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December 22, 2008

November in a NutShell or a Coconut....whatever

So we had an exciting November.
Triston got baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 8th. Ben baptized him and we had quite a lot of guests come see it all happen. I guess I was just so excited I forgot to take my camera out even once... By the time we got back to the house to have a little food and fun I finally remembered. I might have to recreate the scene and pretend I remembered... Anyhow we had the Stolworthy's, McBurneys, Johnsons, Punchios', the Davis' minus Darren, Jed and my mom all there. I think that is the most people at our house at the same time ever! It was great fun! Again sorry I lacked on the photo's!
Here is Triston and cousin Hannah crowding round the computer
So the Johnson's stuck around till Tuesday and since my kids had the 10th and 11th off for Veterans Day we decided to head out to the train park! Camera in Hand!
Eating a little lunch
Riding the Carousel, Anja demonstrating a good Big Sister!
Nika really excited to be on that horse!
Speaking of excitement. Here is my cute nephew Tucker.
And his equally good Big Sister Hannah!We like to trap our children when they misbehave... I mean they like to be in the cattle car on the train. Kind of disturbing to see your child behind bars...Here are the two two year olds ready to ride!
And here is my beautiful sister in law Camille! I love this shot!
They have a couple different playgrounds. This would be the adobe, old fashioned western town playground... Triston had the girls cornered.. and yes he wore his hat sideways without any prompting....
My adorable niece Chloe was riding with me this time since her mommy decided to join the characters in the cattle car... I am really surprised that an adult can fit in there....who knew!
The conductor liked his horn...
the kids obviously did not...
Triston doing his brotherly duties...
We got to take care of the classroom pets for Anja and Triston's class. Mice...Four of them to be exact! Malibu was intrigued and Liam was too... Nika mastered the art of swinging in November. We have a swing set in the backyard and she was forever frustrated that I could not spend all day long pushing her. It was a little bittersweet because it was just another example of how your children grow each day and need you less and less. She can swing all by herself! I can comfort myself with the notion that she will still like a starter push every now and then.
Anja found out that jumping on Mommy and Daddy's bed may be a bit bad for your health. We have an air bed so it is kinda like sleeping on a balloon. Except no rubber smell and you don't have to worry about deflation. Anja came running into our bedroom and was about to jump on the bed. Except she saw clean laundry and decided that would be a bad idea. So she aimed for the corner. And did something a little like this... OK maybe not so dramatic but she did slam back down to the ground and we ended up taking her to urgent care because we thought she had broken her arm. Thankfully it was just a bad bruise... but yes another exciting night at Goodnight Pediatrics!
We had the Davis Family come out towards the end of the month and had some fun with them! We love house guests!
A little male bonding, I believe they were looking at car videos?My girls love their Aunt Klare!
Anja and her cousin Eve strike a pose... Eve is thinking airplane while Anja is thinking Cats
Awwww so cute!
And the two youngest boys watch a little Big Bird
WE had a crazy Thanksgiving. Starting out with some really yummy food cooked by yours truly, some good company Jed and Oma.
A really intense sunset
And then a freakish hail storm that left hail on the ground for a couple of hours!Ben scooped this off of Oma's windshield!
This is the closest to snow that we will probably ever get....
The kids were on the front porch yelling to me that there was a frog. I didn't know we had frogs here... or at least near our house but sure enough there he was. So I scooped him up and let the kids check him out. For some reason snakes, frogs, mice, etc. don't bother me. Only bugs...
I did some searching and I think he is a couch's spadefoot. Basically he got confused because they only come out when it rains and all that hail must have made him think it was monsoon mating time.. sorry little buddy. We put him in a safer spot outside...the kids really wanted to keep him but we had to explain that wild things belong in the wild.
Here are the kids amazed at all the rain.
Our street was a river. Good thing our house is on higher ground!
Triston bending over the storm drain. I was coming over to stop him from doing that... the water was going really fast and all I could imagine was him loosing his balance and falling in!
So it took me a while to post all this but wasn't it worth the wait... Next up December catch up...

December 7, 2008

Triston my Old guy...

