Halloween

The day after Halloween. The picture says it all. Too much candy, not enough sleep. He and I took an evening trip to Target and Costco. I think he loves those places more than I do! I love going to Target after a holiday to see the sales. We were about a minute away from the house and Ammon was suddenly very quiet. I looked back to see this.

Tiger's very happy with the outcome of his hard work. The kids had about four times this amount. They got a lot the night before at the church party. Then Ammon went trick or treating at school and brought a whole extra bag home. I wasn't sure how to go about letting them eat it. So I let them go crazy that night and the next day and then put it away. They've seemed to forgotten about it and now I'm enjoying the fruits of their labors!

Jody decided that someone had to stay home to pass out treats. So I opted to take the kids out. It was so wonderful to step outside our door and go! We have a wonderful neighborhood. People were very generous. They got whole candy bars, toothbrushes, and popcorn. One house had a theater style popcorn popper. We waited in a ten minute line for each of the kids to get a bag. I've decided that Halloween was made for Ammon. As much as he loves to dress up there is even one thing he loves more. Seeing others dressed up. He would stop in the middle of the sidewalk and just stare at people. He was talking to everyone and asking them all about their costumes and decorations.

Cohen thoroughly enjoyed getting candy and would request suckers if he saw them in the bowl. It's nice that some people will just hold out the bowl and let the kids pick but I prefer having the person just drop a piece into my kids bag. My kids are so indecisive! Especially Ammon. I loved going with the boys. My favorite part was getting to see the insides of people's homes and the people that lived in them. I'm a little nosey! Halloween is so much fun and I was sad for it to end.

Carving pumpkins. It took me about 2.5 seconds to carve mine. As you can see Jody took a bit longer.

Our sweet little bunny didn't make it out on Halloween night. Her hair is finally starting to grow back in. I just love that little face and could kiss it all day long.

Ammon was a Ninja Turtle for the church and school party and Buzz for the trick or treating.

Happy Birthday Al!

Alex turned twenty years old today. Time really does fly by. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were in a gas station in Willits and a guy said,"Hey look it's one of the Hanson's!" Classic Alex moment. As a child Alex was quiet the tomboy. Her hair was long and kind of stringy and she always wore high top shoes. Kasey and I would often call her Axle (like the singer). She has definitely blossomed into a beautiful girl.

When Jody and I were first married we moved back to McKinleyville. Living there had some great benefits. I got to spend lots of time with Alex. She's such a different girl. But I say that in a good way. She doesn't hold grudges or have a bad temper. She is very easy going and is quick to forgive and forget. She is fun, fashionable and independent, most of the time. I say that because in high school she was afraid to make her own hair appointments. But to defend you Alex I know you've gotten better at that. She's the youngest and has been spoiled but thank goodness she's not a brat and she appreciates what she's been given. Alex is also a wonderful aunt. She has 9 nieces and nephews and loves them all. She will be a great mother someday.

I love you Alex and hope you have a great birthday!

Fear Factor?

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. The actual size was about three inches!

Last Saturday we went to Six flags. My mom went to go buy a yummy funnel cake (she kept calling it a tunnel cake) and I noticed these guys on a stage trying to get people to spin a wheel and what they landed on the contestant would have to eat and win a prize. I immediately grabbed Jody and made him raise his hand. You have to know a little history about him before I finish the story. When we watch any show where people have to eat something I freak out. A few nights before we had watched Survivor and the players had to eat some nasty stuff. Jody kept saying, "oh I could eat that." He has always said this! So I wanted to test him. Well about five people raised there hands and then they would have to pick a number between 1 and 20. Jody picked 15. He didn't win. Luckily they did two more rounds of it and I made him pick 15 every time and the last time the guy chose 16. I think he caught unto what we were doing and wanted Jody to win.

So he went up and the guy asked him what would be the worst thing to eat on the board. Jody asked what would give him the most prizes and the guy said,"A Madagascar hissing cockroach." So Jody said give me whatever will win me the most prizes. The guy spun the wheel and stopped on the cockroach. The rest is history!

Can you hear the guy in the background yelling, "You da man!" It was so much fun. Jody was like a celebrity when he was done. One girl came up and asked him how it tasted. He tells me it wasn't too bad. For him the worse part was picking the bug up. He said he knew he had to crunch down fast before he felt it move around. Gross it creeps me out just typing this! Right after he was done he yelled for me to come up on the stage and when I did he grabbed my face and tried to kiss me. Luckily I was able to get away!

