Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. Ethan had a fun party at school with costumes and treats and then we went to the ward Trunk or Treat that night. They had kind of a ward party with chili and games before the trick or treating. It reminded me so much of when I was a little girl and we used to have those big ward parties at Bishop Anderson yard (Jam, Brooke, Mom-do you remember those?). Can I just say how glad I am that people have Trunk or Treats. It is one thing to go trick or treating in your neighborhood when you know all your neighbors and that they are good decent people, but in Las Vegas it is a little different. Maybe it is just the street we live on, but there are a lot of weirdo's. The last thing I would do is let my kids go romping down the street at night in this neighborhood. It is not really a bad neighborhood and we spend a lot of time out there during the day, but it is just different. The weirdo's come out at night. Anyway, we had a great time at the ward trunk or treat. Ethan hardly even acted like he knew we were there, he was so busy playing. I actually had to ask him several times to leave and go trunk or treating, he was just having so much fun. Cole was a little scared at all the costumes and wouldn't leave Shawn's side. Liv was just plain old cranky all day long. I think she just wasn't feeling good from her shots yesterday, but as you can tell from the picture-she was not happy! Now I just have a big bowl of candy to finish.

My Super Hero's

Black Spider man

Batman

Sleeping Kitty Cat

Flour Mess

I was making rolls this afternoon and had to run upstairs during the middle to change the wash. Ethan came running up a minute or so later saying that he had made a very big mistake. This got me a little nervous because he does naughty things all the time, but doesn't usually admit to them as being a mistake. So I went downstairs to find flour spread all over the kitchen. I saw hand and foot prints all over the floor with flour. As I was looking at the flour hand prints all over the floor I asked Ethan if he played in the flour. His response was, "No". Do I really look that dumb! He had a really guilty look on his face and the guilt must have got to him because a few seconds later he said, "Okay, I did play in it, just a little." So, Ethan and I cleaned up the mess and boy is flour messy to clean up, especially when it gets wet.

Ouch

This morning I packed all the troops in the car and we went to the doctor. Livy had her six month check-up....and that means shots. Out of all my kids, she does the best with shots. Ethan is totally out of control with shots. It took three people to hold him down for his Kindergarten shots. Cole isn't too bad and Livy is usually fine. Livy did fine today for her normal shots, but for some reason for the Rotateq shot, which is just a liquid immunization given orally, she totally freaked out. Out of all the immunization to get all worked up about, this is NOT it. She was hysterical, but maybe it was just because the crazy nurse was right in her face. The boys were crazy and all over the office. It is a good thing it is a pediatrician's office and they are used to kids. Now I have to get the courage to tackle the flu shot for ALL of us. That is bound to be a disaster.

A quick funny story. Yesterday morning Shawn and I were sleeping in until about 7:00am. Yes, that is sleeping in around our house. Shawn usually is up and out the door by 5:00am, and the kids don't let me sleep much past 6:00am. I woke up and I could hear the boys downstairs. I walked down and found them both on the couch watching cartoons and they each had a bag of chocolate chips in their hand munching away. They must have gotten into the fridge and pulled out the chocolate chips. They just took care of themselves. I should have walked right back upstairs and went back to sleep, but I didn't. I attempted to take the chocolate away, after all it was only 7:00. A chocolate high first thing in the morning was not what I needed. Even though I frequently eat cookies or whatever dessert I have left over for breakfast, I am at least going to try to have healthy kids. (at least while they are young).

Caesar's Palace Fun

Shawn had the day off today so we decided to go to hang out at Caesar’s Palace. They have some awesome shops. The kids really enjoyed FAO Schwartz, and of course we had to go to the exotic car place for Shawn. Did you know that you can rent a Lamborghini for $250.00 a day? We watched the fountains and the roman statues that come alive and talk. It also has a little laser light show, but that kind of freaked Cole out. He snuggled up to Shawn and said that he wanted to go home. There is a neat big aquarium that we saw, and Ethan kept thinking that we were outside because the ceiling is painted like the sky with clouds. I wouldn’t let Shawn leave without getting some Gelato from the cute little restraunt. It was delicious, but cost $8.00 for the smallest cup of ice cream I have ever had (and I used to think Cold Stone was expensive-not anymore). It was a fun afternoon and it is always fun to have Shawn with us. He works so hard that it is nice to see him getting a break, and the kids love spending time with him. Maybe I will try to convince him to taking us out for dinner tonight. He is a sucker for good food.

