November 2nd - November 4th, 2020: 11 months, Election day, & soft nugget

I got a few days to catch up on. Starting with Monday. Which was the day that Nolan turned 11 months old. I have been sooooo bad about taking his monthly shots, but by divine intervention I was dressing him in a white onesie anyway and right before I put his pants on I remembered he was 11 months old - and I thought to myself, there is no time like the present! So right then and there, I got set up for a little photoshoot and also by divine intervention, I managed to get some great shots. He definitely crawled away from his spot and got sat right back down there a bunch, but we got it done and there were lots of smiles to be had. Some of the outtakes were really making me laugh. He's busy and dangerous and we sure love him right now! Here are the best outtakes. 👇 

I think I was entertaining him by holding the plug part of his nightlight between my lips and taunting him with it. It kept him looking at me and laughing! 🤣🤷‍♀️

That hand tucked under! 😂

Not sure why his eyes got SO big, but they sure are pretty 😍

😂😂

This one really shows his 2 cute bottom teeth 😍 

The ultimate winner! 😍

I honestly don't remember much else about Monday, which probably means there is nothing else worth noting. Although, I did write down something funny that I caught Rowan doing - he was at the table eating some crackers and he used the clothespin that was holding the package shut to hold each cracker as he was eating it. He just put it on the bottom of the cracker, and then held the clothespin with his hand while he was eating it and then transferred it to each consecutive cracker that he ate. 😂😂 Funny boy!

Yesterday (Tuesday), Maeve had no school because of Election Day. I am feeling very guilty to report that I am not a true US citizen and did not vote. Up to this point in my life, I haven't cared about politics in the slightest and just haven't honestly educated myself about any of it. It all just seems confusing and overwhelming, and I've heard one too many political debates between friends or family members that just give me headaches, so I've honestly had zero interest in it. That being said, for the past couple of months I have felt the need to engage even though it still overwhelms me, because I do know that I have a voice and my voice is just as important as anyone else's - and all of our voices combined determine the future of America. It's time to grit my teeth and figure it out. Unfortunately though, I didn't really know where to start to figure out enough information about Trump and Biden before voting day arrived yesterday, so instead of going to vote based on Adam's opinion or my other family members' opinions (which I did last election, and I really regret that 🙈 - it was really just Adam's vote again on that paper and not mine), I just opted to not participate. BUT I vow to get my act together before the next election and be fully ready to get that vote in confidently and proudly. Unless the world ends before then - which you never know these days - it just might... 😅😅

ANYWAY, back to the day itself, Adam also chose to work from home so we all were looking forward to the ability to sleep in just a little bit. Even Maeve kept saying the night before "I get to sleep in tomorrow! I get to sleep in tomorrow!! Yaaay!" Aaaand then she came into our bedroom at 6:45am, which got her an extra 15 whopping minutes of sleep. 🤦 Rowan and Nolan gave us no mercy though and were up at 6:30am, so every last family member was in our bed by 6:45am. 😂 It was kinda cute though because it turned into a major snuggle session and the kids were just all over Nolan. At one point, they were each grabbing (and moving around) an arm and a leg of his while Maeve chanted "Time to work out! Work out! Work out!" 😂😂 He always just remains straight faced during those kinds of shenanigans and it makes me laugh. Before long Maeve and Rowan were also both arguing over who got to be right next to me and Nolan for snuggling purposes and they were back and forth playfully shouting "No girls allowed!" "No boys allowed!" x5 because neither of them wanted to back down and miss out on the opportunity to be next to us. 😂 They sure love their baby brother and he's getting more and more attention and love. I'm still trying to instill in Rowan's brain though that his love doesn't have to be rough. That boy has zero ability to be calm and gentle. 😅 Poor Nolan puts up with a lot and really handles it like the champ that he is! His name means champion after all. 😊