Oh and he won a t-shirt that says, "you should see what I ate at Six Flags to get this t-shirt", free flash passes, two free arm bands for the haunted houses, front of the line passes for the haunted houses, and an admission ticket. Definitely not worth it. But we had a great time with all of the free passes and it was nice to skip to the front of the line. I don't think anyone could ever get me to eat one of those things, well maybe for a million dollars.

3 in 1

This last week was wonderful. My mom drove me back home on Tuesday and just left after church today. It was so great to have her here. Jody and I were able to go out three times in one week! Wednesday we went to eat at a fabulous restaurant here in Windsor. Friday we ate at a very good Mexican restaurant and then went to see the movie Dan in Real Life. Jody and I LOVED this movie! Steve Carrell is obviously hilarious in The Office but it was great to see him in a different role, one that was still funny but also with a little more depth. I think it's a movie that both guys and girls can enjoy.

My mom was so great to have around. Not only is she great company but she helps out a lot. She helped me finally decorate Rylee's room and our downstairs bathroom. I also got to go out one afternoon and run errands with no kids. It was heavenly. She helped clean, cook, bath and watch the kids all week. I hope we didn't take advantage of her kindness or send her home too exhausted.

Yesterday we went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. My mom and I got to go on some rides while Jody took the kids to the killer whale show. Jody had an interesting Fear Factor type of experience which I will expand on later. After a full day at the park my mom took the kids home and we got to stay a few more hours to go on rides and walk through a few haunted houses. It was such a great week. Poor Ammon was very upset when Grandma left today. His teacher always brings him to me in Relief Society and right when he saw me he said, "where is Grandma?" I told him that she went home and he burst into tears. I almost started crying for him. My mom dropped him off at primary today and told him goodbye but when he sat down he started crying and his teacher mistakenly told him that he would see his Grandma when church was over. He has cried at least three more times since then. He has such a hard time when he leaves his grandparents or they leave him. I love that he is such a tender hearted boy.

I am excited for Halloween. We will carve pumpkins tomorrow night. Go to two parties on Tuesday and then Ammon's class party and trick or treat on Wednesday. I finally got a calling in our new ward. I am going to be the Mia Maid teacher! I am so excited to be in Young Women's!

The kids are doing great. Ammon has learned to clean his own room and is very proud of his achievement. When he is finished he makes us all close our eyes until we are in his room and then he yells "surprise!" He was very entertaining this week. Singing and dancing everywhere we went. Cohen has learned how to climb up the cabinets to get on the counter top and then get into cupboards that he is not suppose to and eat whatever he wants. It's horrible. He is also into coloring on everything. Rylee was a little fussy last weekend at my parents and I was worried that her temperament was changing but by the time we got home she was back to her old self. She had a hard time with the shots and wasn't feeling well. I am trying to get up the courage to take her out of the car seat and put her in the crib at night. I just hope she keeps sleeping through the night. Right now she sleeps from 9 to 6 or 7 and I DON'T want that to change.

Happy Halloween!

crazy boys

This is the face Cohen makes when he is closing his eyes for the prayer.

The boys had so much fun playing with this little push car yesterday. They would go up and down my parents hill (which is pretty steep) at full speed. I was afraid they would crash and get hurt. But they were having such a great time that I didn't want to spoil it. Ammon flipped over the front a few times but got right back up. Cohen went off into the dirt once and didn't want to go as fast after that.

Girly Girl

I've been doing some pretty crafty things lately. Last week I started making these adorable headbands for Rylee. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Kasey made Rylee the bottom bracelet when she was born. Her wrists are getting so chubby that I was afraid it might cut off her circulation. Today I went to the bead shop and extended it and then I made two more bracelets. My friend Tiffany started making these super cute pacifier holders. It is handy to know where her binky is at all times plus not have it fall out on the ground.

I love having a girl. Love girl clothes and accessories. I never realized how much more expensive it is to have a girl. With my boys I can just buy two pairs of church pants, shoes for play and shoes for church and then mix and match with shirts. Most of their clothes are very interchangeable. But with girls you have to have so much more, well at least I do. For instance, I got her an off white sweater to wear with her church dresses but off white doesn't go with everything. Sometimes she needs white. She needs tights/leggings to go with her dresses and skirts because it is getting cold and she can't just have one color. She needs white, pink, and off white. Her red hoodie doesn't go with every outfit so she needs a few of different colors. She can't just wear pink shoes. She needs different colors for different outfits. I could go on and on. Girls are so much more expensive but so much fun! Pictured below are some of my new favorite things of Rylee's. I am really into leggings right now.

