Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

got this idea from a friends blog and thought it was cute, also stole her Christmas card idea:) lol

Mason turns 3 on the 27th

Mason,
I really can't believe how big you've gotten and how fast these three years have gone. You've gone from being the sweetest baby in the whole world, to getting into EVERYTHING, to being quite the cantankerous 2.5-3 year old.  That being said you still are super wonderful and have quite the sense of humor.  (of course you think you are the funniest person in the world) You've really missed your brother the last couple months and still insist that you are turning five, because we told you that you couldn't go to school until you were five. When I ask you if you want a birthday party you tell me "No" and when I ask if you want cake and ice cream you tell me "No" as well, which we all know is a lie!!  Your favorite food is Chocolate, you love playing pretend, and trains with Ethan.  You really really love the Pitchers necklaces and bracelets (at least you call these watches) and you really say just about every word in the dictionary ... when you want to. 
I love you and can't imagine life without you

wow!! you look like Zach here

You've really become a little man

snow day

As soon as Mason saw the snow he was asking for his jacket.  Even though he had bare feet he thought that if he put a jacket on he could go outside:) So we got the kids dressed and Spencer went out to help them build a snowman.  Then Ethan surprised us by building one all by himself in the backyard ... and of course he gave his snowman a mustache ... what is up with him and facial hair??  As I was walking back in from taking a picture of Ethan's snowman I saw Mason sampling the snow and I asked him if it was good.  He must not have thought so because he came in a minute later and asked for some ice cream.  Who's kid asks for ice cream when they come in from snow play ... the answer is mine.

puns

One of my most favorite things in life is a good pun
     Not too long ago we were at my families and were joking around with my brother Josh about naming his soon to be baby Seven, but as the ribbing went on we decided that Seven wouldn't work because Josh only wanted Spanish names. At this point Spencer chimed in with a "Spanish people name their kids after numbers all the time ... (dramatic pause) ... like Juan" lol 
     Today I was joking with Lori that she was picking up my red leaves last to disguise the yellow ones she'd already dumped in the gully.  Without catching it at first I told her she was leaving a red herring ... come on ... I can't be the only one laughing at my pun:)

nice weather before the storm

This is the first day where we've actually had some leaves to take pictures with ... and it's supposed to snow this weekend!!  Is every year like this?? 

It was so fun to pick Ethan up from school today.  Everyone in Ethan's class was dressed up like Indians ... excuse me ... Native Americans,  and everyone in the other kindergarten class were dressed as pilgrims.  So the front lawn of the school was quite the sight to see. They also got to go into the big lunchroom for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Zach was really serious about the leaves.  He would bend down and pick up as many as he possibly could.

I promised Mason candy if he would look at the camera.  This technique doesn't always work, but the fact that we have peanut butter m & m's in the house might have helped.

How to keep yourself safe and worry free :)

I usually get really really scared when Spencer is somewhere overnight, so anticipation of this "boys" weekend I had been trying to think about how I could stay calm enough to get some sleep.  (Yes, in the back of my mind I know that most of my paranoia is unreasonable, but that doesn't help me sleep. Instead I'm awake all night long listening for the slightest sound and working myself up every time I hear ANYTHING.)  However, I came up with a plan that I put into work last night.  I set up all the children in my bedroom, this way I didn't have to leave the room during the night when one of them woke up (yes, they wake up every night) then I tested my panic button on the car from my bedroom (it works) and then when it was time for sleep I locked and barricaded the door by wedging the piano bench between my bed and the door and of course I had my cell phone.  There was no way this door was getting open without a lot of work. so ... it stood to reason (in my mind) that if someone was trying to get into my bedroom I would have enough time to push the panic button on my car to let the neighbors know something was wrong and call 911 from my cell phone before the door could be opened.  Now you all think I'm crazy, which I am when I'm home alone at night, but I had the most wonderful nights sleep only interrupted by my children and not the fear I normally feel. YAY for being prepared.

This door was not going anywhere!!

Mason in the crib, Zach in the porta crib and Ethan in my bed

Everyday fun :)

Mason, What are you doing on the counter?? In my medicine cabinet no less. 
Wait a minute, don't move, I'll go get the camera.