What started out as a sweet heart warming morning for me, quickly turned into me wanting to rip my hair out 30 minutes later and giving Maeve a talk on how there are kids in the world who have no clothing and no house to live in and gosh dangit if she is going to act like her clothes aren't good enough for one more day I'm going to throw them away and she will have to be naked for the rest of her life. 😂😭😂😭 What got us to that point, is the fact that literally the day before, she told me how excited she was that because she didn't have school the next day, she'd have no pressure of picking out an outfit quickly, but instead be able to pick it out on her own whenever she wanted. Fast forward to Tuesday morning when I was making her bed and I had to hear her whine that she had nothing good to wear so she didn't know what to wear. What kills me the most is she has like 6 long sleeve shirts/sweaters that she has not even worn ONCE yet, but seemed excited about them when she tried them on at the time I bought them/pulled them out of storage. Whyyyyyyy!?!? 😭😭 As much as I felt a little crazy jumping to the extreme of other kids having no clothing and telling her she needed to be grateful and willing to wear ALL of her clothing, favorites and non favorites, it seemed like it kinda opened her eyes a little bit. So fingers crossed that I have less issues to deal with on this front moving forward with her. 🤞🙏 Time will tell. It also didn't help that while I was dealing with those woes with Maeve, Rowan was throwing his pull ups all around their bedroom, and Adam was trying to get a few extra minutes of sleep on the couch downstairs. Before I knew it, in my rage I was carrying and dropping Rowan at the bottom of the stairs and yelling at Adam "Time to get your butt off the couch before I murder one of our children!" 😂😅 Bless his heart, he didn't know that some craziness was already unfolding, otherwise he would have been helping. Truthfully, I'm surprised I didn't have a heart attack that morning with how quickly the blood got pumping through my veins as I turned into my version of a rage monster. 😅🙈

A few tears, and a Xanax (I wish) later, things mellowed down a bit as I got some other light housework done and then worked out. Sometimes (all the time) I need those work outs to get all my frustrations surrounding the kids out... 😂😂 After feeding the kids lunch, we went over to an awesome new playground that I found out about. It was definitely a few steps up from your typical playground as it had a zipline and some other cool stuff that I don't even know how to explain. The kids were a bit intimidated at first, but by the end they were braving most everything (or at least Maeve was). We all had fun as you can see! 👇

It was cracking me up looking at this pic and the one below and noticing that the bar either blocked her eyes or her mouth but between the 2 pics you can tell she was cheesing it! 😂👆👇

I call this the wimpy zipline, which both kids did and loved, but by the end I convinced Maeve to do the real zipline. 

After the kids went to bed, we coped with the election stress by drinking milkshakes from Sonic and that was that. 😂

Two other funny tidbits to mention about Tuesday (maybe I should call them Tuesday laughs....?): 

1. We got a package during the day and Rowan ran inside after we picked it up off the porch and shouted "We got a package!!! Everyone chill out!" - and don't worry, everyone was nothing but calm before he said that. 😂🤷‍♀️

2. I had this conversation with Maeve while trying to figure out what should go in her school lunch for Wednesday (today): 

        Me: You ate a granola bar the other day. Does that mean you like those again? Do you wanna take         one of those?" 

        Maeve: No, I only ate that because I was hungry and there was nothing else to eat. 

        Me: Oh, so you ate it all even though you didn't like it...

        Maeve: Well, I liked it, just not a lot 

        Me: So you liked it, but didn't love it enough to choose it again. Gotcha. 

        Maeve: Well, I loved it, I just didn't looooooooooooooove it. 

😂😂🤔 She's crazy and I'm convinced half the time she doesn't even know what she thinks or likes!

And that brings us to today. A pretty typical day of housework, a work out, scripture study, doing puzzles with Rowan, reading books outside on our warm front porch bench (the sun was out, so it actually felt colder in our house), and doing preschool. Adam got home from work early, so after I picked up Maeve from school we all went to a different playground today. It's really so fun watching the kids run around these days, cause they're both old enough to do it all without hesitation. Maeve always says "Rowan, come on!" and off they run from one thing to the next. I love that they've got each other and that they'll have each other for the rest of their lives! 🥰

Tonight while laying with Maeve in bed for one minute she snuggled up to me and said "Mmmmm! My soft nugget!" 🤔 I was so thrown off and tried to get to the bottom of why she was calling me a nugget and ultimately she said it was because "saying my soft Mommy doesn't sound right".... I literally don't even know, but before long it morphed into "my soft nugget Mommy" and we were both laughing. 😂🤷‍♀️ 

That's all she wrote! Let's hope the world doesn't fall apart when we find out who our next President is. Here's a few more pics from the last few days: 

It's a rough life when your bib gets turned around 😂

Maeve won an award at school on Monday for being ready to learn during the month of October! Her teacher said she was jumping for joy!! She is holding the certificate above her head in this pic because she wanted the ruffles on her dress to show. 😂 So proud of her for being an engaged little Kindergartener! 

