Happy Halloween! and other belated news

So, it hasn't quite been a full month since the last post, but we're close here! I have a few pictures to put up from our Halloween adventures and a few stories to tell about my crazy little children. So here we go.

This Halloween had its perks and its pits. For the first time, both kids "got" the concept of Halloween -- the costumes, the candy, the parties, the candy -- so that was kind of fun. On the flip side, the candy caused some serious problems. Most of this was my fault, because I bought our stash WAY too early which resulted in almost hourly pestering from Ethan and Grace for more treats for almost the whole week before Halloween.

As far as the costumes go, Ethan's costume was a HUGE hassle to make. And even though I started working on it well in advance, I was still up until midnight the night before the MBA Family Halloween party trying to glue-gun the ribbon on the hood to make the mane. Ethan loved the costume, though, so that made it KIND OF worth it.

As far as the MBA Halloween party goes, let's just say that I made the mistake of being in charge of the cake walk booth. Silly me, when I signed up for it, I thought all I would have to do was decorate the booth and make the numbers for the "walk" on the floor. Oh, but no. I was also in charge of making sure that there were enough cupcakes for the estimated 250 children who were supposedly going to be there. That translates out to roughly 21 DOZEN cupcakes. So, even though I handed out boxes of cake mix to others to help me, I still ended up making 6 dozen on my own, and buying another 4 dozen from Wal-Mart. While I was in Cupcake Hell the whole Saturday morning of the party, Ethan was in Cupcake Heaven because I let him help me by putting the sprinkles on the finished goods. We made it to the party on time to set things up and were able to enjoy the party somewhat until Ethan decided he was ready to go home. I was personally relieved, because my kids are just a little too difficult to keep track of at functions like this. Well, we took them home, and I went back at the end of the party to take down the booth decorations, and what did I find? Only 10 dozen cupcakes still left up for grabs. Yes, thats right, only about half actually got taken. I'll have to let the committee know for next year that we don't need one cupcake for every child when there are several other booths with candy and games, not to mention of full table of desserts to choose from.

(In front of our Cake Walk booth)

Anyway, Halloween night was pretty fun. Ethan was very excited about the trick-or-treating. We ended up going with some friends we've made in the MBA program, and here's a picture of the kids before leaving.



The craziness continued the next day, seeing as to how it was Grace's 2nd birthday! And for some insane reason, I asked her if she wanted a party for her birthday, and of course the party girl said yes. Her request was specifically for an Elmo party. So, I bought some Elmo plates and party favors and invited some of our friends over from our old ward. After seeing how much fun Ethan had decorating cupcakes for the cake walk, I decided that for our main event of the birthday party, I would let the kids ice and decorate their own cupcakes. Yes, it was fun and yes, it was a mess. Of course I wasn't too surprised with that last part because Grace is the messiest kid I have ever seen, and I've been around a LOT of kids in my life. So, Ethan and Grace had fun, and Ethan enjoyed opening all of Grace's presents and playing with them and not letting Grace have any turns at all with them. So, that was fun, too. The sad thing is I realized after the party was over that we never sang happy birthday or blew out her candles. What this means of course is that tomorrow I will make her a cake (perhaps even an Elmo cake) and we'll sing happy birthday and let her blow out the candles all so we can get a picture of it.

(Ethan humored me by letting me take a picture of Grace pretending to open her present before he actually took over for her)

(do you like how Grace is eating the icing right off the knife? nice.)

(is Grace not the spitting image of Scott?)

Anyway, in other random news, Grace is somewhat of an exhibitionist. I won't the post the picture here, but we got a good laugh out of our crazy girl the other night when we went in to check on her before bed and saw that she had taken off her pajama pants and pull-up and was asleep bare-bottomed on top of her pillow and blankets.

Ethan's new thing is informing me when I'm being mean. So, that's cool. I got him CTR ring a few weeks ago, because for some reason he got it into his head that he really wanted one. And so we had a family home evening on choosing the right and what it means to make good choices. Well, of course the next day when we go to Wal-Mart to do our BIG grocery and other shopping trip he starts freaking out when we're all done because he doesn't have his ring on anymore. So, despite my hunch that a search would be fruitless, we nonetheless retraced our steps looking for it all the while Grace was trying to escape from the buggy and run away. Needless to say I was not in a very good mood by the time we were checking out and I believe I threatened Ethan with throwing away Candyland if he didn't start listening to me. Well, wouldn't you know as soon as we get in the car Ethan finds his ring in the carseat. After putting it back on and buckling himself up, he tells me "you're not choosing the right, mom. you're being mean to us." Thank you, Ethan, for that nice reality check.

