A Good Investment

Hey...

Do you hear that?...

{ crickets chirping }

Yep, my house is quiet.

Where are they all you might ask?

In the back yard.



Money well spent.

Family Pictures

We found a break in our crappy weather a few weeks ago, and took advantage of it by going out to update our family pictures (we needed some that weren't in front of the Christmas Tree). I'll give you fair warning, this post is picture heavy!

Thanks to Alexis Merritt (alexismerrittphotography.com) for the pictures.

My Cute Kiddos

Wanna see more of these cute kids? Of course you do. Head over here to check them out. (There are lots of other cute pictures-of other cute kids- there as well)

Conversation

The Oldest and I were having a conversation about (what else) conversation hearts. The kids had gotten some as a treat after grocery shopping yesterday. He couldn't understand the concept behind candy with words on them, I tried to explain that they were things that people might say to each other, especially when they like each other.

His response: "But they say mean things."

His reasoning: The two he had said "Time Out" -never a good thing in his world- and "Just for you" -his interpretation - keeping it all to oneself rather than sharing, "But MomMee,(with emphasis) we're supposed to share"

Can't argue with logic like that.

Our Christmas - A Few Pictures

There's a lot of new here, so be sure to scroll all the way down.

But first - here are a few from the last few weeks, for the Grandparents.

The Girly getting nog-faced on Christmas Eve. She is a fan.

Christmas eve Peppermint bark. Mmmmm. We made Peppermint homemade Oreos too (no pictures, but they were amazing). Maybe I'll share the recipe.

Love this dress. Don't love how "big girl" my baby is getting. She is growing up too fast.

Happy Halloween

Happy belated Halloween from Snow White, a Pirate, and a Vampire (complete with "scary vampire face")

I hope you all had a wonderful, safe Halloween.

Ooops!

Has it really been 18 days since I've posted. Ooops. Sorry! Things have been crazy here. We've been super busy, so rather than try to catch up on everything, I'll fill you in on the highlights and move forward from there.

First day of Preschool- He was nervous on the first day, but has done fantastic since then.

No pictures of the Bugg's first day. He wouldn't let me. But now (2 weeks in) he's doing great. We had tears for the first few days (these early mornings have been a little bit hard on him). He doesn't have any friends from last year in his class, but he has started to make some new ones, and he says he gets to see his friends at recess, so all is good.

First day of Soccer

The boys started Soccer the Saturday after school started (on the 11th), they are both playing this year because there is no way that Beefy would have let us go another year without signing him up. They play in different leagues, because Buggy's league doesn't have a U5 team, so we've had a bit of a problem with overlapping schedules. But, they are having a great time and it's good for them (added bonus).

The Tooth

Tooth #3 finally came out this week. It's been wiggly since before school let out in June and has just been holding on for a couple of weeks now. He showed it to me at breakfast on Monday, but wouldn't let me pull it. We talked about what to do if he lost it at school, and I sent him on his way. Sure enough he came home holding his little tooth case, grinning from ear to ear. he was so happy that he got to loose his tooth at school, and go to the nurses office. It was the first day since school started that he come home with some of his lunch left (apparently loosing a tooth while eating a sandwich tends to cut into your lunch time, and heaven forbid you miss recess).

And finally, just cause she's so silly:

The Smile

This is the baby's newest trick. Whenever you say "smile", this is the face she makes. Stretched back cheeks and bottom teeth sticking out. It is hilarious - the picture so doesn't do it justice. So I guess you'll just have to come over to see it for yourself.

Anyway, that's a little of what's been going on in our neck of the woods lately. Until next time...

Chips

A while back we had the good fortune to come into the possession of a food dehydrator. Right after we got it, we used it a bit to dry some fruit and make some jerky but it has sat in our closet not being used for a few months now.

I pulled it out again this week to dry some apples that the kids weren't eating, and some bananas that were going bad. Well, apparently that is all it took. They downed the first batch of apples within minutes (literally) and we had to make a second batch. They helped with that one.
These are definitely going into the school lunch rotation. Now if only I can come up with other ideas to keep his lunches interesting. (Feel free to add your ideas in the comments!)

Look how domestic I'm becoming (good grief). I've already done strawberry jam this year, now I'm drying fruit - and this week we are canning 50# of peaches (minus the ones we've eaten), making blackberry jam and syrup and just might try blueberry syrup if I can get some picked in time. If any of you have good syrup recipes you can share them too. ; )

Just call me Martha!

Just Because

Just because they're cute.