He was smiling at Adam while Adam was swinging on a swing. 😍 Love this series of photos! 👇👇

Always throwing his arms up!! Signature pose 

This face is cracking me up. He is too cute! 😂😍

Adam channeling his inner kid 😂

Looking cool wearing brother's hat 😍 

They were loving the see saw! 

Maeve colored and cut all of these out and I found them like this and it makes me smile. Those tiny ones were especially killing me! 😂

My N's and Rowan's attempts at writing N's below mine during preschool today. Not too bad! 

Peace and blessings. ✌️

October 30th - November 1st, 2020: Home cooked meals, zombie skittles, & reorganizing

Well, we've officially passed Halloween, it's now November, and next up is Thanksgiving. Craaaaazy. Time is flying! I woke up a few minutes early on Friday to blow dry Maeve's coat of many colors one last time to make sure it was nice and dry. I literally had dreams about that thing and her going to school with it still wet. 🤦🤦🤦 My mind is so crazy sometimes! Luckily I had nothing to sweat because it did dry all the way and she was sooo happy and excited to put it on in the morning. So much so that she did not put up a fight about wearing jeans with it -- she is normally not willing AT ALL to wear jeans because they're "too itchy", which drives me crazy because they look so cute on her and sometimes you just need to wear jeans with your shirt! I was hoping this would convert her over to wearing them in the future, but after her half day was over she said that she still didn't like them. 😩 I reeeeally miss the days of her not caring about her clothes and I also really miss the days of better selection in her size while clothes shopping. It's hard to get her good stuff anymore without spending more money, which is so hard for me to swallow since she's still growing like a weed. Blah! 

Anyway, she got in the car with a Halloween bucket full of treats from her classmates and said she had a great little Fall party! Her teacher also said she looooved her coat of many colors because she loves Dolly Parton too. So cute! We hit up the grocery store after leaving the school so that I could get all the necessary food for the weekend. That night we were planning on going over to our friends' house - the Pylants - and I decided this time to make and bring dinner since she always hosts and has cooked the other times we've gotten together. Their house is more spacious so it makes sense to hang there, but I wanted to at least bring the food so we can share the load in that way! So the rest of the day was spent in the kitchen making breadsticks, soup, and Fall treats to share. Maeve and Rowan worked together to assemble little acorn cookies out of Chocolate kisses, mini vanilla wafers, and butterscotch chips using chocolate frosting as glue. They really did look like acorns and I loved that they could take ownership without needing my help. Maeve was so proud! 

We enjoyed our time at their house that night and the chicken noodle soup was a hit! It was a unique take on the recipe because it had cream cheese and bacon in it, so I had to try it out!! It was way good and definitely a great soup for a day that you just want some comfort food. We attempted to play games while the kids all played after eating, but Nolan was not having it, so we just talked and laughed instead. They are fun friends and it seems like we're always laughing about something together! We were entertained by some of our hidden talents and everyone else's inability to reproduce said talents in any way, shape, or form despite all best efforts. 😂😂 It was a good time. 

Saturday Maeve woke up saying Happy Halloween to everyone! She was quite excited and had been really anticipating the day. I decided to make a fancy chili (also a unique take on it - with cream cheese and bacon in it as well ironically - give me all the bacon and cream cheese!) that night so I had some prep to do for that and also made some cornbread muffins to go with it. So, while Adam was roofing I took care of that and also worked with a squirmy Nolan trying to safety pin the crap out of his costume. It was a hand me down from a friend and technically size 0-6 months, but looked pretty big so I tried it out on him and it was waaaay too big in some places. Like the waist line was enormous, which I don't even understand in the slightest why it would have been made that way. A newborn would have completely drowned in this costume considering my 11 month old was even struggling in it. One wonky job and some cranky tears later I got it looking presentable enough for pictures. 😅

After Adam got home, we went to Old Navy cause he wanted some new jeans. We told ourselves we only had so much time to spend in the store, so that we'd have enough time to finish dinner prep/eating/taking pics of the kids in their costumes before heading out to trick or treat and unfortunately when we were ready to head up front to buy some stuff the line was way too long and we just didn't have the time to wait. Soooo we left without buying any of it, but were able to at least find it all online and buy it online instead so it still worked out. 

