A Warning from Grampy

My Children received this letter in my e-mail inbox today. . . I'm really thinking I need to edit it before I share it with them! :)

Dear Ethan, Aidan, and Chandler
Ethan, now that you can read, I am sending this to you so you can read it
to yourself as well as your two brothers. Warning, warning, warning ! ! !
You must beware of your mother tonight. I’m quite confident by the time
you awake tomorrow morning, the majority of the treasured loot you gather
tonight will have disappeared. Therefore I have a plan for the three of
you.

After returning from tonight’s wonderful sugar high, turn Chandler loose
somewhere in a bathroom and tell him to play gleefully in the toilet and
turn on all sorts of water. That will of course divert your mother’s
attention to taking care of him for a couple of minutes. During that
diversionary time, you and Aidan must quickly hide your most treasured and
delectable items from your mother’s sight.

Upon her return, resume your normal post trick-or-treat activities of
sorting, eating, and gloating about your massive haul of treats. Eat your
guts out. Then when they announce it’s time to go to bed, do so gleefully
– knowing that in the morning most of your good stuff will be waiting for
you in your secret stash. Don’t act surprised when your pumpkins appear a
bit light, as you will know there’s a whole lot more waiting for you than
meets the eye.

That’s it for today. Grammy and I look forward to seeing photos of all of
you in your costumes. And don’t forget, at this time of year both Grammy
and I fully support bad oral hygiene in young boys who still have their
baby teeth. Remember, this marvelous period of poor health will soon end
as those baby teeth are replaced by the real thing. But in the meantime,
suck on all the chocolate and sugar you can get.
Love, Grampy

Aidan's First Ride

On Saturday (I know I'm behind!) Gordon took Aidan to the park across the street without his training wheels. They came back after only an hour and announced that they needed me to come so I could see. This is what I found!


After this ride, he was REALLY tired from all the biking. But, he kept insisting that he needed to do it one more time. Eventually we dragged him home, and he threw such a stink he got put in time out, where he promptly fell asleep for the rest of the night! (poor little guy, it was only 5 o'clock! - but he needed it!) Good job buddy!!! A very nice ride!

Halloween Preview

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Carving Pumpkins

A few nights ago, we carved pumpkins! Such a fun activity to do with kids, but I'm so glad it only comes once a year! What a mess! Here are a few photos to enjoy. . .

Ethan and Aidan designed their own pumpkins. Ethan's has a spider on it "scaring" the pumpkin, and Aidan's is just so Aidan!

Chandler enjoyed most of the evening from here, a bath in the sink. He was being such a stinker and kept saying he wanted a bath and was trying to rip off his clothes, so I finally just threw him in the sink. It kept him contained and happy for 40 minutes. Happy day!

Chandler loves this one!

Daddy painstakingly carved this one, with a little help from Mommy. He always chooses crazy designs. . . But it makes a pretty nice greeting as the tricker treaters will approach!

And here is Chandler, all ready for the Ward's harvest Fest. He looked so cute!

New. . . again!

This weekend we did the toy switch-a-roo. One of the great things about having WAY too many toys, is we never have more than half of them out at a time. So this weekend while the boys were out with Daddy, I pulled open all the boxes and got out some new (old) toys, and put away tons of the others. The boys were so excited when they got home and have been happily playing ever since. Chandler seems especially smitten with the REALLY old toys. (they were mine when I was little) It's been a fun change up!

Hungry Monkeys

I have become so tired of being the waitress to Aidan, that I've taken a pretty hard line lately about snacking. After breakfast, we will have a snack around 10, but not before. The other morning I was running around cleaning the bathrooms upstairs, and he just kept complaining and complaining about how hungry he was. I tried to tell him, "at ten" about ten times, and then finally in my exasperation said "Just go get yourself a piece of bread or something if you're that hungry, but I'm not getting it for you!" and then went back to scrubbing and such. When I came out of the bathroom about five minutes later, this is what I found.

Aidan and Chandler on the couch, devouring a whole loaf of white bread. (a rare purchase around here!) I guess that will teach me to say "get it yourself!"

The Switch-a-Roo

So, feeling pretty secure in the "girl" diagnosis, after two ultrasounds now, I got the baby clothes down from the attic (thanks Gordon) and went through all the boxes, sorting out the things we'll be able to use, and putting back 95% of it, which screamed "BOY!" I did find a few things though that were "switch hitters" but needed a little girly boost. So, a few buttons, rosettes, and ribbons later, I have the beginnings of a feminine wardrobe. It's mostly white onesies and unisex PJ's at this point, but these few items "girled" up rather nicely! Such fun!

