This is her favorite spot.

Really child?

(November 3rd)

So I was trying to take a really cute picture of my kids in the bathtub, like every one else has. Well, this is what I ended up with…

Yah, not one where both of them would look at me. I was also trying to make sure nothing would be revealed in the photo. So this picture pretty much sums them up…

Jameson being silly, and Ella has something in her mouth. I never really had the battle with Jameson. He didn’t put stuff in his mouth… except your toes. Ella goes after everything, and it all ends up in her mouth.

Jameson’s new favorite thing is to take pictures of Ella. So I download pictures, and it’s always a surprise to what I’ll find. Like these…

Isn’t she such a great model for him?

That night as we were eating dinner, I looked out the window, only to see the biggest spider. It had crawled up the inside of the screen and was between the screen and the door. So Jameson informed Dad, they needed to kill it. I totally agreed. He told Dad to go get his special spray. So Dad went and got his can of air. First things first, Dad sprayed it and froze it. Then it was examined.

Jameson agrees with Mom. We don’t touch spiders. So Dad decided he would.

Once the spider was on the ground, Jameson took action. He stomped on that thing so hard, and he was so proud.

He was kind enough to wipe his shoes before coming back in the house. And that, my friends, is what happens to spiders that come to our house!

I’m a little behind, but on November 1st, Ella hit 8 months old. That morning when she woke up, I went in to get her. I was greeted by this sight…

Yes, that’s right. She was standing in her crib. If Jameson wakes up before her, I usually find both of them in the crib. She loves it. Please don’t judge me and the fact that my little girls sleeps in blue and trains. Also, after 8 months, I finally ordered her bedding, and I hope I can have her room put together by Christmas. The bedding is on back order so it might take till then.

Anyway, our mornings usually go as follows. The kids wake up within 10 minutes of each other. If Jameson is up first, he beats me into Ella’s room. She now stands in her crib and shakes the side so it squeaks, until I come in. Jameson climbs in the crib, and tries to stand on the two rails while Ella laughs at him. One day, the crib is going to break.

So Ella is 8 months old now. There are a few things she’s conquered since the first of the month, but I will do my update as of today.

• She is fully crawling, and getting pretty quick. She loves to come find you, and especially loves to bang the cupboard door in the bathroom. She loves getting into Jameson’s room, and follows me around the kitchen hoping I’ll drop something I’m cooking.
• She can now pull herself up and stand at anything. She can’t quite get down yet. She still kind of lets go and falls. Once in a while she yells for help. Mostly when her feet are too far apart, and she’s stuck.
• She loves food. She will cry crocodile tears if you don’t share. Story to follow…
• She can now hold her own bottle. You still have to watch her, because when there’s about an ounce left, she’ll play with the bottle and get milk everywhere.
• She is sleeping from between 7-8 pm till 7-8 am. (Except this week with daylight savings. Didn’t save me any sleep!)
• She can grab her puffs and put them in her mouth. (Open her hand and put the puff in.)
• She thinks Jameson is the funniest person alive.
• She is starting to reach for you to pick her up. Love it!
• Ella is definitely hitting the attachment stage. She goes to other people, but only on her terms. You can’t take her from us or she wants to come right back. But, if she crawls to you, it’s fair game.
• She loves to play with her binki. She will pull it out, flip it around, and put it back in herself. She won’t really take it, unless she’s tired.
• She weighs about 20 lbs.
• She is eating real food in small pieces.
• Her favorite is to crawl to the front door and eat the leaves that have been tracked in
• She loves to sing. At church, as soon as the organ starts, she gets so excited and starts yelling.

So one night Kevin had some ice cream. She crawled to him so he let her have a taste. After about 2-3 taste, he looked at her and said, That’s enough.” Then set his ice cream down on the other side of him. She immediately started to cry with huge crocodile tears! At first, we didn’t think that could really be in reaction to him telling her no more. So he gave her a little bit more, and the tears turned off. We started laughing. He set the cup down, and they immediately were back. It was so funny, but her cry was so sad.

