Courtesy Letter

Last week we received our first "courtesy letter" from our Home Owners Association. It was to inform us that we were in violation because we had a weed on our side yard. Yes a weed. They even included a picture and you could barely see it in the picture. I just laughed. They wasted a stamp for that. Elliott and I are very good at up-keeping our yards with all of the homes we have lived in. Shame on us for missing the weed. I guess it is good that they are keeping up on everyone. It is what keeps a neighborhood looking nice. My dad immediately got up and went and pulled the weed...Thanks Dad.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were fortunate to have my parents for a week. I always enjoy having my parents around. It was my moms first time to see our new home and she was able to help me out with a few decorating dilemmas. Elliott and I love playing cards with them when the kids go to bed. On Thanksgiving my Aunt and her husband came to visit and they brought Coco with them. My girls had been really missing her and it was perfect for them to spend a little time with her. Of course lets not forget about the food....uhhh...I just love Thanksgiving food!! My only regret is I didn't take one picture the whole time my parents were here.

Friday after Thanksgiving I went to Walmart kinda early (6am I wanted to sleep in) to go and get a present and was wondering the whole time if it was worth it...seriously where do all these people come from??? I knew it was going to be crazy when I saw the parking lot and then had a hard time finding a cart. The lines were soooo long and surprising they had every lane open...never seen that before. I always find it interesting to look in other people's carts to see what they are buying. Luckily I was able to use self check out and stood in line for only 5 minutes. It is amazing what people will do to save a buck. I am not a big fan of shopping with crowds because honestly there are a lot of dumb people out there that I would rather not be around and I am to impatient to stand in long long lines. Then later that morning my parents and my family piled into my car and headed for St. George. We then spent the day at my Uncle Don's home with my cousins and Grandma. It was so fun visiting with everyone. Elliott took Kylee shooting with some of the guys and was quite impressed how well she handled the guns and shot them. Again no pictures. Now it is time to get ready for Christmas...Yipeee. I am going to start a new tradition this year so we'll see how the girls will like it.

Forgetful Fanny

I remember after having Kylee that I felt like the biggest flake. I could not remember anything and would always lose my train of thought in mid sentence. Slowly my brain would get turned back on. I don't know if it was from hormones, lack sleep or the fact that maybe my brain needed to shut down so I could go through the ever so pleasant process of giving birth...without drugs. Regardless it was all the same...except with my last. I am still so forgetful and it has been two years...I swear I would have lost my head 2 years ago if it wasn't attached! I am wondering if I will ever get back my brain or if this is just the reality of the new me....that would not be good. I feel like I should keep a notebook in my back pocket to write myself notes so I can refer to it later. Like when I bought some Halloween goodies for Ryann's preschool class a note referring to where I placed them or even if I actually bought them would have come in handy a few weeks ago, or when I left today to go pick up Kylee and Alyssa from school..note...girls rode their bikes today don't pick them up...would have been nice too.

Face-Book

Last night like every night Elliott made the rounds to check on the girls before going to bed. Guarantee you will find Ryann with the covers kicked off, Kylee with the fan blowing in her face, Alyssa sleeping like an angel, and Addison...well usually you get surprised with her. She will be in her bed, on the floor, backwards in her bed, covers on or off, it is always different. You also get to remove piles of books or toys that she got out of bed to gather and sleep with. Last night this was the scene...on top of her covers...backwards...and well....???

You should also note the damage to the book was done by her at an earlier time.

Diapers Be Gone

Addy has been on and off with her interest with potty training. Potty training is by far one of my most un-favorite transitions my children go through so I don't encourage it. She can also be STUBBORN and I have to let her "DOOO IT!" with everything else so this would be no different. All last week she kept taking off her diaper and has been running around the house with a naked bum. It is a fight to get a diaper back on her. So I decided to buckle down and take the leap. For the last two days she has only worn panties all day long with no accidents. I have even done two short outings with her in panties...I was sooo brave. I am crossing my fingers this is it and we will be done with diapers for good.

Our main floor only has tile and and girls love to ride their scooters around inside including Addy. This was one scene one morning with Addy and her missing diaper. If you notice her Halloween Candy bag is hanging off the handle bars. She was riding around as if this was completely normal.

Our Little Ant

Addison like to snack all day long. I really need to put a lock on the pantry. She will monkey up the shelves to get what ever her little heart desires to eat and get it down. For some reason it always seems to be the biggest box of what ever. She will then bring it to me to open...and sometimes that is upstairs. It is the funniest thing to see her carry them around. It reminds me of how ants are always carrying something twice their size.

My Monkey in the Pantry

First Bike Ride

Yesterday Elliott walked down the street to go and get Ryann who was playing outside with her sisters and the other kids that live on our street. She asked Elliott if he would help her ride her bike home. (This bike has no training wheels and we haven't taken the time to practice with her riding a bike without them) The good dad he is he said, "Sure" (all while cringing inside). But to his surprise he helped her get going and she went and rode the bike all by herself down the street. He then got me outside to show me what she could do. Of course we now have to teach her how to stop...minor detail. She is my third child I was still was just amazed to see her riding a bike all by herself...at the age of four...she's so big...weep,weep. Elliott was soooo excited! He is hoping that at least one of his girls will love cycling as much as he.

Go Ryann Go!

Lil' Pastry Chefs

Kylee and Alyssa's school have "academies" that they get to select that last for half the school year. These are different activities that are held before or after school at no charge. Kylee has tennis and Alyssa goes to "Lil Pastry Chefs". This is such a cute little class. Every Wednesday she brings home a different desert that she learned how to make. She also got a cute hat and apron. Last Wednesday it was a cake that she got to decorate all by herself.

