Birthdays, Field Trips and Projects

I had a wonderful birthday a few weeks ago.  Bill splurged and got me a Kindle.  I absolutely LOVE it!  My favorite part of this birthday was the cake Quickyn picked out for me.  I was planning on baking a little cake, but then some friends of mine came over to spend the afternoon and I didn't want to be baking while they were there, so Bill took the kids to the store to pick up a cake.  Quickyn picked out a little white frosted cake with pink frosted edges that had Disney Princess rings all over the top.  She comes home and tells me that she picked it out for me and was so excited to show me all the princesses.  Of course I had to wear one for the rest of the evening, but it eventually found its way into her dress-up box.  Priceless.  I will always remember that cake. 

I loved having time to be with friends and family that night.  My parents invited us to birthday dinner at their all time favorite restaurant, the Timbermine, in Ogden.  It was so wonderful.  I can't even consider my year as complete without one dinner there.  Yum!  I even got the chance to talk with Heidi when she and Bill Sr. stopped by to drop off a present.  We haven't made it over to see them as often as we used to so it was a nice treat to talk with her.  By-the-way Bill, Dad, I love the book!  Historical fiction is one of my weaknesses. 

So, a great birthday.

Quickyn went on her first field trip that same week.  Her preschool class visited the Fire Station and learned about fire safety and met Sparky the firestation dog.  She thought she was so cool!

I will also never forget Quickyn when we went to the Timbermine.  After being seated she immediately tried to get the waitress's attention, "excuse me, ma'am.....excuse me, ma'am".  She needed a booster seat, can't forget that.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for being so patient with our kids, they had a great time.

I've been trying to get back into my painting and have been working on a few projects.  They aren't paintings, exactly.  I like to think they are part painting, part craft. 

Hand Print on Canvas and Fabric Trees

These were a lot of fun. I think any art that involves children and family is a lot of fun!  You can't see it in the picture, but the background on the canvas is mostly brown, but I also blended in a little green and cream to match our living room.  Then I had us all make handprints on them.  Oden was the most difficult, he thought it was more fun to smear the paint all over, so I had to redo his twice before we got it right.  The fabric trees are a cool.  I was sceptical at first, but once you add a little ribbon they are cute.  I still have the tallest one, in green, to finish. 

Scorpio Word Panel

This one I made for my sister's birthday.  Again, the picture does it no justice.  I could not find a decent place to take this picture and we had to rush because I needed to wrap it and get out the door in the next five minutes!  The background has some very deep reds mixed in with the black to add some depth instead of just a flat black.  I had to use stencils and also free hand paint the letters.  It took a lot longer than I thought it would.  For those of you who don't know, my sister really enjoys astrology in all its forms.  She is a scorpio, so I put together this list of words that are part of the scorpio personality.  I painted them in scorpio colors too.  I'm just so mad I didn't get a decent picture of it. 

"Gifts"

 

These "presents" I actually painted last year.  They were a lot of fun.  The picture doesn't show it, but the "wrapping paper" has a texture to it that is really cool.  Bill hung them up for me, the bottom picture shows his version of straight!  We laugh because we both think we know what straight means.  I have a lot more ideas and Bill is being understanding of the messes and craziness when I get creative.  I hope to show you more as I get them completed. 

Looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Hope you all enjoy the holiday.  Lots of Love.

Spooky Halloween, Giant Holes, Swinging Success & Yeah Oden

It has been quite an eventful week!  I don't feel like I get to say that often.  Things tend to stay pretty usual around here.  Well, this week was full of surprises. 

To start, we had an excellent Halloween.  We started by carving all the pumpkins we grew in the garden this summer.  Q and O went out with me every day to check on them, Oden had to pat them all and Q had to kiss them all.  On Halloween day, Quickyn got dressed up in her costume for her preschool Halloween party and had a great time.  Then we went to the ward Halloween carnival and played games that included pumpkin bowling, musical cake walk, mini golf, candy rocket blast (Bill spent some time talking with these guys about how he can turn his rocket launcher into a candy launcher, which he informs me is now complete), fishing, and of course the bean bag toss.  Quickyn won a cake at the cake walk, she did last year too, and was very proud of herself.  Then the Trunk-or-Treat started, which is fun, but not so fun.  I feel like it is more of a candy grab, so Bill agreed to drive the kids to Grandpa Bill's house for some traditional Trick-or-Treating.  What a fun and long night!  I was just happy we were done by 8:30, bedtime.





















After Halloween we got to watch the City dig a huge hole in front of our house, but it was not on our property, just right next to it.  Later that day they accidentally cut the power lines, so we were without power for 2 hours, but I couldn't complain when I think of all the people who suffering back East.  The next day they knocked on our door and said they dug the hole to the wrong box and that they needed to dig the hole to the box on our property, so we got to watch the big tractor dig a hole in our yard!  Quickyn felt it her duty  to inform the man that he was responsible for turning off her power the other day.  He was really nice and told her they were sorry and would try not to do that again.  She said, "Yeah, you better not!"

On Friday, we were in the backyard getting things ready for winter.  Yes, again we are very behind, but poor Bill, he's been buried at work.  Any who, Bill was doing the last string trim and the kids were playing in the sandbox when Q decided she wanted to swing.  Nothing new here, we swing all the time.  I get her in the swing, pull her up and get her started and to my surprise she starts swinging herself!!!  She was pumping her legs, the right way, she had the swinging rhythm down!  Now, you have to understand that Bill and I have explained swinging to Q every time she swings.  She never gets it, she is always putting her legs forward when they should be back and vice versa.  It has been very frustrating trying to help her learn this skill.  Then she just DID it, on her own, I didn't even have to ask her to try.  She gets it!  This is going to make swinging with her even more fun.  She loved that she could swing herself higher and had to brag that she goes higher than I can push her.  Yeah for Q.  We Love You!

And in conclusion, Oden decided he want to start using the potty!  We started showing him what the potty was all about when he turned 2, but he never had more than a passing interest in it.  He will use it first thing in the morning if we make him, but if we put underwear on him he just wets it within the hour.  Well, this Saturday morning, Bill got him to use the potty, then he put real underwear on him fully expecting to be cleaning up a mess soon, but then Oden kept using the potty, he didn't pee his underwear, not ONCE!  He even slept through the night without wetting his bed.  We tried to get him to wear pull ups to bed in case of an accident, but he refused.  We put towels under him, but he didn't need them.  We had some trouble with him today after church, but so far he is on his way.  Bill and I felt like we missed the gold star, pat yourself on the back, you've worked so hard to get to this point, parenthood moment.  Oden did this on his own.  We are so excited and we are so very delighted with him.  We Love You Oden!

We love you all too.  Hope you all have a great next week.

Oh, you want to know why they were digging holes in our front yard?  They are for our new street lamps.  There are holes all over the neighborhood.