“So Cute It’s Scary”

Happy Halloween from our house to yours!

Keri, our fairy princess.

Cory, our firefighter … or “firefire” as he says it.

Eli, our little “so cute its scary” ghost.

Family photo from the annual Trunk-or-Treat party.

Our itty bitty mess free candy pumpkins.

Our kids giggling up a storm as they say, “Chicken boogers!”

Happy Halloween!

Reasons To Celebrate

Soccer season is coming to an end.  As much as Keri and I have loved it, it will be nice to have more down time on our hands.

445 posts later, with nearly 238,000 views and just under 8,800 comments this here blog is celebrating its 2 year mark on the 24th of October.

I am so glad I took the plunge two years ago to start writing on this site.  The friendships it has brought my way and the relationships with “real life” friends and family members it has strengthened have been a blessing in my life.

And of course I can’t forget to mention that blogging is also an excellent and cheap form of therapy for me.  Now I just need to find more time so I can start posting “regularly” again.

One of the biggest reasons of all to celebrate is Cory is finally … yes, F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. potty trained!

He is even staying dry at night. (But don’t get me started about how he wakes up at 5 in the morning to use the bathroom and then refuses to go back to bed.  Baby steps here.)  He has been working really hard on this big boy feat for the last 2 weeks.  He has received many lollipops and hot wheel cars as incentives and every single penny we spent on these rewards was worth it.  Let’s all breathe a big, collective sigh of relief and hope this new ability of his only continues to get better.

And you can’t post pictures of the other two kids without posting a shot of this little one.

Thank goodness he is cute, because his lack of sleeping long stretches at night is driving me a bit batty.

(And I apologize to the 300+ posts I have neglected to read while I have been out of town at my grandpa’s funeral.  I am slowly making my way through my feed reader … slowly, but surely.  Thanks for the patience .)

My Grandfather’s Funeral and Some October Activities

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend my Grandpa’s funeral in Southern California. Even though I am 32 years old, I had never been to funeral before.  I found it fitting that the first one I ever went to was so meaningful and tender. 

Of course many tears were shed by those in attendance, but we were all grateful that my grandfather was able to live such a full and complete life and that he is in a better place now for I know his spirit still lives.  He was just a few months shy of turning 90 when he peacefully slipped away.  My grandpa was always a very goal oriented kind of person and his goal was  to live until he was 90.  He basically made it to that major milestone.

I readily enjoyed hearing the memories and stories which were shared by the speakers.  Most of the thoughts shared were rather enlightening, some were even quite humorful.  The thoughts shared just further demonstrated the quiet wisdom my grandfather possessed. 

He was truly an exemplary teacher.  It was obvious that many, many people were touched and changed by the things he said and simply by the way he conducted his day to day life.   He was a kind hearted soul who never passed judgement upon any.

My grandfather left a remarkable legacy and I am grateful to be a part of his heritage.  His passing away has sparked within me an even stronger desire to get to know my ancestors better and to bring about honor to all of their names.

I am grateful my husband was so willing to watch Cory and Keri for a week while Eli and I were able to fly to my parent’s home.  Cory even got the stomach flu while I was away, yet Rudy still kept his head up and lovingly took care of him.

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And on a completely separate note, I wanted to re-share a few fun and easy Fall and Halloween activities.  I have posted about these before, but I thought I would briefly mention them again.

Mess Free Pumpkins are always a hit with the kids.  It is a great alternative to carving pumpkins, and the kids enjoy munching on the candy while they create their masterpiece.

Kids also get a kick out of making these egg carton spiders, especially little boys who adore creepy, crawly things.

And no Autumn season is complete without baking and indulging in Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread.  I made some while on this trip to California and it was inhaled rather quickly.

And lastly, this simple Fall Centerpiece will always brighten up a room.

Happy October!

My Grandpa Has Moved On

**My grandpa with Cory when he was four months old.**

My Grandpa, my Dad’s father, is one of the wisest men I ever knew.  Not only was he wise, but he was gentle and tender.

He was humble and kind.  He would give a stranger the shirt off his back.

He was a champion of optimism and hope.  He understood what it truly meant to be Christlike.

I am going to miss him dearly.  He was supposed to meet Eli in December.  He was supposed to stand in the circle for Eli’s baby blessing.  After all, Eli’s middle name was given to him so he could continue on the legacy of my Grandpa and my father … and thankfully my father is still with us.

I am grateful that I was able to grow up with my grandfather always around.

I remember going to UCLA Basketball games with him. He always brought a bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips for us to snack on.  I remember getting together with him for all the major holidays and other special occasions.  His hamburgers and punch were always a hit.  I remember seeing old slides of him and wondering who in the world was that man who had black hair who looked like Grandpa?  It was fun to see pictures of him when he was younger.

I remember him singing songs to me when I was little.  I remember his unique sense of humor, quiet yet witty.  I remember him trying to cheer me up when I was sad.  I remember him sharing his testimony of Christ with me.

And I will always remember the last conversation I had with him.  He called me right after Eli was born to let me know he was honored that I had named our precious son after him.  He told me how excited he was to meet him.  He told me he wanted to be a part of his blessing circle.  I know he will be with us in spirit.

