Happy Halloween!

It's one of my most favorite days of the year! Hooray!

Yesterday afternoon the kids & I (mostly I) had a carving extravaganza! Here's the snack we had after our hard work (it's Jell-O inside):

And here's our hard work:

Really, this picture was about the only time Callie put her hand in the pumpkin or touched anything pumpkin-related. She hid under the table for a while because she thought the pumpkins didn't smell so bad if she was under there, and she thought the insides were gross!


Jack would do a scoop, get down off the chair, walk his 2 seeds to the trash, stand there for a few minutes trying to get the seeds off the scoop, then come up to do another scoop. This went on for a few minutes!


The results (aren't my children amazingly talented?!):

Okay, so aside from doing a few scoops, they did pick out the patterns! Great little helpers!

I prepped a 4th to carve & have the punches & mallett to let the kids do it, but we ran out of time yesterday so I'll let them do it today.

We went to a ward party last night - a chili cook-off & trunk-or-treat. Jack was NOT happy about having make-up done this time (he'd cried most of it off by the time I was done - I'm not bothering with it tonight) and we couldn't find Callie's stinkin' shoes for like 30 minutes so we were pretty late! I was afraid we'd missed the food since we were so late, so I had hot dogs in the microwave & I called my mom (who is in my ward & was already there [oh, & Jeremiah was on his way back to Kingman from some business meetings out of town so I was trying to get everything together myself]) & she said they had hot dogs there so I got the hot dogs out of the microwave & stuck them back in the fridge & got the kids in the car. Of course by the time we got there a few minutes later the hot dogs were gone! I tried to get the kids to eat some chili but all they could talk about was the trunk-or-treating that was about to start! They had a great time & are very excited about all the candy they got & Callie can't wait to go out tonight! For the record, I did feed them dinner when we got home - at like 8:15!!! Oh well. And they started on the candy early this morning! They both had a sucker in one hand and their fork in the other when we sat down to have omelettes for breakfast!

And now that Callie's done with her breakfast she's hitting me up for more candy. I told her no & she said, "remember what we talked about saying no?" LOL!

Ridiculous!

I was browsing crib listings on Craigslist & I came across this gem! It's like animal cages for infants! Here's some of the good stuff from it's listing:

"Having twins? This space-saving crib is in excellent condition and CLEAN! The rails slide up for easy access and then down for complete enclosure. Perfect for daycare. (May not be approved for state licensed day-care facilities.)"

Holy crap!

Great Day!

It was a great day for 2 reasons - the first being that we had a little Halloween party at our house this morning that was pretty fun for the kids (plus it's over), and the second because I had delicious hot wings for dinner. What can I say, I'm easy to please!

So my Halloween "party" turned out to be more like playgroup with some Halloween activities, because I didn't decorate (I hardly have any Halloween stuff out at all), and we didn't play any games either. Plus I didn't have my kids dress up since they just dressed up yesterday & will be dressing up 2 more times! I got up at 6am to bake sugar cookies (I made the dough last night), and after about 25 minutes of searching for my large pumpkin cookie cutter I decided I'd have to go to WalMart. I'd kind of needed to go anyway. Jack was up by that time (about 6:45) so I took him with me. When I did finally bake the cookies I realized that for little kids the new cutter I'd just bought was way too big, so I ended up using the smaller pumpkin cutter that I'd already found in my cupboard. It figures!

Anyway, when the kids got here (10am) they did play-doh for a while, then we made foam Halloween masks (Target), had pumpkin-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch (along with grapes, baby carrots & juice), and decorated the cookies. Not that much, but it was still 12:30 when everyone was gone. I made little goodie bags with the halloween packaged Teddy Grahams, the Peanuts halloween fruit snacks, gummy spiders, candy bones, Nerds, pumpkin bubbles (pumpkin container), and ugly little finger puppets. Next year I'll have to actually put some effort ahead of time into the get together so they can play games. But really, with the oldest ones there being 3 1/2 I don't think it was such a big deal that there were no games. The kids had a great time ripping through the house & playing with toys. And Callie was a cute little hostess when she was saying goodbye to their friends - she'd give them a side hug and say thanks for coming. I'd just told her to tell them bye! She's funny. Oh yeah, yesterday she was waiting for me to finish something & she said, "Mom! The suspense is killing me!" LOL!