The chili I made ended up being so good!! I've never been one to bring chili to a chili cook off before, which is what we usually have every year for Trunk or Treat at church, but with this recipe I honestly think it would be a contender. So now I'm already looking forward to next Halloween to hopefully be able to do that, unless the world is in an even bigger mess then and we have to cancel it again (cause it didn't happen this year thanks to Covid 😔)....🤞🤞 I was also very pleasantly surprised with the cute pic we got of all 3 kids together - I was kinda convinced it would be impossible to get anything good, but we were able to work some magic and make it happen. 🙌 It was a chilly night for Trick or Treating and we had a great time!! The kids were too cute in their costumes, especially Rowan. That Olaf costume gets me every time he puts it on!! It was kinda the best watching him walk in it all night. Maeve did great actually saying trick or treat, but we were unable to convince Rowan to say it himself and before long his bucket was too heavy for him to carry, so eventually I was basically doing the trick or treating on his behalf while he just watched me get the candy. 😂🤦 The highlight of the experience was definitely when one house had goodie bags made and they told us that inside the bag there were zombie skittles and some of them tasted normal but some tasted like rotten zombie. Somehow, Maeve ended up confused thinking that if we ate the rotten zombie skittles we would turn into zombies so she was terrified of them. Multiple times after that she kept saying she was nervous and insisted we needed to throw them away right when we got home. 😂🤦 I basically lied and told her that I did throw them away once we were home, but I hadn't so that after she and the boys were in bed, Adam and I could try them. I got a rotten zombie the FIRST time and it was sooooooo nasty. I had to spit it out it was so gross. I couldn't bring myself to take a chance again so I didn't eat anymore of them, but I think Adam finished off the bag. I guess it wasn't quite as appalling for him. I really kinda wanna know what is in in the rotten ones that makes them taste SO bad. Haha it was just crazy! 

Sunday was an interesting day in that I started off feeling SO lazy, like all the things that I could/should do that were staring me in the face were just so not what I wanted to do AT all. It didn't help that it was daylight savings and the kids did not in fact sleep in, but instead were up at 6:30am. Surprise surprise. While Adam had his church meetings, I simply operated in survival mode while wanting very badly to go back to sleep. Somehow once he was done, I forced myself to snap out of it and be productive and I experienced a total turnaround because before I knew it, I was cleaning out my bedside table drawer and then cleaning out/reorganizing my entire bathroom sink. I had been wanting to do this for awhile and kept telling myself I should do it on a weekend day sometime with Adam around to keep the kids out of my hair. I was quite happy with myself that I took the bull by the horns and made it happen because it is looking soooo much better in all those places and I threw out some stuff that I haven't touched in awhile. Sometimes you just gotta let go and purge! I also vacuumed upstairs and after doing all that I felt like a million bucks! We also did have church meetings through zoom in the middle of all that as well - the ward has been split into 2 groups now with the rise in Covid cases again, so we will only meet at the church every other Sunday now and other Sundays we can at least watch the meeting over Zoom and then administer the sacrament in our house after that. Kinda crazy the state of affairs these days and all the adjustments that continually have to be made as we navigate Covid. Who knew life would be like this someday!? Only God did, but now we're along for the ride and it's a crazy one. 🤯

Before it got dark we took the kids to one of the playgrounds at an elementary school in town and it felt so windy and cold! They still loved every second, but it made me just wish for the snow. I have always had the attitude of if it's gonna be cold, it might as well be snowing! I really have been missing the snow lately and kinda hate that it has been so long since I have experienced a big snow storm. I miss the days of life in Utah when we would wake up and go outside and everything just looked magical with that perfect untouched white blanket of fresh snow!! There is nothing like it and my kids are missing out. We talked about it at the park and Adam misses it too. We are half tempted to want to move somewhere else where it will actually snow! Who knows if we'll really entertain that at some point, but it sure is tempting!! 

Before I share some pictures from the weekend, here are a few random funny tidbits from the kids:

~I think before we went to Old Navy, we hadn't mentioned where we were going yet but told Maeve we needed to get ready to go. Then this conversation happened.... 😂😂

Maeve: Where are we going? 
Adam: To spank your buttville!

Maeve (said matter of factly, but on the brink of crying): No we're not, there's not even a place called that!! 

