Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
(1 day late)

I am grateful for many things but I will only list a few here right now.

1. My Savior Jesus Christ
2. The Gospel
3. Brad
4. Blake
5. Sonny
6. Having my family so close
7. Freedom
8. A warm home
9. My Testimony
10. My friends

I could go on & on but just wanted to list a few.
I hope everyone had a wonderful day & was able to take a moment to be ThAnKfUl for all
of our many many blessings.
(stories & pictures later)

It's Potty Time

So, I'm one of those mom's that decided to wait til my child was 3 before starting to potty train. That's how old Blake was & I decided that this was the BEST age for my boys. So here we go...

Comfy, cushy potty chair.......check!

Knock off brand of Pull ups.....check!!

(seriously...look at this picture.....

does anybody put the onesie under or inside the pull-up??

time to switch to regular shirts guys. What the heck?)

Big boy underpants......check!!!

Prize to be claimed at the end of filling up
Sonny's potty Chart........
Check!!!!

So here's the deal. I made Sonny this awesome potty chart (if I do say so myself) & I proceeded to try to get Sonny to go potty in the chair. The 1st week was BAD!!! He really was fighting me every step of the way & I started thinking that maybe he just wasn't ready. I started looking things up online & that was bad because apparently most kids potty train between 18-24 months. WHATEVER!!!! I was starting to get a little P.O.'d. There's nothing wrong with waiting til 3 & all those people can just.....Whatever!!! Anyway every time Sonny would just sit on the chair I would give him a sticker. Gradually we moved up to going pee in the potty & he'd get a sticker. Then Brad brought home his reward to get after he filled up his chart. He would stand on the "real" toilet just pressing all the buttons. So then one day he said he wanted to stand & go & so I let him. Now he stands at the "real" potty every time to go pee. I also decided to use big boy underpants during the day because I wanted him to feel what it was like when he'd pee his pants. I have a washing maching at my disposal so who cares if I have to change & wash his pants throughout the day & yes, there were days when we'd have to change a lot of pants. I'd say he got the hang of it because I didn't put him in pull-ups because they are like diapers...you just pull them up. He wears a pull-up when we go to church & to any babysitter but he's doing so well...I think he could go without. Now to just get him to go "big potty" in the "real" potty. I really do not enjoy cleaning up poopy underpants in the "real" toilet!!! Oh well....one thing at a time.
BUT....
I am so proud of him & glad I decided to go at his pace & not some psycho book. He says, "I'm going," & then I say hurry, hurry, hurry & we run to the bathroom & he goes. Now he likes to race me to the bathroom & of course he always wins...unless I'm in there already & he loves flushing the toilet.
So....to any other mom's out there embarking on this same journey....I say...Good Luck & don't stess yourself out...they will get it...they just have to get used to it & to all those other mom's that train your kids at 18 months or before....who's really trained....your child....or you???
Good Luck!!!
He just got his truck yesterday!! He kinda lost interest in the stickers when there were only 4-5 squares left to go. So we went ahead & gave it to him since he goes on his own now. Just gotta make a new one for the "big" potty adventure.

Finishing Up Halloween

I know...I'm slow seeing as how Thanksgiving is THIS week!! Crazy. Anyway Brad & I took the kids out to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm on Halloween before we went out Trick-or-Treating. It's a really fun place to go. Lots of fun things for the kids to do. We went on the train & let them pan for marbles & play wherever they could & go visit the smelly animals in the petting zoo...(eww).

Guess it's a good thing I wasn't born to farmers. I have this thing...I don't like getting my hands dirty....but let's not get in to that right now. Some day I'll learn to take less pictures.

(click on images to see larger)

After we got home my friend Jaime & her 2 boys came over & went Trick-or-treating with our boys. They had so much fun. We had a Luke Skywalker (Blake) Yoda (Sonny) a Ninja (Benjamin) & a Batman (Kael). Brad was the leader & me & Jaime just hung out & watched.

(I was going for candid pics so I didn't really take great pics...oh well).

After getting candy...I mean trick or treating we headed over to the Lyttge's house for food & fun. Fun fun night & I'm so glad it was on the weekend & not a school night.

My bonus Mom's costume was so cute I had to take a picture. :)

New Moon is TONIGHT!!!

(here is my actual ticket from the movie)

I am sitting here in anticipation!!!
My friends & I (mainly me) decided to go even earlier to wait in line so we can get a good spot (hopefully) & not end up in the front row. I'm so excited & can't wait. I'll post later how I felt about the movie but I really feel like it's going to be great!! And I am remembering this time that it's not going to follow the book word for word so I will not be disappointed this time.
3 cheers for New Moon!!
Yay!! Yay!! Yay!!
Have fun if you are a "TWI-hard" & going to the midnight showing like I am!!!
Oh & Thanks again Stephenie Meyer for writing such fun books to get lost in. You are fab!!!

