Happy Halloween!

For not being a huge Halloween fan, I actually had a great time this year. I started the beginning of September asking my kids what they wanted to be (early start = less stress has become my motto since having child #3). Gavin had no idea, Kate didn't give me any answers and Enoch insisted on being a Tickle Monster. Okay, so much for planning ahead. What on earth am I suppose to do for a Tickle Monster? After brainstorming and shopping and still coming up empty, Enoch miraculously changed his mind a few weeks ago. He announced he wanted to be a cowboy. Hallelujah and a huge, big thanks to Grandma Jordan for making a cowboy dress-up outfit for Gavin 6 years ago. All I had to do was pull it out of the dress-up box. I promised Enoch a gun to complete the outfit (even though I 'm completely against play guns). We settled on a super cool Nerf gun which pleased both of us. Enoch loved his costume and I was thrilled that all I had to do was sew a holster for his 'gun'.

After much deliberations, Gavin decided to go all out and dress up as a BYU fan, shocking I know. We covered him in blue hair color, painted 'Y's on his cheeks, zipped up his BYU jacket and he was good to go. People thought this costume was so clever and it was easy and cheap (my favorite kind of costume).

Kate's costume took the most thought and effort (which wasn't that much) but it was worth it. She looked so adorable. I got the idea of a flower from Aunt Annette. I sewed a green stem on footie PJs and sewed a flower to a fleece hat. I already had the PJs and hat so the rest was easy. It was cute, warm and she actually left the hat on while we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with Enoch, Grandpa and Grandma.

We had the Randall family over for an impromptu family party. We had lasagna for dinner and homemade donoughts for dessert. Grandma and Grandpa Randall, the Fords and the Kellys gathered at our home to see costumes and visit. It was a great night and fun for all.

Pumpkin Carving

Lately I've noticed how cute everyone has decorated their homes for fall and Halloween. So, um, I still have 4th of July decorations up at my house. That tells how busy I have been and really how much I care about decorating for different holidays. I'm a bit of a scrooge about changing out holiday decor. However, the one thing that I will absolutely do for Halloween is carve pumpkins to put on our porch. I should probably re-word that last sentence. The one thing I will do for Halloween is nag Greg to carve pumpkins. Greg gets the messy duty of scooping out seeds and carving the pumpkins. It's not his favorite thing to do, but every year he does it with a smile on his face.
This year we waited till the last minute (the day before Halloween) to carve our pumpkin; hey, at least we didn't end up with a wrinkly pumpkin. Greg spread out the newspaper on the kitchen floor, Enoch designed the face (two bottom teeth just like Kate), Gavin fetched the candles (you know 10-year-old boys and flames), and I did the dishes while watching and giving pointers. Enoch was determined to use the big knife (kudos to Greg for keeping it out of his reach). Gavin painted our rotting pumpkins black and painted on faces with glow-in-the-dark paint. The family had fun and our jack-o-lantern looked great.

YUCK!!! What is this?

Pumpkin Head!!

Remembering Kids (Oct 2008)

Just so I remember (that's getting harder these days!).

Gavin - 10 years - Gavin's favorite thing to do this summer is to plan and carry out 'missions' like they have at the Space Center. Gavin and his cousins have a snow cone stand to help pay for fun supplies (fog machine, red lights, etc.).

Enoch - 3 years - Yesterday as we were driving, Enoch said, "Mom, don't tell Dad how to drive. He doesn't like that. Only me can tell him how to drive."

Kate - 4 months - Kate rolled over for the first time on June 18, (back to tummy). She's a bit behing the boys, but I guess you actually have to set your baby down once in a while for them to roll over.

Autumn Leaves

You know that autumn has officially arrived when you can make your first pile of leaves big enough to jump in. This afternoon both Gavin & Enoch disappeared for about 1/2 hour. I finally spotted them in the Tuttle's front yard raking leaves with Bradley. A few minutes later, Gavin came running in to get me and Kate. When we reached the leaf pile, I could barely see Enoch's face poking out (I'm amazed Enoch sat still long enough for Gavin to come and get me). Enoch thought it was great fun; I'm not sure what he thought was the best - playing in the leaves or playing with the big boys. He loved to throw the leaves up in the air and try to catch them. They even included Kate in the fun by trying to bury her (she wouldn't sit still like Enoch did).

I hope my kids will remember the fun they had together today doing something as simple as playing in a pile of leaves. I treasure moments like this, knowing that my kids are having a somewhat normal childhood by enjoying God's creations, spending time together and creating special memories.

Go Cougars!!!

I remember when I was growing up my mom made me enter the Reflections contest at school. I hated it and probably did quite a bit of whining about the whole thing. This year, Gavin also had to submit an entry, but as a requirement for his A.L.L. class, so he could whine to his teacher and not me! I love it!
He originally decided he wanted to do photography because that's the easiest, but when he learned that almost everyone else was doing that, he changed his mind and switched to 3D Art, a not-so-popular category. He had a difficult time deciding on a project to go with the theme, "WOW!", but finally picked something to do with BYU football (I really can't imagine where that came from?? HA HA).
For weeks, he cut out every picture from the newspaper that had to do with BYU football and their team. The weekend before Reflections was due he and Greg built a huge Y out of cardboard boxes and Gavin glued his pictures all over the Y. He still had some white space, so he printed some pictures off the internet. Then he covered the entire thing with a few coats of spray lacquer. He really did have a great time with it and I'm glad he came up with a project that was fun for him. He turned out great and I am so proud of how hard he worked on it. The only bummer about the entire thing was having to turn it in a few days after the heartbreaking loss to TCU. Gavin didn't seemed bothered by it, he's a true fan. Go Cougars!!!

