Yoda never grows old!

We usually make sure that even the littlest of our family gets to experience trick-or-treating for about a block's worth of houses. Kellan was definitely up for the task. He thoroughly enjoyed getting candy in a bucket and having people ooh and ah over his cuteness dressed as Yoda.

Before Kellan's and my evening was through, Aunt Brittany brought some glo-sticks for the kids to put in their candy bucket and to wear as bracelets. She handed me some extra and told me to give them to kids we passed. So Kellan and I went our separate way from the rest of the family and started passing out left-over glo-sticks.

While walking home, Kellan desperately wanted to hold a glo-stick. As soon as I gave him a blue one, he started wielding it around and making light-saber noises. (Boys and their noises. It's embedded in their genetics.) Two 12 year old boys dressed as a pop-tart and a fat farmer yelled, "Hey look it's Yoda!" "Awesome! He has a light saber! ...Only it should be green."

The rest of the night on, anyone who made a stop at our house commented on Yoda, his light saber, or both. I guess Yoda is an icon that will never grow old, and in this case, he's only 14 mos!

Yoda (Kellan) crying because he wants to hold the camera.

Halloween is another word for Chaos

It all started on a gloomy Hallows morn. Their mother had no idea what was to hit her as she woke and got out of bed. While getting the 2 toddlers ready for their pre-school Halloween party, they found her biggest fear and attacked. After putting Hayden's dragon outfit on, he immediately took off the top half and stated that he didn't want to wear it. Corban then stated the same regarding his storm-trooper costume. What would Cambrey (Hayden's mom) think? They'll feel left out if they get to school and aren't wearing a costume.

"Hayden, do you want to be a storm trooper instead?" The frightened mother asks.

"I want to be a dragon!" Corban shouts while jumping up and down.

"Yeah! I be torm-troopa!" shouts Hayden matching Corban's enthusiasm.

Problem *sort-of* solved, the weary mother thinks to herself, although what will the rest of this day dish out to me?



Answer: Enough to drive her within close quarters to turning herself into the insane asylum for protection.

Corban in the Dragon costume. Hayden as the storm trooper. Bailey as a fairy.

Corban's first part of the day spent being a dragon.

Our Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns.

The Star Wars Family

(Makade aka Commander Cody (storm trooper), Tarryn aka Ashoka (Jedi padawan), Corban aka Commander Rex (storm trooper), Kellan aka Yoda (Jedi Master).

I will never forget what Kim (our neighbor) said. "You have to expect Halloween to be a crazy day." She's right. I'll never be side-swiped again.

Picture Day

Me: So Corban, did you get your picture taken today at school?

Corban: Uh-huh. Dey said, "Smile like pumpkin."

Me: Really? Did you smile like a pumpkin?

Corban: Yup.

Me: What does smiling like a pumpkin look like?

Corban: Like dis. As he opens his mouth like a wide mouthed frog.

Me: Wow! I can't wait to see these pictures!

11/52

Ummm....A week late.....again. I'm not kidding when I tell you this isn't as easy as you'd think!

We went to the pumpkin patch last Monday and had a lot of fun with the kids', Aunt Brittany and Uncle Zane. Corban was a hoot to watch (once you got past being annoyed that he was so moody) as he thought the idea was to FILL the wheelbarrow with pumpkins, not just pick a favorite one. Corban was funny when we made our way to the tractors. There were about 8 different ones and Corban HAD to try each one! We had an enjoyable evening finding our favorite pumpkins, riding tractors, taking pictures (Brittany), riding in the wheelbarrow, and running through a small corn-maze. I hope the kids remember these times when their my age.

***Thanks again to the lovely Brittany for photographing this memory!

...pants on fire & week 10/52

So...I lied. I broke one of the things I don't tolerate well in others. I said I'd have a pic of me THAT DAY and still hadn't done it. Shame. Well, here it is....notice it's on the day I'm supposed to post THIS weeks project? Ugh. This is harder than you think! Inspiration: What I wrote on the previous post, "Even if it's with a shadow of me in it." I pulled out Makade's wonderfully made paper witch hat and went to town on my back patio. I swear I wasn't out long using the sun's effects for my personal use (we're talking a total of 15 minutes tops), yet why in one picture am I short and chubby and the other I'm tall and thin? Who knows; I wish I were always tall and thin.... but wishing gets us nothing but a well full of pennies.

