2...4...6...8...

We had lots of good things happen over the past few months. The best happened today: Sabrina was baptized. Sabrina turned 8 years old a little over a week ago. We had a great little family party with our best friends the Atkinsons. Sabrina chose to have microphones for her birthday cake. Wendy and Moira did a fantastic job with the dragees.

Brayden was not to be outdone so he chose to have ghosts for his 4th birthday cake three days later. Of course these birthdays happen about a week after Christmas so we have been pleasantly filled with refined sugar for some time now. :) The ghosts were especially popular since they are made with an old-fashioned doughnut hole, covered in whipped cream, with mini-M&M eyes. What's not to love? Cupcakes covered with frosting, sprinkles, doughnuts, cool-whip, & candy? Good thing we made two dozen.

Sabrina was a little nervous at first, but after the ordinance she said she felt so happy she was giddy. Thanks to all the family and friends that came to support her in her big moment. Mom and Dad were so proud we were popping our buttons in between getting all "blubbery". Moira and Brayden were very reverent and didn't have to be reminded once about appropriate behavior. It really was a powerful experience. Thanks for being such a great example to us all, Sabrina.

Where we've been . . . where we're going

Hey, we are still alive and well. Lots of stuff is happening but because this is a public blog I can't disclose it until later. I know that will bug some people, but its all good stuff and we are excited. In the meantime, school started at the end of August and the girls are doing great. Moira has become very studious and her reading is improving by leaps and bounds. Mom is spending lots of money on Scholastic book orders to keep her interest. But I think the real key is that she doesn't get hot lunch if she doesn't read 20 minutes a day for five days during the week. That has been a great motivator. Moira is in Soccer on Saturday mornings and our goal has been to be her biggest cheerleaders. Last Saturday's game was a milestone because she scored her FIRST GOAL!!!! We were so proud and she was so excited that she promptly recaptured the ball and took it down the field for an assist on another goal. WOW!

Sabrina is so far ahead of her classmates that she will rush through her assignment and start reading a book, then completely ignore her teacher when its time to move on to the next activity. Working on that one. Sabrina is taking piano lessons from a lady in the next ward, as well as Tumbling classes once a week. She really enjoys these activities.

Wonders never cease, just this past week Brayden started teaching himself to read. He picked up some of Moira's classwork and started sounding out words. Now he's addicted, his favorite book to read is the Webster's Picture Dictionary. He is just doing three letter words right now, but considering that he could barely speak in sentences a year ago that is impressive. Really proud of him, he's super smart just like the rest of them.

Dillon is growing monstrous. I just moved him into 18 month clothing. Yes, he is only seven months old. Biggest kid we've had. Because of his size he doesn't move much, other than rolling around on the floor. He loves to give everyone hugs which is wonderful. He is the only child we've had who likes to give physical affection before two years old. It just melts your heart when he wraps his arms around you and snuggles up tightly. I can just feel those endorphins releasing and my frustrations melt away. Wonderful blessing to have a child like that.

I am staying busy bus-ing everyone everywhere. I have 11 piano students and am really excited about the progress people are making. Other than that I've spent nearly every evening over the past month helping Adam with his current project. I'm weary from lack of sleep, but still manage to get through the day without nodding off, usually.

Adam is exceptionally busy. Besides that top-secret project, he attends city council meetings on Tuesday nights and does his calling on Thursday nights. He got called to be the EQ Pres for the third time in August. We figure this is our opportunity to get it right. Or something. Anyway, he's busy.

Other than that, I promise to be better at keeping our blog updated in the future.

Wedding planning

I'm posting twice today so check out the earlier one about Moira, too.

This summer is very busy for us. I'm teaching 8 piano students, plus the kids are in swimming lessons, then I work out three mornings with a girlfriend, and have a playgroup one other morning a week. And I signed the girls up for a tumbling class to see how they like it. WHEW!! At this tumbling class I happened to run into an old friend from our ward who moved out to Hooper several years ago. I knew her daughter took dance at the same studio because I ran into her at last years dance recital. At that time she told me a funny story about her son Jacob who is Moira's age. They were in Sunbeams together years ago and apparently at that time Jacob was quite taken with Moira (I mean who wouldn't be, she's adorable!).

Well fast forward to last year and Jacob's grandmother was teasing him about "marrying" another little girl who was a cutie. Jacob furiously announced that he was going to marry Moira and nobody else. So when the grandma returned Jacob to his mother she asked who this Moira person was that had Jacob ready to commit at age 5. The mom, Elizabeth, was equally surprised since they hadn't seen our family for two years at that point.

