Another Out of the Mouth of Stu

Today I had the unfortunate event of finding a dead cat lying in the middle of the walkway behind our house. I wasn't sure that it was completely gone, but after watching it for a while, it was soaked and never moved, I came to the conclusion. I called Grady at work to see what I should do. After hanging up with him, I phoned the animal loving neighbor lady with five cats to see if it was hers. She didn't answer, so I called animal control. They said that they would forward the message to an officer to come pick it up. A few hours later, Grady came home from work and called her. She said that it wasn't hers, but that she wanted to come take a look to see if it was another neighbors. While she was out there, Grady, Macy, and Stuart went out. She mentioned that she thought that maybe it was poisoned. Stuart looked direclty over Grady's shoulder and said, "Optimus, I told you not to poison the kitty" She looked at Grady and asked what he said. Grady replied, "Optimus, I told you not to poison the kitty." We are pretty sure that she didn't hear all of that statement. I just laughed until my tummy hurt, and had to share it with you all. The Transformers have become a huge part of Stu's life. He talks to them often.

Jaggety Lanterns & More Decor

Here are our carved pumpkins for this year. Stuart ended up picking the exact same template that Macy used, so we made one Raphael and one Donatello to make them "different". Myles got the ghost, Fiona got Dora (of course), and Daddy made his usual "normal" carvings.

At Night Glowing

At Night with Flash

Feeling as if we hadn't decorated much this year, I decided to try out my new Cricut Cartridge and make these lanterns today. I figured that if I used light enough paper and stickers, the kids could help. Each one made exactly ONE lantern a piece and then left mommy to finish. Here is the ghost that Macy colored the face one too.

Our old "BOO" sign and then there are the old ghost and bat window clingy deals in the windows. I really want to work on decorating better next year. I did get quite a bit done for the interior this year though. If I remember to, I will take a picture of the laterns lit and the inside things for another post.

If I don't get updated again before halloween,

TRICK OR TREAT

&

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

TO YOU ALL!

Party, Pumpkins, & Costumes

Has it really been a week already? Where in the world does a mother's time go? Okay, I can answer that one....kids, housework, cooking, and some for the husband too. But, really, I had very good intentions of getting some of these pictures posted earlier. I did, however, get many things accomplished this week besides the boring usuals. I managed to get my food storage information, recipes, phone and address information and the personal information for the 72 hour kits updated and put into three ring binders. These binders could become my favorite things in the world! They are so easy to rearrange (and I LOVE to rearrange things) when the desire hits.

Anyways, on to the promised pictures and a few more I felt necessary to share. Here is a picture from Macy's birthday party. She had just blown out the candles. Not much for decor, and I forgot to buy ice cream, but the party seemed to have went well.Here she is opening up some presents. I just loved the look on her face for this one.
After the party, we headed south of Laurel to hit up a pumpkin patch. The one in the heights was completely sold out, so we tried this one Grady has seen on his many travels that direction. We were freezing and it was slightly muddy, but we headed into the patch anyway. Here is daddy pushing the load of kids in hopes of replacing them with a load of pumpkins.
Out in the patch. Stuart stuck with me and Myles. He had picked out so many to be the "one" that I was afraid we would never really settle on one to bring back, but we did. And, it turned out to be the smallest of the bunch. He has strict instructions to carve out a vampire on it too. Searching for vampire/dracula clipart cute enough for a pumpkin face is very, very time consuming. Fiona knew immediately when she saw hers that it was the perfect one. She had to have it. Macy fooled around a litte, but picked one.....mostly because she was cold I think.
Loading up for the trip back to pay. All three of the kids wanted to ride, but there was just not enough room for them and the haul. Fiona was pretty upset that she was stuck in with the pumpkins, but calmed down as we began walking. We will be trying to carve them today, so I will try to post pictures sooner this week.
Here is Macy's new haircut all curled up for church last Sunday. She was loving it and posing for many pictures.

