Finally Fall!

We have been celebrating the cooler weather! Fall is a great time in Arizona. It's nice just because I don't have to hear so many complaints about the heat :) Fall is the best time of year anyway, in my humble opinion, because it's the beginning of all of my favorite holidays!

We made a trip out to Scottsdale to go to the train park, which the kids love. It's a great place to relax, plus they had an awesome new exhibit. It was still under construction, but they were letting people in anyway. It's a gigantic room full of model trains and tracks. Those old guys must be having a heyday designing and building all of it!You know any outing is successful when the kids look like this when we get home:The other day we went down to the temple and went through a cool exhibit they have in there about families. The kids love walking around the temple grounds. I'm so excited for the temple lights!

We have also been hanging around plenty at home...

The kids decided to do my hair,

I was sewing like a madwoman for the Trek,

and we've been working on our penmanship. This picture is so cute to me because this tongue thing is something my mom does when she's concentrating, and I do it too. Found out Levi does it too!

We've been getting ready for Halloween too. It always comes up on us fast, even though we start talking costumes months in advance. This year, I'm going to be a witch, so the kids decided to try on some of my accessories.

The boys are going to be superheros, Spiderman and Wolverine, and Eden changed her mind back to Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. I am actually super jealous of her costume and I might make me one next year! So I am busy working on Eden's costume. I have all the pieces, just need to attach them to the muslin dress I sewed up for her and add yarn stitches throughout. I'm also making her a yarn wig, which I have never done before, so we'll see how that goes.

The kids are doing well in school. It's amazing how fast they learn. I will be happy when Jonah's teacher returns from Maternity leave. Eden is making tons of friends, just like I predicted she would. Here she is, walking hand-in-hand with her best friend, Lily. She's a little further up. I was trying to be sneaky. Lily has a twin brother, Lucas, and today Eden informed me that she is going to marry Lucas and that Lily said it was okay! She was so excited. Too cute.

More Catching Up

So blogging has taken a back burner lately. I have had so much to do lately! That, and I'm lazy.

So lazy, in fact, that I forgot to post these cute pictures of Eden from last month. She went to a princess birthday party and since her princess dress-ups are THRASHED, we had to improvise. We decided that with her gold Sunday dress, she could be Belle. I had the perfect red rose hair clip to clip to her dress. She was so excited and had a lot of girly fun. She doesn't get much of that with only brothers.
Kira and Michaela came to visit over last weekend. It's always good to see them. It's not often that I get to see Kira these days. They came on a crazy weekend, but it turned out good. Our ward had a pool party on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but we were all just having too much fun. It's been a long time since I've gone off the diving board (I'm always in the water watching the kids). We threw floaties on the kids and Peter watched them for a while while me and Kira and Michaela went off the diving board a few times. I even went off the high dive. I got a little bodyslapped, but it wasn't too scary. We went down the water slide, which was really fun, then Kira and Michaela actually took Levi down. He said it was fun, but he didn't want to go again when I asked him if he would go with me. It was a perfect day to swim too. Kira and Michaela had to leave on Sunday. The kids had a fun time with them. I guess the next time we see them will be at Thanksgiving!

In other news, there's still no baby in there, so I'm definitely going on the Trek. I'm starting to get excited now. For the past month, I have been reluctant to prepare too much for the Trek in case I was pregnant. If I had gotten pregnant, I was going to tell the leaders I couldn't go. But now I am going, so it's time to get ready.

I've been stressing a little about all the clothes I need to come up with. But after spending a good two days working on things, I'm not too worried about the clothing anymore. I made two bonnets already, and one apron. They weren't hard at all, and I'm pretty proud of the end results! I already have one dress, so now I just need to make one skirt and I'm also going to make a bib apron to go over my dress. I hope the dress I have will hold up. I think it will probably be fine. I was informed that it is going to be pretty cold where we are. It will be around 30 degrees at night and in the 60s during the day. For me, that is cold! I also found out I am allowed to bring flannel pajamas, and I think I might also go out and get a better sleeping bag. We'll see.

I'm going to call my optometrist and see if he'll give me some contacts I can sleep in. I do not want to wear glasses, because then I can't wear sunglasses. I also need to start running again, asap! I think I will start tonight :)

Levi's 4th Birthday!

My baby turned 4 last week! Part of me can't believe it, but for the most part he has seemed like a four-year-old for so long now that I have had a hard time remembering that he was only three!