Okay, now fast forward to this year when Jacob and Moira are now 6. Remember it's been three years since they've seen each other. We walk in the first day of tumbling class, which the big sister is also taking during the summer, and Jacob just goes ballistic at sight of Moira. Elizabeth and I just looked at each other and started giggling. I mean, what do you do? Then Elizabeth tells me that a few weeks previously Jacob had volunteered the information that he was going to grow up, marry Moira, become a fireman or a dentist, then move to the ocean (Oregon, I think) and have mom over for Sunday dinners. So then when he saw Moira again, well, of course he was ecstatic! They are a great family and I would be perfectly happy in say, fifteen years if things worked out. In the meantime, Elizabeth went home and told her husband Steve about the whole thing. Steve accused her of encouraging it but she swears she doesn't say anything. I'm thinking it's all Jacob because the second week of classes when given the choice to stay home and play or go sit and wait at tumbling for an hour, he elected to come and sit at tumbling with his mom. You have to admire his constancy. WOW!!!

Oh, is that why?

Do you have a child that seems just a teensy bit toooo sensitive? Well, I have one of those and there are times when I think, "She's never going to survive teenagehood with all the social pressures." And then: "Wait. . . I'm not going to survive her teenagehood!! Auggghghghhghgh!!!" Yes, I'm referring to Moira. I love on her and compliment her and give her loads of encouragement and coping skills, but I still have to deal with a melt-down at least three times a day (not including the sobbing from Brayden teasing her relentlessly). No, this is about not having the right sandwich, or no friends to play with (even though she spent all morning with the neighbor kids), or her blanket is missing, or she doesn't like the snack.

After all that explanation: Moira came up to me last week and very gravely announced, "Mom, the reason I'm so whiny is because every day I need some whining time."

really . . . . ?? What mother knew that one? Is that akin to snack-time or nap-time? What parenting book is that one in?? I'd like to burn it.

The things you say when heavily medicated . . .

Baby Dillon is two weeks old today. A major milestone for all new moms because it is the official end of all the impossible restrictions that the nursing staff from the hospital give you. Honestly, who can possibly keep from driving a car, climbing stairs, or picking up only ten pounds or less for two weeks!?? In fact, when going through my release paperwork, I laughed hysterically at the idea of not driving for two weeks and the attending nurse said that she would leave that up to my discretion. Wise of her . . .

All that being said, Adam spent the first six days of Dillon's life trying to stop me from doing any and all housework, child-care, or errands. I give him chops for being the only man in my life that I would actually listen to on that topic; but I still did more than I probably should have. So when day number 13 rolled around I was all set and rearing to go to tackle the accumulated grime, dust, etc. that I had impatiently been watching for nearly two weeks. I told Adam that I was going to clean ONE level of the house (we have four levels), just one (showing great restraint, right?). Adam responded with ONE ROOM. And I came back with NO, ONE LEVEL! And so he diplomatically suggested that we compromise and I do half of one level (that is ONE ROOM). Aw come on!!

So I did one level! But I ran out of steam before I finished it, so I guess we both won. Anyway, the next day I was all set to tackle the next level, but I didn't have the time or energy--Sabrina, Moira, and Brayden are all sick with the flu. At the end of the day, when Adam came home from work I proudly announced: "Honey, you'd be proud of me. I didn't clean a single thing today!!" He beamed and patted me on the back. Five minutes later I burst out laughing when I realized what I'd said. I think that was the first time in our marriage that such a conversation took place. And it will likely be the last. How many women can receive such an accolade from their husband after doing as little as possible all day long.

Dillon Isaac Bowers

Dillon Isaac Bowers was welcomed into this world at 2:36pm on 3-1-11. He was definitely done baking in the oven. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz. Wendy chose not to have an epidural. The nurses were quite impressed with how well she handled the pain of labor. At 2pm the doctor suggested she rethink the epidural choice, but she insisted that her pain was only at a 6 from 1-10. The nurse gave her a little pain medication in her IV and we were off to the races. The doctor came rushing back into the room at 2:25 and was rushing to get his robes on before the baby came out on his own. Wendy did fantastic and was ready to be done, as you can imagine.

We brought the children over to see their little brother. They were SO excited. We couldn't get a picture that showed their excitement, but this baby is all they could talk about for a week. In their prayers last night they each asked for Dillon and Mom to be OK in the hospital. Babies are the only time they have spent a night without her.

