Hello? Is anyone still there?

Hi! Ok- for those few people who still check to see if I have posted anything- I do truly apologize- I do not know what happened to November-or December or even January or February, but I promise that I will try harder to post again on a more consistent basis-

So yesterday I picked Sydney up from school and she informed me it was a day of sirens (drills) a fire siren and then one siren where we had to all squeeze on the stairs called lock down in case someone comes in and wants to hurt us or has a bomb!

How completelty scary/sad my little 5 year old now has to practice in case some psycho decides to pick her school for their random act of violence! Luckily Syd did not seem to grasp the seriousness of her words, in fact she was more annoyed as she told me that the substitute would not let her go and get her backback during the fire "siren" because she had a lot of important stuff in there! SO I told her that I supported her teacher and that I could replace anything in backpack, but could not replace her- to which she responded "You could adopt!"

Witches

I have always wanted to throw some sort of Halloween party (other than the ones I plan for work) but never have, so this year I took a small step by hosting book club this month- and the book? Witches by Roald Dahl- I had seen the movie and book was a fun read so last night we got to together, we being the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (the name of the witches secret organization) the ladies in the group were good "spirits" and went along with it-

ARRRR we be pirates

I know I have said it before, but I love Halloween- I begin plotting and planning costumes waaaayyyy in advance. This year I decided that we would be pirates and the baby (pre knowing the gender) would be our parrot. Well, they moved the time honored tradition of the ward trunk or treat up 2 weeks (translation PANIC since my Mom who I usually rope into making the costumes would not be in town just yet) so GASP I had to sew (well and hot glue) the costumes! Jane's parrot turned out more like Elmo in bird formation, but oh well- We arrived at the trunk or treat only to discover we did not have our memory card in the camera- so I am stealing this pic from Kristin (lets be honest she takes waaaayyyy better pics anyway)

If planted it will GROW

Sydney was given some pumpkin seeds by a kid in our ward that according to him were "magical" since I was 7 1/2 months pregnant i was really not going to take on planting a garden, but after nagging one day a took a sippy cup that had been left outside scooped out some dirt and planted 2 of the "magic" pumpkin seeds- the results? 5 pumpkins 2 which are at least 40 lbs! and vines all over my yard!

Mommy Wow I'm a BIG kid now

Cash started a little while ago being fascinated with the toilet, since I was about to give birth I wasn't too excited about potential accidents, so I sort of put him off. Cash like the rest of us is stubborn and without sticker charts or bribes has pretty much potty trained himself- his latest feat? peeing standing up- too cute!

Kids the darndest (meanest) things

So Cash finally figured out that it is BYU and not BYme and the other day he stated, "I go BYU" which dream crusher Sydney quickly refuted-"You don't go to BYU Cash" so I jumped in saying "Well if Cash studies hard and is smart he can go to BYU" (disclaimer-I am BY no means implying that you are not smart if you did not go to BYU) then Syd looked at me with shock mixed with 5 year old attitude "Well you went there and you are not smart" OUCH!! so instead of flinging mud back in a very mature fashion I used my words and said, "Sydney what you said hurt my feelings" naively thinking my saying this would impact her, oh no- her response, "I''m sorry, I just didn't know that you were smart"

Afternoon Tea

Sydney was invited to have afternoon tea with her cousin, Ella (she is Johnny's cousin Stefanie's granddaughter)at the Grand America hotel, so with her "up do" done and makeup on Syd was so excited. I managed to squeeze into my homecoming dress from my senior year in high school. We had a great time.

Note: I was the only person who actually ordered tea everyone else did the hot chocolate thing- but man- peppermint tea with 4 lumps of sugar- soooo good. Thanks Jenny and Ella we had a great time.

PS Syd got the zipper stuck trying to help me out of the dress when we got home that I had to go to my neighbor's house to get out of the dress!

Cash and Jane

Both Cash and Syd love their baby sis- and jane loves them giving them her best smiles

Jane is not a fan of the flash on my camera