Alive, and still breathing

My turn for the "thankfuls".

I am thankful for my DARLING children! I adore them!

There are many moments that I would NOT survive with out them!

I try to capture when they are just being them.

This is one of them.

Luce loves to sit and just be with Chars.

Oh, I love these babies.

Character! I was just grabbing a few things for church,

one of them being my purse, and Luce insisted that she take a bag to nursery.

Adore this little pumpkin.

Its come and gone. Finally.

My father-in-law turned 60, and due to the significant number he turned,

my mother-in-law decided to throw a surprise party.

This party consumed me for the 2 weeks prior, and I was thrilled when

the night actually came to surprise him. (2 days before Thanksgiving)

I was in charge of the all the decor, the birthday sign, 3 crock pots of potatoes (which took 3 HOURS to cut!!) and a salad!

Needless to say, I survived, barley, and so did my children.

It was crazy, but fun to have been a part of!

The night before Thanksgiving, we had some peeps over for a pre-feast!

I had some fruit dips, crackers with cheese and hot wassail.

We also enjoyed pies, carrot cake and ice cream.

Fun tradition to start, I think we'll look forward to this again next year!

Thanksgiving evening, we celebrated at the great Becks home. (My sisters FAB in-laws)

We decorated gingerbread houses, and totally crashed their party (thanks Becks!! )

That was just the beginning....

Jeff and I rushed home, so I could go to bed, only to get up 1 1/2 hrs later,

and head to P.C. at MIDNIGHT to SHOP!

Never done this, Never, but I figured I can stay up later

way easier then I can get up early.

We had a great time, got some good deals, and WILL do this next year.

(Sorry we missed you in the pic. Lis and cute Kim)

We did not stop there.

The next day, we made a huge ordeal of the lights down town.

We RODE the bus down town, grabbed some grub at the Gateway,

took the train to Temple Square, and when all were exhausted, took the bus home again.

My darling husband (ALSO ON MY THANKFUL LIST!!)

had this fun idea, and we thought it was a blast!

Not pictured here, the lights, but they were there!!

It was not all that crowded, and pretty warm for November.

Pictured here, the very obedient, not willing (at least so far) to pee or poo

her pants, LUCY!.

She is really just making this potty thing so easy.

She's shown with her potty baby, aka baby Betty, and her

treat for poop in the potty.

She gets a fruit snack for poops,

and hopefully we'll phase out of that soon.

Last but not least, half Christmas is set up.

This was todays project.

We need our tree, and I need to finish the outside decor,

but I'm nearly there!!!

Phew!

Until next time.

A new year and one less DIAPER

Here it is! This yummie yummie french bread, that I'm loving making.

Its a shame Jeff doesn't like white bread, but all the more for the

kiddos and me. Get ready BC girls, its almost perfected.

So, to the title, Jeffs B-Day is also Veterans Day. Not that he had

the day off, but we did take the morning, and go to the ZOO!!! SO fun!

We rode on the carousel, which Lucy is still talking about.

We could not pass up Hires for lunch ! Jeff has not actually been (GASP!!)

and I had been dying for a Hires Big "H", and if YOU'VE never been,

well, call us, we'll be glad to go again!

And here it is! Lucy has been ROCKING the potty world.

I tried about a month ago, with extreme disappointment.

She did pretty good, but I was getting discouraged, so we gave it up.

About a month later, she was bound and determined on her own,

so we rolled with it!

She's been goin' with the best of them!

And despite the fact that she's never seen a lick of TV or the likes, she has

truly fallen in LOVE with her Elmo panties. Yay!

So now, if I can just get Charlie potty trained before the baby comes,

we'll be diaper free for 15 weeks!!

The week at a glance

I truly had no intentions of making such an event

of our last weeks activities,

but it just so happened that it turned into a BIG,

FUN WEEK, all but one day that I have pictures of,

so lets begin!

Monday, well, this is my exception, no picture,

AND no recollection of what we did...BUT

Tuesday, had a BLAST at Wheeler Farm.

Lucy LOVED feeding the cows, and yes, we did

see the signs please don't feed the animals,

but I took exception because it was food

the heffer would have eaten anyway.

Wednesday, Chars and Lucy discovered leaves

as I raked them up. (or at least made piles and piles

for them to destroy).

Wednesday, as I raked the leaves, and raked in the aroma

of the crisp, sun burned leaves, a punch of smell came

to my nose, and I realized, the GRAPES!!

I had forgotten about the GRAPES!!!!

Nothing smells as good as a crispy fall day of leaves

and concord grapes.