Still catching up

It's now quarter to 1. That's a.m., and I still haven't posted a picture of my 52 weeks project. Okay, I'll be honest here....I haven't even taken a picture for my project. Once again, no excuses...although being thought of as SPAM doesn't help one's esteem much. BUT.....even if it's a shadow of a picture with me in it, I will post it later this day. For now; I'm off to bed!

S-No!!!!!!!!!!!!!W

I tolerate a lot of things. Things most mothers don't. I allow my children to string yarn all over the stair-case balusters to make spider-webs and leave them up for a day forcing me to duck and climb each time I need to make my way up or down. I don't freak out when an entire bowl of popcorn is spilled all over the carpet. I let my children pick if they want to wear shorts in 40 degree weather.

There are few things that I don't tolerate. Rude manners from children or adults. Disrespect toward any human, animal, or living thing.-this goes along with the first. People who aren't honest with themselves and others. And....weather that doesn't know it's place in the seasons.

My children, however, were thrilled to see the snow this early AUTUMN morning and had to get a taste for what's coming. Thank goodness the snow didn't stay. I'm not ready for the cold....I have to warm up to such things. :0)

Notice the Halloween decorations in the neighbor's windows! THIS IS WRONG!!!

Yakety yak...

Nope. Not a single yak at the petting zoo, but the boys were thrilled to see donkeys, goats of all shapes and sizes, ducks, pigs, bunnies, geese, llamas, and even a sheep who Corban frightened enough to make the lazy thing stand which in turn scared Corban into silence. I think their favorite part about the adventure was sharing time with Grandma Fuller and riding the ponies named Smitty and George. (Hayden on Smitty, Corban on George.)My least favorite parts were the fact that my camera ran out of juice about 5 minutes into the day and Corban being intrigued with picking up little round "rocks" off the ground. Eeew!

Sunkissed Ballerina

Had to post this pic! Tarryn is simply glowing in it. There are a few of my children who I feel that the sun personally seeks to simply shine upon them. Of course I'm a bit biased.

What's gnu at the zoo?

......Absolutely nothing. But we love the place still. In fact, we plan on going back on Friday for Hayden's birthday party!

***Pictures compliments of Brittany Gonder

Catching up

Okay, so I've been on a posting stike. I lost my writing vibe when one of my blogs was flagged as spam. Blogspot denied me access to write on ONE blog (thoughtful-letters.blogspot.com) and I couldn't think straight.

You put things out there. Your feelings, thoughts, advice, personal humor, etc. and it gets regarded as SPAM!!! Things are better now and I'm ready to write again, although if anyone knows of a support group for fellow spam replicas let me know. I could use the therapy. ;0)

Blending

A nap-time tradition in our home is to pick a book for mom to read. Corban did as was customary, while I went to get a drink for the little guy. Corban must have picked quickly, because soon he was on my heels following me down the stairs. We get the drink and after a bit of struggle, we head back upstairs and into Corb's room.

"Did you pick a book?" I ask.

"Uh huh." Corban replies.

"Which book did you pick?" is my next question.

"The az book." Corban answers.

"Well where is it?" My third question.

"Hmmm, I non't know. Do you know where da az book is?" is Corban's response and question.

"What is the az book? Did you leave it down stairs?...." and on it goes until we simply give up and read a different book because both of us are too lazy to trudge back down the stairs to find this book. I'm especially not excited to look for this book, because I have no idea what book he could be talking about. To my knowledge, I've never read a book entitled, Az.

I put both boys down to bed and start down stairs for my own special "me" time. As I'm coming down the stairs I find a book face down. Turning it over, my heart fills with pride as I see my son is learning to blend, for he read the title to Sandra Boynton's book called A to Z with letters placed in such a way that you could mix up the title to read, Az.

