Happy Halloween!

Halloween Cake

This was our FHE Halloween treat this year. The kids had fun putting the faces on the ghosts and it tasted really good...... which is the most important part.

Random Stuff

Here are the first day of school pictures...... now that it's almost November. Maddy is in first grade and Mason goes to preschool twice a week. They both really love school. There is also a picture of Mason and Penny. She looks like she's smiling. And then Jack doing his "picture" smile.

Seriously, so rude!

Today I went to Walmart to get our food for the week. I only had to take Jack because the others were both at school. Jack decided to make sure it wasn't really easier just taking one kid to the store instead of three by crying a lot and saying, "MOOOOMMMYYYY, MOOOMMYYY," over and over again for 20 minutes. Nice. This actually has nothing to do with what happened in the parking lot but I just thought I'd mention it. While we were putting the food in the car a moving van pulled up the row behind us and an adult couple got out. As they were walking into the store they looked over at us and the guy said, "Hey, some La Grandites. Hi Opie!" in a kind of stupid sounding hick voice. And then he and his lady friend laughed together at how clever they were and went in the store to buy some more smokes. So I said, "Hey, you guys look pretty white trash. You'd fit in just fine here." Okay..... so I didn't say it out loud.... and I didn't come up with it until five minutes after they were gone..... and no offense to the good people of La Grande, most of whom are not white trash. The more I type the words white trash the more offensive it seems. I'm going to stop now. Anyways..... take that moving van people. Don't make fun of my little red haired boy!

Utah Trip, Camping and Throw Up

We went to Utah last month for a family reunion and I'm just getting around to putting the pictures up now. I took a break from blogging..... we both needed some space. The kids had so much fun camping and playing with their cousins. They loved the sandbox, zip line and border line dangerous swing. The swing is actually really fun but I'd be lying if I said no one got hurt. Jack was sick the first two days we were there. He threw up in a Jack in the Box we stopped at for dinner on our drive down. I know what you're thinking...... but he threw up before he ate. We cleaned it up the best we could and quickly left. After two days and two nights of camping we (Sam and I) had had enough and went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Kimball for a few days. It was fun to see everyone and hopefully we can make it down to Utah every summer.

Penny

I think we might be a little crazy but we got a dog. She's a really nice little puppy and the kids are in love with her. She still doesn't like walking on a leash but hopefully she'll figure it out. They are not very good but here are some pictures. Apparently she likes to hold still for pictures as much as the kids do.

Mud

Anybody want to buy two extremely muddy children?

Fishing

Last weekend our home teacher invited us to go fishing up at Morgan Lake. We got two small fishing rods and decided to give it a try. I really didn't think they would catch anything but not five minutes after Mason threw his line out he caught a fish.......and then the same thing happened for Maddy. Definitely beginners luck. I think the pictures of Mason are funny: First he was very excited about fishing and was having a great time. Next, after catching an actual fish he didn't want that thing to touch him at all. And then finally he decides fish are okay and proudly holds his slimy fish. Maddy caught the biggest fish. I didn't get a picture though because Jack and I spent most of the time sitting in the car. One year olds and big muddy lakes don't really go together well. The kids really seemed to like fishing so we will probably do it again sometime. And yes, we did eat the fish when we got home. Definitely way better than any fish I've ever bought at the store.

Spokane

We went up to Spokane a few weeks ago. There was a really fun park kind of downtown by the river. We rode the merry-go-round, slide down a giant wagon, and Jack chased some geese.

Happy Easter

We didn't get any good pictures this year. The kids had fun finding eggs in the back yard and it was nice listening to Conference........I guess that's about it. I'm just not in a blogging mood lately.

