Pumpkin Patch

 We met some girls from the Residency program at a nearby Pumpkin Patch and the kids had a blast.  They had this freakishly scary huge pig in a pen and the kids were terrified.  The kids were calling him "Wilbur" since they just recently saw Charlotte's Web and I've been reading the book to them.

I was able to finally coax Emerson to stand within five feet of the pig, just for scale.  It was as big as a horse.

They loved the corn-box.  Luckily I took off their shoes so they didn't get lost in there.  I found corn in little piles all over our house for the next day and then again when I did laundry.

She thought this was hilarious.  (Pardon the grubby toenails, they sorely need to be repainted.)

Both feet

 The race through the corn maze!

Cousins Are Cool

We got to have some of our cousins over to play, and Sammi just loved it.  Carson is 3 months younger than her, but they are just the right size for each other and love to give each other hugs and kisses every time they see each other.

Here he is being a good sport to waltz with Sammi while she wears her Ariel princess dress.

In other cousin news, I am way excited because my brother Scott and sister-in-law Ashley are expecting their first baby in March!

Happy Birthday Ben!

 This handsome Dad turned 29 on September 24th.  The kids have wished him a "Happy Birthday" every day since.  It apparently made a big impression on them that parents can have birthdays too.  I know how that feels though, because I remember waiting and waiting for my birthday, yet it felt like my parents and grandparents had about twice as many birthdays in a year as I did.

Such big helpers

Emerson presenting his first-ever picture to Dad.  It was an adorable stick-figure drawing of the two of them.  They kind of resembled Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, but I think that's why I love them so much.

 

My dad gave Ben just what he always wanted.  Zombieland and Twinkies.  You have to see the movie to know how they are related.

One year older and wiser!

We love you Benny!  Enjoy your last year in your twenties...

The Condo

 My parents have this condo up in Midway, Utah.  We always go there for General Conference and often for New Year's, but sometimes it's fun to go there for no reason at all.  The kids love a getaway, so we decided to go there, just our little family, a few weeks ago.  We always meet my family there, so the kids felt pretty gypped that Grandma and Grandpa weren't there.  We found some things to do though.

Daddy got Sammi dressed today!

 Playing in the sand of the volleyball court

Dad and The Girl

Pretty leaves

More pretty leaves

Me...even though I hate pictures of myself

We saw Moosen!  3 of 'em.

Smiley guy

Sweet little girl

These kids are such little adventurers.  We went on a drive through the canyon to see the leaves and took a turn by Cascade Springs to be adventurous.  We somehow ended up on what we believe may have been a four-wheeling trail?  It got super narrow and really bumpy.  Our vehicle has never felt more rugged, but I was hating it.  The kids were laughing and having a good time for most of it, and then they got really nervous.  Emerson even thought to say a prayer.  It was the cutest thing.  "PLEASE, Heavenly Father, PLEASE!  Make this scary place go away!"  We were all relieved when we turned around and made it back to real roads and arrived safely at the condo.

Fishin'

 Ben had a day off in the middle of the week, so we decided to go fishing at Spanish Oaks Reservoir.  We tried to prepare the kids by telling them it would be a long wait and we probably wouldn't catch anything.  They didn't really listen...and kept asking when we would catch something...but they had a great time.  Ben has been itching to take them fishing since they were old enough to hold things.

Did you know cowboys like to fish?

Dad and The Girl.

We got a bite!

 

The kids look puzzled and horrified.  I'm a little scared of the levitating fish too.

E was pretty nervous about the fish, but Sammi was pretty intrigued.  Just their personalities.

E was concerned about the fish thrashing around.

Then he decided he was proud

  Four fish later...the kids didn't believe me when I said we wouldn't catch anything, and E said he wanted us to make the fish into a fish meat sandwich for him to eat.  I said we had to cook it and asked him how he thought we should, and he answered, "In the frying pan so nothing will happen to it!"  Makes sense...?  The kids had such a good time holding the pole and throwing rocks into the water (Sammi) that every time they wake up and think Dad is going to be home, (every day, but sadly they are wrong) they say, "Let's go fishing today!"

