Halloween festivites and free advice

Just so everyone is aware: "Nevo eat "newds" standing up. They-o bound to bounce all o-vo the place." -Cole

And...you're welcome.

I'm just a big fan of October in general. You add a fabulously fun holiday like Halloween and a few dozen pumpkins and I'm good to go. I'd have to say that this year's festivities were my favorite so far. Yea, I'm gonna go with that answer.

The day was just right. Kyle worked in the backyard all day. I cooked all day. The boys played all day. And Kate was a dollhead all day. My cute sis-in-law Jen and 2 of her 3 little ladies + her parents (whom I adore) were in town from Utah and came over for dinner before trick or treating. My folks along with favorite uncle Jens came as well. With culinary inspiration oozing (thankyou dear PW) I managed to make 2 big pots of pretty darn delicious soup and carmel corn for dessert. Nothing like yummy soup and corn dogs for a crisp Halloween night

Dash, Mrs. Potato head (cousin Bergen) , Indiana Jones, and Buzz

Man have we gotten our moneys worth outta these costumes.

My cute festive mom in her fantastic orangey sweater.

Matchy matchy orange squared cousins Kate and Quincy.

I let the boys keep a baggie full of their favorite treats and sold all the rest to a local orthodontist. $18 bucks later and we are done!

the day

It's already after 3:00. Where has my day gone? I had such high hopes for accomplishing things. Instead I'm casually perusing blogs trying to find :

1. a dresser. My bedroom is still holding onto a few boxes. Boxes which contain random pairs of pajama pants, a gazillion pairs of tights(I don't know how I have accumulated this many seeins that I only wear them in winter...sometimes) old swim suits, Kyle's long johns for hunting, ya know...those crucial pieces that make any outfit complete.

2. rugs. Our lovely new home has heated concrete floors. I have always loved the rustic look of concrete floors and agreed to them on the terms that they wouldn't be freezing. They are not freezing, they are coldish. Thus, I need rugs.

3.earrings. I don't need earrings, I just love them and would love to buy them everyday. But I don't. grr.

I did do 4 loads of laundry, that's impressive. Especially now that the timer on my dryer went out and I have to set another timer and make sure I hear that one so my clothes don't burn up or shrink to smithereens. Neither would be cool.

I did do my Biggest Loser workout again. I'm on a roll. Well, trying to avoid literally being rollish is my goal. Getting to my happy place "gym" isn't in the cards right now with the family schedule so I've got to do something and beautiful Bob is my something . It felt good. On the BL topic my feelings are this: I do not enjoy Tracy or Daniel or the old obnoxious southern lady with yucky painted nails who just rubs me the wrong way every time she opens her mouth which is far too frequent. I'm done with all of them.

So now the bus will be here shortly and the older fellas will return and "my day" will be over. I have successfully not gotten to the store, returned the movies, or mailed off bills. However, I did find some fantastic earrings on Etsy and Brody found some yogurt and Kate finally found her napping place. All is well.

The latest goings on....

It's a total "fallish" cold and misty Sunday night and I love it. Jack and I have returned from successfully delivering pumpkin sugar cookies to our new neighbors. Woop de doo you may say but seeins that Kyle didn't exactly put his "best foot forward" on the neighborly kindness gig with the one gal.....I had to step in and wave the white flag of neighbor love. I chose to wave that flag with a plate of cookies. I think it worked. The other neighbors have 3 dogs...... very, very active/hyper/nerve racking dogs. I don't do dogs. I'll have you know that I held that plate of cookies as high in the air as possible shaking like a leaf while being "welcomed" down the driveway by Kugo and company. All cookies were delivered, no harm was done and my sweatshirt is soaking in prewash. Wet dog paws....grrrrrrrrr.

We had our primary program today and Jack and Cole were great. Poor Mr. Cole wasn't feeling so hot so we let him go for just sac. mtg. I always feel bad for the parents whose kids freak out and freeze or who scream into the microphone. I sure appreciate my boys memorizing their parts, singing the songs, going to the Saturday dress practice and having a great attitude about church. It's what we do and my sweet little boys help strengthen my testimony today. I loved watching them sing and I have to admit that I choked up just a smidgen watching Jack sing "I know He lives." What a great song. I had never sung it before and I absolutely loved it. This was my first time in 3 years not leading the primary music or being involved somehow so it was actually nice just to sit and enjoy.

So, besides the big program these are the highlights of the week:

Let's start with this little dollhead. While she is currently screaming in her swing, I am choosing to remember the sweet sweet fact that she did indeed sleep through the night last night. Besides that she's been wearing her fancy new red shoes like it's nobodys business.

This kid learned how to "thumbs up" this week. We've also been puzzle crazy around here and you put those 2 activities together and you get one happy Brody.


Mr. Cole has had a pretty bummer week. We don't speak of the fact that he missed "Pajama day" due to his blasted cough and fever. Poor kid was a trooper and made it through his speaking part today with flying colors after chewing his cough drop at the microphone. Love this kid.

