Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins with the kids. Bryan's is a cow. It looks like a glowing HOLY COW. We had fun and the kids were excited to see them all lit up.

Two Little Owls

We had a great Halloween this year. Kate loves owls, so I knew we had to make her an owl for Halloween. So, (with the help of my friend Katie), we made little costumes for both of them. My house was a complete DISASTER when I was done... I was worried that Case wouldn't want to wear his, but he LOVED it! Case didn't want to take it off and when someone would tell Kate she looked cute, he would spin around or come up close like "Look at me!" He even wore his hat the whole time. They were so funny. I told Kate yesterday we were going to a party to get candy and she was excited all day. "Daddy go party, Daddy go party!" So we went to the ward trunk-or-treat and Kate would say Trick-or-Treat and Case would say, "Ta-teet." Then tonight we went trick-or-treating to the neighbors and to my relatives in town. After Kate found out that we went to houses and got candy she didn't want to stop. She kept eating it as she went. Maybe it's a good thing it's only once a year. Then she fell asleep with her little owl hat on.

Case has been a busy boy this week. He usually starts the day with waking up in his bed and saying "Mama. Mama." Then he snuggles me when I get him out. Then he gets down and gets into his job of being a little tornado. I couldn't find him the other day. I was back in our bedroom with Kate and heard a sound. I went looking for him and had that moment of panic when you don't know where your kid is. Then I looked down and saw him... in the DRYER! The door was half open and there he was with a proud little smirk on his face. Then Kate shut the door on him. I got him out and tried not to laugh and draw attention to it.

Anyone have a big picnic table? I am really considering that as my table because the benches would be stuck to it. I spend a lot of my day putting the chairs back when Case drags them around the house to get into things. I thought that putting our cleaners in cupboards above the washer and dryer would be a good idea. Apparently, that doesn't work. He got into something under the sink so I put it up high. Before I knew it, Case was on top of the washer getting it out. He also likes to climb into the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, onto the kitchen counters, and onto the table.

Owl Standoff

Yesterday, (while Case was wearing his owl wings he refused to take off) he kept moving the chairs into the kitchen to climb. I decided that maybe if I was consistent he would give up. So he would move the chair and get on it. I would put him down and move the chair back. REPEAT. He moved the chair, I put it back. REPEAT. He would get angry and forcefully move the chair. I would sigh and get him down again, and move the chair further back behind the table. REPEAT. I would take him back and put him in time out. I would get him out. Back to kitchen. Case got the chair again. REPEAT. time out. chair. mommy getting him off chair. REPEAT. time out not working. REPEAT. sick of doing this. apparently a waste of time. REPEAT. I guess at least someone was consistent! But don't worry, Mom got the last laugh. Everytime Case got a chair, I put it in our bedroom in a spot you had to lift it over. Pretty soon, every chair was in there. Case was mad. He turned a laundry basket over, I put that back there too. Time went by and when I went into fix something in the kitchen Case (very sweetly) drags in our little fuzzy ottoman and peeks over the counter to see what I'm doing. Whatever. "A" for effort for Case. That night I went to climb into the bed in the dark and ran into all of our kitchen chairs off my side. Sigh.

Bringing the Cows Home

We got to visit Grandpa and Grandma Williams a few weeks ago and help bring the cows home. Kate and Case got to get on a horse for their very first time! They liked watching the cows. Kate rode with Bryan for a while. It was lots of fun!

Peekaboo!

Another eventful day today. The kids are so funny together. They pretend like this cradle is their car. It holds them still long enough for me to get pictures of them together.

Conversations With Kate

"Are you a princess Kate?"
"No."
"What are you then?"
"Two."

We were in Home Depot today, getting things for Super Saturday, and Kate kept saying,
"Mommy, need Bed."
I said, "A bed?"
"No. Bed."
"Hmmm...A bed?"
"NO. Bed...Mommy. Toast? Mommy? Toast. Bed."
"Oh Bread?"
"Yeah, Mommy."
I was pretty impressed that Kate used another word to tell me what she wanted. And we WERE out of bread.

We went into the craft store and Kate saw the wreaths and said, "Mommy! A nest!"

Funny Face

Marker Face

What happens when you eat a marker.

Funny Kids

Today I was pointing out the animals on Case's pajamas. He kept pointing at the giraffe and saying, "RRRRRARRRR." Kate said, "No Tase, that is not tiger. It's a Djaffe." I said, "What does a giraffe say Kate," She said, "Ummmm.....they....eat." I said, "What do they eat," and she said, "G(r)ass."

Case has finally popped in his last canine tooth. He actually slept about 12 hours last night. I think I slept more last night than I have in a year. It was great.

Case's new trick is to go into the bathroom (which he can open doors now), stand on the stool, put his little toes onto the cabinet knobs, and climb into the bathroom sink. Then he proceeds to get into the medicince cabinet.....

