I'm the Cook

Nichole came to me one day with some cooking gear as I was getting ready to make dinner and told me, "Hey, I'm the cook, Mom."

She proceeded to help me make pizza muffins.

Mixing the ingredients

Kneeding the dough

Rolling it out

And afterward, enjoying the fruits of her labor (or at least the muffins of her labor)

Later she told me, "I'm the pizza cook. Mommy's the rice cook. Daddy's the pasta cook. Jr. is the brownie cook." Though both Jeremy and I agree that Jr. is more like the brownie burglar.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRAVIS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRAVIS!

Memorable Advice

I’d like to know what kind of memorable advice people have been given at different points in their lives- when getting married, having children, going off to college, on missions, whatever.
For example, I will never forget that when we were expecting our first child, my mother-in-law told me (paraphrasing)- Don’t let Jeremy tell you otherwise, he knows how to change diapers.
What memorable advice have you been given? And remember please keep your comments Kristin-appropriate. That means G-rated, or at the most, PG.

And here's my advice for this weekend: Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Remember to count your blessings.

Primary Program

When we first moved into our current ward last year, Nichole was still in Nursery. It seems like so long ago. After a few months, they had a Primary program in Sacrament Meeting. I was a little confused as to why the nursery kids didn't get to participate. For as long as I have been a parent, the nursery kids in our old ward did practically the whole program themselves. Them and their leaders. I realized most wards have an actual primary as compared to our two kids in junior primary and twelve kids in nursery. That's why we had Nursery programs. I guess it's normal to just have the older than nursery kids do the program.
Anyway, this year as a Sunbeam, Nichole got to be part of the Primary program. She knew her part so well. As the weeks got us closer to the program, we'd ask her, "Nichole, what is your part in the Primary program?" She would let us know, "My family loves me." We were ready.
The day of the program arrived. It started off so well. Jeremy fixed us all pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Everyone was so happy and getting along so well. Nichole was still ready for her part and we were all excited.
Then came time to get dressed. Jr. fought us getting his clothes on. Nichole decided she just wanted her pajamas on and wanted to sleep. She didn't want to wear shoes. Needless to say, our mood wasn't as chipper when we finally got everyone out to the car.
By the time we got to church, we were a little better off. Jeremy took Jr. to Nursery while I took Nichole to Primary. She was a little hesitant about going and sitting down with her class, but it was all right. I fortunately got to enjoy a good lesson in Relief Society then in Sunday School with Jeremy, so by the time Sacrament Meeting came along, I was in a very good mood.
Jeremy went to get Jr. from Nursery and I went to get Nichole from Primary. Hmmm, no kids in the primary room. O.K. It's happened before where Nichole wasn't in the primary room when I went to get her. In one instance, she had gone to wait in the nursery room with Jr. I also thought maybe they'd practiced the primary program in the chapel. I caught up with Jeremy, quickly looked around the chapel while going through it (though there were a lot of people in there), but I didn't see Nichole in the chapel and she was not in the nursery room. The search began.
I know it's hard to keep track of all the kids in Primary, so I don't blame the teachers when little kids get away. I'm just not used to them not keeping my child until I get there (this is my oldest child- first year out of nursery, where they do hold on to the kids- big ward). And it does get kind of scary when you can't find your child where you expect them to be.
So, I started from the chapel and went around the whole building (including checking in the bathroom) until I got to the other side of the chapel. I saw one of Nichole's teachers coming out of the chapel and asked if she knew where Nichole was. She said she thought the other teacher had her. Then I saw the other teacher come out of the chapel. I asked her if she knew where Nichole was. She said that she told Nichole she could sit with her family until we got there. So, she was somewhere. Phew. I must have not looked in that area when going through before and just missed her.
I went in and saw Jeremy pointing to one of the back pews. There was Nichole with her teacher's family, playing with the boys in the pew ahead of her. I went over and told her she could come sit with Mommy and Daddy and Jr. until it was time to sit up front for the program. She did not want to move. She wanted to stay right there and not sit with us.
I promise you, I am a nice Mom. I try to treat my children well and I would say that they are happy children. They're not afraid of me. But sometimes they just like a change. It wasn't anything against us. Nichole just wanted to sit with her teacher's family. They said it was okay, so I went over to sit with Jr. and Daddy, looking back from time to time to check on my little girl.
When it was time for the program, Nichole went up to sit with her class on the stand and the program began. Jr. was climbing around on our pew, but as soon as one of Nichole's classmates sang a solo into the microphone (this kid, no fear, she did such a good job, and she's only 4), he immediately stopped and watched.
Then it was time for the Sunbeams to say their parts. Jr. got excited when Nichole went up to the microphone. As soon as she said, "My family loves me," he called out, "There's Nichole," and as soon as she got down to go back to her seat, he jumped off my lap and said, "I'll go get her." Uh oh. I tried to explain that he needed to stay with us and just watch Nichole in the program, but that just set him off. I had to take him out in the hall because of the screaming. He loves his sister and just wanted to be with her. I got him calmed down by looking at a picture of Jesus in the hall. We talked about how Jesus loves him, and at one point a man came out in the hall with his daughter. I told him how Jr. wanted to be up with his sister and was having a hard time. Jr. looked at him and said, "Jesus loves me." Oh, so precious. Nichole had her part to say in the Primary Program and Jr. was saying that just as if he was part of the program.
He didn't stay calm, though. I tried from time to time to go back to the chapel and stand in the back or right outside the door to watch and listen, but Jr. would not be calm then, so I had to keep taking him away. He was tired. Jeremy came out and took Jr., changed his diaper, then held him so I could go in and finish watching the program. I got in there during the closing remarks. Jeremy brought Jr. in during the closing song. The poor little guy was asleep.
So I missed most of the Primary Program, but I got to see Nichole do her part. And she did it well.

