Annual Halloween Party

Saturday was our annual Halloween bash. 30 family and friends showed up to help celebrate. We had a potluck dinner where spaghetti was the main course. We had a ton of fun.
Here above you see a huge spiderweb with an egg sack and spiders hanging everywhere. Emma made this and it turned out great. Notice in the family picture, Robert has his mask on backwards, it was just too hot. He was a biker with leather vest and a long mustache. Emma is the skeleton and notice she has a baby skeleton in her tummy. It was great and got a lot of attention. Cosette is a perfect angel and Isaac is a bat.

Here is our pumpkin patch. Rob put it together but the idea was Emma's. We put orange lights inside the milk jugs and colored faces on the outside, then plugged them in and they lite up perfectly. We also put up a few tiki torches to enhance the mood. I love the picture of Isaac because his eyes match his shirt and both stand out very well. This is the one holiday that we throw a party for. All others we go to other peoples parties.

The Family

Very recent picture of our family (Sunday)...whoa that's a big belly!

Isaac and Cosette with their Great Grandparents - Ken and Bev Sewell

We were fortunate enough to find a friend that could do age enhancements on the computer. This is what they came up with for Rob...

Blow Winds, Blow

Church was cancelled today because the power was out at the building. It had been out for quite sometime because while Rob was there helping call people, the emergency backup lights went out. There are few windows in the building and the bathrooms were pitch black.

We have been here at home with the hatches battened down. Fortunately we live far enough from the building that we don't have an electrical issues.

This video clip shows how the wind is gusting. We have 35 mph sustained winds with gusts up to 80 mph. Rob had to maneuver around downed power lines and tree branches on his way to/from the church building.

We took the kids outside to experience the wind for a bit. Neither of them liked it very much.

Pudding Paint

Nicole, Emma's sister, came out Friday to spend the day with the kids and Emma. She brought a fingerpainting activity - Pudding Paint! This is the result of that activity:










Isaac was tentative at first...only putting in a finger. Once we convinced him to taste it, the pudding was gone! He went straight to the bath after this. Cosette was not nearly as messy and we were only going to wash her face and hands. We took off her shirt so the pudding wouldn't spread. When she saw Isaac taking a bath, she wanted one too. She was told that she wasn't dirty enough for a bath. This smart kid takes her pudding hands and puts hand prints up and down her stomach - all for a bath!!

I Just Felt Like Running

A funny thing happened today. I needed to go to the Young's to pick something up in the late afternoon. I told Cosette to get in the van and she told me she wanted to walk. I tried to tell her it was too far to walk (1.5 miles), but she wouldn't hear of it. "All right", I said, "You can walk, but Isaac and I are driving." I opened the garage, put Isaac in his carseat, and asked Cosette which way she was going. She said, "That way," pointing to the right. I said, "Nope, the other way." She was fine with that. I pulled out of the garage and she started to walk down the road. I stayed really slow with her. She started to run. Cosette ran 0.2 mile until I had her get in the car because the streets were too busy. She reluctantly obliged. I just thought is was funny she wanted to run to the Young's. On the way back we stopped at a friends house to drop something off. She ran home from there, 0.3 mile. I guess she walked the last little bit. I asked her if she was tired of running. Her reply was "No, I just want to walk."

Cosette will use Sign Language to bless the food sometimes with the help of Emma. She can do it on her own when she wants to. The other night Isaac started copying the signs that Emma was using to bless the food. He knows quite a few words in sign language but still will mostly grunt and point. Just like his good ol' dad.

Lettuce-Mustard-Ranch Wrap

We had our traditional tacos for Sunday dinner. Cosette first had mac & cheese on her tortilla. When she finished it and realized there wasn't anymore mac & cheese (Isaac had eaten ALL of it.) She grabbed another tortilla and puts lettuce on it. Then she starts looking around the table and says, "I need something else on my tortilla." Emma suggested mustard and "dip dip" (Ranch dressing). She went and took them out of the refrigerator and garage. Rob helped her spread them on. Cosette then happily started eating her wrap. About half way through, she started to chew and swallow with her head on her arm. This picture was taken about 3 bites later. So funny!! This picture will prove that she eats mustard with EVERYTHING!!

After Emma made brownies, Cosette took it upon herself to lick the bowl. She was serious when she said she was going to lick it!

I made Swedish rice for Young Women's Tuesday night. When we went to the
store looking for half & half, Cosette immediately thought it was her "little milk". I only needed a cup of the stuff, but there were two cups in the container. After I got what I needed, Cosette begged me for her "little milk". "Fine," I said as I handed the container to her with a straw. She and Isaac took turns slurping the half and half. Rob was totally grossed out by it. I thought it was quite funny. It's definitely a picture for the ages!!

I Said So!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W95Y8hNQiH8 (The actual video...WATCH IT!!)

Anita Renfroe: Lyrics to her YouTube William Tell Mom song! on Squidoo

Here are the lyrics to that great song on YouTube!! Cosette will sing the last part to us, "Because, Because, Because, Because, I said so! I said so!"



These are the new found talents of the kids. Isaac likes to ride his horse bareback and Cosette stands on her head.

Yogurt

Isaac is showing off his ability to dress himself...in yogurt. He loves the stuff and is not afraid to ask for it.

When he gets done eating he will wiggle one hand in the air. It is a sign in ASL that means "all done" or "finished." He uses it to mean I am done sitting here and would like to take my food to another place on the floor please.

