A lazy Sunday...sort of!

Church doesn't start until 1:00pm, so we usually have the morning to busy ourselves. Which usually means chaos and screaming in the house, lol!

Jeff was too busy lost in his own world. He was also busy getting in the way as Vanessa tried to watch a Disney movie in our bedroom, lol!

Ryan tried reading while Ethan busied himself with his PSP nearby.

Most Sunday mornings will start off quiet, but as the day goes on, the noise level rises and so do the arguments. If it's not one thing, it's another, but it does make getting ready for church an adventure, lol!

Halloween Fun!

Here in Utah, if Halloween falls on a Sunday, then the festivities usually happen on Saturday. The trick-or-treating forecast didn't start off so great at first with rain pouring, but after an hour or so, it finally let up enough that Big Poppa took the kids out.

Ethan was Jango Fett from Star Wars, Vanessa was a My Little Pony, Ryan went as Harry Potter, and Jeff dressed up as Boba Fett.

Meanwhile, I dressed up as Kai-Lan from Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. It was hilarious to see some of the younger kids in the neighborhood get so excited when I answered the door, lol.

Scott's sister Kristine also came over with her husband, two boys, and her mother-in-law. It was nice visiting with them as we waited for the rain to slow down. My mother-in-law also stopped by after getting done with her shift at the temple, and she and I stayed back to pass out candy.

It was a cold and chilly night, but I think the kids had fun despite the weather!

We finally got around to....

...decorate our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, lol! We did lose one (it rotted and started to smell right there on the counter), but I gave mine up to Vanessa and so everyone else had a pumpkin to decorate.

Big Poppa got creative! Everyone thought his was hilarious!

Ethan turned his pumpkin into Master Chief's helmet from Halo.

Ryan never did tell me what he was creating!

Jeff didn't seem to have a particular theme in mind.

Vanessa informed me that hers was a princess.

Eureka!

I think we broke Jeff from his binky habit! It's been a little over a week since the last setback and he hasn't asked for one once! We've also noticed that his sleep habits have improved, too, and he's sleeping through the night in his own bed!

YIPPEEE!

No if we could only get him to potty-train.....

One step at a time, right?

Jeff says....

Kids are really hilarious! ^_^

As we're sitting on my bed, watching yet another episode of SpongeBob, Jeff turns to me and says, "Mom-moms, do you think Daddy misses me when he's at work?"

It was really hard not to laugh.

*****************************

Me: Jeff, do you want to come with me to the craft store?

Jeff: No, I wanna stay here.

Me: By yourself?

Jeff: Yeah.

Me: You can't.

Jeff: Why?!

Me: Because you're only three!

Jeff: Aw, come on!

*****************************

Jeff: I was naughty today in nursery.

Me: Why, what did you do?

Jeff: I threw stuff.

Me: Why were you throwing stuff?

Jeff: I was being mad.

Me: Why?

Jeff: 'Cause I was throwing stuff.

Me: o_O

Another binky set-back...arrrgghh!

Big Poppa had the kids help him clean out the family room in the basement, and while doing so, Jeff found not one, but two binkies. He popped one in his mouth and clutched the other in his hand, then came upstairs to show me.

Big mistake.

Big Poppa followed him and took both away and cut the nipples off. Which meant Jeff flew into a tizzy and cried like we were beating him.

Sigh.

If he's like this with just his binkies, can you imagine what he'll be like when we attempt to potty-train?

*shudders*

We're too slow, lol!

We forgot to put up the "We've been BOOed!" sign from last night and by bedtime tonight, we found another treat on our porch! It was a bag of Reeses PB Cups, which Scott is now hogging, lol.

So instead of two people to BOO, we need to do four, I guess?

Yeah for more fun and excitement!

We got BOOed!

I guess I didn't hear the doorbell or the knock, but while we were locking up before bed, I found a Halloween cookie Kit sitting on out porch with the Booed instructions.

The kids are excited to have gotten BOOed, and even more excited to make the cookies.

Now all we have to do is decide what treat to make and who to BOO!

Binky Set-Back!

Last night while we were over at Papa & Tutu's house watching the football game, Jeff found a binky and popped it into his mouth. Only thing is, he did it in front of me, so I took it away and had Scott cut it up.

Bad move.

Jeff promptly freaked and it played into his sleeping habits last night. Or, I should say his lack of sleeping habits. Once again we were deprived of sleep because Jeff couldn't stay asleep. So tired right now, but I'm determined to get him to nap today.

*yawn* Hopefully!

2010 Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Tonight we decided to go and get our pumpkins from the local pumpkin patch. It didn't take as long as usual, but the kids still had fun.

Ethan & Jeff taking a moment to pose after picking their pumpkins

Vanessa's turn

Found the Perfect Pumpkins!

Jeff bossing his big brother around

He found his pumpkin!

Ryan trying to help Ethan find his pumpkin

They're piling up!

This is his job, lol.

Look, Mom-Moms!

Days 4 & 5 of Operation: Bye-Bye, Binky!

Friday night was okay, but Saturday night was absolutely horrid! Jeff didn't take a nap Saturday afternoon, so by the time we got the kids ready for bed, he was tired but fighting it. It took a long time for Scott to get him to settle down and fall asleep, but almost an hour later, Jeff woke up and totally freaked out!

He was screaming and crying, an refused to be comforted. It took almost half an hour to get him to actually lay down and then he fell asleep again. Except, the same routine was repeated almost every hour until he finally fell asleep and stayed asleep past 5am.

When I woke up from what little sleep I was able to get, I had a full-fledged anxiety attack coming on, so I tried to busy myself with a little cleaning. Somewhat helped, but the shaking in my arms and hands was still pretty bad. Ended up not going to church (again!) and mostly slept it off.

Tomorrow is a holiday that Scott has off, so I'm hoping we can catch up on some sleep. That is, if Jeff actually lets us sleep tonight! o_O

Day 3 of Operation: Bye-Bye, Binky!

Today went better than the last two days; Jeff wasn't as cranky and I was able to stop a meltdown from happening. At naptime he whined a little, protesting that he didn't want to take a nap, but once he laid down, he was out!

Do I dare hope?

Please, oh please, oh please!

Day 2 of Operation: Bye-Bye, Binky!

Today was exhausting! Not only did I have to keep repeating "All your binkies are gone; they went bye-bye!" to Jeff, but I also had to distract him when I saw the tantrum coming. Usually, I have no need to since Jeff is very good at amusing himself, but today that was not the case with his binky gone!

By the time he finally fell asleep for naptime (it took him nearly an hour to stop crying and settle down!), I was a shaking mess! I went down for a nap, but not for very long (maybe an hour or so) before Jeff woke up, grumpy and crying.

I literally threw him to Scott when he got home from work.

Yep, I suck.

*sigh*

Here we go!

Last night, we became insane and decided to go cold turkey on getting Jeff off his binky. I don't know what we were thinking, but there's no backing down now! He had a hard time falling asleep, woke up a few times during the night, and was really grouchy this morning when he woke up. It wasn't too bad, but it's only the first night.

We'll have to see how today and tonight go.

Please pray for us, lol.

Wait, what?

Is it really October already?!

Sheesh, even with numerous calendars around the house and an iPhone, September still managed to slip by and here's October!

The weather can't decide if it wants to be warm or cold, but I guess this means I should start nagging the kids about their Halloween costumes so I can order them. Last year I let them waffle too long and so by the time we got around to ordering the costumes, there weren't any of the sizes we needed. So we had to come up with entirely different ones.

Hopefully the kids have already decided; I can hope, right?