Last, but not least, here is a picture of us supporting Scott's intramural flag football team, even though it was freezing cold and Grace kept trying to run away.



Well, I think thats all the stories I'll bore you with for now. In closing I'd like to wish a happy birthday to Everett who is turning one today!

a lot of lagniappe

Where do I even begin? Thank you to all those friends and family who have so mercilessly hounded me for more posts and pictures. I'm doing my best here people! Since I last posted, a LOT has happened. I guess I should start at the beginning. Around the beginning of September, I came to a realization. We were driving home from eating dinner at some new friends' house -- which was so spacious and comfortable -- when it finally clicked. We don't have to stay in our tiny 2 bedroom apartment! With the neighbor problem, the space issues, and a third child on the way, I decided to start looking into alternate housing options. That's when the blessing fell into our laps. Without saying anything about our looking around at new apartments, Scott's mom talked to him literally the next week and very convincingly told Scott that we'd be more than welcome to move into their basement to save a little money during this school year. After talking it over and realizing that we'd be really stupid not to take advantage of this opportunity, we gave our landlord 30 days' notice and thus began the longest month ever.

So, with Scott in school full-time at this point, and my two little kiddies constantly underfoot, my poor pregnant self started packing up our apartment in what turned out to be the never-ending move. Finally, at the end of September we were officially moved in and glad to be done with our landlord forever!

However, after a month of constantly trying to keep the kids quiet so they wouldn't wake up our neighbors, the kids sleeping habits were jacked up. The first week in our new place, they started waking up earlier and earlier, and by the 4th day -- when Grace was up at 4:30 -- we decided to make an executive decision. She is just not ready to be out of a crib. So, at 4:30 in the morning, we dragged her Pack N' Play into the back storage area in the basement, plugged in a night light and tucked her in. The end result? She LOVES "her room." Now that she's back in the loving confines of her Pack N' Play, she sleeps in until at least 7 o'clock every morning.

Grace's "new room"

Check out all the junk she sleeps with

Not to leave poor little Ethan out, here's a shot of him asleep from last night. Notice the night lights? Yeah, that's right its a little dark in the basement and Ethan has become a little scared. So, he sleeps with 3 night lights in his room, and one in the hall. Its kind of funny.

Those are his new frog rain boots that we got at Target. Don't ask me why he put them on to go to bed.

Well, in an effort not to bore you with a lengthy narrative, I'll just post a few pictures from the last month or so.

Okay, just kidding, I guess you will have to endure a little narrative. First up is a trip to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We went with the MBA spouse association group, so we got a great discount. Rather than 10-15$ a person, it was only 2. And boy am I glad I only had to pay that. I think the kids are a little too young to enjoy all the activities there, because they spent the bulk of their time going down a big slide.

Here's Nell. She's trying out her new smile.

Here they are in front of a giant tractor wheel.

Climbing up the ladder to that slide!

Up next are a series of pictures from our first official pumpkin carving of the season. Laura invited the kids over to help her carve a jack o'lantern.

Here's Ethan helping to scoop out the seeds.


And here's Grace helping.




The finished product.

In my ongoing effort to learn how to sew, I decided to make the kids' costumes this year for Halloween. Let's just say that I spent more on materials for the 2 costumes than I would ever have spent on actual costumes for the children. Grace is going to be a princess, but she won't ever try the dress on, and Ethan will be a lion for the third year in a row. His costume has been the biggest hassle to make. I won't even go into all the details of why its so frustrating, but Ethan loves it and wears it around the house whenever I'll let him, even though its not quite finished yet.

Here are some random shots of Grace from today. We're working on growing out the bangs (and hair for that matter), and its slow-going.