Projects

Cosette was snacking on peanut butter and something. Rob was in the kitchen with the kids. When I came in, Isaac was sitting on the table taking out handfulls of peanut butter and stuffing them in his mouth as fast as he could. (If you click on the picture you can enlarge it to see the full effect.)

This collection of pictures is to show several things at once. For those that want to know how I look 9 months pregnant...there you go. Poor Cosette has to crane her neck to give me a hug.

Because of my "present condition", I was having a hard time doing the laundry. Reaching into the neather reaches of the washer/dryer was getting more and more difficult. My handy husband took pity to my plight and built me this platform for the washer and dryer. No more bending over for me!! Thanks honey!

And lastly, my laundry sorter is in the left hand corner of the picture. I made it with PVC pipe and laundry bags. Now I can sort into three piles. I do a load when the bag gets full. Rob had to help me though, my brain cells are being syphoned to the baby and I don't have many left.

Break In

My Camry was broken into last night. Like before they only wanted my bag and jacket that were in the car. They left the Cd's and books on tape. The bag was a leather flip top brief case with all my church stuff in it, including scriptures. The jacket was a one year gift from the company I work for called Sorenson Communications. It was just a fleece jacket that I liked. Well I called the police they came out and took a statement and then I had my window repaired, all within a few hours. I went to work and after that was working on another home improvement project when the first counselor in the bishopric called and asked if I had lost anything. I said yes, my mind, but other than that a few things were stolen out of my car. He said he had the church bag with everything inside. Whoever stole it threw it in their neighbors yard a few doors down. The neighbor looked inside and saw a book of Mormon and knew they were LDS so she brought it to them and said "your Mormon, right?" they said yes and immediately recognized it as my bag. I guess whoever took it had a conscience after all and couldn't keep the most valuable thing in the car. They kept the jacket though. I hope tomorrow someone leaves my jacket on the doorstep with the $200 it cost me to repair the window. The lat time this happened? 7 years ago with my truck in Granada Hills. Welcome to California!

Kidlettes

Cosette decided she didn't need a full fledged bath...washing her feet in the sink would do. Isaac would never take that as an option. He loves getting in the bath and dumping water on himself. If he could have the faucet on forever, I seriously doubt he would ever get out.

Cosette and Isaac had their first dentist exams today. They did really well. Cosette liked wearing the sunglasses to keep the bright lights out of her eyes.

New Callings

Well as most of you know, Rob was called into the Bishopric as the 2nd couselor over the Youth and music and building facilities as well as a few other things. He is already tired becasue just before he was called he picked up a 2nd job (just for the heck of it). So now he works 8 hours a day 6 days a week until Dec 4th then add in his callings in the evenings and on Sunday and it makes for a BUSY man. Lucky for him he still gets to see the family and after Dec 4th the2nd job wil end and his life will slow down again. He was able to finish the porch project as well as all other small projects before he started his new ife of a crazy man. So if you don't hear from him for a while rest assured that he is still alive and kicking.

The Finished Product

Here is the finished patio. The kids helped decorate the last row of stones. Cosette says over and over, "Thanks for making my rocks, Daddy!"

No Bake Cookies

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Building adventure

Rob has decided to add a cobble stone patio to our backyard. It is an area that is just a dirt patch with no water and the kids just roll around in the dirt. So this will become an area to put the kids play castle, and when we have company we will bring out the fire bowl and roast marshmallows around the campfire. We will post pictures on its progress and pray it turns out like we hope.

Oh, we almost forgot to tell you the cobble stones are made out of concrete. Rob pours concrete into a form that we bought and levels it out using a trowel. The form is called "walkmaker" you can do a Google search and find it.

Family Home Evening

We had the whole family over for Family Home Evening on Sunday (Mom, Dad, Larry-Kaylene-Mira, Alan & Nicole). This turned out to be the second activity of the night. Cosette began giving massages to everyone. At one point she started at Nicole's feet and walked all the way over to Larry's feet. Her favorite thing was jumping from back to back.

Dancing Cosette

Cosette has been attending dance class for a while now and loves every minute of it. She is getting better and sometimes will perform on demand and sometimes will not stop performing on demand. One thing we really try to prevent her from doing is dancing in sacrament meeting during the hymns. I admit it is cute but very inappropriate. She shakes her hips with her hands on her hips and sometimes says "shake your bootie." We are not sure where she got that from but it is funny.
Isaac has started to chase Cosette around the house and randomly gives hugs on the leg that is closest to him regardless of who it is. He just smiles and says "hi dad" then gives a big hug. He does not have a mean bone in his body (yet). He is getting big enough that Cosette can't push him around so easily anymore. He now attackes her right back with a grin that scares all meaness away. he closes doors for you and will even wait till you get inside before closing the door. If the refrigerator alarm is dinging then he will go and close it even if you are trying to get something out of it. He just knows it means it's time to close the door.

Wow we sure have a good time here.

Learning Curve

It's amazing how fast kids learn and pick up on things. Isaac is 15 months old and grunts. The only words he kind of says are "thank you" and "please" (very important words of course). However, this morning after we were done with breakfast, he signed that he was "all done". Emma let him out of his high chair and he immediately took his bowl and threw it in sink. Nobody had said anything to him. She then gave him his fork and that went in the sink as well. After his diaper is changed, he takes his diaper and puts that in the trash can. He's so much fun.

The Castle

This screen was called the "castle". The little kids enjoyed eating meals in there, away from the flies and yellow jackets.