It's a good thing that we had boys while Jody was in school. I LOVE my boys but I am definitely going to need some more girls!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to two pumpkin patches last week. One on Monday night for Family Home Evening and the other with Ammon's class. The boys had a great time looking at animals and running through cornstalks. It was a hectic week for me. Jody was super busy with work and had to stay in San Francisco one night. I get nervous and don't sleep well when he is gone which made me extra tired the next day which happened to be the day I had to take Ammon to the pumpkin patch with his class plus watch another child that day and take all three kids to the doctors.

I am definitely enjoying this time at my parents house this weekend. We are here to visit Alex who came home for a visit. I ended up staying a few extra days. Ammon started crying this morning because he thought we were going to leave and he wanted to stay longer. Lucky for him my mom offered to take us back on Tuesday. She is also going to stay the rest of the week with us. Tomorrow I am going to get my haircut, not just a trim, a new style! I'll post pics.

Stats

I took all three kids to the doctor today. Rylee had her 4 month checkup and the boys got flu shots. I will never do that again. It was a crazy afternoon. I kept on getting sympathetic looks from everyone in the office and I'm sure they were all relieved the minute we left.

Rylee weighed in at 14 lbs 5 ounces and 25 1/2 inches tall. They said she was 90% in weight and 95% in height. She is so much bigger than her brothers were at this stage. Ammon was barely ever on the charts and Cohen has always been tall and skinny. I just hope this isn't a predicter for the future!

Fall

I love this time of year. After a summer of sunshine, blue skies and warm weather I am ready to welcome in Fall. I'm enjoying wearing pants, shoes and socks again. We had our first day of rain today and I actually enjoyed being inside cuddled up by the fire reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I even made Minestrone soup to go along with the weather.

Last night we made sugar cookies. I am sad to say that after all of our (my) hard work there is only a cookie and a half left over! But they were so yummy. Jody spent the whole time working on a Ninja Turtle cookie for Ammon that turned out pretty good. Unfortunately he was a bit grumpy in the process. He didn't want anyone "messing" it up. Spoiled a little of the fun for us but we still had a great time.

I am really enjoying the fall line up of TV right now.

Monday: the Bachelor (that is so embarrassing to admit), The Hills, Life with Ryan
Tuesday: Nothing so far I am too interested to watch. Have decided not to have it on that night.
Wednesday: Private Practice ( this is my new FAV show! I love it.) And of course, Top Model.
Thursday: Survivor China, and My one true love, Grey's Anatomy. Does anyone else feel like someone is missing from the show? I miss Dr. Burk.

I know there are so many more shows on that I could probably get into but I'm trying really hard not to go there. Although I am interested in Gossip Girl (CW new show) and Samantha Who? Starring Christina Applegate.

One more thing did you all here that J. Lo is pregnant? I don't know why I care but I can't help but catch up on celebrity gossip when I'm in the checkout line. Sometimes when I'm without kids I will go to a longer line just to get a few more minutes of my guilty pleasure in. What a sad life!

Conference Weekend

Wow! That's a freaky face. I don't think he thought I would post this on the blog!

This is my parents storage/attic area, a.k.a. the play room. The kids love to play in it.

My boys watch a lot of Disney shows. This is Cohen playing the drums and Ammon singing. They are suppose to be the Jonas Brothers.

I love conference weekend. Nothing like watching church in your pj's, eating yummy food next to a warm fire. I think we should make it a tradition to go to my parents for general conference. I think it's safe to say that Ammon and Cohen run that house when they come to town.

Happy 24th Lindser

Lindsey's 24th birthday was yesterday. No I did not forget. I tried to call her but she didn't answer. So I left her a message with a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday to You".


What can I say? I love this girl. Over the years we have shared millions of laughs together. She just brings out the goofy side in me. We became more than sisters in high school. The nice sister that I am, let her hang out with me and my friends. I was a senior and she was a freshman. When she moved to Provo as a Freshman, we did everything together. We even worked the same two jobs.

Lindsey is so wonderful. A loving wife, caring mom, talented writer and a great cook (never thought I'd say that one). She's just a fabulous person. I miss her so much and hope that someday we can all live near each other. Happy Birthday Linds! I hope you had a fun day.

Georgia

Our first bath together!

From left to right: Jody, Hayli, Hunter, Lori and Kayla.

Our sweet balding baby.

At the Atlanta Temple.

