Happy Birthday Boppi!

A happy birthday shout out goes to my dad. Yup, on Halloween. I remember when I was young thinking it was the coolest birthday ever. And, I remember feeling so special that dad would spend his birthday taking us kids trick-or-treating. I loved telling people that my dad's birthday was Halloween. I remember the costume party mom threw dad one year on his birthday and the HUGE foam cowboy hats you two had. Do you still have those?

We sure miss having you close by, especially S. We love you very much and hope you have a great birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!

Going bananas

I fished out our box of Halloween Costumes yesterday. Since then, the boys have been putting on all the costumes in turn and running around as either a lion, a monkey, a dragon, or batman. I had a good laugh when they stopped for a afternoon snack of bananas, because I turned around and saw S. What a funny monkey!

Monkey S eating a banana

Both C and S posed for this picture. Notice the gold medal C is STILL wearing?

Monkeys C and S

I love my kids! They are so entertaining....even on days when they drive me BANANAS!

Mommy's Helpers

C and S are always good helpers, especially when it comes to their little sister. It's a balancing act trying to tend to 3 kids at once, and because MK is such a patient little girl, she sometimes comes in 3rd. I love that she is a "binki baby." A lot of times if I need to take care of one more thing, I can give her her pacifier and she'll be okay for a while. I jokingly call it my own "MK Snooze Alarm." There have been a few times that I've laid down for a nap and turned on a show for the boys and brought MK in my room with me. She had started to wake up, and I'd call out "helpers!" Both boys would come running and give MK her pacifier, so we could rest for a bit longer.

Well, a couple nights ago I was helping S in the bathtub and MK wanted some love and attention, too. I called out to C to help his little sister, who I had laid down in the bassinet. C gave her her pacifier, then another pacifier.....and then filled her pockets up with toys.

MK

She just laid there very content. C was so proud of himself for sharing his toy cars with her and was sure that that was why she stopped crying. I love my little helpers.

How was your day?

Yesterday, I had a TON of things I needed to get done. I had to leave the house by 8:50 to make it to a S's doctor's appointment to follow up on his eye. I rushed around that morning, grabbing this and that, then ran out to the car to start loading us all in when I found this......

Flat Tire

I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Thankfully, I was able to reschedule S's doctor's appointment to later that morning. We waited for AAA to come and change our flat tire, then set out on our day.

This is not how I wanted to start my day. I decided to change my day's game plan and turn my day from being a stress-filled day that started with a flat tire, to a day that the boys and I took off that started with an adventure where AAA changed our tire. We still did run a few needed errands (which now included a trip to Bio-O to fix our flat tire.)

We went to my good friend Rachel's house to spend the afternoon playing and visiting. My dad and Rachel's dad were at college together. C was astonished to find out that Rachel and I have know each other since I was MK's age. Rachel and I visited and chatted while she canned mountains of fruit. C and S played in the back yard with Rachel's boy who is only a month older than C. I snapped a fun picture with Rachel and the boys as they helped her in the garden to dig up potatoes.

 Gardening

We came home late and tired. The rest of the night I sat in a chair with MK and read, taking no thought of household clean-up. I told R that I felt like I took the day (or part of the day) off.

Grandma and Grandpa Great

Today, the kids and I drove up to Alpine to visit R's grandparents. I'm ashamed to admit that this was the first visit we've been able to make since MK was born--and she's already 2 months old! Between C's Kindergarten schedule and homework, S's Preschool schedule, caring for a newborn, and very little sleep, I don't have time for much. But, we had to squeeze in time for this. C and S didn't have school today because of the Fall Break, so we loaded up the car to spend the day running errands and visiting with Grandma Great and Grandpa Great.

We had a great time visiting, especially with Grandma Great. Grandpa Great was resting a bit while we were there, so we didn't get any pictures with him, but here are some great ones with Grandma Great.

Grandma Great and MK

S, Grandma Great, MK and C

On the drive to Grandma's, both S and C were complaining that they were SO tired. (It was around 2pm.) As soon as we got there, they were running around and talking a mile a minute to tell Grandma Great everything and anything they could think of. Then, R's cousin Micah came in and started to play with the boys. Micah also took them out back to see the horses and feed the horses apples (their favorite thing to do there.)

