Better Wear An Apron...I Think You've Got Something Brown On Your Nose!

This morning I made bread. Liam loves to cook and so he was helping. I insisted he wear his apron so he could keep his clothes clean, but he noticed that I had neglected to put one on myself. I explained that I needed to throw this shirt in the laundry anyway so it was ok if it got a little messy. (Actually, truth be told, I was still in my PJs.) Then Liam came back with, "But you still look beautiful, Mom!" What a good boy. Did anyone mention that Christmas is coming?

What next?

Every time we turn around Caleb is into something. This morning we were wrapping some sub-for-Santa gifts with the boys. Caleb got tired of us taking away scissors, tape, and wrapping paper so he went around the corner to the kitchen. It was much too quiet, so we should have known, but we didn't think about it until Daniel told us that Caleb was painting himself and the floor. (The watercolors were still wet from Daniel and Liam's art project last night). So here's to modern art! Luckily watercolors are easy to clean up and we hadn't dressed him for church yet. His brothers thought it was fun to see the bathwater turn colors when I put him in!
Last week we caught Caleb painting the kitchen wall with Daniel's yogurt (left unattended). I'm laughing because it seems like all of the pictures we take of Caleb lately are the messes he's made and covered himself in. Earlier this week he climbed up the toilet onto the bathroom counter, plugged the sink and turned on the water. Unfortunately, we didn't catch on until there was a waterfall. This morning I found pencil scribbled on the wall in the kitchen next to the back door. I wonder who did that??? What a cute little stinker.

Daniel is a Class Act

Yesterday we went to Daniel's first Parent Teacher Conference. He is doing such a great job. He is at or above where he should be in every area. We are so proud of all of his hard work. His teachers comments were: "Daniel is a role model to all students. He is an excellent citizen in the classroom. He is always helpful and a good friend to others. In all academic areas he's meeting expectations for this point in the year, but he's also meeting some grade level standards for the end of kindergarten! We are so proud of him. We love having Daniel in our class!" Daniel also received two awards from the school. The first was a citizenship award and the second was a Principal's Award for academics (in kindergarten that means he knows all of his sight words).

That's what we like to hear. Way to go. To celebrate we went out for chocolate milkshakes. (Any excuse right?!)

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Today it was raining cats and dogs, so naturally Liam insisted on walking to pick up Daniel from kindergarten. Actually, I have to admit that I love walking with my boys in the rain. They love it and I love watching them. They get drenched inside and out. All coats, boots, hoods and hats are merely to show other parents that I am a "responsible adult", they don't really keep my boys dry. They splash in every puddle, and follow the water to every drain. Daniel's teacher must have thought we were insane (and maybe she is right). She actually offered us a ride home, but Daniel wanted his turn at emptying all the puddles between the school and our house. Once we made it home the boys splashed in the gutter in front of our house for a little while. I lured them back inside with hot chocolate. So they dumped a puddle or two out of their boots, hung up drenched coats, and peeled off sopping socks, and pants. I hate laundry, but a walk in the rain is totally worth it! Today I also brought in some beautiful roses from the front yard. The rain tends to ruin the blooms so I figured I'd bring some in to enjoy for a while. They smell so great. I love living here where I can still cut fresh roses from our garden in November.

The Force is Strong With This One

Last night as we were about to leave Target, Daniel stood (legs apart as if bracing himself) infront of the automatic doors and reached his hands out, fingers spread. Then he instructed us to move through, "Hurry, I'll hold it..." He was using the force to open and close the doors for us and it totally worked! A jedi sure comes in handy when you shop. Liam caught on to what he was doing and helped as well. There's no telling what would have happened to us if they hadn't moved those heavy doors with the force--I'd likely still be there! Boys are the best!

Halloween Halloween and More Halloween

Daniel decided this year that Caleb should be Yoda and he and Liam should be Jedi. I was a little sad that my little guys didn't choose something a little more juvenile like their previous costumes (dragon, spider, pumpkin, monkey, lion). But I love Yoda so I went along with it. Caleb made the cutest Yoda I've ever seen and Daniel and Liam know all the Jedi moves. Star Wars is a daily adventure around our house. Daniel and Liam are always commanding their (make believe) troops. Even Caleb gets in on the light saber fights (he even makes light saber sound effects as he swings it around "Wooo Wooo"). So I guess it was appropriate. Grandma Bohman helped us with the Jedi robes while she was visiting. They turned out great.

I used to think that Halloween was one night. Now that I have kids I know better. There is the ward trunk or treat, the school fall festival, preschool Halloween party, visits to pumpkin patches, Music Makers (a group of preschool age kids that we sing with at the church) Halloween party, and of course the Halloween trick or treating. My kids also love to go visit the neighbors in costume on other random days. This year the Jedi also attacked Grandpa while he was visiting. We definitely get our money's worth out of dress up.