Snow in October

Here's something else we got to enjoy in our October:

SNOW!!

Note: I posted this post this morning. Guess what we got this evening? SNOW!! Talk about timing.

Fall Leaves

Yet another October activity:

We decided to have a picnic among the fallen leaves. The kids decided that playing in the leaves was much more entertaining than eating.

Pumpkins

It seemed like for all of October, Jr. was very interested in pumpkins. Every morning after family prayer, we each say what we are grateful for. For quite a while, every morning Jr. would let us know he was grateful for pumpkins. I wanted to share a little bit of the pumpkin fun that we enjoyed in October.

Balloon pumpkin, anyone?

Pumpkin pancakes- regular pancakes with food coloring and chocolate chip faces.

Painting pumpkins

His Halloween costume- he wasn't interested in wearing the hat

Fall Decorations

Continuing on about our October-

We tried our hand at a few decorations for Fall and Halloween, only one ended up as an actual decoration, the others ended up as toys (which happens with a 4 and 2 year old).

Earlier in the season, the kids and I went for a walk and collected some of the early fallen leafs, took them home, and made leaf rubbings with them.

My mother-in-law got me a subscription to FamilyFun magazine (see http://familyfun.go.com/magazine/ to learn more), and we used a couple ideas from the October issue and tweaked them to fit our family.

Jeremy put up our one decoration, a construction paper pumpkin, in a window. One cool thing is that light shining through it made really neat designs on the wall, and depending on the time of day, the designs would be in different areas of the living room and hall and sometimes there would be multiples of the pumpkin face on our walls.

Another idea we adapted from the magazine was making spiders out of egg cartons and pipe cleaners. The kids painted the egg carton pieces, they picked out what color they wanted the pipe cleaner legs to be, and I punched holes for the eyes. At night we could put electric tea lights in them to make glowing eyes. After a while, the kids just enjoyed playing with the tea lights and pretending they were birthday candles to blow out. We sang a lot of Happy Birthday in October.

Toward Halloween, the kids painted little pumpkins, which is a lot less messy than carving.

It's fun to create.

Scarecrows

I figure since it's almost halfway through November, I better catch up on how October was for us. I'll start by sharing some more of my husband's talent.

