Halloween Pumpkins

Dan and I thought we would do our traditional family Halloween activity and carve pumpkins with the kids, we carve pumpkins every year. I had been talking about it all day and the kids were really excited. Excited that is until they had to put their hands inside the pumpkin to remove all of the seeds and strings (this was not their first experience at this). But, Ethan and Adam both started freaking out, I think their comment was, "I'm not doing it, that's gross." At one point Dan put some string on Ethan and of course he went into mass hysteria, all the while Dan and I are trying not to laugh. Then it went on to, "I don't want to get my hands dirty." After this statement Dan turns to me and asks what I did to his boys. Ethan has never liked getting his hands dirty, I've even had his teachers tell me that they have to have paper towels ready when they are finger painting. Adam seems to mimic whatever his older brother is doing.

I never know what my kids are going to like from day to day!

Our 5 Month Old

Emily's 5 months old! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She has started eating rice cereal and baby food and she loves it! Every time she sees someone else eating she opens her mouth and starts yelling until she gets to taste something. So far she loves squash, sweet potatoes, pears, baby yogurt, applesauce and drinking my flavored water. She also loves to chew on bread sticks.

We have also introduced her to the Mega Saucer which she adores. I think Adam loves it as much as she does. He loves it when she's playing with it because then he gets to play to. Whats ironic is he doesn't want the saucer unless she's sitting in it, and then of course he only wants to play with the toys that she is playing with. I didn't realize how soon sibling rivalry can start!

I'm an Esme

OK, so I took the Cullen Heroine quiz and they said "I'm an Esme".

Marcie and Amy, let me know which heroines you are!

Our Trip to San Antonio

Dan had a work convention/water conference last week in San Antonio. So, the kids and I tagged along and had a great time with Mike, Amy and the girls. We arrived Wednesday late afternoon at our fabulous hotel, the Crowne Plaza Riverwalk. Once we checked in the kids and I unloaded all of our things, relaxed briefly (all they wanted to do was go and see their cousins) and then said goodbye to Dan. Dan went to his big client dinner and the kids and I went to Mike and Amy's. I spent the next few days driving from our hotel to Mike's house where Amy and I were running errands, making cards, playing at the park, baking cookies, eating out and watching the kids go crazy over the Wii and the Nintendo DS. Friday afternoon Dan's conference ended and then he was able to hang out with us as well, then Saturday we all headed off to Sea World. Thanks Mike and Amy for letting us burden you. We had a great time!

Dan, Katie, Maddie, Ethan and Adam looking over the Sea World map.

Katie, Maddie and Ethan got soaked at the shamu "Believe" show, what did they expect they wanted to sit in the wet zone.

Emily at Aunt Amy's house hanging out.

Shamu - Believe show

Me and Emily at the park with everyone.

Me and Emily

Adam, Ethan, Maddie and Katie during one of the dolphin shows at Sea World (I love their facial expressions, they all have their mouths open in awe).

Marcie's Birthday

Today is Marcie's 29th birthday!! I can't believe that you are 29, it makes me feel old. I wish you were here, so I could take you out for pedicures, lunch and a chick flick. I hope Ben spoils you on your birthday.

Things I hope you get:

• Sleep in
• Breakfast in bed
• Dinner out
• Night out with Ben (without p-lady)

We love and miss you! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Emily Turns 20 Weeks

Our sweet little Emily is growing so fast. I swear if it wasn't for the constant updates from parentscenter.com, I would forget her weekly age. You can tell from the pictures that she is starting to chunk up. Check out her thighs! The last week and a half has been a little brutal around our house. It all started with the stomach flu which lasted several days, all except Emily thank goodness. Then on Monday night Dan's lower back went out. He has three herniated disks and they tend to go out about every six months. He has usually been able to keep working through the pain and within a few days it goes away and he goes on with life, but this time has been a lot worse. He was in bed for four days (couldn't walk, sit or stand) and he is barely moving around now. He went to physical therapy last week and his doctor called in some strong steroids and pain pills, but nothing seems to be working. He is such a trooper, he reactivated a sister in our ward and she went through the temple on Friday night to get her endowments, so we went with her and my poor husband was a sight for sore eyes. The funniest part of the evening (to me anyway), was when we were in the chapel waiting to go into the session. His back was hurting really bad, so he decided to go lay on one of the back row benches, within two minutes five temple workers were rushing to his side to see if he was alright. One even asked if he had a heart condition and needed assistance! Of course everyone from our ward new what was going on and we were laughing, he was laughing as well :o) We are hoping to get him started on two new procedures for herniated disks. One is called compression and the other is cold laser. I'm really hoping these work for him.

We are headed to San Antonio this week. We will be leaving on Wednesday morning. Dan has a conference there with his work and the kids and I are tagging along. Mike and Amy moved there about a month ago, I will be hanging out with them during the days and hanging at the hotel with Dan during the nights (if his meetings and dinner parties are over). We are so excited to see them and their new place!! Ethan will only miss two days of school, there is a teachers conference on Friday and a holiday on Monday. We are planning on hitting Sea World hopefully on Saturday. Ethan and Adam love Sea World! They would go everyday if it were possible.

Latest Project

When Emily came along, I swore I was going to purchase all new baby furniture. Then I pulled out the baby furniture that Ethan and Adam used and I realized that it was still rather nice and in good shape, but all that I really wanted was a different color. For most of you who know me, I am always painting something (usually my house). So, I decided to paint our dark mahogany crib and dresser white. I actually love it! It however took a really long time, I should have purchased a paint sprayer in the first place and I would have been finished within two days. I will have to post a picture of the dresser later. I am in the process of purchasing new drawer pulls.

I love the color red, and I adore ladybugs. I actually really liked them before they became popular. Since this will be my only girl, I thought I would throw the two things together. I even did some really cute art work that match the bedding (I'll post these later, once everything is in place).