Happy Halloween!

What a day! The girls have looked forward to this particular holiday with a little more fervor than I would have expected from them. They certainly looked the part...trick-or-treating, here we come!

Ellie wanted to be a cowgirl. Thanks to my talented mother-in-law, we had these authentic chaps and matching vest to make the costume perfect. 

Originally Lindy had requested a zookeeper costume. (She's been telling us for the last year that she wants to work in a zoo when she grows up.) Luckily she changed her mind in time for me to get her a fun witch costume. She was especially excited because we painted her fingernails green and put a little green eye shadow on. She's getting so old!

Curtis, of course, didn't necessarily care about his little costume. I just looked for something that was warm. And he did great. He happily strolled around with us as we hit the neighbors doors and loaded up on candy.

Here's a shot of all three getting ready to head out and hit the streets.

Ian wasn't with us this Halloween. I locked up the house for a little while and took the kids around the block. Luckily, for Lindy, Marci offered to help me out and continue the trick-or-treating fun with my oldest while I took the youngest two home and manned the candy bucket. (Thanks Marci!) When Lindy got home she informed me that she had "oodles of candy" and she is willing to "share with everyone". We'll see how it goes. Some of that candy might have to disappear while she is sleeping. Hmmm...

Happy Halloween from our house to yours!

Just Can't Get Enough

Sorry, I just can't help posting pictures of my little boy. Maybe it's the camera. Maybe it's the kid. Either way, I can't get enough of him.

And Today I'm Thankful For

My older brother. 

Cause he said so.

(Love ya, Wader!)

Barney Stinks

That darn purple dinosaur! Ellie loves to watch his show and, even though the television aficionado in me throws up a little each time it's on, I usually cave in because I feel like he might actually be teaching my toddler a little something useful. Like cleaning up.

Today, however, when faced with a clean-up duty (putting back all the DVD's she pulled off of the shelf), my three year old did a little more than just balk. She ignored me. I turned off the TV. She ignored me. I coaxed, cajoled, then threatened. I was ignored with more pomp. Finally I buckled and sang that stupid "Clean Up" song that Barney touts each and every day! She didn't budge. So I finally issued the ultimatum, "You will sit here until this mess is cleaned up!" and left her to herself. After about 30 minutes the crying ceased and I went back in to see how well she was progressing...and found this:

She is NOT cleaning, but artfully arranging aforementioned DVD's in a line on the floor while yelling out the color of the case. Apparently my child has learned nothing from me, or Barney, about the joys of cleaning up ones' messes.

Buh-bye Barney.

More Pumpkin Fun

Thanks to some amazingly beautiful fall weather, we were able to take some fun family pictures outside today. The kids were so excited to show off their pumpkins. 

I love this one...it looks like Curtis is wondering what's happening to that poor little baby pumpkin:

I sure do love my family. I am so blessed.

Pumpkins

This year we barely squeaked in the family tradition of pumpkin carving. Ian's recent work schedule has left us lacking in the good ol' "quality family time" category. Luckily he made it home in time to join us and we only had to keep the girls up a little later than normal. 

Both girls were slightly squeamish at the thought of reaching in and pulling out "pumpkin guts". Lindy would only work with a long-handled wooden spoon.

Ellie, meanwhile, refused outright to do any sort of cleaning. Lucky for her, I'm such a pushover.

I finally convinced Lindy to take a picture with her pretending to eat the pumpkin guts. She thought she was hilarious.

And here are the results. (Well, almost...Ian's pumpkin is supposed to be "eating" one of the little ones in front of it but it keeps falling out.) From left to right: "Baby Stem" by Lindy, "Mean Face" by dad, "Happy Face" by mom, and "Little One" by Ellie. We kindly excluded little Curtis since he was in bed and not very good with a knife. 

Crime and Punishment

As I was busy doing dishes this morning, my oldest came running in, tears flowing, and yelled, "Ellie hit me!" Behind her, cool as a cucumber, my second-born sauntered in. I asked her why she delivered the offending blow and she casually answered, "Because I was naughty." I did my best to hide a chuckle as I escorted her to time out.

Not an hour later, from upstairs, I hear the following:

Lindy: (shrieking like a banshee) "AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Ian: "Ellie, why is your sister crying?"