Mason sticking a straw (sword) in his belt

You're so cute!!  -- I not so toot!!  I big toot!!

Don't take picture of me ... Mason hides his head 

smiley baby

What a smiley baby you are ... no matter your mood there's always a smile!

 

 

first snow

30 minutes getting ready = 10 minutes of snow playtime

and just for fun

just a couple pics

My mom really helped me out a lot today.  We
went to Gardner Village and did some birthday
shots of my boys ... I think this is the first birthday
in awhile that I've actually taken the photos before
the actual event.  Thanks again !!
The elusive shot with all 3 boys will have to wait
yet again.

conversation

Ethan: "Look mommy, your hand looks like daddy's"
(mommy looks at hand wondering where he's going with this)
Ethan: "See, it's getting old"
Ethan: "Your arm is getting old too"

Jesus gets rid of spots

I guess Lori Pitchers sharing time went over big with Ethan because it's come up a lot in conversation since last sunday.  my most recent conversation with Ethan made me want to cry:)

Ethan: "I need to go to Jesus to get my spots wiped off"
Mom: "yes, Jesus can wipe away your spots"
Ethan: "but if I itch and they come back we'll have to go to him again"
obviously we were talking about different spots:) lol!!

I am vowing to get my eczema kid into a good dermatologist ... might not be as good as Jesus, but we're going to get his spots to go away!!

We tried out a new pumpkin patch this last weekend with the Kol Family.  It was so much fun.  spencer kept saying over and over that he couldn't believe this was all for free.  It was pretty amazing that such a thing still exists.  It was hard to get the kids away from the baby animals, but we knew they would love the slides and to my surprise both of my kids were completely brave and tried every single slide without me even prompting them and loved them all. It was hard to keep track of both of them because they never stopped.  As soon as they got done with one slide they were either back up to do it again or on to the next. then there was this sand pit filled with corn that my kids absolutely loved.  What a wonderful free night:) 

We bought our pumpkins at Walmart the next day because the line to go get a pumpkin was way too long.

another black eye

so it's happened, I just didn't realize it would happen so quickly after his last black eye. Who gets bit by a mosquito in the middle
of the day? poor kid:)
Alright so I went to school to pick Ethan up and I casually said to his teacher "How'd you like his mosquito bite" and she said "I know, I saw it and thought ... two black eyes within a month" and I said "I knew you would think that ... lol"

I came across some really cute onsie's at Walmart for 

like two dollars. The ghost even glows in the dark:)

neighborhood BOO

Seems how we were caught at most of the houses I think I can safely blog about this :)
Yesterday I made some fun treats to take around to Ethan's friends houses to start the neighborhood Ghosts for Halloween.  It turned out to be really fun, except that Zachs screams announced our arrival at every house we went to when we opened the van door to get out.  The first house we went to was Maggie's house. Ethan, Mason and I snuck up to the door and set the treat down and rang the door bell, but I guess I didn't explain it well enough to Ethan because when I got to our hiding spot I looked to see where Ethan was and he had run across the street and stood in their LINE OF SIGHT instead of following me. The funniest thing that happened though was when Trever full on caught us at Dallin's house and Ethan turned around and assured him that it wasn't us who had knocked on his door:)

tender feelings

While I was waiting to pick Ethan up from school his teacher approached me to tell me that Ethan had to go in time out today for talking without raising his hand. She said that he started crying really hard and told her that he wanted his Mommy. My heart broke for him as I watched him walk towards me with a solemn face and swollen

eyes. I took his hand and as soon as we reached the car I stopped and held his face with both of my hands and told him that I loved him so much even if he got a time out at school. Just seemed the right thing to say.  He looked at me and told me that I didn't hear him crying :-(  This perhaps is the first time that I haven't been there to comfort him when he's been crying for me. Without taking the teachers side I very carefully told him that if everyone talked out of turn no one would be able to hear the teacher and that is probably why she wanted him to raise his hand first. I asked him who he was talking to and he said that he was talking to himself :)

my son has chosen a wife

Ethan comes in just bawling today (which happens a lot if all his friends go home) but today he is sobbing more than usual.  So I pull him into my arms and ask him why he is so upset and why Dillan decided to go home. He looks up at me with his beautiful swollen eyes and tells me that Dillan said he was going to marry Maggie.  He pauses for a second and then wails that he wants to marry Maggie.  I try to explain to him that he may not even want to marry Maggie in 20 (50) years:) to that he responds that he DOES want to marry Maggie.  so I switch tactics and explain to him that if I were Maggie I would marry him and to that he responds with another sob that he can't marry me because I'm already married.

my child's already growing a beard.

