Halloween fun

A couple of weeks ago we all went to the pumpkin patch with Kates preschool. The kids loved it! Kirk went out to the patch and found the tiniest pumpkin, he called it his "baby pumpkin". He also loved the field corn, he wanted to eat it. I love Halloween, picking out pumpkins, raking leaves, and dressing up in costumes. The kids were so excited for Halloween. The morning started with Kates preschool classes Halloween party. She was so excited to see all of her friends dressed up. Then Kirk and I headed to the store to get some candy. I wanted to get it at last minute, otherwise I'd probably eat a good portion of it before Halloween. Later after a good nap we headed to Dan's work. Lifetime puts on a great party, with candy games, and prizes the kids really enjoyed it. Then Dan took the kids out trick or treating. They actually went for a whole hour. About halfway Kirk plopped down on his knees, and just couldn't go any further. Dan carried him home on his shoulders. It's been fun to see the kids get into the holiday so much. Today both of them came upstairs with a empty garbage sack. They said they were catching ghosts in it. Kate was sure to tell me they were just pretend ghosts. Another fabulous Halloween surprise is that were having a little boy! I went into the doctors yesterday. He said that they are 95% sure. I'm thrilled I think it will be great for Kirk to have a little buddy. Kate took it pretty well. She was hoping for a sister. I think since her cousin Alexandra is having a little baby brother it's helped her with the idea of another brother. Well were off to my parents house to do some more trick or treating.

What will these kids think of next!

Okay,

I'm feeling a little bad about my last post. Especially since I love being a mom, and since I have two of the cutest kids on the face of the earth (of course that is a completely un-biased opinion)! But really they do come up with some of the funniest ideas at times. The other day Kirk came upstairs with my camera in his hands. I must have left it out because he managed to turn it on, and was walking around the house taking pictures. Here is what our home looks like from his two year old perspective! He took about twenty similar pictures! Then last night I was on my way out to go visiting teaching. The kids had been upstairs for quite awhile (we all know what that means). I told them I was going to leaving them with Dan, when they said "okay mommy we have a really big surprise for you when you get home!" That made me very nervous. I came back home and Kate and Kirk were so excited. They said close your eyes mommy. They then continued to lead me upstairs into my room. There on the floor was every single pillow, blanket, sheet, and couch cushion that exisits in our home. They were so proud of themselves. I had to take a picture! I couldn't believe it, they even stripped all of the blankets off of the beds. They then spent the rest of the evening jumping off my bed onto the "boat" that's what they call it. It keeps them safe from the crocodiles! Yes our children have very vivid imaginations!

Dinner no good? Get out the cold cereal!

Hey everybody. I just have to release some frustration with the challenges of being a mother. I'm not trying to complain, but hopefully some of you will relate to my evening. I spent 45 min. today making an edible dinner so that our family could sit down together and eat, only have the kids complain that they don't like it, and that they'd rather eat chicken nuggets for dinner! Then Dan rushed off to a meeting. I decided to tackle the dishes, meanwhile the kids fought over a balloon, each of them ended up crying about every 5 seconds. Then I herded them up to the bathtub. Kate refused to wash her hair, and cried the whole time like she was being tortured. I got the kids in their clean P.J's. Five minutes later kate spills milk down hers, and kirk poops in his diaper. I change Kate, and Kirk, then head downstairs. Promptly they both say "I'm hungry". I thought to myself, why in the heck do I even make dinner? So we go downstairs and all enjoy a bowl of cereal. Yes I ate one too! I needed some comfort food for my nerves. I actually took a picture to prove to the kids someday that they grew up on Kix's and rice krispies. I try to be a good mom, but I swear sometimes I feel like the things I do get undone if 5 seconds or less. Well I feel better now, I think I'll go tackle sweeping up the kitchen floor!

P.S. I hope I don't sound whiny in this blog, just needed to vent!

