Sweet and Sour

We were also vey thankful to have Jim take some family photos for us. here are some of our kiddos:

Miles Sweet:

Miles Sour:

Jonas Sweet:

Jonas Sour:

Emmy Sweet:

Emmy Sour:

Emmy Definitely Sour:

Thankful for Thanksgiving

(our cute kids all in overalls on Thanksgiving Day - am i cheesy or what?!)

Well we had a great Thanksgiving trip and were able to spend it with wonderful family and friends. We really had a lovely time. This morning Miles said to me, "I thought we could stay at Grandma Diana's for a reeeeeeeeeeal long time." Nope, unfortunately that's not the case and we had to start real life this morning - which included tantrums, fights, crummy nap-sleeping for Emmy all day long, etc., etc.! Oh well. At least we can be thankful for Thanksgiving.

We were lucky to have had it snow on Wednesday - but not during our drive over. So that was fun. The boys were able to get out in it on Thanksgiving and have some cold fun!

Miles: my task-oriented boy. He enjoyed scrapping all the snow off the patio table. He also enjoyed eating it, too, of course.

Jonas: my fun-loving boy. He had a good time riding the "sled," i.e. shovel. Whoa there!

Indians Jonas and Miles:

And, of course, probably the favorite part of Thanksgiving Dinners to all kids 4 and under: OLIVES!

What yummy fun we had!

Give Thanks

so i was going to write a post and list everything i'm grateful for, but my all-kids-napping-time is over and so i must attend to li'l emmy. :)

but i'll sum up my gratitude by saying i am very grateful for my life - it is full of good things and wonderful people.

happy thanksgiving!

Monday, Monday

Last nite at about 10pm Ben and I realized we had not come up with any idea for FHE (which unfortunately isn't all that uncommon). So Ben just said we'd do something on being thankful - brilliant, eh?

Well I didn't think of anything to do for our FHE "lesson" during the day and so on the spur-of-the-moment at 6:15 tonite Ben thought we should sit in a circle and each of us say one thing we're thankful for. It then evolved into having each of us say one reason we are thankful for so-and-so of the family (make sense?). I then spotted a feather on our floor (from a nursery craft yesterday) and decided the person saying their thanks would tap each person on the head with a feather and tell us why he is thankful for that person.

Anyways, Ben went first and feathered each of us and said why he was thankful for us. Miles was so excited and just had to go next. This is what Miles had to say:

"I am thankful for mommy because I have tractors. . . and because she is good."

"I am thankful for daddy because Jonas is my brother . . . and because you have really big books" (as he pointedly looked over to the table where Ben's big library book of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales rested).

"I am thankful for Emmy because she cries a lot."

"I am thankful for Jonas because he is my brother."

Then it was Jonas' turned and I helped him "feather" each person and prompted him by saying,

me: "Why do you like mommy?"
Jonas: "cuz"

me: "Why do you like daddy?"
Jonas: "cuz"

me: "Why do you like Emmy?"
Jonas: "cuz"

me: "Why do you like Miles?"
Jonas: "cuz"

Jonas was quite pleased with his responses.

So, Erin, you might not have restful Sundays to look forward to. But you do have FHE nites like these to look froward to. And these are the moments that make everything else . . . worth it.

Sunday, Sunday

So Sundays are a little different with kids. Sundays are nowhere near a "day of rest" like they should be! Taking three kids, three and under, for three hours of church is . . . not restful.

Then after church it's not like Ben and I can come home, sit on the couch and read the scriptures, conference talks, etc. together. It just doesn't happen with our little ones. So to ease our Sunday Afternoon Boredom I thought (taken from my friend Rebecca) it would be fun to make cookies together and then deliever them to a family in our ward. Well, neither the making nor the delivering turned out all that fun (at least eating the dough was fun).

Miles had trouble with listening and was banished from the kitchen for a few minutes at one point. We ended up not having enough molasses and so a friend came over to give us some - Ben poured in the exact amount we needed for the cookies. Ben went to give the molasses jar back to our friend and told Miles not to pour it in the bowl until he came back to the kitchen. Well. . . when Ben got into the kitchen he discovered that Miles had in fact poured the molasses, spilling probably the exact amount we had borrowed from our friend all over the counter! Sheesh. Another banishment (but it was done quite lovingly as poor Miles was doing all he could to hold back his tears).

