driving to Utah

uneventful other than Abigail throwing up (apparently she gets motion sickness) and honey getting a ticket (trying to make up time).  it's amazing how much I prefer driving to flying.  the biggest downside was that we unexpectedly got snow 10 hours before our departure so the roads weren't the best and it slowed things down a bit.

we stopped by vernal to see the hackings and I got to see their little boys!

my poor jeans... high on my list is finding new jeans.

when we got there, we just dropped our stuff off and Chris took Abigail and Brady to meet up with the Kelsey's at the Utah women's volleyball match.

organizing candy

I can't get over how Brady organized his candy on halloween night (and remembers it, dangit!) or how he sorts his skittles by colors and counts each category.  he's really into counting.

no school!

the kids had no school because of Election Day so I had plans to take them to the library for story time.  but Sarah called and said one of our other friends, Sara, was in a huge bind and needed help.  so Sarah dropped off Alice and Norah at my house so she could run over to help Sara.  the kids all had a blast and even cleaned up the house after they trashed it.  ; )

at one point, I heard Andrew crying and so I was just finishing up what I was doing before going to help him.  then, mysteriously, the crying stopped. when I went to check it out, I found out why.  Norah and Elizabeth were being the sweetest little babysitters.

about a month ago, when we were in for Abigail's medication evaluation, the doctor said we'd need to come back in 3-4 weeks but that he didn't have any availability so he made a special note to let the receptionist schedule us in an "urgent" or "emergency" or something slot that they keep open.  the times were all inconveniently around 1-1:30 so I scheduled it but was stressing how I would find childcare during nap time and on a school day and when I wouldn't be back before other people needed to pick up kids from school and how would I get Brady to preschool when I needed to be taking Abigail to this appointment.  well, miracle of miracles... I had no clue (because Tuesday is RANDOM) but thank goodness for the kids to not have school.  Abigail didn't need to miss school, I didn't have to worry about getting Brady to preschool, and Elizabeth still got her nap because I was able to have Jane come over to watch her and Brady.  big win.

those doe eyes.

after we got home again, Brady asked if he could play outside.  ummm sure.  I thought for sure he wouldn't last because it was so cold and wet and rainy.  he lasted.  he played golf in his puffy coat in wet, 29* weather.

he seriously looked so pathetic retrieving his golf balls all alone in that miserable weather but I applauded the kid for getting some fresh air.  I'm a fair weather person myself.

I left Andrew on the rug in Elizabeth's room.  later, Abigail came to me, almost giddy, and asked me to guess where she'd put Andrew.  and then I ran to get him off of this chair.  I have never told my kids that they are allowed to hold or pick Andrew up without my help so why do they think it's totally fine?!

I decided that it had been long enough and my kids needed to learn about pomegranates.  so, we had an educational lesson at the kitchen table about what they are and what we eat/don't eat and how to open them and extract what we want, etc.  they all thought it was so cool.  the good/bad news is that they really like pomegranate seeds.  don't get me wrong, it's great that they almost always enjoy new foods they're introduced to, but sometimes it's nice to not have to share something five ways.

this makes me start humming "for the beauty of the earth" because, seriously, how amazing and creative is this!?

and snuggling before bedtime.

hands in pockets aka Brady's glamour photos

from honey's early morning flight to Vegas. 

I told Brady to put his hands in his pockets while I took a picture...  he took that very seriously and continued to pose that way for the entire day.

he likes when I say "don't smile!" and then have to do something silly to make him laugh.  he thinks it's a game.  I'm just trying to combat the horrible "natural" smile that he's started doing for all of his pictures lately.  ; )

Elizabeth and her photobombs... and looking at this picture I'm just cracking up because I noticed her hands in her pockets too.  that kid

more like "fit two chubby knuckles in your tiny front pockets."

see Brady? hands in pockets, not smiling.  he's now a professional model.

also, he loves to keep his name tag on from the gym.  and now whenever Elizabeth gets a sticker, she tries to put it on her back.  because she thinks now that that's where stickers are supposed to go.

paparazzi shot.

Andrew is such a tiny little baby.  he seems normal to me until I see myself holding him or see someone else holding him.  he really is so little.

and he reminds me of dopey from Snow White.