Kate's Names

When we picked out the name Kate, I was very specific that she be called Kate, not Katie. I had no idea that just in our little family we could come up with so many nicknames for her. Here are my favorites.
Greg - little one, cricket (when she gets excited she rubs her legs together)
Tresa - I'm boring and just call her Kate (imagine that!?) or pretty girl
Gavin - remember in 4th grade while studying Utah history you had to invent an 'Indian name' for yourself which describes who you are or what you like? Gavin's Indian name for Kate is burpy cricket. So feminine I know!
Enoch - KATERS!!! This is my favorite because he can't just say it, he has to yell it in her face. Enoch never, ever refers to her as Kate whether he is talking to her or about her to someone else, it is always Katers.
PS - Kate's first tooth broke through on Monday Oct 13. She was quite upset about the entire thing and we just can't wait until #2 comes in and we get to do that all over!

Pumpkin Patch

For some reason the preschool field trip I always help with is to the Vineyard Pumpkin Patch. I'm not complaining, I love going to the Pumpkin Patch with the kids and this year was great. Enoch was excited to go and even better was that Dad was sick that day so Kate could stay at home and nap while just Mom and Enoch went to the patch. We walked through the corn maze (we just followed Miss Dawn since she probably had been through the maze 4 times by then and knew where she was going), explored the garden (everything was frozen, frost-bitten and mushy; not very pretty), played on the playground (Enoch's favorite of the pumpkin patch; he loved it and Mom had a very difficult time keeping track of him among all the kindergartners there) and hurried through the light alley show (Enoch wasn't too impressed with this; quite boring after the exciting playground). At the end, Enoch picked out an awesome pumpkin and I got some banana and butternut squash. It was a very fun day and I'm so glad I could spent it with Enoch. PS - I did get a few pictures of Enoch, but you all know how he is with cameras!

First Snow of the Year

How exciting is the first snow of the year? Pretty darn great at our house. The boys couldn't believe that snow was on the ground on Sunday morning and didn't waste any time getting out and playing in it. Our house looked like the winter tornado had struck with all our winter gear strewn about and Enoch and Gavin trying to find the right size of boots, gloves, snow pants and coats. Once they were outfitted, they headed out to throw snowballs, build snowmans and enjoy the cold. The build a tiny snowman and named it Billy Bob and had fun trying to hit Dad with snowballs. They had a great time and came in before getting too cold (which was a good thing since we have 9am church; we weren't late, but it was close). The snow melted quickly, but that it okay. Now, we can enjoy the beautiful fall weather and have the best of both worlds.

Kateboarding

2 older brothers
1 Saturday afternoon
1 roll packing tape
+ 1 cardboard box
1 nervous Kate

Pumpkin Party

After the morning session of General Conference our family went to a pumpkin party to celebrate the harvest of the neighborhood garden. We have loved participating in the garden and have learned many lessons from it:

1. How to garden; we learned better how to water, plant and harvest.
2. In a sense, the Law of Consecration; not everyone worked equally, or benefitted equally, but we all did it together happily (most of the time!).
3. The importance of the knowledge of gardening and canning food; especially in times as these, it feels good to know we have provided some food storage and peace of mind for our family.
4. A great opportunity for our family to work together; I think Greg gets the award for doing the most work, but the boys helped weed, harvest and take care of Kate while Mom & Dad were working.
5. How great our neighborhood is!

At the pumpkin party, the Poulsens picked all the pumpkins and lined them up in their garage. All the kids put their names in a big bowl and as their names were drawn out they got to pick a pumpkin. None were too big, but most were well-shaped (I'm talking about the pumpkins, not the kids!) and honestly the kids didn't care how big they were, only that they belonged to them. Enoch was so excited to pick his very own pumpkin (or as Enoch says a pegiukin, kind of a mix between pumpkin and penguin. I still am not sure how he says it). We probably will still get pumpkins at the patch for carving, but it's great to have one last reminder of the garden.

Conference Doughnuts

A tradition Gavin and I (Mom) started a few years ago is going on an early morning doughnut run before the Saturday morning session of General Conference. We leave early about 6:45am and go to the Lehi Bakery (I mean really, who has better doughnuts than they do, especially when they are that fresh?!) and we pick out doughnut for the entire family. As long as we get sprinkles for Enoch, everyone is thrilled with their doughnuts. It's a great way to start Conference weekend. I especially enjoy the time with Gavin and it's special knowing that it is just our tradition, nobody else gets to come. General Conference can be a bit crazy at our house, but I hope that my kids will have some happy memories of spending those weekend together.

Crawling Update II

This post is mostly for posterity sake (since I really can't remember when the boys did certain things and I'm feeling the mommy guilties that I didn't record their milestones; I was suppose to always remember them, right?). Anyway, Kate is now a full-blown crawler. She is quite fast and loves to be mobile. The one thing that she doesn't like is the hardwood kitchen floor. She parks herself on the edge of the carpet and either screams until I come and get her or she will look at me and smile and look so cute that I come and get her. Either way, she has trained me well. When she does attempt the hardwood floor, she'll get up on her hands and feet and do a walking crawl. She is actually pretty good at this. The down side is that she is getting little blisters on the bottoms of her toes. I need to get to the store and get her some grippy-bottomed socks for her.
She is also pulling herself up to things; her favorites are the couch, anyone laying on the floor and the dishwasher when it is opened. She smiles and bounces up and down and thinks she is just the neatest, smartest little girl, which, of course, she is. Her new trick is to pull herself up in her crib, throw her binky out and scream until Mom or Dad rescues her. Fun trick, I think. Greg had to lower her crib mattress tonight. We are all still surprised to see how fast she is and the things she can get into. Good times!