Halloween!

We had a great Halloween.  The kids looked forward to the day for more days than I can count.  It did not disappoint.

 Allie was a little white bunny.  Jake, a vampire (can you tell he painted on his own blood?), and Nate was a cute little peacock.  He won the cutest costume at our ward party.

Jake and Carson.  Those boys made the rounds of the neighborhood by themselves this year.  They are good little trick or treating buddies.

Aubrey, Lily, Allie, and Sage

The 7th annual Halloween Parade for our neighborhood.

Nate was pretty sleepy and didn't even last long enough for the trick or treating.

The loot

I told them they could have a piece before bed and Allie chose the apple.  She is so funny.

A day in the life of Nate

Hi.  I'm Nate.

A little while ago, my big brother Jake drew a picture of my mom and said she was lazy.  She laughed about it, but I know that it bugged her a little bit.  I decided to let you all know what we do in a day.  Just to make sure she can remember that she isn't lazy.

First, I wake up a few times in the night.  Really, it's just to confirm that she can still hear me from all the way in my room.  She feeds me, and if I'm lucky, she lets me stay the rest of the night snuggled up next to her.  I try to eat real slow so I can make sure she falls asleep and doesn't remember I'm there or she'll put me back into my bed.  
We try to sleep as long as we can and then I try to be patient while mom gets Jake off to school.  Then I start to fuss as she gets Allie breakfast.  Finally, it's my turn for some breakfast.


I really like food.

 
I get really sticky with some foods, and sometimes more ends up on the floor than in my tummy, but I really don't like to eat unless I can feed myself.
Mom puts me in the bath so I can smell good all day.  I love the tub.

It looks like mom just cleaned the tub.  I think I'll poop in it today. Just to give her something to do.

I hate getting dressed.  It interferes with my diaper game...the one where I pull out each diaper one by one and fling it off the table.  It's pretty fun.

After the tub, I get to roam the house for a while.  I like to do the usual things, like check for "seconds" under the high chair.  Sometimes mom hasn't swept up after me and I can have a tasty treat.  That usually gets her attention.
The other day, mom went to get some eggs and the fridge didn't close behind her.  That was fun. 

This is my favorite drawer.  Mom opens it up and I get to play with anything I want in there.  I like to pull out a toy, taste it, and put it on the floor so I can find another toy to taste.





After all that playing, mom tries to make me sleep.  Sometimes I go without a fight.

I don't like to sleep too long.  What if my mom is missing me? 

One thing I have learned is that mom doesn't like to hear me cry in the bed.  I can whine and make noise and she doesn't do anything about it.  But as soon as I start belting out my high pitched scream, she comes and rescues me.  She said that I am lucky that I get spoiled.  She said that Jake and Allie grew up too fast and Sam went to heaven.  So she is a different mom now.  I like it.

I also like it when mom is cooking.  She gets her hands all dirty and can't stop me when I am getting into the really fun things.  That's when I like to eat the dirt from the plants, eat shoes that haven't been put away, search for any small toys that Allie has left out, or hope that someone left the bathroom door open so I can go eat toilet paper.  That really gets mom grossed out.

When I see mom doing the dinner dishes I really get mad.  She should be holding me instead!  I try to pull out the silverware and mom pushes me away, so I climb up her leg and cry until she picks me up and then we get to play.  Sometimes she takes me downstairs and dad plays with me while she gets Jake and Allie in bed.  I know how to turn the volume up on the tv downstairs.  I do that several times a night.

I've learned that at bed time, mom doesn't care at all that I cry really loud.  She says that she's "done" and no matter how hard I cry, she leaves me in there.  But dad can hear me from downstairs and he comes to my rescue.  I get to fall asleep on his shoulder.  It's a pretty sweet life.

So there you have it.  I won't bore you with the other details of the day, like how many times I cry when Allie comes around. 
Or how often I fall over trying to climb up on things.
All I know is that mom is always there for me.  She kisses me all over and makes me smile again.  We have a pretty fun life.

