Halloween

Halloween seemed to creep up on me this year.  We didn't even get a pumpkin carved, but we did make cookies... if that counts?!  Ben was sleeping, so Emma got to 'decorate' them herself.  She made sure she made one special cookie for Ben and daddy though. 

The kids had SO much fun going trick-or-treating!  We started a bit earlier in the evening (about 5:30) and were out for about an hour.  I was amazed at how quickly Ben picked up on what to do to get candy!  He just about pounded down the doors if they weren't opened immediately.  It was pretty cute to see how excited they got.  Emma kept telling me, "I will go to another door and they will give me more candy!"  After a block Lennard went home and got the van so that we could warm up between houses.  It was cold!  Not a lot of snow, but a chilly wind.  Emma's witches hat kept blowing off, so by the end of the night we just left it in the van.  We rounded off the evening by calling Grandpa Nichols on Skype to show him their costumes and all the candy they got.  They were pretty excited to show him everything!

All ready to head out!

Love the little witch costume that Emma wore.

Scary skeleton ready to get 'more' candy!

Their 'loot' at the end of the night!  Emma calls them her 'special treats'.

Oh Give Me Patience

I wish I'd read this a little earlier in the day... maybe then I wouldn't have the regrets I do about how I handled today.  It's not that the kids were particularly 'bad' today, but everything seemed to compound and I pretty much lost it.  It's not a good thing to be constantly frustrated/upset/angry/sad... especially when the kids take it all in.  Emma kept giving me kisses and telling me I was all better.  I wish I could have made the switch, stopped my self pity and changed my attitude.  I did try to find the humor in all the craziness that happened today... and I did... some of the time.  Just not often enough for my liking.  I know that they are growing up way too fast and that someday I will look back and yearn for these days again.  I just had a hard day feeling that way today.  So, because of all that, I've decided to now write all the GOOD/FUNNY and SWEET things that have happened today and ignore all the rest!

Emma woke up this morning exclaiming, "I had a wonderful night's sleep, mom!"  She jumped up, found her pink stuffed elephant, gave it a big kiss and proceeded to race down the hallway happy as can be.

After one 'incident', Emma came back in to the kitchen and Ben walked over to her and gave her a big hug (with no prompting) and Emma hugged him back.  It was so amazing to see the sweet, pure love these two have for each other.

When Lennard got home from work, I watched as he layed on the ground and Ben crawled on top of him and 'snuggled' with him.  I love that Lennard takes the time to get down and really play with him.

Emma cleared her plate.  Ben sat for scriptures (huge!).  They both went to bed without a fight!  They both ate well.

Emma and Ben 'helped' me get dinner ready... though Emma got more in her mouth than anywhere else. 

I had to laugh as Emma discovered for the first time that onions can make your eyes tear up.

Ben, with his deep little voice declaring, "Don't (w)ike it!"... and then eating whatever it was that he apparently didn't like!

Emma was so excited to pick out which pajamas she was going to wear to bed tonight... Winnie the Pooh won!

I truly am blessed to have these two little munchkins in my life.  I just need to remind myself a little more frequently on days like today that they are two of my biggest blessings and that I would be lost without them.  I can only pray that they will remember a kind and patient mom instead of the monster mom that was all too present today. 

Funny Kids

Just thought I would post a couple of 'random' pictures of how funny our kids are.  They definitely keep us shaking our heads!

Emma has started 'dressing' herself... or at least expressing an opinion on what she want to wear. She wanted to wear a skirt, so she got that... but then later this is what I found.  Sandals, jacket and a toque to complete the 'look'!  What a funny girl.

Not sure what Ben was thinking... but I laughed!  "Wook Mom!"

Helpin'!

Ben was 'helping' make the orange juice this morning.  He was doing pretty good... then we turned around and saw this...  "Mmmm...yummy!"  Good thing it was just us drinking this juice!

Calgary Temple Open House

We headed up to Calgary bright and early this morning to attend the Temple Open House.  Mom & Dad had watched the kids last night for us while we went to a party, so we all piled in to the van and left at about 7:00.  As we were driving up, we saw the strangest cloud formations.  They looked like waves!  I managed to snap a few photos from the back seat through the windshield, so they aren't the best photos, but at least I got some!



 

 

When the open house was first announced we were told that we had to have tickets to attend.  When I went to schedule our tickets, the only Saturday time available was for today, so we booked it.  Afterwards we found that we could have gone whenever we wanted to, so we went earlier than our 5:15pm time that we'd booked.  Thankfully we did, because today was the last day for the open house and it was BUSY!  They told us that they were putting 1000 people/hour through the tour.  We didn't have a lot of time in each room as they kept us moving pretty quickly, but what we did see was beautiful.  Emma was thoroughly entertained by the booties they put on our shoes... when the lady put them on her shoes she told Emma, "Now your feet look like marshmellows!"  The rest of the time Emma called them her 'sticky (s)marshmellows'.  Ben didn't want anything to do with them, so when he finally wanted to walk, we just took his shoes off and let him walk in his stocking feet.  I wish we'd been able to get a family picture in front of the temple, but it was snowing and cold with pretty much a white-out... so no pictures for us!  We were more concerned about getting the kids back in to the van.  They were tired and hungry and 'done' with being quiet! 

