A Week's Worth of Adventures

Friday, I watched Melissa Brady's kids while she volunteered at the school. It was fun for the kids who are the same ages. Only 8 weeks separate Dasha and Brookelle and only six weeks for Preston and Dylan. Interesting to note is that Preston is in the 98 percentile for weight and Dylan is in the 3rd percentile. Preston outweighs Dylan by 15 pounds. He darn near doubles the kid. I watched carefully as they played together because in a tug of war for a toy, there was no question who would be on the loosing end and I wanted Melissa to continue to entrust her children to my care. All went great. They decided to play outside and each had their own ridding device. Whew!

Sunday morning while mom was away at choir practice, Dad decided to introduce the kids to paper mache. While he was busy mixing the gooey glue, the kids decided to get into my swim gear. Thankfully for all involved, the only evidence of both activities were the fun pictures they took. The mess was blissfully cleaned up by the time I got home.It would seem that my swim top is a little bit large for Preston. He'll need to work on evening up his tan lines with this gettup.

This picture is taken in the same entry as the above picture. The difference? A very large box of packing peanuts was emptied and systematically destroyed and then tracked all over the main level with the help of Nanny and at the encouragement of Dad. "Let the kids be kids." Nanny commented that it looked like they were swimming in snow. At this suggestion, Dasha once again donned her swimsuit. That kid loves to wear swimsuits. Wondering were I was? Downstairs asleep through the entire episode. I have been sicker than a dog since Saturday. I took some NyQuil and checked out for a four hour nap. By the time I woke up, Heather had cleaned up the entire house. Sometimes it's better to sleep through certain things.

Speaking of sleeping.... If you look closely, you can make out the shape of Dasha asleep on the middle shelf of her closet. I told her to go get into bed. This was her idea of a princess bed. She dumped all the clothes on the ground and made a bed. She freaked when I said that princesses didn't look pretty when they had bruises from falling out of their beds at night. She was determined to sleep in her closet. I decided to pick my battles. I returned 30 minutes after she's gone to sleep and transferred her into her bed. My plan worked until 3:30 a.m. when she woke up ticked that I'd moved her. She came into my bedroom crying and yelling at me. It seems I lost in the end anyway. The only way I could calm her down was to let her finish the night in bed with me. Thankfully, this was a one night battle. She told me later that the closet wasn't that comfortable.

Mom and Dasha got breakfast in bed the next morning. William fixed a French breakfast of baguette, jam and hot milk. It was delicious and a nice change from the usual syrup drenched fare.

Things were quiet, too quiet. Where's Preston? The search led to the jungle gym in the family room. Hiding under the platform in the cubby hole was Preston eating.....dog food. Yes, dog food. Now, I know there is nothing in dog food that will hurt him (I know because I have read the label several times) BUT STILL!!! Gross!!!!! Some kids eat dirt, some eat boogers, my son eats dog food. He loves it, too! He asks to feed the dog and then goes through the motion of giving a fist full to Coquette and then pops a kibble into his mouth for his own enjoyment. The bigger deal I make out of it, the more his affinity for dog food grows. I've had to turn the monitoring of feeding the dog totally over to William. I can't stomach to watch it. William assures me it's O.K. Says his brother Arthur used to pound the cat food and he's smarter than the rest of his siblings. I'm not sure I believe there's a connection....

Stay tuned.

Hurray for William! He was able to stain the fence before Winter fully set in. It took half the time power washing it did. You're the Man! It looks brand new!

Miscellaneous Activities

Fun with food coloring. One morning while Dasha was helping William make breakfast, she found a box of food coloring. She was curious and William encouraged experimentation. This resulted in a week of colorful breakfasts. Orange pancakes, green eggs, blue crepes, orange waffles... After a week, the excitement wore off. I was glad. Psychologically, it's hard to eat something that looks spoiled.

Preston needed a hair cut. Instead of a little trim, I took the buzzers to it. Once again, I remembered that I like his hair longer AFTER the haircut is OVER. Good thing he's handsome regardless.

