Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We love Halloween around here. We have done a lot of fun things in October. We had our first annual pumpkinfest at our house. The night before the pumpkin weighoff we had some people over from our ward to celebrate pumpkins with us. Then came the weighoff. This year it was at Thanksgiving Point. The weather was nice--that is always a plus. Matt's pumpkin Large Marge came in at 311 pounds! Wahoo. It was so exciting when they called out the weight. He beat his last year wight of 286 pounds. After the weighoff we went to Corn Bellies. We all had so much fun. Before we knew it it was Halloween night. Matt carved Marge and some of his other big pumpkins with the kids. Then Tyler Quigley came over and carve a triceratops Dino in a pumpkin for Hyrum. Hyrum was so excited he couldn't stop jumping around. It was really cute. We had Farmer's, Quigly's and the Patterson's over for soup and homemade root beer. Matt Patterson is a science teacher and he brought over so cool science experiments for us to see. He made some really cool bubbles with dry ice. He also made this mixture that the kids got to blow in with a straw and as they blew in it the color changed from blue to green to yellow. I love having awesome neighbors! Then it was on to trick-or-treating. It is so much fun to hear the trick or treaters come up to our porch. They all are so excited to see such a big pumpkin. The kids had fun trick-or-treating this year. Matt took the kids around. Hyrum and Walt were in the stroller. Cute Walter fell asleep. Hyrum couldn't wait to start eating candy. This year, Jane was a black cat, Eli was Buzz Lightyear, Hyrum was a dino and Walter was a duck. Happy Halloween and Happy October.

Being Sick Stinks

Alright, well I am way behind on blogging. I got sick with a nasty cold/sinus infection that lasted three weeks. If I wasn't trying to take care of my family I was trying to rest. By the end of week two I really started to get stir crazy. I have had so many things I have wanted to do and our house felt so disgusting. My neighbor came over and there were old dishes in the sink, food droppings from the kids on the floor along with shoes toys, crayons, coats, you name it it seemed to find a new home on the floor. Oh even writing about this is making me feel uptight again. Anyways after she left I looked around at how gross our house was and thought I bet it is way stinky in here. Not to mention my sick dragon breath that happens to accompany a cold. Oh yes and my hair had not been washed in three days. Man, I can't believe I am admitting all of this. Well as if this story could not get any grosser, just hang on to your shorts. I had put Walter down for a nap, turned on cartoons for Eli and Hyrum, then climbed back into my bed. I was aware that Hyrum climbed into bed with me at some point, but I continued to sleep. After a hour had passed I slowly opened my eyes. Sweet little Hyrum was snuggled up to me. I layed there for a minuet wondering how much longer this sickness was going to have control over me. I was starting to feel like I do when I am pregnant. My poor kids get neglected because I am to sick and tired. then I noticed something brown all over Hyrums hands. Now lets keep in mind he has been in my bed with me crawling all over the place for a while before I decided to really wake up. "Hyrum" I ask, "What is on your hands?" his very to the point reply was, "POOP" Well that's just the icing on the cake. I just layed there. I was thinking how much being sick stinks, literally. I feel so bad for my kids and Matt and anyone who came to our house at that time and had to endure so many stinky smells. Thank heavens life is getting back to normal. I am slowly climbing the ladder again. Even though it is a slow going, I am so thankful for my health. I think about it every day. I am able to take care of my sweet children and my wonderful husband.

Watching Talent Bloom

Matt is one of the best storie tellers I know. When Jane was Two years old we moved her out of her crib and into a bed. Matt started telling her stories when we would tuck her in. This became a bit of a tradition. It was so cute because she would remember the stories so well. Almost just how he told them to her. She would then tell us the stories whenever she felt like it. I think one of her favorite stories was Goldie Locks and the Three Bears. One of my favorite ones she would tell was the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo. Well, now that she is almost the whopping age of eight she has become quite good at telling stories. At bed time each night, we always have prayer in Eli and Hyrums room. After we have prayer, we all give good night hugs. This is one of my favorite things that happens each day. We all love each other so much. It doesn't seem to matter who was most recently fighting, it's like none of it ever happened. Each kid can't wait to give and receive hugs. After all that hugging, if Matt is not home, The boys ask if Jane can tell them a story. I turn out the light and leave the room. Some times I listen by the door. They usually have a request for a story she has made up just for them. She makes them up about things that they are interested in. Cars. dino's, frog hunts, etc... She is really talented. I am so happy that Matt's' talent for telling stories helped ignite Jane's. I wanted to put a picture of Jane and Matt togeter. I love this one. This was at a play she was in for the drama, up with kids.

Happy Dance

YIPPEE! After searching for a plane tickets to New York for weeks I finally booked one. When I told Jane we were going to New York she threw her arms around me. We started jumping together we are so excited. It is a big thing for Jane and I to show that much excitement. We are both just so shy. Then when I told her we got tickets to the Broadway wicked we started jumping up and down again. I think being that excited with her was just as much fun as Disneyland. What a cute girl she is. I am so happy to be her Mom.

Dead Frog, Lost Frog

My kids seam to love any kind of bug, animal, amphibian the list go's on. They brought home frogs from the Morgan fair this year. They were African Dwarf Frogs. They need to live in the water all the time. No land. my kids were a little sad because this meant not holding them all of the time. It has been three months and the frogs have lived in a big fish bowl on the counter of our downstairs kitchen. Today the kids and I were cleaning up the basement for one of our Saturday jobs when Eli found this dried-out frog on the carpet! How Gross is that? So Jane runs to the frog bowl to see if it is one of our pet frogs. I think she was hoping it was just one we found outside this summer. She discovered they were both gone! So we disposed of the dead frog and now I have to worry about the other frog that we have not found yet. Oh gross. I can't believe we had frogs hopping around our house, a dead frog found in the carpet and probably another dead frog lost some where. Life is never dull! The kids are sad about the frogs. Good thing there is next summer.

Berry Picking with Hyrum

This year our strawberry and raspberry plants did great. We got a lot of berries from them all summer long. Hyrum loved them the most. He would get the stainer basket out from the cupboard and convince someone to pick berries for him. I loved to look out the window and see Jane or Eli helping Hyrum pick berries. They were always so sweet to him. He would stand there with his basket and wait for them to pick the berries. Occasionally he would point one out to them. After they found all the ripe berries Jane or Eli would so kindly put a hand on his shoulder and lead him inside to wash the berries. Then Hyrum would sit and eat all the berries by him self. Eli and Jane are not fond of eating berries. When he was done is mouth and hands were stained red. Not once was there an argument or wining about picking berries with Hyrum. It was so fun and heart warming to watch. Thous moments were very blissful. I felt like I must be doing something right or my kids are just really wonderful. I am not sure about my end but I do know my kids are really wonderful. I am so thankful for them. Each of them fill my life with so much joy in their own little way. I hope next summer, the plants do good. I think we all really enjoyed them this year.

Tantrum

Today I would love to throw myself on the floor, kick, cry, scream, and yell "nothing is going right." A full blown tantrum. Just like a kid when something doesn't work out there way. Surly the way I am feeling must mean the world is over. Or at least my own little world. I think it's like being in a bubble some times. I get so trapped with my own selfish ideas of how things should be I forget to see the big picture. Some day I hope I can fully come to grips that my idea of a balanced life is not possible, and I will be very happy and content with life just being good. It's to bad tantrum throwing doesn't get you anything, especially not what you want. Dang, I guess I will have to be okay nothing about my day went how I had hoped, yet again and try to see the positive things. Thank heavens there are so many, it makes all the things I wanted to have a tantrum over seem so small. I am happy tomorrow is a new day.