People always seem to ask so here is my answer, "I was done having children at one, but we have four now so you can tell that it is Wendy's decision as to when we are done having kids."

Brayden's first RC car

For his birthday Brayden got a remote-control car. We knew he would love it because, come on! it's a boy controlling a race car that tears through the house and crashes into stuff and chases his sisters! What's not to love? Well, everybody loved it! Including the big "boy-at-heart" Daddy who is anxiously counting down the years until he can justify buying a "real" RC car/truck/helicopter for them both to play with. This RC car was designed with little boys in mind. Built by Tonka it has soft tires and a soft body, flips over to run on both top and bottom, and has a two button remote that's easy to hold. I am especially grateful for the soft tires and body because otherwise I'd have holes in the walls of the stairwell. Brayden will frequently drive it down the stairs and keep going without a hitch (thanks to that handy flip-feature).

The other day I overheard him talking to the car, bossing it around when it wasn't going the right direction. Apparently they've named both sides of the car! The red and yellow side is named "Arnold" and the blue side is named "Stinky". What? I finally figured out that Arnold must have come from a character on the Magic School Bus series, and Stinky--well, your guess is as good as mine but I'm pretty sure a lively imagination could come up with several possibilities.

Pictures coming soon. . .

Christmas with the sickos

Not Christmas with the Kranks, because we have loads of holiday spirit around our house, except for Adam who practices great forebearance with my four Christmas trees, garland bestrung railings, and Christmas music turned on full blast the day after Thanksgiving. But definitely Christmas with the flu. For those of you who were wondering about flu shots this year. YES totally worth it--hindsight is 20/20. And I was just informed by last night's NBC nightly news that this years vaccine matches up perfectly with the active flu strains running amok among the populous. AWWW, now you tell me! I lost my bet against the Russian roulette of flu season this year. So, I have been sick for three, count them 3, weeks of December. Not little hack, hack, runny nose sick either. But full on can't breathe, can't move, can't taste anything I put in my mouth sick. The kind of sick where you desperately want to sleep, but can't seem to get comfortable enough and then you find yourself drifting off during episodes of cartoons at 9 a.m. with your kids sitting on your lap. Aww, sleep at last!! To make matters even more fun, all three of our children came down with it on December 23rd. So Christmas morning at our house was not filled with the shrieks and squeals of excited anticipation being gratified, but rather a fairly lethargic, quiet affair punctuated by hacking coughs and noses being blown. I knew that in a few days they would recognize their gifts and begin playing with them, but at the moment No. In fact, we opened all our presents, Adam took us into the kitchen and fed us something (tasteless), then we all climbed upstairs and back into our respective beds. How pathetic is that? Brayden, who seems to have a fairly tough little immune system, was one of the first to recover and so kept Adam occupied while the rest of us spent most of the Christmas weekend in a drug-induced haze. Did I mention that Adam was the only one to get a flu shot and therefore was not ill and became the official nurse? He even made up a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup; very chunky and delicious. What a guy!

Now it's been a week since Christmas and the kids have pretty much recovered. Sabrina still has a cough, she has medication from her doctor to help her deal with that. And I, being seven months pregnant, seem to be somewhat immuno-compromised and therefore weaker than normal and still sick. To add insult to injury Adam came down with a head cold. I think it's all part of the plan. We were supposed to travel to Washington to visit Grandma the week after Christmas, but being sick we decided against it. Good thing, I guess, because a series of nasty snowstorms came through that week and we probably would have been trying to drive through snow-filled passes instead of hunkered down in our beds. But so much for a nice, restful Christmas vacation.

One great highlight of all this sickness: I was so ill I lost three pounds over the holidays! HA!! All that junk food was unappetizing because I couldn't taste it.

To recap: We had a nice, quiet Christmas. Everbody got what they wanted and we spent a lot of our time just hanging out together. Sweet.

Halloween 2010

Although many things have happened in our life over the past few months we failed to post them here. At any rate let me tell you about the past couple weeks. Today, we decided it was time to take down the trampoline for the winter. As Wendy and I were in the backyard we sent the girls to decorate the front door with little pumpkins. All of a sudden we hear a thump and Brayden (who was supposed to be taking a nap) crying. As we ran to the front of the house we quickly discovered what the fuss was about.