And for some exciting news, we had our ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and found out that...its a girl! I was pretty surprised, I have to say. This whole time, I've been thinking its a boy, so its been weird to change my whole mindset. But, I am fully adjusted now and very excited! We got one of those really cool 4D ultrasound pictures, and I'm making Scott scan a picture of one right now so I can post it on the blog. In my biased opinion, I think Sophie looks like she's going to be a very sweet and mellow baby. The power of positive thinking right? I figure I'm due for a mellow child. Ethan and Grace are a lot of fun, but they're a little exhausting sometimes. They're both very excited about the new baby, and I'm hoping that once she's here, they'll be able to keep each other busy while I take care of her. We'll see.

Last, but certainly not least, here is a shot of my favorite little scholar hard at work studying for his first round of MBA mid-terms. Doesn't he look studious typing away on his Macbook?

Well, folks. Thats it. I hope it satisfies for the time being. Hopefully my next post won't take over a month to get up. Hahaha. Peace out, friends.

This one's for you, Mom

I know, I know, its not yet Labor Day, but we went ahead and cut Ethan's hair on Sunday a little prematurely. Mostly because he asked for one. I think its because Sarah started calling him "wolfman" when she got in town and he didn't really like that name. So, I'll post his before and after pictures. I'm not entirely pleased with how his haircut looks, but he wouldn't stay still, so I did the best I could!

The Before





The After

And now for a story and a plea for advice. So, I have a two toddlers. A three-year-old and an almost-two-year-old. We live in an apartment complex with neighbors directly beneath us. On last Wednesday, I let Ethan and Grace stay up a little bit later than their bedtime to wait for Sarah to get in town. Once Sarah got here, they were very excited to see her and got a little hyper and were running all around and playing. As I was rounding them up to get them ready for bed for real (and it was only about 7:30 at night), I get a knock on the door and there's this guy there asking if I could keep the kids from banging around because he lives below us and he was trying to study for finals and couldn't concentrate because of all the noise. I apologized and said I'd keep them quiet and they were going to bed soon anyway. So he left, and meanwhile I'm thinking they weren't even being that loud. And this is the brat in me, but hasn't he heard of a library if he wants total quiet while studying?

I didn't think much of it, other than feeling a little bad if the kids are bugging them all the time with their running around. And then over the course of the last week -- or I guess it really started a couple of days ago -- we've noticed that if the kids are running around or jumping they'll bang on their ceiling, I guess to let us know that we're being too loud. Well, don't get me wrong. Its not that I don't see their side, but when they're banging on the ceiling in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY when the kids are just playing, I think thats a bit extreme and rude. So, the last time it happened (yesterday around 6 PM) I decided if they continued to do this I was going to have to go down and talk to them. So today at FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, Ethan and Grace were fighting over something and banged into the floor a few times, and as I was putting Ethan in his room for a time-out, I heard the banging on the ceiling again. I was so ticked off at this point, that I just went right down there to talk to them.

So, I probably should have waited until I had calmed down a little, and the result of my conversation was sort of a standstill. I asked the girl who answered the door if they were banging on the ceiling and she replied that they keep getting woken up by my kids and that they tried to ask nicely and that she wishes we would just be a little more considerate because -- and I quote -- "it just gets a little old" to be woken up at 8 AM every Saturday morning by our children. I countered by pointing out that they're not banging on the ceiling at 8 in the morning but during the middle of the day when the kids are just playing, and that they are 2 toddlers who can't be controlled every second of the day and that I understand that they don't like being woken up early but its not like they're being woken up in the middle of the night (my kids are both in bed by 7 o'clock every night, for pete's sake!) and that I think its really rude to be banging on the ceiling in the middle of the day and that I'm doing the best I can to keep them quiet and its not like I'm telling them to run around and make lots of noise to bother our neighbors. Thats the gist of the conversation. So, basically I told her I'd appreciate it if she didn't bang on the ceiling anymore and she told me that she'd appreciate it if we were a little more considerate about waking them up so early.

Now, after this happened, I was so upset I could hardly talk to tell Scott about it. I mean come on. Its the middle of the day! And not that I don't agree that it sucks to be woken up by children before you're ready to get up, but at least they wake them up at 8 AM and not 5 or 6 in the morning. They clearly don't have children, and when they do, it will be quite the wake-up call for them! All evening long I've been worrying whenever the kids make any kind of noise and I've been stressed to the point where I even decided at one point that we need to move, because there's no way I can handle walking on eggshells and keeping the kids on tippy toes for the rest of the time they live here. Especially once winter arrives and we're really stuck inside all day long. And its not like we can train them to sleep in longer. Because believe me, if we could we would have done it a LONG time ago.