A little bit later, we were at playgroup. I was sitting by the table with the food (we were having our Halloween treats that day). I gave her an apple to gnaw on. While she gnawed on that, I grabbed a wheat thin to eat. She dropped her apple, and started crying those crocodile tears. Everyone turned to look what was wrong as I popped the wheat thin in my mouth. Ella gave me the most devastating look. So, I gave her her apple back. That was not good enough. So I gave her a cracker. You would think she would start by sucking on it. Not my daughter. She shoved that whole wheat thin in her mouth, and then gagged on it. I had to do the finger swoop to get it out, but then she cried even harder. So I got another one, and I tried to hold it so she could suck on it. Nope. She got a hold of it and shoved that one in her mouth. So, I once again removed the cracker, and we left the table. She cried so hard, everyone was laughing. They couldn’t believe at such an early age she was so demanding of food and knew what it was.

So that’s Ella. Jameson on the other hand, has decided naps are no longer needed. Now, I frequently find him like this around 5 pm.

Great.

Saturday, Josh and Steph headed off on their own to explore. We went to our previous ward’s Halloween party that night. We got the kids already to go, and even got some pictures before we left. (See that bowl of candy? That is what they got on Friday!) Trying to get them both to look at the same time was a joke.

Here is what our pumpkin turned out to look like. I had to dump the rain water out of him, because he had already been outside. Kind of gross.

It didn’t last long before the lion was on the move.

She was also being bated with candy. Like I have said before. She will do anything for food, and she knows what food is.

That night at the ward party, the kids found their twins.

(The lion cubs are 6 months apart. Cute little girls, right?)

Friday, we had decided to go trick-or-treating with some friends at the Microsoft game studios. We were supposed to meet them at 3. I started to get Jameson into his costume, and he freaked out. I mean tantrum on the floor. So I held him as best I could, dressed him, and strapped him in his carseat as fast as I could. I even had to cinch it down extra tight. As he was kicking and screaming, Josh offered to stay home with him. Normally, that would have been great, but Jameson had no idea what he was missing, therefore, it would be a reward for him to stay home. Instead, he cried almost the whole way there. As soon as he saw his friends in costumes, he calmed down a little. Then, once he saw the point of dressing up, he was all for it. He even let me put his arms back in and the hood on. We entered the building, and the older kids ran from office to office getting candy. I didn’t realize my flash was not on, so all my pictures are blurry.

He was so excited, and now is willing to put on his costume whenever I ask. I made sure if the employee was in their office he earned his candy. He would go into the office and tell them, “To infinity and beyond!” Or, he would tell them, “I’m Buzz Lightyear. I come in peace.” Followed by a, “Thay-do” (Thank you). One guy told us that was the best thing all day. (He got the second phrase.) I had to tell most of them what he was saying. Not only did he have his costume on, he had his Buzz shoes on that light up, and say both those phrases. When did shoes start talking? I have no idea, but we own a pair that do.

After the first building, we had to empty the kids buckets, and start fresh for the second building. We ended up with 4 full buckets of candy. Steph was gracious enough to hall the candy in her purse. I had to carry the 20 lb. lion cub. Josh was interested in all the offices, and different things around the offices. Honestly, I did not buy a single bag of candy this year.Whenever we passed out candy, we used the candy the kids got, and I still have a full bowl.

October was a month of visitors for us. October 8-12th we had Scott staying with us. He came up to do some motorcycle riding with Kevin. They got a few rides in before one bike got a flat. They dropped it off Monday morning to get fixed. The business wasn’t open yet; they didn’t open till 10 am. So the boys returned home. They soon found they were not being called by the repair shop. Upon further investigation, they realized they didn’t open till 10 am Tuesday morning. They had dropped the key in the box, so they couldn’t even take the bike to another shop. I kind of think it was a good thing, because they were both getting sick. They didn’t need to be riding in the cold.

The following weekend, my dad came for a visit. Dad left Sunday, the 17th, and by Wednesday, the 20th, we had new visitors. Josh and Steph (Kevin’s sister) came to see us. Jameson was so excited. Kevin picked them up on his way home from work. Thursday morning, they relaxed while I took the kids to our playgroup. Jameson would not wear his Buzz Lightyear costume, but would wear Ella’s costume. She was a pretty dang cute lion. She has even started growling to go with the costume.