So the whole cooking thing wasn't all that fun. Well for me I guess. Jonas had a great time playing with the flour. And Emmy enjoyed watching all the madness I guess.

Then after dinner we went to deliver the cookies and the entire time (20 minutes?) in the car Emmy was screaming. So not fun.

So, as you can tell from Ben's picture, this Sunday made us (the parents) a little more frazzled than rested. . .

I'm in Control Now

so emmy is getting some great neck control - way to go girl.

Two Peas in a Crib

Well it was quite a boring morning today. Luckily my boys found a way to entertain themselves. See for yourself:

A Little Trip Down Memory Lane, aka Cheshire Dr.

Well my folks are moving from our beloved home in about 2 weeks. Wow. We moved there when I was 9 years old - just about 20 years ago. So really, I grew up (albeit not much) in that home. I am a little sad about it because I have so many wonderful and fun memories at that home, such as:
Our Trampoline. It was our first tramp. We moved from Virginia and nobody out there had one. When we came out to Utah, everybody had one. It was a fine investment indeed (although my parents might have had some doubts the first week after we got it since a neighbor girl broke her foot on it). We had fun jumping on it in spring, summer, fall, and winter. Winter was great as we would get on it and jump and try to break up all the ice. I spent many hours out there practicing my gymnastics and making up routines. I loved it. (Remember Plop-for-the-Money, Erin?!) We also had many, many sleep-outs there - we usually lasted until about 4-5am and then would go inside because either: 1. it got really cold, or 2. we forgot to turn the sprinklers off.

Halloween. Halloweens were fun there. When I was young it was great because I lived in a nice, safe neighborhood and practically knew everybody. As I got older I enjoyed being there on Halloween and seeing the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of kids stop by for some treats.

The Fireplace. My dad could have lit a fire every day if it was up to him. Yes, the same man who can't stand the heat. He likes the nostalgia of it all, I think. But I loved the fireplace, too. I remember sitting there and waiting for my back to get real hot, then plopping down on the floor real fast to "sear" my back. Yessssssss.

Christmas. So many wonderful Christmases. I remember frosting and frosting and frosting sugar cookies. Eating "christmas wreaths" and toffee - my 2 favs. The huge-mongous (as Jonas would now say) Christmas trees my dad would buy every year - much to my mom's chagrin. The smell of "christmas cheese-braid" bread in the morning. Stockings hung over the fireplace. Presents under the tree. Oh, and luminaries - every year we did them and every year we loved them. Christmas there was always magical.

Hanging underwear on the wall. That's right. My cousins (Melissa, Steven, and Kristen) and my sister and I would play this game - I guess it was a game. We would stand in the upstairs office (there was a big opening/window looking to the downstairs area/entry way) and drop/throw underwear on the walls and hope they would stick. Yes, extremely weird, but waaaaay fun - you should try it. But you have to have walls that are textured and real poky.

Fried bologna. I don't know why, but we (me, my sister, and the same group of cousins, I think) made this a lot. How disgusting. We'd also create menus and restaurants quite often - serving, what else, fried bologna.

Games. My family liked, and still likes, to play board-games. Many evenings were spent playing Scrabble (the favorite), Taboo, Rumikub, and Yahtzee. My dad would always join us at the table, but unless we were playing Yahtzee, we'd get a loud grumble from him - then he'd either watch us play or play, grumbling. Actually I'm partly kidding - my dad would definitely, and jokingly, grumble if we weren't going to play Yahtzee; but he never grumbled during the games we'd play - until the end came and he had lost to a . . . girl (my mom, erin, or myself).

The Basement. Most of the basement was finished when we bought the house. But there was a whole unfinished section. One year I got a gymnastics' mat for Christmas and a roll-up beam. The mat was in actuality a wrestling mat and so it was very, very hard, to say the least. Gym floors are springy - wrestling mats apparently aren't. So I used it, but not very much. I did like my roll-up beam, though, and practiced and practiced my back-handsprings.

The Propane Heater. We had a propane heater for our cold basement. Often times we (my sister and friends/cousins) would "roast" marshmallows over the propane heater. Nothing tastes better than a s'more coated with gasoline. Yum, I want one now - seriously.

