The Beauty of Fake Teeth

WARNING: This post contains very ugly pictures of my children.

I am putting together slideshows of all our Christmas Eve and Christmas pictures, and I came across these photos of my kids after they opened their stockings and found, among other things, some fun fake teeth.

I am not about to ruin my cute slideshows with these awful pictures, so they get to have their very own post.

Happy Birthday, Tristan!

Seven Years Old

Tristan's birthday was on the Saturday before Christmas. He had a great day - luckily he is still pretty easy to please. He opened presents in the morning, went on a "Special Day" outing with Daniel, and then had a small "party" with friends (they came over, played around upstairs, ate pizza, decorated cupcakes, and then went outside to play football the rest of the time - easiest party in the world). That night he got his chosen birthday dinner of hot dogs, then we all had ice-cream cake and Tristan got to stay up and watch the BYU Bowl game (actually, he just watched the first half and then went straight to bed).

I can't believe I have a seven-year old now. I think seven falls under the category of "old kid", whereas six could still be lumped in there with the little kids.

Here are pictures of all the birthday fun:

Rachel's "Good Move"

I love it when my kids try to do little tricks on me and then they really think that I actually fall for it. It gets even better when they enlist my help in carrying out the trick, and then still think that they fooled me. Rachel explains her tricks to me all the time before she goes through with them.

On Sunday Rachel had picked out a Christmas dress to wear to church. She and I were looking through her shoes to see which ones would match best.

Me: I think your brown boots would look pretty good with this dress.

Rachel: But what about my black ones?

Me: Well, I think your brown ones would match a lot better. Why don't you go get them in your closet and we can try them on?

Rachel: Okay, but Mom - I'm going to do a trick on you.

Me: Oh, okay.

Rachel: Here's the trick - you stay here and close your eyes really tight and DON'T look in my closet and then I will go in my closet and I will SAY I'm putting on my black boots but REALLY I will get my brown boots.

She then walked over to her closet, went inside, and shut the door.

Rachel (from inside closet): Mom, I'm putting on my black boots! Doesn't that make you sad?

Me (playing along): Oh, darn it. I was really hoping you would choose out the brown boots.

Rachel (coming out of closet triumphantly, with brown boots in hand): Ta da! See! It was a trick! Can you believe it? I was really getting my brown boots the whole time!

Me: Wow, you're so tricky!

Rachel: That was SUCH a good move! Wasn't that a good move, Mom?

Me: Well. . . kind of.

Foggy Days Renamed

I don't know why, but since I was little I have always really, really loved foggy days. They just seem cool for some reason.

Last week Rachel looked outside on one particularly foggy day, and I could tell she was really impressed and wanted to tell me about it, but she couldn't remember what it was called. She yelled out, "Mom, it looks really. . .um. . .really. . .SILKY outside!" Oliver, the wise older brother, was right there to correct her, of course - "No, Rachel. . .You mean it's really SOGGY outside."

Nice try, both of you.

A foggy day is fun, but nothing beats a silky, soggy, foggy day.



Here's the foggy view from our kitchen window:

Christmas Cookie Fun

My friend Karen and I volunteered to take cookies to Enrichment last week, and we decided it would be fun to make some sugar cookies together and let the kids help.

Oliver, Rachel, and Jessalyn (Karen's daughter) were in heaven. There was lots of measuring and pouring and tasting and frosting and decorating and more tasting. And more frosting. They used lots of frosting. Needless to say, I don't think any of the ones they decorated made it to Enrichment that night.

Everyone had so much fun, it made me think I should do things like this more often. But maybe that's just me thinking of an excuse to make more cookies.

"EARWACK" - The New Ultimate Insult

Oliver said something pretty funny yesterday. I was laughing so hard, I hope I didn't make him feel bad.

He and I had been playing a silly little game, where we called each other funny things, but instead of saying the words, we had to spell them out (a good way for him to practice spelling, right?).

It started out with me saying, "Oliver, you are so s-m-a-r-t!" And then he answered something like, "Well, Mom, you are c-r-a-z-y!". And I would say, "You are s-a-n-t-a c-l-a-u-s." And he'd say, "Well, you are a l-i-t-t-l-e e-l-f."

