Cole is growing up!

 My little man is growing up! When we first moved here we stressed about finding Cole a preschool so he could have some interaction with little kids his age...but we moved here too late in the season.  I decided to just do one at home with him.  That didn't last long though, so I was thrilled when I got a call from the school saying that they had an opening and school started in a week.  Cole missed he deadline, so instead of the 4 year old class he is in the 3 year old class.  That's kind of too bad because hey don't do letters or anything, but he is getting good interaction and he loves it so far! Every day he asks if he goes to school that day...and he will wear his backpack around the house.  He goes twice a week for 2 hours a day.  It's super weird just having one kid at home during that time. Course that won't be for long, but it is nice while it lasts.

 

Halloween 2012

 *Look Dad, I'm writing on my blog...just for you.  You should be so proud of me!
 

 So another year came around for Halloween.  It was a big topic.  No one, except Caden, could decide what they wanted to be.  Caden knew very early on that he wanted to be a Jawa (the little guys from Star Wars that steal robots and then sell them).  Kember made a long list and debated individual merits of each...deciding on a princess (again) until we got to the store, and found a cat costume and quickly changed her mind.  Not that I minded.  I thought it would be a better investment to buy a leotard and tights for a future dance class, and also use it for Halloween.  Cole would not make up his mind.  He wanted to be whatever costume we found.  Finally, two days before Halloween he decided he wanted to be a Jawa like Caden.  I ran to the store, bought the fabric and sewed his robe before he could change his mind.  Dan got in on the action and made glowing eye glasses for the boys, but they refused to wear them.  They were really cool though.  I saw Milee's costume on Pinterest, and all I had to buy was white pants.  I'm all over cheap costumes, and I thought being an Oompa Loompa was really funny.  Plus, listening to her say "Oompa Loompa" was always good for a laugh.  Caden couldn't remember it, and kept calling her an orphan.  Not sure where that came from, but there you go.
  The school Halloween parade was something of a joke.  They had these kids booking it.  They were practically running.  I barely got pictures because I almost missed them.  If they hadn't waved to me I would have missed them completely.  I told them after school that they were going so fast and that I wanted them to slow down so I could get a picture, but they said that they weren't supposed to.  That if they stopped the people behind them would run into them.   Probably true, but considering the whole thing took less them 10 minutes, I think they could have walked a little slower.

 I'm going to admit to some slight (or maybe not so slight) pride in Kember's face paint.  It was soooo fun to do.  I did it twice that day.  Once for school, without the brown, and then again that night with the brown.  Fun stuff.  Thank you again Pinterest!

 She just makes me laugh.  She had so much fun walking around the neighborhood getting candy.  She would run up to the door (a lot later than her bros and sister) and yell "TREAT!" and open her bag.  Then say "Tank you!" and run to the next yard.  She didn't want to get on the stroller...she wanted to run like the big kids.  It made my night.  Eventually she did want to sit on the stroller so she could snack on some candy, but once I took her candy away, she didn't like the idea of sitting there much.

 Very few people actually guess what these guys were.  I'll admit they look like Jedi with a Darth Maul (?) mix, but I was too lazy to make the tool belt strappy things that hang from both shoulders.

It was a fun night.  For me and the kids anyway.  Dan is sick, so he stayed home and passed out the candy...and ordered pizza.  I think the kids had just as much fun taking over the passing out candy part when we got home.  They took turns with the bowl (even though all of them were at the door) and whos ever turn it was yelled, "What's the password!" which was "Trick-or-Treat" just in case you were wondering.

So basically, a good time was had by all (minus a very sick Dan...get better soon Love!)

Literary Time Out: The Most Important Catch Blog Tour and Giveaway

This is from my sisters book review blog.  She's doing a giveaway...go check it out!

The Most Important Catch Blog Tour and Giveaway

The Most Important Catch by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am happy to be a part of The Most Important Catch Blog Tour today. This was the first Jaclyn M. Hawkes novel that I've read, and I found it to be an entertaining story with very likable characters.

"She knew too much, and she’d seen too much. And the police refused to help. Knowing that she was to be the next scheduled death, Kelly Campbell hid under head to toe black leather and a tinted motorcycle helmet and ran for her life.

When the weather turned cold, she turned south. She ended up in North Carolina, home to one of the most famed and eligible NFL football stars in the whole league; only she didn’t know that. She thought he was a businessman. Not being a huge fan, all she knew was that he was incredibly attractive, kind, generous, and that she was safe with him. Or was she?

His brand of fame proved to be all but deadly, but his fame wasn't nearly as lethal as his attraction. He kept her safe and protected. All except her heart."

