Family Rules

Tonight for FHE we made some family rules. We had the kids contribute, so we ended up with a large list that we whittled down to five.

The finalists were:
1. Be Kind (or get a time-out)
2. Be Obedient (or go to the corner)
3. Be Honest (or lose screen time)
4. No Yelling (or talk in a whisper for 10 minutes)
5. No Naughty Crying or Whining (or clean up for __ minutes)

The rules that didn't make it onto the list were:
~Never Touch Poop (the first, very enthusiastically offered, rule)
~Never wander off on your own
~Always ask Mom or Dad for permission
~Have Fun
~Always give matches to a grown-up
~Never play with lighters

All very good rules, but I think our top five will serve our family well. Maybe when the kids are older we can add some more rules to the official list. Like never touch poop. Very important.

Mike read a story to all the kids before he left for work. It went well until Will and Molly both got a death-grip on the book.

Molly LOVES my phone. She'll choose it over any toy, and it's hard to pry it from her grip.

Just look at that little face! She is so stinking cute! I felt really bad tonight...I made her cry. I really offended her, which has never happened. Mike came in to see what was wrong because she never cries like she did tonight. I was nursing her right before bed and she bit me...hard. With her little razor teeth. All I did was look her in the eye and say, "No." She looked at me for a second, frowned, and then just started bawling. Mike came in and calmed her down, but she was really upset! Little tenderheart. But hopefully she never bites me again.

She had her 9 month check-up last week, and she's small! I'll have to double check, but I think she was about 17.5 lbs and 27 inches, which puts her around the 30th percentile (according to the nurse, the doctor said it was more like 35-40. And I'm pretty sure the length was inaccurate, she shorted Molly an inch or two). She's always been in about the 50th percentile for everything, but she's still proportionate! And she's healthy and perfect.

More Halloween Adventures

So much Halloween fun! I like it more and more every year.
We always look forward to the Halloween parade at Sam's preschool. Last year Sam refused to carry an instrument in the parade. This year he led the procession, he was practically running! Poor Ryan somehow hit his head on a rock (?) so he came last and didn't make it into our pictures. Maxwell (below, far right, Spiderman) is Sam's Transformer buddy.

Sam and about half of his preschool class. I don't where all the other kids were, but a couple showed up after the parade and photo shoot. Sad. Sam is so big!

My sister was so nice to invite us to trick or treat in her office! They throw a pretty amazing Halloween party! We got there at the end, but it was great, and the kids had a blast! I can't wait to see how our pictures turned out. Thanks Auntie Jen! (Next year save us some candy :) And next year we'll go earlier so I can get a slice of the peanut butter cup pie.

Papa and his Molly Grace.

Papa Lon herding my little cows to Grandma Tigger's house to trick or treat. We were sad she wasn't home.

The boys found a big leaf pile and had to jump in!

You know how some celebrities have little dogs as accessories? Well, Mike had some accessories too! A little "cow girl" to carry around instead of a chihuahua. Personally, I think Will and Molly are much cuter anyway.

I was busy making soup and cornbread, so I didn't do my cowgirl costume. It wasn't very good though, especially when compared to Mike and his totally authentic-except-his-pants-weren't-near-tight-enough cowboy costume. And his belt buckle wasn't very big. Some of the cowboys in my high school had them as big as hubcaps. Seriously. But man, he did look good!

No Halloween is complete without a visit to one of our very favorite people, LaRae! We've gone to see her pretty much every year since Sam was just a little tyke. For sure three years in a row, but I think 4. The last two years (before Halloween) Sam has asked me if we were going to go see LaRae on Halloween. We pass her house every time we go visit Grandma and Papa. Mike has known her forever, and we just love her!

The only word that comes to mind is...blech. Is that a word? No? How about...Shave! As in, go shave that off, it's just creepy! When Mike does a costume, he goes full board. He grew his facial hair out for a solid month. See above picture for the classy beard version.

And who can resist a vampire cow? He found them, put them in, and then went around scaring everyone in the room. Love this kid!

Silly Boys

"Hey Mom, do I look like a mummy?!"

"Mommy, I spill dink!"

The Halloween Fun Begins

It snowed all day yesterday, and it's been freezing here! I was sitting on the couch with Sam reading a book and he said, "Mom, I can hear jingle bells! Is Santa coming?"
We started reading Danny The Champion of the World and Sam loves it! It's so fun to read a chapter book with him. He's really getting into the story, and it's some great special time for us when the other kids are asleep.

Our ward trunk or treat was Wednesday, and the kids had lots of fun. I forgot the camera, so I had to take pictures of them when we got home. They wouldn't all look at me at the same time.

Mike had the most amazing costume. Ever. Complete with all the cowboy accessories...bolo tie, belt buckle, boots, and cows! And such cute cows too! Molly looks exactly like Sam did when he wore that costume 4 years ago. I love it! Sam absolutely loves Transformers right now, so he was pretty excited to be Bumblebee for Halloween (along with half the other boys his age). We got some good use out of the costumes this year. We also wore them trick or treating at my sister's office, at a care center, and then of course around the neighborhood. I love getting my money's worth out of something!

In the last couple of years, Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays. I love finding fun treats to make, and this is always everyone's favorite! (Check food blog for recipe) The mummies we made yesterday were pretty fun too! We've made lots of fun stuff this month, and we're not done yet! Plus we have an awesome monster on our front door, I'll post those pics soon. Fun!

My little monsters. I love girly Halloween clothes, is she not the cutest?! Sam and Will love practicing their scary faces!

Speaking of scary, when I got Will out of bed today after his nap, his backside felt unusually not padded. I looked down and saw his diaper on the floor! He took it off, threw it, and then put his pants back on. What a monkey. At least the diaper was only wet!

Molly started cutting teeth about a month and a half ago (at age 7 1/2 months). They're still not all the way out, but one is close. The way I found out she was teething was when my friend was watching her while I was at the dentist (ironically), and she asked when Molly's teeth started coming in. I didn't even know! I don't routinely put my fingers in her mouth, so I'd never felt them. She was a little fussy the day before, but I thought she was just hungry because she was fine after I fed her. Apparently she was getting her first tooth! Talk about an easy baby! She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 months old (and by that I mean all night...not 6 hours like some people consider sleeping through the night). She's currently sleeping 12-13 hours at night, napping twice, and she almost never cries. She loves to sit and play with toys, but she's not interested in crawling yet. And she's finally eating solids! for months she just wouldn't do it, so we're happy that she finally caved. Perfect baby.

Sam still loves Transformers, so he had a blast playing with his buddy Max that also loves Transformers. He's doing great in preschool, and loves reading. He read an entire story book to his older cousins the other day. He says all sorts of stuff that makes us laugh and keeps us on our toes!

I went to lunch with my sisters, and it was so much fun! I have the greatest sisters! We talked and laughed, and I had 3 big lemonades by the time our food came. Great way to not be hungry when your food comes.

Melissa and I were sitting in our booth talking while we waited for Jennifer to get there when a couple came up to our table and asked if I was Becky Foutz. It was the people I used to babysit for back in the day...14 years ago! I had a standing Friday night babysitting job, and sometimes another time or two during the week. I babysat for them all the time for about two years (until we moved). The little boy I babysat was 6 when we moved, and his sister was 2. Now he's 20 and on a mission, and she's 16! There's even a little brother I never met. It made me feel so old! I can't believe they remembered me after all those years. It was so fun to see people from (what seems like) a whole other life.

Good News!

I decided there was a chance the memory card got recycled after garbage day last week, so we dumped the can...and found it!!! We already bought a new one (figures), but I'm so relieved to have my pics back!