Ellie: "Because her bonked her head?"

Lindy: (with intensified volume and pitch) "SHE'S LYING!"

Ian: "How did she bonk her head?"

Ellie: "I hit her."

Needless to say, Ellie has spent significant time in time out today already. Unfortunately, it's getting increasingly difficult to punish this child without betraying the humor of the situation.

Halloween Carnival

We have officially had our first real dose of the behind-the-scenes craziness of Ward Activities. And when I say crazy, I mean CRAZY! What a day. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. We had more people show up than expected, which was wonderful. We appreciated the support. Here is a smattering of images from the evening: 

Some witches were scarier than others...but even with green makeup, she's a beauty. Those Madsen's sure make cute girls!

The Fenton's and their superhero family won for "Best Family Ensemble".

Where else would you find Laura Croft, Wilma, and Mrs. Incredible hanging 

out together?

If memory serves me right, Jodi & Damon won "Most Original" for their "head on a plate" costume. Love it!

And little Mitchell was so stinking cute in his Indian costume! Fabulous job, Marci!

And I am still cracking up about Ben's Mullet. AWESOME!

There's absolutely NO WAY we would have survived without our awesome committee! So a HUGE thank you goes out to Emily, Rachael and Scott, Jodi and Damon, Courtney and Drew, and Brittainy and Brandon. THANK YOU! 

I'm Irritated

I'm going to make a confession: Sometimes I don't like people. (Gasp! What did Amy just say?) That's right, I said it...I don't like people.

As I was leaving the grocery store, with the children in tow, I passed by a nosy, overbearing, old lady who looked at my entourage, did a little "tsk-tsk" to herself and announced, accusingly, to the world, "That poor baby is probably so cold!" With a disappointed shake of her head she then sauntered into the store. 

Stunned, I turned to examine my "neglected" infant and went through the following in my head:

Onesie: check

Sweatpants: check

Sweatshirt: check

Socks: check

Shoes: check

Tuque: check (that's a "knit hat" for you un-Canadians)

Heavy blanket: check

Am I missing something here? If anything, the poor boy is probably sweating like a pig!

PEOPLE! It's one thing to viciously foist your opinion on unsuspecting citizens when you have a valid point. It's quite another to make a ridiculous assertion based on nothing but your mistaken observations! Grrr...

On a more chipper note, look how cute my baby looks in said tuque (he's so serious):

Today I'm Thankful For

• Diet Coke (sorry, Lindsey).
  
• Toast. I don't know why, but I LOVE it...especially with homemade jam.
• My kids, even though I'm sure they are going to live to see me committed.
• My husband, even though he contributes to the insanity.
• TiVo.
• Sunsets.
• Post-it notes.
• Black pens.
• Milk chocolate. (Not to offend you dark choc. lovers out there, but eewww!)
• Mark & Karen (my folks). Crazy as a couple can get, but you gotta love 'em.

It's been a pretty good day.

Dressed Up

Little Curtis hit church today in style. What a handsome boy.

   

Too Far?

Admittedly I've been too uptight in the past. I know that. You know that. As a mother of three kids, however, I've had to learn to relax a little and let go. I often have pep-talks with myself to convince the OCD side of my nature that there are certain things that aren't important enough to be contrary about. For example, last week I actually let my 3-year old wear mismatched flip flops in public. The old me wouldn't have stood for it. The new and improved me just can't find the energy to be bothered.

But, have I let it go too far? Is the new me just a little bit too apathetic about my Ellie's fashion sense? You be the judge. Yesterday she came downstairs in the following outfit asking, "Is this perfect, mom?" 

And, since I was busy doing something else, I said, "Yup" and let her be on her way. (Notice the hair isn't done either.) As she ran around outside, reveling in her fashion freedom, I had to wonder, should I really able to let go this much?

Popcorn

I did a "nice-mom" thing today and made some carmel popcorn for the girls. I put a little bit in a bowl for each of them and sat them up to the counter. 

Apparently Lindy can double as a hoover because within a couple minutes she was done her portion and was requesting more. Since they have already met their quota of goodies for the day I didn't think it was a good idea to give her more and had to tell her no.