Rylee's favorite cousin, Megan. She is in love with Rylee and was such a great help!

I'm finally posting the few pictures I took in Georgia. We had such a good time there. We were able to go wakeboarding with Jody's brothers family, go to the temple (thanks to Jen who so willingly watched our kids), ate at the Cheesecake Factory (my personal fav) and spent a lot of time with our family. Ammon and Cohen had a great time being the center of attention. They are the youngest kids on the Edmondson side of the family and it's great because they are always being entertained and someone was always wanting to hold Rylee. Our Georgia relatives will be happy to hear that Ammon packed a bag and told us he was going to Georgia yesterday. His going to Georgia was walking up the stairs and when he came back down he was back from his trip. Cohen has been doing the same thing today.

We were also lucky to drive to Knoxville to see Gram and Gramps. I love those two so much! I know that all of my cousins feel the same. No one could ask for better grandparents. I miss them so much. Like always Grandma fed us delicious food and kept Kasey and I laughing the whole time. A highlight from the trip was when Kasey and I were talking about nursing and how much it has affected our breasts. Grandma said, "Well you just put a little cotton where God's forgotten." We about died laughing. I just love that little lady!

My Quilt

This is it so far. I still have to sew the blocks together and add borders and batting. I can't wait to finish it. Next on my list, pillow cases!

Funny Boys

These boys are always keeping us entertained. Ammon is going back and forth between the Tiger and Pooh song and High School Musical.

Hello

In case you didn't know I still haven't set up my old computer. It's out of the box but I promised myself I would get a list of things done before I started it up again. I only get to use the computer at night, when Jody gets home from work and he only gives me 15 minutes or so because he needs it for work. So this is why I haven't blogged much and unfortunately don't have much time to comment.


I am at my parents house for the rest of the week. I have spent the last two hours on the computer catching up! Totally ignoring Cohen and Rylee (although Rylee has been asleep in the swing) . So maybe the internet isn't a very healthy thing for me. I mean what a waste of the morning.


Over the next few days I hope to post a little bit more. And hopefully add some pics!

I almost forgot that part of the time I was on the internet today I was talking to Lindsey and Izzy on Skype. It was so cool! I had so much fun being dorky with Linds and trying to make Izzy laugh (which isn't too hard). When I get home I have to get a web cam.

Update

Things have been pretty boring since we got back from Georgia. It took us a few days to get back in the swing of things. The day after we got home Ammon took a nap at 3 in the afternoon and didn't wake up until 6 the next morning. Cohen adjusted by taking two naps for a couple days.

I have been so frustrated lately. I guess all of you with kids probably feel this way. I work ALL day to clean the house and within thirty minutes it can look like I did nothing! I am constantly picking up after everyone! It's so irritating. I hate having a messy house. It just makes me in a bad mood. I cleaned out toys last week and put the ones I am going to give to Good Will in a box in the garage, thinking the kids wouldn't see them. Unfortunately Ammon went straight to that box when he got home from preschool yesterday and was upset because I was giving his toys away. He wouldn't even have noticed if he hadn't seen the box. Oh well. I told him that some kids don't have toys and that he never plays with them. He was still upset. Oh well.

Last week I was feeling a little down because I never have time to myself. Then I went to the Relief Society Broadcast and was rejuvenated. I love how the leaders of our church help us to understand that we are doing the greatest work on this earth by being mothers. Sometimes I get exhausted with all the demands of being a mother to three small children but I know that there is nothing else I would rather be doing. It was such a great meeting. The only down side was not being able to sit by my mom.

The kids are doing great. Ammon has finally made a few new friends at school. He is also still very into imaginary play. No matter what we are watching he wants to be a character in that program. Last night we were watching Twitches, a Disney movie and he was so frustrated because he couldn't find a character to be, because they were all girls. He also had his first primary program last Sunday. He thought he was going to be "too shy" to say his part but he did great. He didn't sing much because he was too busy waving at us. Cohen is hilarious. He is such a talker. Already singing his ABC's and counting. He is also getting out of the pack and play now. I think it's about time for bunk beds. Unfortunately Rylee is still sleeping in her carseat at night. I haven't even tried the crib. I just don't want to disrupt her sleeping through the night. She sleeps for 9 or 10 hours every night and I don't want that to change! She has also started nursing every 4 hours. It is so great because I can leave her for a while without worrying. Plus while we were in Georgia I left her a few times and she took a bottle. She has also found her voice. I don't remember the boys being as loud. She squeals any time we look at or talk to her. She is such a joy.