A new taste...

Heidi found a candy cane on the tree and opened it (how, I don't know) and started eating it. She looked like she just ate a lemon! It was so funny. I got my camera just in time to capture the last time she did it before she got used to the taste. SO FUNNY!

the cleanest laundry room EVER!

I got the HUGE bottle of he liquid Tide, the kind that lays on its side and you can use a spout to get out the soap... I just opened it today. I did ONE load of laundry. I set it up on top of my washer and left the laundry room while the wash was going. A little while later I was outside with my mom and the kids came running out and said there was blue stuff all over the floor of the bathroom and the phone was in it. My first thought was, where is my iphone! The next thought was, hmmm, it must be some comet or something. I came inside to investigate and there was nothing on the bathroom floor. As I walked out, I saw the laundry room hidden beneath a sea of Tide. Holy crap. I froze. What do I do? That stuff is expensive!!! I got my dust pan and a Pampered Chef scraper and the glass mixing bowl and I got to work. Look how much I saved!!!!!!!



I can't believe it. The washer must have gotten off balance and the Tide fell off and busted. Lesson learned. The good news is I now have the cleanest laundry room floor EVER!!!!!!!!

12 MONTHS and my COWBOY!

Heidi is one. There, I said it. I guess it is true. My baby is one. She is the cutest one year old ever. She makes everyone in our home smile all the time. Everyone loves to watch her do new stuff. Here are some new things she has done...

*CLIMB. On everything. She climbs up the kitchen stool. On top of this big block toy. On chairs. On the couch. I can't believe her. We have to really watch her and be carefull.

*Boy does she love the toilet. If the kids' bathroom door is open, she makes a bee line right to it. She is pretty fast, too. The other day I thought Megan had taken her outside and I let my guard down a little and then I heard splashing. She was having the BEST time playing in the toilet. I am just glad the last person in there flushed.

*WALK! She is walking everywhere. A week or so before her birthday she started walking. She loves it. I could tell how proud she was of herself when she figured it out and how determined she was to do it.

*She is starting to understand prayer. I love it! When we kneel together each night she at first started becoming still and quiet in my arms during the prayer and now she likes to sit next to me on the floor and she semi folds her arms. It is the cutest thing.

*KISSES! She has started giving kisses. This is the milestone I look forward to the very most when my babies are born. There is nothing better. Although, she always shakes her head no at me when I ask her for a kiss.

*She is a smartypants. Last night Jared got her some pajama pants and she saw him coming from across the room and she held out her leg! It was so funny! She is adorable! She does things like that a lot, it's so cool to see her understandingness. Is that a word?

*She has 6 whole teeth now. I think I saw a molar coming in back there, barely.

*Still working on the hair. It is getting thicker and longer... in the back.. We need some on top, Heidi!!

Here is a video of Heidi and Papa...



ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???


Ethan just finished his first season of organized sports. He played flag football for the Cowboys. He learned a lot and I think if he keeps working he might get the hang of it. He spent a lot of time on the sidelines. I actually never got to see him play. I am not real happy about that. I did see him have fun being part of a team. He had a great time! He is one cool kid.

Halloween and the little pumpkin turns ONE!!!

Oh how I love Halloween! It's my most favorite holiday. I love fall, the crisp cool air, the changing colors of the leaves. I am so excited I got to have a baby on Halloween. It is so fun to celebrate!

Decorating on Family Night...

bats, idea from good ole martha!


Jared putting up the decorations.


Our Family Night Treat

We put up lots of decorations, but I didn't really take any pictures. We had a fog machine, spider webs and spiders, and awesome spooky eyes glowing from our big arch window. So fun!

Halloween Night Feast!

Josie, Michael, Ahren, and Mason came over for dinner before trick-or-treating. We had....

Mummy Hotdogs and Spooky Broccoli Salad and Homemade Salsa and chips


And a cute pumpkin PIZZA from Papa Murphy's


We also had a yummy bloody punch that had an ice face floating in it, but I couldn't really get a good picture or it.


The Trick-or-Treaters...
Goth Claire, Princess Heidi, 80's Megan, Cowgirl Keldi, Officer Christian, Scooby Ahren, and Snow White Jaeli

Notice who is not in the picture... Ethan left and went trick-or-treating all by himself. Heather, Jen, and Jared all split up and ran up and down the street to find him. It was a little crazy for a while. He was found and said he told Jared he was leaving. Hmmm. Mason and Braeson went on their own, too.

While trick-or-treating, Megan had a blister pop on her foot and she bled everywhere and Keldi trick-or-treated for a bandaid! Love it!

