Christmas Spirit

We put up our Christmas decorations last week. We have a window in our living room that has a perfect ledge for displaying little Christmas decorations. This year we put all the breakable decorations on top of the piano so that little 2 year old (and 5 and 7 year old hands for that matter) cannot be tempted to play (and break) them. This year I put all our musical items on the ledge. We have a Santa that plays Jingle Bell Rock. A set of snowmen that play We Wish You A Merry Christmas and a reindeer that sings Jingle Bells. They are all very nice, but when Santa's little helper makes all of them play at the same time, it can be a little overwhelming. Especially when it is done multiple times in a row. But when he turns to me and gives me a smile that say, "look mom, aren't you proud of how talented I am!" I cannot get annoyed. Only 3 more weeks..........

I caught him in the act this morning....

Falling into Fall

We have had a few busy weeks for our family!

First, my mom, came to visit for a long weekend. She came to visit with the grandkids, but also to help me paint. I think she got a little more than she bargined for. First, I think she thought I only wanted the kitchen painted, but I wanted to paint the living room too! Second, I have never painted before, so she did most of the painting. She LET me paint the wall behind the refrigerator. I guess she thought since it was my first time, she would give me a wall that could be hidden. I'm just kidding... I could have done a lot more, but she said she was enjoying it! Third, I think by the end of her trip I was driving her nuts with , just one more spot, or can you go over it one more time. I guess it was good that she did the painting....she has to love me no matter what, I am her only daughter! THANKS MOM...

Excuse the mess you see in the pictures, we shoved everything in the middle of the room...and had 3 little helpers wanting to know when it was their turn to help.

We (she :-) ) painted the kitchen Almond Whip....

The living room Cracker Bitz... the z is very important....

And the piano (accent wall) Fire Weed...

My mom left the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. When I talked to her on Thanksgiving Day she said that they woke up to 3 inches of snow. I had to rub it in that the day before and that day were shaping up to be record highs for MD. I had to kick myself when in the afternoon a cold front rolled in. It did however, bring lots of wind so it made it fun for the kids to try to catch leaves.

On a sad note for Scott, he mowed the leaves in the yard the day before. He got about 7 bags of leaves. The next morning/afternoon it looked like he hadn't done anything. I guess thats what Fall is all about!

Jake told me that the chalk drawing he did was my name. I post this so all you can decipher 2 year old writing.

Halloween Re-visited

This year for Halloween, we celebrated twice. The first time was at our Ward Trunk or Treat the second was on Halloween for trick or treating. Soooo, we had two sets of costumes.

For trunk or treat the kids dressed up as Rachel - a Diva ( a costume I bought on clearance last year from Target ) Madison - a cat (her costume from last year) and Jake - Tigger ( both the girls have worn this costume).

For Halloween trick or treating, Rachel - a McDonald's milk shake ( great costume my mother in law found at Goodwill and brought Rachel a day or so before Halloween) Madi - Barbie Cheerleader (Rachel's costume from last year) and Jake - Tigger.

The kids made out like bandits. I was really worried that Jake was not going to participate. At the church party he would not go to anyones car. He sat at our trunk like a bump on a log. But on the actual night, he went around our neighborhood with no problems. No shyness, no scaredy-cat ness , nothing. We decided that since he was having such a good time, we would take him to another neighborhood with the girls. He fell on someones stairs and hurt his leg and got embarassed so that was it for him. He and Scott went to the van and by the time we got back, he was growling out the window at us.

The kids got so much candy, plus we had a lot left over from what we bought. Since our neighborhood is kinda out of the main stream of things we only get like 20 kids. I would LOVE to have more and always buy more just in case. Let just say, I finally had to put the candy in the pantry so it would be out of sight, out of mind (for ME) ... yeah right!

Tomorrow we are having Young Women in Excellence at church. We are doing an awards show theme. These are the "awards" we have for the 4 girls that are getting the Lifetime Achievement award- or the completion of Personal Progress!

Where have I been...where have YOU been?

So, it's been pointed out to me that I have taken quite a long vacation from blogging. I have been wanting to do it for a while, but where did the time go. I am not quite sure where October went.

So instead of having a huge entry, I will add little bits at a time (especially, because I haven't downloaded all of my pictures yet!)

Madison and Rachel have both started Girl Scouts this year. They have both been really enjoying it. Rachel has been to an overnight encampment and they both went to the community Halloween Party. Rachel was also in the local FallFest Parade. They both seem to enjoy their meetings. They alternate Thursdays, but what is nice is that they have the same leaders, so where one goes, the other goes.