~Saturday morning both kids came into our bed to snuggle for a bit. At first Maeve and I were snuggled up together, but then Rowan tried to jam himself between us and Maeve said "Ugh! Rowan, you're entering girl world! Stop!" 😂😂😂

~Before we went to Old Navy we actually had to stop at the Pylants' house again cause Adam had left his phone there by mistake. When we got there Rowan said with total annoyance in his voice "Why are we here again!? Ughhhhhh" - boy oh boy, I guess that goes to show how much he loves those friends... 😂😏

~This has been happening for awhile, but I keep forgetting to mention it. Rowan loves to ride around his police car in the house still, but every time he rides it lately, he will tell me he can't ride with his pants on because it "doesn't work" and then asks me to take them off. I swear that boy will look for any excuse to strip down to his undies!! 😂😂

Alright, enough is enough. Time for pics!

You can call her Dolly Parton! 

Acorn candy cookies 😊

She loved making these! 

Angry during the safety pinning fiasco 😂

Heaven forbid I tell the boy to stand up straight 😂🤦‍♀️

😍🥰

Addison from Zombies 

Addison, a dragon, and Olaf. All smiling!! 🤯😍

😍😍😍 My favorite Olaf

Peace and blessings. ✌️

October 27th - 29th, 2020: 8 years & Dolly Parton crafting

I missed the last couple nights, so here we go with a 3 day update. 

Tuesday was our anniversary! 8 years baby. Kinda crazy we're only a couple years away from a decade. Woah. Ironically, we had less time to spend together that day than we normally do on weekdays because Adam went roofing and got tied up literally till I had to walk out the door for youth activities. And then of course I got home to an angry Nolan who still wasn't asleep yet because of a diaper rash that was really bothering him. Poor little fella. So I fed him again and cuddled him to try and soothe him and it was close to 9pm before we had time to spend together. Which at that point we were able to exchange cards and drink some sparkly. I also surprised Adam with a small gift so he opened that too. It was a game called The Ultimate Game for Couples - supposed to be a fun game full of random questions to ask each other and challenges to do separately/together and it seemed like it could be pretty funny and a chance to get to know each other even better. 🤷‍♀️ He seemed to think it was a cool idea and something different to do on Friday and Saturday nights at home - we shall see. So it was a pretty low key day cause after that we were honestly pretty beat and went to bed. Luckily we had celebrated in other more exciting ways ahead of time. 

I do wanna back up and elaborate on youth activities a little bit though before moving on because it was crazy - we planned a cake walk and had the youth basically do musical chairs but without chairs and whenever the music stopped if they landed on a number that we called they got a cupcake. Who doesn't like a cupcake right?! Especially when you're a teenager....! Nope, wrong. Teenagers apparently don't like cupcakes. Like only 2 of them actually said yes to a cupcake. I'm convinced though that after 1 person said no, the rest felt pressure to say no because ya know... at that age, you can't be the weird one and you just have to go with what the crowd does. I bet you most of them actually wanted a cupcake, but said no anyway. But don't worry, we still made them all take a bunch home so that we wouldn't be left with a million cupcakes. 🙄 Talk about a flop! 

What stands out from yesterday is wanting to kill Rowan for throwing stuff across the house all day long and working on Maeve's coat of many colors so she can be Dolly Parton tomorrow at school (they are supposed to dress up as their favorite book character). I was definitely a mean mom a few times that day because I've reached my limit with the throwing and I can't help myself but lose it. Which I SO hate - why why why do little boys have to throw/hit/kick/be so wild!? Honestly for the most part, he throws cause he thinks it's fun, not because he's angry. Probably 80% of the time it's just cause it's fun and the other 20% is out of anger. I don't know how to get through to him that we have a rule in our house that says NO THROWING! It's time to start praying real hard to see if I can get some answers on how to help him stop/how to deal with it without losing my mind. I need all the help I can get. 😩😭🙏

Oh, I also had an over the phone parent teacher conference with Maeve's teacher and she had ALL good things to say, so that was nice! Maeve is killing it in Kindergarten and is a little leader. She's excelling in everything, making friends, and being respectful. Ms. Brown said if she could have all Maeves her job would be easy! Such great news, so I'm proud of my cute little smarty pants. 👊