Now that the kids are in bed, and I've had some time to calm down, I'm feeling really bad. I'm teaching this Sunday in Relief Society and was planning on working some more on my lesson tonight while the kids were in bed. However, I wasn't able to work on it because I was still so upset and then the irony hit me. My topic for this week's "Teachings for our Times" lesson is Charity, Kindness, and Tolerance. Talk about a guilt trip. I totally feel like the biggest hypocrite and that I can't even begin to work on my lesson until I rectify this situation. I realize now that I've calmed down that I should have taken a different and more kind approach in talking to her. I know that I shouldn't have gone down while I was still so upset. I DO feel bad that my kids are so noisy and wake them up in the morning. I'd be ticked, too. They're my own kids and I hate being woken up early by them. I can imagine that its even more annoying when they're not even your kids.

So, now on to the plea for advice. What should I do? I know I should apologize, but I'm just kind of embarrased now! And is it too cheesy/Molly Mormon to bring like cookies or some kind of treat along with my apology? I just don't know exactly how I should do this.

Anyway, thats all the stories I have for today. On an exciting note, Scott started orientation today for business school and he's really enjoying everything so far. I even took a picture of him on his first day of school. He didn't want to take pictures in front of the Tanner building, so I took some outside our apartment. But I also snuck a picture of him as he was walking in the doors of the Tanner building using my handy dandy zoom button so he wouldn't be too embarrassed. Hahaha.

the latest

Well, its been a long time, and sadly I don't really have anything all THAT big to post about, but I thought I'd post a few pictures and some commentary anyway. The first picture is from Scott's birthday, which was on this past Wednesday. We've been spending almost all our time up at Scott's parents house for the last few weeks while his sister and family have been in town. This is where the picture was taken. As you can see, Ethan has shunned his clothing. Since we've been doing the potty-training -- which is finally working -- we've found it easier to get to the bathroom on time when there are fewer clothes to mess with. Ethan has kind of taken a liking to the freedom of just wearing his underwear.

This last set of pictures features my latest project. Our stake has adopted the Pursuit of Excellence program again this year, and one of the goals I set was to learn a new skill -- sewing. So, here is my very first sewing project. Grace is very graciously being my model (just look how much she loves it). I went to Jo-Ann's fabric and craft store yesterday (while Scott waited in the car with Ethan and Grace -- which we'll get to later) and picked out my pattern and asked someone there to help me figure out what all materials I needed to get. 40 minutes later I was ready to check out. So, as I was waiting in line to get my fabric and trimmings cut, I see Scott walking in with Grace and Ethan with this look on his face like "what the heck." Whoopsie, I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the time. The sad thing is, I think at least 20 of the minutes were spent trying to pick out the lace trim. I know, I know. Kind of pathetic. I finally was able to get started on it last night once the kids went to bed. Despite having a hard time figuring out the sewing instructions, I was able to finish most of it last night and the rest this morning before church as the kids watched Playhouse Disney ALL morning long. Yeah, I'm a really good mom. Anyway, I'll sign off for now.

Family visits, a baby, and a camping trip

Wow, its been a looooong time since I've posted anything! This has been one busy past month. In mid-July, my mom and Amy and Jacob and Emily came to visit. We finally were able to put our new table to good use and even opened up the leaf!

Ethan and Grace had so much fun with Amy and Jacob. It took them a little while to warm up to them, but once they did, they wouldn't leave them alone! I'm pretty sure that by the time they left, Amy and Jacob were ready for a break from the kids.

Here's a picture of Grace not quite warmed up to Emily yet (notice how she won't even look at her?)

Here's another shot

While Emily was in town, we were able to head up to Salt Lake to see the new Joseph Smith movie which was amazing and also eat at the Lion House restaurant. Here's my critique on that. The food is good, but the price is way too high. Buy their cookbooks and you can eat the food for much cheaper. Here are a few pics of the fun.

