Mouse Perfume

Here's a tip for those that attempt to capture mice: If you're going to set multiple mouse traps in your house make sure you remember where you put them. About a week ago I noticed a foul smell coming from the laundry room. My first thought was 'I got him', so I looked in all the places I remember putting a trap. Nothing. I left it alone for a couple days thinking maybe it was smelly laundry, but when I came back the stench was worse. I looked around again then wondered if the mouse had died in the air duct and the heater was blowing the smell around. As I was cleaning out the laundry room tonight I finally moved a table that was standing upright and there lay the trap with not one but two peaceful mouse corpses. May they now rest in peace.........in the dumpster. If the transportation of the mice from my home to the dumpster made me gag, I can't imagine what Emily's reaction would have been. BARF?
Shaun

'Tis The Season...

...to be silly. I did this mostly for Ethan's entertainment. He thinks it's hilarious. Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Fall Fun

I have been so busy and on a blogging hiatus, so this is another catch-up post. I don't really remember much about the past month or so except for Thanksgiving week (which was fun and stressful). I haven't been taking many pictures either, but I have a few.

My boys rented Wall-E a couple of weeks ago and had a movie night complete with popcorn. I thought they looked pretty cute getting ready for the movie to start. And I think I earned a worst mom award: I'm pretty sure that Spencer (with my permission) ate more popcorn than Shaun and Ethan did combined. He loves it!


Ethan did his first painting this week. I know he's a little old to have never painted before, but I never really thought about it before now. He loved it and I think he did a pretty good job.



I did the "Ethan" and the heart. He did the rest.


Spencer's latest love (besides climbing on the table) is wearing Mommy's shoes.



He didn't want Daddy to think his shoes weren't worth trying on, so he tried them, too. He couldn't really walk in them, though, so he still prefers mine.


We found a place to live down south, and we will probably be moving the weekend before Christmas. I am trying to get motivated to pack, but I'm worried about finding mice in boxes and growing piles, so I've been putting it off in hopes that Shaun will help me do some of the dirty work this weekend. I think Shaun is excited to start school, and I'm really excited to live closer to family and to have a third bedroom.

Mac Mom

I need to take a moment to welcome my mom to the Apple community! Way to go mom. You make a son proud!

Wordless Wednesday

Seriously?

At about midnight last night I got home from a night out with my friend. I had been listening to a CD while I was driving, and I wanted to finish the song that was playing before I got out of my car. I turned my car's engine and headlights off and sat listening to my music. Two police officers came walking into the parking lot to their separate cars. One of the men got in his car and drove away immediately. The other (who was backed in a few spots down with a truck between his and my car) stood by the back of his car facing toward mine. He looked around with an "I hope no one sees me" look on his face, then stood pretty still. I thought for a second Why is this guy trying to hide? It's not like people can't see him. Then, after watching him for about a minute, my brain turned on. This cop was peeing in my parking lot! He apparently had no idea that I was watching him. I could have sworn he could see me, but I guess not. It was hilarious (and gross)! Thankfully, I could only see him from the waist up.
When I told Shaun about it, he thought I should have gotten out of the car and told him "We can do this one of two ways: I can call your supervisor now, or you can give me $100 cash." I totally wish I'd have thought of that. :) At the very least I should have quickly exited my car and given him an innocent "hello", just to let him know he wasn't alone.

Crazy!

I have had some somewhat unexpected and crazy things happen in my life the past couple of weeks. I have felt like I haven't had much time to blog, but now I think I have plenty to talk about.

Last Wednesday Shaun's twin sister, Sarah, had her precious son Myles 11 weeks early. Myles was blessed with a strong set of lungs and is doing really well. They hope he will be out of the hospital by Christmas. That's a kind of a crazy thought since he wasn't even expected to be born until January. We are so excited to meet Myles and are very grateful that he and Sarah are both doing great.