I am grateful that he won’t be suffering in this world anymore. I am grateful he is in a better place now.  I just want to live my life well enough so that one day I can be with him again.

We will be an eternal family.

My tears right now are sad tears because I am going to miss him.

But they are also happy tears because I know he isn’t in pain anymore.

They are also tears of gratitude, because I am thankful for the amazing and remarkable life he led.  He was a shining example to me, one of my beacons, one of my anchors.  He will always be these things for me.

Grandpa, I will never forget you.

I love you!

Three Months Old

It’s really hard for me to believe that little Eli has already been with us for 3 months.  Crazy, huh?

He is just barely learning how to giggle and it is like music to my ears.  He had his first, real full-blown laugh a week ago on the second of October.  I was strapping him in his car seat when he decided to spit up all over.  I unlatched him so I could clean him off, and while I was gently wiping his face he just started giggling.

Very random, but oh so precious.  It was sweet and angelic and made me so happy to be a mother.

I was sad no one was around to hear his first laugh, but I emailed Rudy to tell him all about it.  This is what Rudy emailed back to me:

I really wish that I could have heard it. I think I almost got a little misty eyed when I read about it.  I can picture it, but I’m not sure I can imagine exactly how it sounded.

Even though having a third child has been quite challenging at times … although now that three months have passed things are starting to go more smoothly … I am absolutely in love with having a newborn in the home again.

Eli is so good-natured and easy going.  He has a very cheerful disposition. He loves to greet you with a smile when you pick him up in the morning.  Now if we can only get him to start going longer stretches at night without having to eat.  Then life would truly be grand … well, at least I would be less sleep deprived.

At least when I nurse Eli I can close my eyes for a few minutes and rest.  And if I don’t do that, at least it is calming to look outside and take in all the beautiful Autumn sights that surround me.

**The view which I see from the sliding glass door while feeding Eli.**

Becoming More Childlike

During the most recent General Conference meeting which our Church held, my seven year old daughter, Keri, diligently took notes.  Did we ask her to do so?  No.  She made this decision all on her own.

Not only did she take notes on what the leaders had to say, but she also wrote down some of her own personal thoughts which she later shared with Rudy and me.

Choose the right.

Read the scriptures.

Follow the prophet every day.

Be nice to everybody.

Love other people.

If you want to do something fun but you have to do something else that is not fun, go and do it.

Be happy.

When somebody does something nice to you say thank you.

Be thankful.

Forgive other people.

Trust Jesus.

Don’t tell lies.

If somebody does something nice to you do something nice to them.

Teach the gospel to other people.

If you’re tempted to do something wrong don’t do it.

If you do something bad to someone say sorry.

If someone gets hurt go and help them even if you don’t know them.

If you want something and your mom says no don’t get mad.

If you need to be quiet but you want to be loud be quiet.

Don’t yell at other people.

Be a good example.

Keep a promise.

Be cheerful.

If you are at a place that you really like and somebody says that you need to go home don’t get mad.

Listen to Jesus.

Sometime go to the Temple.

Jesus loves us and Heavenly Father does too.

Have faith.

When you get a present say thank you.

There is so much I can learn from this sweet and precious child of mine.  She has such a deep and abiding testimony which inspires me to want to be a better mother to her and her siblings.

A few of the thoughts she shared also shed some light on things I need to change about my parenting behavior.  For example, I need to learn to not to shush my kids so often and I need to learn to find more ways to say “yes” to them.

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And on a completely separate note, many people are asking me how Cory’s haircut went.  It was a raging success!  Cory even allowed them to use clippers in the beginning.  That in and of itself amazed me.

For the most part Cory sat still, ate his Skittles and watched the show they put on for him.  Of course he got a little fidgety towards the end, but then the hair stylist gave him the blow dryer to play with while she finished up and that kept him distracted.

**Cory sporting his new short look … extra short so we don’t have to get it cut for awhile.**

Since he did so well on his haircutting adventure, afterwards we went to the toy store so he could pick out a new $0.99 Matchbox police car.  Of course that is what he is clutching in his hand in the picture.

It’s All In My Head

I have written a myriad of blog posts lately.

Posts about joy and creating and remembering and looking up.  Posts about dentists visits and traffic circles and books I’ve read and how even police officers in their squad cars talk on their cell phones without a hands free device when it is supposedly illegal.

Too bad these posts are all in my head.

Lately it has been so difficult to find any time … at least any time that consists of more than 30 seconds here and 30 seconds there … to sit down at the computer and hammer out a post.

Why not, you might ask?  Because I have been trying to spend more quality time with my kids, trying to enjoy the here and the now with them.

And if I have not been doing that, I have been attempting to catch up on sleep, or going to the gym, or managing the ins and outs of our household.

One of those household items is getting Cory’s hair cut.   I am finally taking him to get his shaggy mane tamed.

He hates haircuts.

With a passion.

A very strong and stubborn passion.

He won’t allow any clippers near his head and neither will he allow a squirt bottle to be used.  Unfortunately that makes for a really long time spent with the hair stylist.  I better take enough Skittles to bribe him with so he will hold still long enough.

**Cory proudly showing off his art work.**

**Cory just recently started drawing cars and people.  Cute, huh?**

**Don’t you love the length of his mop?  Especially the sides?**