It's a ketchup of a mess

The other night David dumped a brand new bottle of ketchup on the chair and floor. When he saw me come around the corner he dropped the ketchup bottle and said "Uh-Oh" and then stuck his fingers in the ketchup and licked it. Of course Mattie then had to join in the mess. I thought cleaning up would be hard but it turned out to be easy to clean just took time and luckily it did not stain anything. My only thought that night was I kept telling myself I was thankful that I did not get the economy size bottle that I originally grabbed.

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Dan's family. We went to his parents house for dinner and Dan's brother Dennis and his wife Kim and their son Kyle. Also Dan's Aunt Pris, Uncle Bill and Chloe. Dinner was wonderful and we had a great time. I enjoyed talking to everyone and I have learned that Dan and his brother has very similar sleep habits so Dan can no longer blame me for things like stealing covers and the sheets being twisted and kicked down to the end of the bed. Michael, Mattie, David and Chloe had a wonderful time playing. David is our eater in the family and he loved all the food and just kept eating everything. After we got home that night, I did a little evening cleaning and then headed off to bed for a few hours of rest before I had to get up and hit the stores for shopping. I went to Target with my friend Janelle and we got what we wanted and then realized the line to check out was very long and decided what we had was not worth the wait. We then went to Wal-mart and then to the mall. Janelle had a friend in town and she meet us at the mall and together we had fun shopping and we got some great deals. Janelle's friend had a 20 percent off coupon at The Children's Place and they were doing 30 percent off everything and they allowed us to combine it with the coupon so everything we got was 1/2 off. If anyone knows me will realize that I don't spend a lot on myself and my clothes and shoes are limited in selection. So I decided to splurge a little on a pair of boots I had been wanting. When I went to pay they were on sale and then I had a coupon for 10 dollars off so the boots came to 19 dollars. I was so excited about it. It was fun to shop with friends and I was so exhausted when I got home. Dan had fun with the kids and he called me while shopping to tell me about there morning and the awesome breakfast that they had together.

Michael eating cookies or should I say sneaking cookies. I wonder how many he had that night?


Mattie


Mattie playing with a doll

Birthday Boy

David turned two in November. For his birthday he had lunch at Red Robin and then he got to pick a toy from the toy store. That night he had pizza for dinner and my brother and his family came over to celebrate. David has figured out to blow and every time the candle was lit on his cake he would blow it out so the candles were never lit at the same time. I could not get a picture of him blowing on the candles because he would do it so fast.

Toilet v Football Game

Dan was so wrapped up in watching the UofA Football game on Saturday that I had to bring the toilet out to him.

A Muddy Mess

Of course my blog is never complete without a David and Mattie mess. Over the weekend I did some work in the garden. Mattie and David decided to help and it turned into a mini-mud fight. I turned to look at them and happened to see David putting a clump of mud on Mattie's head. Then I looked at David and saw that he had a clump of mud on his head. I guess it was pay-back. At that point I figured the damage was done they were all ready muddy and just having a great time playing in mud.

month of October

I decided to blog about the month of October instead of doing a individual post for each event. As I look back on the month I realize what a busy month October was. I did two weekend cabin trips. The first trip was for the day and then the second trip was overnight. The weather was great especially on the second trip and Debbie and I took a nice long hike up the mountain road! We were walking pass some blackberry bushes and kept wondering what was on them. Debbie moved a leaf and all of a sudden ladybugs went flying every where. There were honestly thousands of ladybugs on this bush. As usual Michael spent all his time out doors shooting the bow and arrow, playing army and looking for bugs and trying to find animals. The only thing he saw was a raccoon and a skunk. Michael also made Honor Roll at school. He did not understand it but Dan and I were really excited for him. I was able to go on a field trip with Michael's class to Schnepf Farms. It was warm that day so I came back with a serious sun burn but it was so much fun and I had Michael and two other boys assigned to me. They were fast, full of energy and wanted to do everything. The trip was a blast. I told them at the petting stable that they had to shovel the animals poop and when we got over there they kept asking me when do they get to shovel poop. I also told them the pig races were when you raced against a pig. So when we got to the pig races one of the boys looked at me and said he was really bummed about not racing a pig. We also did the usual Halloween traditions and that was decorating pumpkins and dressing up and going trick or treating. All three kids helped with cleaning the pumpkins out. We started out with Mattie using her walker for trick or treating and she made it about one half of the street and was tired out. I put her and David in the stroller and they both sat there holding their buckets. Every time Mattie would see someone passing candy out she would point at the candy bowl and say "get" and then point at her bucket. She then would sign thank you to them. David still does not say much but he would wave and say bye. Michael loved being a army guy and all of the older men would make a comment about his costume one guy even gave him 2 handfuls of candy because he said army guys were the best.