She turned to her little sister and sweetly said, "Ellie, why don't you put your bowl right here between us and we can share?" To my surprise, Ellie happily scooted her bowl over for Lindy to dig in. Lindy turned to me, obviously very pleased with herself, and whispered, "See how smart I am?"

Oh yes, I do see. And I'm scared.

Little Boy

I just think my little baby is adorable. Why was I ever concerned about having a boy? Seriously...this little guy is my absolute favorite! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't worry...I'm not confused. (Well, not any more than normal.) I'm simply celebrating my Canadian heritage by enjoying a FANTABULOUS turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

And before you ask...yes, Canadians DO celebrate Thanksgiving. We don't have the whole pilgrim/indian dealio, but the fundamentals are the same: gratitude for a plentiful harvest, etc. etc. Since the harvest happens earlier up in the great white north, our Thanksgiving falls a little earlier in the year. Here's a picture of me expressing my gratitude for a plentiful harvest:

Ian is in Moab on another mountain bike adventure, so Jody took a couple days off to hang out with me and my offspring. I'm not sure she was completely prepared for the insanity of this household, but she has endured well. Today we took the kids up to the Living Planet Aquarium. We got to see all sorts of marine life and we were able to touch some fairly disgusting sea creatures to boot! The girls were in HEAVEN! At one point I thought Ellie might actually pass out from the excitement. 

Thanks for a fun day, Jody...and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Come On, People!

I'm sorry that you, my fellow bloggers, have to deal with my least admirable personality trait: impatience. Okay, maybe I'm not super sorry about it because, let's be honest with ourselves, I often wish most people shared my intolerance of waiting. But I digress...

I'm putting in another plug for the pink Yoplait lids. We are up to 54 lids, which is okay (I guess) but 15 of those were just donated by my sisters' co-worker (thanks, Steve) and the remainder are from this household. So, and though I don't wish to sound too pushy, cough 'em up, folks!

Anyone? Anyone?

P.S. On second thought, I can list at least 5 other personality traits that are much more condemning than impatience...so don't feel you have to call me on them. I probably already know.

Olive Garden

It's finally here! Our very own Olive Garden. Happiness is mine. In talking with a few of my fellow OG lovers, I think we've got a plan for our inaugural visit:

Saturday Oct. 11th

4:00pm

I know, we aren't senior citizens...but I spoke with an Olive Garden spokesman yesterday and they seemed to think the earlier we could get in the better...since we're expecting quite a crowd of rowdy women. So skip lunch...or go light, cause we're going to party early Saturday night! Please comment or call to let me know if you'll be able to make it. Wahoo!

Appreciating the Little Things

Right now, and probably only for a short time, I am sitting in my house listening to the sound of the clock ticking. Junior is napping and his sisters are outside...somewhere. And I am enjoying the profound beauty of silence. Ahhhhh....

Six Months!

Okay, this is getting scary. I blink and an entire half of a year has gone by! I'm actually super excited to have a six-month old. This is my favorite of the baby phases. Our little guy, apart from some horrific sleeping habits, has been such a joy. Some highlights from the last month:

He is doing really well at sitting up. This has led to the discovery of his feet! I don't think he understands that those little toes are his. He spends a whole lot of time and energy trying to get ahold of them.

He has also learned the fine art of spitting (AKA raspberries). He takes it pretty seriously and doesn't allow mom to distract him from his self-prescribed practice time...even if mom is trying to feed him peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. If it's time to spit, what's a little boy to do?

And finally, he's learning how to make us laugh. No, he didn't make this goofy face on purpose, but he is such a sucker for attention and if he thinks you're talking to him he will ham it up for you in seconds.

We just love this little boy. We can't wait to see what the next six months have in store for us.

The Wrong Shoes

As we were leaving the house today I noticed Ellie had two mismatched flip flops on. I quickly ran back in to get the 2nd "princess" flip flop and handed it to Ellie as we were backing out of the driveway.

Ellie: "I don't want it."

Me: "Why not? They need to match."

Ellie: "I want the wrong shoes."

Me: "What?"

Ellie: (exasperated) "I want the wrong shoes, mom!"

Me: "Why?"

Ellie: "Because it's AWESOME!"