Anyway, it went on and on, and the names kept getting sillier and sillier, at least on Oliver's side. Leave it to Ollie to win a game of pure silliness. Pretty soon we got to where he said I was a "b-a-n-a-n-a wearing a d-i-a-p-e-r" (except he spelled it "diper"). At that point, I was about ready to be done with the game because it was time for the kids to take a nap, but Oliver was having so much fun he did not want to stop. I took the girls upstairs and started getting ready to read them a book, and Oliver followed along, still spelling out words the whole time.

Then he got to his grand finale: "Mom", he said, "You are just one big E-A-R-W-A-C-K!"

Me (laughing): What?! What is an earwack?

Oliver: You know - one of those things in your ears?

Me (laughing harder): Oh! Like earwax?

Oliver: Yeah! You have lots of earwacks in your ear, and I'm saying you're just ONE of them - an earwack!

By now the realization of his misunderstanding had fully hit me, and I was dying with laughter. He did not really know what he had done, but he thought it was funny that I thought he was so funny, so we laughed together.

I guess I should probably explain to him that the word is actually "earwax", and not "earwacks" (the plural of "earwack"). But yesterday just didn't seem like the right time to have that talk.

I guess I should also apologize for writing a whole post about earwax. I know that is kind of gross. I promise that normally I do not even like to think about it, let alone write about it. I guess that's what having a silly little 5-year old boy does to you.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I hung up our stockings, set up the nativities, and we got our Christmas tree, so it's definitely starting to feel like Christmas around here. The kids love listening to Christmas music all day and looking at the presents that are starting to gather under the tree. December is such a great month!

Here are some pictures of all the festivities:

Last night Tristan wanted to practice some of the Christmas songs he's going to be performing with his class in the upcoming First Grade Musical at his school.

The first song is called "A December to Remember". A few disclaimers: Oliver and Rachel have no clue how to sing this song, but they are trying their best to follow along - Tristan just wanted them to stand by him because on one part in the song he's supposed to put his arms on the shoulders of his classmates, and he didn't just want to put his arms up in the air because he thought that would look silly.

Also, speaking of looking silly, I promise Tristan is not wearing capri pants - those are his football pants. I guess I'm not sure why he was wearing those. The football pants plus the teenage-mutant ninja turtle T-shirt make for a great performing outfit. I guess if we had planned a little better we could have done something about that.

Also, if at any point in any of these videos things look a little shaky, it is because Elizabeth was trying to climb on my lap and grab the video camera. On this first song Tristan messed up on the first take, so we started over, but then Lizzy started causing trouble and it gets really shaky. I combined both takes in hopes that together they will be a little better. So, here you go:

A December to Remember

And here's "My Favorite Things", from the Sound of Music:

My Favorite Things


He was a little worried that he messed up on the "wild geese that fly" part. I love that little smile he does when he decides to just keep on singing.

Now for any of you who speak Spanish:

A Spanish Song about a Pinata (I'm not sure what it's really called)

This next one is an attempt by Rachel to sing a Christmas song. I am not sure where she came up with this - it starts out a lot like Tristan's Spanish song, but then changes pretty drastically:

My Pants are on Fire

Yeah, I don't really know what that was about, either. Sorry about Lizzy yelling in the background.

Okay, here is the last one - Tristan's favorite. It is a really sweet, tender little song that Tristan really wanted to sing ("It's a good one, Mom!", he said), but Lizzy started yelling part way through it, and then Tristan kind of forgot the ending, and Oliver accidentally did a big burp (I'm not sure if you can hear it in the video or not), so we had to end early. It's still pretty cute, though, to see how sincere Tristan is trying to be while singing.

Believe

Piece of bread?

I know I have posted a lot of Rachel quotes lately, but she is just at that age where I want to write down everything she says.

Rachel always likes to try out new little sayings, but sometimes she gets them mixed up. Apparently she is a bit confused about the phrase, "Do you want a piece of me?"

I was getting ready to hop her out of the van yesterday, and she put her hands on her hips and said in her best threatening voice, "Do you want a piece of bread with me?!!"

Somehow having a piece of bread thrown into the statement softened it quite a bit, and I did not feel threatened at all.

Priorities

I love making big "to-do" lists in the morning so I can check things off as I get them done (or scribble things out as I decide not to do them). I usually either hang these lists up on the fridge or leave them out on the counter so I can see them as I walk by.

A few days ago I learned that this habit can be risky when one has children who can read.

I was in the study about to start making some "important" phone calls when Oliver came in.