Our fun weekend

Last weekend was really fun, and quite consequential. It looks like we will be getting a new vehicle. We traveled down to St. George in Dan's Subaru. It's the older of our two cars, but it's a bit roomier so that's why we opted for that one. We were almost there when Dan decided to stop to fill up on gas. When we got out of the car the hood was totally smoking like crazy. I freaked. I thought we would be stuck in Parowan! Well Dan thought it was over heating so he got some water and tried to cool it down. Then we drove to a near by mechanic and had him look at it. He found that the transmission was leaking and replaced the ring for one dollar. Yes I was shocked that you could get anything repaired on a car for a dollar. Only in parowan I guess. So we thought that was the solution to our problem and happily went on our way down. But the car continued to smell, and leaked all over in the garage. We had another mechanic look at it and he said if your thinking about getting a new car soon, now would probably be a good time to do that, because it'll cost a bundle to fix ours. My sister who was down there also asked if the car was okay, and of course if anybody knows me I can't hide my true feelings very well. With a huge grin I said "It looks like were going to have to get a new car"! She laughed and said wow your really taking that well. But really I'm totally excited about the thought of having a roomier vehicle. We were planing on replacing one of our cars before the baby comes in April anyways. The trip was still a ton of fun. We were able to still drive the leaky car around. My sister ran the marathon in a total down pour. St. George is a desert and she had to run a marathon on one of the few days out of the year that it actually rains down there! She did great in spite of the rain. As I watched the runners finished all soaking wet I felt so bad and thought that they looked miserable. Kristen of course still was smiling, and just happy to finish.

Today when I was getting ready I checked on the kids, they were both sitting in the rocking chair reading a book together! So cute, I'm glad I was able to snap a picture of it. I don't get candid shots of them playing very often. Another cute thing that Kirk has been doing lately is that he has to talk to everybody who calls. He's used to talking to family and friends, but yesterday a car salemen returned my call, and he insited on talking to him. I'm sure the salesman was annoyed with having to talk to a two year old for a second, but Kirk wouldn't stop yelling to talk. So I let him. Of course the salesman was nice about it, he was trying to get our buisness. It's funny I use to worry about Kirk not talking enough, now he talks too much!

Just a note

The kids are both taking naps and I'm agonizing over what to do with dinner. Do you ever find when your pregnant the thought of cooking just makes you want to gag? The problem is that nothing in my pantry looks even remotely good to me. I've been craving subway's lately. Actually I'll crave anything as long as I don't have to cook it! Now that I've vented about that, I just wanted to quickly catch you all up on the latest that's been going on at our house. Tomorrow we leave for St. George for the weekend. I'm soooo excited because my sister Kristen who's living in California is flying in to run the St. George marathon. I'm excited to see her run this. She is so amazing I wish I was half a disciplined as she is. She's done half a dozen marathons already. She also just had a baby last January, so obviously she doesn't count being a busy mom as any excuse to not get out there and go running. Dan's parents have a place down there and they are going as well as Dan's brothers. I'll post some pics when we get back.
Last week I went into the doctor's. The baby is doing fine. I'm about 13 weeks along now and I feel like I'm getting over the worst part when you feel sick and tired all the time. I have alot more energy now and I feel like I'm at least getting back into the swing of things again. I had a very proud moment today I was able to deep clean all three bathrooms! I felt very satisfied with myself.
The kids are doing great. I swear they get cuter every day. Last night Dan was at a meeting so I decided to allow the kids to watch a movie. Kirk came downstairs a little while later. Soon after Kate followed. From the top of the steps she said "Mommy I get scared when kirk isn't up her by me". I said to Kirk "Kate's scared by her self." He immediately said "Kate's scared, ohhh, Kate's scared, ohhh, kate's scared" As he ran upstairs to be with her. I thought that was so sweet. As a parent you see your kids fight and wonder if there's any sibling love between your kids. Then little moments like these happen and you know that they really do care about each other. In spite of the occasional hair pulling our kids do really love each other!
Dan's doing great. He actually has a new job at Lifetime. He is now finding outside plastic work for the plastic division. I guess that there capacity is down becasue of the lousy economy, and so they are looking for more outside work. He just found a deal for a company that makes trash bins. They will be making the plastic lids for them. I think he's been really excited about having something new.
Another cute thing the kids said the other day was when we were putting up the halloween decorations. Kate was so excited. As we were putting them out she kept saying, "It's so great to do halloween today mommy, it's so great to do halloween!". Our kids say the cutest things. Kirk is really talking alot more now. We were nervous about is speech development for awhile. He couldn't hear when he was a newborn because he had fluid in his ears. Finally when he was about six months old he passed a hearing test. As he grew he just wasn't talking as quickly as he should have been. I did take him into the speech therapist several months ago. She said that he was on the lower end of normal. But since then he's been talking so much more. He copies everything Kate says. He is a very sweet little guy.