Somewhere in the chaos Nathan and I tried to scrounge up costumes for the annual Halloween costume party that our friends put together. I liked his idea to be Charlie Brown from The Great Pumpkin movie, so I made myself Snoopy as best I could. Nathan had the iconic yellow with black zigzag shirt he also brought the holey sheet and even the pillowcase with rocks!

We learned from previous years' mistakes and waited till Wednesday to carve our pumpkins. (Here in Sacramento the warm trick or treating is fun, but jack o' lanterns turn to mush in three or four days.) All three of our boys got a kick out of cleaning the guts out of the pumpkins. The force was not strong enough with us on Halloween, because Daniel tripped and fell twice. Luckily, it was dark and he didn't see the scrapes on his elbow and knee until we got home--so he didn't cry until we made it back. Liam and Daniel were surprisingly brave when we went to a house where the candy was guarded by something in a gory mask. Caleb didn't want a treat at that house. Actually, Caleb just wanted to eat the first treat he got. He chewed through 3 candy wrappers (who knows how much he digested) to get to candy before we got home (both the outside and inside wrappers of a Starburst, a blow pop, and a chocolate bar). Why do people hand treats directly to 1-year-olds???? I think they must laugh as we walk away. (I guess that's the trick for the treat). With all of the Halloweening they got a huge candy stash. It is funny to me that Daniel is almost as picky about his candy as he is about eating dinner. He gave up more than a third of his treats to his brothers. Finally, a payoff for parents of picky eaters. One sweet old lady who loves my boys gave them Pop Tarts. Variety is the spice of life, Right?! Not only did we acquire plenty of treats, but our boys also came home with 4 gold fish! Daniel won two from the School's Fall Festival and Liam was heart broken that he didn't win on his first try. So we spent $1.50 more so he could win two .13 fish. The math only makes sense when you're a 3-year-old Jedi who is desperate for his very own gold fish. (The fact that Nathan already has a 50 gallon aquarium of beautiful African Cichlid fish means nothing. In Daniel's words, "They are Daddy's pets.") I didn't really want the gold fish, but Daniel and Liam have been begging for pets lately--especially for a puppy. So I guess I got off easy. Gold fish are stinky and messy but it's contained in a little jar. No backyard surprises! Now I wonder how long the fish will last. My neighbor said the one she won lasted 4 years. I had no idea it was a 4 year commitment.The local police came to the festival and offered to handcuff the kids and put them in the back of their car. So isn't that a little backwards?? I'm not sure we should encourage our kids to want to be the one in the back seat of the police car! But Liam wanted in--so long as his fish could go with him. Actually, he tried out the back seat, the front seat, and the handcuffs. I guess the crime was paying so much for the fish!

Pizza Picnics

We took advantage of Daniel's minimum day at school to go on a picnic lunch with Nathan on the Capital grounds. We picked up a meal everyone likes...pizza. The boys love any excuse to visit Daddy at work (and I like it too). They had so much fun exploring the grounds, chasing squirrels, and crawling on Nathan. It was so relaxing. Nathan is so busy at work, we are so lucky he makes time for us in his crazy schedule.

Shortcuts for Mommy

Caleb was so cute this Halloween and we can't wait to unpack the decorations and get him out again next year! Some days this sounds like a great idea to moms, but truthfully I think this little stinker is too adorable to miss even a moment (even the difficult ones). Caleb had so much fun packing up the Halloween decorations with me this week. He climbed right into one of the boxes and kept making train noises (wooo woooo!). His vocabulary is growing every day. We love to hear the new words he's using. He's really good at "spash-spash"=bath, "mine" =mom, "Daddy" (very clear), "Danol" =Daniel (I think he also uses it for Liam sometimes), ball (everything is a ball right now--he throws pumpkins, diaper cream containers, grapes, basically anything within his reach), "than' oo" =thank you (he melted our neighbor's heart when he said thank you without any prompting when she brought him a cookie), "Whee" =slide, "beby" =baby, "no" (of course it is crystal clear). There are more every day. Last night I was putting on Caleb's PJs, which he hates, and I swear he yelled "Daddy Help!"

A great timesaver for moms is to wash the kid in the clothes. This way both get clean and you don't waste time re-dressing them. ---OK, so I that isn't exactly what happened. Actually, on Sunday we threw all three of the boys in the bath (undressed). I took Caleb out and got him dressed while Liam and Daniel stayed in a while longer. Then I took out Liam and dressed him and finally, Daniel had his turn. While I was dressing Daniel, Caleb decided to extend his bath time and climbed back in. It was pretty funny. Luckily, we found another Sunday outfit and got Caleb dressed again, in time for church.