jasonjoy model.003 2004/6/8

These are our babies about 6 months. Good thing they did not all come together or I would have to mark their arms with a black Sharpie (that may be funny to some of you). Can you guess who is who? Is it easier now that they are growing into themselves?

Brownie Mix

Several weeks ago while in the pantry I noticed an empty box of brownie mix. Luke. I searched and searched and searched for where it might have gone. Today I found the chocolaty powdered mix- still in the unopened bag (whew... sigh...)- at the bottom of my paper shredder.

How do YOU eat a banana?!

We are thinking of you Grandpa Payne and hoping they let you eat something soon.


This is the proof that Wesley really did ingest some portion of it!

P.S. Carter- I am happy (and quite grateful) to say that you were incorrect. After 3 children and many bananas I can assure you that bananas do not stain. It must have been something else that did it to little Uli's clothes.

Labor Day Lizard

Introducing baby Elizabeth... You can see that poor little thing closing its eyes waiting for this all to be over after a long night of captivity and a failed jail break...


Cousin/Aunt Maureen gave us a book called "The Christmas Crocodile" last year. It is so cute. In it the little girl finds a crocodile under the Christmas tree.  It is a cute holiday story for your kids. Sometime right around Labor Day I saw Allie on her hands and knees staring into the hall closet. I asked her what she was doing. "Watching the lizard" she replied. I thought she was joking and... bleeehhh yuck... she was not. I have no idea how a tiny lizard got inside our house and into the vacuum closet. The way she was sitting there watching made me think of an illustration from the book. And then she caught it. I thought that was a fluke until she caught the above lizard outside in it's natural environment. She's quick. So is the lizard but it is obvious who is faster. This was a couple of months ago but I have started calling her "Allie and the Labor Day Lizards".

And no I don't want to hold it.

I could hear you all the way from the principal's office!

Joy walked down to the school to vote (a date by herself!) I am at home w/ the kiddos. Monday morning I had 9:00 appointment at the dentist. With the time change I decided to go on a walk in the hills behind our house before heading out. I walked up the canyon at the end of our street to a shelf at the top and down a canyon to the south. Half way down I heard this blood curdling scream and thought it sounded like Luke! Sure enough, I called Joy and so it was. Wow! I had to see how far I heard him: 1km/ (0.6 mi)! He and Joy were out in the driveway. They were putting out the last of the recycling (she must have been beating him with a milk jug)?

It made me think of my elementary school teachers always getting on our case for being too loud and letting us know they could hear us all the way from the teacher's lounge. All those teacher out there- Carter, Maria, Lindsay, Wendy- does that ever really happen?

Ghosts, Witches, Mermaids & Ducks

Why some people don't like Halloween (and you know who you are) is beyond me! Halloween is soooo fun! I love getting out and visiting our neighbors and feeling that sense of community and celebration. I love how exciting it is for the kids to dress up and be something else! I love being creative with 3 empty paper towel rolls, tin foil, pipe cleaner and red lip stick to try to come up with a costume (I am all about putting something together with what you already have). I love carving pumpkins and cute decorations and the fall weather and colors . I like a little bit of candy but I have no problem confiscating it and hiding it for another day (the shelf life on that stuff... whew... not a big deal to save it until Christmas and Easter etc.- really!). And every now and then I like to be a little scared! Ready for something scary?!....
She's good isn't she!
For those of you anxious to see what our theme was this year, I am so sorry to disappoint you. Honestly, you have no idea. Since Jason worked until 4 am the night of the Ward Halloween party and since Allie had changed her mind so many times on what she wanted to be and since Luke would not wear anything fun... it just didn't happen. Allie decided to wear one of her old dress-up dresses and be the Little Mermaid. It's nothing homemade but it is something we already had. We did buy a wig at the grocery store (on sale). I decided the wig looked like fun so I got one too. Luke finally let us put make-up on him last minute and even wrap some toilet paper around his head and neck which looked really cool. And Wesley's cute hand-me-down duck kept him nice and snug.

This was Jason's 2 second creation. He is so cute!
And he is so cute too!!!



For preschool on Friday the kids could wear orange and black to celebrate if they wanted. I bought these adorable candy corn pants and the hair things as well as Luke's shirt last year after Halloween. I really hoped that they would fit. Turned out perfectly!

Yosemite

I was just thinking about back in the day when people would take slide film on their vacations and then have friends come over and make them sit through a slide show of their trip. At least here you can skim what you want and come back to it if you cannot sit through an entire post.

Yosemite was BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous! A neighbor of ours says May (around Mother's Day) is the best time to go because the waterfalls are flowing after the melting of the snow. We only got to see two waterfalls flowing and they were so beautiful albeit there was obviously not as much water as normal. BUT the fall COLORS... I kept thinking "If we were here in May we would be seeing water but missing out on this [the amazing colors]". I guess we will just have to go again. It was so fun camping with Ilene, Jay and little Andrew. We had our radios on so even though we were in separate cars we could still carry on a conversation (isn't that right Kilo Echo 7 Romeo India Lima).
People kept telling us to watch out for the bears and don't feed the bears. The bear boxes are the absolutely ONLY place you can store food (other than your tummy). If not properly latched, you will get scavengers.
These boy were never happier than when we finally put them down to let them crawl in the dirt.And talk about yummy food. Doesn't everything taste better when you are camping? Instead of going through our whole menu... here's a sample- pork chops and stuffing with a dijon apricot sauce and topped with peaches . Baked in the dutch oven. OH Yum!!!
The kids had a GREAT time. I think Luke slept better in that tent and sleeping bag than he has for a while. Allie and Aunt Ilene (why don't we have a photo of Ilene?) found a baby tarantula nearly dead while washing dishes.
And other than crying because they were cold or whining because they wanted to be carried or pushed in the stroller on any of our hikes we had a great time with them. You should have seen the looks and laughs as we pushed the double jogger 0.8 miles UP HILL to Vernal Falls. Not one person passed without commenting. It was hilarious and quite a workout. We decided to make them walk when we read the Sequoia grove was 1 mile down a steep trail. Turned out to be a gentle slopping WIDE paved single lane road. Perfect for a stroller. ugh.