Halloween

Halloween at our house is an all day adventure. We try to visit as many of the grandparents that we can through out the day and then do the usual trick-or-treating at night. We started out by going to Great Grandpa Prigmores and by going with my sister Susan it makes it easier for me with 3 kids per adult. James always decorates for the holidays and has things for the kids to see, and they love to play with Kismet the black cat and Bernerd the brown cat. After their fill of treats the sugar kicked in and it was time to go.

Next was to Great G&G Kimber. I was very surprised that they would sit still after all the cookies and pop they had just had, but they sat very quickly for the picture so they could get one of grandmas cookies. Again with more sugar and nap time approaching they were restless and it was time to move on.

I have to say sorry to my mom that we didn't make it up to the U this year, but it would have been miserable if they would have missed nap time, and they could not hold still from all the treats.

After our lunch and naps it was time to go again. We were off to my aunt Janet's house where they had decorated their garage and had hot dogs, cotton candy and root beer for their trick-or-treaters. My kids were just excited to be outside. I don't ever remember a Halloween so warm that we didn't even need jackets! Needless to say much more sugar was consumed there, especially by Conner who quickly learned how to use the drink cooler and was helping himself to all the root beer he could dream of. When it was getting dark it was off to grandma Brown's house for pictures. While doing pictures Conner started throwing the little pumpkins like they were basketballs and would laugh as they bounced. We finally made it home for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Conner was so mad that he was not able to go with them and then he was even more upset that he couldn't have the bowl of candy that we were handing out. When I took off his costume his onesie was brown from all the root beer he had spilled on himself. As you can see we played costume shuffle this year. Adalee was the pirate for this night and Kaden was Batman for the beginning half and Spiderman for trick-or-treating. It is a good thing that they don't grow very fast and can fit into their old costumes.

My Bathtub

So we are trying to get the house clean today for Tim and Adalee is trying to help out. She got into the cleaner that hurts your skin and tried to clean the counters so I told her to go wash her hands. Well as I am cleaning that up I realized the water had been running the whole time and she starts crying saying that she needs a towel. I tell her they are under the sink and she says that she needs a bigger one so I go to see what is wrong and there is water every where. Counter, sink, floor, cabinets, drawers are full and all the towels are wet. I asked her what she was doing and she said " I was making me a bath tub mom".

Happy Birthday Boys!!

Six years ago today I gave birth to a 9lb 1oz baby boy who was born on his father and grandfathers birthday. He looked just like Talmage at first, but now has his own look. (We really need to get a scanner)When the doctor pulled him out he said he was a buba because he was so big, but by the age of one he had to be put on a high fat diet because he was so little. He has been my thumb sucker from the very beginning. Even in the ultrasound you can see him sucking his thumb. He has his three blankets that he has had from day one yellow, white, and blue(his favorite, which is funny seems how his favorite color is red.) Kaden is full of personality and adds so much to our family. Look how young Tim looks!

Today we went to the shop where they were having a BBQ for the company. I was going to make their cakes, but my lovely children decided to eat all the Twinkies that I needed to finish of the cakes, so we bought one but mom had already had one so we saved it for the dinner. Kaden was able to open some of his presents there and he got all Lego's for the toys (which Talmage and Kaden got up at 4am to put them together) and Tim's mom forgot and gave him the same shirt that she got him for school. It works out good because he always wants to wear red so it never hurts to have another one.

Grandpa like to play with his toys, so he took the kids for a ride on the fork lift. Sometimes it gets high centered and needs assistance to get out. Crystal went to help and in the process got her toes ran over by the machine OUCH!!!! Later that night we went to Tim's favorite place to eat Wingers with his whole family. We were late to dinner because Kaden couldn't wait to open his presents, so we got stuck on the end of the row. I can't believe how big the family is getting, when we first got married there was 7 and now there is 15 soon to be 16!

I always catch mom when she is eating, sorry.

We brought the cake for desert, but when they found out it was their birthdays they got asphalt pie too!! Kaden was loving it. When you tell people about their birthdays it always starts out as "I know you wont believe this, but.." especially when you are at restaurant getting free deserts. The decorations on the cake turned out to be whistles and rings so the kids enjoyed annoying us with those for the rest of the night. And here is his twin, they even got dresses in the same colors(not on purpose). I know I say that a lot, but it is so true in personality, looks, the way they suck their thumbs the same, it really amazes me how much they are alike. Hope you had a good day guys HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, TIM, AND KADEN!