Braden had pushed the screen out of his bedroom window and took a head dive to the ground - 8 feet below! Wendy and I both said quick prayers in our hearts and checked him over. Considering we have a concrete flower box under his window we were extremely concerned. We count it as a miracle that he has nothing more than a couple bruises (and a whopper of a goose egg) on his head. Can you imagine, falling 8 feet from a window and falling through a bush with no sprained wrists, broken bones, scratches or even a concussion? We put an ice pack on his head and knelt down and said a humbling prayer of thanks. Brayden must have something important in his life to be spared such a fall.

Brayden decided it was time to take a nap at that point. We checked on him regularly to make sure he was still doing well. Miracles do happen. Quite humbling when they happen so close.

Since our neighborhood was doing its annual trunk-or-treat we dressed up and shared our breadsticks at the potluck. Here are some pictures.

Brayden is butt naked which is why he is not standing - potty training in progress.

Since we are sharing here you might as well know we are expecting an additional boy to the above photo round about March 1, 2011.

And Murphy strikes again. . .

Adam mentioned that we just bought a tramp for the kids. They LOVE it! The wonderful thing about having a tramp in the backyard is that when I tell the kids to stay in the backyard they actually obey! Phenomenal! For this reason alone it was worth the money, though we still got a great deal on it. It pays to shop around and watch ksl classifieds.

But life goes on and "Murphy" paid us a visit. (Not meaning any disrespect to my wonderful and adored cousins) For the past year or two I had noticed a hard-water bloom on the foundation wall of the house under the kitchen sink. So we watched it to see if it grew or subsided, it didn't do either. Then two weeks ago when my parents were visiting, my dad rested a hand against the wall of the downstairs guest bedroom while he put his shoes on and the wall just collapsed under him. Oooohhhh, that can't be good. Yeah, it wasn't.

We had a plumber over last week and he diagnosed the problem. We had two hairline cracks in the kitchen drain pipe. And apparently they're pretty old judging by the ruined insulation, wet drywall, and hard water deposits inside the wall. We had a few bids done by reclamation companies who treat mold, and a few calls into our insurance agent, to discover that the cost for said repairs is going to be at least over $1000 out of pocket, possibly more. One bid came in at over $2000. And mold repairs are not covered by most major insurers--those *%^#$*@ insurance companies and their fine print.

I'm reminded of an episode from "The King of Queens" where the Heffernan's find mold in the basement that would cost $12,000 to repair. And apparently Doug was informed of said problem by the agent/seller before closing on the property. When Kari confronts Doug about his "stupidity" he responds with the excuse that mold sounded like a good thing because mold makes excellent gourmet cheeses!

So now, I'm cursing the trampoline and the money we spent on it. Though honestly we didn't pay anywhere near that amount and we did promise the kids we would get them one when our family reached certain milestones. But it always works that way! Just when you save up and buy that more expensive item you're so excited about, "Murphy" sideswipes you with an emergency that hits you in the gut. Not that I'm complaining, it really could be a lot worse. Fortunately, none of us have symptoms from toxic mold, so I'm hopeful that the repair won't be too bad. Here's to calling in the plumber sooner than later.

In a Jam . . .

Our local grocer had a spectacular sale on red raspberries and blackberries so we picked up a couple flats and made about 18 pints of freezer jam. Some raspberry, some blackberry, and some mixed. All of them are good, but the blackberry is outstanding. I never realized how good blackberries are. We are looking forward to the raspberries in our yard to ripen. I can see that they are loaded this year.

By the way, this is what our backyard looked like a couple weeks ago. I will take another picture in a few weeks. With all of the rain lately our garden has been growing quite well. We also added a trampoline at the kids repeated request.

Where we've been

We put our rental house on the market for sale or rent (cue the Boxcar Willie music) this past week. We have had two different families in that house over the past 4 years so it has needed a little sprucing up. Fresh paint, a good washing, new carpet and some flowers make a house just like new. At least we hope so. We haven't minded having renters except when they fail to pay or leave the house unclean. Of course, Wendy and our friend Malissa have cleaned every last inch of that house now. It is amazing how much dust can accumulate over a short period of time. I guess we need to stipulate in our next contract that your cookbook must have the deep fried recipies removed prior to moving in to the house. You would think people consider oil an essential vitamin.

At any rate, here are some pictures of the place.

http://www.utahrealestate.com/949232

Busy Busy Busy. . .