My 3 year old son is starting to read!

9/52

What could be more fun at the zoo than sticking your head in a lion's mouth to get a drink of water? I'm so happy I finally get to be the one in the picture sharing this first time experience with a child. *No one had better rain on my parade by stating that Kellan probably didn't even know it was a lion. He'll know when he's older and sees the picture right?


~~~Shhhhh...don't tell, but I posted this ON TIME!!!

Little Dipper

We all have those days. You know, the ones where you aren't really feeling down, but you're simply craving some type of comfort food. Today is one of those days for me and a comfort food I chose but normally don't indulge in (due to large amounts of calorie content) is graham crackers and milk.

I sit myself down on the couch (going for comfort here), hand part of a cracker to Kellan (my little shadow while all 3 kids are in school), then I take my cracker and dip it in the milk. This intrigued Kellan to no end, so he followed suit. I was so impressed by my little dipper! He never once lost his cracker in the milk and had his own dipping routine. Dip, look at the cracker, dip again, eat/make sucking sounds, then as if making a commercial would say, "Mmmmmm" with so much feeling, it made each of us want to go for another cracker. I'm not proud, just being honest...we ended up devouring that entire package of crackers!

Once again I am reminded how much our children watch and follow our every move. Good thing I wasn't devouring a pie... Good thing I don't like pie.

Moab

Around these parts you find these bumper stickers plastered to cars, stop signs, and various other surfaces that say, "London, Paris, New York, Moab." You may find it odd to place a small town among such 'greats,' that is until you've actually been to Moab.

The Delicate Arch is absolutely awe inspiring and the hike will leave you breathless.

Balanced Rock in Arches National Park. /Part of the Double Arches (The kids favorite place to climb all over rocks and the hike was only 15 minutes)
It's not even so much the town; as food service is atrocious, the buildings are unkempt and a bit run down, and population is probably somewhere close to 4000 (a guess, not a fact). What is so spectacular about this place is the views. If the color of the red rock doesn't peak your interest, it's the ultimate spot for off-roading and dirt biking, the river rapids are to boot, and Arches National Park is amazing! Needless to say, you could spend weeks here and not run out of things to do. It's too bad we only planned a 2 night stay camping trip with our friends, the Hughes family.

Tarryn trying to keep warm in the cold, early morning. /Brandon trying to keep kids quietly entertained (Corban behind the camera) while our camping neighbors are still sleeping.

Brandon cooking pancakes outside the trailer while I'm inside cooking eggs. /Corban dancing for his breakfast.
As always, camping in tight quarters with a 6 person family is quite an adventure, but every moment was worth all the work to put this trip together. We truly enjoyed every bit of the sun baking us against the hot red rock during our 1 1/2 mile hike up to the Delicate Arch and even the 1 1/2 mile hike back (although Kellan and Corban didn't make it down awake). We enjoyed sand dunes, other arches, camp fires, gazillions of stars, lizards, and after a long day's hike the swimming pool. Most of all, we thoroughly enjoyed the Hughes' company. What a wonderful trip! We plan on going again next year.

Don't let the picture fool you, this hill on the hike to Delicate Arch was long and steep (once you're at the top, your half way to the arch). /Every one passing one of many rock cairns placed by the park rangers so you know where to go.

The Hughes and Fuller kids (minus Kellan who there was NO WAY we were going to place in another child's arms on this cliff) in The Window to Delicate Arch.

Corban hitching a ride as he's getting tired on the way down from Delicate Arch (Kellan kept hitting his bum). /Corban and Kellan exhausted from the sun on the way down from Delicate Arch.

Kellan and Corban asleep and Brandon carrying a total of 55 extra lbs for a good 30 minutes the rest of the way down from Delicate Arch.

A gecko Severyn caught. /Brandon checking for a cell signal while perched up in on of the Double Arches. Go figure.

Makade, Tarryn, and Kellan enjoying rock climbing in Double Arches.