We had a great afternoon visiting and playing. We'll need to go back again soon.

(And yes, MK is getting BIG. Don't you just love those chubby cheeks?)

Same Day Surgery

S

The recovering patient. Don't you just love that smiling face? I don't think I was this happy when I came out of surgury for my arm when I was 13.....right mom?

S

S has had a clogged tear duct since he was about 3 months old. For a while, both tear ducts were clogged and he'd wake up with so much goo that his eyes were "gooed" shut. While one tear duct opened up, the one on his left eye never did. So, he's been dealing with a "gooey eye" for quite a while. Well today we finally got his "gooey eye" fixed.

We had to have him at the hospital at 6:30 am for check-in. His surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am, the first one of the day. R and I got up around 5:45 ish. R got dressed and ready while I put a sweater and shoes on a very sleepy boy. The hospital only allows 2 adults to attend a patient--no other children allowed--so R took him in since I've got a 2-month old baby attached to me. The irony of this wake up time is that MK was fast asleep and not likely to wake up to eat for quite a while--Oh well. One of these days I will get at least 5 hours of sleep at time. Anyways...

S did amazingly well. He's such a calm little boy, that they didn't have any trouble with him getting to take medication or when he was waking. R brought him home around 11 am. S is now goofing around and watching Scooby-Doo with his beloved blanket a a newstuffed animal the hospital gave him.

He's been asking for food like mac-n-cheese (his favorite), chicken nuggets, and nuts. He wasn't too happy when I told him he couldn't have that food just quite yet. I offered pudding, which at first he wasn't accepting. But once I had him help make it, he was excited. What a trooper.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

C came home from school yesterday wearing this wonderful hat. And yes, he did wear it most of the day.

C

This is C's Spider hat. C was studying nursery rhymes at school. He made a nice picture with a spout made of a straw and a spider on it (a spider ring) that went up and down the spout.

When R came in and saw this, he asked "why is C dressed like an Orthodox Jew? Shalom."

Last Soccer Game

Tuesday was C's last soccer game. R was able to come, since he didn't have school that night. C played really well and assisted in a few goals and came so close to scoring 1 himself. He really enjoyed himself playing soccer and is already looking forward to next year.

Here is C just before the game.

C

R and MK enjoy watching from the sidelines

R and MK

S fell asleep in the car on the way to the game--it's only a 5 minute car ride! We put him in the stroller, but he didn't stay asleep. I think he could sense action. He was his usual silly self.

S

In fact, after he ate all his snacks, he climbed out of the stroller and kept jumping up into my arms. He thought it was great fun. Once, I just barely caught him and had to juggle him a bit to make sure he didn't fall. He did start to fall, but I was able to hold on to him. What resulted was that I was holding on to him by his legs with his head down and arms almost touching the ground. He started to do a handstand walk. He thought it was great and wanted me to do it again and again. (I was secretly trying to completely wear him out so he'd sleep LONG and good that night, and it worked.)

After C's game, his coach called all the players together and gave each of them a soccer medal. C calls it his gold medal. Look how proud he is!

C

So proud, in fact, that as soon as he gets home from school he puts it on and wears it all day.

C

How funny is that?!

Sunday Drive

Alpine Loop

After church on Sunday, we took a drive in R's big truck through the Alpine Loop behind Mount Timpanogos to see all the fall colors. R made us sandwiches for us to take for a picnic dinner along the road. It was so amazing to see all the vivid colors. The boys were pointing to all the different colors, waterfalls, and plants. C actually fell asleep right as we started to drive up the canyon. I nudged him to wake him so he could see all the colors. He opened his eyes, took a look, said "wow!", then fell back asleep. He did finally wake up 30 minutes or so later when we stopped to eat our sandwiches, not realizing he missed most of the trip. R took some great pictures. Here they are!

Alpine Loop

Alpine Loop

It was so nice to spend an evening together as a family. We don't always get a lot of time together since R is at school a couple nights during the week and doing homework the other few nights he is home. He planned the whole thing, made us our dinner, and we all really enjoyed the night.