What's been going on the last two months? Well, let me tell you! Christmas was divine, we spent it quietly at our house, enjoyed Christmas dinner (Adam's favorite ham), and played and relaxed. We spent time trying out the new sleds the kids got. And did some fix it projects. In fact, Christmas Eve Adam had all the equipment to replace some baseboard and re-tack some carpet in one of the basement bedrooms that had leaking water last summer. He pulled the baseboard off and noticed some mold growing so he started cutting out the bad drywall. The further he went the worse it got until he had pulled out the bottom half of one whole wall and ripped out all the insulation. Yikes. The verdict is that it looks like we may need to have someone come in and replace all the studs before we can put the wall back together. Adam suspects that water from the roof or sprinklers is pooling against the house which means that he will find himself digging all the dirt away from that foundation wall this summer. Just please don't disturb my favorite lilac bush!! The damage may have extended itself to the bedroom next door meaning that my lovely green guest room might get torn apart as well.

Anyway!! Since that project had to be put on hold I put Adam to work painting our family room a lovely light brown. It is not as dark as the kitchen but in the same color family so it really is pleasant. It makes the whole room brighter. We spent Christmas night painting the family room. Had it all knocked out in about 3 hours. And no taping off. (Man we're good!)

Fast forward to January. We started doing some initial research/preparation for selling our rental house this spring. We know it's not the height of the market but we know it's the right time to do this deal. We spent about three weekends in a row putting tile in the entry and one of the bathrooms. There is more work to do but it's easier to do some things without tenants underfoot. We have scheduled new carpet to be installed the first week of March and plan to have the house ready to go on the market a week later. This has been such a HUGE (and I mean HUGE!!!) learning and growth experience for us. We've learned the most from our mistakes and are grateful that we did enough things right through sheer naivete to keep us from being wiped out like many friends of ours. I recently read "The Richest Man in Babylon" which I have had in my library for years but never got around to reading it. Wow!! The reasons we succeeded in this investment are all outlined in that book. Nice to be able to finally identify what those are! Here's a couple that were pertinent: 1)Set aside ten percent of your monthly income for emergencies, 2)Live within your means and use a budget, 3)When investing don't take on more risk than you have emergency funds to cover, 4) Never invest in things you don't understand or with people who are unscrupulous or naive about the investment. There's more but I don't want to put anyone to sleep.

Now onto February. Our brand new (to us) van started having problems a few weeks ago. Since it's so technologically advanced, the security system is tied to a microchip in the engine deactiving it when the alarm is active. For some reason the alarm has been going haywire whenever we unlock the door meaning that we couldn't start the car. Up til yesterday we've been able to shut off the alarm eventually (after ten minutes of humiliation in a parking lot) and start the car. But not that day. We finally had to disconnect the battery, call a tow truck and have it hauled to a dealership to have the blasted thing repaired. This morning they called and said that the problem was an after-market car alarm that a previous owner had installed. It was messing with the original wiring and causing it to go off at random times. They removed it and the car worked like a charm. YEAH!!! So here's a bit of advice to anyone out there who is thinking about installing some nifty gadget to their car. DO NOT PIMP OUT YOUR CAR! YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WALMART PARKING LOT WITH THREE KIDS WHO ARE TIRED OF WAITING FOR TWO HOURS!

Stay tuned for more CREZY adventures . . . !

Christmas Letter

It's the most wonderful time of the year. . .

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone during this blessed season. We have enjoyed a very nice year and look forward to the coming year with anticipation.

Updates on our family:

Adam: Still working for Freedom Roads, telecommuting from an office in Blaine Jensen RV in Kaysville. The option to move to Chicago is still out there apparently, but we're not really interested. Serves as secretary in the EQ and teaches priesthood, too. He is really good at being Mister Mom in the evenings when I'm at work. It's been a great lesson for him to learn patience and humor at the hands of our three children.

Wendy: Still working for the Postal Service part time and teaching 6 piano students during the day. Oh, and raising three kids on the side! I serve as pianist in Primary and like not having to stress about my calling. (I figure the Good Lord knew this is all I could fit on my plate right now!) I volunteer in Sabrina's classroom once a week and teach Moira pre-school at home.