A little progress on crawling

Here is a little clip of Livy trying to crawl. Does scooting around on your head count as crawling? She gets pretty frustrated (as you can tell in the clip) because she can't move around like she wants to, but she is getting closer.

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Yucky motherhood things

It has been a full day of poop and puke! Ethan threw up all last night and the majority of today. Liv woke up covered in poop and has been fussy all day. Needless to say it has been a long day. I got up and washed Ethan's sheets this morning because they were covered in throw up and shortly after I made his bed he decided he wanted to lay down. He took a nap and then decided to throw up again. So, I have washed his bedding twice today. (You are probably wondering why I don't have him throw up in a bucket or something, but he refuses to. The second I put anything by his face to catch the throw up he freaks out). But, by the end of the day he acted like he was feeling a little better and Livy hasn't exploded out of her diaper this evening-YET. I think we are on the upside of things. I am always amazed at how mom's can stand to clean up throw up, without actually throwing up themselves. It grosses me out every time, but somehow I manage to get through it. The Lord must bless us with some kind of crazy motherly love to deal with all these gross things.

I should be at church right now...

Yes, it is true. I am sluffing church today, but I have a good reason. I am home with a sick kid. This morning Ethan complained of a stomach ache. I thought he just didn't want to get ready for church so I ignored him. About 30 minutes before we were going to leave, Ethan was rolling on the floor complaining his stomach still hurt. So I went over to talk with him and as I put my hand on his head it was burning up. So, I guess he is really sick. Cole did this last week and had a fever for a couple of days with a stomach achce and diarhea. I just hope Livy doesn't get it. Shawn is at the hospital today. He called this morning and said that he saw a celebrity at the hospital with a sick kid. I can't say who it was (dumb HIPPA laws), but it was a musician-rapper. Anyway, last night we watched the Transformer movie. It was actually a lot better than I was expecting. Cole wouldn't go to sleep last night either. The previous night I woke up to Cole screaming at 4:00. When I went to see what was wrong he was hiding under his blanket while the alarm clock was beeping. The boys often play with the clock, but I guess this time they turned it on. Cole was terrified of the alarm and again last night when I asked him what was wrong he said he was scared of the clock. I hope this doesn't turn into an issue.

Just a boy thing

I apologize for the content of this post, but it was too funny not to post.

Ethan got up from the dinner table to go to the bathroom. A few seconds later this is the conversation that took place.

Ethan: Hey Dad, can you smell my poo?
Shawn: No Ethan (laughing)
Ethan: Cole, can you smell my poo?
Cole: No
Ethan: Wow, it is so nasty.

a few seconds later
Ethan: Cole, you gotta come here and smell my poo. It is so nasty.

Not wanting to miss out on this once of a lifetime opportunity, loyal Cole goes running in the bathroom and you here the boys smelling and then laughing.

I hope this is just a boy thing!

Almost Crawling

(don't mind the sleepy face. She just woke up)

Livy is just barely six months old and she already is pushing up getting ready to crawl. I might be in big trouble with her. It looks like I will soon need to buy a gate for the stairs.

New Names

I saw this on another blog and I thought it was so funny. So here it goes...

Jenn and Shawn’s New Names
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) –
Jenn: Jack Odyssey
Shawn: Snickers Accord

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor &favorite cookie)
Jenn: Fudge Brownie Peanut Butter
Shawn: Vanilla Chocolate Chip

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name &first three letters of your last name)
Jenn: J Ree
Shawn: S Ree

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color & favorite animal) –
Jenn: Blue Monkey
Shawn: Blue Tiger

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name & city where you were born)-
Jenn: Jo Salt Lake
Shawn: Cory Phoenix

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name & first 2 letters of your first) –
Jenn: ReeJe
Shawn: ReeSh

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color & favorite drink put “The”)
Jenn: The Green Fanta
Shawn: The Fushia Coke

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)-
Jenn: Gary Norman
Shawn: Buddy Lester

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne & favorite candy)
Jenn: Pink Sugar Rolo
Shawn: Eternity Popcorn

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Jenn: Rudd W
Shawn: Ann Scott

Ethan Moments

Just a few random things that Ethan said yesterday that were funny.