So November 1st was Triston's eighth birthday. This year has been the one I have been waiting for ever since Liam was born...This is the year that all my kids are ages 2, 4, 6, 8!!! Yeah who do we appreciate! Me!!! OK sorry I digress....
So Triston had a football game that day and afterward we had a little family party for him. Didn't you just hate it when your mom said to you "Read the card before you open your present!" Yeah I am that mom...
Triston excited to have Oma over!
A remote control airplane! Sweet!
He had been dropping a ton of hints that he would like a skateboard...
Strapped up and ready to rock!
a few last minute instructions...
We all ended up in the front yard. The kids were riding their bikes, Triston his skateboard. Jed, Ben and I were throwing the football and Oma was playing with her grand kids. It was so simple and yet so fun. It was one of those afternoons that you think of fondly for a long time...
Here is Oma getting a push from Nika
Some years I am all about the homemade creation....this year I was all about the easy store bought cake... This one was really yummy!
Triston a little sweaty after all that skateboarding!
The next day you know who was all about the new gear... isn't he so dang cute!

December 2, 2008

Halloween ... just in time for December posts

Sigh.... this is my life always a little behind..but never fear Halloween pictures are here...
This year our ward's Fall Festival (fancy way of saying Trunk or Treat) was October 24th. Yes I know a little early but the two other wards that share the building had taken all the other primo days. So the day before I grabbed a pumpkin at the market for carving...just one mind you because I have learned that my children don't like pumpkin carving and one pumpkin is all I can handle (guts wise). Nika had been on a field trip with her preschool class to a farm earlier in the week and had brought home a cute pumpkin. All the other kids decorated theirs with paint and stickers but not Nika, she liked it just the way it was. This would later prove helpful to me when I was deciding what pumpkin to carve. Here is Liam excited about the new footstool he has discovered. Just big enough to give him a boost so he can climb all over the couches!
This is the trash bag spider that I made... again an idea I had as a family activity which ended up with me crafting, while my merry band of misfits ran circles around me on the floor. This is my photo shopped attempt to make it look scarier than it really was...
Here is my pumpkin with Nika's little pumpkin held captive in it's mouth. Nika saw what I was doing and wasn't too happy that as she put it "My pumpkin looks sad!"
I just told her the big pumpkin was hungry and then she seemed OK with it. The kids were pretty proud of it at the ward party and kept telling everyone to come look how hungry their pumpkin was!
Here we are dressed for the party. I was not feeling like dressing up and then at the last minute decided I could use some of my old swing dancing attire to be a 40's girl...I was stationed at a "pin the nose on the pumpkin" game. So Ben graciously took over the camera duties that night.
A little blurry but cute all the same... Try not to notice that Liam's candy bag was indeed an Easter basket... way to go Mom! It didn't really matter since he ended up sitting with me and passing out candy. So really he didn't need a bag right!?
The best part about Halloween...candy...
I wish Ben had gotten a picture of me and Liam passing out candy. He was so proud of himself. He did all the doling out by himself, all with this proud little smile on his face. This was taken towards the end of the evening with Anja done trunk or treating and taking a rest with me.
So on Halloween we decided to ditch our neighborhood which has proved disappointing in years past. (Last year we would maybe get one door to open out of ten...even though their lights were on! Come on people if you don't want to open your door then don't turn your light on!) So anyhow rather then hear my kids disappointed voices asking me why they won't open their doors we asked our awesome friends Danny and Lisa if we could come hang with them in a nicer neighborhood (east side) Here are the kids ready to go again!
Their cute little daughter, Kassidy the Witch. Love her little red shoes! I didn't get a shot of Danny and Lisa with my camera but she was dressed up as a punk with a cool purple wig and fake rings hanging out of her face everywhere. Danny was the bling king complete with a fake grill and lots of jewelry.
They live in a neighborhood where the neighbors actually talk to one another! Amazing! Anyhow they were having a block party so off we went. It was mildly embarrassing since we ended up being the only adults dressed up and half the night people kept asking me if I was even dressed up. I mean come on do I really wear vintage dresses and two toned shoes every day.... oh well... The best was when a lady asked me (with drink in hand) if I was Pam. I thought she was confused and thought she knew me but soon reasoned out that she thought I had dressed up as Pam from the office... wow! Way Off! But funny none the less.. they must have all thought I was some freakish girl who thinks Halloween is every day... (-=
Anyhow there was lots of good food and the kids had fun and then we went trick or treating. People in this neighborhood had the good stuff! Some had full size candy! Who does that!? Oh well we reaped the benefits and had lots of fun! Thanks Guys!
I love the idea of Halloween. The concept that for one night you can be whomever you want to be. It is a magical night for kids and I am glad that they had fun. I miss being a kid and just changing into your costume after school. Being a mom you realise how hard Halloween can be. Especially if you have four kids who all want to be different things... putting all those costumes together can be rough but it is worth the magic you give your kids for that day!