Sabrina: (5 almost 6) Started Kindergarten this year. Loves school and her teacher. Has had some difficulty with finding consistent friends, but we're trying to teach her to be an independent soul and not NEED someone to make her happy. Out of 23 kids in her class, 7 are girls so she plays with boys a lot. She is reading up a storm and excelling at math and science as well. Very smart kid. She is also enrolled in dance classes but keeps telling me that she'd rather play soccer. I tell her that we can sign her up for soccer after she completes a full term of dance. *grumble grumble*

Moira: (4) Is learning to read and write this year from Mommy and looking forward to starting Kindergarten next year. She loves to sing and play by herself (despite Brayden's invasions) and LOVES dance classes. She can't understand why Sabrina doesn't LOVE dance too. She is a very loving little girl and keeps me company with her precocious conversation. She grew out of her toddler bed this year so we got her a regular twin bed and she thought it was an early Christmas!! She is very grateful for all the wonderful things she has and tells us so repeatedly.

Brayden: (almost 2) Has made great development strides this year. He now has a vocabulary of about 30 words or so. But he makes up for it in being able to out run, out compete, and out maneuver everyone else in the family. He is a true boy and loves to throw balls all around the house, climb and jump off of EVERYTHING and tease his sisters to no end. Just yesterday he split his lip on both sides (in and out) and we were afraid he'd need stitches, but not quite thank heavens. Then this morning he climbed four shelves in my pantry to get at a crystal bowl that holds suckers and dropped it on the floor. It shattered of course, very sad since the bowl had been a wedding present. We are looking forward to Christmas with him since it will be the first one he is really aware of. !! How exciting!!

We are grateful for our testimonies of the restored gospel and of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wish His peace and love upon all of you dear friends and family this season and throughout the coming year.

LOVE, the Bowers

Have some Christmas cheer. . .

Our ward party was last weekend, (much more fun than last years!) and I signed up to bring a jello salad. It had been one of those days, hauling three cranky kids to three different stores to get everything that I needed and finally getting them home for lunch and down for naps. I didn't feel like it but I went ahead and started my jello salad and as I was putting it in the fridge I realized that I had to rearrange a few things to fit the 9x13 pan in. I grabbed the pickle jar and was moving it out of the way when pickle juice started pouring into my jello! AUGHGHH!! I confess that I dropped a few choice expletives at this point. And I was on the point of pouring the whole pan down the drain but remembered that I didn't have any more jello and I would have to go back to the store to get some more (Heaven help me, not another trip!). So I did what any slightly insane, sleep deprived mother of many children would do: I tried it! And I could only sense the faintest hint of pickley something in the background so I said "good enough" and popped it back into the fridge. I eventually added canned fruit and topped the whole thing with cool whip. Voila!!! One lovely-looking jello salad that noone would suspect of hiding other flavors! And the best part, people actually ate it! So there, who says we can't mix vegetables in with jello salads!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Like mother like daughter

We attended parent-teacher conferences two weeks ago for Sabrina. The teacher told us that she was curious to see what level Sabrina was reading at since she claimed all the supplementary reading was "too easy". Mrs. Winter pulled out one of her books that her own children read in the second grade and Sabrina read the first page with ease. She says that Sabrina is reading easily at the second grade level. Not bad for a kindergartener. Something must have clicked in the last few weeks because all of a sudden the kid is reading EVERYTHING she can get her hands on. The other day I came in to wake them up for school and found Sabrina already awake and reading in bed. And when I tried to take the book away she freaked and wouldn't let go. She wanders around the house with her nose in a book; bringing them to meals, to have her hair done, and in the car while we run errands. Last night when I went to tuck her into bed I felt something hard inside her pillowcase and before she could stop me I tipped her pillow over and found a small flashlight hidden inside! Moira piped up and said that Sabrina wakes her up reading in bed at night after we've turned out the lights! Sneaky kid. I can see that we're going to struggle with trying to keep her nose out of a book long enough to get other things done. I half expect her to start stashing books throughout her room so I won't confiscate them. (That's what I did growing up.) At the rate she's devouring books she'll probably be a few grade levels beyond where she's at by the end of the school year. She has jumped from pre-k level to second grade level in two months!

How did this happen? I attribute it mostly to you Mom and the Writing Road to Reading Program. Incredible! Thanks!

Halloween 2009

Argh!!

Don't even THINK about it. You ain't gettin' my loot.

See Mom! I learned how to throw my knife!

Ahhhh, a little pre-Halloween snack. And I did it all by myself too.
I made my own snack! Ta-dahhh!

Here's the annual Halloween issue of the blog. I was on top of costumes this year and didn't sew any of them. YEAH. Except for Brayden's sash. I cut a length of orange fabric in half and then sewed the ends together so it would be long enough.

