Thanksgiving

We had lots of fun At Steve's and Ilene's house. We had great food...

We had lots of family around...

And the kids all had fun running around. For some reason they thought it was great to put page markers on all of us. But if it kept them busy and happy we were all fine with it.

Later, Patrick, Steve and I played Guitar Hero...



At the end we had a song by Ryan and company.

More Jack

This morning Jack was whacking Ryan for some reason. I wasn't around and Bridget can't remember why this was going on. Bridget told him there was no hitting. Hitting, she said, makes Heavenly Father sad.

Jack responded by saying, "No it doesn't. Jesus told us to hit."

Bridget then said, "Oh yeah, when did He say that?"

Jack responded, "Jesus told us to hit the Lamanites."

In elementary school that sort of exchange would have been followed up by someone saying, "Burn!"

We have been reading recently in the Book of Mormon reader about Ammon protecting the sheep. Apparently, the Book of Mormon may be a little too violent for our household. But it appears he is paying attention which is nice.

So he is performing inductive reasoning at 3. I feel pretty good about that. Even if it is for a mischievous purpose.

Yams and Apples recipe

Sunny I don't have your email address but I heard you wanted my sister's Yams and Apples recipe so here it is.

Bridget, Here is the yams and Apples recipe. Please let her know that the mixing the corn starch with cold water then adding to the syrup mixture also works, if she prefers to do it that way. I sometimes find mixing the cinn. sugar and corn starch in a zip lock bag makes the syrup too thick. The cinn. has to be mixed with the sugar before adding to the water or the cinn. just floats on top. Ilene

Yams and Apples

3 Yams 1c. Sugar
4 Granny Smith Apples Cinnamon to taste
2T Butter 1c. Boiling water
2T (rounded)corn starch
Preheat oven to 350
Boil Yams in skins until almost done. Cool Yams and remove skin. Slice Yams about ½” thick and layer bottom of oven proof dish. (9”x13” will work). Peel, core, and slice apples into wedges. Layer apples on top of yams. Repeat layers. In a ziplock bag mix sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon by shaking closed bag. In a sauce pan, melt butter in boiling water and then add sugar mixture. Whisk as it comes to a boil. It should begin to thicken. (don’t let it get to thick). Pour over yams and apples and bake for 45-60 minutes.

Quote

Jack: Why is this planet called Earth?

Me: Because people got together and named it that.

Jack: Why did they name it that?

Me: Because they called the dirt earth and so it seemed like a good name for the great big ball of dirt that makes up most of the planet.

Jack (not really believing what I said): But why did they name it "Earth"?

Me: I guess they just liked the name.

Jack: How did we get on this planet?

Me: You were born here, and so was I.

Jack: Why were we born here?

Me: So that we could learn and make choices and learn how to be happy.

Jack: How did all the people get to this planet? Did they fly here?

Me: They were born here and a long, long time ago Heavenly Father put the first people here.

Jack: Why did Heavenly Father put us on this planet?

Me: Because he made it for us.

Jack: How did he do that?

Me: Through a lot of hard work

Jack: How was I born?

Me: You came out of Mommy's tummy like Colin did.

Jack: And then I got bigger and bigger and bigger?

Me: Yes.

Jack: When is Colin going to get big?

Me: He grows a tiny little bit every day just like you. You just don't notice it because it is such a tiny amount.

That is pretty much the way a conversation went today between Jack and I after we ate lunch at Five Guys. It was just the two of us in the car and it was good. It was interesting to see where he was heading with this. Smart dude. Can't believe he is three.

Kung Fu Panda

Rent it. We love it.

Me vs. Jack

Sometimes it seems like Jack and I just really butt heads. And since we don't beat our kids it sometimes makes it hard for me. Not that I want to beat him or anything but Jack can be frustrating. Common example: Jack is doing something that is destructive or against some rule and he won't stop. I tell him to stop and he smiles and keeps going or increases his pace and ferocity in whatever endeavor that he has been told to stop. Time outs are sometimes the answer, but these sometime seem less than effective. Or maybe I just want to mix it up so I tell him he is going to have a toy put into "toy timeout". This is when Jack becomes suddenly very helpful. At least in one regard, he gives me suggestions as to what toy to put into timeout.

Tonight he said I could put his Lightning McQueen car in timeout. I said no, that I was instead thinking about putting the Leapster in time out. He said, "Sure, I don't really like the Leapster anymore". This is not true, he loves the Leapster. But he is trying to win or save face by saying that he doesn't care what I do. I told him once that he would not be able to watch TV if he didn't stop doing something or another and he said the same basic thing--"that's OK Daddy, I don't like to watch TV too much." He says all of this very calmly and happily most of the time. His helpfulness is exactly what I don't like and he knows it. I am used to Ryan who will cry or feel bad if he is punished. Jack, at least sometimes, could not care less.

I go ahead and put the stuff in time out and he blows it off. They have lots of other toys after all. Tonight I found his Achilles Heel, the Batman costume. He looooovves that costume. He wears it or wants to wear it everyday. Tonight he was being noisy in bed and I told him that if he kept it up that the Batman costume was going into toy timeout. He paused and said that it couldn't go into toy time out, but was I going to put it into costume timeout? Yes, I told him it was going into costume timeout. He was quiet and would have gone to sleep soon had not Ryan been messing around a little while afterwards. Still, it was a minor thing. They are both out now.

I don't know for how long I can milk the costume timeout thing, but it seems like a winner for now.