The Inside Story

This past Monday I got to do something very fun! It involved a solo plane flight down to LA, staying with my folks, by myself I might add, and a super high tech ultrasound. My parents have a close family friend who is one of the pioneers in ultrasound technology. He has an amazingly high detection rate for catching spinal and heart defects, as well as downs syndrome. My parents suggested I should come down and have one of his fancy ultrasounds, and I scoffed a little bit, until they bought me the plane ticket and I realized it would involve two days "off!"

So, on Monday morning I flew down to LA and my mom picked me up at the airport. We visited my grandparents, went out for ice cream, and then went to see Dr. Devore. He did our "genetic ultrasound," and gave my parents a sneak peek at their first granddaughter. It was great fun. He does the 3-D looking ultrasounds, which were a bit scary to look at, as she's still so tiny and skinny, but it was fun to see her sleeping away peacefully in there, with her little arm curled up by her head. Here's a little snippet of the video they sent me home with. The first part is of her heart beating (in color) and then the 3-D part. I love how she waves "see ya later!" at the end. . .



After the ultrasound we headed out to PF Chang's for this baby's favorite meal, Chinese food, and then off to bed. The next morning, my mom and I spent some time perusing around the Glendale Galleria, and then it was off to the airport for me, and home again, home again! It was so fun to have some "alone" time with my parents (and myself) and see the baby again. Thanks guys, for the ticket! And thanks Bro. Devore for the awesome pics of my little girl!

a mothering milestone

Tonight I experienced something with Chandler that I've never had the displeasure of encountering in my 6 and a half years of mothering. Pooping in the tub. Ugh. Thank you Chandler, for making sure I did not escape motherhood without this most unpleasant experience! :) Good thing you're such a cute little monkey!

a new obsession?

I've been admiring my friends Chelsea's digital scrapbooking for some time now. I finally decided to try my hand at it. (and I happen to have some fun new software) Here is one of my first attempts. . . Thanks Chelsea for all the inspiration! And thanks Mahina for the great photos!

A sweet Prayer

As spoken by Aidan tonight at bedtime:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you that we could go to Costco today. Please bless Ethan to get better right away. Please bless us not to get sick, especially the baby in mom's tummy, because. . . that would be a problem. Please help us all to have sweet dreams, especially the baby in mom's tummy, because she is a girl.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

It's a WHAT???

Ultrasound Tech: I don't want to hear any screaming you guys, but I'm thinking it's a girl.
Rachel: a What?
UT: a girl. Female.
R: Are you sure?
UT: Pretty sure!
R: Okay, how sure do you mean? Are you sure? Did you really mean "boy" when you said "girl?" Are you saying girl and then we're going to have a boy anyway? Babies are boys.
UT: nope, I mean girl! Some babies are girls.
R: So it's a girl? A real girl?
UT: GIRL. You are having a girl!
R: (giggling with the prospect of another female in the house) It's a she??? I can't believe it! Are you sure???. . .

and on, and on. . .

It's a GIRL!!!

Every time the doctor called the baby a "she" after that I think I giggled. It sounded so weird! I'm having a GIRL!!! Oh. . . the sewing projects ahead! I think I may have just created a new category in our budgeting needs!!! Hair ribbons, smocked dresses, darling mary janes. . .

The boys are THRILLED! They've been asking and in Aidan's words "Whining" for a baby sister since they found out I was expecting. I am so excited we got to surprise them tonight at FHE with their little sister! Woah, that still sounds funny! Here she is. . .

Pretty Pictures

Mahina took our family pictures for us today and they turned out so nicely! She brought her great camera and snapped away, close to 300 times. I wish I could share them all but then I'd have no surprises for the Christmas Cards!!! :) Here are a few of the candid shots she took for you to enjoy. . .

Little Man

Chandler has been driving us NUTS by getting up way before the crack of dawn. It's been about 5:40 the last few mornings, and he is royally wearing out Daddy and I. But, we can't just let him cry and fuss too long because more often than not, he's poopy, and then he gets fried. So, he's been spending some time helping us get ready in the morning. This morning, upon getting out of the shower, I found him sitting on the counter shaving with daddy. It's hard to beleive that those soft little cheeks will have scratchy whiskers on them some day! Oh, he was also doing his make-up while shaving. Hummmm. . . .