On a current note, I am not sure how many of you all I told, but Madison had an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist (sp) today. At her last yearly check up, the doctor pointed out there was a heart murmur and she wanted to make sure it was nothing. We went today, a doctor from Johns Hopkins comes to our town once a month, and he said it was an "innocent" heart murmur and we had nothing to worry about. Let me tell you, it is a load off my mind. I tried not to think about it, because I knew I would work myself into a tissy. But all is well...THANK GOODNESS!

I had to post this picture. We took advantage of one of the last nice days of the fall. The kids had fun playing, but I couldn't manage to get them all to look out at one time!

On a parting note...Jake had been completly potty trained for about a month now, but I have been afraid to put him in big boy underwear at night, just in case. BUT...for the past 4 nights, he has been wearing his underware to bed and has woken up without accident!!!!!

Little Boys

After a scare at soccer last night, Jake was missing for about 10 minutes, things are back to normal here. I swear, when I couldn't find him, that was the worst feeling I have ever felt in my ENTIRE life. I am so glad that he was okay. He left the field and went to the parking lot to find the car.

Today, he is perfectly content. I snapped this picture while he was going to the bathroom. He hasn't had an accident in almost two weeks now. He still wears a pull up at night, but during the day he is doing really well at potty training!

The boy loves his cars!!!

A New Beginning

This morning marked Madison's first day of kindergarten and Rachel's first day of 2nd grade. I had mixed emotions. I was sad to see her go, not as sad as when Rachel first left...not that she wasn't as important, but the 1st one's the toughest...but happy because I knew she was excited. Also, Rachel was right by her side. They sat in the second seat of the bus. I wish they had one way mirrors at school, so I could watch her and make sure that she made it and was having fun. Now, I guess I wait till 3 so that I can hear what happened....and give them both a big hug!

Rainy Days and Mondays...

Yesterday was soooo gloomy outside. It rained on and off all day.

Since there was nothing really to do outside and school is only a week away, we made a trip to Target to finish up our school shopping. We bought two lunchboxes. Can you guess which one is for which girl? I will give you a hint...When I saw Madison's, I knew it would fit her diva personality to a T! When I pointed it out, she put the other one she had down and carried it around the rest of our shopping trip!

Randomness....

I didn't post this picture yesterday, but as I look at it more, I think its a really pretty picture. Rachel climbed on the rock at the zoo and said mom take my picture.

I think this will make the annual Christmas calendar!

Oh, what to do on a nice summer day!

Yesterday, on a whim, we decided to go to the National Zoo in Washington D.C.. It was so nice outside and we had nothing to do...except housework, which will always be there!

We took the subway in...Jakes first train ride. He was really excited...

Till the train took off and started making some strange noises. I thought this was the way he was going to ride all the way into the city, but he took his hands off when the train went above ground and he could see the scenery.

We had a fun time. We only got to see half of the zoo. It was really big. We will have to go again. The price is right...FREE! The kids liked the lion. It kept growling/talking at the crowd. It was very interesting to see the amount and different types of people at the zoo. I think it would be fun one day to go and people watch.

A new little boy

We had been trying for 3 weeks to get Jake's hair cut. The last time he got it cut was before Tony and Dawn's wedding at the end of May. Scott tried one weekend and I tried for two, but he would just flip out. His face turned 3 shades of red, squirmed and refused to sit in the chair. So on the 4th weekend, we decided to try cartoon cuts. You get to watch your favorite cartoon while you get your haircut. It almost didn't happen, but Thomas caught his attention just enough to get a cut. This was the first time he had the shaver...they did the bottom half at "4."

Hopefully next time won't be so crazy. The odd thing is, is that he has had four haircuts before and been totally fine. The hairdresser even commented one time how he sat so still. The joys of having a two year old!

Before...(and just and FYI...his first trip out of the house with big boy underware)

During.....

After..........

Memories

Going through the CD Rom's and found these pic's....oh how they've grown!

Sleepovers...well not really a lot of sleep

On Saturday, our church had a primary pioneer activity. Rachel wanted to invite her friend Mikey. On Friday, she asked if she could invite Mikey over to spend the night so they wouldn't have to pick her up in the morning. I told her that she would have to ask her dad, because I was going to the Temple that night. She did and her dad said it was okay. When I got home that night about 10:45 they were asleep. At about 11:30 Rachel came upstairs and said they were awake and couldn't sleep. So after bringing a fan down, they were too hot, and giving them the, you had better go to sleep so that you can have fun tomorrow, I went upstairs. I think I heard giggling till about 12:30 maybe 1 oclock. Those crazy kids. They had fun I guess. I guess it all starting....my babies are growing up...sniff sniff sniff.

