I think it's about time for a haircut. What do you think?

I don't have a picture of this, but feel it needs to be documented for posterity's sake! Some of you have already heard this story, so, bear with me. Isaac has a spelling packet that he brings home every week. In this packet, there are 10 new words that he learns and practices spelling every day. After he is done writing each word out 3 times, there is usually some sort of additional activity such as coming up with synonyms for words, etc.

A few weeks ago we were sitting at the kitchen table finishing up with the kids' homework. Isaac had just completed his spelling list for the day. All he had left to do was the additional activity which happened to be writing sentences using two of his spelling words. There was some sort of commotion upstairs so I left Isaac to just finish up his sentences and put his homework in his backpack. A few minutes later he came upstairs and we started getting ready for bed. I had forgotten all about checking it until the next day when he came home from school. He started laughing to himself and I asked him what was so funny. In reply, he pulled out his homework folder and handed me his spelling packet. "Look at my sentences Mom", he said. I opened it up and laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes. The word he chose to use was "Father", and his sentence was, "My Father spends A LOT (in caps) of time on the can." When Chris got home, I told him that he was famous and showed him the sentence. He promptly informed me that this officially excused him from ever going to a parent teacher conference. Ever.

I wonder if he was the talk of the teacher's lounge that day?

Bribery is the Best Medicine!

This is our latest attempt at "creative, positive, disciplining".

Since being pregnant and since Lucas was born, I have been so lazy and have let a lot of things slide that I wouldn't have before, such as: my eating habits (popcorn and root beer floats at 11:00 at night anyone? Spencer?), my patience, and my disciplining methods (among other things). In an attempt to at least work on the last one (I'm not ready to give up the snacking just yet) and regain some control over my household, I came up with the following idea.

I found these at Walmart for .98 cents a piece. I was looking for some type of advent calendar for the whole month, but decided these would work just fine. If I was crafty like my sister, I would have made my own and then decorated them all cute and scrapbooky like. Maybe that's why I don't have any girls...

Anyway, I filled each slot up with something different- a sticky eyeball leftover from Halloween, a quarter or dime, a little rubber lizard, a piece of candy, stickers, etc. Every week I also put in a paper that says either, "pick a prize", "ice cream with Dad", or "date with Mom" etc.
I then went to the dollar store and bought some fun prizes with the boys like silly putty, play dough, punching balls, etc and put them in a gift bag. This was so exciting for the kids, because the only time they get toys are on Christmas and Birthdays!

We sat down with the boys and identified something that each of them wanted to work on. For example, Jason is working on staying in bed and not talking and playing during nap time. At the end of each day, they all gather in my room and we talk about how they did that day. If they felt like they did a good job, then they get to open up the container pertaining to that day and keep the prize. If they did not make good choices, they have to open it up, take out the prize, and give it to me. We have been doing this for a week now, and it has worked wonders! In about a month, we will sit down with the kids and come up with new goals or behaviors to work on for the following month.

Halloween

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It was fun to have Chris home this year for Halloween! We tried to sleep in that morning, but the kids came in bright and early, practically bouncing off the walls because they were so excited. They kept yelling, "Get up, get up, it's Halloween" over and over again. Finally Chris got up and made them breakfast. I went down to see what he was making, and found this: He's so cute!

After breakfast (and after getting almost finished with my makeup and then having to wash my face and start all over again more than once due to an incident involving my makeup brush and the black makeup that was not washed off of either side of it (yes, I tried both sides) after somebody painted Isaac's face the night before for our Ward Halloween party) we got ready again and headed down to main street for our first round of trick or treating.
This is what Lucas did the whole time we were out.

After main street, we went home and put the kids down for a nap. Chris got dressed up for the evening festivities.

Holidays just get more and more fun the older the kids get. They had a blast going trick or treating. Isaac and Adam ran to every door, then they would count to three and ring the doorbell together. They could have kept going all night long!

Jason wasn't feeling very well on Halloween, and we were hoping it was just the candy, but, after throwing up 2 times that night and then all day on Sunday (one of the times he actually did it all over me- my hair was literally dripping! Gross, I know.) we resigned ourselves to the fact that it wasn't just from gorging himself on chocolate. He's still sick today, poor kid!

While I was washing all of his sheets and blankets on Sunday, Isaac and Adam decided to make a fort.

Sunday morning, Isaac brought this up to me. He and Adam had sorted through their candy and decided to share.

Not to be ungrateful or anything, but look at what they gave Chris. And this is even after he ate some of it! Don't they know that moms need chocolate more than dads do?! Fortunately, I know where Chris hid his bag.

Halloween Eve

OK, so the cookie decorating was a couple of days before Halloween, but I had to throw this picture in here too. The boys had a couple of friends here to help us cut out and frost cookies this year. As always, they had a blast and ate them almost as fast as they could frost them!

One of the local grocery stores had a pumpkin painting contest. If your child entered a pumpkin, they would also get a certificate for a free donut. We let them paint the pumpkins from our garden to enter into the contest.
Here are Adam and Isaac with their finished products! They were so proud of their creations. Adam's is a bat and Isaac's is an alien.
After we dropped off their pumpkins, we got ready and headed over to our Ward Halloween party.

It was so funny to watch them try to do this. Jason especially made me laugh with the faces that he was pulling.

When we got home from the party, Chris and the boys carved our pumpkin together. They each got to pick out a feature and Chris helped them carve their own part.

Lucas hung out in the swing, talked to himself, and made silly faces while the boys were hard at work.

They even helped me separate the seeds this year so that we could roast them. I love having older kids in the house!

The finished product.

Lucas started getting a little sad while we were trying to clean up, so Isaac asked if he could hold him in the living room. A few minutes later I went in to check on them and this is what I saw:

So sweet!

