A SPOOKtacular Halloween!!

The Halloween Season started with the search for the perfect pumpkins!

We had a busy week leading up to Halloween! We had Family Home Evening on Monday, the ward Trunk or Treat on Tue, Eden's Birthday on Wed, Alan's school party on Thur (which he dressed up for!!), class parties for the kids on Friday, and Trick or Treating on Saturday. We carved pumpkins, got costumes ready, baked and did everything else in between!!
The kids had a great Halloween with Hannah as a witch....

Peter as SantaJoseph as a Christmas presentEden as a black kittenMiriam as a cheerleader!!

With the ultimate prize being......CANDY!!

too...two...2....to

My Sweet Eden has turned 2, and true to form about a week before her birthday she started throwing herself on the ground, kicking and screaming. I really thought she would skip this stage in life. With her happy disposistion and her amazing eyes that dance when she is happy and smiling. Such is life. She is still able to capture everyone's heart!

Eden LOVES shoes and that is exactly what she got for her birthday!! Along with some other goodies!!

Eden loves the Signing Time videos. She is actually very good at sign laungage and can commuicate well with it. Funny story....We were at Home Depot and it was raining outside (surprise, surprise!!) so there were lots of dogs in the store. Eden was having a heyday. She kept doing the sign for dog, which is to pat your leg. One very large dog actually responded to her sign and walked up and put his head on her leg through the leg hole of the cart. She freaked out!! Started screaming and crying. The owner felt really bad. I thought it was quite funny. How do you explain to a 2-year-old that dogs come when you pat your leg? She continued to call to every dog in the store, so it must not have bothered her too badly!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Eden!! We are so glad to have you to brighten our days! You add so much love to our family!! We love you!!

Birthday Date!

I love extended birthdays!!
I got all dolled up and and we went out to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I haven't been there for a long time! It was really yummy food that was filling and the service was fabulous!! Alan got me tickets to see Wicked for my Birthday, so we headed downtown to the Paramount Theater. It is one of those historical theaters. The inside was beautiful! Very intricate carvings on the walls. The cut outs in the ceiling were beautiful! We had fabulous seats!! We were amazed at the talent that people have. The actor, Donna Vivino, who played Elphaba had the most amazing voice!! I could listen to her everyday and never get tired of it!! We really enjoyed this play and the story line! It was worth every penny!

Hannah's Birthday Celebration!

Moving on to the double digits is such a special time in life. You are one step closer to being a "teen" or an "adult" with mom still holding your hand not willing to let go!! It is hard to see your baby grow up and change.

Hannah is looking more and more beautiful every day. She is smart, funny, a good friend, a helper, and always has something to say!

Some of her hobbies are: reading, riding bikes, watching movies, playing with her brothers, and drawing. She loves to go to friends' houses, to the YMCA, to school, and to ride in the car to listen to Harry Potter (we are now on book 5, about half way through).

For her birthday she decided 2 days before that she wanted a bike! Lots of work finding the perfect one in so little time, but we made it work! She also asked for a Blog (that's my girl!!), which we are working on putting together.

We are so proud of you "B"! You were the one who started us on this path of parenthood. Thank you for all of the things that you have taught us along the way. Thank you for being a wonderful example to your brothers and sisters. You are a beautiful daughter of God! He loves you! We love you! We hope this year will be one filled with happiness and joy! Happy Birthday Hannah!

2 New Tooths

We found 2 sharp bumps on the bottom gums!

Because reading Spot can be dangerous...

sweet conversation

A conversation between Joseph and his Mom.

Joseph just came into the kitchen and said, "I'm glad you are my Mom." My response, Oh really, why is that? "Because I like you." Than he walks out.

Sweet, simple, and to the point!

my Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to me...Happy Birthday to me...
I had an uneventful day today surrounded by 5 beautiful kids and my sweet husband.....getting Birthday greetings from family and friends. I had a couple of ladies from the ward that brought me fabulous treats! Tried a new restaurant...The Canyon...It was good food and the kids had fun! I got WICKED tickets!!, plants to make my house my home, and money to go shopping! What else could one want other than a yummy, delicious, chocolate Costco cake and beautiful flowers....oh, wait got those too! Looks like I was left wanting nothing!

My brother asked me if I was wiser? I of course told him yes and then proceeded to deminstrate and said yes when I should of said no (so I can't see into the future). But it did make me think.....I have learned in 31 years of life that there is still so much to learn!

I decide that since I was now 31 I probably need to start taking care of my body better than I have been. We joined the YMCA, so I will be trying to add exercise to my list of things to do. We will see how that goes.

6-month Report

How can it be that my baby is already 6 months? So much has happened in her little life. With Alan getting a new job, getting our house in Maryland ready, and moving, it has been a little bit stressful. But with her good nature she has been wonderful. She is such a quiet and content baby. When you come into the room and greet her, she gets so excited, kicking her legs and grinning. She is so sweet and happy. Things that she has accomplished:

• She smiles.....especially for her brothers and sisters who love to hold her and play with her.
• She laughs.....she is so ticklish. It cracks me up because she will try to hold in her laugh when being tickled, then this belly laugh will escape. Adorable.
• She rolls....all over the room. It is her way of transportation.
• She is close to crawling.....She does baby push-ups and will arm crawl forward to get what she wants.
• She has rolls....Alan and I finally got our fat baby!! Rolly-polly! She really enjoys her bottles. We did start feeding her rice cereal. There was no objections to that. Although Eden ate more of her cereal than Mim did.
• She babbles....but only when it is quiet. If it is noisy she is very quiet and doesn't make a sound. So she usually starts talking in the middle of church!!

She has been such a joy to have in our lives. Happy Half-Birthday Madam Mim!!

Parenting

After making sure that all the kids had everything ready for school tomorrow and had sent them upstairs to get ready for bed. I looked at Alan and said with a sigh , "Being a parent is hard!" He looked at me and said, "I wouldn't know."

Good Grief!!

the ride

I was upstairs organizing the "Library" when I heard the garage door go up and down probably 6 or more times. I rolled my eyes and thought, "What are these kids fighting over now?" I went downstairs to investigate and to my utter amazement Joseph and Peter were holding onto the garage door for as long as they could while Hannah was pushing the button to make it go up and down. My mouth dropped. I could NOT believe what I was seeing. Of all the things that they could be doing, this is how they were getting their kicks today!! I of course yelled with my "you are going to die a slow painful death" yell, for them to go up to their rooms, sit on thier beds, do not say anything, and do not play with anything. I have never heard the three of them so quiet before. After I had calmed down they received their punishment of not using the garage door for a week and since it would be down, that means they can't ride their bikes for 8 days because we don't ride on Sunday. I also told them, "If they don't think I am serious and decide to open the garage or ride their bikes, they will be grounded for an additional week."
Joseph later asked....."What is an additional week??" I responded, "One more week after you finish the first one." His eyes got big...."Oh." He went into his room where Peter was and told him of his new discovery. Peter replied in an annoyed tone, " I already knew what that means."
Our garage only sounds slightly different now! It's hard being the mom, trying to keep your kids safe and protected, and always ruining the fun!!

potty time!

Eden has been showing an interest in potty training for about 2 months now. I am the one who has been hesitant to potty train her because of how busy we have been. But true to Eden, she has been persistent, and any time her diaper is off she wants to sit on the toilet.
Today something actually happened!! It was a whole family affair. Everyone came in and congratulated her and cheered. She has never been more proud. She just sat there smiling and clapping her hands. It was adorable. So I guess it is time. I would hate to miss this opportunity, when she is willing and ready. It will be nice to have only one in diapers.