Melt Down and Candy

Yesterday, Lily had a little melt down. I'm starting to notice she doesn't have those "I'm a little kid, throw a tantrum" type melt downs, but more of a "someday I'm going to be a teenage girl so I'm just practicing now" type melt downs. She was upset because she got hurt. Her grandparents were here and when she finally felt like seeing them they had to leave which caused her to be more upset. Neither thing was a big deal, but those pre-teen moods were just too much for this seven year old. So in retaliation, she made this sign, posted it on her door and hid in her room.
(No one's allowed unless Lily wants you to come in. Why? Because sometimes I get mad. Yes:Lily. No:anyone.)

Then today, after his preschool Halloween party, Jeff decided to just help himself to as much candy as he could eat at one time. when I looked and saw this I asked him how he was going to eat the Whoppers when he already has two suckers in his mouth. Without a word he pulled the suckers out, ate a Whopper then put the suckers back in his mouth. Not long after I found an empty Whoppers wrapper on the floor and a three suckers in Jeff's mouth. It was a very busy day, obviously I wasn't watching him super well. And while I was busily trying to clean up the house and make dinner before the missionaries came over Jeff's sugar high hit it's peak and he fell asleep on the couch. He slept through the whole dinner with the missionaries.

Ah, the joys of children and their mood swings!

First Snow

Today we woke up to the first snow of the season. I'm not ready for winter yet.

It's interesting to see Cedric discover snow. As a baby, kids have no idea what snow is. When they are one year old, they hate the snow. (This was Cedric in the snow last season.)
But when they are two, it's a whole new, fun experience.

Birthday Get-away

Last Sunday was my birthday. It was a good, relaxing day. But my entire body was very sore due to the day before.
I had mentioned to Tom it would be fun to get away for 24 hours and go somewhere fun for my birthday weekend. He took action and started planning a surprise overnighter for the two of us. Friday night we got our almost 17 year old niece, Brooklyn to babysit for us, and headed first to dinner at Sizzler. Then we jumped on the freeway and started driving south. I had no idea where we were going, but now I at least knew it was south. I was guessing every cool place I could think of, and even thought we might go as far as St. George. I really hoped not, since we only had 24 hours I didn't want to spend 1/3 of the time driving. Luckily we turned off in Nephi, and I was still guessing (I first thought we might be going to Torrey, where we went for Lily's birthday), but I was wrong. It wasn't until I saw the city sign that I realized we were in Fountain Green.
My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Brent have a ranch there and they are were so generous to let us stay at their ranch. Other than having to go outside to use the bathroom (the bathroom's inside, it's just not connected), it was really fun to stay in the bunkhouse there. After a good night's sleep we woke up and headed into Nephi for breakfast at a fun little restaurant called Lisa's. Then Brent met up with us to do some horseback riding. The weather was perfect for a horse ride! Brent helped us get the horses ready and then we headed up the beautiful mountain (behind us).
I was on Shorty, Tom was on Uinta and Brent was on Little Bar. The horses seemed to be so excited to go on the hike, that they trotted a lot of the way up the mountain. They were a little out of shape and were sweating and huffing and puffing, but they didn't want to stop. We saw a beautiful view of the valley below and the changing leaves were absolutely beautiful.
The only thing we had to worry about were hunters, so we had to wear orange. We saw a deer, but luckily no hunters. We were out for about 2 1/2 hours, which is a good ride for Tom and I who haven't been on horses much. I could tell I'd be sore the next day. After the ride we chatted with Brent, Nancy and their daughter, Gwennie for a bit before we headed home to reality. It was such a fun birthday surprise. Thanks Tom for planning it, and Brent and Nancy for being so gracious to let us stay at the ranch and for the horse ride!

Two year old Birthday

Monday our baby turned two years old! Cedric is such a fun, sweet, cute boy and we are so glad he's a part of our family. I remember the day Cedric was born, it was a rainy Saturday and I had been in weird labor since the wee hours of the morning. Tom was actually at a camp out with the scouts when my labor started, but it was only 5 minutes from our house so he was able to come home once I'd decided it was real labor. My cousin, Alana was also staying with us that weekend. It was nice to have her there because we were able to leave Lily and Jeff to go to the hospital. After 14 hours of very unpredictable labor, three epidurals (they kept messing up) and a very long day, Cedric Jerome came into the world.
Cedric was probably my hardest baby (I don't know if that's because of his personality or because I had two other kids to take care of), but he has grown into a very sweet, funny boy.
He got the nick-name "Dandelion" because of his hair as a baby!
Cedric has the cutest smile, and the fullest lips!
Cedric loves to play pretend dog with his siblings, he loves bubbles and balloons, he loves to color (on everything). He enjoys watching "Dora the Explorer" and "Blue's Clues". He loves to mimic everyone and he gives the best hugs!
We had a little birthday party for Cedric. He was so excited that when I put the birthday hat on him that morning, he didn't want to take it off.
He was also so excited to blow out the candles!
At first Cedric didn't know what to do with his presents, but he finally figured it out. Cedric (and his siblings) had fun playing with his new Weebles toy he got.
Happy Birthday Cedric!