Michael receiving his award for honor roll


Picture at the cabin


Michael with his cousin's homemade bow and arrow



Pictures of ladybugs on the blackberry bush



Mattie, David and Michael getting ready to Trick or Treat


Mattie is a cat


Super David


Halloween Pumpkins after a few days. We somehow ended up with 9 pumpkins this year.


Creating the pumpkins

# 6

I can't believe that my oldest turned 6 in September. He celebrated is birthday by having lunch and playing games at Peter Piper Pizza. Then we went to the Lego Store and he picked something from Dan and I but he also spent the rest of his money that he had left over from vacation. All I can say is this little guy made out like a bandit. For dinner Grandma and Grandpa Hurd joined us and he wanted tacos. His cake choice was chocolate. I made the cake the night before and he surprised me the next morning and decorated it himself and he did a pretty good job. Funny story about one of his birthday gifts. In California Dan and I saw a really cool poster of different jets on it. Well when he opened the poster it turns out it was a poster of Rosie the Riveter. The sticker on the poster wrapping was incorrect. He thought it was funny but did tells us that it wast he worst birthday present ever.

unwrapping the first present


OOPS-Wrong Poster


New Pajamas


New Books


Army cake


Blowing out candles


Mattie waiting for cake

First Family Vacation

Last week Dan and I went on our first family vacation with the kids... destination Legoland and San Diego. We went with Dan's parents who have a Motor home and we stayed at a RV resort in Escondido. We did Legoland for 2 days and we had a great time. Mattie came just a tad under 34 inches which was the height requirement for most of the rides. After a quick fix with some extra socks in her shoes she magically was at 34 inches. We then learned that she did not like any of the rides. David did not care and went with the flow of things. Michael loved all of it especially the roller coasters and the lego store. We also went and did a tour of the Midway Aircraft Carrier and we took Michael on a Harbor Tour. I had a few friends who went to week or two before us and they all said it was cold. So I was prepared for cold weather and in return we were there during the heat wave. We had to go out and buy shorts and short sleeve shirts.

The Midway

I love this picture. We were walking by this guy and he saw Michael pointed at me and then at Michael and waved us over. His name is Robert Cressman and he was stationed in Normandy France during World War II. This was his helmet and he put it on Michael. He then put the sign in front of Michael and said take our picture. Behind him are pictures of him during the war. He was telling stories and you could ask him questions and he would answer them. He was very patient and nice to everyone.


French Submarine at Coronado Island


USA Submarine at Coronado Island


This is a Hospital Boat. We were told it was the 4th largest hospital in the United States. I still have a hard time believing it but I still thought it was pretty cool. It was docked and out of commission for some repairs.


Mattie and Me on the Flight Deck of the Midway Aircraft Carrier


David sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet


Michael sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet



Legoland











Dan thought this was funny. You had to pump the fire truck and it was a race with everyone else. Michael would not pump and I could not do it by myself so I was stuck. The guy operating the ride had to come over and help me.


Picture of Dan and I at a look out point in the mountains. If you look behind us you can see part of the road that you drive on. It was a steep 2 way road with many switch backs and some parts had no guard rail to protect you from going over. Once we were in the mountains I saw the cutest homes and ranches. I even saw the picture perfect little white church. I wish I would have taken a picture of it.

Happy Birthday

Happy 6th Birthday Michael!
We love you,
Dad,Mom,Mattie and David