Pumpkin, You're Hollow Within

Chad graciously took Alli and Drew to Pack's Pumpkin Patch (where Drew's fieldtrip group went this month.) They had a fun kids hay corn maze, huge pumpkin patch, "scarecrow" picture gallery, and they got to pick their own pumpkin to take home!

Honey, I'm a Big Boy now

Anticipating the arrival of our new little one, we noticed all our upstairs bedrooms are occupied. Our kids are too young and scared to be in the basement bedroom, so we have to start doubling up on bedrooms.

I shared a room growing up with my sister and loved it. I like to think it is very helpful in preparation for college roommates and marriage to share rooms when you are young.

Anyhow, so we were on the lookout for Jeremy and Drew's new beds. (We decided on bunk beds and just separate them into twins until they are old enough to not do normal toddler things like "see if we can jump from the top bunk and out the window onto the ground without breaking any bones.") We found these really nice, inexpensive solid pine bunk beds from Wal-mart for only $189! They look so nice in the room I love them. They were a steal at that price, too! (Most nice ones are at least $300.)

After we got the beds set up and put his new Target Bedding on, we started putting Jeremy in his "big boy" bed for naptimes with Drew in his bed. And now all they do is play.... no more naps. This is not good. Anyone has any ideas on how to make a 16-month old sleep with a 3 year old? I would love any suggestions! I need to get them sleeping before baby#4 keeps us up all night.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

We went to the free Pottery Barn Kids Star Wars Promo. We had to stand in line for about an hour but it was worth it. They had Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper and a Jedi dressed up. Vader was so cool, he even had the voice changer thing. When he shook Drew's hand he said, "Greetings, younling. I sense the force is strong with you, Andrew." It was hilarious to see Drew's face and even funnier to see Jeremy's face. As you can tell from the pictures: Jeremy got one look at Darth Vader,
and ran away crying all in a matter of seconds.
Jeremy is now off hiding somewhere safe.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Happy Birthday, Drew! You're 3 years old! The funny thing is that Drew has been acting 3 for quite a while. He's so tall and talks & acts so big to me, it seems weird that he just turned 3. I decided to try to make a cake in the shape of a Herbie Car since it's Drew's favorite thing. It turned out ok until i ran out of frosting. so I had to make the rest of the cake the "road" (Thanks Chad, for the idea.) Drew got a big Play-Doh Factory set from Mom and Dad.

Drew is such a sweetheart. It is very hard to stay mad at him whenever he gets in trouble. He looks at you with his dark brown eyes and you can't help but think, "how can i be mad at that cute face?" besides the fact that he has a great sense of humor ( that he got from his mom of course!) He loves his family very much and he lets you know that by smothering you with lots of kisses and hugs. He is your typical roudy, loud, rough boy. He loves to climb and jump on everything. He is fearless with a big heart. He is eager to learn and aims to please.

Some of his favorite things are: Herbie Cars (which is pretty much every small car he sees) Lightening McQueen, Spiderman, fighting dragons to protect his sister Princess Alli, sloppy joes, playing in forts and houses that he makes, not taking a nap (especially now that I have moved his younger brother Jeremy into his room - all they do is play now - poor mom - no more "quiet time" for you!), playing outside and with friends, watching big sis get off the bus, giving hugs & kisses and receiving them (this kid is definitely a cuddler), parties, driving in the car, Ritz crackers and cheese and play-doh.

Some things he very strongly dislikes: Salmon, missing Alli getting off the school bus, not being able to give someone a kiss or hug goodbye, going to the bathroom when you ask him to, washing his hands when you ask him to, sitting on the "naughty" chair, Jeremy playing with any toys that he wants especially his.

We are so lucky to have this beautiful, sweet, smart boy in our family! We love you, Drew!

But we are best friends...right?

Alli and Drew were watching TV with their arms around each other. These moments are too few and far between, so I had to hurry up and capture it before they realized what they were doing! (For the record: most of the time they get along and play really well together. I just had to make this picture moment seem more dramatic!) Please feel free to ignore the mac and cheese all over their faces and the fact that they are STILL in their pjs after lunch!