The romance was quite believable-not rushed like most romance novels. Although, at times I was a little impatient for the characters to admit their feelings for each other, I enjoyed how they built their friendship and trust by working together.

Religion is a big part of this LDS Fiction novel, and for the most part Hawkes is able to integrate it well with the flow of the story.

It might sound silly, but I liked when I came across the title in some dialogue in the book. Sometimes you wonder how a title is picked, and it was fun reading it in the story.

The suspense aspect also kept me turning the pages. This was a clean and enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more of Jaclyn M. Hawkes' books.

Happy Birthday, Mother Dear!

Hey mom! So today didn't go quite like it was supposed to. We were going to stop into the store and sing to you...and that didn't happen (but it sounded like other, better, family members stopped by and called). So, I thought that even though I called you super late I would let you know that . . . .

Some BUNNIES love you!

We aren't bunnies, but we love you too!

Thanks for being a great mother! Here's to many more years!

LOVE YOU!!!

New Blog Post

I know, I know...it's been a couple months. And we've done things that should have been blogged, but life happens, and blogging doesn't. And this blog post isn't about much of anything, but I'm reading this book called, "Same Kind of Different As Me" and I really like part of it and wanted to keep the quote, but didn't know where to put it...so I decided to blog it :) So mom and Andrea, this blogs for you!

This book is about a homeless man that was a "modern day" slave, and a rich man. They are having coffee at a Starbucks and the homeless man, Denver, sees Ron's key chain filled with keys and he asks, "I know it ain't none of my business, but does you own somethin that each one of them keys fits?"

I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them. "I suppose," I replied, not really ever having thought about it.

"Are you sure you own them, or does they own you?"

That wisdom stuck to my brain like duct tape. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced we'd enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less.

Sunday thots/activities/musings

*This picture has nothing to do with anything, but hey, it's a Chicken! Wahoo! Got to love the chicken.

Whew...what a day. Glad it's over, even if it was a pretty good day. Eleven o'clock church is nice in the way that you can take you time to get ready and sleep in a little. It's awful in every other way. Seriously, give me 9 am church any day. Maybe I'll feel differently when my kids are grown, but right now...11:00 = blah. Anyway, I realized the other day that my temple recommend was expired (how embarrassing) so I got an appointment set up today for 10. I thought Sunday was the day to do it because Dan is normally home, but he had to work today, so I lugged all the kids to church an hour early and told them to just wait for me. And they did. And they were good. And quiet. And just cute. Instead of going home after the interview we just stayed at the church. I'm not sure if that was wise or not, but that's what we did. I actually thought to bring toys for Milee to play with and the kids all jumped on them and played for the 40 minutes that we were waiting for church to start. I didn't have to take Milee out once during Sacrament, which was nice. However, I did have to take Cole out. Apparently he got really distressed that he didn't get to take the bread. Why he didn't get any is beyond me. It was right in front of him, but for whatever reason he didn't get any. And he also didn't get a nap. So, with those two combined he had a major melt down....over bread. Weird. Whatever. He eventually calmed down and we went back in. I love that he enjoys his Sunday classes so much. I'm thankful that all my kids go to their classes now with no problems (progress you know...progress). It struck me today that they are growing up. Sigh. Kember doesn't wait for me anymore. She runs off to class by herself. Gets drinks by herself, goes around the church by herself. Don't get me wrong...it's nice and convenient but still sad that she's getting so big. And it's rubbing off on the boys. Ah well.
Missionaries spoke in church today, and the ward mission leader. The last guy made a comment that got me thinking. He said something like, "Are we focusing on the people or on the possession?" It made me think about my parenting style (or lack there of I suppose). I think I spend more time focusing on the possession rather than the people. Things to work on, things to change.
After church I dragged the kids back to get my recommend signed by the stake presidency. We had a wait a little bit longer this time. A lot of people had the same idea I did. They were all really nice though, and played with the kids. After a while I sent the kids off to go listen to the choir practice. Some random people watched the kids for me while I went in. Aren't random people nice? I love friendly people.
Milee is so funny. She chooses the most random times to be shy, and even more random times to be outgoing. She was really tired today at church (did I mention 11 isn't my favorite church time?) but during Sunday School she just goes right up to this random grandpa guy and leans against him. She'd come back to me for food, and then go right back up to him and lean on him again. Weird. She won't go to people we know and see all the time, but random grandpa guys, sure why not.
All in all it was a great day. Church is tiring under the best circumstances (totally worth it, don't misread me) but even more exhausting soloing it without Dan. Maybe someday his schedule will be better. Here's hoping.
Oh, and I got a calling today! I am so excited. I've been wanting a calling for 6 months. I'm on the mid-week RS activity (or whatever it's called now) committee. I'm excited. It's nothing big, but it will get me involved. Should be really good.