Levi is really into superheros right now, so we decided to have a superhero party where Levi and his friends could dress up as their favorite characters. Levi decided to be Wolverine, who he'll also be for Halloween. Jonah donned his Spiderman costume, and Eden threw on the boys' old Buzz Lightyear costume. Kira and Michaela were visiting for the weekend, so they got to dress up as well. Kira brought her X-Wing Fighter Pilot costume and Levi was mesmerized. His favorite movie right now if The Empire Strikes Back, so he was thrilled to see Kira's costume.

The kids had a fun time eating lunch and fighting superhero battles. Here they all are in their costumes, minus Jonah.

Here's the whole group.

Action pose!

Levi got some cool toys and was thrilled. He even got some cool Batman converse from Grandpa and Grandma.The cake melted in the pantry overnight, so I had to re-frost the thing minutes before the guests arrived. It turned out okay!Levi had a great time with his friends and aunts. I was tired afterward; parties are a lot of work, but you're only 4 once! My mom let us have birthday parties every year as kids, and I'm so glad she did. It's all about the birthday boy!

Want To See Something Gross?

That's a funny question. My reaction is, "Um, of course not!" But then there are those who would say, "Yeah! What is it?" Well I've got another Five Favorites and one of them is really gross. The others, not so much.

The really gross one:

1. Zip It (hanging on the left)
Have you heard of these? I can't remember how I learned that this contraption existed, but I saw one at Lowes and remembered having heard about it and how effective it is, I got one. And let me tell you, the thing works. If you have slow drains or haven't cleaned them out for a long time, just grab one of these puppies for a few bucks and you will get such great results you just might barf in the tub whose drain you just cleaned out. If you have the stomach for it, you can watch this video here. If you are eating or just ate, better watch it later.

On to the not gross stuff.

2. Pinterest

Hello, person who has not discovered Pinterest yet. Yes, you. You need to join Pinterest now! It is basically a place to share new ideas, beautiful photos and things that inspire you. It's like a visual bookmarking tool. Love it!

3. President Thomas S. Monson's talk from General Conference in October 2008, entitled Finding Joy in the Journey. We watched it last night for part of our Mutual activity, and it really hit home for me. I couldn't find a code to embed a video here (too big anyway), but look it up on lds.org.

4. The Help
Peter and I went and saw it on our anniversary. We both really liked it. I totally cried; the book was beautifully portrayed and the actors did an amazing job. It is such a heart-wrenching story. If you haven't read it, read it, then go see the movie.

5. Drop Dead Diva

This is a show on some random cable network, maybe Lifetime? A friend recommended it to me, and I got it through Netflix. It is a good show! The characters are funny and the plot is also surprisingly good. So far I've seen the first two seasons and it's airing its third now, I believe.
Taken from blog The Factory's post about Drop Dead Diva:
"If you’ve seen the show you know that it is about Deb (the blonde) dying and taking over the body of Jane and it is this switch that makes Jane so awesome. She’s like watching Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods with a twist, plus Jane is so much cuter than Deb."

So Jane the lawyer is really Deb the model. It is a lot like Legally Blonde, now that I think of it.

What's Up With Us

So it looks like I'm going to be getting some hands-on experience with some of these come October.I've been called to be a "big sister" on our stake's youth pioneer trek. When I first heard our stake was doing a trek, I really wanted to go, but since they told us that the ward YW and YM leaders wouldn't be going, I kind of got used to the idea of not going. So now I need to get excited about going again. I actually do think it will be great and I've always wanted to take part on a trek. Really my only worry is that I might be pregnant by then if things ever work out in that department.

The good news is that the adult leaders are not supposed to push or pull the handcart. The bad news is that we have the same restrictions as the youth- same food, sleeping conditions, rules restricting deodorant... I am actually okay with it all. I'm a little worried about how strenuous it might be, but only if I was pregnant. If I don't get pregnant by then, then I won't be worried. I'm sure I'll feel like dying, but I won't be worried about a baby inside. I know they'd modify the meals for a pregnant woman at least, but I'm not sure about the rest.

I am also a little worried about the attire. I have no idea how to find or make a pioneer dress! I have never made an actual dress with a bodice and darts and things. I sew very easy projects. So that seems a little scary. Plus I have to help my Mia Maids figure out how to make their clothes as well.