(Saturday morning breakfast with friends)

That next day, I had decided earlier in the week that we were going to go see Hairspray ! It was a great movie...loved it. I am going to have to go and watch it again though....without the three trips to the bathroom and to get more popcorn!



Scott and Jake had a father son day. Scott got his haircut and was going to get Jake's too, but then Jake decided to freak out when they tried to put the cape over him. So he still looks like a little mushroom head. Guess we will have to try again this week.



Yesterday was so beautiful outside. We were going to pick peaches, but they only do that on Fri. Sat., and Sun, so we got slurpees and went to the park. They had fun. It's nice, because Jake is big enough now to play and entertain himself. I wish I had my camera yesterday.

Dutch Wonderland

On Tuesday, Stacey and I took the kids to Dutch Wonderland again. This is the 4th time the kids have gone, so I guess our memberships have paid off, so now when we go it will be like going for free! Santa will be happy to hear that!

The kids had a lot of fun. They got their pictures taken with Duke the Dragon...

Jake found out that he loved the water slides. At the end of the slide there is a lot of water collected. It was cute, because as soon as he would get done, he would climb back up the cargo net and go again. Did I mention that there were usually a couple of kids in line and that he would cut in front of them. I felt bad at first, but the kids didn't seem to mind. It was pretty fast moving.

Just had to take this picture of Jake. I was on the car in front of Stacey and Jake. I got of my car and was waiting for them to come so I could take a picture. It seemed like forever. I was worried that something had happened like they had run out of gas or Jake decided that he wanted to jump ship. I found out later, that Jake and Stacey had to stop their car to wait for a mama duck and her ducklings to cross the track!

What to do while waiting...

On Monday, we found ourselves again at Wal-Mart waiting to pick a prescription for Jake. It is always at least a 30 min wait and I spend way to much money while killing time. This time I asked if I waited in their "waiting area" or a bunch of benches put together between two rows, could they just tell me when it was ready. The assistant pharm. , who we've seen many times, took pity and said she would tell us as soon as it was done. So I pulled out my camera and decided to take pictures of them to keep their minds off the wait. Here are a couple that we came up with.

Guess these won't be included in our annual family calander...I wouldn't want the products I was capturing in the backround to be part of our Christmas memory! :-)

Weekend Happenings

This weekend the girls were invited to our neighbor's 3rd birthday party. They had a tea party theme. All the kids were told to wear their best dress up clothes. Robin (the birthday girl's mom) really had some cute ideas. They made cute paper plate and tissue paper hats...

They also had a tea party were everything was small. There was tiny PB&J's, tiny cut out cheese shapes, tiny pretzels, tiny pizzas and tiny cupcakes. The cutest part was that the kids all got to drink juice and water from really fancy tea cups and eat off cute little plates. I swear some moms are just so creative! I wish I had more pictures, but my camera batteries died right before the eating began.

After the party and Jake's nap (& mommy too!) we went to the pool swimming. I hate going on the weekend, because there are so many people, but we went because it was soooo hot. The kids love to swim. Today, we went again, and Jake was jumping into the pool and getting his full head wet. I think he realized it wasn't bad, so he was constantly froggy jumping into the pool.

Speaking of Jake...I bought him some big boy underware on the 4th of July. Why not give it a shot. He has been doing very well. I'm not to confident yet to wear them out on adventures, but around the house he has been doing great!

Today, I went to BJ's and bought too many snacks. My kids always want a snack at the pool, so I figured I would buy pool only snacks for them to take to the pool...We will see how long that rule lasts...

Sounds like it will be another hot day tomorrow! Stay cool!

Sprinkler Fun

The kids had fun playing in thier sprinkler today.

Then the had fun filling thier mouths with water and spitting it on each other. Crazy kids.

Madison's Graduation

Madison had her graduation from preschool earlier this month. She got to lead the group in the months of the year song.

She looked pretty cute in her cap and gown.

I am a farmer, I work in the fields all day!

My favorite little farmer...

(They should have weighed Jake before he went to the strawberry patch and then when he left. He loved eating the fresh berries)

..and his sisters.

The Bush's introduced us to the fun of going out to the farm and picking our own strawberries, cherries and peas...