Christmas is a time for Peace and WAR!

Visit with me for a minute a few Christmas' from our past...Three years ago we put up Christmas lights for the first time. We had all red lights because that is what the previous owner left in the garage. One day we noticed that we now had a blue light in the middle of the strand. Then slowly, day by day more and more different lights began appearing, until our house looked really ghetto. We knew this could only mean one thing...the Pages had been here. Well, we stole lights off of their house and decorated our porch. They stole our lighted Christmas trees and put them in their upstairs windows, we moved more of their lights to the insides of our windows. It was so much fun!

Then last year, if you will recall we took this lovely old couch (left in our out building by the same previous owner) and made it festive for the holidays, before dropping it off in the Page's Driveway of course. You may recall where it ended up...

Yep, that's our roof!

Well, this year we went to CA for Thanksgiving...gone a week. We were ready for what we might find, but we found nothing. Weeks past and we were beginning to think that the Page's had lost their touch, until last night...We went to the ward Christmas party at church (the Page's were late) and came home to this....

HILLARIOUS! From the road you can't see the wood or anything that they mounted the lights on. It really is an A+ job, so now of course the war has begun. Please feel free to post any ideas here as we are taking suggestions. :) Oh, and check back for updates. You gotta love the holidays!

Catching up...Again!

Here you have it...another post where I say, "sorry I haven't posted in so long, so let's let the pictures do the talking for me." I just realized that I downloaded my pictures in reverse order, so bear with me, I'm not doing it over. :)

For Thanksgiving this year we went to my parent's home. After a few days there Jed and I left the kids with Nana and Papa for two nights and headed to the Bay Area. It was the first time that we had been together over night, without our children, in THREE years. I know, shocking, isn't it? We thank Kelli and Cory for inspiring us to do this. It was fabulous! We visited the LDS temple where we married, had lunch in China Town, did some shopping, watched movies. We are already planning our next adventure. Hope Nana and Papa had as much fun as we did!


You gotta love how these pictures make you look when you take them yourself!

China Town
Jed said China Town was giving him flashbacks to his missionary days in Korea.

Before we left for the Bay Area, we spent an afternoon out at my Grandpa's place. The kids love going out there. They look for rabbits, throw rocks, shoot guns (I am grouping Jed in with the kids here), you know all of the good stuff you can do when your Great Grandpa lives on acreage.

For Thanksgiving this year our dear friends, the Wiltbanks joined us. We loved having them. They were as low maintenance guests as you could ask for. In fact, I don't think any of us viewed them as guests. Sorry guys. The kids fit right in with the cousins and I think that I speak for everyone when I say that you are welcome back anytime. Oh, and Kelli, bring more rolls...YUM!
Claire and Alex eating smores!
Hannah is a pro at the smore thing...she doesn't let a little sticky marshmello bother her!
The old roomies together again! Yea, E. Richards Hall!
Emma and Kate playing on Nana and Papa's motorcycle. Kate LOVES that thing.

Finally, I am throwing in this picture of Kate to show you that she can now climb up into the boys Clubhouse (aka the top bunk of their bed). She is so proud. I told her for this photo to also show you that she is chewing gum (she took it out of my purse when I wasn't looking). 18 months old and she loves gum....Heaven Help Me!

Look Who's Three!

Last week our sweet Davis turned three! Amazing that it has been three years already! Davis is a loving, kind, coy, observant boy. He enjoys playing with his brother, digging in the dirt , hiding from his dad and with a little imagination he can turn anything into a gun (oh, you know this thrills me to NO end!).

For his special day Jed and I gave him a Tonka Bounce Back Racer, which kept both he and Owen busy for most of the morning. He was also showered with gifts from other family, neighbors and friends (thank you all for loving our boy!). In the afternoon he shared some time and cake with some of his favorite little buddies. Then for dinner Owen suggested that we all go to Applebees (no cooking! Sign me up!) where he remembered that on his third birthday they rang a loud bell and sang to him, of course with a dish of ice cream in hand as well. Davis loved the ice cream, but, and this is one way he differs from Owen, he told me that he was hiding when they were singing because he was embarrassed. He actually didn't even blow out his candles in front of everyone earlier in the day either...once again he was too shy. What can I say, not all of us are built for the spotlight. At any rate we love this boy and know that good things are going to come from him!

Carving the Pumpkins...

I just looked out the window and noticed that it was raining...not a surprise for this time of the year, but it reminded me of what we were doing at this time last Sunday...we were all sitting outside carving pumpkins! It was so BEAUTIFUL--79 degrees--I just wanted to freeze these moments in time. Then, after we were done, we cut up a watermelon that our neighbor had brought only hours before. Are we sure this was really October? I want to rewind to last week!!! The giant pumpkin was also given to us by our neighbors, Joe and Shirley. They are always so generous and provide us with our best pumpkins. That one was carved with the Batman symbol. The others were the boys own designs. Too fun.

