Random-ness

Today it was 4 degrees (felt like -10 degrees because of the wind.) when the kids wanted to go out and play in the snow. I let them because we have been, for the most, part stuck in this house all week. It was -4 degrees on Monday. I cannot believe how cold it is!!

(Hey boys, don't try to look happy or anything, okay.)

Edison looked so funny in all his snow gear. He loved walking around the house in his boots.

A long time ago (about 4 months) I thought it would be fun to do home-made gifts for Christmas for each other. Now I am thinking--not so fun. Chris and I are both working on the rag quilt for Gordon since that is the one that is taking the longest to get anywhere. This picture was taken in March when I just started cutting out the fabric and I was so excited. Now I have sworn never to sew again! I think I should be embarrassed to admit that I started this project in March but I am so over it.

And I am also making a quiet book for Edison. Which is coming along quite nicely, thank you. I was going to make a headboard for our bed for Chris but we decided the project that he is working on for me will be both of our presents since it is costing more than we thought. He is making a bookcase and it is going to be the nicest piece of furniture we own. Got to start somewhere right?

And finally some good news. We found our camera. Such a funny story. So I decided to wake up at 2:45 a.m. to be at Target by 3:00 a.m. to buy a new camera. This was the first time I woke up really early to do Black Friday shopping. It was kind of fun just because I had my sisters with me. Anyway, at the end of the weekend, Chris decides to go up and check our room one more time to make sure we didn't forget anything. He looks in the big dresser to see if the kids maybe put something in there, and there was our camera!! Yeah! We were so happy. And thankful.

And now, I may just have to post Halloween pictures in December. Would that be too awful?

Meet Puddy

A little introduction to the interview below. This dog/blanket was Gordon's since he was a baby and we always called it Buddy. Gordon couldn't say buddy so he said "Puddy." Even now that he can say buddy, it is still "Puddy." Puddy has always been there, but more in the background, until lately. I think it was around the time we moved, Puddy became Gordon's best friend. Puddy went everywhere and did everything with him. And now without further ado, I introduce to you, Puddy...

M: What is Pudddy?
G: Her's a girl
M: What does Puddy like to do?
G: She likes to pick up movies and put them in their spots. Her likes to play with choo-choo trains and...her likes to play outside.
M: What does she like to do with you.
G: Her likes to hug me.
M: anything else
G: Nope
M: Why do you like Puddy?
G: Because her's my baby.
M: Where did you get Puddy?
G: From Logan. Her just, we didn't even found her.
M: How do you take care of Puddy
G: Her can have a blanket and a picnic. Look at her picnic blanket.
M: Do you love Puddy more than you love mommy?
G: Yep, well Puddy's mommy died. Because her is a little bit much. Her makes a mess for lunch.
M: Anything else you would like to tell us about Puddy?
G: Yep, her likes to play hide and seek.

I've had this in my drafts for awhile now and I think it appropriate to post it now as a tribute and a goodbye. We lost Puddy at a relatives house and it was deduced that the dog took her away and buried her. It was very sad for Gordon (not so much for mommy.) It took a couple of weeks to forget about her but I think he has finally moved on. It happened about a week before his birthday and he kept asking me if Puddy was going to come to his party. I think once she was a no-show, Gordon decided to find a new best friend, his stuffed moose. Moose is no where near the status that Puddy once was. Moose is often forgotten and doesn't have to go in the car with us everywhere we go. Moose doesn't ever get to eat breakfast with us and rarely gets to sleep with Gordon at night. Moose just isn't the same. Goodbye Puddy. You are loved and missed (by at least one of us.)

Gordon's par-tay

I think I am loosing my mind. Well, I am definitely loosing everything else. We can't find our camera. The last time we remember having it was at the Halloween party at my parent's ward...hopefully it turns up.

So I am more than a week late in posting about Gordon's 4th birthday. I had to borrow my sis-in-law's camera. The theme was: BUGS!