Callie's cookies:
So there was another truck wreck while I was in Utah for the weekend & it was hot wings - and not just your cheap any day wings, but restaurant wings. Consequently, we now have a deep freezer in our garage! Tonight was the first time I got to try the wings & they were SO DANG GOOD! I seriously ate like 15! Jeremiah thought they needed some kind of glaze so he bought this: (I highly recommend it!)

And then again, if the sauce was too vinegary I couldn't tell. I've been stuffed up for about 3 weeks now (thanks to pregnancy) so I can't taste or smell super great.

Here's pictures from yesterday - the kids got dressed up for a halloween-themed story time the library. I LOVE Jack as a skeleton - I think it's really funny! He doesn't even look like himself!

Baby (girl/boy) Divis

So we had our big ultrasound yesterday afternoon. I really didn't want to find out what we were having, but Jeremiah was gonna be really bummed if we didn't, and being the awesome, unselfish wife that I am I decided his happiness was more important. And I also didn't want to hear him whining about it for the next few months! So amazingly enough this baby wasn't as modest or shy or uncooperative as the first 2 & we were able to find out the first try. I was secretly (or not so secretly) hoping we wouldn't be able to tell. Anyway, it's a girl!!! Jeremiah's not thrilled. He doesn't like that Jack walks around the house sometimes with a purse & a baby doll. He was hoping that a brother would help. I don't think it's a big deal though that Jack does that - it's perfectly normal toddler behavior. And he does plenty of other boyish things! I really didn't have a preference about the sex, but I'm now looking forward to some matchy-matchy outfits! I saw this little family at church Sunday with 3 girls all in the same dress with similar hair accessories & they were just so darling! This will be fun!

Witches' Night Out

I had a great weekend in Utah with Wendy! On Friday we were able to drop off her kids & then meet my sister Chelsea for lunch & spend the rest of the afternoon shopping. After a healthy amt. of shopping we donned our dresses & witch hats & met up with some gals from Wendy's ward to go to Witches' Night Out. Basically it was shopping dressed up as a witch. There were additional outdoor vendors & there was live music & contests & stuff, and it was pretty fun to see so many grown women dressed up! Seriously, there were so many people there that night it was as bad as Disneyland on a busy day! When Wendy's husband mentioned to a co-worker what we were doing that night the co-worker misunderstood/mis-heard the witches part. We had a good laugh about what he thought he'd heard. Oh, & I think this picture makes me look more pregnant (and fatter & gross) than I actually look. Just an FYI!

On Saturday we went to a 12 hour crop at Archiver's! It was so awesome! I didn't get as much done as I would have liked for the amount of time we were there, but it was pretty fun! I would totally love to do it again! On Sunday we laid around the house fighting sleep since we always stay up way too late when we're together! My sister Tara came over & we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies & I think I ate a dozen! If you like pumpkin cookies make this recipe - it's SO easy & great!

1 spice cake mix
1 small can pure pumpkin (not pie mix!)
chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for like 14 mins. It's hard to tell when they're actually done. The tops should be a little cracked.

The great thing about these is that even if you overbake them a couple minutes they're still really chewy & moist since they're made from a cake mix. Oh, & when you're mixing the pumpkin & the cake mix it will seem at first like it's impossible, but it's not. Most of the mix should get mixed in, but if there are a few little cake mix specs left in there it's okay. Can you believe how simple that is though? And they're great! I'm a big lover of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies & this recipe is new to me and I LOVE it! I doubt I'll ever make them the traditional way again. And if you make them and you don't like them than your opinion is wrong!!! :)

Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Jackson's 2nd Birthday! When he woke up in the morning I started singing him Happy Birthday & he said, "No mom, don't sing! Stop, don't sing!" Jeremiah thought he could do better but Jack did the same thing :) He even shut my mom down that afternoon!