This shows his versatility in balloon sculpting. Here are a small scarecrow and a large scarecrow:

You can see Jeremy's fingers holding the little guy and the big guy has crows on his arm and on the post that he's attached to. He apparently isn't doing his job right if the crows are hanging around. But he still looks good.
The small one Jeremy would do in a restaurant setting for tips, while the large one he made when he was hired for a Halloween party (one of those parties where we enjoyed the perks).

The KAT's Meow

Nichole: Ha Ha Ha. My leg is gone. Hey, my leg is gone.

Explanation: She was looking through a camera at her leg and moved it so she couldn't see her leg anymore.

Nichole's Turn

nichole
nichole

kiuyhd
jhgtrwas

hgfrtyujk
jhytghd

jhedaq

dsdddddddfsdkhhhh
bvhiyedfhds

fgdgfsf

dsdfhhhhhhhhhhhft

bxzasdfffgkjhghghgh
ndtrrddddddyttrhghfhefdfdfff

ytttrrtrrrrrrrrrrrrmnmjhgrfgjkuuhfgtzdffff,f,,f,f,f,,f,,f''';;;,,,,,,,hhhhhhhhhhhhfhggggdbddbggjfdfddffffffdswehgwvvvfdruijv

vffvbsdggffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff88881234ggffrdrtwrfffffhgfddhgjhityuuuudddfgggggggggge
hhdthlllllllffffffaqwererrejjguloiiiiiiiiitwqhghhhhhhhhhhagdftttttttfdsdffcxdfgffdddrfreeeeeeeeyrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
hghdfddfffffdsfffssssshkc\\\yddxfh[]]/][[]mncxchjhjhjhhhbvllkjjgjjj

ttwwssdfdsfdcdfsovfdgfrtgffhfggjjhghhfffhhgyu
nvgvvhhgbghmjhnjkjmnhmjlkjjkujjkjkhlghl,hgpoloylhpllhhjuiphjp;h[pklokoltgllgflg;gg;b;n;nlllml;l..,;m;m;;m;k;

njhhjhyjyjkhktkitjhoijyiikyiotyhjig9yhkujoyujoky9ipk7i9lllyllgkoflg-;tth't.h.,hlh,,g

,..;,.,;.,;.,;.y;jjk;jl.ohk,l;hhlmjhoophllj.,lj;lm,h;,;m;.i/ ;l,.o\/.vbghyhyhhgyhfgtbghybyrrbgbhty

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dugfhfhjnbhjbjijughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhfkfdojiyjgfigiigggggghjgjjifghggkohhjjhhdfgtfkjg[shaha

djjjdjjjjjdjshyueyr77ryurt7y7ou0oi8p;7yjkhghjkohkj7;lmn,l,jkhmnkhm bgjgjgijgfjjkfkdkdkk

fguhuyyghghguhuhg9ihuuujngbghfhuhifbttttter5666ttjg7fhfbffhgvgfyjdjskljrmfjukjrtjjigufjgjkgmkkkfkfd,.lccbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcbbxxb

mnnnmn m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnmmnnnnnnnmm,,,nklm

gdfsggssgssggggggggggggsrydydd

Translation:
Nichole
Nichole
Dear, Nichole. You are a beautiful girl.
Nichole loves me.
I love Heather. Amen.
Nichole love me. Amen. So happy.

Nichole love my mom and dad when I was happy.

Dear Nichole, when I was dear, when I was a baby. Amen.
When I was so happy. Amen. When I was a daughter when my mom helped me to pick me up.
I'm so glad with f. F was this one. Amen.
D [I couldn't quite understand her nonsense words she was saying as she was typing].
[This one was also hard to understand, but it ended with Amen.]
So [more nonsense words] when I was going home, when I go home, fff when I go fff, it means 10. 12345, it means 5 and I'm going to get to the 5.
Nichole [nonsense words again]
Hey, what you are. Hey, what you doing with my balls? Nichole, what you are it a R when you go away, we not go away 'cept Darby. See. What are you doing with my toys? What are you doing with my chocolate toys, my chocolate food? Food, food food. What are you doing? What are you? Hey what you doing with my chalk? Hey, what you always go away. We not always go away with V. vvvvvvvvv [etc. etc.] D, what are you doing with B? What are you doing with shapes? When I was I was a f. I was not a letter. I was a letter F.