Ethan came into my bedroom yesterday morning and I said, "Ethan, how did you sleep last night?" His reply was, "I slept with my eyes closed." That wasn't exactly what I meant, but such a true reply.

Ethan and Cole were building a fort with the couch cushions, as usual, and I walked over to them. Ethan said, "Stop, you have to be sixteen to enter." What does he know about being sixteen.

Last, Ethan had turned on the TV while I was upstairs putting Livy down for a nap. When I came downstairs he was watching TV. As I looked closer, he was watching Days of our Lives (the soap opera). He was so involved in the show and he said, "Mom, you need to come and watch this. It is so sad. This lady has lost her son and can't find him." Ethan was seriously watching and was concerned that this lady couldn't find her son. We quickly changed the channel to something a little more kid friendly, but not before I could laugh that my four year old was enjoying a soap opera.

Is it backwards day?

You might think by looking at these pictures that it is backwards day or something, but it is just a two year old who thinks he needs to dress himself. Every morning, without fail, Cole gets up and gets dressed all by himself (which is great). But he always puts everything on backwards. It all starts with his undies, which he thinks are supposed to go backwards so the picture is in the front where he can see it. You can't really tell in the pictures, but his shoes are also ALWAYS on the wrong fee. But for the positive he always puts them on himself. He is just so independent and wants to do everything by himself.

Livy and the Fridge

While I was making dinner tonight Livy sat down by my feet. She was playing with some toys and then all the sudden it got quiet. When I looked down I realized Livy's face was smashed up against the fridge. As I looked a little closer I discovered that she was licking the fridge. She was having a great time and it worked for me to because she was entertained so that I could finish dinner.

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What's up with that tongue?

One way to tell if Shawn is concentrating is to see if he is sticking out his tongue. It is an unconscious habit, but he always does it. As you can tell, Shawn was really concentrating.

I think it must run in the family because Livy has a thing with sticking her tongue out also. All she wanted to do was lick the pumpkins.

This is her going in for the kill. At first it was cute, but than I started to worry about what she might lick of the pumpkin...gross.

Pumpkin Carving Party

So we thought that we should take advantage of my dad being in town and carve pumpkins. He is the ultimate pumpkin carver. Ethan just wanted to poke, cut and destroy everything while we were carving. Mental note: next year buy Ethan two pumpkins-one to destroy and one to carve. I got the wonderful job of cleaning all the guts out, while Shawn and grandpa turned the pumpkins into a skeleton, pirate ship, and a cute bat.

Weekend Visitor

My dad is visiting this weekend. It is so fun to have visitors, and the kids have loved every minute of it. Grandpa has been a very good sport and played with the boys. He has been a punching bag, climbing mountain, lego builder, monster, and fort builder. We went for a walk this weekend and my dad decided he needed a challenge. For the first lap he ran with Ethan on his shoulders (until Ethan got scared) and for the next few laps he rode Ethan's scooter. Ethan and Cole brought their scooters to the park, but of course I ended up carrying them with me the whole time. We had a great time.

Crazy Kids

We had a pretty normal day today. We started off a little crazy as I took the kids to Target for some shopping. I got Livy her first pair of shoes and they are sooo cute. I wish they made them in my size. The boys were out of control in the store (as usual). I heard a comment the other day that reminded me of my boys. This lady referred to her kids as chimpanzee’s on crack. I thought that was hilarious and very appropriate for the way my boys behave on a regular basis. When we got home from Target Cole opened a new box of cereal and dumped it all over the couch. Even the very bit at the bottom of the box that is smashed and just crumbs. As I was cleaning up that mess up, Ethan and Cole decided to be helpful. They tried to feed Livy some of her baby food. She was fond of the peas they were feeding her, but not the way they were shoving it in her face. After the tub tonight Ethan and Shawn had a funny conversation. My boys think it is really funny to call each other naughty names, like poo-poo head or dumb face. Tonight it was dumb face. This is how the conversation went.