I got this idea from Cara. I just loved it. Super cute and pretty easy. The only problem was we made the first batch of bugs too skinny so when transferring them to the cupcakes, they all broke. But once we learned that lesson...easy, peasy.
I made antennae headbands for all the kids and I must say, "Super cute". My twin nephews had the brilliant idea of using them like headset walkie-talkies so everyone kept going around, "Come in commander, can you pass the glue." Aaa-dorable.We made little bug scenes with stickers, markers, glue, and paper while we waited for all the kdis to arrive. Then we played stick the dot on the ladybug with Oreos. Lick it and stick it. That was fun even if the my ladybug looked a little squashed.
Each kid also got a tiny magnifying glass and had to go outside in the back yard and hunt for bugs. Then we did cupcakes and "bug juice." The kids loved that and Gordon still asks for it. Silly, silly. My dad was telling all the kids that they had to squeeze so many grasshoppers to get all this juice. Gross.
I didn't get very many pictures of the opening presents part because the kids kept crowding around. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the garbage truck we got him but I'm not joking when I say that thing was gone before I could blink. The kids loved it and Gordon has been playing with it non-stop. It looks pretty much just like this. All in all, it was a fun time. And I know someone who really enjoyed their cupcake...
Happy Birthday Gordon. We sure love you!!

Gordon

Gordon is now four. Here are some things he is into now-

1. Lying. It is true. We had to have a little talk about lying and now he still doesn't get it. When I tell him I think his shoes are up in his room but really they are in the car, I am a liar. I told him, that's not lying because I just thought maybe his shoes were there. So the other day I asked him if he picked up the movies. He said no so I went and checked. They were picked up. He said, "I didn't lie, I just thought they weren't picked up." Silly boy.
2. He loves watching movies. Anything and everything. He would watch movies all day if I let him.
3. Lately he has really gotten into coloring where before he would sit for about one minute and color. I am loving it. He is getting really good coloring in the lines too.

Gordon

Dear Gordon,

This birthday letter is a little late, but I still wanted to talk about this stage in your life and tell you how much I love you. The move to Heyburn has been hard on all of us. You miss your good friends, as do I. I know it took me awhile to get back to being the mommy you need me to be and I want to thank you for being patient with me and always loving me. You are so forgiving and loving.

You are my big helper. Always have been and always will be I think. You love to "help" with your brother Edison. You mean well, but sometimes I have to remind you that Edison only needs one mother! You are so good with Edison and you guys play really well together (for the most part) because of your kindness and patience.

This year we are doing Joy School with several other moms and kids in our ward and you have really enjoyed it. You are very social and love to have friends. You learn very quickly and love to pick out the first letter of different words. You'll tell me, "Telephone starts with T" and then continue telling me other words that start with T as well.

As always, you love to watch movies. Recently we watched Robin Hood and now you like to pretend you are Robin Hood using a hanger as your bow and arrow. You also have like Peter Pan and love to play Captain Hook and Peter Pan, especially with the pirate hook and sword you got for your birthday. You also saved up enough dimes to go to the local discount theater and watch Planet 51. You love the "big TV" and would probably sit through any movie at the theater.

You are my best buddy and we love to do everything together. You are very obedient and I thank my Heavenly Father every night that I was blessed with such good boys. I love you so much! Happy Birthday Gordon.

Love,

Mom

Good Morning Heyburn!

Good morning everyone. My kids woke up yesterday at 6:30 and today at 6:00. For me, that is too early. Is anyone else having trouble with their kids and Day Light Savings. We are still on "old time" Since we had breakfast an hour earlier, we had lunch an hour earlier, dinner... and so on. I say we boycott Day Light Savings; who needs it anyway. It is just too depressing when its dark at 6:00 in the evening.

Guess who's goin' on a mission

Click here to find out.

A few things I love about this video:

1- all the cell phones with family members on the other end
2- when we all scream after we hear where Katie is going. I tried to figure out who started the screaming and I think it was "Chad's Katie." Can you confirm or deny this.
3- I LOVE my sister!! She will be such an awesome missionary.

We went through the Twin Falls temple for Katie's endowment on Saturday and it was so neat to have everyone there. We are getting closer to our family goal of having all members of our family in the temple. Only three more years!! Anyway, we are so proud of Katie and I will miss her so much when she leaves!!

Murder Mystery fun!!

I have always wanted to throw a Murder Mystery party and when I found out all my family would be in town for Halloween I took that as a go ahead. My family are really good sports to put up with all my crazy antics. I had so much fun I think I will do another one next year!

The theme was "Class of '85 High School Reunion." And we were all supposed to dress up '80's and in our "character." Introducing:

Chris (aka Danny Drums)- marching band nerd turned struggling musician

Me (aka Molly Ringworm)- drama queen turned Hollywood actress. I even won an Oscar!

(This picture was actually taken at a party the night before)

Zach (aka B.A. Barricade- the high school punk turned body guard)

I am so sad this picture didn't turn out. He had is hair dyed orange! And those are tattoo sleeves.