It was then that I realized I had decided earlier in

the year to make use of the little grapes...

so,

Thursday, Lucy and I (and she really did help) picked the

grapes.

We had a TON of grapes, and I didn't even clip them all.

We had a GREAT time picking. LOVED the weather all week!

I didn't ask for Lucys help, she just started to help me,

and thought it was the greatest thing.

I thought it was darling how she gently tugged each grape free,

and then dropped it into our pot.

She had been working so diligently I decided she needed

a better seat...so

we brought out her re-finished rocking chair,

and made it official.

She looked like she had taken permanent residence

preparing the grapes!

I could just gobble this little girl up!!!

Ah yes, Chars! He has been a gem! Really!

I only got one offer on my "baby for sale", and we've

decided to turn the offer down and keep this stinker !

We've discovered the binki (YAY! It only took 11 MONTHS) and

that he has been sprouting teeth like wild mushrooms!!

But alas, he is my darling boy, and I LOVE him!

So, the grapes, ah yes. I bottled the grape juice,

to which in the cold winter months will add vanilla ice cream,

to create our family tradition, purple cows!

(Root Beer Floats, but with HOME MADE grape juice)

It made HEEPS, so I may even turn some into Jam....

Friday was lunch with GREAT aunt Jenna!

Really, she is, as we say, my twin separated in the hospital

at our birth! (poor thing!) our birthdays are just a few hours apart,

so to wrap up our b-day week, we took to the town.

We enjoyed a crazy (sorry J) lunch at CPK, and strolled around

the gate way! Once again loved the weather.

And to conclude the long novel, Saturday,

after a tasty Cafe Rio supper

Jeff and I explored the world of Jiffy Pop!

Truly, it was more fun to make then eat, but as you can

see, I need no help on the eating thing!!

Which brings me to one concluding point!

Our sweet baby Jane, which has been harvesting inside me

for the past 6 months, as it turns out, is a chunky little BOY!!

I had an appointment which revealed the news.

We were told it was a girl, thought it was a girl,

asked Lucy (who always said it was a BOY) and

come to find out, it IS a boy! So, there you have it!

Lucy will be welcoming home another baby boy!

We are still making the adjustment, but at least didn't

take the first doctors word for it!

Until next time!!!!

One rockin' weekend!

Being that my BIRTHDAY falls the day before Halloween

ALWAYS makes fun memories.

First things first.

On Friday, for my birthday, we headed to Carden, my alma mater,

where we celebrated with the traditional fall carnival

(NOT to be mistaken for a Halloween parade!!! Heaven forbid...)

The kids in there duds.

Lucy, a cat, made mostly by me, thus the reason it is already

in the trash, and Chars, a puppy, again, altered and sewn to fit him,

and again, in the trash.

I think they both realized the paint/costume on the other,

at this moment!

SO CUTE!

And thanks to Auds and Abe for joining in the festivities!

(Chars doing a true puppy dog pose, for his chief, Grant)

I LOVED attending Carden, and it was a BLAST to go back!

I've been back, but not for the carnival in a while.

It was a great beginning to my birthday.

From there, Abe, my mama, the kiddos and I went to lunch.

It was a GREAT treat, and SO fun to spend the morning with

4 of my best friends!

That afternoon, Jeff surprised me with a spa treatment!!!

No kids, no responsibilities, LOVED IT!

Jeff and I went to dinner and a concert that night.

It was a PERFECT day!

Why can't Ground Hogs day happen on a day like this?

The best part was Lucys constant "Happy beedie, mamma"

(she is still saying her version of happy birthday to me,

and still LOVES to sing the birthday song! Thanks Luce!

I so LOVE this girl!)

Here is a picture of the goblins on Halloween morning.

We did some trick-or-treating on Bountiful Main Street,

and headed to my sisters, with the Fam, to gorge ourselves

on all delicious food under the sun, candy and great weather!

We took the kids with the cousins out to fill their buckets with loot!

It was SO fun to see Lucy. She wasn't totally into getting more candy, rather

was just fine with 2 pieces, but we trotted through the neighborhood,

and can't WAIT for next year!

That was not the end of the birthday fun.

Saturday, the in-laws (as per tradition) took Jeff and I

out for our birthday lunch. (Jeffs b-day is in 9 days)

and if you don't want to sit on a big saddle, with the entire

restaurant yelling " YEE-HAWWW" while shouting happy birthday,

I suggest you DON' T go to Texas Roadhouse!

Quite the b-day welcome.

It was a great weekend, and holiday!

Thanks everyone for making it so great!