Anywho, since Adam worked from home yesterday after he was finished at 4pm I was able to run out and do a few errands so that I could get the supplies needed to help Maeve with her coat of many colors. My mom gave me the bright idea of just getting a white sweater or something and painting colorful squares all over it with fabric paint. So that's what we did! I got some thin tape and actually made a grid for Maeve so that she could paint the inside of each square that was made with the tape and that way we didn't have to worry about crooked lines as much. Not to mention it made it easier for her to paint within "the lines" so she did most of the painting. I only filled in the cracks a little bit here and there. She didn't stay in the lines perfectly so it looks like a 5 year old did it, but as it should I suppose! She actually stayed up past her bedtime by a bit finishing the front of it because I needed the whole front to be done so it could dry before working on the back today. It said it would take 4 hours to dry, but oddly enough we woke up to it still being wet this morning. 🤔🙄 So I had to take the blow dryer to it and I'll have to take the blow dryer to the back tonight too before I go to bed. The joys of helping your kids with their school projects! I know this wasn't an assignment, but still a project to complete nonetheless so that she's ready to be Dolly Parton tomorrow. 

In other news, Rowan keeps falling asleep in the car while waiting in line to get Maeve from school and then peeing in his sleep on the couch after we're home. And by "keeps" I really mean that he's done it twice now... 😂 Totally annoying, but it was pretty funny because one of the times he actually forgot to take his mask off after going to Walmart before picking her up and so he fell asleep with his mask still on. 😂 I can't even imagine how uncomfortable that would feel. Kinda mind blowing he didn't care to take it off. 

Today was a record setting day on all fronts because in the morning we left for school at 7:05am and Maeve got out of the car at 7:09am and then this afternoon I got in line at 2:42pm and Maeve was in the car at 2:50pm. 4 minutes and 8 minutes!? Say whaaaat! A total miracle. What's crazy is the other day I got to the school at probably 2:11pm which is pretty early and still didn't get to Maeve until a few minutes before 2:50pm. So honestly.... there's no point in showing up early because she still waits just as long. I might as well catch the end of line so I don't have to wait a long time too! Lesson learned. 

I didn't do preschool with Rowan today because instead we read like 20 books. He brought a huge stack over to me and just really wanted to read every last one. But I figure that's basically preschool in and of itself especially because he was helping me read some of the books and some of them were counting books too. 🤷‍♀️ Then while I was showering he proceeded to take EVERY last book out of one of the book baskets. So that was fun coming downstairs to a huge pile of books all over the floor. 😭 I appreciate the fact that he's willing to let me shower/get ready in peace for the most part, but I usually have some sort of crazy mess to clean up in return for that. Gotta love life with little ones. 

I was remembering a while back that I was pretty sure I gave Rowan his first haircut when he was 11 months old. I was able to look back at pictures today and confirm that - and it was so crazy to see how many teeth he already had and that his hair was so much longer than Nolan's is right now. Nolan is still pretty much a baldy and will have no need for a haircut anytime soon I don't think. He also still has no top teeth, just the two middle bottom teeth. So interesting how all babies really are so different even within a family! It's pretty crazy thinking back to a baby Rowan and barely 3 year old Maeve. These years are fleeting and so much changes as we go. It's exciting to see the change and growth and of course welcome new family members, but also kinda heartbreaking that you can't somehow bottle them up at each age/stage. I'm grateful to have the pictures to look back on, but I miss those days of them being even tinier. 🥺 And the fact that Nolan is 11 months old on Monday and then only one month away from being a year old!! Where did my newborn go!? 😭😭

Anyway, the only other thing to mention is that Maeve and I finished her coat of many colors after school today before dinner rolled around and before long it was bedtime and here we are. 

I also realized I forgot something from my last update. On Sunday I also gave Zoey a haircut and bath and accidentally nipped her ear again. This is the second time I've done it and I feel so bad because it looks like a blood bath when it happens!! It was actually pretty funny because Maeve went outside to tell Adam what I did and she said "Mommy cut Zoey and it's bad" and then followed it up with "Not like in half, just on her ear, but there's a looooot of blood" 😂😂😂 Gotta love the visual of body being sliced perfectly in half! Good times. 

