Sound Advice

I just told the boys that I needed to go upstairs and put my make-up on and Cole rushes over nodding, and says "Yeah, mom. I know what you mean. I saw on a commercial that you should never leave your lips naked. It's true mom - go put some lipstick on". Then he gives me a little head tilt and half smile. Too much TV???

Where has the time gone?

Wow it has been a long time since I've posted anything! Maybe things will calm down a bit after the holidays. Here are a few photos and stories from the last little while...

Having a little girl is too much fun!

This was classic. Cole came downstairs on a random Tuesday in his suit and talking in his deep voice (picture the Indiana Jones voice from previous post) says "Bye Honey, I've got to go to meetings at church now. Get the little ones ready and meet me there at 3. Bye." Then I go upstairs to see what Josh and Alaria are doing and Josh is actually putting on his church clothes. I ask him why he is putting church clothes on and he said "Dad told me to." I ask him Dad or Cole? and he says "The Cole Dad". Then Cole comes up, ruffles Josh's hair and says "Son, why aren't you ready for church". The best part of the whole thing is that the entire time Cole had this expression on his face:
For Thanksgiving we went to Price. I don't know how my parents are such patient people. By the time we went home, the damage at their house amounted to a flooded bathrom, a burned up toaster, broken computer, plugged toilet, ...oh not to mention the HUGE pile of laundry from my kids getting the stomach flu! Somehow we are still invited back for Christmas...I can't figure it out!
While we were down there my brothers took Kris and my boys for a hike to see some Indian writings. When they got home I was glad to hear that I stayed home with Ali - especially since Kris literally threw Cole over a river to my brother Rock. Thankfully Cole is super brave and just stayed curled up in a ball and made it across...sucessfully caught. The highlight of the hike apparently was when my brother was holding Cole and hiking up a STEEP part of the mountain and Cole says "Now this is what I call hiking!"
The low point...this picture pretty much explains Josh's experience.

Later that night I asked if he had fun and he said "I just wanted to cry"

Other highlights from the past month:

* Cole actually got his ankle stuck in a lego piece so bad that I had to cut it off

* Josh teaching us about the three wisemen and showing us the one that brought Jesus "a can of tuna"

*The Twilight movie - overall pretty good, but definitely a FUN girl's night out!

* Kris and I both turning 30 - ahem, I mean 25

*Last night we went to see the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point, and as we were leaving we drove by the water tower and saw Santa and two reindeer. The kids got to go talk to him and had so much fun

We are having a fun holiday season and enjoying all of the fun stuff that is going on. Hopefully I will be better at posting more often

Halloween and Josh's B-Day Party

We had a great Halloween this year. The kids had so much fun between all of the Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treating....they are thinking this is their favorite holiday! (til the next hoilday comes at least!) Alaria was a sweet little ladybug, Cole and Josh were Jedis.

Cole and Alaria ran the entire night! (Josh was a little bit slower, bringing up the rear) We were worried that Alria would only last for a little bit, but she did not want to come home! She ran the whole time and would go up to each door and yell "treat" and then run to the next house. We tried to help carry her treat bucket but she would scream "NO! My bucket!" She was so much fun!

Kris even made his own mask - Sarah Palin (bulldog with lipstick)

Oh so much candy...

Josh had his XMen birthday party (I am very slow posting pictures!) He had so much fun! They play Bad-Guy Bowling, had a Superhero Battle, and played XMen Freeze. (And no, Josh didn't wet his pants...he dumped his cup of water on himself when we had cake)

Cute little supereroes! What a fun birthday!

Happy Birthday Joshua!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua!

A little flashback to Baby Josh and to Kris' beard...
Cole and Joshua meeting for the first time

Josh is excited that it is his birthday....although I think he is still trying to figure it all out. Grandpa Gamber called this morning and told him Happy Birthday and Josh said "Happy Birthday to you, Grandpa!" He came downstairs a few minutes before me this morning and when I went in the kitchen he was biting into a head of lettuce. I took it and asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he told me cereal with lettuce. He is very excited for his X-Men birthday party later this afternoon...more photos to come!

Why So Serious?

Nope, Josh isn't preparing to be the Joker for Halloween....

He's enjoying chocolate chip pancakes.

Pumpkins

Last night was the long-awaited Pumpkin Painting night. The kids were SO excited to get their pumpkins! We brought Ali's in first and told them that was the biggest one. Cole was a little sad until we brought in the other two and he realized we were tricking him!

They worked hard to paint them just the way they wanted them...

The finished products:

OK, this last pumpkin one is a flashback a few years ago - Cole worked so hard to paint this pumpkin and he named it "Punky Poopstain" all by himself. We laughed about it forever - in fact we are still laughing!!
Josh found a great new alternative to socks - GLOVES!

Ali looking pretty
Josh got a new Batman bed - this expression says it all. When h walked in his room he started screaming and jumping up and down and holding out his p.j. shirt to show that it matched his new bed. He loves it!
The boys chillin with Batman

Random Photos

Our litte Hula GirlMy parents' sweet neighbors went to Hawaii and brought back some darling outfits for our kids!
Cole and Josh at the circus. Love the expressions!
There was a double rainbow outside after the last rainstorm. You can't see both of them in the picture, but the kids thought it was pretty cool.

'Tis The Season

Ok, not that season, but it is my favorite season. Fall is here! I love fall! I love the weather, the colored leaves, the fact that football season has started, all of the fun, upcoming holidays...but most of all...I love that Arctic Circle now has their PUMPKIN SHAKES!! Yum!! So here's my funny story that I have to share. We finally went last week to get a pumpkin shake (and it was soooo worth the wait!) and we saw that they have sweet potato fries. I wanted to see if Kris could eat them, so I asked the guy working there if they were breaded or had flour on them. He actually responded by saying "I don't know...(pause) oh - I know - they do have sweet potatoes in them". Kris had to turn around because he started laughing and I couldn't even think of anything to say. Did he really tell me that the sweet potato fries had sweet potatoes in them??? So then this girl working there hears us and says "oh I love them. They are good!" So again, I ask her...are they breaded or do they have wheat? I even tell her we have an allergy so I need to know. Her response: "I don't know. But I love to dip them in caramel. It is so good!". Needless to say, they are not so helpful. But I do recommend you go get a pumpkin shake - I don't know that it even has pumpkin in it but it is so good!

Multi-Tasking

The other day my friend Shelley had a picturure on her blog of her little girl on the potty reading a book and said "like father like daughter" and "where else would she have learned this?"
Well...can you tell Joshua's dad is an artist????

(And just for the record Kris does have an art studio - and no - it's not the bathroom!)