Window, houses, visit.

Ok, so the pics this time are all messed up. I am sorry, I am not working on my own computer this time, so just use your imagination about where these should go........

So, first of all I wanted to mention Robert's new favorite phrase; "Easy as cheese." He says this all the time! If I ask him to do some homework that he likes or a task he likes to do around the house (i.e. feed the plants, turn on Christmas lights), he will get a big smile on his face and say, "No problem, it's easy as cheese."

I asked him about this cheese phrase, I said, "Isn't the phrase normally 'easy as pie.'" He responded, "Yes, but I don't like pie, but I really like cheese. So, I say easy as cheese."

Isabelle's favorite word on the other hand is "Bubba". I just bearly put two and two together the other day that my mom's name for Kip (lil bro coming home from mission in two weeks!) is Bubba! I swear with both of their affinities for belly buttons and Bubba, they are spiritually connected! (Or something). Isabelle uses the word Bubba in a funny way though. If she is mad at you, she will call you "a Bubba". If she didn't like something she will call it, "a Bubba". (i.e. "We can't stay at the park! That's a Bubba!")

Austin just likes to say "Mama" all day long. I can't say that I mind that at all. He comes up to me multiple times every day, grabs my legs and hugs them saying "Mama, Mama," over and over. All of the naughty things he does (like write on our hard wood floor in red marker this week) just melt away when he sweet talks me like that. He does say many other words. I feel like he picks up new words just about every day! We have even had him say a few prayers. I love it when he folds his arms too. He pretty much squishes both of his hands up to his neck and squints his eyes, for prayers.

So, as for the happenings this week. Isabelle made gingerbread houses at preschool and Austin got to help. She did a great job and had lots of fun. Austin loved eating the candy, and putting some on too.

We got some cute curtains up in our bedroom and I am so excited about our new window! (still)

We tried to see the Christmas ships in Portland with very little seeing, oh well. The outing was still fun.

We went to Philomath to celebrate Nan's birthday with her and it snowed while we were here! We are snowed in this weekend!

Also, we are coming up to Utah soon for Christmas, and to see my Bro Kip come home from his mission!

Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!

Christmastime, and painting

So, for FHE this week we got our Christmas tree. Robert had been asking for days and was so excited. It was so fun to see how excited he was to pull the decorations out of the boxes and want to participate. He has such a good memory about his ornaments and what was in the decorations box.



We were also excited this week because we finally completed painting our bedroom. We waited to take the blinds down for the last. I have hated those blinds the whole time we were in that room, and when we took them down, we realized that there was a beautiful window underneath! I didn't want to cover them back up! So, we decided to keep the turquoise blinds down and just put up some curtains that we can move over and see the window whenever we wanted. So, here is a before and after of our window.
We are so happy with our new window! And our new room!

As of other pics, I let the kids do some painting on Sat and they were in heaven.



Austin struck again, this time it was moonsand madness. We really don't know how he gets to these things. I was sure the moonsand was in the kitchen. At least this one was easy to clean up.
I hosted at our Stake's nativity festival. They had a really cute kids room there where the kids could dress up like part of the nativity. Isabelle decided that she would rather be a donkey than Mary, but was very upset that she couldn't be an angel.

Thanksgiving

We did a few things to celebrate Thanksgiving this week. On Monday we had an FHE on Thanksgiving. I told the story of the pilgrims and read some scriptures on being grateful. I had printed off a bunch of little turkeys that said "I am thankful for..." and each of us filled in the blank on a bunch of these papers. We then stuck the paper turkeys all over the house so that each time we saw them all week we could remember all that we have and to be grateful. It ended up being so fun and the kids loved it. It was fun to hear what the kids came up with:

Robert- treasure boxes, clothes, pirate swords, candy, dad
Isabelle- sippy cups, superheros, princesses, teddy bears
Mom- our home, my marriage, the gospel, family, hot water
Dad- technology (I love technology.....), our savior, kids, wife
etc....