Snow?!

Our first snow storm of the year. In October. So much for getting out and taking family pictures in the fall leaves!

Work Halloween Party

The boys got to wear their costumes a week early for my work Halloween party this year. They were all excited and cooperative until I tried to paint some scruff on Isaac's face for his Indiana Jones costume. He was so mad at me, he even tried rubbing his face on the carpet to wipe if off while he was pouting. This first picture reflects how happy he was! Adam and Jason, on the other hand, were so excited. They kept going to the bathroom to look at themselves in the mirror. Jason got really into it. He referred to his brothers as Indy and Harry only, and got mad when anyone called him anything but Luke. Even when people called him Luke Skywalker, he would say, "No, I'm JUST Luke".

I finally convinced him that he looked cool with his scruff. So, here is a happy picture.

Outside the school

Waiting patiently for the activity to start

The cookie decorating table is always the busiest!

Jason doesn't like to eat meals. He would prefer to just snack all day long. The problem is, most of the things he wants to snack on are not good for him. He realizes this, so instead of asking for things, he has started just sneaking and stashing them. I will have a drink and it will disappear, or there will be something in the fridge that Jason wants and when I go to use it, it will no longer be there. It took me a while before I found his secret hiding place. I would open up the cupboard below the island in our kitchen and see crumbs and wonder how they got there, and then I found this:

and another time, this:

then one day, this:

also found inside this cupboard: Trisciuts, a piece of bacon, cookies, yogurt, drinks from Maverick, candy wrappers, and just today, a pizza crust. He has also been known to hide in the toy room closet with things that he sneaks as well.

Conference and Benjamin

This year, Conference weekend was really relaxed. I was still sick so we didn't go anywhere and didn't have any visitors. The kids sat and did their activity packets during the morning sessions and took naps during the afternoon sessions- it was perfect! I really love Conference and enjoyed all of the talks, but one of my favorites was Elder Bednar's. I get overwhelmed worrying about my boys and wondering how I am going to teach them help them each become good, responsible, kind adults. You know, the usual. Anyway, I loved how he talked about how just doing the small things every day make a big difference in the long run. Now, if we could just work on the doing the small things....

Benjamin came and stayed with us for a couple of days 2 weeks ago. He was so good, and Jason loved having him here. They just played and played. Jason loved having someone around while Isaac and Adam were in school. One morning I was fixing my hair and listening to them play downstairs. All of the sudden I realized how quiet it was, so I went to check on them. When I got downstairs, I didn't see or hear them anywhere. The front door was open and I started to worry. Then I heard giggling and whispering coming from the closet downstairs. I opened it and there they were, sitting on the floor with their light sabers. I asked them what they were doing and they whispered to me, "shhh, there are dinosaurs in the kitchen". Here they are later, each holding a baby dinosaur that they caught:

Jason has a great imagination, and sometimes his brothers (and parents) don't play along the way he wants them to. Benjamin likes pretend play just as much as Jason does, so they were both in heaven!

Lucas

Surprise, surprise, more baby pictures!

I am so in love with this baby. He is such a sweet, good natured boy. I could spend all day just holding and playing with him. He is so happy, responsive, and fun. He watches me like a hawk. He follows me with his eyes wherever I go, and when I stop and talk to him or go to pick him up, he gets so excited. He will coo, kick his legs and move his arms, and smile so big that he looks like he is just going to burst. He is so strong. He loves to sit up and look around, when you lay him down he tries to lift his body up so that he can see what is going on. He squeals when I help him stand up and his new favorite game is holding on to my hands, lifting himself up to sitting, and then lifting himself up to standing. I have never met a baby who likes getting his diaper changed more than this one. He will be sad and crying, and as soon as I start changing his diaper he will start grinning and cooing again. He also loves his bath time. He starts kicking and smiling as soon as I start filling up the tub, and doesn't stop until he is done and dressed. He is such a happy baby. I can't believe that he is already 3 months old!!!

Heard last week

Isaac- (on picture day, with tears streaming down his face) Mom this shirt is stupid with a capital S.

Jason- How does the blood get into our body? Why did Heavenly Father make us our hands? So we can touch everything? Who makes our TV? etc. etc. etc. This kid never stops asking questions!

Last week in church Chris was talking to Jason and called him Isaac. A few minutes later he called Adam Isaac on accident as well. Adam leaned over and with a stern look on his face said, "Dad, you should have just named us all Isaac".

Jason- Are we going to have to have strawberry shortcake every time for your birthday?
Me- Yes.
Jason- Do I have to have that for my birthday every time?
Me- No, of course not.
Jason- That would be boring. I want a cool party. Not like your party.

Adam- Mom, did you want to be an astronaut when you were little? Me- Yes Adam- Did you not become an astronaut because you didn't have any astronaut clothes. Me- Yes, that's exactly why I didn't become an astronaut. Adam- Do people still go on the moon sometimes even today? Me- Sure. Adam- Where do you get astronaut clothes so that I can go if I want to?

Adam to Jason- Don't stop singing, I'm still fighting bad guys. Translation: When Adam plays Indiana Jones, he likes his own theme music, and it's usually Jason that he talks into singing for him while he is "fighting". Unfortunately, these battles can take a while and listening to or singing the Indiana Jones song over and over and over and over again can get just a little tiring!

The boys have been doing chores to earn money for a toy that they want, and it had been a while since Isaac had done any. I asked him why and he replied, "I have two loose teeth. I'm just going to wait until they come out, then I'll get the money from the tooth fairy!" (he doesn't know that 2 dollars won't quite be enough).

Adam- It's not fair. Me- What's not fair? Adam- It's light outside in China right now.

Jason- Mom, did you know that Little Mermaid is a girl? She's a girl because she has boobies like you, but her boobies are purple.