halloween fun

Every year we go trick or treating at Cory's office and have lunch with him. The kids love it and they even had a spook alley this year which was way cool and Spencer, of course, was terrified. That's my boy!

Little bumblebee! We went to Parker's school and watched the Halloween parade and dressed up Spenc and Mataya yesterday.

Coming home from Cory's office today, the boys were digging into their candy. Spencer had me open a couple of things and then he hands me a little bag of atomic fire bombs. I told him it was too spicy and he insisted on trying it anyways. There is no point in arguing with a 3 year old....you really get no where. So Parker and I looked at each other and then at Spencer as he attempted to eat a fire ball and he tried for a good 10 seconds, his face was priceless. He tried chewing it really fast hoping the spiciness would fade, but it didn't and he had to spit the remains back into the little bag of heat. Don't say I didn't warn you Spencer boy!

rice cereal..take 1

The time is upon us...the beginning of new chapter.....baby food! Here's how it went:

"Dad, why are you documenting this? And for the love of all that is good and decent what is Mom trying to make me eat?" "Oh, no she's getting more!" "Okay, I'll be a good sport and pretend to like this. I know how Mom likes a good photo op.""I can't pretend, this is awful!"

Hopefully Mataya doesn't share Spencer's enthusiasm for food...maybe 'rice cereal take 2' will bring better results. Those "Lexi" arms aren't going to grow themselves!

friends at the park with doughnuts.

We went to one of our favorite parks with some friends last week. We went and got some awesome doughnuts before, it was a great afternoon.Parker made a friend while we were there. He and this girl were on the tire swing for a long time. Her mom called her over and told her it was time to go and she came back over and in the sweetest voice said to Parker, "bye Parker." It was so cute. He later said that she was his girlfriend.

Spencer and Logan. It was a little squishy in the swing. These boys are getting big!

Having a little chat.

Mataya hung out in the shade of her flower for the afternoon:-)

apples....

We had our annual apple picking party at my grandma's house in Kaysville. They have two huge apple trees in their backyard and they enlist our help picking them and we go home with plenty of apples as well, so it's a fun time. Here are some of my favorite pics from the day.

Mataya amongst the foliage
Yes, I got in the tree to get the apples!

The neighbor dogs provided a lot of entertainment. They were playing with each other and jumping all around.
Cute girls!

Parker climbed up the ladder to help out.

Um, Melissa you might want to wash that first:-)

G.G., Alli and the little girls.

Red and green.....mmmm, yum!

Playing with some grass.

Me and Spenc!

Running around having a grand time.

Mataya snuggled right into Alli and was sucking her thumb is was so cute. Allison is such a great helper!

I'm bugged...

I found out tonight that the H1N1 nasal swab test is 20-50% accurate. Um...okay?! Why even do the test? Parker, who is 5 and has asthma, "tested" positive for it Wednesday and two days of taking Tamiflu is fine. Why perform a test that is so inaccurate?

I got all this information from a doctor tonight that I went to see because I am sick. He said the only way to get accurate results is to send a sample to the C.D.C. (centers for disease control) and results can take 2 weeks to get back. And that test is only performed on people who are hospitalized for the flu.

I would normally "tough it out" because I'm so tough. (I really am ask my Dad:) But because we have a 4 month old it is a concern. So our primary goal at this point is to keep Mataya healthy (if we can). It is still likely that we have H1N1 present in our home because having the flu in October is unusual.

I'm bugged that there is a lame test that doesn't give good results. And that insurance companies and people without insurance can pay for something so useless....makes a lot of sense, right?!

I promise my next post will be more exciting, less passive aggressive, and include cute kiddo pics!

That is all....thanks for listening.

it was only a matter of time....

Parker has H1N1.
Or as it's known on the streets "Swine Flu".....the last available swine flu vaccines were given on Tuesday in Davis County. 10,000 people showed up, there were 1400 available. I decided not to take me and the kids because I knew our chances would be slim.

