October Events

Here's a couple pics of the events that happened in October.

Happy 7th Birthday!

It's hard to believe she is seven. Her birthday list began with mascara and high heel shoes. To her dismay, she did not receive the top 2 items on her birthday list. I remind her daily that she doesn't need those items, and to enjoy being a little girl. We celebrated her day with a special visit from Grandma Barb and two boys from her class. We went to see a movie together and enjoyed a more relaxing birthday this year.

Lovely, isn't it!

Halloween is Trevor's all time favorite. The boy LOVES sugar! We have to hide it and ration it out.

This picture reminds me of yet another Trevor story that I haven't shared.

Once a year the children give a presentation during Sacrament meeting at church on the topics they have studied during the year. When their presentation is over, the Bishop usually gets up and shares a few remarks. That is Ryan's calling here (the bishop).

On the "stand" there is the podium from which you speak, and then rows of chairs behind. These chairs are used for the choir or for special presentation such as this. If you're speaking from the podium, you can't see the people behind you.

The children had just finished the presentation and Ryan gets up to speak. His remarks revolved around the scripture that talks about becoming like a little child. Just as he is speaking, "HIS son" starts to pretend he is a jedi. He had somehow made it to the stand that morning with a hoodie on over his white shirt. By the time I realized it, I couldn't do anything about it (the program had begun). I let it go, thinking it's not a battle I wanted to have in front of the congregation. So with this red hoodie, he takes the hood and pulls it up on his head and then partly over his eyes. He begins with "small jedi moves" so you're not quite sure what he's doing, and then being his mother, I knew exactly what this was turning into. Trevor was just to the left of Ryan, but back just enough so that Ryan couldn't see him make a mockery of his talk.

Ryan's telling us all to become like little children...and Trevor's demonstrating what he thinks a little child should be doing.

THANK heavens Ryan's talk was short and sweet!

One more week

I know I need to update this blog. I have one more week of class and then a much deserved vacation is needed. I just had to add my Trevor comments before I forget.

1. One morning while we getting ready Trevor asked me, "Mom, are you competent?" I chuckled and then asked him if he knew what that meant. He said no, and then I proceeded to explain what it meant. I then asked him, "do you think I'm competent?" He paused and then said, "yeah, I guess so." He does wonders for my self-esteem.

2. On Mondays and Wednesdays we have to get up early because we all have to be at a different place at the same time. It's a delicate balance that must be met by all persons involved. It can be stressful, especially when I have a lack of co-operation. On one particular morning, my voice was elevated :-) trying to get everyone moving. Trevor comes into me and asked, "Are you irritated?" My reply, "YES!" He then walked away, satisfied to know my emotion for the morning.

It's so funny to hear him use words that he hears us use; and for the most part he uses them in the correct context.

The kids and I tagged a long with Ryan to the temple one Friday evening. It was good for the kids to go. The last time they were on temple grounds was when my sister got married. Kayla was 3 and trevor was 8 months old. While Ryan was inside, the kids and I stayed outside and talked about why the temple was important. I wish we had one even closer so we could have that opportunity more often.
Glad that "Families are Forever!" Who wouldn't want to be with those cute faces forever :-)

Ryan was able to go with Trevor on a field trip to the fire station and took some great pictures. It's all Trevor talked about when he came home. For FHE that night, we thought it would be a good idea to brush up on our escape techniques. We practiced escaping from our bedroom windows (I should say, the kids did; Ryan pushed the alarm, and I timed them). It was really good practice for both of them. Trevor's bed is against the window wall, so he was able to stand on his bed and get the windows unlocked and the much needed leverage to open the window. Kayla's bed is not, and she had to figure out how to get up high enough to unlock the windows and get the strength to push the window open. I was pretty impressed that she figured it out by herself (she has a chair in her room, and she used that).

I highly recommend you do this with your kids!!!! We hope to do a practice soon,when they really are asleep in bed!

Halloween Cookies

Here's some of the kids decorating Halloween cookies. I think I ate more cookies than they did.

Side note: If you've kept up with the kitchen remodeling you know it's been a VERY slow process. You can see that I have mudded and sanded the wall and primed it. The tiles are sitting the the left of the picture with Kayla. I'm trying to talk my father-in-law into coming down here in March to help lay them. We've built, but haven't completed the pantry where the stove top was....SO, HOPEFULLY, by summer this project will be completed, but realistically, it will be next fall (2 years later). Someday, the completed projected will be posted

The kids one day after church.
Any suggestions on how to deal with calics? Poor boy's hair is crazy! It swirls in the back, calics in the front, and if he thinks it's GIRL gel that I'm putting in his hair, he screams!

Past Memories

...this story belongs to Kayla

Tonight, instead of studying, I was looking through our albums on Picasa, when I came across this picture. To you it doesn't have much meaning, but as for me, being the mother of two small children at the time, it's unforgetable.
This story is the result of me deciding not to distrub my children one afternoon because they were quietly playing together.
This story took place about 3 years ago, at which time we were potty training Trevor. He decided that he didn't like the little toilet, (the one you see at the top of the closet), and only wanted to use the one in the bathroom. I was okay with that, because what mother likes to clean out those little pottys anyway.
Like I said, Kayla and Trevor were playing quietly one afternoon, and I was enjoying the peace. That was, until I heard screaming. I waited a minute to see if it would subside, but it didn't, so I went in to check on them. To my utter surprise and disgust, I see Kayla holding on to the top shelf crying while Trevor was sitting next to the potty on the top shelf. After I rescued her, I noticed that the top of her was wet. I asked her what that was, and she responded in a shrilling scream, "it's my pee." She went on to explain that she peed in the little potty and while she was getting down, Trevor dumped it on her. Gross, eh? I LOVINGLY took that boy down from the top shelf and put them both in the tub. I then went back to evaluate how much pee there was, and discovered that it had gone into all the tubs of toys on the shelves. I ended up not only bathing my kids, but washing all the toys that day.
I Love Being a Mother!