mouth, chewing on his fingers, music time with Mama, playing with Dad, chewing on cloths, having Mama kiss his palms, and getting thrown into the air which makes him laugh hysterically!
And he's a good sleeper. Naps happen at regular intervals but the length of said naps vary greatly. But he sleeps from 8pm to about 6 or 7am and usually only wakes 2 or 3 times. That's doable.
So, here he is with Daddy.

So here's a picture of the Kiddo Zookeepers. Chelsea requested more pictures of the more mature ones, although there's only one of those pictured here.

The S in the Red Dress

Grandma wanted a picture, so here you go!

Funny things S says

Yesterday morning, N was getting S dressed (while I slept in, yea!) when S said, "I need to brush my teeth, brush my hair, and I need my toiletries." Yes, my two-year-old knows what toiletries are. She has also taken to saying, "So, anyways..."

Later that day N and S were roughhousing on the bed and it was getting a little wild. I think at one point I said something about how the two of them were crazy and S just looked up and said, "We're just having fun!"

After church today, we were waiting for N to get out of a ward mission meeting. When he finally reappeared I shouted "Hallelujah!" S promptly followed this with a "Halle-lu-lah" of her own.

After her bath a few nights ago, S was looking at her reflection in the mirror, pointed at her top lip and said, "My mustache!"
"You don't have a mustache! Who has a mustache?"
"Grandpa!... And Mr. Potato Head!"

A couple of weeks ago S received a postcard from her Aunt Abby. She has made me read it to her so many times that she has it memorized. Today, S held the phone to M's ear, and her improvised conversation went something like this:
"Hi M! Are you staying in bed? Try and be a good boy. I'll see you at Christmas. Miss you. Love, Aunt Abby"

S has learned that when she's downstairs doing something naughty and she hears Mom coming down the stairs it is time to run for it! I usually find her burying her face in the couch cushions. When I question her about what she's been up to, she replies, "I'm just fine!"

N was lecturing S about how she's not supposed to go into M's room while he's sleeping when she piped up and said, "I'm done talking to you now," and promptly walked away.

Dirty Faces are Happy Faces

S had a good ol' time today. First she helped Mom make cookies to take to the neighbors. She was begging the whole time to taste the batter. Mom finally gave in at the end and S had a go at the beaters. I think she got more on her face than in her mouth! Then S performed the amazing feat of eating THREE helpings of Dad's penne (I must admit, it was delicious). Amazing due to the fact that she usually eats two bites at dinner and then declares she's done. I personally like the red nose in these pictures.

A Bright Spot

Much to my consternation, just as I was putting S in bed for her nap, I heard the cries of a baby. Why is it that the two of them can't coordinate their sleep a little better? And on top of it all, M has barely slept an hour at a time today, while over the weekend, when Daddy was home, he took nice long naps. One even lasted four hours! Well, I was slightly annoyed at not being able to take a nap too, but I decided to take M downstairs and play with him one on one. After reading a book while dangling rings over his head (he thinks it's great) I turned on the second movement of the Toy Symphony. We listened to it twice while M sat on my lap and I moved his legs to the music. It was so nice to be surrounded by music and have a happy, giggling baby all to myself. It's rare that M and I get to play without background noise or S vying for attention. I was actually glad he woke up so that we could share some time together.

Pictures that I like

S playing with Dad's laptop - a big no-no in our house.

S at the playground today (it cooled off finally! High of only 90!)

S making frowny faces with Mom during dinner.


M wrapped up tighter than a cocoon - which means it's time for bed.

Some Preschool Projects

Here are a few of the projects S has done in preschool. For jungle week she colored a monkey and hid him in the grass (he was playing hide-n-seek with lion, which is not really a jungle animal and I don't understand why African savannah animals are always in jungle picture books). For kitten week she colored a kitten, and then while Mommy was showering she got up onto the counter, into the cupboard, and covered her kitten in stickers. Incidentally, she also covered Daddy's D&C section 93 in stickers and broke a light bulb. Fortunately there was no lasting damage and S did not get hurt. Oh, and back to the jungle books that incorrectly portray which animals actually live in the jungle, Eric Carle's Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth is the best jungle picture book out there. It is full of real jungle animals like caimans, tapirs, and anacondas. Not a lion or a giraffe in the bunch!

Our Happy Baby is Back!

A few weeks ago at M's two month check-up, his pediatrician gave us a list of new things to do to stop M's spitting up. We previously took him in and saw another doctor who said there was nothing we could do for him since he wasn't losing weight. Well, his real pediatrician took a different view. He said he could still have reflux and be gaining weight and that throwing up all the time wasn't good for him (although he was very happy and it didn't seem to bother him). So we stopped bottles, had him sitting up all of the time, and took dairy products out of my diet. Well, he stopped spitting up but he also stopped being happy and sleeping like my angel baby did. Well, through trial and error we think we have figured out that it is milk that upsets him and since he is now allowed to have all the soy formula bottles his little tummy could desire, he is back to being happy and sleeping well again. Everyone just breathed a sigh of relief.

M, right after finishing his breakfast

S the Chef

S loves to help cook. She is constantly trying to push kitchen chairs across the room so that she can get in on the action. Certain jobs are reserved just for her. These include dumping from measuring equipment, pouring rice, and stirring batter. She'll even help hold the hand mixer. If you chance to accomplish these tasks without her assistance, you will be severely remonstrated. Here are a few pictures of the great S cook at work.

Here S attempts to open the relish jar that Mama couldn't open (Daddy finally did, but he had to get a rubber band). We discovered that S is quite the fan of chicken salad sandwiches.

S helped make the best roast in the world. She helped whisk the gravy and pour it over the roast. Unfortunately, she refused to eat her own creation. To bed without supper that night!

Preschool Update

I have been surprised at how many people think S's preschool is so great. It's not hard and it gives us something to do. S loves it. She's always wanting to go have preschool. Her greatest feat so far has been writing the letter A. The only problem is she usually does it upside down. She says "Up, down, line in the middle" while drawing in the opposite direction. It's pretty cute. And N has just informed me that she recognized the numerals 1 and 2 in M's counting book. Counting is her forte. If it's less than five she's fabulous, and she can do up to ten as long as she's not in too much of a hurry. Her favorite activity during preschool is counting food. I think that's because she gets to eat it after she's counted it. And her favorite food to count is chocolate chips.