I think he had a great day! We went to Story Time at the library, went to Del Taco for lunch (since they have one of the only 2 play places in town & it's cleaner than the other), and we had my parents & brother over for a little party.

The grown-ups had steak & the birthday boy & his sister had hot dogs for dinner. He finished his dinner & was getting impatient with us, waiting for us to tell him to open his presents, so I followed him as he picked up a present & took it to his bedroom to open!

We moved the party into the living room. So this was the funniest - my mom let Callie pick out the game Ants in the Pants for Jack so he opened it & Jeremiah was telling him what it was called. As soon as Jeremiah said the name Jack says "ants in my pants" & stands up to reach into his pants & get the ants out. He was very concerned the rest of the night about ants being in his pants.


So let me just tell you about this cake. I wanted to make him a Jack-o-lantern cake but didn't want to do the bundt cake method because that's a LOT of cake for not that many of us. So I baked my cake in 2 glass mixing bowls. I think I needed a denser batter to do this, and it didn't help that I added a can of pumpkin to the carrot cake mix. It was delicious, but extremely moist so when I turned the 1st bowl over to be the bottom of the pumpkin, it collapsed on itself! The cake was a total disaster. I did think I was ingenious to do the jack's face out of melted chocolate. As for the "eyebrows," when I was making the face on the wax paper it turned out too big so I made a second smaller one. Jeremiah broke the smile apart on the bigger one because he thought the jack needed eyebrows. I told him not to do it but he thought his idea was superior so he did it anyway. I of course got onto him & took them out, but then I decided, what the heck. It's not like this poor cake was some kind of masterpiece anyway & he just wanted to help. And I felt bad for being such a meanie. So I put the eyebrows back on. Or cat ears. Jack liked it either way. Jeremiah, I love you & I'm sorry I'm such a jerk. You have good ideas too. Well, ideas anyway. :) j/k - You have good ideas!


Callie wanted to use my cell phone to take a picture of the cake. She's pretty proud of the fact that she knows how to take pictures all by herself with the phone! :)

Callie was quite pouty about the toys that Jack got. Mostly she was upset that we kept telling her to stop opening his presents. Grandma tried to talk to her about it. Is it still going to be this bad next year?

This is the messiest Jack got. He did good. It's amazing how big he's getting. He's looking more & more like a little man. Oh yeah, I just want to let Chelsea know that the sword you gave him is just an annoying weekend visitor. Meaning, it's not sticking around! :p Not that Jack doesn't love it!

Doorknob Covers

Everyone needs them. Well, everyone who has small children. I had taken the knob cover off the bathroom door a few months ago so that Callie could go potty when she needed to instead of me having to let her in every time. I never got one put back on the bathroom door after Jack learned to open doorknobs. This isn't the first time this has happened:

I was folding a huge mountain of laundry on my bed the other day & Callie came & laid down on my bed on a clear spot & fell asleep. Jack was in their room playing & I was thinking how awesome it was that Callie was big enough that when she felt sleepy she'll get her pillow & blanket & lay down. After a few minutes I realized I wasn't hearing Jack anymore so I went to check on him. Maybe he's getting big too! Oh yeah, like the hand in the pants? It's an issue! I put onesies under his shirt a lot just so he can't. This will be better than naked bathtub pictures when he's bigger! :)

Callie is so 3 going on 13. She spends a bit of time in time out for talking snotty or back-talking me. When she's frustrated with me she'll say, "Mom! Why are you being so lazy to me?!" or "Stop being gorgeous at me!" Obviously she has no idea what either means. Neither of those expressions are punishable by themselves, but she says plenty of other stuff to get her in the naughty spot. Good times. I hope this is just part of her age & it doesn't turn out that I really have a rude, unruly child on my hands!

