Happy Birthday Adam!!

Yesterday was our son Adam's birthday. Adam was only here on the earth for a very short time. He was born on October 26th, 2001 and returned to Heaven on November 9, 2001. He was born prematurely. He only weighed 1 lb 15.9 oz when he was born. He did very well for the first week of his life but then he developed a blood infection. His body was too small and became too weak to fight it. For the last 8 hours of his time on earth Sean and I were able to hold (for the first time), talk to and sing to him. That night is one of the most special and hardest nights I have ever experienced in my life. Sean and I are grateful everyday for the two weeks we had him here with us on earth. I am thankful for the blessing of eternal families and know that we will be with Adam again someday.

Weekend Update

Friday night we went to a Fall Festival at Jacob's school. The kids were able to play a bunch of games and got candy and other goodies. They also had a cake walk. We had all three kids do it at one time, which increased our odds of winning so that we did not have to spend all night at the cake walk. Jacob won on the first try. Our plan was succesful. The kids had a lot of fun and that was our first chance to get candy.

Saturday night our ward had a chili cook off, fall festival, trunk or treat. Our chili did not win any awards. I told Sean that was his fault because he was one of the judges!! Oh well. Again, the kids were able to play games and win candy and prizes. Then we went outside to trunk or treat. One entire side and the back parking lot of the church were full. The kids came home with a lot of candy which made them very happy. I have a new view on the candy, let them eat it until they get sick or it is gone then I do not have to deal with "Can I have a piece of candy?" nearly as long if they just eat it and get it over with. Do not tell my dentist!!


As soon as we got home from the trunk or treat Seth dumped out his bag to see what he got. It was really quite funny. This is the first year he has realized what was going on. Emma was right behind him to dump and check out the loot. We put all the candy together so that there is no arguing. So far it has worked great for our kids.

Kids say the funniest things

My children are constantly asking me "Is it snack time yet?", this is because they used to tell me every 5 minutes that they were hungry so I set certain times in the day as snack time so they would not ask all day. Sometimes, like today with Emma, 5 minutes after we had all eaten lunch and she had a whole sandwich, grapes and apples, she asked, "Is it snack time?". Well this afternoon Seth came up with a new one. He said to me "Mommy my tummy says I want a cheese stick!". It was so cute I had to give him one, even though it was not snack time.

Another Fun Fall Family Night

For Family Night on Monday we carved our "family" pumpkin, as the kids call it. Sean and I think it is funny because the boys will not put their hands inside the pumpkin to get the "guts" out, they will only use a spoon. They all agreed very quickly what the pumpkin should look like which made the actual carving part go much quicker. Once again this year we put all of the guts in some dirt on the side of the house. We will see if we get as lucky next year as we did this year with the pumpkins.

After we carved our pumpkin we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores for a treat. We have a small fire pit on our deck. The kids love making s'mores. Jacob asked us if we were going to camp out because usually when we put a fire in the pit we do camp but not Monday. It was a school night and it is getting too cold at night for mommy and children to be outside.

Getting the "guts" out of the pumpkin.
The Jack O' Lantern
Sean and Jacob roasting the perfect marshmallow.
Emma trying not to catch hers on fire because that is gross. She does not understand how Sean can eat a burnt marshmallow.

Nesting

I think I was officially nesting today. We got the crib all ready for baby Lucy. We are having her sleep in the spare room until she is sleeping good at night then we will move her in with Emma. We also pulled out the infant car seat along with the 0-3 and 3-6 month girl clothes. I had Sean up in the attic putting away clothes that we will not need for a while. We have a closet in the basement that has all the baby gear. We pulled out the infant tub and bouncy seat also. The kids were very excited to see all the baby stuff out. It felt good to get some of that done. Hopefully I will have a few more of those days before she arrives.

Last night we went over to a friends house for a little Halloween party. We had a lot of fun. Our kids were sad when we had to leave. It seems like we are busier this fall then we have been in years past. We have a fall festival at Jacob's school and our church trunk or treat next weekend so we will be busy with fall activities next week also.