Halloween 2008

Halloween seemed to last for weeks this year. I'll admit that when it was over I gave a huge sigh of relief. This doesn't mean that we didn't have fun though...Owen and Davis changed their minds at the last minute and decided that they wanted to be SPIES. Is anyone surprised? I threw together what I had for a couple of Halloween parties, including one at the church on the 30th (Those of you from Dr. Hurley's office will be proud to know that I went as a dental assistant, creative, eh? And those of you from OHS will be happy to know that Jed wore my football jersey and went as a Mustang!). You will notice, however, that I have also posted a picture of Davis as Superman. Let's just say that Davis is fickle these days and decided on Halloween morning to wear Owen's Superman PJs and dress up as the Superhero! Whatever works, I just go with the flow...

Owen, AKA Agent OO5

Eli--Davis--Owen (They call themselves the "12-9-12ers". A spy team name derived from their shoe sizes. I love when they told me that--I think it is such an insight into their minds), playing in the leaves, with a black cat, before trick-or treating. We have gone trick-or-treating with Eli's family (my 2nd cousins--or something like that) every year since we moved here.

From Superhero to....

Super Spy!...Agent OO6

Happy Ballerina Girl! And this was BEFORE the candy. Oh, boy did she love trick-or-treating! Have you ever seen anything cuter than a little tu-tu toddling from door to door, thrilled to be getting candy for just standing there?

I hate to brag, but she was really precious!

Pumpkin Pictures at Home

Here are a few pictures I took today after church...

Pandemonium at the Pumpkin Patch

Okay, so I am not sure that "Pandemonium" is really the right word, but in looking for a title for my post, it seemed to fit the bill to a degree and went well with "Pumpkin Patch". My English teachers would be so pleased that I am trying to use alliteration in my blogging...

So as any good photo happy mother would be, I was so excited when the day came for Owen's preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids were all dressed in Fall colors that would look good next to the bright orange pumpkins. The perfect bow was selected for Kate's hair. The camera batteries were charged. I was READY. I had committed to driving one other boy from the class with us that morning, so we loaded up the three boys and Kate and headed down the road. By the time we got there it was evident that something was off with Davis. He is generally pretty easy going, but he battled with me to put on his jacket and expressed 200 pleas to "hold me". I quick touch of the forehead and I knew that he had a fever and was not going to be pleasant. Poor boy. So I gave him some Motrin and we decided to make the best of the morning. Then it came time to get on the hay ride. Normally this would have been the highlight of the week, but this boy whaled as if I were making him ride on the Screaming Banchi from the Movie "Mater and the Ghostlight". Lucky for me one of Owen's teachers took Kate and Owen was content to hang with his friends and act like he didn't know that screaming boy or the crazy lady holding him. Eventually, the Motrin kicked in and Davis got a snack and was feeling much better--even on the verge of happy. In the end, however, all my dreams of the perfect picture of my three kids together in the pumpkin patch, were disinigrated. Oh well, above you can see my feeble attempt at perfection...don't let Davis' cheesy smile fool you...

One more milestone...

Last week Owen was playing at his friend, Eli's, house. When we left he said, "Mom can we go home right now and take the training wheels off my bike? Eli is four and I am five and he can ride without his training wheels." Talk about peer pressure, eh? I hadn't really even thought about taking his training wheels off. Well, he kept insisting, aka nagging, so we went home and took the wheels off right away. I was amazed. I ran along side him and let go and off he rode. Of course he crashed soon after that, but got up and went again and again and again. That night when Jed came home he was so proud to show off his new trick. Jed spent a lot of time with him giving him pointers and now he rides everywhere. I think it is funny, but when he has me start him he says, "Mom you have to say, 'peddle like crazy!', that's what Daddy always says." Such a big kid.

Catching up through pictures...

This week's Sunday post is all about pictures (you gotta love the one above of Kate eating a snack today after church...lately I am all about the fun tights!), but before I do that I thought I would note a couple of things:

Davis has a new joke: What is a boy's favorite lunch? Answer: Popcorn! I don't know why that is funny, but, just ask him, it is HILARIOUS!!!

Owen and Davis have been concocting tricks for Jed all week...salt in his ice water, a plastic spider in a piece of ice, etc. Owen was upset with me because I wouldn't put the riding lawn mower on the roof of the house. I told him that it was too heavy for me to which he replied with pleading eyes, "Please just try Mom." I wonder where they get this from. :) And now for the pictures...

Kate + A big pink bowl= loads of entertainment, fun and giggles!