Yesterday my stupendous dad went in for surgery to remove a growth on his Thyroid. Before going in they had determined that there was about (I think) a 30% chance that it was cancer. When they got in there they discovered that the tumor was actually a very aggressive (and stuck to everything) cancerous tumor. They ended up removing his entire thyroid. Going into the surgery my dad's greatest fear was having his vocal chords injured. Thankfully, they weren't, and he is doing pretty well today. He is in pain, but I think he's recovering as well as expected. They will do an MRI to make sure that the cancer didn't spread to other organs. He is also going to be given RAI (Radioactive Iodine) therapy. Usually a combination of surgery and RAI wipes out the cancer completely, so the prognosis is very good. I am so thankful that Dad is going to be ok, and that his tie won't bother him anymore. We love you, Dad!
As I was searching for the best description for RAI, I found this site. I think it's kind of cool that my dad will be "Radioactive Man" for a few days. Look out, mom!

Here is Dad practicing one of his great talents; cooking.

I saw a mouse in my house this morning (three times), and I am not happy about it. This isn't really something that is crazy, just something that is making me crazy!

I'm Frozen!

I can't take this cold weather! It is snowing today, and I am so not ready for winter. I'm never ready. I really need to live somewhere that has 75-80 degree weather all year long. Shaun doesn't understand why it bothers me since I don't spend much time outside, but I'm inside right now with the furnace set to 74 degrees and I'm FREEZING. I am planning a trip south to help my sister-in-law who is in the hospital next week and I can't wait. I think even if she ends up not needing me, I'll go just to escape the cold.

On another note; history was made yesterday. I am going to mention it for the sake of journaling. I have never been too interested in politics, but this year I have paid a little bit more attention to what the Presidential candidates were all about. Although Obama was not my pick (actually neither of the candidates really were), I was not at all surprised by the outcome. Since I didn't have many strong feelings about which candidate would be better for our country, I am now just pleased to know how far our country has come since 1965 when ALL blacks were finally given the right to vote. I like the show "24", and I absolutely loved the President Palmer character. The fact that he was a black man in the White House actually didn't surprise me much, so I don't fully understand why so many people thought that the possibility of us having a black President was far-fetched, but I do realize that yesterday was a HUGE day for the history books. It will be interesting to see how much "change" will actually take place in the next four years.

Carving The Pumpkin

Happy Halloween! A couple of weeks ago we carved our Jack-O-Lantern. I have always loved carving pumpkins, but the older I get, the less I enjoy getting my hands dirty. Shaun did most of the work this time.


Spencer was excited!


And Ethan was too, but this is one of I think two times he stuck his hand in the pumpkin. He doesn't love getting his hands dirty either. He spent most of the time "mixing" the seeds that were on the table with a spoon.


Spencer enjoyed playing with...


and tasting the leftover pumpkin. (And, yes, he does wear that shirt a lot.)



And here's the final product. Ethan designed the eyes. I designed the nose. Shaun designed the mouth and tweaked my nose design (it was supposed to be an oval). Isn't he cute?

Lately

I have gotten behind on by blogging so I am playing catch up today. Here are some pictures of what's been happening in our house lately.
Ethan tried to take Spencer's shirt off again. He didn't seem to mind...



But Daddy didn't like that Ethan was undressing Spencer, so he showed Ethan how it felt. He wasn't so happy with that.


The weather is cooling so it is finally time for Spencer to strut the Carhartt's that he got for his birthday. I think he looks pretty cute in them, but I need to find a shirt that matches better.


Shaun bought some Pop Rocks a while ago and shared them with the boys. I know this is way too many pictures of boys eating Pop Rocks, but they turned out so well.
As you can see, Ethan was pretty excited to try them.


Here's Spencer's first go at them. I love how happy Ethan is to watch him.



I think it's hilarious that Ethan is opening his mouth here while Spencer is being fed. Why do people do that (like while feeding a baby)?


The Pop Rocks were definitely enjoyed...


Even by Daddy.


Edit: Oh, yeah. Ethan's favorite word to yell out at random (even in public) since he started potty training last week is the name of a part of the male anatomy. And it's not Adam's apple!

St. George/Mesquite Trip

We spent October 3-12 in St. George and Mesquite to visit with family. Grandpa and Krista were visiting from Canada and it was fun to see them. We even surprised them and went down a week before we told them we were going to. We were so busy having fun that we forgot to take very many pictures, so there aren't many to share.
One of the reasons we went to St. George was to see Aunt Kayla run in the marathon. She did great and looked much better than I would have after running just 1 mile. Here she is with Grandpa after the race.


And here are Spencer, Krista, and Grandpa after the race.


