Spooky Dinner

We had our annual spooky dinner on Friday before Halloween this year.  It seems like I have run out of energy lately and don't put as much effort into this dinner as I used to, but I think as long as we have dry ice, the kids don't care about anything else.

 Allie helped make the cute pear witches this year and I wish I had taken a picture of the finished product.  She added a broom stick and cute little olive feet.  They were a hit.

 The bubbling witch brew is always the best part though.  Jake got to put in the dry ice this year and they all had fun watching it bubble over.

We had a jell-o brain, witch pears, pretzel and cheese broom sticks, monster poop (Nate's name for the meatballs) and maggots (rice).  Another scary night at the Schwab household.

Free!

This cute beast is three!  (or free as he says it).  Jason was so excited for his birthday to come.  Nate was excited for Jason to turn "one more number closer to me!" and Allie and Jake were excited to give him gifts and see his excitement for the day.  Jason was excited for CAKE!  He loves cake more than any kid I know.  When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday it was "CAKE!"  When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday breakfast, it was "CAKE!"  When anyone asked him if he was excited for his birthday, he'd yell "CAKE!" and hop up and down with excitement.  You'd think it was the only word he could say for a few days.  

 We tried to make him eat cereal for breakfast, or his usual PB and honey, but he knew it was his birthday and he wasn't having anything but cake.  Luckily, I had his cake baked.  It wasn't frosted yet, but it was baked, so he got a chunk of it for his birthday breakfast.

We were painting the kitchen on Jason's birthday, so we had the party at Grandma Bonnie's house with the cousins.  Grandma Pat came up and Aunt Dixie was there too, so it was quite a fun party.

 Jason got some monster trucks, Crusher (from Blaze and the Monster Machines), Chase (from Paw Patrol) and a game to play with the family.

His cake had a "cano wif wava" (volcano with lava) and Blaze and Pickle.  He loved the cake...as you can imagine.

He was trying to show me with his fingers that he's three now!

 This is how he shows that he's 3.

Even with Dad's help, it's pretty hard.

 It took a few blows, but he got the candles out.

 Then we went to the jump zone with cousins.

Allie flipped so much she was sore the next day.

Nate and Jason found ways to get in the big kid's way, but they had a great time doing it.

Jake had fun too.

It was a really fun night and the kids came home tired.  It was a wonderful birthday for the boy.  It's been three years since I laid eyes on that boy and he's still the cutest little brown haired brown eyed boy I know.  Happy birthday Jason!

Family Pictures

I've been distracted and haven't posted on the blog for a long time.  It's really annoying to me and I plan to catch up on all sorts of things as soon as I can.  I feel like I have a lot of things keeping me away, but it is still a priority for me so I will get back to it.  For now, I thought I'd post our family pictures.  We had to go out twice and the kids weren't all cooperating at the same time, but I don't think that story ever changes.  

The first time we went out, I forgot to bring the Sam bear in the rush of getting out the door.  I was so sad about it.  Mike's mom rushed home to get it and we got some pictures with it there, but it was so dark that I didn't end up liking any of those pictures.  This time, I didn't forget the bear and the lighting was much better.  Cute kiddos!

Conversation in the Kitchen...

Me:  Ugh!  I am sick of all these fruit flies!

Nate:  What about bedgtable flies?  Do you not like bedgtable flies eever (either)?

Me:  I don't think there is such a thing as a vegetable fly.

Nate:  Yes there are!  When I was 1 and I really liked carrots, one came up and ate it right in front of me and I was so sad.

Jason: Wook Mom!  I'm a wawus!

 Me:  A what?

 Jason: A wawus

Nate: oh yeah, I'm a walrus too!

Me: Oh...a walrus.  You are a cute walrus!

Grape Juice

Mike took the three boys to Star Valley to play and Allie stayed home because she had a birthday party to go to.  I stayed home because I had 2 boxes of grapes to can.  It was a really nice day with little to no interruptions and Allie was a great helper.  We ended up with around 35 quarts of juice.  

Conversation every day...

...Jason and I have been having the same conversation daily for a week now.  I thought you'd like to read all about it.

Me:  Jason!  You pooped your pants!  Ugh!

Jason:  I know.  Ew...yyyuck...stinky...

Me:  It's stinky because you aren't supposed to poop your pants.  Where does the poop go?

Jason:  The toilet.

Me:  So, why is it in your pants?

Jason:  It's not my fault.

Me:  Whose fault is it then?

Jason:  Yours.

Me:  My fault?  I pooped your pants?

Jason:  Yeah.  You're a bad girl.

Me:  That's not very nice.

Jason:  I'm sorry.  You not a bad girl.  You my best girl.  I wuv you.  You my best fren...my best girl.


He's at a phase where "It's not my fault" is something he says several times a day.  Between Nate blaming every bad thing on Jason, and Jason claiming it wasn't his fault, there is a lot of blame floating around our house.  Jason is going to have a hard time finding anyone who believes that I pooped his pants though...

Ready for an adventure...

...some sort of adventure.

Cheerleaders

Allie bought some pom poms from our neighbor's yard sale for 50 cents.  She thought they were pretty awesome because they were real Sky View poms.  They've been a fun thing to play with for sure.  A few weeks ago, our back yard was loud with the sound of boys playing on the tramp.  They get pretty wild sometimes and their shouts are pretty animated.  On this day, I knew Allie and Lily were out there too, but when I looked out and saw them literally cheering for the boys, I thought it was pretty funny.  

 I think they are the cutest cheerleaders I've ever seen.

An Update on the Potty Training...

I have a dog.  I don't really have a dog, but I might as well have a dog.  I have had to borrow my neighbor's pet odor carpet cleaner more times than someone who doesn't have a pet should have to borrow.  Today, Jason pooped outside.  Yesterday, he pooped outside.  Who does that?

The story:  things had been going really well.  He pooped in the toilet in the morning and earned Blaze.  It was a happy moment for all involved.  He didn't pee his pants once...even through the nap.  I was starting to feel confident in thinking that we were getting out of the woods.  Then, Jason asked if he could go outside.  I said he could go, but reminded him to stay in our yard.  I could hear him tromping around in the leaves and every few minutes, he responded when I called out "Jason, say 'here I am'!"  My friend Heidi taught me that when Jake and Allie were little.  I love it.  They don't ignore me.  They have known since they were little that they respond with "here I am" and I can find them.  Anyway, Jason's "here I am" responses were pretty faint, but I thought all was well.  Pretty soon, there was no response, so I knew he hadn't obeyed the rule to stay in the yard.  I put on my shoes and went in search of him.  I found the shorts first...then a few feet away, I found the pull up.  Then, I found a wet patch on the driveway and saw a naked Jason pushing his dump truck down the street...completely naked.  I called him back only to hear him say "I peeped Mom!  And, I pooped!"  I was pretty surprised and asked him to show me where.  He pointed out a little skid mark on the driveway and I thought it was pretty gross, but didn't really do anything about it right then because it was too far to reach with the hose.  I got him bathed, dressed, and in the car to go pick up Allie and Jake.  As we pulled back into the drive way, Jake opened the door to the car and said "oh, gross, some dog pooped on our driveway."  Sure enough, there were about 5 plops of poop.  I guess that skid mark far away wasn't really what he meant when he told me he had pooped.  

He did it again today.  I was sitting on the porch this time and looked up to see him undressing himself for a quick pee.  He didn't want to put the clothes back on, and I guess that was okay, because minutes later, he was leaving another plop for me to clean up.  Seriously boy!?!  At least it wasn't in his shorts.

So, that's where we are now.  There have been some successes and some failures, but I guess it will all be worth it in the end...right?