Ethan: "Mommy how do you make a beard"
Mommy: "When you're older you can grown one"
Ethan: "Mommy I made a beard like grandpa white house's (my dad who lives in a white house)"
Ethan: "No Mason, that's a mustache, this is a beard"
who knew he knew so much about facial hair :) and yes I taped it to his face ... I've never been asked to adhere a beard before to someone's face.

the non stop chatter of my Ethan

Ethan: "Daddy, we went to the store and picked out a mommy huh"
Ethan: "A long time ago"

Ethan: "Cuz we had to find a good mommy huh"
Daddy: "Yep, we had to find the best"
Ethan: "Yep"

Where did my sweet little boy go?
I see glimpses of him every now and
then, but this scowl has taken him over.
I want to be able to take a picture
of him just once without him giving me this
face as soon as he sees the camera
sigh ...

yummy marshmallow anyone?

You'll have to look close.  Ethan and Mason have been cooking smores outside pretending they are camping.

I was a little slow catching on to why they wanted little marshmallows over and over again, but

yesterday I went outside to check on them and they had stuck the little marshmallows on our sprinkler

turner.... yuck!!!! Spencer has informed me that boys will be boys ... which I don't get

that does not give them a license to get muddy right after I've put them in nice clothes

or to eat things that I seriously wonder if what they are eating will cause permanent damage!!  I'm going to

take a deep breath and enjoy this cute picture and hope their roasting days are now behind them.

mosquito bites

For those of you who haven't seen ethan's reaction to mosquito bites here is one that is a mid range one.  we've had worse and we've had better, but this should give you an accurate picture of what a mosquito bite does to ethan's face.  We seem to get them every June ... reminds me to have the mosquito repellent out and ready to use.

This picture does not do Ethan's black eye justice, but thought I'd post it anyway.  Yesterday Ethan fell up my concrete stairs and has a huge black eye.  I thought it was funny today when his teacher immediately started questioning him about it.  I think we've made the list of children to watch for abuse, so let's hope we don't have any more mosquito bites or injuries for the rest of the school year:)

We decided to go up to Echo lake today ... what a mistake:)  We paid the 10.00 to get in, drive to the beach, unpack and pack up and come home.  It literally felt like we were riding full speed on a boat, but we were just sitting on the beach:-(  However, the kids did have fun for the 10 minutes we were there. Minus the wind it really had everything that makes them happy: rocks, mud, sand, water, sticks, swimsuits and permission from Mommy to get dirty.

PTSD

Can't go back to sleep, thought I'd write about it.  I took Mason with me tonight to Young Women's  so Spencer and Ethan could do homework. Well, on the way home (Spencer and my other two boys had walked up to pick us up) we had just rounded the corner to our house and two cars were coming so I yelled ahead to my two boys on bikes that there were cars and they in no way should go into the road.  I continued to watch them to make sure they had heard me and weren't going to do their normal dash across the street on the downhill momentum (concerned about Mason the most ... Ethan is usually pretty good.) well, it looked like they had heard me and had both come to a stop when Mason darted across the street, literally 1 foot in front of this big white truck that had luckily seen him and stopped.  Mason was completely oblivious to the truck and to Spencer and I screaming for him to stop ... It was so terrible!!  We wouldn't have been able to get to him in time and he would have been hit. We were so lucky that this particular truck was going slow enough to stop and that he was paying attention, but who really wants to depend on luck when talking about your child's life.  I keep running it over and over in my mind.  I wish I would have been up there to make sure they didn't cross, I wish my punishment for him crossing had been more immediate, and I wish I could positively say this wouldn't happen again.  hmmmmmmm  I guess when I figure out the answers to these questions I'll be able to go back to sleep.

soooooooo cute!!