Osama Bin Collin strikes again!!!

Today I have experienced first hand why parents should never leave their 3 and 5 year old unattended... and also why Mitch nicknamed Collin- Osama Bin Collin- he's not terrible... he's a terrorist! But he's so dang cute that we just have to love hime to pieces!

I had just finished making the kids some lunch when I got a phone call from a friend. I told Collin and Madeline to eat their lunch and went downstairs to talk. I guess I had been down there for a while because Madeline came down and said "Mom, Collin is in the flour and he is mixing it with Sprite."

Use your colorful imagination for the words to insert here as I ran up the stairs to find Collin hiding behind the couch with the "oh crap, I am so dead" look, saying "sowwy mom, sowwy mom". I turned to the kitchen and this is what I found...

The entry way to the kitchen... covered in flour, and the walkway to the table...

The table covered in flour, spaghetti noodles and in the yellow cup is the flour and Sprite concoction. (I haven't dared try it yet... ha ha) And of course-- they always blame each other (and you can see who the greater of two evils is!)

As a mother, all I can do is sigh and laugh before I start to cry! I won't get sympathy from Mitch, he just laughed his head off when I called to tell him.... maybe I'll get some from you moms who have gone through this!? Well, gotta go get cleaning!

The Pumpkin Patch

Why is it, that when you want to do something that involves pictures, you can remember to do everything except recharge your camera battery???

Such was the case for us when we took our annual family outing to the "pumpkin patch". This is actually called Linder Farm, and they started out just selling pre-picked pumpkins to people. They have since made it quite a big ordeal- hayride to go get your own pumpkins, corn mazes, tractor pulled train rides, hay bale maze, bounce houses and bouncy slides, and of course, they had to add food and their yummy freshly made donut holes! (You can just feel the grease clogging your arteries... yet, it's their biggest seller!)

We went with just us this year, we usually go with friends ( a good back up plan if your camera doesn't work!) for F.H.E. It's really quite a fun thing... for the kids... who think we, the parents are made of money and can do everything there, and who don't actually end up carrying their own pumpkins, yet they had to pick the biggest one!

The first thing we did when we got there was get in line for the hay ride. While standing in line, Mitch went to take some pics of the kids in the hay bale maze. He got these two before our battery died!

(Above) The kids in the middle of the hay maze

sorry about all the other people, they aren't with

us.

(Right) A better shot of our camera happy kids

Madeline, Cameron and Collin

We had a good time. Unfortunately, we could not do all the things we wanted because we ran out of daylight. The kids each picked a pumpkin and got to play on the bouncy toys. I think they were happy; and for all you who have kids... you know that this is a good time to end the day! We drove home and by the time we got there, they were all asleep... what more could a parent ask for?

Potty-Trained at last!!!

He finally did it! (We hope) Collin finally made it through the night dry with underware on! He has actually been potty trained during the day since he was two years old, but he always wet during naps and at night... I think he finally beat it!

As parents, we are extremely glad and excited... no more pull-ups! But our happiness is magnified ten times when we see his little face in the morning with a big huge grin while he pulls up his shirt and tells us "I'm all dwy (dry)"

Then he has to proudly show off his dry underware (I think underware picture are okay to take of kids aren't they?!)

We are so proud of our little man! We know he'll probably have some accidents, but hey, that's life right?

Family Travels

This past week was full of traveling to family functions and also having some family members come to our house to visit and celebrate Collin's 3rd birthday with us.

We began our journey by traveling through some very snowy weather to Salt Lake City to my brother Buzz's baby's blessing. Kind of crazy for the last day of September! And we left Nampa when it was 75 degrees!





Buzz and Jenn's new baby is named Anna Cathryn and she is very pretty! I even got to hold her while she was sleeping (kids are so sweet when they are asleep) It was so good to see my whole family... yep, all six of us kids were there with our families! All Jenn's family was there and that added up to be quite a housefull, but they were very gracious and didn't complain- even about the huge toy mess in the basement! Good company, excellent food... what more can a person want?!

We were also able to spend time with Mitch's older brother Mac in Salt Lake. They were kind enough to let us play "hotel" in their camper trailer-- thanks a lot Mac...now Mitch wants one!

The weekend went by too quickly and we were on our way home. Not that Idaho weather isn't predictable or anything, but all the snow from the previous day was gone! Surprise, surprise! What is that saying..."if you don't like the weather in Idaho, just wait 5 minutes and it'll change"!

Getting home gave us enough time to clean our house and sort of get caught up on laundry -if such a thing is possible. Then on Wed. night, my sister Katie and her family came to stay with us for a couple of days. Both Collin and Jack had their birthday on Monday so we celebrated it on Thursday. The boys opened their presents and we had cake and icecream (thanks for the help on the cake Katie!)

Yes that is Mitch's wonderful singing voice you hear, and yes, I was purposely trying to sound like Elmo when I told them to blow out the candles. (I thought it was fitting since it was an Elmo party!) We all had fun, but then they had to leave on Friday, that was a bummer.

Now our week has come to an end, and we can relax and watch General Conference, oh, and get caught up on the never-ending cleaning!!!