I thought that was toys--Adalee

So I wake up to find out that my lovely daughter decided not to sleep very long last night. Instead she got into the first aid kit and tore, cut or used almost everything in there. Oh what fun it is to search carefully for all the medicine that was thrown out and count every piece to make sure that Conner did not eat it for candy, or to have the good pieces she left alone covered in ointment (along with what ever else she touched.)Hopefully I got all the little balls out of her bed, from the cold compress that she cut open, so she will sleep well tonight all because she thought they were toys. Oh the joys of motherhood.

Trunk-or-Treat

We have had a hard time deciding on our costumes for this year, but thanks to Tim's mom we finally got it together. Talmage and Kaden were ewoks- the same costumes that Tim and Rodger wore when they were little- but we will have to see if they will be the same one on Halloween night. Adalee was the angel again, but will be a pirate for Halloween. Conner was the frog-the same one Kaden wore when he was 3. Conner woke up from his nap right before we left and Talmage went in to get him out of the crib, I have never herd him scream like that before. He wouldn't let Talmage even look at him or be near him while he had the make-up on his face.

Tim took the other kids went around Conner sat at the car with me to hand out the candy and he would get mad when the kids would take it because he thought the bowl was his. Once he got his sucker he was happy and didn't really care anymore.



This was a really good picture of Kaden and Conner. Kaden it getting to the age where they start the awkward smiles so you have to cherish the good ones.Kaden didn't get to have the make-up because he just barely made it back from the BYU game with Tim. It worked out OK so that Conner had someone he would be with. Notice how Talmage is far enough in front that Conner can't see his face.
I never realized how hard it is to get one good picture with everyone looking the same direction and all smiling. I will take what ever I can get anymore. These are the moments I love to remember.

Squeez'n in

Adalee loves to dress up and found the old Halloween costumes and got into the baby one. This is the one that Ben wore when he was 6 months old.

Haunted Marshmallows

I took this marshmallow out of the bag and thought that my kids had poked holes into it to make a face on it, but as I looked through the bag they all had holes in the ends of them. This one just ended up looking like a ghost!

Trip to Nebraska

Over UEA holiday I was able to see my life long friend Paula. She moved out to Nebraska to go to dental school and we don't get to see each other enough. When she picked me up at the airport we went to her school and saw where she had been for the last two years of her life. I have never see so many dentist chairs in my life in this single room. This picture only shows a fourth of the room. It was almost creepy like in a bad dream everywhere you look there are dentist drills coming after you.

Anyway, we went on our way and saw where they have the NCAA world series and onto her home.

This is Jacob her little boy and he was so cute. I was staying in their basement and he would open the door and yell "Annie where are you, I love you" and then he would come down and visit me.

Paula is so good at making people feel welcome, she had my room like a hotel with chocolates on the pillow and a basket of things I could use while I was there, so sweet!

On Saturday she surprised me with a facial and massage which was a very nice change from the normal life. ( I need to visit more often)

It was fun for me because we got to go to a whole bunch of places that I have never been. This was at a really good Italian restaurant, but I can't remember the name.

We were able to go to Winter Quarters and see the cemetery, temple and visitors center. It was really cool to see everything that was there. The temple had some really amazing stained glass windows. The head stones at the cemetery were so old that they were worn down and really hard to read. On the bottom of most of them they listed their age with how many years, months and days they lived. It never really accrued to me until that point that most of those people who died were my age or younger. As a kid you hear the stories of the people that lived back then so you picture them as older, but as I get older the standard for old gets older too. I could not imagine what it would have been like to have gone through that.

I was amazed at the detail that they put into the head stone, but they were also the people who came to the valley and carved the stone for the Salt Lake Temple.

Scarecrow Festival

So Tim would not take the kids by himself to the scarecrow festival so Jessie and I did, but I forgot my camera. The kids had a great time with all the games and activities. There was a baseball throw to clock how fast you throw it. Well Talmage went and he got 23 for the fastest ball, then Kaden went and got 24. That was not good enough for Talmage, he was not going to let his little brother beat him so he stayed at that station until he got a 25. Oh, the joys of sibling rivalry. There was also a rocket launch that they loved!! they spent a half hour just launching and chasing the rockets, how I wish I would have remembered my camera. There were tons of blow up slides and jump houses and a large tent where they won their vampire teeth. As you can tell, Talmage was not too thrilled to have is pictures done after we got home.