Other things going on around here- the kids are doing well in school. I LOVE going into their classes to help out. I go into Jonah and Eden's twice a month and it is really fun to see the kids in that element. I must say that they seem to be different kids at school. I guess they save the crazy at home for us. How lucky we are :)

The kids have really got into drawing lately, especially the boys. They have almost gone through a whole ream of paper! Levi mostly draws superheros like Batman and Spiderman and villains like Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, and Joker. I'm so excited for Levi's birthday party; he's going to have a superhero party. I hope he can narrow down which superhero he wants to dress up as!

Jonah has been drawing lots of Scooby-Doo and Spiderman pictures. He is really into writing his own books, so I usually have to staple some blank pages together for him. His stories are pretty good.

Before I forget: One day while I was sitting in Jonah's room, he started telling me stories with his toys. They were kind of like little short stories. He must have told me about 10 of them. I started writing down what they were about, but I think I lost that paper. I do remember one though. Jonah had two identical Batman figures. In this story (and he told it much better) , Batman saw another Batman and thought that he must be a bad guy pretending to be him, so he started fighting him. But after a few seconds, he realized that it was just a mirror and he was still the only Batman. I was totally laughing at all of Jonah's funny stories. He's going to be a great writer someday!

What else? We have been doing a little rearranging around here. Well, not that much, but we finally got Eden and Levi out of toddler beds. We are getting the boys some bunk beds and Eden is now on the twin bed that was Jonah's. There is so much more room in the boys' room now, and Eden loves her new bed. I am also going to repaint Eden's room. I'm tearing off the chair rail and am going to paint her walls a nice light, dusty coral-pink color. Think salmon. I'm going to do black, white, taupe-gray, and light aqua green accents in the room. I know it sounds weird, but it will be totally chic, if I can translate what I have in my head to an actual finished product. We'll see. I'm excited to make a new quilt for her bed!

Other than that, life goes on the same. I feel bad that I haven't kept up on other people's blogs lately. I poked around last night and read a few, and I realized that lots of my friends are going through some crazy hard stuff right now. I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to pray for. Hope you are all finding sources of strength in whatever you are going through.

First Day of School Again!

Eden, the sweet and spunky KindergartnerJonah, the handsome and cool 1st graderOn Tuesday, Jonah and Eden got to meet their teachers. It was a crazy ordeal; all three kids were super hyper and proceeded to run around each classroom while I tried to talk to the teacher for a minute, hoping she didn't get a horrible first impression of my kids! I was glad when it was over. The kids were horrible! Just goes to show how ready we all are for school to start.

Eden has Mrs. B., Jonah's teacher from last year. She obviously did not want to take a picture.Jonah has Mrs. C., who I hear great things about. She is due to have a baby in September and will be on maternity leave from then until the end of November, so Jonah will have a long-term sub. I am a little apprehensive, but only because I know nothing about the sub. We'll see how that goes.Wednesday was the first day of school. Jonah seemed excited. I don't think he realized how long he was going to be at school. No more half day! When I dropped of Eden for Kindergarten, I saw Jonah, who was just getting out of lunch and having recess. He looked beat! He also looked a little sad, and he told me that he couldn't get his applesauce open at lunch. Poor guy! He is still getting used to the long days.

Eden was a little nervous for her first day (so unlike her)! She said she had a little tummy-ache on the way to school. We got there a little early and I showed her the Kindergarten playground where she can go when I drop her off. She started playing and seemed to be doing a little better. Then when her cousin, Marcelus, showed up, she turned into her normal self. She was so excited to see him! They are in the same class (at least until Lexie and Sharrid move in a few weeks). I hope she doesn't take the move too hard.Marcelus, with the cutest forced toothless smile ever!

Getting ready to go inside

The kids have all been doing well so far. Levi's year won't be much different than last year, so I'm not worried about him at all. Eden is trying to get used to the idea of homework everyday. Thank goodness it has been easy so far, but I know that it will get more difficult soon, so I hope she can deal with it! Jonah is also getting used to the bigger workload. He is mostly trying to adjust to a long day at school. He starts Let's Play Music again next week and hopefully that will be fun for him.

As for me, I will be driving my fair share this year, but it's going to be less than last year. Hooray! Our carpool is a science, but it works! I am looking forward to having some time to sew, read, sleep, listen to the quiet, and volunteer in the kids' classes. I get to go to Eden's class tomorrow. Yay!