I made a very important purchase the other day. Childproof door handle covers. Who knew that $3 could contribute so much peace and sanity into your day. No more Case sneaking the bathroom or Mommy's craft room.

Door handle covers, where were you all of my motherly life? $3=PRICELESS.

Driving the Truck

Yesterday

Yesterday was a little bit crazy. Fun, but crazy. Normal day for us, I guess. Kate was laying on our bed and she said, "Tase, can you get me a bankty?" Then she got down and gave Case his toy lawn mower and said, "Here Tase, you go to workt." I also overheard her the other day say, "Tase you be da Dad and I be da Mom." It seems like yesterday was one of those days where I have every intention to get things done, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. It was getting later into the afternoon so I thought that I could just catch on the house and have dinner ready and try to pick up a little more before Bryan got home. Then he called and and asked if I wanted to go visit some friends that night. I thought that sounded good. Usually I don't take showers unless Case is asleep, but because I needed to and they were playing pretty well I just ran into the bathroom and jumped in the shower. BAD IDEA. Despite me being really fast, I came out to see my kids unloading my fridge. Kate had spilled yeast on the floor and they were stepping in it. They had also unloaded the silverware drawer and the little utensils and thrown them into the mess too. Then I went into the other room for a minute and they had a chair up to the counter and Kate had opened the plastic container with the sugar and was starting to spill that onto the countertop and floor. So I took that away from them and moved the chair back to the table. I didn't want sugar all over the house, so I thought I would put them both into the bath so they couldn't track it everywhere. Besides, Kate's legs were covered in green marker. Another little episode of the day. So I put them both in the tub, hoping that maybe having them corraled would give me a chance to do my hair while I watched them. It was fine for a minute, until they thought it was so fun to dump their water onto the floor. Pretty soon they were fighting over the plastic bottles in the tub. Kate kept dumping water onto her brothers' head. He doesn't like that very much. Then they were just upset at each other. They kept hitting at each other. So I put them at opposite ends of the tub. Then Kate tried to hit Case and he dumped water on her head. All I wanted to do was have a chance to do my hair! Pretty soon both of them were all-out screaming. Just screaming. Our poor neighbors in the basement. So I had to take them out, and while I was getting Kate dressed, Case found the markers that Kate had left behind and colored his feet and face. Ahhhhh!!! Now Kate was telling me she was hungry. I started some noodles on the stove for dinner. I was still stepping in sugar and yeast. Then Kate wanted a "Dink" of water. I got her some water from a glass (I know another bad idea) because for some reason our dishwasher didn't wash the dishes in there. Note: We have now put a child-lock on the dishwasher to keep them out but it is common for my children to stop the dishwasher and usually I have to restart it several times to get a load done. They hear it running, and turn it off. Same goes for the dryer which happens to be in our dining room. So whenever I look forward to fresh, clean dishes or warm laundry, usually the process has been stopped. So back to the glass of water. Of course, it got dropped on the floor. And of course, they both had bare feet. And I knew Case would not listen if I told him not to go into the kitchen. So, I picked up Case, put my shoes on put him into his high chair. I told Kate to back off and cleaned up the glass. I tried to get dinner going again. Bryan got home, swept up the sugar (Thanks Bryan) and we ate some dinner. Then Kate had this giant meltdown that had something to do with I helped her put her pants on and she wanted to do it "hertelf." I am sure Bryan is wondering why my patience is running a little thin by this point and why am getting a headache from the screaming. I told her she had two choices, stop screaming and go to a friends' house or go to bed. Huh. Funny how when the options are presented like that, they can turn off the waterworks. Two little year olds are a lot smarter than I realize. So we are leaving, my house is mess, (which I hate leaving that way, because what if someone broke in or something and saw it like that) and we get in the car and I realize that Case does not have shoes. And that in the rush we didn't have family home evening. And that we didn't give Case Motrin for his teeth. And without his shoes, his feet are colored green with marker. And at this point I do not care. This is good stress relief to write this all down. It makes me feel a little better when I am putting myself down for whatever reason- messy house, not getting dinner ready, etc. My life is busy. If my kids were in daycare all day they would not be making my house a mess. But that's not what I want. I wouldn't change it. (Okay, a maid and a little more money wouldn't hurt.) I think that being a Mom is so interesting. One moment you think you could just pull your hair out and the next you are standing there admiring how your little girl drew her first picture of a rainbow or how your little boy was able to disconnect all of the jacks to the vcr and somehow put them back into the matching color holes. Or when he has the determination to keep scooting the chairs across the kitchen floor to the counter no matter how many times you take them back to the table. Amazing how, through all of this, they are still amazingly adorable when they sleep and so charming when they blow me kisses. I realize that being a mom is a really hard job. Thanks Mom. I guess no other job could teach how to handle life better than this one. Well I have to go, Case is tugging at me legs and pushing the keyboard in and out and Kate is standing on my chair getting into my pictures. Well, back to work. Case is upset. Now they are both throwing fits. Whew!