A morning with three FIREMEN!

Owen's school had a visit from the local fire department last week. What a thrill to see all of the firemen in their gear, to hear how the oxygen masks sound when they are on, etc. Owen was captivated.

The kids were amazed every time the firemen opened a new compartment on the truck, "WOW!", they would all say in unison. I loved being there to experience the magic of the day with them.
One thing I love about our little town is that the kids have so many opportunities to sit in fire trucks and do things that I know aren't easily available everywhere. This is probably Owen's fourth time in a fire truck, but he still finds it "AWESOME".
I had a friend watch Kate (thank you Erika!) so that Davis could come too. He was too bashful to climb into the truck or do much of anything, but loved being there with the big kids and the big TRUCK!

The Family Soup

Our long-time friends, Bethany and Calvin, have recently started on a new adventure that I would like to share with you. This undertaking comes in the form of a website: thefamilysoup.com. In their words, "The Family Soup is a collection of thoughts and experiences from everyday men and women on the realities of life. If you have a moment, please take the time to read, comment, and/or submit an experience of your own!" I spent hours the other night browsing through the stories and experiences shared on this site and can see the real benefit of this. Check it out and see what you think...

Remember When...

A few things from this week that I want to remember...

Kate: For several weeks now Kate has been saying "Thank You" and it is the cutest thing I have ever heard! I think that we can call this her first official word (beside the usual "Dada", "Bye-Bye", "Night-Night" thing).

Owen: Owen drew a picture this week on a piece of wood that he intends to use for the tree house that we are supposedly going to build. He told me that the picture is of "a long neck on TV in the 1980s." "The 1980s?" I say. To which he replies, "Yeah, the 1980s. I heard about them on TV. That is when the dinosaurs lived, before people were on the earth." I am still laughing about that one. I must be ANCIENT in this boy's mind!

Davis: I have been meaning to record this for a while now. Davis calls M&Ms "MEMs"--LOVE IT! He and Owen also refer to McDonalds as "Old McDonalds"...Old McDonald had a hamburger, EIEIO....

Let's Be Real...

One thing I decided when I started doing a blog was that I never wanted to paint a rosier picture of my life than it really is. So here you have it, let's be real...

YESTERDAY Jed spent the morning playing paintball with a group of guys. I honestly support him 100% in this. He doesn't often get the chance to do something that is solely for his enjoyment and heaven knows, he earns this time. So, I took the kids to Owen's 9:00 a.m. soccer game. The game went fairly smoothly, the little two stayed busy climbing all over me, eating everything I had for them to eat, etc. Everyone was in a fairly good mood, so we went to drop something off to a friend and headed to a department store to buy a birthday gift for an upcoming birthday party. Well, as in all department stores, there were racks of clothing and the boys were thrilled, the perfect spying set-up. I swear I was paying attention to where the kids were hiding, but as I am shopping I hear a customer service rep say something like this, "For the safety of your children we would like to remind our customers to keep their children near them at all times..." Okay, are you kidding me? Have these people ever had little kids? I mean, I used to hide in the racks while my mom shopped too. I wasn't playing spies, but it was loads of fun. I was embarrassed that it appeared that my kids were out of control, mostly because I actually felt a lot more in control than usual. Let's be real...

UPON ARRIVING HOME from the store I unloaded the soccer gear, diaper bag, shopping bags, etc. Davis had fallen asleep, so I left him in the van for a while. Kate didn't want to get out of the van, so I decided to let her "drive" for a while (all little ones love this activity, do they not?). I kept checking on her every few minutes and the last time I looked in she was looking particularly happy. Then I noticed she was smonching (a word my mom made up when I was little...it means chewing loudly) on something...GUM! She had found my pack of gum in the car and it was now empty. I know that she ate at least 5 pieces. She really is a tornado. Let's be real...

TODAY on the way home from church I was telling Owen that a lady in our ward (LDS term for congregation, basically) had passed away. Some of the children were going to sing at a memorial service in her honor this evening. Because Owen has often become very shy when it is time to sing in front of everyone, I thought that I would let him decide if he wanted to join this group or not. He asked, "will there be cake there?" When I said that I didn't think so, he decided not to participate. Somebody tell me that there is still loads of time to teach these children compassion? Let's be real...

Finally I have posted some "real" pictures of my family today...you may not be able to tell, but Kate has pulled out her pony tail and is sporting the "side pony troll look". Also, Owen has his shirt off, which is his latest obsession. He swears that he is always hot. Davis usually follows his lead on this, but had fallen asleep, as is evident. I think it makes them feel tough. Also, the house looks like a small tornado came through, which always seems to be the case on Sunday nights. Despite all of this however, I continue to know that I am so blessed and really wouldn't change this reality for anything.