Joys of Children

So we are sitting in sacrament on Sunday, and they are just about to announce the new ward boundries and everything. I look over at our Cutie and she is undresssing. Right there in the middle of church. She tells me she needs to go potty. I quickly pull her clothes back on and take her to the bathroom. I am happy she is potty trained, but wish she would wait to pull her pants down until she is in the bathroom. I was a little embarrassed, but I really don't think that anyone else noticed. Someday I hope she learns a little more modesty.

Merry Christmas

We hope that everyone had a wonderful and merry Christmas. We certainly did. Yesterday, our Cutie and J helped me to make cookies for Santa.
They are both a little sad in this picture, because they were fighting over who got to stand on the stool. Dad and A were helping the Bishop's wife with her computer. Then we did a little last minute shopping and cleaning. Next, it was time for new pajamas and baths.
After the kids were clean and dressed in new pj's, we hung up our stockings. Cutie is getting so independent and hung her stocking all by herself. Thanks to Grandparents Fowers for her new pajamas(the ones I bought were too big). Then we put our cookies and milk out for Santa. J insisted that we leave 5 cookies. We then finished watching Narnia on t.v. and sent the kiddos to bed around 10pm. Then around 11:30 Santa came.

In the morning, A was up way before the crack of dawn(somewhere around 4 or 5 am). He was bored waiting for the others to wake up so around 6 he asked if he could watch tv in our room. They are not allowed to go downstairs until everyone is there. So he watched tv until about 7:30 when everyone else woke up. The kids were very excited to see what Santa had left for each of them.
A got a Star Wars Transformer and a 4x4 Rubiks Cube. J got a Martian Matter Alien Maker and a Nerf gun. Cutie got a doll house. She really liked the little potty that came with it and wanted to go potty in it. I told her it was just for the dolls and if she tried, the potty would be taken away. It was very cute to watch though.
Now off to Grandma Colleen's for Breakfast. We had fresh fruit, Mountainman breakfast, and Mormon muffins. It was so good. Thanks mom. Present time again. Cutie had the hang of it by now and was sad when she was finished.

Next to Grandma Fran's and Grandpa Brent's. We got to see everyone but Kylie and Austin, they were with their mom.
Back to my mom's to see my younger brother and his family. Now we are snowed in here. J is not happy, he wants to be home playing with his new things. Oh well, not worth risking lives. You may have noticed that my kids are in their pajamas in every picture, well either they were so comfy they did not want to change, or they were having way to much fun or just a little of both. Hey, its Christmas, when else do you get to wear pajamas all day?

We also want to thank our Secret Santa whoever you are, your gift was greatly appreciated.

We are grateful for this holiday season and the opportunity to celebrate the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are so thankful for the gospel in our lives and for the atonement. We love each of you and hope this finds you all well and happy. Is there room in your inn? Wise men still seek Him.
Merry Christmas!

Work Woes

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Many of you know that Kevin is employed here as well as Hunters, Morris', and Johnsons.
So, what does this mean for us? As of now, nothing changes. They are not planning any lay offs. Thank goodness. Please keep us and the others in your prayers that all will be okay.

Potty Trained

Our Cutie is potty trained. She basically did it herself. She just came to me one day and said she needed to go. Since then she has had very few accidents. She even survived a bout of the runs on Saturday and still made it to the potty each time. We are so happy for her. And glad to not be buying diapers anymore. We love you Cutie.

I Need Your Help

If you have a Pampered Chef can opener, would you please let me know. I need to save the cans opened with this can opener for primary. I want to fill the cans, glue the lid back on and put a birthday label on the outside. We have a large primary and I need one for every kid and teacher. So if you can help me out with this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for your help.

Cutie's New Bed

We moved Our Cutie into a twin bed over the weekend. It is a collection of different beds. The frame is from Kevin's old twin bed, along with the box spring. The mattress and headboard are from my aunt. We painted the headboard to match her room. Thank you Aunt Debby for those items. She was so excited until we told her it was time to go to bed. Now all I need is her green sheets and pink comforter. (She is currently using some of the boys sheets, Spiderman, not good for my little girl.) The good news about this bed, is that when she wakes up in the middle of the night as she sometimes does, I can lay with her until she goes back to sleep versus bringing her into my bed.