Fun With the Tractor

My kids love to drive the toy tractor around.

More Fair

After all of the fair excitement, they were exhausted. I would have liked to look around a little more, but the kids were done.

Twin Falls Fair

We took the kids to the fair and they loved the petting zoo. Especially the pigmy goats. They were really cute!

Labor Day Bummer

Not that we had really anything planned for Labor Day but it would have been nice to have at least gone somewhere. Sunday night, our kids started throwing up within an hour of each other. Thank goodness we didn't really get it and it was over pretty fast. But still not the funnest way to spend Labor Day Weekend. Oh well. It was so nice to have Bry there. Otherwise I would have been dealing with it myself. They really didn't look sick though. And by Monday morning they were in pretty good shape.

Sweet Boy

My little Case sure keeps me on my toes. He is into EVERYTHING. He is such a boy. He points at anything with wheels and goes, "Whoa!" It is still a constant battle to keep him away from the outlets and all things with cords. A few weeks ago, he climbed onto a chair and was grabbing at the can opener cord and my crockpot. I got to him just in time to see him pulling the cord of the crockpot down so he could find somewhere to plug it in. That could have really hurt his head. His favorite toys include, the vacuum, my blowdryers, my straightener, phones, the computer, and his toy truck. He loves to knock things over now and I've decided that he will be an electrician or do demolition when he grows up. It's amazing how someone can be such a BOY and Momma's boy at the same time. He gives me kisses and hugs all the time and loves to be close to me. He is a great snuggle bug. I love my sweet boy, even though at times he really scares his Mommy.

Poison Control

Funny this should happen today, since we had a play group and were discussing poison control. I was out in the yard with the kids this evening, taking pictures. And Kate was talking and I wasn't paying too much attention and finally it registered to me that she said, "A Booberry." (Blueberry) I looked up to see that she had eaten a berry off the vine on our fence. Then she spit it out. I really didn't know what it was, so just to be safe, I rounded up the kids and took them inside so I could google it, just in case. It's called a Virginia Creeper and guess what- Poisonous. So I decided to call Poison Control. Luckily, our landlords have it taped up the number about three places in our house. This plant is related to a poinsettia and can sometimes irritate the throat and cause it to swell, blocking the airway. The lady on Poison Control said kids eat it all the time but only once in her 7 years of working there had the swelling actually happened. Anyway, I had to watch her closely for one hour and see if anything happened. Luckily, she is just fine. That's my second time calling Poison Control, because the first time, Case gnawed on a dishwasher tablet. And in case you are wondering it was an electrasol tablet and they really weren't even that concerned unless it burned his mouth. They said even if he swallowed the whole thing he would probably be okay... besides sick to his stomach. Good to know I guess. We buy liquid now....

Bryan's New Job

We are excited because Bryan got a new job as a Sales Representative for Peterbilt in Jerome. I think that it will turn into a great job. He is excited to do something new.

Kate Kate Kate!

Kate and I had a little photo session today while Case was taking a nap. I love my sweet little girl. I asked if she wanted to wear Mommy's shoes, and she said, "No Daddy's!"

More Pioneer Day

Kate and Case have started holding hands and playing "Ring Around the Rosies." They are getting to be pretty good buddies-- On most days!

Pioneer Day

So I am jumping around a little, but this was Kate all ready for the Stake Pioneer Party on July 25th. She was pretty proud. They had a great time there.

Case's First Haircut

I knew that Case needed a haircut but he had the cutest little curl in the back. I didn't want to touch it. I finally decided to do it, but Bryan wasn't quite ready to see it go either.... until a I kindly showed him how I can put it into pigtails and that changed things! So we finally did it. He is such a handsome boy! Now we can see his little whirlpool cowlick in the front again.

Grandpa's Junkyard

I just lost my Grandpa Red last month, and it was pretty tough. He meant so much to me. We would always walk down to Grandpa's autobody shop and get to see the things he was working on. Another part of Grandpa and Grandma's house is "Grandpa's Junkyard." He always had a bunch of old cars and as kids we enjoyed playing in them and finding lost treasures. He had fixed up a lot of beautiful cars while he was still here, but I was driving past his house and junkyard a few weeks ago and saw the beauty of one that needed a lot of work.

Photo Session

I took this picture of Kate and Case for Bryan for Father's Day, since he loves the cowboy theme. They love to swing and Kate was giving Case a push!

My Sweet Case Boy

Roses

These are all rosebushes from where we live. At first I thought we only had one rosebush, but we have four!