Happy Halloween ...

from Indiana Jones and your friendly neighborhood garbage man!

And how awesome are our Mr. Potato Head pumpkins? They were 10 minutes start to finish, no clean up, and the boys actually helped instead of Jamie and I scraping and carving for an hour. Good thing the boys liked them, because you know I'm using them year after year.

Happy Trick or Treating!!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy ....

It's a Girl!!

What?! I had kind of been thinking it was a girl but wasn't going to be surprised if it were a boy. Instead, I'm actually quite surprised it's a girl. We are very excited, especially Jacob. He has been wanting a little sister. Everything looks good. Strong heartbeat and everything where it is supposed to be.
Today is my half way point. 20 weeks down, 20 to go.
(Isn't she already so cute all curled up in a ball and snugly?)

Something’s missing…

Jacob lost his first tooth today. He could not have been more excited. It was loose enough that it practically fell out on its own. After lunch Jamie pulled it out and Jacob barely even noticed. He was excited to slurp the spaghetti we had for dinner through the hole where the tooth used to be. Before bed tonight, he wrote a note to the tooth fairy to see if she would be kind enough to leave the tooth but still leave him money anyway. He said he wants the money to help buy more Legos and that he was ok if she had to take his tooth as long as she left the money.

He's officially a big kid.

Isn't This How Everyone Watches TV?

You know what they say, "If the bag fits ..."

*I took this picture a couple of hours ago and after taking a break and playing for a bit, I just now turned to look at him and he is sitting watching TV, in the bag again. I guess he has a new preferred spot.

Go Jacob!

Guess who just read a book all by himself? No, not Jamie. I know I have a thousand other posts to do, but Jacob read Green Eggs and Ham all by himself tonight and we were so proud that we had to let the world know. Jacob was obviously very proud of himself and had a big goofy smile on his face when he finished and said "Who wants to give me a hug?"

Another Parker First

(Sorry about the picture, it looks like I scanned in a torn photo and it's blurry. Did I mention I don't like our camera?)

Parker had his first slice of pizza a couple of days ago. I discovered Little Cesar's doesn't have egg in their crust, so I ordered him a sausage pizza, without the cheese. It looks a little weird because it is just sauce and meat, but Parker was so excited!

It's not uncommon for us to do a movie and pizza night and Parker has always just had to look at everybody's plate with a delicious slice while he was eating chicken nuggets or a hot dog, again. When I told him we were getting pizza and that I was getting some for Parker too, he just looked at me confused and said, "no have pizza, has cheese and milk". I mean seriously, how sad is that?

He started jumping and yelling, "I yuv pizza!" when I explained to him that they were making a special Parker pizza that didn't have any cheese or milk. He was still so excited about it, that that was the first thing he told his dad when he got home from work, was that he had some "Parter Pizza".

It seems strange to be so excited that may son can eat pizza, you don't get more common, but I am thrilled to add another item to his repertoire.

A Kick Off To Our Summer

This is a pitiful representation of pictures from our trip, but I was too busy enjoying myself to pick up the camera. Besides, my bro-in-law got some great ones, I just haven't bothered to get them from him.

The day after school ended, we loaded up the car and headed to St. George, Utah. It was my family reunion. All of my siblings, their spouses, and kids were there, including my nephew and his new wife. In total, we had 36 people, it was awesome! It was so fun to be together again and renew friendships.

My niece, Cecily, with the boys. She couldn't get enough of Parker, but I was happy to let her try.

It has been YEARS since I've been to Southern Utah. I forgot how red everything is, even the dirt. It's very pretty though with lots of fun places to explore.
Jamie and Parker on the Red Hills with the St. George temple in the background.

Who knew Jacob would love so much climbing? Almost everywhere we went, he was at the head of the pack, trying his best to keep up with the big boys and going up every rock that looked even a little bit possible.

Mason, Parker, and Micah in their "Man Cave". All of the cousins were so good to my boys. Since I'm the youngest in the family, most of Jacob's and Parker's cousins are a bit older than them older. They were all so cute to them and willing to help out.

Our least favorite part of the trip was when Parker ate a peanut. It was our last day there and the entire crew was getting ready to leave for Zion's Nat'l Park. Jacob came to me and told me that Parker ate a peanut. I ran to him but he had an empty mouth. I asked Jacob if he saw him eat it. He told me no but that he saw a broken peanut on floor by him. I then found an open trail mix bag not too far away. About 20 minutes later, Parker had a few red bumps on his face and he started to just look different. I said, "Parker got a peanut, here's Jacob and some snacks, we'll call you when we are done and meet up later," and we were off. We selected "Hospital" on our GPS and we got there in about 8 minutes. Every minute that ticked by, he got more swollen, more uncomfortable, and scratching lots. It was so sad.

Here he is in the ER bed, asleep, with his IV because the last time we had to do the steroid orally, he threw it up. I was very sad to miss the big day together, but so thankful, once again, for family that we could just hand Jacob off and know that he will be loved and taken care of. Parker recovered well and was playing that afternoon like nothing happened.

We had a great trip! My brother did a great job planning it and made me wish, even more, that my boys had cousins and/or grandparents around. Not as an exception, but as a regular thing.