Mason's Newest Obsession

First it was vacuums. Then it was pirates. Now it is Star Wars. He loves it. He can talk about it all day long. This whole thing started because we have a Lego Star Wars video game that they got to play. The game came with a little book with pictures of the characters. Mason carried that around all the time and talked about the people in it all of the time. One day I told him that Darth Vadar was Luke's father. He just stared at me like it was the craziest thing he had ever heard. Now I feel kind of bad because I ruined the surprise. We had movie night a few weeks ago and watched Star Wars. He and Maddy sat through the whole thing. I couldn't believe it....... I remember being bored by parts of those movies when I was little but they just loved it. Here is a picture of Mason with his light saber that Grandma Nickerson got for him when she came to visit. It is still very popular with everyone. If you want to talk to Mason about this you need to know a few things. When Mason says: gobbles- he means goggles
Jedi wipes- Jedi knights
garbage can robot- R2D2
furry guy- Chewie
There are a few other things he says that are really funny but I can't think of them right now. May the force be with you.

Ice skating, swimming and things

Last weekend Sam had to go to an optometry conference out in Bend and we all decided to tag along. He had classes in the morning and then the rest of the afternoon off. The conference was at a nice resort kind of place and we got to stay really cheap. We went ice skating one afternoon......well Maddy, Mason and Sam went skating........ okay mostly Maddy and Sam went skating. Mason was done after about 10 minutes. Maddy did really well. She fell down a lot but she kept on trying. There were some heated swimming pools so we got to swim also. It was nice as long as you were in the water. Once you got out though, it was reeeeaaaallllyyyy cold. Even Jack had fun with the swimming. Bend seems like a nice place and hopefully we can go back sometime in the summer and do a little river rafting........ very safe river rafting of course.

At the Park

Here is a cute picture of Jack walking at the park. I have to make up for the last post.

Jack Proofing the House

We have to turn over all the chairs because Jack can climb up on them. I caught him on the kitchen table yesterday splashing in some old milk that was left there.
I had to duct tape the fire place because Jack figured out how to open it. He will get in there and play in the ashes and then rub them all over his face.
If I want to take a shower I have to barricade the door. Jack can now open the toilet lids and will swish around in them any chance he gets.
Jack was mad that I blocked the bathroom so he got under the bed and ripped up the wrapping paper. He's kind of like a naughty cat.
This kid makes me tired. Don't get me wrong...... I love him so much but....... he makes me tired. He gets into everything and he is relentless. If you stop him from doing something he will just keep going back, over and over and over. Or he will move on to something else he isn't supposed to do and do that over and over. I think he has some kind of sixth sense when it comes to his favorite things: he knows if one of the other kids left the bathroom door open and will immediately sneak off. I'll say, "Where's Jack?" and sure enough he's in the bathroom having a great time in the toilet. Gross. Or if someone gets out of their chair at the table for one second, guess who's right there climbing up? He definitely is persistent and knows what he wants and I guess those are actually good things.

Happy Birthday Maddy!

This is a little late but Maddy turned 6! She is getting so big. She said the prayer in primary all by herself yesterday and she loves going to school. She is a really good big sister. Sorry the pictures are so bad. I can't quite figure out the camera. It's not Jack's birthday but he was really happy to be eating ice cream.

Curse of the Pink Birthday Cake

This is the second time that Maddy wanted a pink birthday cake and it's the second time that the layers all sunk in the middle. Weird. I've never had this happen with any other cakes. They are even different kinds of cake and made in different states with different ovens........ so I don't know what to blame it on. I guess we can blame it on the curse of the pink birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Jack!

I can't believe that Jacky boy is already one. The time went by so fast. He is a really good boy and we all love having him around. It's fun to see his little personality. He is definitely the most getting into everything baby that we've had. He's not naughty, just really curious. That's what I have to say to myself a lot. He really liked his first taste of ice cream. He is crying in one of the pictures because he got snapped in the eye by his birthday hat.....see, it was worth it because he looks so cute. Happy Birthday Jack!

One of those days

Yup, it was one of those days. Jack dumped flour out on the floor and Mason was throwing flour up in the air yelling, "It's snowing! Wheeeeee!!!" I'm glad it was flour though. It could have been worse, like oil or sugar.