Josie and her sweet Mason. He is so cute! He was a scarecrow and he wore a cute pumpkin hat that I made! I love that baby!


Heidi the princess. She was so regal and beautiful!


PRESENTS TIME!


Heidi didn't really know what to do, so she had lots of helpers :)


So many fun things! After she opened the first gift, she really wanted to play with it, but Jared had to get it out of the box. Heidi was about to get upset until another gift was placed in front of her.


Love Megan's hair, those were the days!


There's Ethan! Batman Ethan, that is :) Heidi loved the baby bottle I got her to feed the baby doll Nanny and Papa got her.


Tea anyone???


Time for cake! Happy Birthday, Heidi!


Yummy!!


Let's have cake on top of all that Halloween candy! Next year I think I might make her a veggie tray LOL :)


Jen is so cute! Mason the ghost and pretty Heather. Oh, there's Jared, too.


Time for a bath, PEACE OUT! LOL

District Championships

Megan started at her new gym in August and they put her in level 5. She learned the routines and started getting the new skills. She is getting better and better all the time. We are so proud of her. I can't believe all she has accomplished in so little time. This competition season has been full of fun times!

Her best event is floor. She really does well. She got a 9.5!


Bars... what can I say... it is coming along. She is getting better! She actually got her high bar kip twice in a row during practice but missed it during the real deal. Still, she is competing and not scratching. :) Score 6.7


Beam. She fell twice. DARN IT! :) She is so cute on the beam. Not her best score... 7.5


Vault. She is continually doing better on vault. Here is one of her runs. She got a 7.35


We have one more competition this season and then we start a new season early next year. She will compete level five again next year and really excel. We are so excited! This season was such a great learning experience. We are so proud of our little gymnast!

Heidi the Climber

Heidi loves to climb on EVERYTHING! If there is something on the floor, she will get on top of it if she can. It is cute and a little scary! Very entertaining! Isn't Megan cute, too?!? I love those girls so much!

A Bump in the Night

Yesterday I laid Christian down for a nap and Heather and I kept hearing a knocking noise and thought he was rolling around on the bed and hitting the wall with his legs or something. I went in to check on Christian and he was in the middle of the floor playing. Hmmm... Later I heard the noise when I was in his room and I quickly looked out the window to see if I could see anything. Nothing. Just our fence, a street, and grass. I forgot about it. Last night I got up with Heidi about 3 a.m. and after I laid her down I started to hear a crazy sound within the walls of my home. I started getting scared. I forced myself to close my eyes and try to sleep. Bump. I heard it again. Bump. Again. Bump. CRAP!!! What is in my house!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I called Jared (he was alseep in the living room) and told him to come in our room and listen to this sound. He sat on the bed and sure enough we heard the sound again. Bump. It was quite loud, too. Neither of us could think of what it could be. I rapped on the wall and the noise seemed to go away. Great. I scared the big scary monster in the wall. Jared got up and said he was going back to sleep. I laid there visualizing all the horrible things it could be. A raccoon? A giant rat? A large bird? A ghost? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I eventually fell asleep. Then, this morning we were getting the kids ready and I heard it again! Jared heard it, too. Jared said he was going to check something outside. Soon after I heard the noise a bunch of times in a row! Christian came running out of his room and asked me what was happening in his room!!! Jared came in and asked me if I heard the noise five times. Yes, I suppose it could have been five times....

It was the gate to the privacy fence. It must not have latched properly when Jared closed it after mowing and he never checked it because he planned on finishing the yard and I made him come inside. (it was CRAZY dark!!) Anyway, the gate was slamming open and close with the wind. Phew! No rat or scary monster!

But here is a picture of the new addition to the pool area in the back yard. We put an iron fence in to close off the pool from the rest of the yard so the kids can play safely and give me some peace of mind :) It wasn't a cheap investment, but worth every penny!

11 MONTHS!!!

Heidi is getting way too big, I can't believe she is already 11 months old. She is the most precious baby girl, I love her so much!

Things she has done in the last month...

* Got her first tooth, then another, then another, and 3 more cutting through... all in one month! Poor girl!

* Taken her first steps. She isn't totally walking, but really close. Most steps in a row: 6

* Played in the toilet

* broke MANY dishes trying to help me unload the dishwasher

* got a big girl car seat, still facing back

* got a flu shot, not fun, but had to protect her from all the crap my kids bring home from school

* still NOT sleeping through the night

* STILL nursing :D

* still NOOOOOOOOO hair!!! (well a little fuzz, it is getting better)

Won't be long until she is ONE! Halloween. Can't wait... CAN wait. She is the light of my life!

lollipop

Heidi had a lollipop for the first time at the school carnival. I gave it to her so she would leave her hat on. We were selling the hats in the gym and she was our advertisement out where all the people were. We actually sold a lot of stuff, it was exciting! But Heidi was so cute eating the sucker I had to take a million pics. Here are some of them...

