Pumpkin Illumination

The month of October slipped past us, we just got around to carving our pumpkins tonight. We scooped out the guts and whittled out the typical triangle faces. Both of the boys said that they wanted happy jack-o-lanterns, not scary. They turn out really cute. Here is how the night went down.

Sick, but in Attendance

Luke, eating his pizza dinner, because he didn’t try the Chilaquiles that the rest of us ate.Noah enjoyed stabbing his pumpkin with a butter knife.Ashley tested the flavor of the pumpkin a few times. Baby Ash retired to bed, lucky for us, because it was an amusing nightmare trying to get a good picture of the boys together.

Here is Attempt #1Attempt #2Attempt #3 "Sit down Noah"Attempt #4 "Ok, now don't move, oh and smile."Attempt #5 "Focus factor"Attempt #6 "Don't touch the flame Luke, and Noah sit down!"Attempt #7 "It doesn't get any better than that."Happy Halloween!

New and Improved

So, when John went on his hunting trip, he left poor little me at home with all of our wild children. I mean, what is a girl to do with all that extra husbandless time on her hands. Well, spend money of course.
I just happened to take a stroll over to Target, when I ran into the cutest dinning chairs. I had seen them when they had first arrived at the store, thanks to the fact that I basically visit Target on a daily basis. I loved them then, but thought, “I don’t need to spend that much money.” But now, to my excitement, they were sitting in the clearance aisle. So I called up my design support consultant (mom). With her approval we purchased the chairs and headed home to replace the old.
Of course, “When you give a mouse a cookie, he is going to ask for some milk.” (children’s book) The new and improved chairs made the table look, oh 33 years old. So the next night was spent scraping off all the old milk stains and polishing up the table. Then the night after that, my lovely mother came over in her paint clothes (which show a history of all the paint colors she has had to deal with in my house). She painted the legs of the table and the trim around the edge.

So when you pair new clearanced Target chairs, with $10 of brown spray paint, the end result is a beautiful fresh and improved table for free. (free, thanks to Craigslist, sold our old entertainment center and curio cabinet)

Thank you mom for your motivation and help. I love my new table. And thank you John for not killing me when you saw that I had spent more money on home decor needs!

Hit me with your best shot

Put up your Dukes

You talkin’ to me

I love how all little boys want to grow up to be their Dads.

My dad has a picture that Todd drew, when he was a child, hanging up in his office. The drawing represents a youngster's view of what a Border Patrol agent does all day. I believe that in the picture there are some illegals wearing sombrero hats, hiding in some bushes. I should get a copy of it and post it. So funny. It’s priceless artwork.

Luke always asks John when he heads off to work, “Dad, you catch the bad guys?” Fortunately for Luke, he has a great dad to aspire to be like someday.

Biter Biscuits

Well, believe it or not, my little Ash-olena has her first tooth! Here she is putting it to good use eating her first hard biscuit. She has actually started eating real food which is remarkable. With the gag reflex on that kid, I was pretty sure that I was going to be sending her to college with baby food in her suitcase.

Deliberatation Testing the WatersIt’s a go!
Mmm Ashley likey!

Halloween Bash

Our annual Halloween party has come and gone. It just seems wrong to only wear a costume once, so we have a party every year to put the kids Halloween garb to good use. Luke was insistent on being Batman this year, upgraded to the one with muscles. I found a cute Peter Pan costume for Noah Nater, and little Ashley gets to put Katelyn’s pink octopus outfit to another years use. We lined all the kids up on the couch and flashed away with the cameras. The kids are getting older now and really had fun playing together this year. (well, Aiden didn’t really leave mom’s side, maybe next year) We provided service by inviting some elderly to enjoy the festivities too, oh I mean, our parents. It turned out to be another fun get-together, although it felt a little odd not to have Sarah, Mark and baby Ayla there. (Sarah- have you guys ever missed one?? I don't think so) But anyways, like I said, it was a lot of fun. Can't wait until next year.

Here is the lineup - Peter Pan, Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Pink Octopus, Batman, Fireman and Caveman (Aidens hair cracks me up) . Check out Lukes muscles.
So cute!
Noah gave grandma a kiss/thimble when she arrived at the party.
Lisa (friend that I grew up with) – brave enough to tryout the apple/peanut butter/marshmallow teeth. We had a good laugh.We made tootsie-pop spiders and ghost.Now I can’t wait for Halloween.

Bedtime or Playtime???

So dinner was wrapping up and it was time for the three B’s. Baths, Books, and Beds!!!! So as John selected child care over dish duty, I began to clean up the kitchen, while he began the habitual bedtime routine. Only the laughter was coming from the boy’s room rather than the bathroom. So I went to investigate, and this is what I found….