This is a common site. Preston wrestles Dasha to the ground and then showers her with kisses. She's a good sport and laughs until she realizes he doesn't intend to stop any time soon. The laughs turn into whines and then full on crying. At this point we pull him off of her and tell him to save some for later.

These are our good friends Hugh and Michelle Sandgathe. Michelle had a birthday and invited our crew to her party Saturday night. We always enjoy their company. They moved into the neighborhood from Oregon about a year ago and we've been hanging out ever since. They have three boys, Hugh Matthew 12, Troy 10, and Jacob 8. My kids love rough housing with them. They are noisy, but have lots of fun! That's the most important part, right? Just keep it downstairs and don't bother the adults unless someone is bleeding....

Happy Birthday Michelle!!!

Hard Workin William

Just a little project to keep him busy... Wondering what William is doing? Power washing the fence. Why? Because after several years, the darn thing looked grey and black and just plain yucky. Earlier this summer, we power washed our deck and stained it. The result was beautiful, so we set the lofty goal of doing the same with the fence. A bigger and yuckier project..... Unfortunately it's not over, for we didn't even get to the staining part. Not only did William feel like throwing up after 6 strait hours of power washing, but the weather was going to be nasty the next day. We need a nice 72 hour stretch after staining. Hopefully we can get one of those before the snow comes to stay.

It looks so much better. Almost new again. While William was spraying the fence, I was doing yard cleanup. I worked my own but off all day trimming, raking leaves, cleaning out flower beds and getting ready for another winter. The more mature our yard gets, the more there is to do every fall. The pond, I'm afraid, is going to have to wait. Too many other things higher on the "list."
Monday, after a hard weekend of physical work, William treated himself to a little R&R. His good friend, Brian Daems, is a pilot for a private company. During their weekly canyon hikes, Brian has told William about this fabulous (and very expensive) plane he flies. The two of them decided to take the afternoon and have a Boy's Day Off and go play on the plane.

William decided to dress up for the occasion. He didn't think his jeans and tee-shirt uniform looked the part of someone who travels in such style. I can think of a lot of things I'd do with 45 million dollars instead of buying a fancy plane, but hey, to each their own. A girl can dream.

At the controls! What a rush! (Note: they are still in the hanger...) A boy can dream, too!

Halloween Lasted All Week

Halloween went on and on and on this year. Generally, I like Halloween, but this year it was one bag of candy after another and therefore one battle after another. (Who came up with the bright idea to give out candy by the bucketful?) I was as frustrated with my own lack of self control as I was with the constant pestering of the little darlings. This cute picture was taken at one of Dasha's two costume parties at preschool. She HAD to have this princess dress. It's beautiful for sure, even if it's two sizes too big. I mended it twice from her stepping on it before she decided she'd try a different costume and do the princess thing again next year.

Heather, the kid's babysitter, put on a carnival and trunker treat at Weber University. Of course the kids wanted to go and get more candy. I wanted to go to support Heather and also because after the candy gathering, they showed the movie Wall-E. Soooooo cute. Everyone went home totally sugared up and exhausted. My favorite treat was the vampire teeth we all received. Vee vant to suck your blood, bevare!

This is Heather. The kids love her to death. (I must admit, I do too. She helps me out 10-15 hours a week while I work with William and MyCompanyRecords. She's amazing!)

I must add here that Preston did NOT like his Pooh costume. He bawled his eyes out until the power of the candy took over and gave him a reason to forget what he was wearing. We did battle again for the primary party. The third time we went to put it on, he screamed, "NOOOOOOO!" and ran from the room.