Back to School

Ah, fall. It's my favorite season of the year. I love the cooler weather, and seeing the beautiful mountains change color. There's a certain excitement in the air when the kids head back to school, with their new clothes, and new school teachers. Kate started her first year of preschool. She loves it. I'm so glad I decided to put her in this year. She will have two years of preschool, and I thought that maybe that was over kill, but boy was I wrong. Kate loves going, and I get to give kirk more attention. He is loving it up! He loves to sit on my lap and read stories. I've been trying to help him learn colors. It's been three weeks and he still hasn't gotten it! I'm starting to wonder if he's color blind or something. When Kate's at preschool Kirk is always asking "where's Kate?" I think he misses her when she goes, but a little space has been a good thing. They seem to play better, and not fight as often. Another really fun part about sending Kate to school is that I have a reason to get her all dressed up. I took a picture of her in one of my favorite outfits. Kirk was ready to step right up and get his picture taken as well. Yes I know he has a bottle in this picture! I've got a two and a half year old who still drinks from bottles! But he is so insistent, and I haven't got the heart to take it from him. He is still my youngest, so I indulge him alittle bit. I've been feeling much better lately. I'm past the whole sickness stage. Right now I just get soooo tired every afternoon. Right after lunch time I start to feel the drain. Luckily that's Kirk's nap time, so I get to have some rest. Tonight Dan took Kirk up to the Father's Son's camp out with the ward. Dan's been so excited to take Kirk camping. He said he was going to teach him man stuff up there, (Whatever that means)? I took Kate for a little girls night out. It was fun to be just the two of us. That doesn't happen very often, and I think she enjoyed it. We went and got her pictures taken at the mall since she just turned four. Then I bought her some chich-fil-a, and a hot fudge sundae. While she was eating the ice cream she kept complaining that it was making her head hurt. I told her she's just gotten her first "Brain freeze". She thought that was pretty funny. I had a couple of things to return, and then I bought her some new ballet tights. Then she fell asleep on the way home. I was excited about the way the pictures turned out. She as grown up so much. I was just thinking on the way into the mall about all of the past years we have done this. I've taken her into kiddie Kandids for pictures for the past three years. I felt like she was still two and no time had past at all. I'm so frightened that I will blink and all of a sudden she'll be sixteen. These truly are the moments to cherish. Our kids are our most priceless possessions. I am so grateful to be a mother!

It's Birthday Central!

Okay, I know it's been forever since I've updated this, but if it's any consolation we've been really, really busy. First of all the end of August and the first two weeks of September is Birthday mania at our house. Dan's Birthday is August 22. He's now soooo old 31! Kate's Birthday was last week. She had a crazy, fun, girly party. We had 10 girls over, what were we thinking? But her party really was awesome. Kate Madsen came at the end dressed like Cinderella. She was the highlight of the party! Yesterday was my Birthday. By the time mine comes around Dan will ask "do you want to do a party"? My prompt reply is NO WAY! I celebrated my Birthday by letting Dan do the dishes, and enjoying the news hour without kids to bath and get to bed. I also went to the Girls Camp reunion last night. It was fun to see all of the girls and their leaders again!. Today I canned peaches all day. My sister in-law Shauntel came over this morning to show me how to do it. We have two peach trees that must be on steroids or something. We have masses, and masses of peaches. We've been eating them, but I knew that we couldn't eat them all before they'd go bad. So in spite of my scary preconceptions of canning, I decided to jump in and try it. It actually wasn't to difficult. I was amazed at how rewarding it was. It's nice to work hard and have something to show for your labor. When I spend all day cleaning, the house just gets dirty again the next day. Canning will actually last. I did 24 jars of peaches, and we still have oodles and oodles more on the trees. Hey if anybody out there would like some PLEASE feel free. The kids have been really good. Kate just recently started Preschool. She loves going, and it's been good for Kirk too. I've been able to give him some one on one time. He is so cute, and always excited about life, and has an infectious smile. I guess that is a quick update on how the Mower clan has been doing. I'm now 10 or 11 weeks pregnant. 10 according to my doctor, but I swear I'm further along than he's giving me credit for! We are excited for the fall weather. Fall is my favorite time of year, I just love the changing leaves, and the cooler temperatures. I really can't believe we are wrapping up the year with just a few months left. I don't know were the times has gone.
Kirk found our food coloring and turned himself blue. He looked like a smurf for a day! (luckily it was in the kitchen and wiped right up). Never fret BYU fans his T-shirt washed clean!