[nonsense] Q, always in o-wee. A [nonsense, nonsense] Q. TTT, always Timo. Timo. All in for Candyland. All way [or o way]. [something else] He He He. R with He. He He He He He. Hey-o with Hey-o.

[Then I had to go in the other room and I wasn't able to hear what she was saying as she was typing, so your guess is as good as mine].

Catch of the Day

She's having a ball.

Friendship

The Relief Society lesson at church today was about friendship. I wanted to share a scripture and a quote that the teacher shared with us. I don't have a reference for the quote. It was just something the teacher had read somewhere and really liked. I like it, too.

Proverbs 17:17 "A friend loveth at all times..."

Quote "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Kristin says: These things really describe Jesus Christ. He is our ultimate friend even when we're not being the best friend to Him. He knows us so well and still loves us even when we make mistakes, even when we don't show enough gratitude for what we are given.
I have been blessed time and time again to have the Savior in my life. So many good things have happened to me from following His example. He is the best friend I could ask for.

Halloween Perks

Jeremy was hired for a couple of Halloween parties in October and brought home treats to share with us.

Still loving those perks.

The KAT's Meow

Nichole: See, there's cereal on the table. What a mess.




Daddy: How about a hug?
Jr. (comes in for a big hug): Yeah!
Jr.: How about a sucker?

Painting Time

You wouldn't think painting at the table would be a real active activity, but it is... if you're the parent.

First there's the gathering of supplies and getting the kids ready (changing them into suitable painting gear). Then the painting begins.

Here's what happens to me. The kids tell me what colors they want and I squirt the paint onto their aluminum foil pallet. When they're ready for a new color, I give them a new squirt of paint and give them a new paint brush then go over to the sink to rinse and dry the old one to be used next time a change of color is needed. With two children who like to change colors often, there's quite a bit of back and forth running. Then of course there's the occasional painted finger or arm that needs to be wiped.

After the kids are finished, it's time to clean up and keep an eye on them at the same time. But in the end it's all worth it to see the happiness they get from this activity, especially when Mommy is involved.

Sincere Prayer

I love hearing the sincere prayers of little children. Yesterday evening, my husband had to come home early from work because he wasn't feeling too well. I told the kids that he was on his way home, and that when he got home he'd need to lie down on the couch and rest. I asked the kids not to bother him and jump on him when he got home. He'd probably need to sleep so he could feel better. A while later I asked Nichole to bless the food and she did, but she also included these things in the blessing:
Bless Daddy to drive safely. So he can get home and sleep and we will not wake him.
My precious daughter. It was beautiful.
When Jeremy did get home, the kids were on the couch eating some pancakes. I told them that Daddy was home and that he would need to lie down on the couch. They immediately moved to sitting on the floor so Daddy would have access to the couch.
I love my kids.

Trunk or Treat

My personal opinions: In the first set of pictures, Jeremy was trying the balloon pumpkin on Jr. and adjusted it later to fit better. But in that picture, I think if the balloons were blue, he would look like a blueberry from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Jeremy's and my schedules overlapped Thursday evening so we took the kids over to some friends' house. Nichole became very interested in the red coat, so they said she could use it for Halloween. Thus her little red riding hood costume.
Jeremy wore his safari outfit and built a skeleton for a Halloween party he was hired for.
And me? Well, I'm just cute. Not everyone can fit in their own trunk to pass out candy during the trunk or treat. We got two big bags of smarties to hand out and didn't even get through the first bag.
And in the last picture in the middle of the bottom, doesn't it look like Jr. is floating (click on the picture to see a bigger version of it)?

And for those of you who don't know what trunk or treat is: Church members bring their vehicles to the church parking lot, open their trunks and let the kids come around trick-or-treating to the vehicles. For us, with our little ones, I'm glad our ward does it because they go around getting their candy in one spot and we don't have to drive around to so many different neighborhoods to go trick-or-treating. And it limits the amount of candy they get.