I've rekindled my love of reading amazon reviews just for recreation. these magnet block toys had a wide population of reviews from people that struggled with the English language.

halloween!

halloween started with a party on my bed... exclusive for those wearing footie pajamas.

brothers

I'm trying to win over my new visiting teaching companion.

reading happy haunting Amelia bedelia, Brady was all "mom, is it REALLY blood?!"  that kid is so dang literal.  the whole book was mostly completely over his head, despite me trying to explain it to him.  plus side: now he knows about things like putting a leaf in the table and cracking the window.

second year in a row being a baseball player.  he might be following in his uncle Wally's footsteps.

all ready for school and waiting for the Quentin bus (as we lovingly call it... bless my dear friend Danielle for picking Brady up for school all the time)... swinging his perfectly matching rockies backpack.

does this kid look pumped or what?!  ps- I didn't have any suitable baseball socks for him so I cut up some little girl tights that had been stretched out after having been used so much.  we used rubber bands to hold up the tops of his baseball "socks" which maaaay have little Mary Janes on the toes.

Elizabeth doesn't know what it's called, but she is excelling at photobombing these days.

this is 100% natural and I can't even handle how much I love it.

I knew I was on to something. 

while the two were napping and the other two were at school, I used my precious kid-free time to finally tackle Abigail's horrible junk drawer and I turned it back into. craft drawer.  no true before picture because you couldn't even see anything really because it was so full.  I found a number of old papers from church and this photo of her and Elle from the primary missionary activity a month or two ago.

part way through.  this is once I got out all the stuff from the drawer and there was just this under layer left that had to all be sorted through individually.

Danielle sent me this picture from Brady's school halloween party.  throwing the cotton balls on the spider web.  Brady explained it to me after school but was all "and when you got it to stick it was kind of like you got a goal."

the treasures from the drawer.  I reimplimented a "special drawer" for each kid.  Brady has a drawer in his dresser and Abigail has a drawer in her desk.  I'm interested to see what will happen when they start running out of space. so far, everything is special enough for the special drawer.

eventually this,

turned back to this.  it's a craft drawer again!

we started Abigail on medication at the end of fall break.  one of the most significant side effects is a decreased appetite.  even knowing that, I am truly shocked at how Abigail's appetite has nearly disappeared.  she used to eat an entire peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, a whole apple (or equivalent in a fruit or vegetable... about a cup... I always use the same size containers), a yogurt, and at least a little handful of pistachios (or other equivalent nut/trailmix).  lately, she eats her yogurt, maybe 3-4 bites of sandwich, a bite or two of apple, and a taste or two of nuts.  at first she would just tell me that she didn't have enough time at lunch but now she's finally started telling me that she's not very hungry and I need to start packing her less food.  she has no idea that this is a side effect of the medication but never asks questions so I haven't had to explain anything to her.  I mean, even giving her just part of a sandwich instead of a whole one, I can see how she's only taken a few bites.  it just blows my mind.  I weighed her before I started her on medication so I would have a baseline... mom fail though because I guess I never wrote it down... I can only guess.  I weighed her again though and she's down to 42lbs.  it is possible that she's lost three pounds in 2.5 weeks?!

Elizabeth was Minnie Mouse for the library party, a lady bug for the ward party, and chose Elmo for halloween night.  she was the most adorable Elmo ever.  pictures don't really do it justice, but she looked HILARIOUS walking around all night. I got SO many comments from people we passed.  even teenagers and older kids were all "ummm, I just have to tell you that that is the best Elmo."  I wish I had gotten a decent picture but that just didn't occur to me so I just had some blurry snapshots.

it was cold but we all survived.  thank goodness for no wind, rain, or snow!  Andrew stayed toasty warm in some fleece footies with his fleece footie costume on top.  I was actually even a little worried about him overheating in his carseat/stroller.

Brady started sorting his candy (he's just methodical like that) and Abigail jumped over to help him.  it kind of made me nervous though because I don't want him to be aware of how much of his candy I'm going to eat.  ; )

another year in the books!  I can't believe little Andrew will be toddling around with them next year!