A few parties

We spent last Saturday attending two Christmas parties! We first went to Matt's work party and enjoyed balloon swords, good food and lots of treats.

Then we were off to the ward party. I helped out in the kitchen so I missed most of it, but the kids enjoyed a visit from Santa. Ethan is still a little hesitant about the big man in the red suit, but pulled it together enough to ask for his McQueen track.

Pure terror (I'm physically restraining him so he doesn't leave!

terror,

maybe he isn't so bad

Okay, we can chat now

Matt's feelings about the day

Finger painting and making cookies

I've always been a little resistant to messy activities but I am working on embracing them! The boys really enjoy painting and a little bath works wonders for clean up.

Waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven.

Who doesn't love a good beater?

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving this year we had dinner with the Elenbaas's at their house. It was nice to not have to cook and just enjoy the day. Matt got to be with us the entire day and we loved that.

The next day we immediatly put up our Christmas decorations! The boys LOVE it. Cole keeps taking things and putting them in his room. We have already lost quite a few ornaments. We are contantly talking about Santa, Jesus and of course what they want. Cole wants a Batman car with the cage on it and Ethan wants a McQueen track. As I have already finished Christmas shopping they will get what they ask for. I can't wait. Today Cole asked me if Santa knew everything he was doing and I said yes. I told him that is why he has to be good! Let's hope for the best. He told his little friend today that we need to do what is right to make Jesus and Santa happy. I'll take what I can get. We also told Ethan that if he doesn't stop hitting that Santa won't bring him what he wants. It seems to be working. We had an entire playgroup without incident!

Family Pictures

Thanks again to my friend Amy for more great pictures!

MICE or rats, hopefully just mice

When you live in the northwest it is a very common problem to have mice and/or rats! We have seen ours and they are still pretty small so we think they are mice. However, they have been with us for far too long! Initially we thought we just had one that had set up camp in our garage. We killed it, cleaned out the garage and called it good. We saw more signs of poop so we set out a few more traps. So far we have killed 9 and have seen an entire box of decon disappear. Unfortunately, we still have MORE and it is a larger problem than we thought! They have set up camp in our attic which is totally annoying as now we might have to rip out our insulation. Anyway, we put about 10 boxes of decon up there and a few more traps. Matt will have to investigate again soon but hopefully we have finally got them!

Halloween Festivities

We started out the holiday with a party at our friends house. Unfortunately Matt wasn't able to join us as he was addressing our mice issue (it deserves its own post) and doing homework. The boys and I had a good time and we made these donut hole eyeballs to take for a treat!

On Thursday we carved pumpkins. The boys mostly liked to watch and I enjoyed cooking up the seeds afterwards.

We each carved one and then the boys decided they wanted to carve the itty bitty pumpkin that grew in our garden this summer! That was all we got and it was tiny, but the boys liked it. It has a sad face because they carved it for Grandma Mattie and as she isn't here they were sad.

Friday, we of course visited Matt at work because Microsoft sure knows how to throw a good Halloween party. There was lots of trick or treating, a Willy Wonka house and lots of things to do with the kids. We joined Matt for lunch and enjoyed spending the extra time with him.

On Saturday I took the boys to their gymnastics gym where they had a little Halloween party. It was great fun and FREE! The boys got to play at the gym for an hour and then got a little bag to take home filled with goodies. It was really fun.

That night we did our first official trick or treating. Both boys were dressed as Batman this year. That will be two years in a row for Cole. I say, why mess up a good thing! The boys had a great time. Ethan was a little slower so Cole did his best to help him and we had him skip a few houses in between. They loved the idea of knocking on doors and getting candy. Then we visited our friends and hit a halloween party. It was a great night.

The first quarantine of the year

Swing flu is buzzing around like crazy and it seems like everyone we know has it or just gotten over it. The fevers hit our house as well, but I don't know that it could have been swine flu as the kids weren't very sick! I hope it was and it just hit us lightly, but maybe we will have many more weeks indoors this winter as to the crazy cold/flu season. This sickness wasn't so bad this time because it is the first time I didn't get sick with the kids since being a mother. It meant however, that we had to get creative with activities.

Here is one such activity. Fill up the bathroom sink with water and play in it! Hey, they soaked the whole place so I just ended up cleaning it afterwards. Nothing like kids to motivate you to get some cleaning done.

A few other happenings

Matt and I have been able to go out on a few dates lately thanks to our new babysitting exchange! It is working out lovely. We got to see "Wicked" and "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream-coat." Both plays were great! Evenings out with the kids without them crying about it are fabulous and not having to pay a babysitter is even better.

I had a birthday shout hooray! It was an uneventful day as it was a Sunday but Matt took care of the kids and did all the cooking and cleaning. What more could I ask for? I even got my birthday wish from last year which was to eat all 3 meals sitting down! My friend Amy came through for Matt because he forgot about a cake! She whipped one up and we shared dessert with their family that evening. It was delicious. A couple of girlfriends and I went out to dinner and had a reflexology massage during the week. It was a very crazy experience. Sometimes it hurt like the dickens, but afterwards it just felt good!

Ethan's favorite phrase of the moment is "I do it myself" Yes folks, he is 2! We went and bought him a potty and he loves to go on it. Afterwards we can't get him to put back on his diaper but who doesn't love a little nakey time.

Cole can do many new things now because he is 4! That includes feeding himself dinner (yes, most kids can already do that, but food is still an issue), getting himself dressed and he can do flips on the tramp. Thank goodness he is so grown up.

We are surviving without Matt for the most part. The first couple of weeks were a little rough, but we are getting used to it. I find that Saturdays are the hardest but hey, we only have 1 year and 10 months to go. I will be earning an honorary MBA as I edit and help with assignments. Too bad I can't throw that on my resume.

Serpentarium

I have posted about this place before. We finally broke down and bought a yearly pass! It is a great rainy day visit and the boys love it. Cole even held the snake this time. We went out with a few friends and had a great time.

This snake jumped at the kids when they looked at him!

Babysitting

Many of you may remember that we used to own two cats named Max and Stella! Their new owners needed us to babysit for a little while. Cole LOVED it and the cats didn't as much! They spent most of their time on top of the kitchen cabinets (at least while Ethan was awake.) I had been thinking that I wanted to get a pet and I was reminded how much work they are!

Pumpkin Patch

For Cole's Preschool we all went out to the pumpkin patch. It had been pouring for a couple of days and we got lucky with a clear break!

Cole's preschool friends.

Such cooperative boys on a hayride!

Giddyup!

Petting a chicken