Cold Turkey

My household is getting a heavy dose of the "cold turkey" method this week.  First, Baby Sister has finally been weaned.  Mostly because (as I mentioned in the last post) I have had insane allergies mixed with a cold, and was to the point that I had to have medicine if I was to function at all. (Still haven't found anything that is working really well, but at least none of it is getting passed on now.)  I've been away for a few of the evenings this week, and haven't had to deal much with the wanting to nurse at bedtime.  When I have been here, she's seemed to be okay.  She has also been sleeping through the whole night for the last week.  Hopefully this will continue.

Our other "cold turkey" moment this week came with the boys.  The video game obsession was getting out of hand (ie: turning into an addiction), so I cut them off.  The wii and the DS are gone for at least a week, maybe longer.  We are moving onto day 3 now, and even though they ask for it more than I would like, I haven't yet given in.  I think they're better off too. They have actually been playing with their toys again, and going outside, and aside from the occasional whining that they "really want to play video games" things have been much happier around here.

So far so good.  Hopefully it will continue to stay that way.  Wish me luck.

The Day Has Come

After many years of practice, I have finally mastered the art of the "Mickey Mouse" pancake.

As you can see...They were a big hit.




There should really be some kind of parenting medal for accomplishments like this.

Christmas Pictures (I finally emptied my camera)

Pretty Christmas Dress (and hair bow that I'm very proud of).


New Jammies! (thanks Grandma)


Christmas Morning



Modeling their chef hat/apron combos. (also very happy with how these turned out).

Bits and Pieces

Since there isn't enough here for individual posts, here is one big post about what has been going on at our house lately. Feel free to chime in at the bottom!

• Today Beefy informed me: "You're not a grown-up. You're a mommy!"
• We've been having a couple of behavior issues here recently. Buggy has become a tattle-tale extraordinaire, and Beefy has been biting (I know, right?). What's even worst though, is that Buggy has realized that he can tattle on Beefy for biting, and he (Buggy) won't get in trouble. Beefy will. He's exploited Beefy with this situation a few times now. I'm at a total loss...
• Baby Sister is still just seconds away from crawling, in fact-she's doing everything but. I guess I shouldn't get too worked up, she's still younger than both of her brothers were when they crawled.
• The big hit of the Christmas gift world at our house was the ipod touch. Through some gift cards my husband got from work, and a few other deals, we were able to get a steal on a 32g itouch. I gotta say, it's pretty cool. Unfortunately, between my techie geek husband and my kids who have to have their hands in on everything, I haven't got to spend a huge amount of time playing with it. It's probably all for the best.
• School starts again next week - Horray! Two weeks is a long time to go without any structure. My husband has been home all of this week too, which means lots of lounging, and only the bare minimum of housework getting done. It's been nice, but I'm ready to be busy again.
• And speaking of busy (putting in a little plug for myself here) - after a 3 1/2 year hiatus, I've decided to start teaching music again. I'm just going to be doing piano lessons from my home, but I'm kind of excited to be getting back into that again. So for any of my local friends....I still have some openings (sorry about the using of my blog for some shameful advertising). : ) Call me!
• I'm pretty sure that my son (Buggy) is on his way to becoming a lawyer. He has mastered the art of arguing over everything, and when asked to do something he can come up with a hilarious, mile-long list of excuses as to why the assigned task cannot be accomplished. Needless to say, it's kind of driving me nuts.
• Beefy has finally shown some slight interest in the potty lately. Mostly because he sees everyone else getting to go into the bathroom when we are out, and he doesn't get too (I know, weird). So, once the vacation is over and things settle down a bit again we are going to try hitting that task hard and heavy,,, Again. Yay! (sarcastically)
• It never ceases to amaze me how we can feed the kids a huge breakfast before church and yet the instant we sit down in Sacrament Meeting they are suddenly starving. It is getting a little ridiculous, and with a change in church time coming up (1:00, yuck), I'm hoping to be able to start phasing out the snacks at church.
• The other big hits of the Christmas gift world have been the Ice Cream Ball that my brother and his wife (and family) gave us, and the deep fryer that my husband got from some of our friends. We have already used both quite a bit, and although my waistline is complaining, my taste buds are not. It doesn't hurt that we have a pretty good ice cream recipe, and lots of good "fried things" recipies too. Thanks "S" and "G", and "J" and "M"
  

I think that about sums it all up. Overall we've been doing pretty well. I hope you all are enjoying the "Holiday Break" and that you have a safe and happy New Year.

Happy Halloween!

The Costumes:




The Pumpkins:

Ours, and the "S" family pumpkins

Baby Sister's (with help from Daddy)

Beefy's

Buggy's

Have a fun (and safe) Halloween!