This is the result.... I knew from experience that he often likes to play dress up with Dasha. He was so excited to put this dress on, I thought he'd giggle all night. We put a ponytail and a big pink bow in he hair which lasted a total of 10 seconds. When people asked if he was a girl, I responded, "No, he's our Dancing Drag Queen." This got blank stares from the kids and big laughs from the adults. (Don't judge! )

This was Halloween party number 8, I think. The primary has an annual carnival. This year they combined it with a chili cooking contest. I made my mom's white chili recipe and won the prize for "Best Non Traditional Chili". The prize.......a canning jar full of......you guessed it.....CANDY!

This picture is of Shauntel and Justus Black. Justus and his sister, Alexandra, were Mickey and Minney Mouse. Minney was missing in action with Princess Dasha, so we took a quick picture while the boys were semi-willing.

She made the sweetest little witch EVER! We even drew a spider and web on her cheeks. She's too cute to be scary...

The most wonderful part of Halloween this year was the weather. It was perfect! The warmest on record! The daytime high was 70 degrees! We were trick of treating in 62 degree weather!!! People were out in droves and most homeowners were sitting out on their porches to hand out their goods. I can get used to this treat on Halloween! How about this sunset?

Ride 'em Cowboy/girl

We spent the evening with our friends Nate and Charity Davis and their children Conneley, Jack and Colton. They have horses and gave us a huge treat by saddling them up for a ride.

Preston thought this was awesome! He was so confident (big surprise there...) and he gigled a lot. We took turns handling the reigns. (He wanted to be in charge. Another big surprise...) It's a good thing we were confined to their back yard. Preston's not a very good driver and the horse wasn't amused.

Dasha, our dress girl, concented to "dressing" the part of a cowgirl. She had to borrow Conneley's clothes because she doesn't currently have a pair of jeans that fit her. Why bother buying her things she won't wear? I thought she looked darling. She called herself a cowboygirl. A good time was had by all.

Go Bears!

Tuesday night, we went to watch William's nephew, James, play in the Region playoffs. Lucky for us, they were held at Davis High. In attendance were, Calvin, Carolyn, Elizabeth, Jordan, Ella, Laura, Olivia, Drew, Grandpa Taylor, Aunts Carolyn and ShirLene, and our little clan.

James plays Quarterback. Earlier in the season he suffered a broken colar bone, yet somehow managed to secure a doctor's note to play in this game. Mostly he quickly handed off the ball. However, there was one shining moment where he threw it 40 yard for a completed touchdown. We will focus on this triumphant moment since Bear River lost to Grantsville 13-10. Great effort James! We wish you well in your continued recovery! We'll be cheering you on again next year. Go #17!

Squeeky Recovered

I can relax now. We found the blasted snake less than 24 hours after the prison break. Believe it or not, it was the babysitter that found it again. She must be a snake whisperer. She found him within a foot of where the empty container was sitting. Go figure!

I'd spent the entire day cautiously moving around in my kitchen. I thought the snake would be behind everything I moved. What an awful feeling! Now that I look at Squeeky the Snake again, it's really not all that impressive...even for a garden snake.

We promptly took Squeeky outside for some playtime and farewells. My children thought it was just swell that Squeeky was so fun to play with. Squeeky was a good sport, but even garden snakes have their limits.

We explained to Dasha that Squeeky's parents were probably worried sick because he'd been missing for a whole day. We decided it would be best if the family was reunited. After cheers and waves (and a blown kiss from Preston), Squeeky slithered off into the garden from whence he came. Today Dasha said she missed Squeeky but she was glad he was back home with his mom and dad. I don't miss him at all. I'm just glad he's out of my kitchen!

Searching for Squeeky

I don't have a picture for this post. I didn't think anyone would want to see a picture of me tearing the house apart in search of Dasha's garden snake. Yes. That's correct. There is a garden snake hiding out somewhere in my house.

Her babysitter caught the snake while outside today. They put the snake in a storage container and brought the snake inside so Preston could see it when he returned from running errands with his Dad. They saw it alright. Squeeky the Snake was a hit. Dasha wanted to take it out and show it off up close and personal. Dad said "no thanks" and Mom was fine with that answer. I didn't want to chance the snake getting loose. (Forshadowing thought...)