Talmage's Baptism

We were hoping that the weather would hold out for this day so that we could have everyone outside for breakfast, but it didn't agree with us. Just like the day we brought him home from the hospital it was the first snow fall of the year.

It turned out to be a really nice day just to visit with the family. The baptism could have gone better. Our stake has 14 wards and trying to squeeze all of them in the morning made it a tight schedule. Our ward had 3 baptisms and it was the biggest group of family they have had yet, so when we all went down to the font it was very squishy in the room. There were so many kids piled in front some people didn't even get to see him be baptised. With his confirmation they didn't have a microphone so it was hard to hear, but to see the smile on T's face and feeling the spirit so strong made it be a great day. I had Shannon come and take pictures after because I am always the one taking them and not in them so here are some of those that had to leave.

After everyone came over for breakfast and visited for a while. Later that day Tim took Talmage to the BYU game to finish off his day. With the weather we were not able to get our outside shot of the family so this will have to do until spring. At least all the kids are in this one.

What really impressed me was on Sunday Talmage was very excited the whole sacrament meeting, very antsy to get up and bear his testimony. So simple and pure and very nervous to do so, but he did it. These are the days that make it all worth it!

My Friends Favorites

Last night at dance we were reminiscing about their favorite stories that they have heard about my kids and told me I should write them down so here they are.

Super glue-- (I wish I would have taken pictures, but in the heat of the moment we had to move fast to get it cleaned up.) Kaden and Adalee were playing downstairs, or so I thought, and when I came down Adalee was hiding her hands and Kaden was doing the scramble to hide something. I could smell the glue and grabbed her hands, her fingers were stuck together and they would not come apart. I go to pick her up to try to wash some of it off and her clothes had been glued to her body so she couldn't move from the sitting position. If you tried to move the clothes would just break. It was horrible to peel the clothes off of her, she has sensitive skin and it just peeled off with them. It made my heart ache. You may be asking at this point why it was not put away high or in a safe spot, well no spot in my house is safe!! I have smart monkey children that I find on the top shelf of the pantry or the closet and they know how to open anything. Childproof things in my house last, at most 5 min before they have figured out how it works, or how to get around it. Anyway it took over a month for the glue to come off of her skin and it was a daily reminder for Kaden not to super glue anyone again.

Stitches-- This past summer Conner has learned how to do stairs so the gate is gone. Adalee and Conner were playing in the living room close by the stairs and he got bumped. When I saw him go I dove to the rescue, like any mother would, and stopped him at the first step. Low and behold I wasn't paying attention to where I dove and ended up sliding my knee into the metal bar that holds the carpet to our tile. Luckily Tim was home, but when he looked at he didn't think that they could stitch it up because it was wide and flat, like the bar. Well I ended up with 3 layers, 28 stitches total. At least my scar has a good story behind it.

Syrup--We were getting ready for Conner's blessing and I had just about finished cleaning the house and went to feed the baby. Well my kids have this sensor in their bodies as soon as I sit down to feed the baby they are off into anything they are not supposed to. Thinking all is well, ha ha ha, I suddenly hear "sticky, sticky, sticky" and " Hey Adalee, put it over here" stuck in my spot for a few more minutes I about died when I started walking down the hall and my feet were getting very stick. Adalee, with the encouragement of Kaden, had spread a Costco size syrup bottle all over the house. Carpet, furniture, themselves and not nice big puddles but small trails EVERYWHERE . I was still trying to recover from the c-section so I couldn't do much so thanks to help of my family we got the carpets cleaned and for about a week after we were still finding places that the syrup had been poured.

Hair cut- Adalee decided that she needed to take her hair styling into her own hands and cut herself some bangs. Well that wasn't too bad because she still had enough to pull into a pony tail so I thought that it would be all. About a week later we are sitting at the kitchen table and Adalee gives Talmage a hand full of hair because she didn't want me to know that she cut her hair again. At the time I couldn't see where it had been cut but as she ran away down the hall more hair was falling out. She cut out big chunk out of the back so I attempted to fix the multi layered cut that she styled. We are still to this day trying to grow it out again, but she just likes to take matters into her own hands!

Before-with her bang job

Her hair cutting job.

After

My Twins (four years apart)

So we were looking at pictures of Kaden to do his spotlite week at school and I am amazed at how much him and Conner look identical. We all knew that they looked alike, but it is to so close that if they were not already in a book, only the surroundings would be a clue as to who was who.
Do you know who is who?