Baby Update

I had a regular doctor's appointment today. All is going well with the baby. She is active and has a strong heartbeat. I am still in the negative as far as weight since I lost so much at the beginning but I have finally started gaining weight. The doctor's are a little concerned but I am not worried at all. With Seth I only gained 5 pounds my entire pregnancy. She even talked about inducing possibly, for no reason other reason than we would not have to be in the hospital on Christmas. I do not want to be induced but I also do not want to be in the hospital on Christmas. We have a little while to figure all that out.

Congratulations Uncle Hyrum!!

Friday afternoon we headed down to Buena Vista, VA to my dad and step-mom's house. We had tons of fun while we were down there, as usual. Saturday afternoon we went to "Mountain Days" in town, it was like a fall festival. The kids really had fun there. Then Saturday evening, the reason for our trip, was my little brother Hyrum's Eagle Scout court of honor. He and one of his friends he has been in scouts with since they were 8 both received their Eagle award. They actually did their project together. They made a volleyball court and picnic table. It was a late night, we did not get home until 1am Sunday morning.

Yesterday, in celebration of Columbus Day :-), we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. We were going to head into DC for the day but my wonderful husband let me sleep in and by the time we were all ready for our day it was too late to go to DC and be back at a good time to get kids in bed and time for Sean to relax/nap before he headed to work.

It was a busy weekend but fun to be with family.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

My kids love painting pumpkins, so I bought a bag of tiny pumpkins for them to paint. They had a lot of fun doing it. We also put "sprinkles" as Seth called it on them (glitter).

Yesterday Emma's preschool group went to the pumpkin patch for a field trip. We went to pumpkin school, which Emma is still talking about. Rode on a hay ride, picked a pumpkin and went through a corn maize. They really enjoyed it. We are going to have a lot of pumpkins by the time October is over. We are to the pumpkin patch as a family next week and Jacob is going on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with his school in a week.

Spooky House

For our activity for Family Home Evening last night we decorated a "spooky house". We have done this in years past and it is always a lot of fun. As you can tell from there mouths, especially Jacobs, the black frosting can be a bit of a mess. The best thing about this kit was the house was fully assembled, all we had to do was decorate!! We are gearing up for Halloween at our house.

I LOVE STICKERS!!

Or should I say, my kids love stickers. I bought some great foam Halloween stickers the other day at Wal-Mart. I also had some fun stickers hidden away for a rainy day. Well, today was that day. I needed to get some preschool stuff done for tomorrw and lay down on the couch for a quick nap. I got out some paper and stickers and let them have at it. They were entertained for almost 2 hours!! I think that was well worth my small investment of stickers.

Family Update

I was starting to think that no one ever read our family blog and have not felt like posting anything lately, as you can tell. But come to find out apparently more people read it then I thought because I have had several people ask me why I have not posted anything in almost two weeks. So here is an update....

Jacob is doing great in school. Friday they had an awards assembly and he won the "Character Counts Award" for his class. The characteristic for this month is fairness. It was funny because Friday morning when we were getting ready to take him to school we were all getting dressed, fixing hair, putting shoes on, which we normally do none of when we take him to school. He was very surprised when he walked into the assembly and saw us sitting there.

Emma is enjoying preschool. About two weeks ago we went to a farm on a field trip. It was a lot of fun. We are back at our house this week and we will be going to the pumpkin patch on Thursday for a field trip. We are talking about pumpkins this week.

Seth, as usual, is just happy to be. He has had a "yucky nose", as he says, for several days which is never any fun but we are getting through.

The baby and I are doing well. I had a doctor's appointment last week and all is well. I had to take my glucose test last week also which I always love. It actually made me a little queazy this time so it made me a little worried but all is okay. We are officially in our 3rd trimester and looking forward to the end and having our new baby sister to hold and love.

Sean is Sean, what do I say. He is still working the night shift, 9:30pm - 7:30am Sunday - Wednesday nights. He will probably go back to swing shift, 12:30pm - 10:30pm Wednesday - Saturday night but we are not 100% sure yet.

We had a great weekend watching general conference from home. My dad & Cathie came to watch with us today, along with Wesley and Rebekah. My kids always love when their young aunts and uncles come to "play".