Today

Well Jeremiah was sustained today as the 2nd counselor in the stake young men's presidency at stake conference, which was by the way the worst 2 hours we've had with the kids in a while. Okay, just the last hour was really bad. Because Justin & Jason were headed out when we went to church, we were late (of course we probably would have been anyway, but I always love a good excuse!). So we weren't even there when Jer was sustained. I noticed afterward as Jeremiah was talking to the new YM pres. & the 1st counselor what a huge age span there is in the presidency. The pres. looks around my dad's age (51), maybe a few years younger, and the 1st counselor had to be at least 10 years older than the pres. Not that it matters, I just noticed it. Anyway, because we were late the chapel & cultural hall were totally filled so we were happy to take the kids & watch on the tv in the nursery. They didn't have toys out, but they had the low table & chairs out so we set the kids up w/crayons & paper & books. After an hour of coloring Jack was done. He was a total pain after that & even did his scream for everyone a couple of times, which I just want to beat him when he does. I couldn't have been more glad when it was over! I can't clearly remember what any of the talks were really about.

I'm so looking forward to this next weekend! I'm going to Utah to visit Wendy BY MYSELF! How amazing is that?! I justified it because Wendy & I didn't go to CKU this year so not only would I love a scrapbook weekend, but also this is WAY cheaper than CKU would have been. I am still bummed that we didn't go to CKU, but I'm looking forward to a great weekend! I'm flying Thursday night & get in at MIDNIGHT! (By the time we decided to do it the ding fares for normal times were sold out. We always stay up way too late anyway.) So on Friday night we're going with her Relief Society to Witch's Night Out at Gardner Village and Saturday will probably be an all day crop day. And I'm sure we'll get some shopping in too! And Wendy's going to be able to have her awesome SIL babysit her boys on Friday & Saturday so we're gonna have an amazing weekend! Not that I don't just adore my children, but are you kidding me? Shopping & cropping without kids?!! I'm coming home Monday morning & then Monday afternoon I have my big ultrasound. Still haven't talked Jeremiah into NOT finding out what we're having. I guess we'll see how the chips land! With Callie & Jack it took 3 tries each to discover the sex. Maybe Jeremiah will win but they won't be able to tell anyway. I'd have to gloat.

Oh yeah, for anybody who hasn't heard & is working on food storage, wheat is supposed to be sky-rocketing very soon. Just a little FYI. I find it amazing that even the government is recommending that everyone have some kind of food storage. Haven't they said like 3 mos?

Well I think I'm the only one awake right now & since I finally have a clean workspace I think I'm gonna mess it up again & scrapbook! Oh yeah, here's my workspace: (Jeremiah is the BEST!)

A clean home is a happy home!

Life is good right now. 2 of Jeremiah's brothers are visiting today so they're out 4-wheeling or shooting guns or something - guy stuff. My kids are both asleep after a ridiculously long shopping afternoon, so I can put up my aching feet & actually update my blog! Except for my bedroom, my house is totally clean. And my bedroom will be clean in the next couple of days once I fold all the clean laundry that's ALL OVER my floor! This will be the first time in a LONG time that my entire house will be clean all at once! A lot of you find it hard to believe that I'm as much of a slob as I claim, but you'd be surprised. A friend of mine told me that my house is clean any time she's ever seen it. Well yeah! If I know somebody's coming over of course the public areas are clean! So I'm going to try so so so so SO hard to be better from this point on. I LOOOOOVE how spotless everything is! And it's not even really deep-cleaned. Imagine how much more joy I'd have if my house were dusted?! Anyway, so the only thing hovering over my head right now is the fact that somebody from the stake presidency wants to meet with Jeremiah (& me) in about an hour. I have a pretty good idea what this is all about, but I guess I'll know for sure soon enough!

So my kids are so stinkin' cute! I'm sure everyone else's are too, but seriously, my kids are great! Jack is talking like crazy now! He can mostly talk in sentences & I love it! It's so much easier to communicate! And he says funny things too. He's still totally obsessed with monsters. I'd love to have him watch Monsters, Inc., but I'm afraid it would do more damage than good. Most of the time he likes to be a monster, but he still wakes up occassionally because he's afraid of a monster. It's crazy. He's fascinated anyway.

