Hannah the wonder kid!

Thanksgiving Vacation

One of the highlights of playing at Grandpa and Grandma's house was helping pick apples. Even after we had tons of them, they still needed to be in tree. "There are more apples up there, we need to pick the apples."

Hannah learns about tea parties from her cousin. Kimberly said they should toast and Hannah replied "toast, we don't have any toast."

And we managed to get a nice family picture. Woohoo!!

Halloween fun!

So here are some pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. Sam was a "dinosaur-dragon who eats other dragons" or something along those lines. Hannah was a "princess with stars," she was adamant about the stars. Michelle was a duck. In this picture she is a somewhat hidden duck by the attacking dinosaur and princess.

Here are the pumpkins we carved. We carved pumpkins at two different times, hence the differing decay levels. And the candles didn't want to stay lit for pictures outside. But it was fun and the kids enjoyed it. Hannah loves to clean out the pumpkins, Sam grimaced every time he stuck his hand in there.

This is just a cool picture that Justin took that I really liked. He's the budding photographer. :)

October fun

This is one of my new favorite Halloween activities. This year was a little bit easier since I already knew that strollers were not feasible and the only one who would need a stroller is young enough to stay in the snugli and not pitch a fit about not getting out. Sam and Hannah loved the hale bale maze. Mom is a huge fan because I can see them while they are in there and not have to be following them constantly while they both run through there.

We went with our friend Spencer, this picture isn't such a good shot of him but my kids were sure cute! :) Now Sam is looking forward to carving pumpkins at Grandma's house and waiting desperately for me to finish his halloween costume.

Salsa Explosion

One of the latest disasters at our house involved an explosion of salsa. Here's what happened (with the pictures to prove the disaster). Sam was kicking a ball around the house. I told him he needed to stop. "Why?" he asks. "Because I don't want you to break something." "But I'm not breaking anything." So he proceeds to kick the ball from the living room into the kitchen. The ball (just an inflatable cheap one) went into the kitchen, knocked a brand new container of salsa from Costco off the counter and onto the floor. Now the amazing part is how far and wide spread the salsa was while no more than a cup was missing from the jar of salsa. I know it looks like someone died but I was pretty impressed with my reaction. Yes I yelled at him but it wasn't too much or even too loud. Small miracles because two hours later I was still cleaning salsa from the kitchen (and the next morning was another 2-3 hours of cleaning).

I immediately had Sam help clean it up. He mopped the floor and cleaned the fridge and the pantry. This stuff went everywhere. It was on the ceiling, the living room carpet got a few drops, the wall above the cupboards, the pantry doors, it was impressive. I had to take pictures just to prove how big a mess it was. The kitchen was in need of cleaning anyway, but I hadn't planned on a huge cleaning. We spent that afternoon and the next morning cleaning the kitchen. The floor got mopped, the cupboards cleaned and some polish on them, counter tops cleaned, dishes done, walls cleaned, and ceiling wiped (pretty much only where there was salsa).

Here are the after shots of my nice clean kitchen. I had high hopes of keeping it this clean for awhile, but a couple of days later I decided I am fine with mostly clean. Just keeping up with the dishes and keeping the floor swept and the counters clean is a big enough job. I am definitely not the cleaning guru some of my friends are. :)

I guess having an explosion of that proportion every four years is a good thing for my kitchen. I think Sam has learned why the balls stay downstairs or outside. I hope, in the meantime, I will try to keep the counters clean. And we are trying to use a whole lot of salsa since we now have two containers open essentially. Good thing my kids like chips and salsa!

Test post!

Six weeks old

Michelle looking beautiful in her blessing dress. The red bows are the way I decided to personalize the dress for her. Hannah was blessed in the same dress but with different color bows.

Nice time for a family picture. Unfortunately Sam has hit the goofy grin when asked to smile for pictures. It's cute but mildly annoying when I just want a "normal" picture. Although, this is probably as normal as you will see this family. :)

This is Michelle at six weeks old with her very cute grin. The person who can get the most grins out of this girl practically on command: Sam. He will lay down next to her and then I hear this "Mommy, look at that really cute grin."