On Wednesday I was making bread, so I had the kids form it into a fun shape. I was going for the Thanksgiving theme, (this really is suppose to be a turkey)
but Robert and Isabelle did their own thing. Robert made a rabbit and
Isabelle had me help her make a princess. When I took the bread out of the oven Isabelle thought that it looked like the princess had a skirt on rather than a dress, so she didn't want to eat it anymore. Notice the sour expression on her face, the fact that the plate is not on her placemat. She didn't want to be in this picture either. Oh, kids are fun.


For Thanksgiving Day, Rob's parents Nan and Bob were here. It was so nice to share the load of all of the meal with Nan. I made my pies the night before and half of the stuffing, so all I had to do on Thanksgiving was the turkey stuff and mashed potatoes! I also made these little cornucopias for everyone which turned out kind of fun.

Rob got a newspaper Thanksgiving day (since we don't subscribe) so we could get in on all of the good Black Friday deals. We scoured the pages all day on Thursday. Then, Rob and I got up a little before 5 am on Friday to go Christmas shopping. I ended up going to like 3 or 4 stores, and waited in some pretty long lines. But, I think that it was worth it and we are almost done with Christmas! (A weight off my shoulders!)
Later that day we went to Omsi and watched the Polar Express at the Imax theater there with Rob's parents, then hung out with the Hutchies!

The next day we had a sitter for most of the day so Rob and I could do some more shopping, then we spent that night with the Russons! What a fun week!

Painting, Pilgrims, and Pulling teeth

So, this week we started to paint our bedroom (my birthday request). When we moved in, it was painted three colors- lilac, light blue, and a cream color. It clashed just a little with our dark brown bedspread and red pillows. Here are some before pics....




I never could understand why they chose to paint the room three colors, until we started to paint it. Some parts of the room have tons of light, and others have tons of shadow. I had a terrible time picking out a paint color because the colors looked completely different depending on where in the room we painted. But, hopefully we will stick to what we have chosen (and painted) so far.
We tried out like 8 different colors before we decided on one and painted them in different parts of the room to see how they looked.

We are not completely done yet. But this is how it looks so far. We will need to take down the blinds, and we will paint the bathroom too.
Some other fun things that happened, Isabelle had a Thanksgiving Feast at her preschool. Each of the parents brought part of the meal and all the kids had little pilgrim hats. They looked so cute!They also made placemats with hand turkeys. So fun!

The night before Robert came home and was all excited telling us that they were going to have a traditional thanksgiving dinner for lunch the next day with turkey, pumpkin pie etc and that the family could come to eat lunch with him. So, the next morning I asked if he wanted hot or cold lunch, reminding him of the turkey, and he said "I want cold lunch! I don't like turkey." Silly kid. Oh well, Rob went and ate lunch with him at school that day and took some fun pictures of him at recess. In the pic he has his arm around his friend James. He got to go to James' birthday party on Friday.
Robert has had a loose tooth for about two weeks. He was so nervous about it hurting that he never really played with it too much. It ended up sticking out really far like a buck tooth until Saturday when it finally came out. He was so excited! I believe it is the third tooth he has lost.
We also had a fun weekend with Mima and Papa. We watched the football game with them on Sat and went to church with them on Sunday.

Before I close I wanted to mention a couple funny things the kids said this week.

Robert : "Mom, did you know that the Goosebumps book is cursed? It is totally cursive."

Me talking to Isabelle while she is drawing.
Me "Hey, Isabelle, are you drawing a person?"
Isa "No, I'm drawing a Mom."

Signs of the times and the writing on the wall

Here are some pics of the fam we took today.




Ok, so first I will talk about the writing on the wall. After church today, I decided to spend an hour to write in my journal. Rob took the kids and went downstairs to work on pictures. While this was happening, Austin snuck away, found a dry erase marker in the kitchen, then went upstairs to start the devastation. He colored in the hallway, in his room, on our bedroom door, all over the playroom walls, the carpet, the entertainment center, the bookshelf, clothes, and toys. Rob was livid, I was laughing, and Austin was as happy as could be. We did make Austin, and everyone else in the family help to clean up. And, with the help of baby wipes and the magic eraser, we were able to clean most of it up.