And while Alli and Drew were doing that, this is what Jeremy was doing. Poor kid! He fell asleep in his chair after lunch.

The seed, that with the suns love in the spring becomes the rose.

Alli's preschool class took a fieldtrip to Red Butte Gardens. Even though it sprinkled a bit, we still had a fun time learning about all the different plants and flowers that grow in Utah.

He'll steal your heart away, then run and play. He's Dangerous!

Drew got 3 stitches in his head today. He somehow got into the exercise room and climbed up on the roman chair, lost his balance, and landed on his forehead on top of a free weight. It made a nice slice in his head that wouldn't close, so I took him with me to Jeremy's 18 month appt. The pediatrician said he needed stitches so he did them right there in his office in a "sterile operating room." Kinda scary. Drew did really well. He gave him a local anesthetic and after he was done he made this cute balloon face out of his glove and put 3 stitches on it to match Drew. He loves it!

Too bad we have to go back in a few days to take them out! That should be fun...

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It has been snowing a lot over the past few days... makes me grateful for an SUV! I don't think I would be able to get home some days without it! I decided that since Alli and Drew have been asking me everyday "when they are going to get to play outside in the snow" that I should probably let them...

so... I got them all bundled up (and noticed that Drew's boots no longer fit him anymore. His feet have grown 3 sizes in like 3 months so I put on his regular tennis shoes on and his gloves are not the best for making snowmen with so I had him use Alli's, which was a mistake because he is so uncoordinated at getting mittens on... He bunches his fingers into a fist to make it practically impossible to put the mittens on. Then when you finally do get his fingers in, there is a slot for your thumb to go into and how do you describe to a 2 year old how to get your thumb into this tiny hole that you can't see without it frustrating both of you... which is the complete opposite of what you are trying to do by getting all bundled up in the first place, so you just decide who cares if he has his thumb in the hole and send them to go have fun in the snow...)

The snow is so deep that as soon as Drew steps in it he starts to cry that his feet are cold, and then Alli tells me she has to go to the bathroom, which is really annoying cause you know it takes just as long to get all the stuff off then it does to put it on; so I told Alli she would have to hold it cause We were going to "enjoy" playing in the snow for a few minutes whether they liked it or not! lol So I tried to make even the tiniest snowball to try to start a snowman but none of the snow stuck together whatsoever! Needless to say we gave up, went inside and had some Hot Cocoa and Soup...



Chad took this picture of the trampoline (It had a huge sheet of ice on it and it was weighing down the trampoline so much we thought it was going to rip it, so he went and got all the ice/snow off. A big piece of the ice sheet is still sitting by our back door, so it definately wasn't going anywhere anytime soon!)

Mother, Tell Me the Story that I Love to Hear

This is a story that Allison told to me last Friday and it was so funny I had to write it down; so, here it is:

There was this one girl who met a boy. Then they got married and then they kissed and she died. She came back alive again just like Jesus. Then she ate all the candy corn and lied about it and that was not a good choice. Then she got killed by a monster and then came alive again, again, again and again. Then she asked her mom if she can fly in the robot machine and she said yes so she flew in it and killed the monster that killed her and then she woke up and thought, "Boy, that was a long day!"

It was so funny how she said it too! That same day my son, Drew came downstairs after waking up and said "I am not happy. I am not in a good mood!" and stomped around the house. He has since said either "I am not happy with you mommy." or "I am so happy now" (with a big smile) everyday just about every hour. He definitely has mood swings. He's my little Drama-King! I just can't pinpoint where he gets it from! lol

You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

I don't know what it is about shoes and my kids feet lately; but, it seems like I buy a new pair of shoes every week! A few days ago, I bought some shoes for Drew that were Lightning McQueen and light up when you walk. He loved them so much he wants to wear them all day, even in bed. He puts them on even before he is dressed for the day as you can see from the picture. I never would have thought he would like these shoes so much.