At this point you're thinking, "Then why the search? Did Squeeky eat a whole through his prison and escape?"

(Sigh) Here's how it went down. After dinner, we loaded up our little family and headed to the church to fulfill our cleaning assignment. We stopped for doughnuts on the way home to complete the whole family-night thing. We're sitting around the bar stuffing our faces with sweets when Dasha calmly asked, "Dad, where did you let the snake out at?"

William responded that he didn't put the snake anywhere, it's still in the container.

"NO IT"S NOT! IT"S GONE!!!"

At this point, my eyes got huge and I half choked on my doughnut. Sure enough, the container was empty. One of the corners of the container was lifted up ever so slightly and apparently Squeeky managed to live up to his/her name and squeeked through and is off to more exciting adventures within the playground we call home. (The escape hatch occured after Dasha had been told "No," and she disobeyed her parents and tried unsuccessfully, she thought, to open the lid anyway.)

We have looked around the best we can, but Squeeky remains at large. I even pulled out the fridge (BIG MISTAKE) and now have a Squeeky Clean compartment for my fridge. (Pun intended...)

Who knows if the blasted snake will ever reappear. However, if that thing slithers across me while I'm trying to forget there's a snake in my house so I can fall asleep....it will be the LAST thing it ever does. I'm taking my machette to bed tonight. Truth is, I'm not afraid of a little garden snake, but the thoughts of it being in any of our bedrooms totally creeps me out.

This is not what I had in mind for Halloween Fun.

Horse Show

Yesterday, we went to a charity event at a local horse stable called Saltaire Farms. We watched riders perform and compete in jumping. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the competition, the riders and their horses dressed up for a halloween parade. This gal was the Runnaway Bride.

Barbie Girl livin in a Barbie World.

Preston, hangin out on the fence. He was a great sport. He kept yelling "Hore" when the ridders came by. I hope they knew that this little two year old can't properly pronounce his "s" yet. Otherwise, they'd assume he was calling them naughty names.
This is a shot of the tractor and the stable. They day was perfect! Sunny, warm and ideal for a Saturday family outing in the fall before the snow starts to fly.

Circus Circus

Allow me to explain. Last week we went to Circus Circus in Las Vegas with our good friends, Doug and Cynthia Monk and their kids Ian, Sydney and Josh. The girls decided to give us a dance show on the bed. We're just hopping they're not practicing for a future job in this city of sin! William promised this was the extent of his "showgirl watching."

Within the hotel, there is a huge 5 acre amusement park. Yes, inside! We bought all day passes and wore everyone out completely. William and the girls took a spin.

Me and my little man, Preston. Behind us, the girls are getting ready for their 4th time on this particular ride. We were lucky there were NO lines. We practically had the place to ourselves.

The Monks and the Monk mobile! There was a time when the women rode together in the Van while the men took the flashy Mercedes. We had two-way radios and communicated back and forth for fun. At one point Doug said, "Thelma and Louise, this is Chip and Dale, come in..." We laughed and Cynthia decided instantly she was Louise. When asked which man was which on the other end, Doug replied, "With a last name like Monk, I'd have to be Chip!" Har Har Har.

Under Investigation

I don't believe I've ever been under investigation before. I don't know what to think about this new development. I speculated to Kristen that perhaps it was due to the rather uninteresting content so far. Maybe I need to add pictures and make it more pretty? I'm sure the poor person assigned to review my blog to inspect it for "spam" will laugh and shake their head and wish they'd stumbled onto something more scandalous or a bit controvercial. Sorry. Just a beginner trying to figure it all out! Happy investigating!

A First Time for Everything

Thanks to the creative part of me, (my sister Kristen) I am now a part of the fun world of blogging. Kristen's family lives in Washington and her blog is the way I get to see and hear about what's going on in her life. (Because the hours we spend on the phone every week simply isn't enough.) I have enjoyed her blog so much that I decided to start one for my family. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.