Welllll, that's about it, so time for pictures:

Adam took this pic of the kids with the pumpkins we carved and I didn't know about it until I took some other pics off his phone! 😍

Habitual anniversary photo with our Sparkly 😊🎉

These next 3 pics are from preschool with Rowan. We learned the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty and then used raw eggs as Humpty. He thought it was pretty awesome that they splattered and broke! Him and his facial expressions, not to mention how cute he looks in his hat... 😍😍

Peace and blessings. ✌️

October 23rd - 26th, 2020: Weenie roasts, Pumpkin carving, & Hibachi

I have alllllways loved the Fall. Adam loves it too and it's kind of awesome we got married in the Fall because now there's even more reason to love it. There's nothing like the crisp weather, the leaves changing colors, pumpkin EVERYTHING!, and the fact that you've got Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! It's a whole lot of fun and traditions packed into a short time. And for us, our anniversary is in the mix too - which is tomorrow! That being said, it's been a fun few days around here. 🙌

Friday was pretty low key and even more low key than usual because we had to skip out on our weekly Friday movie with popcorn and candy. Maeve handled herself VERY poorly at Old Navy last week after school one day and she took the lack of respect was taken so far despite my warnings to reign it in that her consequence was no screen time for a MONTH. Call me crazy, and maybe that's harsh, but I'm really hoping it teaches her a lesson about respect because it's going to a saaad month for her without it. We've had lots of talks about respect recently because boy, does she have a lot to learn. There is nothing that gets me more fired up (in a bad way) than when my kids blatantly disregard what I say. 🤬 Hopefully we'll turn a corner soon given the fact that I'm being real serious with the consequences associated with disrespect. So yeah, not too much exciting to mention about Friday otherwise. 

Saturday we had our annual weenie roast at my Aunt Deb's house. My sister and her family drove in for it, so it was all of us plus my Aunt and Uncle and cousin Chuck and his wife Trish and son Cam. The kids were soooo excited to see their cousins again plus Cam and all had a great time fishing and playing together outside. Nolan got lots of love and was the star of the show, but with that sweet nearly constant smile, who could expect less!? We had lots of great conversation and enjoyed hot dogs, brats, and chili as well as smores by the fire. I love going to my Aunt's house out there because you really feel immersed in nature there. It's a quiet area nestled into the trees. It was a great day! 

Sunday was a bit hectic in the morning since Adam had meetings and was also trying to finish up his talk for church that day... 😅 I was flying solo getting the kids ready and had also decided to make some cream cheese stuffed french toast in our air fryer, which maybe was too ambitious given it was my first time making it - I always forget that recipes take longer the first time you're making them. 🤦‍♀️ It was delicious and totally worth it, but by the time I got the kids all ready to go, I had like 20 minutes to get ready myself. Soooo my make up wasn't quite up to par and my hair ended up in a wet braid, but such is life sometimes... 🤷‍♀️ I also find it a little sad that out of anyone, I am always most interested in hearing talks by family members, so of course Adam is at the top of that list -- but when you're in the pew wrestling the children on your own because they're giving said talk, you can't even fully listen. So I can't fully report on his talk, but I'm sure it was great, cause he's great. 😂😅

After church, we carved pumpkins together. Ironically, the kids were BEGGING to do it, and while we were cleaning up and getting set up so we could do it, they would not stop asking if it was time for it yet, but then once we were actually doing it, they turned into wimps and were basically no part of it. Neither of them would touch the guts to save their lives, so Adam basically did all the work for their pumpkins. Sooo they basically decided they hate carving pumpkins, but luckily we've got many more years ahead of us to change their minds about that. 😜 Although truth be told, I was whining myself while removing the guts in mine cause I really do find it quite nasty. I also don't trust myself with a knife and a pumpkin, so Adam ended up doing most of the carving of mine for me, but I did enough before he stepped in to totally botch it, so not to worry -- my flare was still put on it. 😂 The eyes were meant to look cooler, but I screwed them up so I had to leave them both as bare holes... 🙈 Oh well. Adam does great work though (he even pulled out the power tools for Nolan's), so when all was said and done, our pumpkin line up was pretty cute. 

I would have blogged last night, like I normally do at the end of a weekend, but Adam wanted to give me another massage, so course I couldn't turn that offer down - so after the kids were in bed I enjoyed another nice and relaxing massage from the comfort of our living room. 🙌 That massage table might go down in history as the best surprise gift ever, considering he is the one that offered the massage, instead of me asking for it, which is how it normally goes. It's a total game changer! 🤗