A car accident & a Kings Game

Yesterday Brad sent me a text & asked if he thought it would be fun to take the kids to a Kings game. (Basketball for those of you who don't know). I said I thought it would be really fun. So me & the boys met Brad after work & off we went. Then, all of a sudden the car in front of us was stopped & Brad was braking as hard as he could & we stopped!!! Barely inches from the car in front of us & then BAM!!!! A car slammed into the back of us. CRAZY. My cell phone totally flew out of my hands & that was weird. We are all safe, thank goodness!!! There were actually 4 cars involved & thank goodness we weren't at fault. Now, on to getting the car fixed & everything else that has to go on. We weren't sure if we should just go home or go ahead & go to the game. We decided to go & I'm glad we did. We had a lot of fun!!! Blake really got into it & it was tons of fun!! On the way out it was raining & we all got drenched on our way out to the car. Fun times & too bad I didn't take the camera out. Thankful that we are all safe & that we were still able to have a fun night. Oh ya....the teacher from "Glee" was at the game it was like a "Glee" themed Kings game. It was fun & the 1/2 time show was great!!!

Yesterday was my Birthday!!!

And let me just tell you that it was probably one of the "BEST" birthdays in a long time. I just told myself, "let yourself have a good day." And guess what? I did. The kids were so good. My friend Jaime came over to hang out with me. Brad came home on his lunch break & had a cake with him!!! That was awesome cuz all I really want on my birthday is cake & for people to actually remember. Then he gave me his present. Remember when I posted about all my cd's being stolen? Well he recreated most of the cd's that were stored on the computer so I would have my music back. Freakin awesome!!! He also put together a cd of all 80's music that he thought I'd like. He did a really good job for not being an 80's music lover. Later that night the kids gave me the presents they got me. Blake got me a new heart necklace & some earrings & Sonny did too. They are so cute!! They always get me hearts & Lisa said Blake picked his out all by himself & he really took his time to pick the "right" one. I had a few visitors & that was fun & then Brad & I went out to "Johnny Garlics". It was good & I even got a "free" dessert. It was a "great birthday!!!" Oh & let me just give a little "shout out" to all my Facebook friends. Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!! for wishing me a Happy Birthday. I think this is the 1st time in forever that so many people remembered!!! ♥♥♥

P.S. I still have Halloween pics to post. I'm a little slow....sometimes. :)

A Disneyland Halloween!!!

We were so lucky to go to Disneyland with Brad's mom Lisa & his Brother Bryan & his family. Me, Brad & the boys left early on Saturday morning & the rest of the family came later that evening. Me & the boys were there Saturday-Tuesday & Brad came home on Monday so he didn't have to take more time off work. Everybody else stayed til Tuesday too. Can I just say "What an awesome flight!" Short, sweet & to the destination. A little more than an hour. We arrived at our hotel around 10 & we were off to get breakfast & go to the park. Woohoo. I didn't know if we were going to make it this year or not but we did. Thank you Lisa!!!!! What a fun trip. We had a lot of fun, excitement, thrills, & melt downs. But what's a trip to the "Happiest place on earth" without all that stuff?!! Blake for one reason or another decided that he was afraid of just about everything but we are not kind parents. We are mean & cruel & made him go on everything & you know what....he survived!!! We didn't go all the way to Disneyland for him to just sit around & go "shop" in all of the souveneir stores. What the heck!!! Anyway he was finally tall enough to go on Indiana Jones this year & he says he loved it even though he kept his head down most of the ride & I had to tell him to look up at stuff. Despite the melt downs we were able to have a "fun & memorable" experience. Brad & I went on Splash Mountain & got drenched. It was so fun. My Cousin David & his wife Esmeralda happened to be there on Sunday so we met up with them to say hi. And then my friend Stephanie & her family were there too & we met up on our last day at California Adventure to go on a few rides with all the kids. We also saw some other friends, the Rackham's there too. What a fun place to be & to see people that you know. We did a lot & it seems like there was still stuff that we missed out on. There were 275 pictures combined so I decided to make scrapbook pages & post them so it wouldn't be so overwhelming. I hope you like the albums I put together. I have never been to Disneyland at Halloween time & it was so fun. I loved all the decorations & the fireworks show they did was really cool!! That would be a great time to be tall...:) I've been there during the summer & mostly at Thanksgiving/Christmas time so it was really fun to see a different atmosphere. I love Disneyland & can't wait to go again & Thanks again Lisa for taking us all to Disneyland. Oh & there are so many stories to tell...it's just too overwhelming to do it all at once. Enjoy all the pictures.