A Conversation with Ethan

Ethan has been talking about death lately and asking a lot of questions. He is going through that phase of being worried about it. Tonight right before we said our prayers, in all sincerity, he told me he wanted his head to stick out of the ground when he was buried so he could get some air. I couldn't help but giggle, but I told him we would do that for him LOL.

I pray I never have to worry about that.

A Conversation with Christian

Christian and I had a funny little conversation this morning... It went something like this...

(I am nursing Heidi)

Christian: You have two of those.

Me: (I think I know what he is talking) Two of what?

Christian: Those. (He points to my boobs)

Me: You're right, I do, and so do you.

Christian: (He pulls up his shirt to reveal his chest and points at his nipples)Ya! I do! I have two "nurses". These are my nurses.

A couple seconds go by...

Christian: You have big nurses. I have little nurses.

Ya, thanks.

A minute goes by.

Christian: My nurses are up.

(Please don't say what I think you are going to say!)

Christian: Your nurses are down.

Great. It's even obvious to my 3 yr old that I have saggy boobs.


The other day he walked in on me in the bathroom...

Christian: Do you have a penis?

Me: NO!

Christian: Do you have a butt?

Me: Yes.

He is so interested in everything right now. It is NOT FUN taking him in public restrooms. I wish the stalls were sound proof, I don't know how many times he has asked me at the top of his lungs if I was going poop. No, I am not. Then he tells me I am a good boy when I am done. Cute kid, but embarassing at times LOL!

little helper

Jared was setting up the tv and Heidi got right in there and helped. It was so cute!

Our First Pool Party

We invited some neighbors and friends over for a pool party for labor day and it was SO fun! We cooked hotdogs, sausages, and brats and everyone brought sides to go with it! The kids had a great time and the adults, too. I think this will be the first of many parties to come.

*I only had my camera out for about 5 seconds and I didn't get pictures of everyone. I am sad about that. I was a little busy though :D

Jumpin' in the pool


Jared the grill master and Alli and Claire (future babsitters!)


My boys and neighbor Chad.


Old friends and new friends...


Megan and some cute new friends she met on our street!


People diggin' in the awesome eats...


Jumping on the trampoline.


What a great time! I am so glad to have so many great friends and neighbors!

Proof Megan is a Brat Sometimes....

Rescue 911

We have only one set of keys for our van. That's all we got when we bought it. I have always been really paranoid about locking my keys in the car so I am VERY careful about making sure it doesn't happen. Until last night...

When we came inside from an errand, the door on Heidi's side didn't close. Jared locked the car and we went in the house. We didn't know the door was open. When I went to get in the car to pick Megan up from gym, the door was open so I walked right up and put Heidi inside. Usually I have to push a button on my key that opens the door for me and also unlocks the car. I didn't have to do this since the door was already open. My usual habit is to drop the keys in the driver's seat before I buckle her in. I did this and shut her door. I went to open my door and it was LOCKED!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! My worst fear, locking my baby in the car, happened. I just kept trying to open the door, all the doors, circling the car and praying for some weird reason a door was unlocked. No such luck. Heidi was crying for me. That is the worst feeling, not being able to help your child when they need you. I called to Jared who was in the pool with the boys and he came to help me. He told me to get a hanger. Ha ha. Our house is in such disarray how will I find one. Well, I did. And it was PINK. I wondered if Jared would say something about it. He tried to use a screwdriver to pry the door open and I tried to slip the mangled pink hanger in the door. We couldn't get it in. We kept trying for a couple minutes and I was worried he was going to break the door. At least Heidi would be out, but I really didn't want to deal with that. I made Jared call the police station. They said they would send someone right away. Meanwhile, Jared kept trying to get in while I played peek-a-boo with Heidi. She didn't like it. Everytime I hid for half a second she screamed louder. I decided that wasn't going to help. Poor baby. Then Jared stabbed me in the eye with the pink hanger. That freakin hurt! Finally a cop showed up. Did I mention he was kind of cute? He came up and looked in at Heidi who was still upset and then he walked around the car. I wonder if he noticed our inspection just expired. He told us that the fire department had to come to get her out. Hmmm, weird. I wonder why he couldn't do it. He said they should be here soon and then said, "Oh, I think I hear them now." Sure enough I heard SIRENS off in the distance. Are you freaking kidding me???? We just moved on this street a week ago and already we have the cops and fire dept at our house. I was so embarassed! Thankfully they turned off the lights and sirens when they got in the neighborhood. Phew! The boys got out of the pool and we so excited to see the fire truck pull up. That was kind of fun. They got out and walked up, made me sign soemthing saying they weren't liable if they scratched the car or had to take the door off, and then popped up the lock and I got Heidi out. Then the thought entered my mind while I was thanking them profusely... I have to blog about this! I really like to have pictures with my blogs so I asked them to hold Heidi and pose for a picture. They thought that was so funny and they were great sports. Ethan made it in the picture, too. Christian was inside changing into dry clothes and was too slow to get outside. And poor Megan was stuck at gymnastics until the fiasco was over. I don't think she minded much.