If it weren't like a 5-minute ordeal, I'd put a video of Callie telling the story of the 3 Little Pigs on here. There's another obsession. She is constantly either telling the story or asking to be told. She's heard & watched a few different versions now, so the stories are all run together, but the basic theme is still the same. She has particularly picked up on the Disney version with the singing pigs. She loves to sing about tooting her flute & then she'll randomly make up words that rhyme with tooting her flute. She was telling Jeremiah & I the story the other day & at the end she surprised us by adding another part - from the Disney version (even though she's seen the D-version tons of times & told the story tons of times w/out this last part). Anyway, she told us about how at the end the older pig knocked on the table to play a joke on the other 2 pigs & about how the 2 pigs hid under the bed since they thought it was the wolf at the door. She said, "And those little pigs were so freakin' scared!" I laughed so hard I cried, & then she asked me what I was laughing at!

I stopped at a yard sale yesterday after I'd picked Callie up from dance because it looked like they had a lot of toys. Not that my kids need ANY toys. They were getting ready to pack up so the guy told me I could just have whatever I wanted. I got some sweet stuff! A Disney Princess magical wand & mirror, a Fisher-Price kid-proof cassette player (which I actually almost bought on eBay for like $15 plus shipping!), a Barbie electric guitar (Callie loves Uncle Stuart's guitar), and a few F-P Little People to give to the nursery. Callie LOVES the magical wand. We'd just bought a less annoying one for my niece Katelyn's birthday and the kids played with it the whole time we were at the store. This one does magical sounds if you even look at it. After we got home last night I discovered the babysitter had turned it off! haha! Anyway, a few princesses say things like make a wish & wave the wand. So all afternoon Callie would hear that then wave the wand & say things like, "I wish my mom won't be mean to me!" (and I wasn't even being mean then!), "I wish Jack will be nice to me," "I wish I could go to Disneyland." And the best was when our babysitter Amanda had just barely got to our house and Callie said, "I wish that Heidi could come over and babysit me." Thankfully Amanda didn't hear it, but Callie probably said it again later anyway!

Okay, if you haven't been to Costco & seen this you have to go! How adorable is this kitchen?! I wanted to get it for Christmas but since we'll be in WA it would be very difficult to have it there for Christmas morning & then get it home, so I just got it anyway. I don't know how long I'll keep it in the box in the garage - maybe till Callie's birthday - but you know how it is with stuff at Costco & Sam's. You'd better get it while they have it or you'll never get it! I just love it! I love Pottery Barn's too & the fact that you can get it in red (so it would be more unisex), but it's $750 plus shipping compared to this one at $140. An adorable steal! Jack will just have to deal with a pink kitchen!

Well Jeremiah just pulled up so I guess I'm done. But here are a couple pics of the kids yesterday afternoon. They LOOOOVE the hammock! They play on/in it a LOT!

Monday, Monday

So my finger's not broken. I still can't completely bend it but the swelling's gone down & the bruise isn't very noticeable.

Also, my ultrasound confirmed that my dates were correct. With Callie it turned out I was a whole month further along than we thought, so I couldn't help but hope. Really they were checking dates because one of my screening tests came back positive - for Downs. So an inaccurate date could have been the cause, but it wasn't. But we're not worried - the ultrasound didn't show any markers & I feel at peace, so I think everything will be fine, whether our baby has a problem or not. And I know there are lots of false positives. Also the tech didn't check for the sex, so still a surprise. I have another ultrasound in 3 weeks, but I still think I won't want to find out. I really don't care whether it's a boy or a girl - I have no preference. I mean, girls are SO fun to dress, but little drama queens too! Jack is a terror right now, but that's the age. He's still a sweet little guy. Anyway, here's #3! Not too exciting for most of you.
This is I think the first profile ultrasound picture I've had w/any of the kids so far! With Callie & Jack I had tons of Skeletor looking ones. Not so cute. Oh, one awesome thing about Friday was that I felt the baby move for the first time! Much sooner than with the other two! It's always cool to feel the baby for the first time.

Well my mom & sister are on their way over with leftover Moo Goo Gai Pan - my fav! If you're not hip to it, it's a Chinese stir fry. Better than any stir fry I've ever made! I highly recommend it!