Ethan and Addie were inseparable. They really love playing together. Here they are holding hands while riding on their Daddy's shoulders. It was pretty cute.


One day we spent some time playing in the park with Journey and Addison. Spencer was a very brave climber. He went all the way to the top of the playground.


After some convincing and examples from his cousins Ethan finally decided to go down the slide all by himself. It was hard to get him to stop once he started.


These are just random pictures I liked from the park.



The ice cream truck came by while we were there. Yum!


We also spent some time at the pool and made our first bowling trip as a family. I actually got second place under Krista, so the girls totally dominated! We had a great time on our trip. We love hanging out with family and the weather was so nice down south.

Tales Of The Potty

Note: This post is mostly for me. If you don't want to know almost every detail of Ethan's first few days of potty training, I suggest you stop reading now.
It looks like we are truly potty training now. This has been a long time coming. Not only because Ethan is almost 3 1/2 years old, but also because we started talking about the potty with him almost a year and a half ago. He has shown some interest before now, but he has only gone pee in the potty once before this week, and it was sort of an accident then. Since Wednesday (when he first decided to wear underwear) he has only worn a diaper twice. The first time was Wednesday night because I was afraid to let him sleep without one. The second time was Friday evening because he was refusing to go potty after holding it all day and he wanted a diaper. We had to go to the grocery store so I gave in. That night, though, he went potty twice before bed and asked to sleep in underwear. He stayed dry ALL NIGHT! On Saturday he went potty in the morning then held it all in (except a few drop here and there) for almost 10 hours until he finally went potty at about 7:00 pm. He wet his bed last night, but he is getting more and more used to going on the potty. I still have to coax him most of the time. Sometimes he sits and sits and doesn't go and other times it happens pretty quickly (like after holding it for 10 hours). Pooping on the potty will be a whole new fight, but at least we are getting somewhere. I have been giving him Hot Wheels cars (that I got for this purpose at Christmas time last year for really cheap) every time he goes, and I only have one left. I hope he doesn't lose all motivation after we run out!

Spelling

This morning Ethan and I were lying in my bed and I asked him to spell a word for me. He didn't want to. Instead, he decided to turn the tables on me. He asked me to spell words for him to repeat. This is how it went:

Ethan: Spell door.

Me: D

E: D

M: O

E: O...

and so on.

After Ethan searched around the room for several things to spell, he turned to names. The first name was Spencer.

E: Spell "Usher" (Spencer)

M: Ok, S

E: S

M: P

E: P

M: E

E: No, Mommy, U!

M: Oh, you want to spell Usher?

E: Yeah, Usher.

I guess if you can't say a name correctly there's no reason to spell it correctly either.


Oh, and by the way. He's wearing underwear right now because he wanted to (to get a car). Yay! He has also sat on the potty twice today. No pee in the potty yet, but I now have some hope.

Show And Tell

I have been thinking lately about all the things I like about my computer time. I figured there might be some of you out there that are new to the blogging world or that just don't take the time to search for the great things of the World Wide Web, so I am going to share some of my favorite things on the internet. Check them out if you want to, or don't.

Google Reader - A site where you can put all of the blogs that you read (except the private ones) in one place. This is how I keep on top of the 50+ (is that too many?) blogs that I follow.

Kids-In-Mind - A site to check out all of the questionable content that is in most of the movies you want to watch. This is meant to help parents decide whether to let their kids watch a movie, but I mostly use it for myself. It is especially useful for those PG-13 movies you just aren't sure about.

My family's blogs - You can check some of those out using the links on my sidebar.

Diapers and Divinity Blog - This is one that's on my sidebar, but I have to mention it separately. My cousin is the author of this blog and I love it. It is great for any mother who could use a little bit of humor and a lot of inspiration.

Cake Wrecks - This is an extremely popular site that showcases really bad professional cakes. It's good for a giggle or a shake of the head.

Initially Speaking - Actually, this isn't one you'd want to read every day, but it's a new business that my sister started and you should all check it out at least once. She does a great job! The site is still under construction, so pardon her dust. :)

Surf The Channel - My friend told me about this one recently and I love it. It has tons of TV shows on it that you can watch whenever you want. It's like having On Demand or TiVo for free! My favorite things about it are that I can watch cable shows that I don't get and I can watch past episodes (or seasons) of shows that I missed. Of course the quality's not great, but for me it's better than nothing.

