Day of Rest

Today was an adventure...and it's only 2pm.

The clocks went back an hour last night, which for most people means that they get to enjoy an extra hour of sleep. For everyone with kids, it means we all have to get up at 6am instead of 7am now for the next week. Yay! Can't wait...

So, I was trying to be positive this morning and decided I would make my family pancakes for breakfast. (Keep in mind we are strictly cereal in the morning type people) It turned out super yummy, and then we were able to take our time in getting ready for stake conference at 11am.
We decided that we'd go early in hopes of getting cushioned chairs to sit on for the 2 hour conference. So we were there in our soft seats at 10:30. All was going well, and then they announced, "oops, we made a mistake, conference was really supposed to be at 10, so now we need to wait for it to stop recording and then we'll show it at noon." Yikes! So, we got ourselves prepared for the long haul with our kids...thinking it's a good thing we packed some fruit snacks and an extra bottle.

Our kids are generally very well behaved at Church, but around the hour and a half mark, they were getting antsy. Chris had the baby out in the hall, and I let Claire take Grace to get a drink of water. When they came back, Grace refused to come back to our seats. I stepped out to coerce her, and as she was pulling away from me, she slipped from my grasp and hit her head on the corner of a wall. She of course started balling, but we didn't think much of it until Chris noticed blood all over his shirt. Yep, she split her head open. I ran her to the bathroom to take a better look. Aside from all the blood, she had a nice little gash that was open pretty far. It looked worse than the time Claire had split her head, so we decided to take her to urgent care. Thankfully by the time she was seen, it had clotted up really well, and all they had to do was wash it out quite vigorously, but no stitches or staples. Whew! She was pretty dramatic about the whole thing, so if she tells you some horror story of her bloody head, you will know the real story.

Halloween

This last weekend was super busy for us. Friday was Grace's birthday, Saturday was our Church Halloween party that we were in charge of, and then Sunday was of course Church with meetings and then Halloween night.

The kids really got into it this year. I think they've finally figured it out. Claire decided that she was going to be a witch this year, and was really excited when she heard that 2 of her friends were also going to be witches. Grace was a bumble bee, and it was adorable! I found Neil a puppy dog suit that was really warm, although he hated wearing the hood. Overall, this was the easiest year for costumes. I was able to find costumes that didn't need any altering or extra accessories. It was so nice!

At the party we filled up on chili and cornbread and then all of the kids got to parade through the gym and load up on candy. Afterwards there were fun carnival type games to play and a cake walk. Claire spent the entire time at the cake walk. Eventually I went to check up on her, and I saw that she was eating a cupcake. I said, "Oh wow, Claire, that's great that you won one!" Claire responded, "Mom...this is my fourth cupcake." Yikes! I guess she was really enjoying herself. Grace was pretty content to relax at the table and eat her candy.

We decided to take the kids out for a little trick or treating at grandma's houses as well as some neighbors. We had a really good time! The weather also cooperated which was nice. It was a pretty mild evening. Now to do something with all of this candy that is laying around the house....I really don't want to eat it all!

My Grace

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago my little Gracie pants was born. Time has gone by way too fast! She's such a big girl now. She talks nonstop, even to complete strangers. She is daring, and has very little fear. Her favorite thing to do is play with her big sister. Everyday she asks me if we can go pick up Claire from school, starting at 9am. She is just so eager for her to come home and play with her.

Grace is also my most stubborn child. When she gets something in her head, it's very difficult to change her mind. Instead of whining, mostly she will just yell...really loud. It's almost a growl at times. This stubbornness has made potty training super frustrating for me. On days that she feels like it, she can do it. It's just a matter of hoping that she will feel like it more often than not. :)

Grace is also very sweet. She loves her siblings so much, and will often help me take care of the baby. She likes to tickle him, and dangle toys inches from his face. It's pretty funny to watch actually. She's become quite motherly, and I can see that poor Neil will have 3 mothers to deal with soon enough.

I'm so glad to have Grace! The last 3 years have been so fun to watch her little personality grow. I also think she has become a very pretty little girl. Her smile is contagious, and she has gorgeous eyes. Happy Birthday my little Gracie-pants!

For her party, we invited over our family and had pizza, cake, and ice-cream. Grace really wanted a rainbow cake, so we made it ourselves. She helped with everything! Let me just say, it was really hard to make the red frosting. I used all of the food coloring, and it still was pretty pink. Oh, well. She liked it a lot! She had a hard time blowing out the candles, but Claire was willing to step in and help her out. Grace got lots of fun presents including: coloring books, buzz lightyear, zhu zhu pet, vtech laptop, toy story legos, a tea set, cool clothes, new undies, and stickers. Overall, she had a great time!

Technology

This is my adorable baby boy. Just by looking at this first picture you would never think that anything was different about him. He's just the sweetest looking baby boy with gorgeous blue eyes. He is, however, wearing hearing aids. They are quite small, and blend in really well with his skin and light hair, so they are hard to see in pictures.

As most of you know, he has a moderate hearing loss. No, he is not deaf. With his hearing aids he should be able to hear everything around him just fine. He should develop normal speech and be like any other child his age.

We are very grateful for the newborn hearing screening that was done in the hospital. Without it we would have no idea that there were any issues. We are also thankful for the technology being advanced enough to fit a tiny baby with aids that will let him hear his world.

We can't predict life's challenges, all we can do is live with what we've been dealt. There is comfort in knowing that God will not test us above that which we can handle. (1 Corinth 10:13)

“All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” (D&C 122:7.)

We are so glad to have this new baby in our home. He is very sweet, and his sisters adore him!

Destructo

The other day we were out and about as a family, and we decided it would be fun to buy the "How to Train your Dragon" DVD that just came out. We had all gone to see it in the theater, and had really loved it.

So yesterday was the day that we had told the kids that we would watch it. Everyone was super excited and ran downstairs to get it set up. Apparently, Grace was extra excited because before I could stop her, she had opened the case and managed to rip the dvd out with a loud crack! I just sat there. I was shocked at her speed, angry with her disobedience, and amazed that the disc was literally broken in two. So much for fun family movie night. The kids ultimately settled on a different movie, but it was kinda a downer. With Grace's birthday next week...I now have a great idea for a present. :)

Pumpkins and Sun!

Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day, so we seized the moment and took the kids to the pumpkin patch. We had a great time! The girls loved riding the train out to the pumpkins, although Grace didn't understand why we couldn't just keep going. She could have ridden for a long time. This year they had a bunch of nice pumpkins that were already pulled out of the patch, so choosing one wasn't too difficult (or time consuming). After choosing our pumpkins and playing in the hay maze, we rode the boat back to the barn. The girls loved the pop up monsters that were in the lake. After checking out the animals, they rode "the caterpillar". Overall, it was a really fun adventure!

Blessing Day

Neil was blessed by his daddy in Church yesterday. Lots of our family came for the occasion, and everything went well. He cooperated and even stayed quiet for the prayer.

The family...
The men...

The ladies...

My handsome men... :)