Which brings us to today. It's kind of tradition (at least I think we've gone every year... 🤔) for us to do Hibachi for our anniversary. We love it so much that it also gets thrown in sometimes for birthdays, but usually we just go for our anniversary. Since it's tomorrow and I have youth activities tomorrow night, we decided to go out tonight. It was a total disaster with the kids last time we went for Adam's birthday in January, but I prepped Maeve for it enough that she agreed as long as we could step away for the part when the fire goes crazy, she would be fine. And she was! 🙏 Rowan freaked out at the beginning, but calmed down pretty quickly and took enough comfort in Adam's shoulder while he was scared. Nolan on the other hand was mesmerized and thought it was awesome. 😂 The chef was the CUTEST and so fun for the kids. He asked their names and was totally catering the whole show to them, which was so nice of him, especially since they were nervous. Maeve was actually having fun before long! My favorite part was that whenever he threw the butter he would say "butterfly!" 😂😂 - I can't believe they don't all say that! Usually the chefs all do and say pretty much the same time, so it was our first time hearing that one. Adam gave him a really great tip because he was so awesome. I was worried it would end up being a disaster again, but relieved and so pleased that it was so fun this time. 🙌🙏 Maeve was even cracking me up when I took her to the bathroom while we were there and she heard the music playing, said "Oooh, good music" and proceeded to bust out all these crazy dance moves accompanied with crazy facial expressions. She had me laughing more and more with each one. 😂 I just love her and her silly personality! 

Other than that, we also took a trip to Walmart today and Rowan walked next to me for the whole trip and did so great. 🙌🙌 Normally it ends up a struggle when I let him walk, so that was a pleasant surprise. He did fall asleep on the way home from running that errand and picking Maeve up from school, so I transferred him to the couch and he peed on the couch in his sleep, so that was fun... 🙄 Also, Nolan discovered the Wii and pulled that down and threw it on the ground a few times today, which was also fun! 😰 Yaaaay for dangerous babies. Those boys are always keeping things interesting around here - at least I know there's never going to be a dull moment. 😅 Not sure how I will protect our Wii moving forward though... that's a tricky one. We've got a destroyer on our hands and he's not going anywhere...! Heaven help us all. Luckily in addition to their trouble making, the boys made up for it earlier in the day by being so cute with each other - Rowan was basically pouncing on Nolan over and over and he was just cracking up. He'd do his best to crawl away from him every time, but before long Rowan was chasing him and pouncing on him again and he just looooved it every time! 😂😍 Rowan also did some flips over him too and he thought it was all hilarious. Luckily there were no injuries to be had, only some close calls. 😜 Rowan is loving his baby bro more and more everyday and it is pretty cute to watch, but also a little scary considering the love makes him want to act like a wild man with him. 😂😅 They did have a really sweet moment in my bed together on Saturday morning where they were basically laying and hugging each other for more than just a few seconds. It was kind of miraculous, considering Nolan usually will not stay still for more than a few seconds, so it was a pretty legit cuddle session and I really wish I had had my phone right next to me to take a picture! 

The only other thing I will mention is that we had a video call with the sister missionaries over FB after putting the kids to bed tonight and that was fun. They were telling us tonight that since they basically did their missionary training online instead of going to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) due to Covid, their goal is to also start doing some missionary training for us members moving forward to teach us how to be better member missionaries. I really have been wanting to be a better member missionary, so I think that's a really cool idea and we will see how it goes! 

I think that's about it!! Here's some pics: 

Sistas. Love that Nolan is looking up at Rach. 😍 He sure loves his aunt! 

Some of the group! 

😍

My cousin Chuck with Maeve and her beloved bowl of popcorn. She was cracking us up all kicked back and relaxed munching on her popcorn. 🤣

We let Nolan suck on some ice and he was loving it! 

She seriously cracks me up that she will squeeze herself in there to get Zoey's dog food. She will stay like that for 5 minutes straight! 😂😂

I had to beg them to act happy and come take pictures and they sure did deliver. Total fakers! 😂

😂👌

Love these three doggies 😍. All popping their heads up waiting for me to let them in. 😂

From tonight's Hibachi dinner. First time I've let him sit in a high chair! I usually just keep him in his carseat to avoid the germs but I knew he wouldn't last 2 seconds in there tonight. He needed to be free. 😂 He loved it! 

My child that is always willing and ready to take pictures with me. 😍 I can't believe how old she is looking these days. 😭

Maeve took this pic of us so don't mind the baby head. Nolan just wanted to make an appearance.. 🤣8 years and 3 kids later with this man!! 

The chef asked Maeve to spell her name and wrote it with sauce over the rice. Sooo cute of him! She loved it. 

Peace and blessings. ✌️