Shawn: Ethan, it is not nice to call people dumb face. How would you feel if I called you a dumb face?
Ethan: Sad.
Shawn: Nobody is a dumb face.
Ethan: but, dad you are right now.

Ethan likes to say his prayers all by him self and they are very unscripted, which makes for an entertaining prayer. Tonight Ethan prayed that he would wake up really early with lots of energy. That is exactly what Shawn and I need.

Shawn works too hard

I think Shawn might be working too hard. This is what he looks like when he comes home from working at the hospital for two days straight (and all night). He tries really hard to sit down and play with the kids when he comes home, but he always ends up asleep on the floor. I try to tell him to go up to our bedroom so he can actually get a good nap, but he never makes it upstairs. The kids bug him and poke at him while he sleeps, but he just sleeps right through it. Someday this will be over-hopefully.

Which One?

I need some help. I don't know which one of these hat's for Livy's halloween costume is better. She is going to be a little black cat (in case you haven't figured that out) and I have a little black halloween onsie that I am attaching a tale to. I am being cheap this year with her costume, but I figure she doesn't care and in a couple of years when she does care then I will spend money and get one that she really wants. Anyway, I found this little cat hat at Target for $1.00 so I got it and the other one I made with an old pair of nylons and black felt. Which do you like better?? I asked my husband and he didn't really care, but he was half asleep when I asked him. Besides, this is more of a girl question.

Ethan and Flowers

Ethan is so cute. Everyday when I take him to preschool he gets out of the car and goes over to a patch of dandelions that are growing in his teachers yard and picks one and gives it to me. It is so sweet. Then I try to give him a kiss (I tell him that when a boy gives a girl a flower she just might thank him with a kiss) and he runs away. Isn't he too young to run away from a kiss from his mom? I think it is funny.

I have been totally absent minded these past three days while I read New Moon and Eclipse (kids, housework, husband....what are those?). But I have finally finished them and for those of you who have read them you know what I am talking about. I am totally in love with Edward. Well, I really love my husband more, but for a fictitious boyfriend Edward it perfect. I know I am a big dork. I guess I need something more exciting in my life. Now I need another good book to read. I have never read Jane Eyre and it is next on my list. Doesn't that story have an Edward also. Hmmm, that might work really well with my new fictitious boyfriend thing.

Oh, I almost forgot. Cole got into a tube of vaseoline. He got it all over his hands and couldn't get it off so he decided to wipe it all over my bed and walls and floor, etc. Vaseoline does not come off easily.

Peaceful Sunday....sort of

Today while Shawn and I were trying to watch the morning session of conference Cole decided to color one of his books. What was really funny about it was on each page he only colored on Pablo's eyes (it was a Backyardigan's book). So now on each page Pablo has big black crayon scribbled all over his eyes. Afterward Cole looked at me and said, "Oh No, Pablo can't see. Mommy, fix it." I always look forward to conference, but trying to get something for the kids to keep them entertained long enough without ruining things is challenging. Ethan played Lego's pretty peacefully for a while, but then Cole wanted to help and that ended up into a Lego war. After that Ethan decided he wanted to write a letter to Santa with the things he wanted for Christmas. I can't believe we already have to start thinking about Christmas, but it will be here soon. Hopefully some day my kids will look forward to conference as much as Shawn and I do. Until then I we will just keep trying and enjoy the parts of conference that I do here through all the yelling and screaming. Someday I will get my peaceful Sunday.......maybe.

Cute Package

We got the cutest package today.

Actually, I finally got the two books I have been waiting for- Eclipse and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer (which means that my children, husband, and house will be neglected for the next few days until I finish reading them). Ethan used the box from the books and decided to put it on Livy. But doesn't she make the cutest package?

This is the mastermind to Livy's box entrapment.