Jack is a reading machine. His latest achievement.. a juicy chapter book about the young Boba Fett. To my dismay but not surprise, he really prefers Star Wars over Ramona Quimby. I love that he has started quietly reading to himself in the morning before he comes down for breakfast. He's even reading the Book of Mormon on his own and I'm just so proud of his cute little 7 year old self.

As for me I thought I'd share my 2 favorite things as of late.

-My turbo microwave/oven combo that gives me the option of: #1. melt or #2. soften butter AND cream cheese AND defrosts meat to the utmost perfection. I love it. And... of course my Mickey pumpkin. His return each fall makes me smile. I am easily pleased!

Reasons # 346, 347, and 348 why I love having a girl..

Is it wrong that I enjoy this look so much?

The week/end review and what not

Am I the only one who has been rudely bombarded with enormous and disgusting amounts of fruit flies these last 2 weeks? My house is by no means spotless but random plates laying around with caked on leftovers you will not find. This influx is baffling I tell you.

Wait a second....

NICE......Brody's contribution in his bedroom (upstairs no less) to helping mom fight the good fight vs. the gnats. Isn't that how you spell nat....gnat? Anyway, a 3/4 eaten apple, a pair of plastic vampire teeth, and a pin lanyard from Disneyland. The perfect combination for a 2 year old's bucket.

Some ladies husbands bring home flowers for a surprise. Not mine!!! This is what I got as a big fat juicy SURPRISE and welcome to the family this last week . I have yet to formulate my entire emotions on the subject so that will have to wait for a later post. Until then....I really like FLOWERS. In case your just dying to know his name: Chance the wonder horse. He's not even 2 yet and he's quite hyper. I've watched him several times start at the end of his "for the time being" make shift corral get a running start and try to leap the fence. That's right, leap the fence. What in the world would I do if this dear pony actually succeeded in his escape attempt? The point is I DON'T WANT TO BE WORRYING ABOUT PONIES IN MY FRONT YARD AT THIS TIME IN MY LIFE. Deep breath. What's done is done and Chance is here to stay. Maybe next week for our anniversary I'll get some flowers.... or maybe a beautiful bucket of grain or possibly a lovely bale of hay.

No school on Friday meant go play at the park. We decided to invite Bill Cosby.

And finally we ended the week/end with taking all four kidlets to the 3D Toy Story/Toy Story 2 double feature. Everyone but Cole, mom, and Kate made it through the entire show with out a little shut eye. Yea that was fun coming out of the theatre at 10:30 with kids who had just woken up and whose parents had forgotten their jackets. Pixar shows are fabulous.....3D Pixar....even better.

So there you have it. Gnats, ponies, Bill Cosby, and Toy Story. That my friends, was my week.

My number four..the little lady

I feel like she's been hidden these last few months. Only local yocals have really met my little lady which is truly unfortunate. She's a doll baby...literally. A lady in Target the other day stopped me mid aisle to clarify with her daughter that I was indeed holding a live child and not a doll. Now really folks, does a grown woman browse the Star Wars aisle with her icee drinking 2 1/2 year old holding a dolly? She's still quite small, and quite bald, so maybe that threw the lady off.

I was just informed that "Kate's qwying" by Mr. Brody. That is a regular occurrence around here these days. She's a crier. She really enjoys being held for long extended periods of time of which I have little..thus, crying ensues. We're learning to roll with it though and each day she gets bigger and better. I'm loving her smiles and if I'm not mistaken she actually giggled just a smidgen today. She still has blue eyes which is totally bizarre in our brown eyed family but I'm loving those as well.

Hopefully Kyle will locate the crib and set 'er up this weekend so the insanity known as "nighttime" will come to an end. I do NOT enjoy sleeping with my children, especially those that cry a lot and have blue eyes. I'm a big believer in the power of the crib.Everyone needs their own space...even little ladies. Anyday now I'm hoping for some good solid sleep. It was a cruel trick to have 3 previous children who slept through the night at 3 months and then this little lady. I adore her but man I would just LOVE to sleep for like 4 hours straight without a single stirring of my soul.

As my number four she is fantastic. She's the princess of the house in that she has the undivided attention of her 3 older brothers and they do any and everything for her. I love watching them baby her, they're real naturals and it's pretty darn cute. So besides her tiny stature, bald head, excessive crying, expensive formula, constant bum rash, and stinky chubby neck, Kate is the little lady of the house and my perfect number four.

How 'bout a few pumpkins for the new porch

It's Monday evening... 7:30-we just made an 18 minute trip to the pumpkin patch and have returned. Returned where you might ask? Well, I am pleased to report that we have finally made the move into the new abode. And, after weeks apart, Frank the trusty/sweaty computer guy came this very afternoon and hooked up my dear friend PC. We are reunited again and it feels so good.Life is splendid. I am back. It is Finally Fall!