Sarah (aka Terry Johnson)- the hall monitor turned traffic cop (and she is like 5 months pregnant in this picture)

Craig (aka Bailey Babble)- school gossip turned journalist
Ryan (aka Joe Nebraska)- jock turned high school basketball coach

Teri (aka Natalie Nebraska)- cheerleader turned lying tramp (sorry Teri!!)
My dad (aka Byron Keaton)- math nerd turned accountant and hugely wealthy

My mom (aka Myra Keaton)- math team cheerleader (didn't know there was such a thing) turned accountant and devoted wife
I totally did the stretch pants with stirrups and over sized sweater in the early 90's. Love it!

Katie (aka Pamela Abdul)- Dance Captain turned famous choreographer (Katie is holding Elyse, not a doll.)

Jake (aka Nick Nixon)- class president turned Presidential hopeful

Lexie (aka Nancy Nixon)- class vice president turned supportive wife dying to be the first lady

Chad (aka Steve Spielson)- audio visual geek turned mega Hollywood director

Katie (aka Cindy Crawfish)- class flirt turned class flirt (somethings never change!!)
Brett (aka Mike Majesty)- prom king turned working a dead-end job and hating life

Maren (aka Mallory Majesty)- prom queen turned controlling wife (such an opposite role for her if you know Maren at all!)
Austin (aka Bobbie Bright) - Valedictorian turned conniving lawyer

As the night went along Chad ended up being murdered. I killed him because he was going to leak out my dirty past and ruin my chances of staring in the new Disney movie! Zach blackmailed the most and ended up with the most money. No one solved the murder, Craig ended up with "Best Costume" award, Brett or maybe it was Dad got the best "Acting" award. All in all in was a fun night!

Halloween 2009

Halloween went way to fast. I didn't get many great pictures. Gordon was too excited to get going and Edison wouldn't sit still for a second. My dad gave me the idea for construction worker costumes and I just loved it. I couldn't find any tool belts for the look and price I wanted so I decided to make them. But it actually turned out that Chris made them. (He would be so embarrassed that I told you that.)

I added a little eyeliner "goatee" to Gordon and I think it was a nice touch. Don't worry I don't actually use that eyeliner. I is old and got all orangey on me.

Kids are so spoiled these days! My dad took all the grandkids out trick or treating on the four-wheeler.
They had way too much fun! It went by too fast though because we had to get to my parents' ward Trunk-or-Treat/Chili cook off. But it was a good thing we went because my mom's chili won!!
This is the only picture I have of Edison with his hard hat on. It kept falling off even with the beanie. And I just had to throw in this picture of my nephew Fisher. He was a chef and his chef hat (homemade) was so cute.
We had our whole family together for the Halloween weekend because Katie went through the temple for her endowment and it was also Elyse's (Brett and Maren's) baby blessing. Having a big family is fun but crazy!!

September came and went

Wow. Here is one of those really long posts about what I did for the WHOLE month. Get ready!

I read Harry Potter 4, 5, 6, and half of 7. I know, I am a little late hopping on the band wagon here. I was getting sick and tired of everyone giving me the shock, "You haven't read the Harry Potters!!!!" But, really I do love them. I have also been watching the movies in between each book. Pretty fun stuff.

I threw a totally awesome, tubular, rockin' DANCE party for my family. It was fun. I just love throwing parties. We danced, we sang karaoke, and we ate way too much food.

I started a Joy School pre-school with some ladies in my ward for Gordon. I do not like being in charge of things like this but I wanted a home pre-school, so instead of waiting around for someone else to do it, I started one. I don't know yet what I've got myself into. We'll see how it goes.

Started a few posts, but never finished them. You know how it goes... All of our favorite TV shows started up again, so my time for blogging is limited.

The family went on a little weekend trip to Las Vegas. My old roommate from college got married and Chris's sister lives about an hour from Vegas so we got to spend some time with her and her kids. Gordon had tons of fun and can't wait to go back again...maybe next year! Chris and I also got to see a fun show in Vegas thanks to his sister for watching our kiddos.

Chris's brother Kolby left for his mission to Buenos Airies, Argentina. Good luck Elder Tatton!

My sister-in-law had a little baby girl and she is so precious. You forget how tiny babies are. Was Edison really that small?

We had some friends from Logan come up and stay a day with us. We had tons of fun seeing the sights. You know, the sights...we've got a ton here. Come and see us and we'll show you what we mean!!