The laundry bed

Me:  After you get done brushing my hair, lets go down and see if we can get the stuff cleared out of the room downstairs so we can get you moved down there.
Allie:  We can't get paint till dad gets home with the car though.
Me:  No, we won't be able to paint it for a while.
Allie:  I wish we could put a bed in the toy room for me.
Me: This room will be much better.
Allie:  Did you know that Lily doesn't have a laundry bed.
Me:  A what?
Allie:  Lily doesn't have a bed that is covered in laundry like my bed.

I laughed about that one for a long time.

It has become evident that Allie and Jake need to go their separate ways.  Allie doesn't want to go to bed at night, so she bugs Jake.  Every night becomes a cry fest at our house (Allie crying because she "can't fall asleep").  This crying wakes Nate up, keeps Jake from falling asleep, and makes me a mad mom. We are hoping that splitting them up and putting her far away from Nate will solve the problem.
The available room is our "guest" bedroom, otherwise known as the room that holds all the clothes.  Clean clothes, clothes that are too small, clothes that are too big, clothes that are waiting for me to repair...clothes everywhere!  It has gotten so full that I have to have a week's notice if a guest is coming to stay :)
Needless to say, this is a project. 
I have whittled away at it for a few weeks now (Nate's sickness made naps short and unproductive).  Now it is getting close to being ready for the girl.  I'll have to post some pictures when we get it done.
It just makes me laugh that Allie thinks she has to share her bed with the laundry.  I guess I'll have to prove her wrong.

Jake the snake

Jake found a pet snake when he was coming home from school the other day.  He was sad when I wouldn't let the snake live in the house.  He made a little home for it just outside the garage instead.

Luckily for me (and the snake) that snake got smart on day 3 of his imprisonment and found the hole at the top of the box. 

Allie

Today I asked you to put a letter in the mailbox for me.  You were on your way out the door to see if Lily could play and you said "sure!" 
I watched from the window as you stopped and watched a butterfly swoop in and out of reach.  You dropped the letter and tried to catch it.  My heart was filled with love and a smile was on my face.  I thanked Heavenly Father for you.  I think I do it a thousand times a day.
I watched you walk and smiled as I remembered the morning.  You picked out your clothes and needed help with the button of the pants.  You smiled and said "hey!" when I swatted you on the bum and you hopped away.  You asked me if the shirt matched and I reminded you that everything matches with jeans.
I told you that you still needed to brush your hair before you could go.  I offered to do it and you said "no, you do it too fast."  You brushed your hair as I watched you.  I saw the new scab on your head from when you ran into the tree yesterday and warned you not to pick the scab or it would scar.  You said "like Jakey's scar?"  You told me that you were only touching it and that you wanted to touch it lots during the day.
You got the grand idea of putting two clips and one ponytail in your hair.  I tried to do it my way (neat and pretty).  You said "no" and did it your own way.  You allowed me to put in the ponytail and wanted to see it in the mirror.  While I had you in my bathroom, I put some lipstick on you too.  Such a pretty girl.
You zipped up your own jacket and were so proud.
I watched you chase that butterfly and couldn't resist the urge to get my camera.  By the time I had it, you remembered the letter and went to the box.  You put it in and, seeing that the flag was already up, you put it down so you could put it back up yourself. 
Sometimes your independent streak causes us to battle.  You forget that I am the mom and you forget to listen to what I ask you to do.  You just do what you want to do.  I hope you will always be pointed in the right direction so that when you do what you want to do, it will also be what the Lord wants you to do.
You saw me taking pictures of you and it broke the spell.  You laughed at me and let me take a few more.  You yelled that you loved me as you rode your bike up the street. 
I love you Allie Sue.  You are my little buddy.  I hope you always will be.  I can tell that we will battle...we already do.  We are both stubborn, but we also love deeply.  Thanks for loving me and thanks for being my cute little girl.
Love,
Mom 

Conversation at the table...