Pre-married Ben. I have 2 memories that stand out of Ben and my house - before we were married. The first one was where I and my roommies invited some BYU ward-guys to come to my folks' house for dinner and then to go and watch a BYU Devotional. I invited Ben. The only part I really remember was sitting in the devotional and hearing the speaker talk and I knew exactly what was going through Ben's mind: "I need to get back with my ex-girlfriend." Ha! I don't remember exactly what was said, but that is, indeed, what Ben was thinking during the devotional - and the whole ride home to Provo. So fun. . . not. Another memory was after my 6-week summer term in Guatemala. The day I left Ben told my roommate that "nothing" would happen with the 2 of us. Yeah, whatever. Fast-forward 6 weeks and Ben was telling my parents to have me call him no matter what time I arrived home. So I called him when I got home - maybe sometime around 12:30 or 1. Then that morning I remember him driving up to see me - and me walking down the sidewalk to greet him. Awwwww.

And Thor. Our house would not have been nearly so cool if it weren't for Thor the Pug. Nor would our family had been that cool if it weren't for Thor. He was Da' Bomb. Or something like that. Saying that we LOVED our dog would be an understatement. He truly was great and was such a part of our family!

And these are just a few of the memories. So many more memories of shoveling snow, folding newspapers with my dad in the garage, my dad waking me up to go deliver newspapers - and telling me he'd already bagged/rubber-banded the newspapers, too-numerous-to-count family gatherings, sleepovers, the smell of my mom's fresh homemade bread, sitting on the porch watching a thunderstorm with my mom, watching Jeopardy as a family, etc.

So I know that it will be sad when my parents officially move out of our home. But, really, when it all comes down to it we know that memories are not made because of where we are, but because of who we are with. . .

Merry Christmas, errr, Happy Halloween

Well Halloween is over and the 3 kiddos are all pooped-out and soundly sleeping. If I wasn't going to be feeding Emmy in the next hour or so, I would be soundly sleeping myself. But since I am up I might as well blog some of the events of today.


We started it out by some yummy treats for the kiddos - it makes sense, right, since they wouldn't be getting like a whole bucket-full of treats tonite??? But they liked, alright loved, their candy-corn painted pots with, what else, candy corns.



They got to watch a movie during the day - Miles' 2nd time ever watching a movie during the day and Jonas' first, so it was a special occasion. They had watched about 45 minutes of the movie (3/4) when I started to hear a lot of laughing and giggling going on. I thought it was due to the movie, so I went in. No, they'd given up on the movie and were just having fun wrestling each other. It was really cute.


For our "pre-dinner dinner" (dinner was served at the church party, but that wasn't going to be until 7) we had Halloween Quesadillas. They look a little funny - okay, a lot funny - because I only had white cheese on hand and so we food-colored the cheese! Haha. The boys had fun eating them.


Then we went to our church party. We had a trunk-or-treat - which, in case you don't know, is where the kiddos go trick-or-treating to all the car-trunks lined up and decorated in the parking lot. I hung out with Emmy giving out treats while Ben took the 2 boys. He said Jonas didn't say a word. Jonas gets like that when shy or in new environments. But they of course loved getting all that candy. After trunk-or-treating we went inside the church for dinner, a "parade" of the kids on the stage, and a magic show. It was a fun day, but exhausting. Here are some pics of our cutes elves and our little present

Santa's 2 Elves

Miles and Jonas at our house. We don't know what they are doing, but for some reason they are both picking at their mouths????

And here they are after getting a lotta treats. How fun. Jonas wanted a sucker and Miles wanted "stinky feet" (some chewy feet-shaped candy).

Emmy

In case you can't tell Emmy is in a stocking and, of course, has a bow on her head. A present indeed.

Jonas

Like I already mentioned Jonas was pretty much silent during his trunk-or-treating experience. But when we got home we had some trick-or-treaters come to our home. After they left and Jonas saw Ben with some candy in his hand, Jonas belted out, "TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT."

What a goofy picture! For some reason Ben absolutely loves this picture. :) It looks nothing like Jonas, but is cute. I think he actually looks quite elfish in the picture.

Miles

He loved all of his "jingle bells" and didn't want to take his costume off tonite. He was such a cute and fun elf.

In case you are wondering how to make candy corns, Miles explained it all to me this morning: "You take yellow cheese for the bottom part, oranges for the middle, and white cheese for the top." Hmmmm, I think I'll stick with Brach's recipe.

New layout

so i checked out my cousin's blog today and noticed that both she and her sister, nicole, have a cute layout for their blogs. so i borrowed their link and changed mine, too. i just wanted to give credit where credit is due.

p.s. so erin - can you fix my heading and put back the faces??? :)