I realize a lot of you probably already know about most of these, but I thought I'd share the love just in case.

Ideas Please...And Hurry!

I am not a big Halloween person. I am not very creative when it comes to costumes and I don't really like the idea of going out in the cold and asking strangers for candy. Nevertheless, I must participate for the sake of the children. I cannot, for the life of me, think of a good costume for Ethan (I have Ethan's costume from two years ago for Spencer, although I'm not sure if it fits him). I took him to the store last night to look for a costume, but because of his lack of understanding of the holiday, he didn't want to make a purchase. He didn't even want to be Thomas, which was going to be my fallback since I was sure he wouldn't mind being a train even though I thought the costume was ugly. Actually, he would have allowed me to buy a Tinkerbell costume because it looked like a butterfly and Princess P was a butterfly on the Halloween episode of Super Why the other day. I don't think I want him to be a butterfly. If anybody has any ideas, I would appreciate them. I think even if Ethan likes a costume it might be hard to get him to wear it, so masks are out of the question. If it's something I need to make it must be super easy. If you have an idea that involves Ethan and Spencer that would be fine too since I don't really care if Spencer wears the costume that might not even fit him anyway. Please make a suggestion if you read this, anything is better than what my mind could think up.

An Expert

With all of the time I have spent on vacation (and with my family while they've been on vacation) lately, it has been hard to stay on any sort of schedule. With this lack of schedule comes a lack of meal planning (not to mention sleep!). Also, for some reason, I tend to eat more junk food while family is around and, of course, we eat out a lot more often. While I had family visiting from out of state a few months ago I gained 5 pounds. I was disappointed, but lost it soon after I returned to my regular eating habits. It also took me about 3 weeks to gain the 5 pounds, so that wasn't too bad. This last week, though, while spending time with Shaun's family and my parents I gained SEVEN pounds. In one week! I guess this proves that I need to exercise more (although I didn't really need any further proof). I have been wanting to lose a few pounds and this definitely doesn't help. I have decided that I am an expert in the art of gaining large amounts of body weight in short amounts of time. I hereby offer my services for a small fee to anyone who would like to know the secret to gaining 7 pounds in one week. I could probably even make you gain more, actually. Do I have any takers?... Anyone?... No? Oh, well. I guess I'm not the first to figure out how to do it. Maybe I could get some celebrities that have to play a "fat" person in their next movie to hire me. I wonder how much they would pay me?

A Thankless Job?

Overheard at our house yesterday:

Ethan: What are you doing, Mommy?

Me: Just doing the dishes.

E: Thank you, Mommy.

M: For what?

E: For helping clean up.


And then today, about an hour after I gave the boys haircuts and baths and while Ethan was playing on the computer:

E: Thank you...Mommy, thank you!

M: For what?

E: A haircut.


It is so wonderful to have my son thank me for doing something that is "my job" without me telling him to. I hope this is the beginning of many thank you's to come. It is nice that I can now say with certainty that mine is not a thankless job!

Fun Stuff

I have been feeling lately like I've had nothing to blog about. Then I was looking at pictures today and decided I had a few to share.
I love my dad's recipe for pancakes so I make them often. Probably way more often than my family would like, but at least they eat them. Lately Ethan has enjoyed helping me make everything. Especially pancakes. Here he is mixing the batter for me.



I couldn't resist taking this picture of the kids watching Daddy drive off on the scooter. Isn't it cute (if you ignore the saggy diaper)? I love that you can tell by Spencer's tense legs how excited he is.


This is what Spencer's hair looked like when he woke up the other day.


Ethan has always been the only kid at birthday parties that eats the cake, but NOT the frosting. In fact, a lot of the time (like at his own party) he won't even eat the cake. The other day we had some friends over for dinner and cake. I made some chocolate frosting and Ethan had his first experience licking the beater. He loved it. Then, when it was time to eat the cake, guess who ate his frosting first!


I saved the best for last. This is what I saw this morning when I went to get Spencer out of his bed.


Just in case you're not sure what it is, here's another view.


I asked Ethan if he pulled Spencer's shirt down, and he told me that he was trying to take it off for him because it was dirty. While I was taking these pictures he explained to me that he had to "pull hard" to get his shirt to do this. Silly boy.