Adventures in Disney's CA Adventure part 1

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Adventures in Disneyland part 2

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Adventures in Disneyland part 3

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Adventures in Disneyland part 4

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pumkin craft with Kids

Here's another easy craft my friend Jaime & I did with the kids in October.

1: 2 pieces colored construction paper

1 piece to have the kids tear up &

1 to draw your pumpkin on

2: Draw a pumpkin on your 2nd piece of construction paper & then

pour glue all over it
3: take your torn pieces of paper & have kids place them on top of the glue

4: now you have a fun pumkin
this one is Colby's

this one is Sonny's & he really put his papers like that. I did the stem.

and here's mine. I put a face on it too.

This was such a fun and easy project to do with the kids. I made a spider too & I even had Blake & Yasmin & Chloe make pumpkins when they came home from school.

Easy peasy!! I plan on doing this for Christmas & thanks to my friend

Brandy @ Home Sweet Home for giving me the idea!!

Rag Dolls

As everybody knows....I have boys & I try to be very proactive about all things boy. But.....on occasion I want to make something girly. Also on occasion I get a craft bug going. One day back in October (I know...late posting) I decided I wanted to make a simple rag doll. So off I went to the trusty "world wide web" & typed in simple rag doll off I went. The 1st one I made is the pink & blue flowered doll with no face & no hair. I made my own pattern & off I went to sew. I made some real rookie mistakes but I got the gist of what I needed to do. Then I decided it would be fun to make a Halloween doll too. I have plenty of scraps to use so I did. I really wanted to do hair on the doll this time & I used the hair pattern from "black apple dolls" & tweaked it to fit my doll head. It was really fun & I intend to make more "holiday dolls" for my nieces for Christmas. Gotta get going though. I know eventually I will be able to just whip these out like it's nothing & Kylie...(the little girl I babysit) has no problem carrying these little dolls around.
I can't wait to make more.

Pattern for simple rag doll here.

Pattern for Black Apple Doll: here

A trip to a Pumpkin Patch

Every year we go to this local pumpkin patch which is just down the street from where we live now. It's always fun
& it seems like I try to get the same kind of picturew from year to year. They have a small petting zoo, haunted barn
corn maze, train ride & bounce houses. This year Uncle Bryan, Aunt Kimi, Cousin Libby & Grammy Sisa joined us
for a little while. As always I am the photographer & there's no pics with me...although I do belive that Grammy Sisa
may have 1 or 2 with me in her photos somewhere. What's a mom to do? Have fun taking pics of the family of course!!!

I had fun trying to take different photos of the scenery too. Just trying to improve on my skills!!! :)

Sonny's Max & Ruby Birthday Party

Here's all the pictures (in collage form of course) from Sonny's

Max & Ruby Party!!

My birthday boy (one day early) in his jammies before all the festivities begin.

I decide to do some games for the kids in the playroom

so we would be out of the way for & not under everybody's feet. I think it turned

out great & all the adults could visit without wild crazy kids running around.

The 1st activity was a coloring page of Max & Ruby. At 1st Sonny

didn't want to have anything to do with it but eventually he came around & joined in.

I did this just to get all the kids inside from playing on the play structure outside & it was

really HOT that day!!

The 2nd activity was a matching/memory Max & Ruby game. You all know how to

play so I'll spare all the rules. If they got a match...they got to pick something

from the prize bag. It had lots of fun stuff in it & the kids had a lot of fun!!

Then we played musical squares. Just my take on musical chairs. I figured the chairs would be a pain in my booty so I decided to put different colored paper on the floor for the kids to walk on...kinda like a cake walk. If they landed on the right color...they got a prize from the bag. This one was tons of fun & we played Halloween music. We played that one for a long time.

Then we played "Pin the tail on Max." I had been trying to find a picture of Max that was big enough to use to play this game. Well the night before the party I found the website http://www.rosemarywells.com/ (she's the author of the books) & found all this really cool stuff that you can print off & use for birthday parties. I was so excited because you can't find "Max & Ruby" party stuff in the stores. The kids loved this game too. I had fun spinning the kids round & round.

And last but certainly not least.....the Famous "Worm Cake"!! & presents. Max always makes a worm/dirt cake while his sister actually makes something edible. Of course I wanted to do a "worm cake" because what's a Max & Ruby Birthday without a "worm cake." Brad came up with all the ingredients to make ours & it was DELICIOUS!!!
Chocolate pudding & crushed oreos mixed together decorated with gummy worms & rocks.
Super easy & super delicious!!!
Sonny doesn't really like the spotlight so while we were singing to him he was having a fit & covering his ears...just one of those things he does. It's so cute. He got some really cool toys & is still enjoying playing with them.

A special shout out to my friend Hollie who had her girls come over early & help me decorate for the party & also to my parents for helping with the clean-up. Thanks everyone!! And thank you to everyone who came to help celebrate!!
It was really fun!!!