I also wanted to mention how Isabelle was so innovative in her accessorizing this week. She came out of the bathroom and said, "Mom, isn't my necklace pretty?" Yes, she accessorized with bath toys.


As for the signs of the times...well this part gets personal. I have been really nervous about the state of our country and the state of the LDS people, with the protests at so many LDS temples on the proposition 8 issue. I have been worried about what will happen with all of the issues brought up from our current election. Listening to the radio, reading info on the internet, or watching t.v. has just had me worried about what will happen in the next few years. I have seen how our Constitution is currently "hanging by a thread". It feels like reading the ensign is my only place for solice. It gives me hope and peace. Lately all that has been going on has made me "Wonder when he comes again".
We went to Stake Conference this weekend. At the adult session on Saturday, the 70 that came, Elder Wood, said that the last sign before Christ's coming was that the gospel would be preached throughout all the world, and that has basically been fulfilled. I talked to Sister Russon on Friday, and she said that she and Bro Russon have been studying the signs of the times and that the last thing that needs to happen is a temple being built in Jerusalem, but the Jerusalem center can be used as a temple if needed... Today, our stake president read a quote about the economy being in turmoil, people being out of work, banks closing and breaking, and it was a quote by Joseph Smith. President Barrus said that what will get us out of that today, will be when Christ comes again.
The emphasis seemed to me that although things will challenge our faith in the next while, we need to work on our character and that we don't need to fear. These things that are happening will eventually bring about good. I love our General Authorities. I love that we can receive hope and inspiration from them, especially in troubling times such as these.

My 31st b-day and such

Earlier this month I just couldn't remember what it was I was forgetting from my Thanksgiving decorations until Bella brought home a turkey she had made at school. So, I was so excited to pull my turkeys out, so were the kids.
Lately Austin has been so funny.

He has started to say "oweee!" to anything that he dislikes. The other day we were outside and the wind blew his hair, "owee!" If Robert takes a toy from him "oweee!" If he doesn't want me to change his clothes, "owee!" Oh, and he really doesn't want me doing that. He hates it when I change him into or out of any clothes.

Belly has started to be really serious about her coloring. She will take a long time to color in her coloring book and make sure that every space is colored and will use lots of different colors to fill in an area.

Robert had his last soccer game this weekend. He has liked soccer more than T-ball, but I never got the feeling that he was really into the game. But, his coach said that he was the happiest kid on the team. Austin and Belly were so cute. I noticed them holding hands during the game, so had to get a picture.
So, I was a little bit worried that my birthday would be pretty lame this weekend since we had a bunch to do on my b-day. It was Robert's last soccer game, we had a practice for the primary program, it was a BYU football day and Robert had his soccer team party that night. But, as always, Rob came through and made it a great day and a great weekend.

He stopped and bought me breakfast before we ran off for the soccer game. Then, while I was at the primary practice with Robert he decorated the house, and cleaned. He blew off the football game for me (he didn't want to miss one game this season), and we went to Home Depot to pick out paint colors. (I told him that for my birthday I wanted to paint our bedroom). We also went to the mall and I got a couple shirts.

We went to Robert's soccer party. One of the moms there was so awesome and had put together a highlight video of all the kids games for everyone and made a memory booklet for each kid. What an awesome mom!

When we came home, Rob had presents and a birthday cake for me and the Hutchies had left a sweet present on my doorstep. I couldn't believe how much 31 candles filled up my cake! Oh, I have to say how sweet Robert was to me on my birthday as well. He was wanting to share his snacks with me and be helpful and give me lots of hugs and kisses. He is such a sweet boy.


Also, today Robert had his primary program at church. He said, "My favorite story from the Book of Mormon is when Nephi built a boat. It teaches me obedience." It was fun to hear all of the kids sing and I am so glad I am not the chorister anymore.

After church Bob and Nan came over and made me a nice dinner and brought presents too. The kids were so excited. I think it was the fastest I have ever seen Austin get out of his car seat.

Isn't it unfortunate that it took 3 of them to light the candles on my cake!!!