And amazingly, when we cooked the trout for dinner that night, they each ate a whole fish themselves.  I was thoroughly confused and in awe, mostly because I make things that are much less offensive than fish and they hardly touch their dinner.

Little Stinker

This girl has been giving us a run for our money lately.  She has been a really good sleeper since she was a baby for the most part, but she has never slept as much as Emerson.  I think I got spoiled with that boy and his 4 hour naps in the afternoon and then 12 hour nights.  She is a pretty light sleeper, and is pretty good at manipulating us.  I'll just tell it like it is. :)

We were going through this ridiculous bedtime routine where I'd put her in bed, tuck her in, start walking out the door, and this is what would happen:

Me: "Goodnight Sammi.  Love you."
Start walking toward door
Sammi: "Mommy!  Wanna drinka water."
Me: "Ok, you can have one."
Gets a few drops of water in the bottom of a Dixie cup
Me: "Ok, goodnight."
Starts walking toward door again...almost made it...touching doorknob...
Sammi: "Mommy!  Wanna sleep with Brown Bear (her books)."
Me: "You already have Brown Bear.  Night-night!"
Running to door...touching doorknob...closing quietly...
Sammi: "Mommy! I have happy dreams 'bout Tiana, and Ariel, and Belle, and Aurora, and Snow White, and Daddy, and Prince Eric and stinky-winky Mommy, and...
Me: "Ok! Good Night!"
Close door, walk away.
Shrieking ensues since I didn't let her finish, so we start it all over again with me feeling extremely exasperated.

Soo....fast forward past a week of this.  I am ready to pull my hair out, and I decide, "This is the night!  Emerson is fast asleep since he didn't have a nap today, Ben is on call, I have nothing else to do.  She is going to cry it out."  Now don't get me wrong, she cried it out once or twice when she was a baby and we were doing the initial sleep training thing, but she can form coherent words now and it's so much harder.

So I tell her goodnight, shut the door, and wait.  She immediately goes berserk, starts pounding on the door in a fit, and keeps hitting the doorknob guard until she breaks it apart and throws it furiously into the garbage in her room.  Then she tries to open the door so I put her in her bed about 10 separate times until I just decided I was going to hold the doorknob shut.  Meanwhile, I am silently laughing because I can either do that or cry.  She is just so MAD!  I never knew so much rage could come from such a small girl.

Then she laid on the ground to push books under the door.  I wish I could've gotten inside her little mind to see what she thought she would accomplish by doing this.  Maybe she thought if I saw the books I would think, "Why look! Books! I think I'll go in and read them to Sammi!"

Bait NOT taken.

Since that plan failed, she just resorted to saying "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, etc." for half an hour straight (I timed it) with a few choice phrases thrown in like, "Open the door Mommy!  Stinky-winky Mommy!"  "Don't close the door Stinky Mommy!"  I just had to laugh.  Then it got even better when she started thinking up excuses like "I wanna sit on the potty!", "I'm sick!", "I poot again!" (She says poot for poop), "Change my diaper!", "Want Daddy!".  I am proud to say, I didn't budge, and she eventually gave up, climbed back in bed, and went to sleep. 

I think she learned to stay in her room from that experience because while she can open her door on her own now, she won't come out of her room.  Thus we found this when we went up to bed the other night.  Door open, girl hit with the sleep dart in her doorway.

And now our newest problem is that she is waking up at 3 am because she is hungry.  Any suggestions?  Similar experiences?

1st Day of Preschool!

 E started school today!  He has been really excited about it in an Emersonian way. 

I didn't think I'd be sad since it is his second year of Preschool, and he is only a couple of houses away, but I got a little teary when I dropped him off.  I also got a little teary thinking of our carpool to Preschool last year in Columbus with the 3 best buddies, Tucker, Aaron, and E.  Their conversations were the best.

