All Hallows Eve 2010

Mr and Mrs Potato Head (I know it's a lame attempt) and Buzz and Woody!

Buzz Lightyear!

Woody and Potato Head

The Holiday season is most definitely upon us and the Holiday that Kyle and I are the WORST at celebrating is Halloween. We try to get as into it as we can for the kids' sake, but we are not great Halloweeners by any stretch of the imagination. Chase has been SO into Halloween this year. Anything that slightly had anything to do with Halloween he was all over. He said to me all month, "Mommy, I LOVE Halloween!", "Mommy I LOVE spooky things," etc. He loves it all! The dressing up, the candy, the thrills, it's completely intriguing to him.

The boys went as Buzz and Woody this year thanks to the super cheap costume deal our friend Juliana told us about. Kyle and I seriously NEVER dress up, but this year I thought maybe we could do something easy like Mr and Mrs Potato Head, easy right? Not so much. I realized a little too late that it was not as stress free a costume as I had thought it would be. Maybe we'll think ahead this time and buy our costumes for next year when they go on sale tomorrow so we are not at the mercy of my lackluster imagination and craft ability.

Birthday cupcakes

I recently got called in YW's as the 1st counselor a few weeks ago and while I've needed to be more places with this new calling, I have actually had more free time than I did with my previous calling as RS secretary. So I've been asking the President what I can do to help her or anyone else in the Presidency out. I got assigned to find a new idea for birthday gifts for the girls and put them together. I found an idea I LOVED online but like I've admitted so many times before I am NOT crafty. Really I'm not, that's not just modesty, it's flat out honesty. I am so proud of these birthday bath cupcakes though that I had to blog about them. They are made with a loofah on top and a bag of bath salts to weigh the loofah down in the cup. The little card says, "Have some good clean fun on your birthday!" on the back. Here's how the finished product turned out. One down fifteen more to go! I know what my 10 hour project will be this year...I wish that were a joke.

Per Katy's request here is a close up of my new hair cut. It has taken some getting used to and I still miss my long hair...a lot but it is for the most part easier to do and keeps me a lot cooler. So here's my mug shot...

Flour power!

If I were a smart mom I would wake up before my children do and be completely ready for the day before their little eyes have even opened. Indeed I am not a smart mom. That would require waking up before 5:00am. So I wake up when the first child does and we all scramble together to get ready for the day.

I'll come back to that, but I have to say that Chase and Landon are becoming VERY good friends. They do a lot together now. They actually interact with one another sit together, read together, eat together, and get into BIG mischief together. Chase was never one for mischief but Landon has an appetite for tomfoolery like no other baby I've seen. He can get into 3 different things he is never supposed to get into in sub 1 minute! Luckily when it's just him it's relatively easy to recover, fix, clean, etc. Now that Chase and Landon play together more often though, Landon will find the activity of the moment and Chase will amplify it for the both of them.

So getting back to my opening statement. On Tuesday morning I was getting myself ready for the day after feeding those little monkeys breakfast. I was already showered, already dressed, hair didn't need doing, I just needed some make up. It took me about 3-5 minutes and I came out to find this...

I just said, softly, "Oh.My.Goodness." Then I went to go get the camera. This was how the shoot went...

Me: OK look at the camera boys!

Chase: Hahahaha! Mommy! You take pictures of Nandon and Chase playing in the flour?!

Me: YES! I'm taking pictures, but this is not funny at all! You are in very HUGE trouble! Now smile!

Chase: (nervous, confused, still questionably happy, smile?)