Here's Scott with his new glasses

Some freezie pop fun

After mom and Amy trying on about a million pairs of jeans at American Eagle in order to get free movie tickets, and after mom working on Scott and me to go and see a movie while she watched the kids for us, we finally went and saw -- Monster House! We took and Amy and Jacob with us, and I have to say I really liked it. It was really entertaining and the graphics were amazing! This was my first 3-D movie ever and it was so cool. The movie was a little scary for young kids -- I won't be taking Ethan and Grace to see it -- but they really liked wearing the 3-D glasses when we got back.

All in all, it was a really fun visit, and we were sad to see them all go.

Now for a little explanation. Part of the reason I haven't been blogging very much is because I've been a little tired. Sorry, Natalie in advance for the picture, but here's a little reason why:

I know the picture's a little blurry, but those are two definite pink lines. For those of you unfamiliar with these tests, this means that come February 28th, we'll be welcoming a new little bundle of joy! We're all really excited, especially Ethan who is already calling the baby Alex and saying its a boy. So, we'll see if he's right. I hope so for his sake.

Anyway, I've been really tired this time around. Its probably due to the fact that I am now chasing around two toddlers in addition to being pregnant. Its been really helpful now that Scott has quit work and is home all day every day. Luckily I should be out of the first trimester and feeling a little better by the time he starts school in the fall.

I haven't felt that sick so far, but I also thinks its because I know what to avoid so that I don't GET sick. My problem is I'll find something I can really stomach and then I'll eat a lot of it because I can actually handle it and then I totally overdose on it and its crossed off the list! Here is an impromptu list of foods I have already ODed on: *bread/rolls *pizza *chocolate frosting *cheese sticks *chicken salad *oatmeal chocolate chip cookies *frosted mini wheats...
and that's all I can think of off the top of my head. With 10 weeks under my belt I'm thinking I can make it through the next few and then I'll be in the clear for feeling more energetic.

On a side note, I've already hit the nesting instinct. As soon as my mom and the kids left, we decided to rearrange our apartment. Its finally sinking in that we're not going anywhere, so I need to suck it up and figure out a way to deal with living in a 2 bedroom apartment that will only feel MORE cramped as we approach the cold weather and will be housebound for much of the time. SO, we decided to switch our bedrooms back so that we get the bigger room. This entailed taking down the crib -- which now that Grace can climb out of is probably not that safe -- and of course Ethan was right there "helping" with all the changes.

As embarrasing as this is to post, here is a picture of our room in the smaller bedroom pre-switch:way too cramped

With the crib dis-assembled, the kids room easily fits into this smaller room. For the time being Grace is sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor in their room, but we're thinking that eventually we will get bunk beds for the kids. Ethan is excited about this prospect. As soon as both rooms are fixed up, I will have to post pictures.

A few days after my mom and the kids left, it was Scott's turn for family to come into town. His sister and her family came in from England where they are living right now and will be here for almost a month. The first weekend they were here, his brother and family drove up from Las Vegas, and it was one big happy reunion for the weekend. And just so you know mom -- Kristin and Susi both think Ethan's hair looks really cute. Don't think we weren't filled in on the fact that you were tempted to cut it every time we were gone. Hahaha. Don't worry, I'm not really upset. That weekend we went on my first EVER camping trip. Girl's camp doesn't really count, because we never slept in tents. So, all of us headed up to this really nice camp in Heber Valley. Ethan was so excited and his first comment when we got out of the car was a joyous "LOOK MOM, THERE'S ROCKS!" referring to the gravel we parked on. Needless to say, he was in hog heaven the whole trip. We just stayed one night, but it was really fun. And aside from dealing with a VERY cranky Ethan and Grace for the rest of the weekend from their lack of sleep, it was definitely an enjoyable trip. Here are some pictures of the fun:

Ethan with a rock (he really wanted me to take a picture of it)

Here's Ethan helping set up the tent

And here's Grace's version of helping

There was a lake there and paddle boats -- which Scott took Ethan on, not these canoes!

Here's our tent

and the cousins roasting some marshmallows

Well, that's all for now folks. This has been exhausting! On a completely random side note, Grace's thumb-sucking habit has gotten so bad that her thumb nail is coming off. Gross, huh. I guess that's what happens when its perpetually soggy from being in her mouth roughly 85% of the day. I'll try and get a picture of it. I think the nail is finally starting to bug her, though, because I've noticed that she's switched to sucking her pointer finger the last couple of days. Oh well, the dentist said not to worry about it till she's 2 or 3. We've got some time.