Last night was our 3 ward Trunk-r-Treat. The kids were sooooo excited to get to dress up. We ran to Costco for a few things (diapers!) and then hurried home to eat and get dressed up. We told the kids that they would not be able to go if they did not eat all of their dinner. Well, being the champ that he can be, Stuart managed to eat it all. He left the table for a few minutes and then came back saying that he had a tummy ache. I thought that it was just a cramp from him taking such large bites and told him to give it a few minutes to go down. Well, a second later he puked all over me, my dinner, the table and the floor. So, we had to hop in for a quick shower. He felt much better afterwards, so I am thinking that he overstuffed himself. Here's the official Halloween picture. We will not get Myles back into his costume, he hated having something on his head. I thought that Macy would change her mind and dress as Belle, but she stuck to the TMNT.

I only got a few pictures last night, and here is the best one. They were digging through a pile of leaves to find candy. It was timed event, and they all just loved it. Fiona didn't keep the Dora hair on either.

I'll try to take a few pictures during the carving, but will more than likely be elbow deep in yummy pumpkin goo. At least I can get a few pictures of the end project to share. Have a happy Saturday!

A Story from Stuart (mostly for Jilly)

Tonight we were sitting on the couch and I was telling Stuart a story about camping at the lake when I was a child. When I was finished, I asked him to tell me a story about his favorite time at church. He thought and thought. Here is what he told me, "Once there was this really rich guy named Stuart. He went to church one day because he wanted to get married because he was fifteen. He married this girl named Auntie Jill.

I thought that it was the cutest story and HAD to share it with Jilly. I'll try to post pictures of the birthday party and our visit to the pumpkin patch later.

Happy 5th Birthday Macy!

We woke up early this morning to Macy asking when morning was going to be. Since it was still dark outside, I told her that it was a while away and to go back to bed. I just couldn't find it in myself to get up that early and start the birthday party. We did get up and open some presents around 7 before Grady left for work. Here she is thanking her Dad for the Barbie Island Princess movie she got. Also, notice her haircut.

Megan, Elijah and Nana came up for a visit today. Here is Macy showing off her Belle dress that she has been asking Nana for for several months now. She also got an apron that matches one I received for my birthday. I am so excited for one, I've never had one before.
And the cake. I tried to make a hula dancer cake. The barbie looks odd because she was a cheap one from the dollar store. I had to find one to break the legs off of. I wanted to get one with dark hair, but Macy picked this one. I tried to make a grass skirt out of the frosting. I hope that it what it looks like to everyone. I'm not a very good cake baker, but hope to better my skills with each birthday I bake for. Being four a year now, they should look better in another eighteen years!
We have a dinner tonight at the church, so I have made some cookies for Macy to share. Her party will be tomorrow afternoon. I'll try to remember to take some pictures and post again. Have a wonderful weekend.

A Hard Day Ends with a Smile!

We went to the Pediatrician's office last Thursday. Myles and Fiona had to get updated on shots and we needed to have some well baby check-ups. I was concerned with the fact the Myles had gotten to a point every night where he HAD to be held. He could not be layed down without waking up screaming. The doctor told me to quit caffiene and see if that helped. Well, three day later, it had turned out worse. Yesterday was such a tough day for me. I had to deal with him by myself since Grady was at work, and just couldn't take it. I felt as though there was NOTHING that I could do for the poor boy to help, so I called the doctor back. After three return calls, and a hundred questions, we have decided to put him on some Zantac for reflux. We'll know in about a week if that is what the problem has been. If not, we just have to face the fact that we have a baby with colic and it will pass with time (just hopefully before I do!)


But despite the all of the screaming and crying, I was able to get him to rest for a while. When he woke up, he was so happy to sit on the counter and talk to his momma. I had the camera, and wanted to share the SMILES by MYLES with you all.