Thank heavens Halloween was on a Saturday this year, no last minute rush by myself trying to get everybody ready. Adam was there for reinforcements, like changing that last-minute dirty diaper.

Sabrina went as a cowgirl, Moira was a witch, and Brayden was a pirate. His shirt says: Cap'n Spooky's Pirate Academy; Surrender yar candy!! I died laughing when I saw it at Target. I even taught him to say AARRRGGGHHH. He did that for a few people and then figured out that everyone else was saying Trick or Treat so he started saying his garbled version of it. (Mostly t's) But the argh was so much cuter and more appropriate for his costume. He was really good about carrying his sword correctly and even tried defending himself with it when he encountered a particular scary costume. I immediately rushed to the rescue to make sure no one got hurt.

Our neighborhood had their annual Trunk-or-Treat at the church parking lot. The kids filled their buckets 2/3 full in about an hour only going around once. Love those trunk-or-treats for efficiency. Afterwards we went to the cul-de-sac around the corner from our house where many of our friends live and did the traditional candy-begging. One homeowner turns his front yard into a haunted corn maze complete with smoke machines, monsters, strobe lights and big candy bars if you make it to the end. The kids say they want to go every year, but usually they chicken out at the last minute. I carried Brayden through, Adam carried Moira, and Sabrina snuck through the back way to avoid all the scariness and got a 3' pixie stick as her reward.

We were home before seven o'clock and the kids immediately dumped their haul on the kitchen table and started stuffing their faces. But we still got them into bed by 8:30 pm and then turned all the clocks back. We stayed up and had a Chuck marathon. LOVE CHUCK!!! We stayed up way too late, but it was fun!

New Car

Well, it is new to our family, anyway. In the metropolis of Salt Lake City all registered vehicles must pass a safety and emissions test to have the registration renewed. Our 1989 Camy was getting to the point that if you filled the tank with gasoline and changed the oil you've added 50% to the value. We did not want to have to put any "fix-up" money into that car. It passed all of the required criteria for having the registration renewed in August of this year. That very day the car started giving us issues. First, the engine fans wouldn't turn off when you turned off the car. Then, the battery died. Then, the dashboard warning lights all lit up like a Christmas tree (for no apparent reason). When the car started shaking at any speed we knew we had better be serious about finding a replacement. It was as though the car was saying, "Just let me die in peace!" We had been praying for a car for a couple months. In September, we included it in our fast. Wendy thought she had found the perfect minivan, but when we wanted to go take a look it was sold. That same day a new ad was posted at a dealership we had visited before. We drove down to the dealership and it was everything we were looking for.

Power sliding doors, alloy wheels, tow hitch, late model year, CD/cassette stereo, stow-n-go seating, great handling, and it fit our budget exactly where we needed it to be. It was a true answer to our prayers. Oh, and it does fit in our garage. If you have seen our garage you will know how amazing that is. The kids love all of the new elbow space. They played with the power doors for a week straight. We have had this van for just short of a month now and Brayden still thinks it is his job to close the sliding doors. We bought the van from Henry Clay motors just off I-215 and California Ave. They went out of their way to make sure the car was reconditioned to like new.

Last night we sold the Camry. There is a mechanic around the corner and he gave us $100 for it. The odometer read over 324,000 miles when we turned over the keys. That car has lasted us just over 10 years and 190,000 miles. I bought it for $5000 out the door. I figured that I have put about $15,000 in fuel, tires, oil changes, and maintenance into that car. If you do the math you will see that paying your tithing pays you back REALLY well. Our prayer now is that the Pathfinder and the Grand Caravan treat us just as well for the next 10+ years.

Quick September updates. . .

. . . Because the month is over tomorrow! Yikes, time flies way too fast! Sabrina has been in Kindergarten for a month now and is loving it! It took her a couple of weeks to make a friend, but now she and Brooke play together every recess. And sometimes they play with additional friends too. Brooke is a fraternal twin (brother, Peter) and we're trying to set up a play date with the whole clan. Sabrina is a smart little whipper-snapper. She is reading up a storm, I have a hard time trying to keep up with her voracious appetite for books.

Moira is enjoying all the private play time she gets with Sabrina in school. She goes into her room and plays quietly for an hour or so until Brayden decides to stage a hostile invasion because he's bored. Then all hell breaks loose upstairs and the neutral country (mom) has to come in to settle differences and convince General Brayden that he really can survive without taking Moira's dollies/Pet Shop animals/Cars/etc.