For some reason last night around 3:00 in the morning two of the smoke alarms upstairs started beeping. I guess that means I need to change the batteries so I was trying to figure out what kind of batteries. All of the sudden I see Cole walking down the hallway. He walked over and grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, go to bed." He dragged me down the hallway and stood by my bed until I got in. Then he walked around to the other side of my bed (which was vacant because Shawn was at the hospital) and he climbed in. It was so funny. I guess he was concerned about me getting enough sleep-ya right! It was just really cute. I never did get the batteries changed and this morning when I woke up the beeping was gone. Maybe the smoke alarms are possessed. Speaking of possessed, our garage door is definitely possessed. For the last few weeks it has had a mind of its own. Sometimes it opens, sometimes it doesn't, but usually it just stops in the middle. Shawn and I have to get out and manually pull it up. It doesn't have a problem going down, just up. I wish I was better at fixing things. Thank goodness my dad is coming next week. Maybe he can look at it.

Book about me

In Ethan's preschool class they made a little book about themselves yesterday. The book was so cute. Ethan wrote that he had a dog named benny and that he loved to go swimming with his dog. (This must be a make believe dog because we DO NOT have a dog) Some of his favorite things are:

Favorite Animal: Sting Ray
Favorite Song: Follow the Prophet
Favorite Food: Chocolate Milk and Pizza
Favorite Game: Lego Games
Favorite Book: Angel Pigs (this is really a book)
Favorite thing to do: Play Legos
Favorite Color: Black
Favorite Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Things I like to do with my friends: Play Hide-N-Go-Seek (Ethan and Cole love to play this at home. Cole will go in the corner and count 2-3-2-3-2-3- over and over and then go and find him. It is really funny)
Things I do really well: Build Legos

It was a really cute book and I thought it might be fun to share some of his answers.

New Music

Shawn found this new music by Sean Kingston and I just had to put it on. It reminds me so much of the Island we lived on a while ago (don't you think Jenn Wheeler). I love it. Everytime I hear it I want to get up and dance.

Finally eating real food.

Livy has finally graduated to eat actual food (if you call mashed up fruits and veggies food). So far she seems to like it. Occasionaly she spits it out at me, but I think that is more for her fun of getting the food all over me and the floor rather than not liking it.

Today went a little smoother than yesterday. Not so much blood (just a few scraped up knees from the park this morning, but nothing that a band aid can't take care of). The boys did manage to paint the back of the house with some kids paints. Don't worry-it washed off, but when I walked out back to the stucco painted I panicked. I put Cole down for a nap and Ethan was playing games on the computer when I told Shawn to watch Livy while I ran to the bank. Usually I drag all three kids in the bank and it is a nightmare. The people at the bank recognize me and close all the doors and come running with the sucker basket. Anyway, the bank went fine and when I came home I found Shawn asleep on the floor with Livy lying next to him wide away picking at his face. Her fingers were in his nose and picking at his eyeballs. She was having a great time and Shawn didn't even budge. I guess he stayed up to late at the hospital last night.

Crazy Morning

This morning started off a little crazy. I went upstairs to brush my teeth and of course Ethan and Cole started fighting downstairs. I decided to ignore it and see if they could work it out. A few minutes later Ethan came running up to his room and slammed the door and Cole was crying. Cole walked into the bathroom with blood running down his face. I was really just expecting him to be throwing a fit because he couldn't get the toy he wanted, but he was really hurt. I guess Ethan shoved his face into the stairs and it split his lip open and removed a small portion of his tongue. Supposedly mouths heal quickly, but there was really a lot of blood. So, we got that under control and then we took Ethan to school. After dropping him off we went to get some groceries. I fought the whole time with Cole to get him to sit down and he ended up falling out of the cart. He didn't seem too shaken up about it and stood right back up. On the way home from the store Cole took stickers (the bagger people always give my kids a bunch of stickers) and plastered them all over the windows. I couldn't get them off and had to sit and scrape the windows. It is only 10:30 in the morning and Shawn is on call and won't be home until tomorrow, I wonder what else will happen today.