Yes, he has gained quite a bit of weight lately. He was 12 pounds, 4 ounces last Thursday. I think that over the weekend he had to have gained more. He was eating every 1 to 1.5 hours. I'm just happy that we did have some light at the end of the tunnel. And, I hope that we can help this little guy feel better. I'm not sure that I can face the winter months with a screaming baby. It helps a ton to walk outside just to get him to calm down a little.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments on dealing with this, please feel free to offer them up. I really don't know how Sheila kept so calm with my baby brother when he had the colic all night long. Have a great week, and I will keep you posted on the medication progress.

A weekend of Updates

Friday we had lunch with other ladies and children from church. We met at a house and enjoyed 3 1/2 hours of playing, visiting, and eating. Everyone just brought something to share. It was wonderful to get to know others, and my kids played well with other children. No fighting! The kids did try to escape out the back door downstairs into the muddy yard, but we caught them before they made a mess in the new house.

I drug the red loveseat down to the basement to make room for my rocker upstairs Friday afternoon. I was having some terrible neck aches, and I am just not tall enough to be comfortable on the red furniture. We ended up taking all of the old furniture upstairs and tried will all our might to get the red couch downstairs. Unfortunately, it just will not fit around the tight corners in the hallway. It is in the garage for now, but may be going bye-bye. We were able to make the basement into the toy room that I always wanted though.

We woke up Saturday morning to SNOW! That's right, and I have the picture to prove it. I could hear the rain falling all night on Friday, and was so shocked to see the snow in the morning. I wasn't showered and dressed, so I took this through the window.With General Conference this past weekend, we had some friends over to watch the afternoon session on Saturday, and then dinner. The guys went to their meeting, and then we all played some games that night. It was so nice to finally have some company over. They have a little boy that is almost 1, and our kids enjoyed playing with him. On Sunday, we had a family over for lunch and the kids were playing so well, that they stayed for the afternoon session. It is so wonderful to be meeting others, and I have found some scrapbooking buddies in the process.

Myles has been very cranky lately. We were figuring it was gas or reflux, and after the past few nights of Grady holding him upright and then putting him like this, I am pretty sure that the poor boy is suffering some terrible pains. He has slept for 6 hours straight at night since we have been holding him upright for a while before bed.

Macy wanted me to share this picutre of her holding the big boy.
Yesterday, Grady and Dan were coming home a bit early for dinner. I asked the kids to look ouside to see if the car I heard was them. They said no, but then started yelling that there was a firetruck coming. I had to see it for myself. Sure enough, we had one park right in front of our house. I had to take this picture (I would have tried for a better one, but there was a police man watchin me...ODD moment). I'm not quite sure what was going on, but there was not a fire at our neighbor's house. I am thinking that it was just a precautionary thing since the ambulance was there with three other police cars.

We stood out front adoring the truck for a while. Grady and Dan couldn't figure out what was going on at our house when they turned the corner, but as they got closer, they realized it wasn't us. Grady said, "I just talked to her on the phone a minute ago, what is going on?" Dan said that he was sure my boyfriend was trying to get out of the house since my husband was coming home early and broke his leg getting down the stairs. I got a laugh out of it, like I have any time for anything else in my life.

Well, that's our excitement around here. The weather has been beautiful and we've been trying to enjoy the last days before the snow flies and stays. Have a great week.

Mommy's Birthday

The kids and I baked a cake for my birthday.

Here they are watching it bake...... ....and the decorating process......along with the taste testing.....
....finally FINISHED!
We were not able to eat any last night since the children did not finish their dinner. We'll have to do some cutting today. I did get to go to dinner at Johny Carino's last night. It was so yummy....and a bit stressful. I really miss having babysitters.
Here's a picture of Myles. He was giving out some great smiles, but once the camera was above him, they turned into odd faces. I had to show everyone how big he is getting.

Well, other than that, not much here. Stuart and Fiona have a little stomach bug, I think (by the looks of their sore bottoms). We were at the bank opening some new accounts to get our old ones transferred up from Wyoming (only a year later). I really think that a mother of four children should NEVER leave the house with them. They have escaped out the back door, so I better be checking on them. Thank you to all that sent birthday wishes my direction. It was a nice day since I heard from you all.