Grateful

I love Thanksgiving. We are grateful to have all of you as friends. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I wanted to make a card for this, so I asked Kevin, my ever so sweet husband, how to do it in Photoshop. He gave me a quick tutorial and this is the card I made. I hope to continue developing my skills with him by my side.

Favorite Sacrament Meeting

Once a year usually around this time, we have a Testimony meeting through songs. People go up to the microphone and tell us the hymn number, then why it is they like the song. Then everyone sings one verse of the song. Either the first or which ever verse the speaker asks. The spirit is very present. I love it. I look forward to next year. I will have to decide on a song quicker so that I can have a turn before we run out of time. There is never a silent moment in this meeting.

Wow! I Am Going To Need A Nap Today

Up until the 4th book, I was a secret fan of Twilight. I knew Kevin would not want me reading novels of this sort, so I read them only while he was a work and finished the first 3 in 3 weeks. It was not until I borrowed the 4th book from Dawnese that I was found out. Thankfully he has been really supportive and so my friend Dawnese and I went to see Twilight late last night/ early this morning. It was so much fun. I liked the movie, although I did not have super high expectations. Books are always better.
I tried to take a nap yesterday, but Cutie would not let that happen. Since she turned two, she no longer sees a need to nap. Sometimes she will fall asleep on the way to get Kevin from work, or else fall asleep eating dinner. So after staying up til 3 in the morning and being up at 7 to get the boys off to school. I am hoping she will find a need to sleep in the afternoon. I will have to keep you posted on that. The biggest downside of the movie adventure last night, was that we were on the front row. It was not as bad as I had imagined, but I would have preferred to be farther back. Oh well I did get to be one of the first ones to see it. I will have to see it again from farther back. After you see it let me know what you thought. All in all I liked it a lot.

Today would also be my Dad's birthday if he were still here. I have never been one to let my emotions show. It is still hard for me to think about my dad being gone even though it has been almost 3 years. One of my favorite things about my dad is that he could talk to anyone about anything for any length of time, usually it was a long length of time. On the beach at Pineview, he would disappear for hours and we would have to go find him. He would be talking to someone.

So Happy Birthday Dad! We love and miss you.

Gus and Gussie

J for the last few weeks has been attending a program at school called Gus and Gussie. It stands for "Growing Up Strong" and "Growing Up Super Strong In Excellence." He has really enjoyed it. Today was his graduation. They have been teaching them skills for anger management, coping skills and other leader type skills. I think it has helped him and he will be sad that it is all over. They sang a song about liking themselves. The video does not show the whole thing, but it was a cute song with some silly words. In case you cannot understand the words, they are: I like my head, its a place to hang my hat. I like my ears, I like them round and flat. I like my chin its right below my grin. I like I like I like myself. I like my knees, don't knock them if you please. I like my toes, they points the way I goes.



The song goes on, but we cannot record that long on our camera. Anyway you get the gist of the song.

PTC or SEP

Yesterday, we had Parent Teacher Conferences, or Student Education Planning as I think they now refer to them. A has made huge improvements since the beginning of the year, and is working on some things to do even better. I am happy to report that the teacher situation has gotten much better, for both of us. J's teacher(s) (he has 3) had nothing but good things to report. She did say that he can be a little energetic sometimes, but what do you expect from a 6 almost 7 year old boy. All in all, both got rave reviews from their teachers. But I have to say that they are growing way too fast. Half of A's pants we got for back to school are already too short. Thanks boys for doing your best and being great kids. We love you.

Welcome to the Terrible Twos

My house smells like burnt sugar. Our Cutie decided it would be better to eat her licorice warmed up. I had no clue she was doing this until the microwave beeped, and I could smell this awful smell. I went to the kitchen to find it filled with smoke. I opened the microwave to see a crispy, black mess. I am surprised that the smoke alarms did not go off. I had to turn off the heater and open the windows a crack to see if I could clear the room of the smoke. I don't think it is helping much. This is one of those times I wish I had an above the range microwave. Too bad I didn't think to take a picture before I cleaned up the mess.