Moira and Sabrina are both enrolled in dance classes and love it! It's a non-competitive combination class. Sabrina is in the Kindergarten class and Moira is in Pre-School level. They spend time learning tap, ballet, and tumbling in each class. I like it because it's fun and good for their social development. I asked Sabrina after the first class how she liked it and she responded that she'd rather take soccer. So I told her to do dance for a year and next year we can enroll her in soccer classes if she'd prefer.

Brayden is still solidly in the terrible two's which aren't so terrible. I can deal with the destructo tendencies and the random fit-throwing as long as I get moments of joy from the sweet, captivating, hilarious little boy that he is. He is a crafty guy and has the fastest reflexes for grabbing candy or treats of any kid I've had. But he is loving and generous when you reason with him. I decorated my house for Halloween a couple of weeks ago and I have these glass block jack-o-lanterns with lights inside them. Every morning Brayden runs around the house trying to plug each one in (with help of course). He LOVES them. I can hardly wait to see his reaction to Christmas.

Adam and I have been doing a lot of canning over the past month, trying to preserve everything. We have been given A LOT of food for free, some we grew, and some we bought for a steal. We have used up nearly all of the jars that we have. My neighbor just offered me the rest of her apples to make applesauce or pie filling with. I think I might have to go buy more quarts to put them up. What a blessing. Every year the bounty gets bigger and bigger. We have had so many tomatoes this year that I've given away about 6 bushels of tomatoes and I still have TONS out there. This is after I've done two batches of salsa, a batch of spaghetti sauce, and a batch of stewed tomatoes. I think I'll try to put the rest up as stewed tomatoes. We'll see if I can give any more away. So far this year we've put up the above plus carrots, peaches, pears, strawberry jam, and beets. We still have to dig up our row of potatoes and I think I'm going to can them rather than cold storage store them. They don't last longer than 6 months in cold storage. So if you want to know what I've been doing with my spare time: there you have it.

Adam and I have decided that we need to start shopping in earnest for a mini-van. We've been saving money like maniacs trying to outrun the train wreck that is potentially our 20 year old Toyota Camry with 320,000 miles on it. It passed safety and inspection at the end of August by the skin of it's grille. But that evening it started breaking apart on us. This is how we know that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. We had been fasting and praying that the Camry would pass inspections so we could register it for one more year while we got our finances in order to buy a minivan. Just one more year! Please!!! Adam took it to the shop in the morning, it passed, he drove home from work that night and the car wouldn't shut off when you turned the key. I drove the car to work and had to disconnect the battery when I got there. The next day it worked fine and I took the car again and left the lights on by accident and the battery died. Normally the car has an automatic shut-off sensor that turns off the lights but because the sensor was leaving the interior lights on after the door was shut, Adam disconnected it so now it doesn't shut the headlights off. (Makes sense?) Needless to say I was out in West Salt Lake at 11:30 p.m. with a dead battery. I got somebody to help me jump the car and then drove home. Every couple of weeks something else goes wrong with it and we figure the Lord gave us one more year with this car but that doesn't mean the car is going to last one more year. So, we are shopping for a minivan. We've decided on what car we're going to buy and what price range is reasonable and now we're just watching the ads waiting for the perfect opportunity. Fortunately it's a buyers market for the auto industry, along with nearly every other sector of the economy.

In preparation for General Conference this week I have been inspired by one of my Visiting Teachees to start doing morning devotionals with my family. We hold it in the girls bedroom and read a story out of one of their Scripture Story books (from the Distribution Center) and then have family prayer. They wanted to start with the Old Testament so we're working our way through that. Adam figured if we hold this devo 6 days a week it will take us two months to go through the O.T. and then we can start on the New Testament. I figure that we can get through most of the standard works in one year. They don't make a Pearl of Great Price version so we don't count that. It has actually been very nice to spend this time together as a family. It makes getting organized in the morning a little more hairy but I think the sacrifice is worth it.

Tomorrow's the big day

Sabrina starts kindergarden tomorrow. Wendy and I are so excited for Sabrina to have all of those great experiences. We met with Sabrina's teacher last week and it sounds like Mrs. Winters will be wonderful for Sabrina.

We've been preacticing getting up and ready in time for school this past week. It will be a little adjustment since we like to roll out of bed about 8am at our house. We decided we need to push that up to about 7am. We'll see if we can get Sabrina to school on time.