He's at school right now, so I'm hoping he has a better first day this year than last year when he fell into the urinal at school and soaked his shirt.

The obligatory hand-on-the-doorknob picture

I should've made the font bigger and bolder, but it says "September 2012, Preschool, Age 4, Wants to be an Engineer when he grows up."

Sneaky Sammi jumped into this picture.  But luckily she is hiding behind her flip-flop so we can't see her.

I just really hope E loves school and that the other kids are nice to him.  He has such an outgoing personality and tender little heart that he sometimes gets his feelings hurt when he's trying to make friends with new kids at soccer, the playground, or anywhere we happen to go that he sees other kids.  I sometimes wish I could keep him with me at home forever, but I know that really wouldn't be the best thing for him.  I just don't want him to stop being himself.

Soccer

 Guess who started soccer!?  This handsome devil.  Guess who is extremely cuted out?  Me!

I'm not sure why Provo City Soccer insists on slapping a BYU logo on the jersey, but it makes me a little sick every time he puts it on.  Even Ben was puzzled and slightly disgusted.  He may deny it now, but it's true.

 I have a love/hate relationship with 4-year-old soccer I've decided.  I love that it is all about having fun, learning, and absolutely none of the parents are jerks or competitive in the least.  I hate (dislike) that it can be so frustrating to watch a bunch of 4-year-olds wander around a field aimlessly as the ball runs into their feet and they still don't kick it.  Let's face it though, overall it is just adorable and a hoot.  He was very excited to see that his jersey is #1 because that is the same number that Thomas the Tank Engine has painted on his engine body.

We've had 4 games and it is finally starting to click with Emerson that he has to follow the ball the whole time and not just bite his nails and pretend to be Wall-E.  I was so proud of him during the first game though because he scored the first goal in the very first game!  Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile.  The stars aligned and he MADE A GOAL.  He was very pleased with himself.  He has scored a goal every time Ben isn't able to come to a game.

Here are some action shots:

Here is Emerson practicing with his team before the game.

Running so fast!

Just being silly.

Goal kick!  So cute!

He's #1 way down the field, dangerously close to the goal.

Bunch ball.  (E is #1)

He is the one who appears to be scoring a goal.  But don't be fooled, it barely BARELY missed!

She is Emerson's biggest cheerleader.  She even cheers for him when he's not in.  She yells, "Go Em-a-son!"

It makes me want to play soccer again so much!  I have such fond memories of youth soccer.

Our New Home

 Wanna know where we've been living?  We found a beautiful home to rent in Provo that is not too far away from the hospital.  It has been really great so far.  I am decorating impaired, however, and also poor from being a student wife and paying for two homes, so don't start judging me.  I vow to myself it will be really cute one day.

 View of front door.  That coat closet on the left is as big as our first apartment.

 View as you walk in...we are ghetto and don't have any couches in the sitting room yet, but one thing at a time.

Family room

Kitchen.  I know what you are thinking, and yes, it is always this clean.  I did not move the pile of crap off my desk before taking this picture.  And no, I did not strategically plan this picture for cleaning day.

 Downstairs bathroom (that little pink potty fills me with shame every time I glance at it because of our failed potty-training attempt.)

 Laundry room, through the downstairs bathroom

 Crawlspace playroom (it is only 5 feet tall--perfect for kiddos, not so perfect for adults)

Master bedroom

 Master bathroom

 Kids' bathroom

 Sammi's room

 Emerson's room

Our favorite thing about the house is probably the fenced-in yard with a playground.

 Our garden is growing like crazy.  In case you are doorbell-ditched and find zucchini on your porch, it wasn't us...

The main thing that we have had to adjust to is mowing our own lawn.  It stinks!  I think I would maybe rather pay the condo fee like we did in Ohio to have the grass mowed, edged, and have all that stinky grass hauled away.  Oh well.  I guess we have to grow up sometime.