Chicken Crazy

So I went to Macey's this morning to get a few things. While I was there I saw a 40 lb box of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $47.60. If you do the math that is $1.19/lb. How can you pass that up? We did need chicken so I bought one. I finally got around to it at 1:30 this afternoon. I cut apart, trimmed and bagged for 3 hours. Needless to say, we will not need chicken for a long time. I bagged them with 3 half breasts per bag and ended up with 24 bags. Now I need a break. My back is hurting from standing in one place for so long. I am also grateful that it is garbage night, because raw chicken sticks. I am sure it will be days before I quit smelling it. Hooray for a good deal though.

The Cleanest Spot

Anyone care to guess where the cleanest spot in our house is at the moment. I am sure it will take you several guesses to get it right, so I will just tell you. Under and behind the fridge. Now here is the story behind that. Everyday, I am cleaning up water spills that my Cute little one loves to make, because she can reach the water on the fridge door. Yesterday, she dumped so much water, it was dripping in the basement. What is the solution? Turn off the water. In order to do that, you have to pull out the fridge and if you are going to do that you might as well clean back there. So now that it is clean and the water is turned off, hopefully I won't have a flooded home. I also won't have any ice. Now onto the next project, the microwave.

Pictures

We had some new family pictures taken recently. It is almost impossible to get a family picture with a two year old and a six year old that just want to run and have fun. Here are a few of the best pictures. If you want a copy of one, just let me know which one and what size.
Thanks Becky D., you did a great job!

More Pictures

Can you tell who the star of the family is?

J in sepia

Three kids

Boys

Kissing Daddy

Our Cutie and Mommy

J and Dad

Having Fun

I'm 2

Thanks Becky. We really appreciate your time and patience.

Trunk or Treat

We had our annual ward trunk or treat last night. The Kids all had a lot of fun. We had chili for dinner that was a bit too spicy. Good thing we fed the kids mac and cheese before we left. Kevin, in case you are wondering, is the magic mirror on the wall. It got rave reviews. Holly went as the Evil Queen, Our Cutie, Snow White, J as Indiana Jones, and A is Darth Vader.

We had good representation of all the princesses. Sleeping Beauty's mother got caught eating the donuts as fast as she could--two at a time. We also had a visit from Cindy Lu Who. Doesn't she look just like her? There were also a lot of escaped animals as you can also see. Frogs and bears and spiders, Oh my!

Halloween Costumes

Let me know if you would like to borrow any of these.

2 Year Check-up

Our Cutie had her 2 year check-up today. She is doing great. She weighs 26 lbs. and is 33 1/2" tall. She cried when they were weighing and measuring her. I have no idea why. She is in the 50th percentile on both height and weight. She is at the age that she does not want to look at the camera for anything. The room we were in had nursery rhyme characters painted on the walls. I tried to get her to stand by the 3 kittens who lost their mittens. She was not cooperating. I am glad we have such a cute and healthy little girl. She kept trying to leave before I was ready, so I snapped a picture. As we were leaving she got to pick a sticker. She was so excited. She picked one with a purple My Little Pony.

2 Years Old

Our cute little one turned two last Saturday. I can hardly believe it has been two years already.
In the early afternoon, we took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda, at the Perry Egyptian Theatre. The boys really enjoyed it. Our Cutie struggled a little, ( it was right at her nap time). The also did a classic cartoon and a Charlie Chaplin silent movie. We made it home just in time for the party.

She had so many cousins and brothers to help her open her presents, I don't think she looked at anything for more than 2 seconds before it was taken away from her and another gift handed to her instead. All in all I think she had a great day.

She wasn't too sure about blowing out the candles, she needed a little help from mom and J.

Our baby is not so much a baby any more. She is getting so independent. She want to do as many things by herself as I will allow. She is talking more everyday. Her favorite things are books and shoes.