Oliver: Hey, Mom, can we decorate our Christmas posters now? (Last week I bought some big posters so we can paint Christmas pictures on them and hang them up in the windows. I thought nobody had noticed that I had been putting off doing them for awhile.)

Me: Um, yeah, just a minute. That's funny that you asked about that - I was actually already planning on doing those today. I just have to call someone first.

Oliver: Who are you going to call?

Me: Just a company.

Oliver: Is it Dish Network?

Me (very surprised): Yes, it is Dish Network, actually. How in the world did you know that?

Oliver: I just saw it on a list. It said you were going to call Dish Network today.

Me: Well, you're right. That's exactly who I'm calling.

Oliver: But Mom, on the list it says "decorate Christmas posters" BEFORE it says "call Dish Network".

I think I will be hiding my lists in the future.

The posters turned out great. I drew the outlines and Tristan and Oliver painted them in. All of the kids came with me this morning when I took Tristan to school so we could drive on the street behind our house and admire our handi-work (and take pictures, of course).

They were sufficiently satisfied with the visibility of our decorations from the road - no more little crayon drawings for this family, I guess.

The Emperor Has Spoken

Rachel has seemed pretty content just being herself lately, so I should have guessed it was time for a change. Today at lunch she marched into the kitchen and whispered (in a loud, dramatic whisper that she has perfected) that she was the Emperor.

I guess she also got it in her head that the proper way for an emperor to speak is to whisper, because for the next 10 minutes or so she spoke only in whispers. They were very commanding, emperor-type whispers, though.

Here's how our meal went:

Me: Rachel, your apricot jam sandwich is ready!

Rachel (whispering): My name is NOT Rachel. Call me Emperor.

Me: Okay, Emperor, your apricot jam sandwich is ready.

Rachel (whispering): I don't eat sandwiches.

Me: Oh. What do you eat?

Rachel (whispering): I eat animals.

Me: Oh, okay. Well, your apricot jam animal is ready.

Rachel (huge glare in my direction. Still whispering): I only eat DEAD animals.

Me (pointing to the clearly lifeless peanut-butter sandwich): It is dead.

Rachel (huge glare again. No longer whispering): I am in charge of you. I am THE EMPEROR!

At this point Oliver, who had just been listening quietly as he ate his own sandwich, decided to enter the conversation.

Oliver: Mom, I think YOU should be the Emperor, because you're actually in charge of her.

Me: Thank you, Oliver.

Rachel: No, Ollie, I really am in charge of her.

Oliver: Well, that doesn't even make sense because she's older than you. Why don't you let Mom be the Emperor, I'll be Darth Vader, and you can be Jabba the Hutt.

Rachel: Noooo!

Rachel: I just want to be normal. Let's just eat.

Me: Good idea.

I've Been Tagged

Okay, Poppy . . I didn't forget that I'm supposed to be doing this. It's just been a little busy around here. Plus, it took me a long time to think of seven interesting or little-known facts about myself. Plus, I'm a little nervous about writing about myself on the blog - it's much easier to write about my kids.

Here you go, though: Seven facts about myself that might not be that interesting but at least they are not well-known. Unless you are a member of my family, and then you probably know all of these things.

1) I stick out my tongue while I draw. I can't help it. It just pops out there. Even if I consciously try to keep my tongue in my mouth with my mouth tightly closed, as soon as I focus on my drawing again, out it comes. My son Oliver inherited this trait. I think it's very funny to watch him. It makes me a little proud.

2) I hate mustard, pickles, olives, and Cheetohs. My kids cannot believe that I do not like these wonderful things. They are usually deprived because I don't like to buy them. When I do, they love to make sandwiches with pickles and mustard on them and make me smell them, because they think it's sooo funny that I can't stand these things. (I should probably admit that I haven't actually tasted olives or Cheetohs since I was a very young child, but I can just tell from the looks of them that they are still gross.)

3) I like reading Louis L'amour books. My grandpa started me on them when I was young and I got hooked. Even now that I should know better and have realized that all his cowboy stories are pretty much the same, I still just love reading about those Sackett boys.

4) I can't snap. This is very embarrassing to admit. My six-year old can snap and has tried to teach me. I'm pretty sure I used to be able to, as a kid, but why can't I now? How did I just lose that skill? Will I one day wake up and not be able to ride a bike?

5) I can hold my breath for a really long time underwater. I am hoping that this skill will come in useful when I grow up and become a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld, because that is my dream job. (Not that I am unhappy about my current job as a mother to my four wonderful children - I'm just saying that someday it would be really neat.)

6) When I was four years old I started seeing double - I could see two of everything. It was very weird. My parents were really worried because the doctors didn't know what was wrong with me, but I don't remember if I realized it was a big deal. I just remember getting lots of test done, and when I went in the MRI tunnel my mom held onto my foot and sang Primary songs to me. I had to wear a patch over one eye for awhile, like a pirate. After about 5 months it went away and I could see normal again.

7) I talk in my sleep. When I was younger, my older sister whom I shared a room with said that I would start talking every night around the same time. She thought it was very entertaining. I also did a lot of sleep-walking. As I got older I grew out of the sleep-walking, and I thought I grew out of talking in my sleep, too, but Daniel has informed me that it still regularly occurs.

So, there you have it. I don't know how long I'll leave this post up, because I might have second thoughts about all this personal information being available to just anyone, and I'll come and delete the whole thing.

I just realized that I'm supposed to tag someone else now, and I had not thought of that before I started writing. Is there a rule that I HAVE to tag someone? I have seen a few different kinds of blog tag, all with different rules, so I will just pretend that I am playing the kind that you can write your facts and then be done. If you are one of my friends who really wants to get tagged, send me a secret email or something. Or just pretend that I tagged you and start writing.

Mott Family Reunion - Thanksgiving 2007

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. Some of Daniel's family (his mom, one of his brothers, and one of his sisters with her husband and their two kids) came to stay with us.

First they flew into Dallas and we drove up there to meet them (Dallas is about 3 hours north of us). They had never been to the Dallas/Fort Worth area before, so we wanted to stay up there for a few days and show them around. While we were there we went to a rodeo in Fort Worth, the JFK Memorial and Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, and the Fort Worth Zoo.

As usual, I took several hundred pictures to document all the fun. How else would we remember what a good time we had?


The First Night - Eating out at Carino's Italian Grill; Rodeo at Stockyards Station

JFK Memorial and Downtown Dallas

The Fort Worth Zoo

One of my sisters lives near Dallas, so she and her three kids were able to meet us at the zoo and spend the day with us. All of the kids got along great, and it was fun to be able to spend time with my sister.

On Tuesday we drove down to Austin to get ready for Thanksgiving at our house. We stopped for some shopping at the Round Rock outlets, and then ate dinner at Rudy's BBQ - a true Texas experience. The next day the boys went golfing and Gretchen and I took the kids to Austin Children's Museum, which they loved. They could stay at that place for hours. That night Anita babysat all the kids while we went to the Melting Pot in downtown Austin.

Thanksgiving day went perfectly, thanks to Daniel's mom - I consider myself very lucky to have a mother-in-law who knows her way around the kitchen and thinks cooking up a huge feast for everyone is fun. I don't know what I would have done without her.

On Thanksgiving the temperature literally dropped 35 degrees, and the next day we headed down to SeaWorld, San Antonio in 40 degree weather. It was freezing! We bundled everyone up, and all the kids were good sports, so we still had a good time. I did NOT envy the dolphin trainers this time around - that water looked much too cold.

Saturday we got to watch the BYU game, so that was fun. That evening the boys went out to Tokyo Steak House, and then they came back and watched the kids and the girls went out and did a little shopping. It was a good day.

Daniel's family left on Monday morning to go back to Utah, and it came much too soon. I wish Texas was a little bit closer to home so we could see everyone more often.

Austin Children's Museum in downtown Austin

SeaWorld, San Antonio in 40 degree weather

Dinner at Maudie's Milagro and Obstacle Courses for the Kids

After we got home from Maudie's, Daniel organized lots of races and an obstacle course for the kids. After all the excitement, Gretchen led them in some stretches and relaxation exercises to help them get ready for bed.

Here we go again. . .*

*see this post for appropriate background info


Oliver making a Christmas drawing to hang up

Last night we were driving home from Daniel's work and Oliver and Tristan were counting all of the houses with Christmas lights/decorations. At one point after we drove past a particularly fancy house, I heard Oliver mutter to himself, "Okay, I have GOT to start decorating tomorrow.

First thing this morning he went straight to work. This is what he's come up with so far. . .

- a little paper wreath to hang on our door. He was very proud that the wreath is visible from the street (after he hung it he walked out to the street to make sure), but he keeps asking me if people will think it's a real wreath or if they'll know it's just made out of paper. I told him they might realize it's paper if they come really close, but they'll still love it. So if you come to our house, you may want to compliment Oliver on the wreath.

- six little "Christmas lights" made out of paper, also hanging on our door. He was so excited when he figured out he could make his own christmas lights out of paper. It made me really sad for him, though, that as a five-year old he feels completely responsible for decorating our house, and he is only equipped with paper and markers to do it. I think part of him is very pleased that he made his own christmas lights, but the other part of him realizes that they don't have quite the same effect as real ones, and he's a little frustrated about that.

- a miniature candy cane decoration for the yard

- a miniature present decoration for the yard







In the past I've always felt like we had plenty of decorations - I always get a real christmas tree with lights and set up tons of nativity scenes around the house, but I've never really bothered with the outside of the house. This year I am feeling like I might need to do a little bit extra for Oliver's sake. I am torn between getting a few cheap little things that Oliver will be thrilled with (if he is so desperate for candy canes in the yard, Wal-Mart has 4-foot tall ones with lights for 5 bucks) or spending a little more to get some classy decorations that I actually like and will want to save for next year.

I told Oliver I'd take him to the store tonight so we could look at Christmas decorations and possible get some for the front yard. I guess I'll just see how it goes. He can't wait.

Quotable Quotes

Oliver loves to quote funny lines from movies, and Rachel loves to quote Oliver quoting funny lines from movies.

Lately Rachel has been quoting a lot from Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. These are her 3 favorites lines - all of them sound pretty funny coming from the mouth of a little three-year old:

1) "Coincidence? I think not. "

I don't think she has any idea what this means. She just loves to throw it out there at random moments.

2) "You're not saving the species tonight, or any other night! "
(In case you haven't seen this movie, this line is said to Manny the mammoth after he suggests mating with a girl mammoth in order to save the species.)

I sure hope she doesn't know what this means.

3) "What? It's catchy!"
(Sid the Sloth says this to Manny the mammoth after Manny tells him to stop singing a song the vultures made up.)

I didn't think she knew what this one meant until Sunday, when we had this conversation:

Rachel: Mom, don't look at me - I don't want to see your face.

Me: Hey, that's not nice.

Rachel (again): I don't want to see your face.

Me: Why are you saying that?

Rachel: I just don't want to see your face.

Me: Okay, new rule - you aren't allowed to say that ever again.

Rachel: What? It's catchy!


I think I ruined the stern disciplinary moment I was planning by laughing out loud.

The Best Part of Making a Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

Mott Boys versus the Star Wars Action Figure Guys

A few weeks ago after church the kids were getting bored so Daniel got out his blow dart gun that he got on his mission (I'm not sure if it's from Singapore or if he got it in Malaysia or Sri Lanka or somewhere else he visited).

The boys (and Daniel) had so much fun setting up a huge Star Wars army and then trying to knock them down by blowing darts at them. The piece of cardboard in the background is to protect the walls from any darts that might miss their target.

Darth Vader was by far the hardest enemy to take out. Tristan and Oliver were almost convinced that he was using the force against them, as it took way more darts than it should have to finally knock him over.

Anyway, this is the kind of fun Sunday afternoon activity that goes on at our house. At least they are spending quality time together, right?

Rachel's Thoughts on Motherhood

Rachel, in what is (according to her) not the most ideal fighting outfit.

Rachel has been thinking a lot lately about becoming a mother. Recently she told me that if she were MY mom, she would let me have a pink army shirt AND a red fighter-shirt and a pinkish-reddish sword and we would eat pinkish-reddish cake and banana splits. (Rachel loves both red and pink, so to her "pinkish-reddish" is the ultimate color. And she absolutely loves banana splits, which is why she manages to work them into almost any conversation.)

Anyway, you can tell she's a girl with two older brothers if a pink and red fighing outfit complete with sword seems like the best gift a mother could give.

Rachel's ideas on mothering do not stop there - the other day she and Oliver were out in the kitchen and I heard them have this conversation:

Rachel (in a very condescending voice): When I grow up to be a mom, I will be in charge of my kids. (I can tell she just can not wait for this time of power - her poor children)

Oliver: Oh, yeah? Well, you'll have to do everything hard when you're a mom.

Rachel: What will I do that's hard?

Oliver: You'll have to clean your house and stuff.

Rachel: Well, this is what I'll do when I'm a mom:

• Get my little kids dinner, lunch, and snack. (I guess they're not getting breakfast)
• Cook some stuff in the oven.
• Get my kids some applesauce.
• When I'm done I'll put the food back in the pantry and fridge.
• Play catch with my kids with a soccer ball.

It was interesting to see how she views my life - it looks like it's mostly spent in the kitchen. At least I get out to the backyard once in a while to throw that old soccer ball around. I think I know where that part is coming from - the last few Saturdays Daniel, Tristan, and I have played catch out in the backyard (with a football, not soccer ball, I should clarify).

It's actually been really fun. Daniel is the quarterback, and he has me and Tristan run different receiver routes. On Saturday we were trying to see who could catch the most out of 10 passes for four different routes. I am embarrassed to admit that Tristan beat me on the first three contests. I only won when we were running out patterns, and even that one was close - we were tied at the end of 10 passes each, so we had to go until sudden death, and I managed to beat him. It's good practice for both of us and we have a lot of fun. Tristan is so competitive, though - he does not like to lose. Luckily I do not have that problem.

Rachel, Oliver, and Lizzy usually hang out in the backyard while we're playing, and I guess Rachel has been observing and decided that playing catch counts as a motherly duty now.

The "Relaxing Pants"

Oliver did something funny the other day. We were going through clothes upstairs in his room (I brought in all the winter clothes from the garage, so I'm trying to get rid of some of his summer clothes and too-small things. If you're wondering why I'm only boxing up some of his summer clothes, it's because even though it is the middle of November in most of the country, here in the heart of Texas it is some other month - on Wednesday the high is supposed to be 90 degrees).

Anyway, I was having him try on lots of pants, and we got to a funny little pair of plaid pants. I strongly considered tossing them, because I'm not sure if he has any shirts to match them, but they looked cozy and comfortable, and I thought he'd probably like them, so on they went. I said something like, "Ooh, these seem really soft and comfortable. I bet they'd make good "relaxing pants" (meaning, you are never to wear these out of the house, son!).

I guess he liked the idea of relaxing pants, because he got very excited, saying, "Yes! I love these! These are the best relaxing pants ever! I want to go lay down on my bed right now and just relax."

He ran over to his bed and sprawled out in his best "I'm relaxing" pose. He then gave a big contented sigh, and said, "This is so relaxing! I think I'll just grab myself a club soda and turn on some music."

I was laughing so hard. I have no idea where he heard about club sodas, and why he thinks they might be relaxing. I'm quite sure I've never mentioned them before.

Relaxing Pants: Exhibit A

Relaxing Pants: Exhibit B

Hard Decisions

My kids make the strangest candy choices. I don't know if you could tell from the "candy piles" picture on the Halloween post, but we had quite a few good piles going on, with lots of candy bars, chocolate, skittles, M&Ms, etc.

When I was helping the kids pick their 10 pieces after our ward party (they got to choose 10 more after trick-or-treating), we still had several turns like this:

Me: Okay, Rachel, it's your turn to choose. What one do you want?

Rachel: Um, I want this one. She grabs a little miniature sour apple-bubblegum dum-dum from the pile.

Me: Shudder. Are you sure? Look at all these big yummy treats over here.

Rachel: No, thanks. I just really want this one.

Me: Don't you want a big bag of skittles or a Reese's peanut butter cup?

Rachel: No, this one's my very favorite. Plop. Into her bucket it goes.

Me: Sigh. Okay, Oliver, your turn.

Oliver also had questionable taste. Tristan at least was trying to choose some big things. He has all these big plans for saving his candy. He told me yesterday that he figured out he could save it for 80 days if he only eats one piece every 4 days. About 10 minutes later he came and told me that he was thinking about saving them for just 40 days, or he might just do what Oliver is doing and eat one piece every day. We'll see.

Update: Since Halloween the boys have each held themselves strictly to only one piece per day, even though we said they could eat it whenever they want to. They are both alarmed that Rachel is blowing through hers much faster, as they are sure she will regret it later. They are probably right. The other day I heard Tristan say to Rachel as he watched her search around in her bucket for another treat, "I wouldn't do that Rachel! If I were you I would not eat one for like 5 days and then maybe you won't run out so fast."

Halloween 2007

Tinkerbell, Wendy, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook

(Elizabeth, Rachel, Oliver, and Tristan)

Daniel and I took all the kids trick-or-treating. They all loved it, but is was especially funny to see Lizzy get into it for the first time. We only sent her up to a few houses (the ones with relatively safe paths up to the doors), and she thought it was so great. After she got her treat, though, she kept plopping herself down right on people's porches to investigate her bucket. She also kept trying to give people treats back from her bucket - she would do little trades. The rest of the time she sat in the wagon while the other kids went up, and searched through her basket for suspicious things to throw out. Things that were iffy ended up being placed in the bottom of the wagon, and then things that were really weird looking were tossed out onto the sidewalk.

At one house all the kids got a little microwave popcorn package, which I thought was a cute idea, but Lizzy had very mixed feelings about it. She didn't want to completely abandon it (she threw it out of the wagon a few times but then wanted it back), but she was not comfortable with it being in her bucket, either, so it ended up with a special spot on the bench across from her. Once in a while she would change her mind and give it a chance back in her bucket, but it never stayed there for long.

When we got back, I put Lizzy to bed while Daniel organized a candy sorting/choosing party. I wasn't involved, but I could hear from the other room that great fun was being had by all. All the buckets were dumped and then sorted into different kinds of candy. Then each of the kids got to choose 20 pieces (they had already chosen 10 from their Halloween party, so they got to choose 10 more from trick-or-treating).

I love that they accept this with no fuss. On our way home from our ward party last Friday, I kind of casually mentioned that when they got home they could choose out 10 and then we'd put the rest in the give-away bucket. The boys each said one thing, like 'oh, we don't get to keep it all?', and I just said, 'What!? Do you guys think it would be healthy to eat all this candy?' Then they were immediately on my side, saying things like, 'Oh, yeah, you're totally right, Mom. We forgot about that. That would be really bad. Of course we shouldn't eat this much.' Tristan even went so far as to say that if they ate that much candy all of their teeth would probably fall out. I told him probably not all (I don't want him to think later that he's been lied too) but it still wouldn't be good for his teeth.

I'm sure it won't always be that easy.

Halloween pictures:

Halloween Decorations

Some of you may remember how much Oliver really loved all the Christmas decorations last year. I did not realize that he would get so into Halloween decorations, too. He loves driving around and seeing what other people put in their yards and on their windows. A few weeks ago he asked me why I hadn't set up any Halloween decorations at our house. I told him that he could make some himself, so he got right to it and started drawing pictures to hang up on our front windows and door. He was not super happy with them, though, and was really concerned that they might not show very well from the street. I wasn't sure why it really mattered.

Then last week we got a big pumpkin and made a jack-o-lantern, and each of the kids got a little mini pumpkin to decorate. Oliver was really excited, but to my surprise, he still did not seem content. He kept saying that people wouldn't see our pumpkin when they drove by. The next day he spent a lot of time out in the front yard, and I wasn't sure what he was doing. He asked me if he could move around some of the pumpkins, and I said okay. He went back out for awhile, but I still wasn't sure what was going on.

Then he came inside and sat down by me, kind of looking depressed. He said, 'Mom, is this ALL the Halloween decoration stuff we have? Like, is there any more in a box somewhere that I could use?' I didn't know what he was talking about, but told him that we didn't really have any Halloween stuff.

Finally I went outside to see what he had been up to. I started laughing as soon as I saw it. He had found a little bag that we got from a party that had little Halloween trinkets in it (straws, pencils, rings, finger puppets) and had set them up on the front porch and in the front yard. He had also moved the little pumpkins around so they would be more visible from the street. It was so cute to see that he had been trying to make our yard look presentable compared to our neighbors.

Poor kid. I know he was so frustrated that we only had little teeny things to set up. I felt so sad for him when I realized that that's why he had come in and asked if we had any more Halloween stuff - I think he knew that the things he was setting up weren't quite the same as 'real' Halloween decorations. Anyway, he has completely put himself in charge of the decorating job, and each day it looks a little different out there, as he struggles to come up with new arrangements that he feels will look okay. He always asks me, 'Do you think people can see it?' And I say they can. (I don't add that they might have to use binoculars.)

I took some pictures so you can see how funny it is - I don't know if you can tell the scale from the pictures, but these are seriously TINY decorations - there is a little ghost in front of our doormat, and it is only about a half inch taller than our doormat. Maybe you will understand Oliver's frustrations.