Chop chop

Kember has been wanting to chop her hair off for quite some time. Which in my opinion was sad because she had beautiful long hair (which didn't always look beautiful because someone didn't always do it...). Dan didn't like the idea because he likes long hair. He was trying to talk her out of it, and when he asked, "Why do you want to cut your hair?" She answered, "So I can give it to kids who don't have any!" And really...how can you argue with that? So, I got off my rear and told her that after Christmas we could go get it cut. Apparently there is a hair school in Heber (who knew?) and so we loaded everyone up and went over. I think she looks adorable. But when they first cut it off I said, "Wow, that's short!" She really likes it though, and I think it makes her look a lot older. And, I even mailed off the hair to Locks-of-Love....I'm pretty impressed with myself (even if it did take a couple weeks to do it).
You look beautiful babe!

Snow Day!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a lover of snow, and I have been thoroughly enjoying the non-snow winter months that we've been having. The kids however have been mourning winter without snow (which I find interesting because it's not like they really know what snow is like...we didn't get much in St. George and they were really little in Pullman, and we didn't play in it much there. Snow - hater...remember) So, when it snowed here they got really really excited. I was so proud of Kember. She went right out and built a snowman all by herself. She's never made one before (no commentary on the fact that my 6 year old hasn't ever built one before...I know it's pathetic). She did it all by herself, and I think she did a great job, even if I do say so myself. Cole was out the door next and was jumping and playing and having a great time. Caden took a little longer to get out, but he had fun playing in the snow too.Mom and dad called me and went to the store for me so I didn't have to go out in inclement weather. Nice huh? Thanks guys!

Dan got stuck in SL and Provo trying to get home from work...and wasn't the happiest I've ever seen him (can you blame him though? he gets off work at 7, and didn't make it home till after 10...and he didn't bring a coat. Trying to get his tire chains on and off made him soaking wet...poor guy).

And these pictures aren't from the snow above...it snowed earlier, but didn't stick around and the boys were just so excited they had to go out right then. No waiting for snow gear...just wanted to get out there.

Hey Kember, you're missing something!

Well, it finally happened. Kember has lost a tooth (actually, at this time she's lost two...). It surprised me quite a bit because she didn't get her teeth until she was really old (for a baby) so I was expecting her to lose he teeth a little later. She was sooo excited about it though. She had me make a little toothfairy bag where you keep your tooth and the tooth fairy leaves a surprise inside. She lost another tooth a couple days later and the toothfairy almost forgot to come...Oops. The first night the tooth fairy didn't leave it in a good place and when Kember woke up she was very concerned that she could find anything under her pillow. The tooth fairy needs to work on her placement. The bag fell off her bed and on the floor. It was very worrying to this little girl.She loves to stick her tongue out of the little hole in her mouth. She's kind of cute!

Five years and counting

Well, it happened. My sweet little boy had another birthday. Really, another one? Well, I suppose it is inevitable. Since Caden's birthday was on Sunday we celebrated more the next day. Although he did think I was pretty cool when I made him stuffed french toast for his breakfast that morning! (It was yummy too...and pretty. Go figure) We drove to Aurora, and celebrated a little bit there. Caden is still waiting to celebrate with the Linford's (we got sick and cancelled...which wasn't hard cause I only told my mom about it...hmmm....good thing we cancelled) and his friend party. That will come in time. I'm just a little lazy now. It's actually all planned, Caden planned it with me about a month ago, I just need to invite people. Are we seeing a pattern here? I'm definitely seeing something.
Anyway, the party in Aurora wasn't much, but I did run to the dollar store and buy some balloons, Crepe paper, and a banner (and a special cupcake and cake...for some reason Caden really really really wanted a store bought cake. I was going to be offended, but it definitely saved me time :). I had the kids decorate and Caden kept saying, "This is the best party ever!" Who needs games? Just blow up some balloons and have the kids tape stuff to different places! See the pretty wrap job? (And the lovely chocolate cake face?) That would be grandma. Me, I'm a Linford, and we don't wrap...we use the bags from Wal-Mart where we bought the present. (Okay other Linford's, no correcting me if this isn't true...just go with me on this.)
Caden was really hard to shop for. We kept asking him what he wanted and he said, "I don't care...something boyish." Well, at least he didn't ask for something girly :)And just because I think she's cute...Maybe after we have the friend party I will post more pictures, but...no guarantees.

Oh, Milee

This is what happens when you think your child is safely contained in a high chair, and it turns out you didn't buckle them tight enough. I was in the other room and I heard weird sounds. Milee had climbed out of her high chair, which was next to the counter, climbed on the counter and decided to finish breakfast in the sink. What a stinker. A cutie though...