I've been tagged

So, Amy Hintze tagged me in her blog and I just noticed! So, I'm suppose to say 7 things about myself that are strange, wierd, unusual, or generally unknown. Unfortunately I had a hard time coming up with these, so here you go.

1. Every year Rob and I have been married we have had a Halloween party.

2. I used to tease Rob about being from a "pioneer family" because he never had anything but homemade bread, and now I always make homemade bread for my family rather than buying it.

3. I once took accordian lessons.

4. I got the nickname "the Terminator" at my job in Provo because I cut people off the fasted for not complying. (I worked with single moms on financial assistance).

5. I got engaged on my 22nd birthday, exactly two months after Rob and I met.

6. I ate hot lunch every year from 1st grade through my first year of college.

7. I have recently found out that I am a book snob. (ie, I can't understand why so many people love Twilight)

Now to tag 5 other people to do this on their blogs:

1. Mom
2. Alisa Boulter
3. Allison Boulter
4.Jessica Anderson
5.Jen Lund

Halloween

So, this week started out with a Trunk or Treat on Wed at the church. If you don't know what one is, people hand out treats from the trunks of their cars. The kids just like to get candy on more days than one. Here are some pics from that.
You can't tell from the picture, but this car had Harry Potter projected on a sheet from their car. It was so cool!


Don't I have a cute hubby?!

So, on Thursday Isabelle had a class Halloween party with her preschool. I got to help with the party too! They made spiders out of ritz and pretzels, made candy corn men, and I read "The Perfect Pumpkin Pie" with them and then everyone had pie. It was lots of fun.
This is Bella with her teacher "Miss Connie" the day of her party. Bella has been so cute lately about school. She will come home and pretend to be Miss Connie and try to teach Austin. She also asked specifically if we could trick or treat at Miss Connie's house on Halloween. Today I had Bella and Robert do journals and pretty much all Bella told me about Halloween was that she got to trick or treat at her teachers house!

On Thursday we carved our pumpkins. Everyone was into it, including Austy. He loved it when Rob carved his pumpkin for him. And he loved poking his Jack o' Lantern in the eye.

Robert actually pulled most of the guts out of his pumpkin and wanted a superhero pumpkin. So, we did the best we could with that.

Rob made a cool pumpkin. His looks like it is sucking up it's stem.

Bella wanted a princess pumpkin, so Rob complied by adding eyelashes to hers. Mom, you must notice the aprons Bella and I are wearing!
Here are the finished products.
On Halloween night Isabelle wasn't doing her best. When I took Robert to therapy she wanted to lay on the floor the whole time. So, when we got home I sent her to bed, but she didn't want to wake up for dinner or even go trick or treating at first. I even make mummy dogs, pumpkin pie, and an orange drink for Halloween dinner.
Isabelle finally said that she did want to go trick or treating if she could just ride around in the stroller the whole time. She said she had a bad headache. Poor girl!
Here are the kids before we left. Bella was a fairy, Austy- a mouse, and Robert was the Hulk.



And don't for get Mom and Dad, Amidala and Darth Vadar.



As soon as we got home Austy and Bella wanted to go to sleep. So, we put them down and about 20 min later I told Robert that we were going to start a movie. Isabelle called down from her bedroom and said "I want to watch!" So, she watched it with us too.

I also want to mention that today Robert bore his testimony at church for the first time. He asked me why a bunch of the kids kept coming up to the microphone and I told him that it was because they were saying that they know that Jesus and the church is true. I asked him if he felt that way and wanted to say it too and he said that he did. He was so sweet. He said that he knows Jesus is true and that he answers prayers.
Just lately Robert is realizing that not everyone believes the way that we do. He talked to other kids at school and found out that they don't go to church. I told them that they don't believe in Jesus. I asked him if he did and he told me yes. The kids at school even said that church is for babies and Robert stood up for the church. I am so proud of him. I know that he has a testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus and that Robert has felt the spirit many times. Every time he feels the spirit (i.e. during a primary song, or while we are talking about scriptures etc,) he puts his hand on his heart. So, I always know when he is feeling it. What a sweet boy.