The reason there is such a shortage is that there weren't enough vaccines ordered. Who is responsible for the amount ordered? *President Obama......that's change I can't believe it.

Anyway, we've got Parker quarantined in his room. He's on his top bunk with food, movies, and beverages. I worry A LOT about that kid because he has asthma. He had pneumonia and a bronchial infection when he was 9 months old and hospitalized for 3 days. It's scary to see your child so sick and struggle to breath and I know the swine flu can hit people hard that have other medical conditions. We are just hoping and praying that it is mild for him and also hoping that the rest of us don't get sick....especially 4 month old Mataya.

They call me the "Hand Washing Nazi" at my house, but sometimes it's just not enough....he's in school so it was really only a matter of time. We left the doctor this afternoon with a prescription for Tamiflu and Wal-mart didn't have it. Walgreens didn't have it. Thankfully Albertsons did. So all you parents out there....if your child has a fever there is a good chance it's H1N1 and a fever indicates that it's contagious. Get to the doctor and have them tested.

So Parker, I hope you get well soon lil' buddy!

*I swore I would never mention Pres. B.O. on my blog, but it happened. I guess Cory is rubbing off on me:)

more to come

We've had a couple of glorious days and I will post more pics later about all our fun times...but for now I'm off to watch a movie with the hubs.

bananas, marshmallows, chocolate....

Easy and yummy!

2 bananas in a bread pan.... Slice open and fill with chocolate chips....... Them marshmallows....
Put in the oven and melt chocolate and marshmallows. I followed that by broiling it for a bit to get the marshmallows nice and toasted and crunchy and delicious.

f.h.e.

For Family Home Evening on Monday we did a lesson about the watchman on the tower and how he can be up on the tower to see if there is danger up ahead and warn people. I did a demonstration with little army men and one of them was on the tower to warn the others about the bad guys approaching. I had a very captive audience with the army men and marshmallows...pure genius!! After the lesson we each got to build a tower with marshmallows and toothpicks. Spencer's doesn't exactly look like a tower, I think he said they were little machine guns:) Parker's motto: "Go big or go home!" He really got into the tower building.
Mataya's tower. When I was preparing this lesson and I made this little one to demonstrate, it took me back to high school geometry when we had to build different shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks. Afterwards we got to eat our marshmallows and this led to daddy throwing them to see if the boys could catch them in their mouth. Good job Spencer! I think it's going to make it in. He even had his eyes closed!
We didn't want her to feel left out:) It's not mean to throw mini marshmallows at a baby right?! I mean, for all she knows, they are just soft little pillows.

fall fun

We went for a drive and got the little ones up on a huge rock for a picture...Spencer was less than thrilled. I LOVE this pic of the boys. Cory took it while I was feeding the lil' girl in the car. He had Parker put his arm around Spencer. They look like good little buddies, which they are most of the time:) Parker brought his hiking stick from home. He's quite fond of it. And Spencer is determined to wear his dinosaur jacket as long as possible. It's starting to get small on him.Me and my cute kids. Daddy and the kids. Again, Spencer is not sure about all this! "Brothers don't shake hands....brothers gotta hug!" -Tommy Boy

october is here

Mataya wearing her Halloween shirt from Aunt Heather. It says 'Mummy loves me'....and it lights up, it's pretty cool. Thanks Heather! We had a Dinosaur Park adventure with some friends. It felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. Look at all those pumpkins. This was our posse of boys! Nothing says Halloween like a prehistoric crocodile with a pumpkin in it's mouth.
Parker running through the haunted mansion.Parker whatever you do....don't look up! There were several things at the park that made Spencer nervous. Parker is running through enjoying the trail of hanging skeletons and such. Parker made a new friend.......and Spencer kept his eyes peeled for bad guys. Our lil' mop top Spencer finally got a haircut. It was starting to get out of control:)

I LOVE the dinosaur park in October. It is so fun and festive.....and a little bit creepy!