Super Saturday

Yesterday our ward had Super Saturday. They had so many cute things to make it was hard to decide on what to make. Here is 3 of the 5 things I made. The other two are Christmas gifts so they are missing from the picture.

Family Fun

Four years ago we moved into a brand new home while living in WY. At the time the cable company had not yet made it possible for us to have cable TV. It was 2 months out until we were able to get Dish Network. In the mean time at night we found our own entertainment. One of the girls favorite thing was playing hide 'n' seek with us. We would put Ryann, then a baby, in her bouncy seat or exersaucer. To this day they talk about it. As a mom I find it painful to take time to play paper-dolls, pet shops, barbie, etc, because I seem to always have a long "To-Do" list. I know that the moments we take to play with them mean the world to them and it will be what they remember. So I try to find things that we both would somewhat enjoy doing together. Playing games, cooking, and reading are easy favorites for me. It is fun that Kylee and Alyssa are old enough to avoid the ever so favorite Candyland and Chutes and Ladders and play more challenging to the brain not annoying to the brain games. The other night Elliott surprised his girls, including me, with Nerf guns. Everyone got their own gun except Addy. Elliott and I really limit the TV during the week for the big girls. We usually try to do something together as a family. We all had so much fun running around the house shooting each other. We split up into two teams and made a game out of it. Running up and down the stairs and chasing each other is good exercise as well. But the best part is this is all they talked about the next day and now they can't wait until after dinner to play. The only downside is gathering Nerf arrows/bullets (what ever they are called) after you are done because they end up everywhere.

Early Morning Phone Call

Last week the phone rang at 6:45 am. This is normally early for Elliott and I (minus this week we have all been up at 6 am...so not normal...I think because of the time change). The girls of course are all usually up by 7. But on this morning everyone was still strangely asleep...and of course the phone rings. It was one of Kylee's friends from school that had a question about her homework. Elliott kindly told her that it was way to early to be calling and to call back after 8. At 7:45 she calls back...from the same number and what do you know...Elliott answered the phone again (this time he was awake and down stairs...where was I???...still in bed). This time she disguised her voice and asked for Kylee. He then asked her, "Didn't I tell you not to call until after 8?" She then replied, "Oh I think you must have me confused with someone else." He then just handed the phone to Kylee. Great kids are already pegging us as dumb. I didn't think kids thought parents were dumb until they were teenagers. You would think she would at least be smart enough to call from a different number to try and trick him...does she not understand the whole caller ID thing? AHhh caller ID... Back in the good ole' days of prank calling without the technology of caller ID...and yes I loved it...until my dad found out and took my red corvette phone away from me that I won from my school carnival via kinda cheating but that is a whole other story.

Track or Treat...Trick or Treat

We experienced that ultimate trunk 'r' treat but here they call it "track or treat" The whole stake goes to a park that has a sidewalk that goes around the whole park. Members set up on both sides and the kids walk around the track trick or treating. Some people go all out decorating there spot...pretty impressive. This was held on the 30th. Elliott handed out the candy as I walked around with the girls. His favorite "family-themed" costume was a family that did the Little Mermaid...the dad was King Triton and so on. The girls got tons of candy and it worked out because we took out all the candy they didn't want and gave it away to our trick or treater the next night...kinda like re-gifting I guess. Halloween we took them around our little neighborhood that has about 80 homes. We went with two other neighbors and the girls had a blast. I was loving that fact that I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and flip flops and was not cold! Our girls didn't go trick or treating in WY because it was too cold and we would bundle them up in UT. But to not even have to wear a long sleeve shirt...awesome. The night before at the track or trick was a little chilly or as Addy says, "coldy" but Halloween was a beautiful night. Now we get to deal with all the candy.....

This year we had two themes going on...we had a Dorothy and Glenda and an Alice and Queen of Hearts. My mom made Kylee's Queen of Hearts costume and it turned out amazing. You can tell she put a lot of hard work into it and she did it while going through radiation! (Go Mom...Good news she just finished her radiation last weeks!!)

BOO'D

Early in October we received a knock at the door and was left a bag of Halloween goodies. Inside had a poem and a sign for us to put on the door or in a window so our neighbors know we had been Boo'd. Once you are boo'd you then "boo" two others. Kylee, Alyssa, and I had fun finding things to put in a bag for our neighbors to "boo". The girls got a kick out of dropping it off and ringing the door bell and running away. They had to re-ring our one neighbors 3 times! It can get windy here so I put the boo sign in the window next to the door and one week later we got boo'd again. Then 5 days later again...3 times! So I then taped the other boo sign to the front door. It is not that I don't enjoy getting treats...I just felt guilty getting boo'd 3 times.

Chopped!!

October 28th

Well I took the plunge and joined the official Mom Club and now have short hair. I had 8 inches cut off and had it donated. I didn't think I could donate my hair because I color it but Panetine takes it regardless. All I can say is sorry for the poor person that gets a wig with my hair...have fun with it. I have REALLY thick hair and it is ugly curly in the back and strait in the front. It is a chore to take care of and to get it to look half way decent. Can I tell you how refreshing it is to have short hair! I am loving it and wonder why I waited so long to do it. I also had it darkened. Last time I chopped my hair was over 11 years ago and kept it short for only two before growing it back out.

October Fun

Each October we have our usual traditions...

Make Carmel Apples, Pick out pumpkins and later carve them and of course baking the seeds, Leaving treats for our neighbors, Pumpkin pancakes in shape of pumpkins on Halloween, and Going to haunted houses...to name a few.

Here are some pics from a few: