Hiatus...

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am going on a blogging hiatus until the new year. It's an early Christmas present to myself. Sorry to anyone who wakes up dying to know what is happening with all my crazy monkeys. Check out the other animals in the zoo if you are really that hard up for entertainment. See ya next year!

About that holiday I forgot to blog about...

I know that it's been a while since there has been a real post. Honestly, I just haven't felt much like blogging lately. A lot has happened and now it's too overwhelming to try to post about all of it. So here is the cliff's notes version and a few random pics.


(Scottie and Lucas with pink eye)



THANKSGIVING:
We went to Indiana and the trip seemed like it took forever! We visited some friends and then went to my mom's. I made a yummy Thanksgiving dinner for my mom, brother and sister (and of course my hubby and kids too). We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...my favorite part of Thanksgiving. We spent the rest of the night at my Grandparent's House catching up with extended family.


(Emma and her one true love Uncle Scottie)


Friday there was some fun shopping with the girls followed my the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Indianapolis with a serious hook up from my awesome brother! Thanks Scottie! Saturday was all manner of chaos with people locked out of houses and a medical emergency. Long, long story. We did have fun celebrating Lindsey's 2nd birthday a little early too.

(Grandma Shirley and the grandkids)

Sunday was another long trip home with Joe leaving to go out of town the very next morning at something like 3:30 in the morning! I think I might have finally recovered from all that exhaustion. Tiring as it all was, we all had a great time and are glad we made the trip.



(cute pic of me and Joe at the tree lighting)


Since then, Joe has been called as Gospel Doctrine teacher and gotten a promotion of sorts at work. We're are looking forward to the pay raise that will bring come August. Joe is yet again out of town this week and last night my fantasy football season came to a crushing halt after losing to my very most favorite brother- in -law Ken. I am pretending to be sad for Ken's sake, since when he called to gloat last night I wasn't even aware that I was playing him. (My fantasy football team has been less than stellar this year and I gave up hope a long time ago.) I love you Ken! :)

Today is our first official snow day due a thick layer of ice followed by several inches of snow with more blowing and drifting snow to come all night. Why does it only snow when my husband goes out of town? More to come on our official snow day activities...

We've been elfed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Oh, Edward!

Only 11 more hours until I go see Twilight!!!!! I can hardly wait!
Click here if you can hardly wait too.

Bunkbed forts are awesome...

Most nights my kids go to bed when they are supposed to. They are rule followers. At least Lucas is, anyway, and since Lucas and Emma share a room Lucas polices and enforces the rules at bedtime...usually...not Monday night.

Joe and I were cleaning the kitchen and enjoying having a grown up conversation. The kids had both been out of bed several times already and then they were silent. Joe and I were commenting on how we couldn't believe that they were sleeping. It's because they were so not sleeping. They were whispering and being sneaky. Being sneaky is what Emma does best. I'm still not sure whose idea it was, but I am pretty sure that it was Emma who convinced Lucas to follow through with the plan.

I walked down the hall to their room, heard the whispers, and turned on the light to this...


I wasn't sure what I thought about this or what to say, so I did what any good mom would do...I called for my husband (reinforcements) to come. Joe was doing a miserable job holding in the laughter and appreciation for their genius fort making abilities and told them not to move. He left the room to get the camera, all the while he was gone the kids were so worried about what Daddy was going to do. Lucas thought he was gone to get the scissors to cut down their blankets! Joe came back,"What you did was a very bad choice. It's a school night and waaaaay past your bed time, but this is awesome and I'm going to take your picture now." Hence the big smiles in the picture because Daddy said their fort was awesome. Then sadly, Daddy helped them take their fort down and promised they could build another one after school the next day, followed by a little talk about when it is "appropriate" to build a fort in your bed.

There has been excessive fort building around here ever since. Including the one the kids made this morning at 6:30 am. In fact Emma is sleeping in it right now. Who needs toys when you have bunk beds?

The short of it

Alright all you blog lurkers out there. If you like my new hair cut (and even if you don't) you will leave shameless comments on my blog telling me how gorgeous I am and that I have the cutest hair cut ever! Let the compliments begin...

Boogie Babies

Today was Emma's last day of dance class. It was fun and oh so very cute! Because of the terrible lighting my less than wonderful camera was having serious issues. I did manage to salvage a few pictures and a video. So here is our little ballerina for your viewing pleasure.

From the mind of Lucas...

Lucas had two epiphanies today, one political and one domestic.

First: Lucas is voting for McCain. Yes, he is 5 and not eligible to vote, but he declared this afternoon that he is voting for McCain. On our way to run errands after school he asked,"What's all this voting business about? There are signs everywhere!" Lucas loves to read us all the signs while we are driving i.e., stop, yield, cow crossing, no passing zone, speed limit means 45 or under Mom not 55, vote Obama, vote McCain. So we had a brief lesson in what it means to vote and what exactly you are voting for. Basically, we decided that voting is getting to pick the people you want to run your community, county, state, nation. If only it were really that easy... For whatever reason Lucas has chosen McCain. Evidently he likes the name better. McCain, McGuire, I get it. He was even more sure that this was the right decision on our way back home. In our one stop light town there are lots of round-abouts. Tonight they were full of high school kids with posters yelling at cars driving by to vote for Obama. They were very enthusiastic to say the least. Lucas was all,"Mom what are they doing? Those Obama people are crazy. Besides, I already decided that I am voting for McCain." When we got home there was also a very large Obama door hanger on our front door. At this point all Lucas could say was,"Why couldn't we get a McCain one of these? That would be awesome!" Maybe Lucas has been secretly reading some of Mike's political blogs...;)

Second: Lucas's second great revelation came tonight when we were cleaning up before bed time. Lucas (and Emma too) hate to clean up the toys in the basement. It is the bain of his existence. There were only a few toys out and it only took us about 5 minutes to clean up. Lucas was AMAZED! "Wow! If you only get out a few toys and you put them away when you are done, you can be done cleaning up in no time and the basement never gets messy!" It was like he'd never heard this before. I've only been preaching it everyday of his life for the past 5 years!!! A true light bulb moment! Too bad it is sure not to last. I'll take what I can get, though. Oh, how I love my first born son. He is such a joy and I love how his mind works. Tonight there was a big bright star by the moon and Lucas informed me that it was not at all a star but a planet. He just needed to think about all the books he's read to remember if it was Venus or was it Mars, mmm.... "Not Mars, it's the red planet. No actually I think it is Jupiter, Mom. And did you know that when the moon looks like that it's waxing?" So I looked it up and he was right! It was Jupiter that we saw with the moon tonight. That's my Lucas! Click here for proof of his incredible astronomical genius.

(Totally unrelated to this post...Joe is in Dallas this week and I miss him terribly. I love you honey and I am counting the hours until we are together again. I can't sleep without you here. I love you!)

the mummy, the tiger, and the bunny

First the Mummy... he is a cute mummy, a dead mummy, a try to be brave mummy and not a scary mummy. This mummy does not like scary. He had a great time trick or treating but not such a great time getting wrapped up. Apparently it is a little too much work bringing a mummy to life on Halloween night. Next year this mummy wants to be a ghost, less work and maintence in bringing a ghost to life for one night!






Second the Tiger... and yes she is a tiger and not Tigger, in case there was any confusion on the subject. She is a very fierce tiger who finds nothing about Halloween scary, and I mean nothing. In fact this tiger was heard on more than one occasion last night to say," Trick or Treat! Oh, and can I have another one for my big brother. He thinks your house is too scary. Thank you. HERE LUCAS! THEY GAVE ME ONE FOR YOU TOO. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SCARED!" When it was getting dark and things were becoming a little too scary for a certain mummy we dropped the daddy, the mummy and the little bunny off at a friend's house and the mommy and the tiger did 2 more blocks of trick or treating! The tiger even sang a little Halloween song in an effort to get more candy, and it worked! This tiger also wants to be a ghost next year because she always wants to be like a certain mummy we all know and love.





Third the bunny... and she was the cutest little bunny, especially that little bunny tail that wiggled when she walked. She too would have trick or treated all night if I let her. She is just as fierce as her tiger sister and not afraid of anything relating to Halloween. She just loved have anything to carry around in her little bucket. The neighbors could be passing out rocks and it would have been just as exciting! This little bunny has decided to not even wait until next year to be a tiger. She wore that tiger costume around all morning and was loving it!

The aftermath... like any good little kids Lucas and Emma got up early today to have an unauthorized breakfast of too much Halloween candy and Saturday morning cartoons. Lucky mommy was the one with them when they were coming down off their sugar high and melting down. Daddy was playing tennis!

Reflections of Christ

This slide show and music are amazing. So when you have 6 minutes to sit and watch it the whole way through you should. Click HERE.

2 lists

Things I got at Target today...
1. pink feety pajamas for Molly's bunny costume (it was a Carter's two pack. so soft and so cozy)
2. a black turtle neck for Emma, and a black fleece to wear with her tiger costume (it's cold and it was snowing today!)
3. plain white twin sheet set to be cut into strips for Lucas's mummy costume
4. 1 pack of Reece's Pieces
5. oh...and my period too...sad...very sad...very very sad...


Things I got at home today...
1. 2 napping kids and 1 1/2 hours to myself (much needed)
2. a phone call from a friend who knows me and knows what I need...thanks friend
3. time to read my book, gain perspective and lift my spirits slightly (also known as the 15 minutes waited for Lucas to come out of school at 3:15)
4. hot chocolate with the kiddos and tales of adventures from the day
5. a husband calling to say he's going to be awhile...clarification:30 minutes (ha!)
6. me calling said husband an hour later..."almost done" he promises
7. frozen pizza for dinner (see above)
8. Molly SAYING (not signing) want banana!!!!! (she even said banana with the "b" sound!)
9. a husband home 2 hours late (followed by a husband to be out of town for 2 days)
10. yummy treats from a mysterious Family Home Evening Phantom...(thanks! I needed that and the kids LOVED the glow sticks)
11. family prayer and scripture study
12. Hugs, Kisses, and Cuddles all around
13. some much needed tender mercies from a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and is mindful of my needs...that's what I am grateful for today.

What are you grateful for today?

Cute Pics from the past week

Emma practicing her egg cracking skills. Now
if only we could get it in the bowl...



The jack-o-lanterns from our F.H.E. with the
Brandon's and the McKnight's. A squirrel has
since eaten a wing off our bat!



Emma the artist seriously painting her pumpkin.



Molly and Orion having a snack and a laugh.



Emma so happy to being wearing her winter hat
again!!!!!!!

Sutter's Ridge

Over the weekend we went to the pumpkin patch to pick our perfect family pumpkins. Emma picked the first one she saw, Molly picked out the biggest one she could find and Daddy decided that was the one he wanted, and Lucas was the last to pick his out. He was searching for a perfectly round, perfectly orange medium sized pumpkin. I just share with Joe and we got Molly her very own tiny pumpkin. We always carve and/or paint our pumpkins for F.H.E. the following Monday and we sometimes invite another family over to join us in the festivities. So that is the plan for tonight. We invited the Brandon's and their one year old son Spencer over for dinner and pumpkin carving. The girls and I went to the store to get some things to make some Halloween cupcakes for dessert. We are all excited and I am sure that it will make for a very exciting blog post tomorrow.

On another note, this is my first official baby free week. I only have 2 kids at home! I forgot what a piece of cake it is having only 2 kids. We all got up, had breakfast, took Lucas to school and then it's only 8:15 in the morning. What are we supposed to do with all this free time??? So we went and ran some errands like going to the post office and the grocery store and World of Variety. Gotta love World of Variety! These are all things you can do with only 2 kids that some how seem unmanageable with 3. ( Okay, I can do all these things with my own 3 kids too, I'm talking about adding someone else's 10 month old to the mix.) Even after doing all of this it was still 9:45 when we got home. So I cleaned up the kitchen, made lunch, put Molly to bed, made cupcakes with Emma, cleaned up the cupcake mess, got the cupcakes out of the oven, read Emma Dinosaur Roar (love that book!) and cuddled with her so she could take a nap. Time still only 12:30. I might even get some laundry done today and dare I say it...a shower!!! Oh, this is the life! Now tell me why it is I want to have another baby soooooo bad and throw off this wonderful thing I've got going on??? Oh, yeah...because it's always worth it and I feel that being a mother is why I was put on this Earth. The joys and blessings far out weigh the trials and struggles. I know my righteous desire to have another baby will come to pass in the Lord's own time. So for now I am enjoying my piece of cake life with 2 kids at home all day and 1 at school and reveling in the joy of 3 kids at home all night and all the love, hugs and kisses it brings. (and you all ready know how I feel about my husband, right?) I am so blessed!

Fun Fall Foliage in the Front Yard

Today was a gorgeous fall day and a half day of school to boot! The kids had a great time playing out side and collecting all kinds of different colored leaves in zip lock bag I gave them, while I was making dinner and taking care of the babies (Molly and William). They ran all over our back yard and by the time Joe got home they were scoping out the front yard for more fall treasures. Joe came in and asked for the camera because they were being too cute in the front yard. He got a couple of great shots of the kids playing. I love fall! Now if only the temperature felt like fall too...

Molly's happy and she knows it!

We took this video of Molly Sunday night before bed time. Part of our bed time routine includes everyone picking a "song stick" from the jar of songs we have(remember I told you we have a very extensive bed time routine around here), this happens to be Molly's favorite part. She has the uncanny ability to pick the same song almost every night! She's just so stinkin' cute!(Sorry about the annoying play list thing. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom you can pause so you can hear our beautiful singing voices.)

The pirates who don't do anything

Shawna's letting me post on her blog! She may live to regret this...

For those who want to join in with the booty shakin kitchen dancin party she mentioned a few days ago, just keep listening.
For more pirate fun, click here or here or here or here. The kids and I could watch these for hours.

Edit - pirate song has been removed after a vote. We lost, 4 votes to 1. Shawna's vote counted more than the rest of ours combined... i suppose it is her blog.

From Madison Zoo

Argghhh, we're the pirates.

F.Y.I.

Due to the fact that there is always a sleeping baby in my room where the totally awesome Mac is I have been unable to post about such fun things as our oh so fun conference weekend, impromtu carmel apple making in the front yard with none other than wacky Marianne who just shows up with carmel and bag of apples, and why Emma told Lucas he is not even Jesus. I will be offically free of a sleeping baby in my room in about 1 week. Then maybe you can hear these fun stories, or maybe not. You could just ask me and I will tell you anyway.

This one goes out to the one I love...

I have been feeling lately like I have the best husband in the whole wide world and that he deserves his very own post displaying my gratitude. If this does not interest you then feel free to skip this post because it will most likely be shameless and/or over the top with love for my hubby.

First of all, with much encouragement on my part, Joe has been leaving work at 4:30 everyday. WOW! If you know my husband you know what a huge deal that is. And it has made a HUGE difference in how our nights go. There is not all the dinner time craziness that comes with having 3 kids and all the after dinner chaos of trying to clean up and get everyone a bath, teeth brushed, pj's, and scripture study before the bed time of 7:30. If you know me you know that description of our bedtime routine hardly does it justice. Jenifer says it takes 500 hours and what ever happened to a book, a prayer and in bed you go, good night! With this new Daddy is home by 5:00 and subsequently dinner is served at 5:05 and we are all done eating about 5:30ish (we inhale dinner around here) evenings are quite enjoyable and Mom is a much nicer, happier person to be around. Thanks honey for choosing to go to work earlier so that you can come home earlier. You deserve some major lovin for that alone.

Second of all, I have had extreme unexplained tiredness this week (no, I am not pregnant. You'll be the first to know). In response to this my husband has become super dad. Molly is crying incessantly and won't go to sleep. I am tired and can't take it anymore. I go flop on my bed with a big sigh and then Joe,"Oh honey why don't you go to bed. You're so tired. I'll take care of Molly (this NEVER happens when it comes to Molly because she always just wants me). Oh and here why don't you listen the Breaking Dawn audio book and let sweet dreams of Edward lull you into sleep (under his breath something about reaping the rewards of that one later ...). Oh and let me turn on the fan and close the door so you won't hear her crying. I love you." This seriously happened on more than one occasion this week. He also cleaned the kitchen, mopped the floor, gave baths and made sure we had family scripture study all very willingly and patiently. Amazing!!!!!!!!! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

Even though Joe made me so mad last night by being late and therefore me not getting to fix my hair to go to open house at Lucas's school (hair is important people! you should see the mom's at school!) he once again ended up being my hero later in the night. I was gone to my totally awesome, best person I know in this life friend Hannah's for our weekly Grey's Anatomy followed lately by some form of craftiness i.e., Jen teaching Hannah to sew a straight line. Good times! When it was time to go home at like 11:00 my van won't start! I get Jen to give me a ride home and then I have to tell Joe. He asks a bunch of questions like if the van is parked at an incline and when was the last time I got gas. The gas gauge doesn't actually work in our van. Turns out that was the problem. There was gas in the van but the van didn't think so. So he put gas in the van and brought it home. The big deal is that he didn't even make fun of or give me a hard time even once!!! Before this moment I did not know he was capable of such self restraint.

The point of all of this is my husband is a rock star and I am still crazy in love after almost 7 years of marriage. I love you, Joe and I can't imagine life without you. I never thought that saying hi to you at E.F.Y when I was 17 would ever lead to this! In case I don't let you know enough I LOVE YOU FOREVER and THANK YOU for always taking care of me and our family. You're the best and don't I know it!

Dancin' in the kitchen

I just have to say that I love a dance party. It was inspired by my mom who is of course a total nut. Whenever it was time to clean the house, it was time to crank the tunes and dance like a fool with the broom or feather duster or any other weapon of choice as we took on the dust bunnies. I continue on this tradition, but rarely do we need such an occasion as cleaning day. It makes the day go by faster and is especially helpful to pass the time while cleaning or waiting for daddy to get home. We have had several such dance parties this week. The music of choice this week... Veggie Tales "The Pirates Who Don't do Anything." Don't knock it til you try it! It is the rocked out version by I don't know who and not the veggie tale characters. Today is apparently a no nap day at my house. I do believe that calls for a dance party while we pass the time until it is time to go get Lucas. I am notorious for my bootie shakin after all...

Molly and Emma dancing in the kitchen and Emma rockin the pillow guitar (it's way cooler than air guitar)

Top 3 for the Day

Today was interesting to say the least. Three things on my mental list to blog about.

We were running late this morning and I forgot to pack Lucas's lunch the night before like I usually do. I always put a note in Lucas's lunch box and he loves it and it makes me feel good too. Today on the way to school I realized in my morning rush that I forgot to put the note in! I was so sad! I told Lucas I was sorry I forgot the note and he was all,"No big deal Mom. I already know what you're going to say anyway!" This is not the first time Lucas has said this about me. Joe says it's because I'm predictable. I say it's because I am consistent. It's not the same thing!



Emma made up this song during lunch today that was so cute, or at least I thought so. I have to add that it was of course sung at the top of her lungs repeated several times in a way only a four year old can. It was basically the B-I-N-G-O song but with the names of our family inserted with something about each person. It went a little something like this:

There was a dad that goes to work and daddy is his name-O D-A-D-D-Y, D-A-D-D-Y, D-A-D-D-Y, and Daddy was his name-O. There was a boy who likes to go to school and Lucas was his name-O L-U-C-A-S, etc... There was a baby who was so cute and Molly was her name-O M-O-L-L-Y, etc... There was a mom who likes to play make-up with Emma and Mommy is her name-O M-O-M-M-Y, etc... (this one cracked me up!) There was a girl who likes to play pets and ponies and Emma is her name-O (now stretching to make the 4 letters of her name fit the 5 letter pattern ) E-M _ M-A, E-M_M-A , etc...

She can be so cute and so funny, which is good because she can make me so incredibly frustrated the very next minute. Leading us to the 3rd thing...



I was feeding William (the baby I watch during the week) It was supposed to be "quiet time", but to Emma it meant "mom's too busy with the baby let me go play with stuff I shouldn't time". She came down the hallway with marker all over her leg. I was interrogating her trying to find out what exactly she'd been up to. I told her to go get the lid. A few minutes later she appears with a lid covered in glue. "The lid fell in the glue. It was already open," she claims. Glue in my room, on my bed, on my carpet, in one of my, shoes!!!!! I wanted to kill her. Tried to think of the worst punishment for Emma who basically responds to no forms of punishment. Then I remember her ice cream from lunch that I promised she could have after quiet time. I ate it and right in front of her too. I know, I'm so mean, but it felt good. This is not her first inappropriate spontaneous "craft" project recently. Oh Emma! What am I going to do with you???

Red Day

Hey everybody! It's RED DAY at the ELC!!! Some boy at our house is very excited about this fact. Can you guess who? Let's just say when Lucas does something he does it all the way. To support Lucas in his effort we are also having red day at the McGuire house. So put on your red and be happy! Hooray for the color red!