Heidi and her heroes... I love firemen and cops!


I might as well add the first day of school pics... I have been slow to get on the computer.

The kids in the hotel the morning of the first day of school.


Ethan in his first grade class. His teacher is Mrs. Smith and she is awesome!


Megan in her fourth grade class. Her teacher is Mrs. Dunn and she is SO nice!


And my little boy is growing up and FINALLY lost his first tooth!!! He is SOOOO cute! He was proud. He pulled it out at school and the nurse gave him a cute little treasure chest to put the tooth in. The tooth fairy let him keep the treasure chest and also gave him a dollar! He said he would never spend it. I believe it!

Did that really just happen? Really?

Jared came to get us to go out for lunch today. He wanted to go somewhere fast and cheap. He chose Schlotzsky's. I love that place. I don't love going to fast food places for lunch, during lunch hour, with 4 kids. I just don't like it. There isn't ever a place to fit all my family. There might be 6 chairs open in the restaurant, but none near each other. I really hate trying to figure it all out with all the drinks, the food, the kids running around, and all the people staring at us. OK, maybe no one really stares. Today they did.

We get to the restaurant and walk in. I immediately scan for a table to fit us all. There is a table for 4 empty and a few scattered 2-person tables. Crap. Well, ok, Jared is with me so I don't have to do this alone. We order our food and get the cups and I suggest we go try to figure out our sitting arrangement before we get drinks. We head to the 4 person table and there are no other tables near it to spread us all out. Jared grabbed a high chair for Heidi and we CRAM ourselves around this tiny table. I knew this would happen. The nice lady at the table next to us offered up an empty chair so two kids wouldn't be sharing a chair. Six of us crowded around a little square table. Not fun. The people in a 4 person table next to us left. THANK HEAVEN! We started moving the kids to the other table and I left to get them drinks. While I was at the fountain, our number was called. I look at Jared and he is on the phone not paying attention. So I went to get what I could carry and a guy helped me carry the rest. Upon getting to the table we set out the food and I gave the kids their stuff and went to get lids for the kids drinks (the ones who got their own drinks). I came back to my sandwich laying on the floor. I asked WHAT HAPPENED!!! Jared answered... Your daughter. Thanks Heidi. Thanks. Jared picked it up off the floor and left to get me another. He made sure his sandwich was out of reach. I was begging Christian to give me some of his pizza to give to Heidi when I saw another sandwich meet the floor out of the corner of my eye. Jared's sandwich bit the dust. I just buried my face in my hands in disbelief as I heard both gasps and laughter from the crowd around us. Crap. I got up and walked over to Jared who was getting his drink and I told him about his sandwich. He was flabbergasted. He had put his sandwich out of her reach! She is just too good. The onlookers were having a great time watching our lunch time freak show. The nice lady who gave us a chair loved the entertainment. She told me so. I was crying and laughing at the same time and a nice grandma told me not to worry about it, that it would be easier in 40 years. Thanks. Jared had to go tell the cashier that yet another sandwich was thrown to the floor by his baby and needed another one. I wish I could have seen her face! When she brought his new sandwich, she said, "Here you go baby" like she was going to give it to Heidi. Jared said to Heidi that it was a good thing she was so young or she would have been in trouble. I heard the older couple next to us giggle when they heard this. I was a bright shade of red for almost the entire lunch. How embarassing! I told you people stare. I guess it doesn't help we give people reason to. In the end, we all got to eat, everyone was happy, and no more sandwiches hit the floor.

I learned a lot from lunch today...

I think I am officially done having kids.

And going to fast food restaurants during lunch hour.

And I probably won't ever go into that Schlotzsky's ever again.

Heidi... 9 months!

I went to get pics done with my friend, Josie, and her baby Mason. I was doubtful Heidi would do well taking pictures because she was kind of fussy and tired, but when the camera came out she really hammed it up!!!

My favorite!


Glamour Girl!


Don't let her angelic face fool you...


Sassy pants!


I love this one!


To see all the pictures click here.