Evan is 5 yrs OLD!

So my little boy is now 5yrs old! Evan has sure come a long way! On his birthday I got to come home from work for a minute and wake the boys up. Evan sat up in his bed and said, "Oh yeah, I'm five now!" Connor replied, "I swear Evan, you look bigger already!!" It was the highlight of my morning! I think he had a wonderful day. He went to preschool and then got to go to Kids Kamp for the first time that day. Connor was there to great him with all his friends and then he found out they were going to the dinosaur museum! All right!!! I came and picked them both up and had a boquet of birthday balloons. He was so excited. We had a special dinner for him and then Dad brought home a blue light saber as a gift and then we topped off the day with some cupcakes! What a perfect day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAL! We love you!

Evans Preschool Picture

Evan a few months old

Evan fishing on Avondale

Just after Evan was born

These next pictures are of Evan and Brooklyn. These two babes were born 7 hours apart in the same delivery room. CRAZY!! I scanned the article from the CDA Press, but I am not sure if you can read it.

Best friends, just before going home from the hospital!

Our feature story in the paper!

A Day in the Life....can anyone relate?

So here is my day, and I am wondering if anyone feels like this sometimes.

4:30am- 4-yr old crawls in bed with a tummy ache. FART! "Mom, I think I just pooped my pants." Toilet, wipe bottom, clean clothes, back to bed.

5:45- "Mom it happened again....I'm going to do what you did." 4 yr old then toilets, wipes, changes into his own clothes and back into bed (with mom of course). *I hate diarrhea!

7:20- 2 yr old- "Mom, I want some cereal!" Wake up and make everyone's favorite that I finally found on sale and drove out in a snowstorm with coupon last night to buy. Yes- DINOSAUR OATMEAL. **Everyone loves this breakfast! (One exception- diarrhea boy...not so fond of food this morning)

7:45- Eat my cereal, and check my email, facebook, and other peoples blogs.

8:30- Call my mom and my sister (whomever is available first) and see what is on their agenda for the day.

8:45- Bathe the 2 yr old with oatmeal all over her clothes and hair and face. *Notice how badly I need to clean the bathroom.

9:00- Begin the endless cleaning spree. I decided the upstairs must be comepleted today. The bathroom is first. I am practically bear hugging the toilet with my poor pregnant body trying to get every last drop of urine that the 4yr old and 6yr old (and whoever else.......) has left behind. (I am a little disappointed I am having another boy only for this reason- mothers of boys I know you understand.) Scrub with the floor with the electric scrubbing maching (which I love so I don't have to do much of the work). Pumice the gunk on the sink, wipe counters and wash the mirror and voila!! Bathroom done! *note- the tub is left for the husband when pregnant!

9:45 Bathroom #2 with same routine and regrettfully bearhugging the toilet. Yuck!

10:30- Break for a game of Candyland Dora in Maya's room. End game early because 6 yr old is now in last place because he got sent back to gingerbread man! Pieces are everyone...no one is happy. GAME OVER!

10:45- Bout of diarrhea in the sparkling clean bathroom. Use a lysol wipe to make sure it is clean and fresh again. *Feeling guilty I have ignored the children all moring. Promise them a trip to the zoo this afternoon once the cleaning is done. I immediately regret this statement!!! I am going to be so tired- what was I thinking!!!!

11:15- "Mom, I'm hungry!" Just a minute.....not done cleaning.

11:30 "Mom, I'm hungry!" nothing

12:10 "Mom, please, I'm so hungry!" Make the kids lunch. Make myself lunch. Call my sister to relay the moring report.

1:00 Realize I need to shower, but the 6 yr old smells too. Bathe the 6yr old first.

1:20- Get in the shower

2:10 Pick up the neighbor girl from Highschool who needed a ride and say, "Hey- you're just in time to go to the zoo with us! Yeah!"

3:00- Arrive at the zoo and have an awesome time!! The animals were so active and the kids could run wild because there was no on there. (okay maybe there were 3 other families there) It was the best time at the zoo.

4:30- Leave the zoo just in time for traffic. Yuck.

5:00- Get home and call Ryan to pick up some Arby's.

6:00- Ryan comes home with the Arby's and have a knock-down-drag-out with the boys because there is cheese sauce on the sandwiches. Wait patiently with some crying and fighting until they eat enough sandwich to call it good.

6:30- Bathe the 2 yr old again.

6:45- Receive a call from the 911 dispatcher making sure that everything was okay at our house hold. The 4 yr old wanted to "practice" dialing 911. "Did you dial 911? Bring me the phone that you just had. You're not in trouble." "Sorry mom, I dialed the number and then pressed end really quickly!" Explanation of 911 protocol in the house.

7:00- Settle down with some family time and the wii and Ryan calling for home teaching reports for Dec.

7:15 KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! (Ryan is still on the phone, so big pregnant lady runs up the stairs, out of breath to answer the door.) "Hello officers! Yes...the 4 yr old wanted to practice dialing 911. Everything is fine! We are just playing the wii in the basement. Thank You!" Run back down the stairs, "Hey Evan! There are some police officers at door if you would like to meet them." Immediately his face goes bright red. "Are they going to take me to jail?" "No honey, they just came to make sure there was no emergency at our house. 911 is only for emergencies remember?" 6yr old-"Why were there police officers at the door?" "Evan, do you want to tell Connor why?" "No!" Then crawling under his pillow to die of embarassment. (I think the point hit home)

8:00- Upstairs for a check of my email, blogs and whatever. Who knows what anyone else is doing.....Maya has a nasty diaper.....Yell for Ryan for a diaper change and bedtime routine.

