Daniel's Birthday

Daniel had a great time at his birthday. He loved his pirate boat cake, which I thought turned out pretty good! He loved his presents- Peter Pan figurines, the Peter Pan Indian Camp, Batman Hot wheels, A Tonka Airplane, Meet the Robinsons, and books from Grandma and Grandpa.

Noah was sad that we wouldn't let him play with Daniel's new toys. Such is life.

Trick or Treat!

The kids are definitely all Halloweened out. They had a costume birthday party, the Ward Trunk-or-Treat party, a play-group costume party, and Halloween night. They had tons of fun. They got way more candy than is good for them. This is the first year they have even had a bite of candy- other than suckers. It was a good run and we knew the "No Candy" would never last.
Jodi was too young to really get into Halloween. I wasn't going to put forth the money or effort on a costume. She did look cute in her Halloween shirt and skirt though. Noah and Daniel kept trading constumes. They were a pirate and cowboy. They were really cute and had so musch fun. We watched Charlie Brown's It's the Great Pumpkin last night after trick-or-treating. They all 3 woke up so crabby today. We all needed the naps. (Maybe it was sugar withdrawl!!)

New "Portrait" Pics

We decided to go cheap to update our kids portraits this year. The pictures turned out ok, we did it right after church, but the sun was going down too soon (church gets out at 6pm!). The pics still turned out adorable though!

The BIG news for us is that our NOISY upstairs neighbors were evicted and they are GONE!! It is amazing how quiet everything gets once our kids are napping or down for the night!



Daniel's birthday is on the 23rd- tomorrow. I am making a pirate boat cake. He loves Peter Pan and is getting some Peter Pan toys. Daniel went to a friend's birthday party on Saturday and was quite upset that he didn't get any toys. He knows it is his birthday and he should be the one to get toys. Daniel is super excited for his own party. We will be sure to take lots of pictures and blog them.
Daniel said a cute word yesterday. We introduced the boys to sugar-free lemonade. They loved it. Daniel calls it "Yummy-ade". He cracks me up!





Noah is funny. He calls me "Crazy Woman" whenever we go to the park. I think he does it so I will chase him and pretend to be offended when he says it. He just says it more. Noah is going to be a cowboy for Halloween and Daniel is going to be a pirate. we of course will get pics of that too.






Jodi is super smart. She folds her arms when we pray- she puts her hands in fists and holds them to her chest. It is so sweet. Then she starts babbling to say the prayer!!! She is miss independent as well. There is no helping her with eating. She has to do it all herself. I wish I had a hose in the house for at meal times!! We pulled out the toy shopping cart for Jodi to play with. She loves it. We keep it on the fridge so the boys don't fight over it. Jodi will stand by the fridge pointing up and grunt to get the cart down. She pulls out all my dishcloths and helps me dry the dishes from the dishwasher. She is growing up way too fast!!

Oh, What Fun!

Ok this was too cute not to share. Jodi was playing with one of the die cast metal Thomas trains. She hit Daniel in the head with it. Dustin was just joking, but he told Jodi to go to time-out. Jodi stood up, walked to the time-out corner, and put her head against the wall. It was SO cute. We told her to go play. She had a big grin on her face. She is one smart cookie for only 14- months old! The weather is cooling off enough to bring the bikes out. Jodi loves her little scooter.



We got a good deal on the DVD Jumanji. We thought the boys would like it and they did. Except for the part with the spiders. i captured this moment on film. They both hid their eyes from the tv. It was very cute as well.



We had fun with the kids after watching General Conference (a weekend event of speakers from our church) on Sunday. Dustin blew up the airmattress. The kids used it as a slide and then as a fort. We had a great time playing and being silly.


Noah gives his first talk in Primary on Sunday and November 18 will be his first Primary program. He is very excited for both.

The Funny Things Kids Say

Noah has entered a new stage of life- the "talk back stage." I was getting quite upset at the way Noah was talking to me yesterday. He would be so snippy in his replies to me. I finally had had enough. My talking to him wasn't doing anything, so I sent Daddy to do some talking. Dustin told Noah he needs to talk to me in a loving voice. Noh looked at Dustin and then said, "I know Daddy, but I'm just too crabby today." It took a lot for Dustin to not laugh at that moment. Noah did come and give me a hug and tell me he was sorry. He is doing really well at saying his own prayers. He said breakfast prayer yesterday and brought me to tears. It was so sweet and heartfelt. He prayed for all the things he wanted to do that day- to play nice, to go to the indoor prark (the play area at the mall), and to watch movies together. It was very special.

Daniel is becoming more and more stubborn. I was helping him eat his dinner last night. He got super stubborn and wouldn't eat. I told him to eat and put the spoon up to his mouth. He turned his head all the way to the right. I held the spoon up to him again. This time , as he turned his head to the left, he opened his mouth really fast and snagged just a tip of food. I can't even describe the attitude and the face of defiance and the silliness of the act. It made me laugh instead of getting madder.

Jodi has entered the "I can do everything brothers can do" stage. She figured out how to climb onto the top bunk of the bunk bed!!! Luckily, I was in the boys' room as she atempted this stunt. We now stuff the bean bag in the ladder so she can't get up. That makes her really mad.

I have one more thing to share. Noah and Daniel have a new favorite show. They LOVE "Super Why" on PBS. It's a show that takes them into fairytales. The Super Readers have to change the story to solve the problem- like making a slide for Humpty Dumpty. The fairy tale story also solves a real life problem. Daniel is learning his letters and Noah is learning to read from it. They love it!!!

Noah and Daniel had fun being "Pillow People." They really liked bumping into things without getting hurt!






It's funny how the kids all have to be doing the same thing- even eating their snacks together.






"You got me!" The boys love their foam swords.







This was Noah's first person drawing! He's pretty good, wouldn't you say?! He drew himself fishing.







Jodi is now a climber! She got on the chair all by herself. Nothing is safe anymore!

Some More Noah-isms

Noah is too cute with his words. We were coming back from an outing at night- well past bedtime. I told Noah as we were driving home that we were going to read one book and then it was bedtime (we usually read 5-6 books before bed every night). Noah piped up from the back seat, "I'm too wakey to go to bed."

On Sunday, Noah whispered in Dustin's ear,"I have a secret Dad. I'm going to take my under-water guy with me to church. I'm going to keep it in this hand so Mom won't know. I'll sit by you and we can play together at church. Don't tell Mom." He did take the under-water guy with him, but he didn't play with it and he never sat by Dustin the whole meeting. It was amazing to see his mind thinking. We have been reading books where the main character tells a secret. It's funny to see Noah doing the same.