After playgroup, we came home to pick up Josh and Steph. I took them to my favorite bagel place here, Blazin’ Bagels. It’s delicious. They thoroughly enjoyed it, too. After, I showed them around town, we stopped by the mall. We let Jameson get some energy out on the boats (the play area), and then came home. That night, we took on the task of carving our pumpkin. They picked out a face, and Stephanie offered to draw it on the pumpkin for us. Jameson made sure she didn’t mess up.

Then Kevin cut the top open so we could start on the dirty work. It took a while, and once we got the top off, found out why. We picked a very thick pumpkin.

Josh tried to get Jameson to touch the insides. He was not about to go near that stuff.

Ella, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to get close to that pumpkin. She knows when something is edible, and she doesn’t care what it is. She was so excited to get her hands in there.

Finally, Kevin started to scrape. After he started searching for an easier method, I took over. There are no pictures of my hard work. Just know, that pumpkin was scrapped clean by the time I was done with it.

Jameson was excited to pop the eyes and nose out after Steph had carefully carved them.

Josh had to help him a little, but once he got the eye out he was so excited. I know the picture is blurry, but look at the excitement on his face.

After that, it was time to get down to some serious business… the mouth. This had to be discussed as it was done.

It turned out awesome! Just wait and see. (I forgot to take a picture of it this night.)

My dad came to visit on Oct. 21st. Jameson was so excited Grandpa Judd was coming. I didn’t tell him till that day, so that he wouldn’t be asking every day. Time is a very hard concept for a 2 year old to understand. Friday, we went to Pike’s Market, and toured around. We ate some lunch, and we did a little taste testing. After some diaper changes, we headed back home. Apparently, I didn’t put the diapers I pulled out for Jameson in the bag. I went to change his diaper, and had to put him in Ella’s. Good thing she’s a chunky monkey, and wears larger diapers. Friday night was spent relaxing.

Saturday, Kevin and dad got up and went shooting. They actually found a place to go that wasn’t a range. I guess they had to be careful, though, because some people were deer hunting near by. Once they got back, we headed off to the pumpkin patch. Last year, I took Jameson to a really fun pumpkin patch and wanted Kevin to enjoy it, too. (See it here.) We went with our friends, and I don’t think the guys were too excited it is about an hour’s drive away. It was also raining. I told them, “Rain or shine, we’re going.” You have to here, or you never go anywhere.

I’m really sad, though. My memory card was full, so I went to delete an old folder. Instead, I hit the wrong button and deleted everything. Thankfully, I had just uploaded photos, but everything from the weekend so far was lost. All my pictures with my dad in Seattle, the boys trying to rope the saw cows… all gone. So I only have the second half of our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

The kids got to go on a small train ride:

The older boys found something to keep them entertained. If you shot the apple in the bucket, you got a free something. Not sure what. Probably a pumpkin.

Jameson played in the cornbox. He kept saying, “Look Mom, its corn!”

After playing around on the farm, including roping the saw cows (Jameson worked really hard at this, and I’m sad I lost the pictures. He was one determined little boy.) , milking the cow, pumping the water, and driving the tractors; we headed out to find pumpkins.

See how Jameson has grown?

2009 2010

And Ella this year…

And the search is on!

Jameson and Grandpa on the search.

Kevin went and found his own pumpkin right off the stalk. He was so proud of it.

Taking a ride back to the store.

On the way home, we made a stop at XXX Burger. I got my craving fix for deep fried mushrooms. Then once home, it was time to get the last of the energy out.

Luckily, Dad came to visit on the weekend of the primary program. That meant Kevin had help with the kids while I was on the stand keeping 5-6 year olds focused. After church, we had some dinner, then Dad took off for the airport. Jameson was so excited, thinking he was going with Grandpa Judd on the airplane. He wasn’t so happy when he learned he didn’t get to go. He watched from the window as Grandpa drove away. The next day, he woke up asking where Grandpa Judd was. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before another visit from Grandpa.