Fort Chaffin

So then the fort evolved into a light-saber fight.Needless to say, baths were not accomplished, bedtime was deferred, and the dishes have yet to be loaded in the dishwasher….. a perfect ending to a brilliant day (thanks John). And the best part is I get to start all over again at the crack of dawn (well let’s be honest, more like nine o clock).

My Pre-School Scholar

Luke has been enjoying school so much, and I can not believe how much he is learning. He is the tallest in his class of course. His favorite story right now is the three little pigs. He can give a full narrative of the story, with hand gestures and all. Today John and I had the opportunity to join him for lunch and it was very amusing to see him in action. He pointed out all his friends, starting with Alexander (who he says is one of his best friends). The menu for the day was steak fingers, and of course Luke only ate the roll and his chocolate milk. It is fun to hear about all the new things he is learning.

(That is Alexander standing next to Luke, he is the next tallest kid, guess the giants like to stick together.)

He also participated in the first of many Primary Sacrament program. With some reluctance, John convinced him that it would be ok to sit up on the stand with his other four year old associates. His part was to join in with the sunbeams and say “I am a child of God”. Luke determined that sitting in his chair was a better plan. Then he refused to stand for a good chunk of the songs until about half way thru he decided that he would stop doing his “Lukey scowl” and stand. He sang “I love to see the temple” and “I am a Child of God”, Two out of seven, not too shabby. It was fun to watch him up there hanging over the banister and picking his nose. I can’t believe how grown up my little man is.

Here are some funny things that Luke has been saying the past few months.

Some confusion has occurred during FHE with the biblical names in the family.
Mom: Luke who baptized Jesus
Luke: The good guy
Mom: Yeah, but what was his name?
Luke: Dad

Mom: Luke, who was the Brother of Jared
Luke: Dad (Johns brothers name is Jared, so therefore to Luke, the brother of Jared really is his dad haha)

While driving down a hill, Luke looked out to the city lights and said “Look mom, its Paris” (Paris ---El Paso, same difference right.)

I asked Luke to bring me a Kleenx and I said “thanks baby”, his reply was “um no, just say thanks boy.” (I guess he isn’t much of a baby any more)

After he does something good, he reminds me to thank him “Mom, say great job Lukey”.

Luke: I have huge feet!!
Mom: oh yeah, who told you that?
Luke: Ms. Sanchez (his teacher would probably be horrified about being ratted out)

Talking in his room before bed time Luke said “I want Alexander to see Jesus too!” Future missionary in the making wouldn’t you say.

Now that we have an enforced routine and schedule in our home, life has been moving along beautifully. I didn’t realize that Luke was old enough to govern himself a little bit more. I just got used to doing everything for him. He is becoming more independent and starting to following directions better. He has really matured a lot since the start of school; I can only imagine how much he will change by the time Pre-K graduation rolls around.

His first homework assignment, now if I could only find a way to make him this happy to do homework thoughout college.

My Dream Team

Noah woke up crying, so I went in to comfort him. He fell back to sleep, but I just laid there in his bed for awhile. Then I heard Luke start to stir. I looked over to him and he started smiling, followed by a hum of the Indiana Jones theme song. Then he carried on with his snoring. If only I had the ability to see what my children dream about.

Ashley – Doodle

Here is a much needed update of my little Ashley. At about 7 months, she decided to start crawling, only it wasn’t much of a crawl it was more like “spiderman-scaling.” She would push up on her toes and fingers without bending her knees and slowly inch herself along the floor. Then it evolved into what I like to call the “dying solider routine” (army crawl). Slowly but surely she would get to her destination without any help from her hind quarters. Next came the “the swimmer”. I’m sure it was brought on from watching the Beijing Olympics, this was my favorite, she would army crawl at amazing speeds using her elbows and her little bum would just fishtail behind her. Now she interchanges her “swimmer” and the typical “all fours” depending on the texture of rug or coldness of the tile. Here are a few more funny Ashleyisums....Following in her brothers footsteps, she has yet to develop any teeth. I’m sure she will be eating her birthday cake toothless just like Noah or maybe she will be lucky enough to have just one tooth like Lukers. When ever she sees a yellow bus she will start to wave, thanks to all the practice she has had at saying good bye to Luke. She has the tiniest little tongue, when she sticks it out, which she does often, it looks like a tounge that belongs to a lizard. When she plays peek-a-boo she doesn’t always get her eyes covered, sometimes her temples get covered and she looks so cute when she does it. She is the biggest wiggle worm known to man!!! She will not hold still for one second. She gives me quite the workout on Sundays when I have to hold her all three hours. She also refuses to make eye contact with me. There is always something better to look at apparently. She still growls when she is playing. You can tell that she has two older brothers teaching her how to talk. She sleeps all night long and always has. She has a beautiful laugh that her Daddy can always bring out. She is such fun to have around. I love my Ashley.

Wish we would have paused the TV so you could hear her better. See loves playing with her big bros. (Video taken August 11, 2008)