And that is my day. Not always like this, but some form of this. Can anyone relate?

Thanks,
Amber

****UPDATE!!!**** So I posted this, but I guess my day is not over.

11:15- Finish a phone call with some old friends!

11:40- BLEHHHH! "Ryan, I think someone is barfing!.......That means we need to get up fast- you know I can't move quickly anymore!" Poor Evan, with tears in his eyes is throwing up the dinner that his dad forced him to eat, cheese sauce and all. Ryan grabs a bowl for him to do another round. Strip bed, strip kid, start bath, start laundry, get carpet cleaning attachment, check on kid in bath, remove brother to another room, spray some air freshener, clean carpets, remove kid from bath, fresh jammies, fresh bowl, and to bed on the floor next to mom and dad. WHEW! The day is done! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Thanks again!

Christmas Pics

Sorry a little delay on the posting of Christmas pictures. We currently do not have a usable digital camera, so that cramps by blogging style (not that I post much anyways). Thanks to Papa J (aka Noodlehogger, aka Ryan's Dad).

We had Ryan's family come and visit, and as always it was full of fun memories, laughs and a few good stories. Portland got socked with a huge snowstorm and luckily we got them in just in time, and they barely got out on their delayed flight. I am sure many of you saw the stories about the Northwest on the national news. So here are a few of the favorites.

My Little Mermaid

So Maya not only looks like me, but I think we are made quite alike. This girl loves to talk, and she LOVES to sing! Her favorite show is "The Little Mermaid." Yesterday I caught her in her room and she was just singing some of the songs from her favorite show. Today she was watching it on my bed. I was busy cleaning the bathroom and was watching her. She was standing up and playing each role as the movie was playing.

My favorite part she played during my sneak peak (all in her cute 2-year-old style)

Ursela: "What I want from you is your VOICE!"

Ariel: "But without my voice, how can I....."

Ursela: "You'll have your looks, your pretty face, and don't underestimate the importance of body language! HAH!"

She saw me in certain parts and said, "Mommy!! Ariel needs to save Prince Eric! OH NO!"

Anyways, I think she is quite entertaining and love to sing along with her. Ryan was giving her a bath last week and Maya was laying back in the tub for her hairwash and she said, "Look daddy! I'm a mernaid (that's how she says it)! Ahhhh, ahhhh, ahhhh, ahhhh." (To the tune of Ariel, of course.) RYan really got a kick out of it.

Connor and Evan are doing great. Here are some funny happenings with them lately.

Evan: "Mom, do you know why the birds in the song are called Three French Hens?"

Mom: "No, Evan. How do you know?"

Evan: "Duh, mom!! They are hens and they speak french!" (All said as a-matter-of-factly!)

Connor does not enjoy Maya and I's talent of singing so much. He got in trouble this week in school for not singing the Christmas song his class has been learning.

Mom: "Why don't you like to sing? You are such a good singer!"

Connor: "Mom......it's so embarrassing! I don't like everyone staring at me!"

All night we kept teasing him and I kept singing his song he is supposed to be practicing- "Rockin' around the Christmas Tree." Hopefully I don't give him a complex.

Thanksgiving Roll Recipe

So here is a recipe that if might want to try for Thanksgiving.....but give yourself some time. As my life has slown down I have tried to become more domestic. This recipe came from my mother-in-laws Blue Lake Ward Cookbook.

2 c. milk
1c. butter (plus)
2 TBSP Yeast
1 c. plus 2 TB sugar

6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp dalt
8 c. flour

Scald milk, then add 1 cup butter. Cool to lukewarm. Add yeast to 1/2 cup lukewarm water plus 2 tablespoons sugar. Set aside. Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup sugar and salt. Add milk and butter mixture and yeast. Add flour and mix well. Dough will be sticky. COVER AND LET RISE 3 TO 4 HOURS! Turn out on WELL FLOURED board and divide into parts. Roll in circle as for pie-rather thin. Spread with butter. Cut in pie shape pieces; roll from large to small end. Put on a greased pan; don't crowd. Let stand till double. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375. Don't overbake.

These rolls are sooooo good, but they do take a long time. I did an experiment this evening. I froze the rolls before letting them rise. (Like Rhoades dough) I took them out this afternoon and they seem to be looking good- starting to puff up nice. We'll see how they taste for dinner, but so far so good!

Halloween Fun!

Okay.....I am sorry for all of you who have been waiting 5 weeks for me to update. SO here are the pic from Halloween. Connor is Batman. Evan is Robin, and Miss Maya is Barney. There is a funny story behind the Barney costume. Connor and Evan decided back in August that Maya had to be Barney for Halloween. Near the end of September we went to Savers in hunt of our costumes. We were digging through the racks and Evan exclaimed ,"Mom!! It's perfect!! I found just the thing for Maya!" He pulled the Barney costume from the hanger and Maya was elated! I loved it because it was only $2.99.

It was a wonderful night trick-or-treating! The weather was very mild and the kids didn't need to wear coats. I stayed at home and handed out candy....not a very fun job if you ask me. There are kids that are polite, and then there are the ones that take a fistfull of candy. Then there are the adults that bring a bag for themselves!!! Who does that? I really got annoyed when it was 5 minutes to 10:00pm and all our lights were off and the doorbell rang. I made Ryan answer the door and he told them we were out of candy and that they needed to head home! Needless to say we weren't happy. Anyways...the kids had 3 days to eat all there candy. Mom and Dad and Uncle Mike helped out a little bit too! :)

Ryan's Obsession at the Zoo

Okay- so we found out that they were feeding the snakes at the zoo. Ryan was dying to see the rattler take down the dead rabbit. No luck today.