I was getting the kitchen cleaned up and Allie was having a snack.
Me: Wow...Nate is getting a really great nap! He's been asleep for almost 2 hours.
Allie: So it's a puppy nap.
Me: A what?
Allie: If it's not a cat nap. He's having a puppy nap.

Basketball

We signed Jake up for the city team this fall.  It has been one of the funnest sports to watch.  Soccer was better this year than last, but it was still a crowd of kids going after one ball.  Teeball was totally boring, which is sad, because I love watching baseball.  That will get better with age.
But basketball has been fun.  They wear little bands on their wrists that match up with someone else on the other team.  That way they can remember who they are supposed to guard. 
It's funny to watch them dribble and shoot a ball that is almost bigger than them.  Jake isn't very agressive, but he has made some good steals this year. 









He is always super happy when someone from his team makes a basket. He watches the score and cheers his team members on.


Here's the crowd that comes to cheer for him...



Lily's brother Carson is on the team, so Allie always has a little friend to hang out with while we watch the games.

Nate just gets dragged around.  He is generally pretty happy there.

7 Months!

Where did the last month go?  I can not believe that we are already on the downhill side of October.

It's been a fun month with Nate.  He is into everything, but he is also at my favorite stage.  He laughs more readily and is exploring the world.  He is so great at entertaining himself for long stretches with just one little toy.  He loves to sit on the wood floor and tap tin toys to hear the sound it makes.  He also loves to roll a ball around and follow it where it goes.  It's funny to see how he crawls when the ball goes onto the textured rug.  He doesn't like to scrape his knees on it so he stink bug crawls.

He still loves to taste everything.

He was watching his shadow here for a few minutes.


He isn't really a fan of baby food, but he loves to feed himself.  He eats anything.

My only complaint about this age is the thing that is happening right now as I type.  He won't go to bed without a fight.  He gets standing up and can't get back down so he screams and screams.  I help him lay back down only to see him fight his way back up.  He wants to be held and rocked to sleep which is what happens when Mike is around.  Mike has been around a lot more lately because he had knee surgery.  He can't stand to hear Nate cry.  So he comes up and rocks him to sleep.  That has created a monster for me.  I spend more time getting the boy to fall asleep than I end up getting in free time because he doesn't nap long stretches anymore.  It's been tough.  I hate being the mean mom that sits here and types while my baby screams in the other room, but he needs to get back into the habit of falling asleep on his own.

On to the pictures...

Jake 7 months

Allie 7 months



Nate 7 months

The cookie house

I don't know how it started, but our neighbor's house became the cookie house.  Steve and Terry always have a little bucket of cookies and hand them out to the kids that come and ask for them.  Allie and Jake have gone over there many times. 
I even visited the cookie jar when someone told me ginger helps with nausea.  I was pregnant with one of the kids and hoped that the ginger snaps would help me.
Steve and Terry even came to the hospital when Sam was born and brought him a cookie. 

Anyway, Nate got his first cookie from the cookie house.  We were out there basking in this beautiful fall sunshine and Nate was eating all the little things he could find on the ground.  Next thing he knows, Steve handed him a cookie and the world of yummy foods were opened up to him. 

I fully expect Nate to go crawling over there to get more cookies in the future.  He loved that cookie!

Babies in pumpkins!

I know it's silly, but this is one of my favorite things about fall. When Jake was a baby, I bought a big pumkin and shoved him in it.

Allie was only 2 months old. She wasn't thrilled about the cold pumpkin, but by now it was a tradition.

We didn't get any pictures of Sam in a pumpkin.



This week it was Nate's turn. I really do think he is just as big, if not bigger than Jake was at his pumpkin photo shoot. I was hoping he'd fit. He did and he was so cute! I got all the pictures I wanted and then let him chew on it for a while. I tell you, that boy eats everything!

 Pumpkin stains!  Isn't he cute?

We still have the pumpkin if you have a baby to put in it!