Chase got a looooong time out while I cleaned what I could immediately. I needed to bathe both of them, but they love baths so much that I didn't want it to seem like if they get into flour they not only would get to make a big fun mess but they get a fun splashy bath afterward. So I decided I would give them a no frills shower, individually. Landon hated it. All Chase could hear was water running and he would say, "Mommy I want to take a bath tooooooo!!!!" I told him he'd get his turn. So I get Chase in and he stands and takes his shower without a single complaint knowing that I wasn't very happy with him. When I was helping him get dressed and warmed up afterward he looked at me with a confused look and said, "Mommy?" Nandon got a bath and Chase got a high bath (putting his little hand in the air to show 'high')?" It melted my heart that he thought he was the only one that got a time out and a "high bath" on top of it all, even though they both were equally rascally. Poor guy. I explained to him that what they did was not good, and that Landon got a time out and a "high bath" also, not just Chase.

So yesterday we had a little bit of a breakthrough. Chase definitely learned his lesson from the flour incident and I couldn't have been more proud of him. I let them both play out in the backyard for a little bit while I did the dishes. I could see them from the kitchen every once in awhile and they usually stay out of trouble as long as they're outside. Chase runs in a few minutes later though and says, "MOMMY! Nandon is in the mud and he is larry messy!" I was so proud of Chase that he didn't join in, that must have been very hard for him. He is such a great boy! He really tries hard to always do the right thing and is a great big brother. I love my sweet little nark! I love you too Landon, but oh boy are you a turkey?! I guess this should be expected since you were an absolutely perfect newborn! I love you little monkeys despite all your monkey business!

The joys of having boys!

The Running Man

The runners

brothers embracing after finishing their feats

Our Little Ohana

Uncle Brent entertaining Landon

Chase, Payton, and Cam treating us to the gun show

Me, Kyle, and Nick (half pictured) at mile 21, providing some encouragement for Kyle

Team Scotty!

Team Kyle!

The group of supporters! Mom White is behind the camera and I'm pretty sure Nick was busy giving me directions in this picture. We made it just in time to see Scott coming in thanks to her!

I am finally getting to post about Kyle's first marathon, thanks to Chase waking up at 5:20 am! I wanted to go back to sleep after I put him back in his bed and told him he was only allowed to wake up if the sun was awake, but when I laid back down all I could think about was what I needed to get done today. We have around 4 showers, birthday parties, and receptions coming up over the next 2 weekends; I have YW in Excellence in a week and a half, YW stake rodeo this weekend, taking the kids to story time at the library, and lots of shopping for the various events! Makes me want to take a nap just thinking about it. I thought I would take some time to post about this momentous occasion on behalf of my studly and super awesome husband.

So we made a little trip up to Layton Utah a couple weekends ago where Kyle participated in his first marathon, the Layton Marathon. He ran it with his brother Scott, who did the half marathon due to a knee injury. Can you believe that?! I can barely imagine running 13.1 miles without an injury much less with a sore knee! We were very proud of Uncle Scott! It was the marathon's virgin run and surprisingly seemed to go off without a hitch, at least to us. The "loot" bag was a little disappointing...OK a-lot-a disappointing considering it contained no LOOT just the technical shirt. The spread afterward was not very impressive either, but other than those things it was a great run for being their first year. I appreciated that it was small and we were able to catch Kyle at a few different places. I made shirts for the boys and myself with iron on letters and heat transfer paper and we sported them with pride! Kyle finished with a time of 5:03:(not sure about sec's) and he was pretty sore but didn't feel too bad all around. He seemed like he felt a lot better after doing his marathon than he did after he finished his 1/2 which is surprising. He recovered relatively quickly with just a little stiffness and is thinking about his next marathon already. He's crazy, but man we are proud of this lunatic! What an accomplishment it is to be able to say that you've run a marathon?! One that I don't know if I'll ever be able to say I've achieved. Ask me after I've run a 1/2 and we'll see how I feel about a full.

We really are so proud of you Kyle. You put in the blood, and sweat and trained so hard for it and you did it! You are an inspiration to many and we look forward to the great things we will see you accomplish in the future. Congratulations to our running man daddy! We love you!

Here are a few pictures from the marathon. I couldn't find our camera ANYWHERE in our bags the morning of the race, so all the pictures are courtesy of Mom White, Christina White, and Nicole White. Thanks for capturing the memories!