We headed over to change at Aunt Marilyn's and then went to the Olive Garden for lunch.  Since it was my Dad's birthday, we treated him and my mom to lunch.  So yummy!  I ate way too much... but it was soooo good!

We then headed up to the Cross Iron Mills mall and spent some time in Bass Pro Shop.  Lennard almost got kicked out for drooling all over the quads (just kidding)!  Emma got a little pair of sunglasses and Ben got a hat (though he would not let me take a picture of him in it).

We finally got home at about 7:00pm.  The kids went straight to bed.  As Emma said, "It was a long, long, long, long drive!"

Another Step Closer...

Well, this evening we made one more step in the never ending project... AKA: my laundry room!  We ripped up 2/3 of the tile!  Thankfully it came up fairly easily.  Now we have to move the washer and dryer to get the rest of the tile up.

Then we'll 'only' have to move the furnace vent, scrape ceilings, move light fixture, drywall, mud, tape, sand, prime, paint, lay sub-floor, install linoleum, mouldings, put in a laundry sink, build a set of drawers, laundry hamper storage, closet, etc.  Not too much... should be done in no time right?  (Nice 20 minute project as my mother-in-law would have said!)

Ouch!

When Lennard was home for lunch today he and Ben were playing.  Ben was racing around the island and went to climb onto a chair and slipped...  Poor boy.  It was hard to see at first where the blood was coming from his mouth and then we saw this.  Ouch!

 Cut on the inside and outside!

 He was not impressed that I wanted a picture of him...  He definitely has the scowl down pat!

 I finally got a smile... even with his fat lip!

Sock Bun

So, I am not the most talented hairdresser out there.  I can't do haven't learned how to do all the fancy braids and hair-dos with Emma's hair, but yesterday I saw a You Tube video on how to do a sock bun and I thought to myself... now that is something 'I' can do!!!  Amazingly it worked!  I had to take some pictures of how cute Emma looked with her hair all up in a bun!  Now I have to venture out and find all the pretty bows, flowers, etc to dress it up with!

 

Thanksgiving Dinner

This year we all decided that it would be nice to have our Thanksgiving Dinner in Lethbridge at the church (so no one's house got destroyed).  We waited until the last session of General Conference and then made our way in.  Almost everyone was there, except for Dave & Nysha (they had another family dinner).   

Emma immediately claimed Grandma as 'hers'!

 

Rachel made a fruit 'turkey' that everyone enjoyed.

 

It was nice to have everything pretty much ready to go when we got there and not have the huge preparation mess.

 

I ate WAY too much (as per usual). The kids wouldn't eat much as there was too much going on around them. They just wanted to play with their cousins... so we let them! 

My only wish was that we'd been able to actually sit and visit a bit more.  Being in the church wasn't as conducive to sticking around and chatting.

Lotion!

Emma loves putting on lotion and since Ben has excema and we are lathering him up all the time, she gets in on the action as much as possible.  Well... today she tried to help herself to some 'lotion' while I was busy upstairs.  Unfortunately it wasn't lotion... it was zinc oxide diaper cream! 

 

I was on the phone upstairs when Lennard popped in to get something.  He said hi to me and Ben and then headed downstairs to see Emma before heading back to work.  I heard him say, "Mary Lou!  Where's your camera?!"  I got off the phone, grabbed the camera, turned around and saw this...

 

She was so proud of herself that it was difficult to get upset!  Not only was it all over herself, her clothes and her hair, but she had got it on the couch, stairs and railings!  Lennard laughed... and then went back to work (thanks a lot!).  I quickly put a shout-out on Facebook to get suggestions on how to get diaper cream out of her hair and was quickly inundated with ideas.  The one that stuck out the most was to use Dawn dish detergent... so that's what we did!  I wiped off her arms, stripped her down and laid her on the kitchen counter so that I could use the spray nozel and wash her hair in the kitchen sink!  Thankfully Dawn took all the diaper cream out!  Ben didn't want left out, so once Emma's hair was washed (and conditioned!), I let Ben have a turn and soaked his hair down too!  They thought it was great fun!  My life is definitely anything but dull!!!

Team Work

Ben is a very determined little boy.  When he couldn't get the freezer opened by himself, he figured out a way to do it... He enlisted the help from his big sister!  In Ben's words, "Emma.  Pull!"

 Sure enough, with two of them pulling they got the freezer opened!  Ben looked up at me and said, "Got it!"  What a smart boy!  (Too smart for his own good sometimes!)

It's 'SNOW' Fun!

We had a bit of snow fall overnight and the kids were overjoyed to get their winter coats and boots on to go outside and play!  Emma LOVED seeing how much snow she could pick up and was even trying to throw it!  I was getting dinner ready, so Lennard went out with them for a while.

 

 Look mom, Snow!!!

Catch me, Dad!

 

After a while, they finally made their way back inside.  Emma loves to 'help' and was quickly pulling the chair over to stir the spaghetti sauce.  She actually did really well, as long as I kept reminding her to stir slowly!  We only had one glop of sauce go flying!  (Sorry for the lovely dirty stove... I'd been processing more cans of apple pie filling!)

 Ben did not want to use his fork at all... but loved that the magnets stuck to it.  He definitely has a mind of his own and won't be convinced to do anything if he doesn't want to!  Should be interesting when he gets older...