Bridget says that he butts heads much more with me than with her. I think it is because she beats them and I don't....kidding again. But it is true. I am not sure what it is. But he is a good kid and he and I did have some fun today going to Five Guys and so forth.

Oh, and I downloaded a Clone Wars episode off of Itunes tonight. It was pretty cool. It was the first time I have seen any of those computer animated Star Wars shows. They only last a little over 20 minutes each, but the one we saw was sweet. The boys were impressed as Yoda kicked some serious booty. Thumbs up.

November News

Well, not much news. Maybe it is the absense of news that makes the news this week.

Jack and Ryan are currently wound up and either beating each other up or making each other mad. Jack ended up breaking one of Grandma Joans knick knacks that she has around the house. Grandma was out at Black Butte so Bridget called her and had Jack tell her what happened. He didn't really like that, he refused to talk for a bit because he was afraid or nervous. Everything is OK now, except they are still wound up. They have been banished to their room. At least then they are not running around endlessly. In their room they at least won't wake the baby.

Colin continues to grow. He focuses in on us more and he seems to recognize faces. He still spits up--a lot.

In disappointing news we have decided that we will not be going down to California next year. We don't know when we will be travelling next. I can't get a job which angers and frustrates me. I have given up trying for now. So I am going hang my own shingle as they say. For the time being I am going to work from home until I have enough work to warrant an office. The sooner the better on that front. I have talked to a couple of people who have done this from home and it worked out at least decently, if not well. At first I won't be able to charge much because of the lack of experience, but soon I think all will be well. The goal will be to either develop it so that we are doing well and I have enough time to spend with the family at the same time. And if worse comes to worse I will do this until I get enough experience to apply for the majority of positions that ask for 3+ years of experience.

Also we can't wait for Uncle Patrick to get here. We are all very excited.

One More Thing...

Can someone please explain how a baby can be smiling at me at the same time that a substantial amount of a creamy spit-up is coming out of his mouth and on to my shirt?

Halloween Pictures

At school Ryan had a Halloween Parade on Thursday. I went and checked it out and took some pictures. He was Superman that day.



Tonight, Halloween, Ryan decided to be Jack Sparrow again, just like last year. Jack was Batman. He looooves his Batman costume.

Colin was a peapod, and a happy one too! He slept most of the time we were trick or treating.

We went with a few families from the ward. In the past we have gone with Cassie and Sabrina, but this year they wanted to go with friends.

This haunted house scared Jack so much that he almost stopped trick or treating right then. He did not like the scary stuff. This house had scary noises and a fog machine. It was pretty cool.

In the "real world" Joker and Batman are friends. With Batman is Joker, AKA Eli, an older boy that goes to church. He has a couple of younger siblings, Isaac and Zoe. Zoe and Jack play together quite a bit. It was nice of him to hang with Jack and help him out. Jack really liked it.

For most of the night Ryan was running from house to house trying to get as much candy was possible. Not so much to get the candy, but to beat all of the other kids to the door.

For the pumpkins we only had two, one for Jack and one for Ryan. Jack's is right below and Ryan's is the one with the square nose. Ryan drew out what he wanted on a sheet of paper and then he and I tried to replicate it on the pumpkin with a pen prior to me cutting it. Getting the guts out really, really grosses Ryan out. I thought it was funny so I had to make a big deal out of getting the guts out and plopping them on to a towel on the floor. Ryan retched and ran to the bathroom as he couldn't stomach the sight nor the sound of me making throw up noises while the string nasty stuff and seeds flowed out of each pumpkin. Jack watched but he wouldn't touch the stuff. I really tried to cut exactly what they drew. In the case of the wide mouth I drew what Jack said--he wanted a really big smiley mouth with big teeth. He helped draw the teeth and he drew the eyes, nose and one ear. Ryan drew his own pumpkin mouth and I copied his design off of his paper for the eyes and nose.


The pumpkins aren't nearly as scary with the flash on.

Life with all boys

Yes it is sadly true I am the only female, even our cat is a male. So a typical day here. . .

Jack pours Cap'n Crunch Berry into his hands and then proceeds to say "Uh oh I am leaking I need a bowl". So we get the cereal into a bowl and Jack only eats the berries and throws the yellow pieces on the floor. Which I have him sweep up but to him this is not a punishment because he likes to pretend he is the house cleaner and tries to send us all downstairs so he can clean the house.

Colin, the Vomit Comet, spits up on me even though I have a burp clothe he turns his head just at the last second to get my clothes. Colin spits up soo much that I do at least a load of laundry a day. Although I do get to try out several outfits a day and try combinations I wouldn't normally try.

Ryan the big kindergartner use to like to say underwear any chance he got. We have finally got him to stop saying underwear and now he says skunk. He replaces words with skunk. For example, go put that in your skunk instead of go put that in your drawer or Ryan just said "Who wants a Skunk?". He thinks it is hilarious.

Clyde the cat sleeps in all things baby related; the car seat, the bouncy chair, the bassinet and today it is the changing table.

Then there is all the wrestling and then when someone gets hurt they want sympathy. Well I guess they will have to find a nicer mom if they want sympathy. Then there is also the arguing. Ryan says "Today is Halloween!" Jack responds "No! It's not. It is not dark." They go back and forth until I say enough.

My great aunt that had eight boys has a very well developed sense of humor and sees the humor in things. I believe that I will have a good sense of humor before I am done raising boys or else I will be in a mental institution talking to myself. I must go now. Ryan wants to play computer games and Jack wants to put on his Batman costume for the 20th time.