Month of November

November is always a fun month.  The first big event was Kelli's birthday, which she had been planning since her last birthday.  She is now 6 years old.  I can't believe it.  Time flies.  I miss how little she used to be.

Kelli got her rainbow colored unicorn dream light that she has wanted for a long time.  They are kind of cool.

Then she got her doctor's kit.  She loves playing pretend doctor.

Kelli wanted brownies and homemade ice cream for her birthday.  It was delicious.  

Next the big birthday party came. Kelli requested a cowboy/cowgirl party.  The kids played panning for gold.  I had 2 big bowls of rice.  I didn't want to get dirt, so I thought rice would work better.  Then I bought some bright and shiny, brand new pennies and some bubble gum coins.  I put holes in the bottom of the plastic bowls so the rice would go through and not the coins.  This was a hit.  The kids loved it.

Next they played "there's a snake in my boot."  The kids had to guess which boot had the snake in it.  In return they got snakes as a prize.

Next they played lasso the cowboy rubber duckies.  They got the rubber duckies after they played.  I used pool rings for the lasso.

Next they played musical snake.  Kelli had a stuffed snake.  The game was like musical chairs except you pass around a snake.  I played country music.  When the music stopped, whoever was holding the snake had to go to jail.  The prize for this game was more rubber snakes.  

Next was cake and ice cream. 

The whole group.  

Also in November, Kelli lost her first tooth.  She was so brave when her daddy pulled it out.  

Another thing that happened, was Kelli sprained her ankle in gymnastics.  Carson felt bad that he wasn't injured so I wrapped up his head.  Glad he really wasn't hurt that way.    

Blogs

I find myself a little upset because I can't pull up some of your blogs.  Therefore I can't read any of them or leave any of you comments.  Frustrating....

Month of October

The month of October was full of all kinds of stuff.  First off, I have worked more on my painting and here is an update.  It is still a work in progress.

Second, I took my children out in the wild and took pictures of them in the fall colors.  Carson loves to say cheese, but never look at the camera.

Third, in the middle of October, Kelli had her last soccer game and received a trophy.  She was ecstatic!

Her soccer team... She played with all boys.  It probably made her a little tougher.

Fourth, I made a skirt.  I figured it out on my own.  I didn't have a pattern for it.  It is made with some gray fabric with gray tulle on top and a ribbon as the waste band.  The picture isn't very good.

But here is another one. It is still a little hard to see.

The fifth thing that happened this month was I had hernia surgery.  It turned out I had 2 hernias that needed repair.  When I first went in for surgery, we only knew of one.  The first week was not fun.  It was pretty painful and I felt like an old lady, sleeping propped up with pillows under my knees, walking super, super slow, barely able to go up and down stairs, and I won't even mention picking something off the floor.  After the first week went by, it was like someone waved their magic wand and I felt so much better.  Now I can move around without pain.  The only pain I really have is when I cough, sneeze or laugh differently.  I still can't pick up anything over 15 pounds, but other than all that, I am doing much better.  Carson, however, doesn't like that I can't pick him up.

Sixth, we carved Halloween pumpkins.  My kids love this.

And last, but not least, the trick-or-treating.

Kelli helped me make her costume.  We made her wings with wire hangers, nylons, elmers glue and glitter.  It was fun.

Carson fell asleep before trick-or-treating and I was able to get him all ready while he slept.

I just love Halloween and the excitement on my kids faces.  Carson had a blast learning more about Halloween.  He was so stubborn about holding his bucket of candy.  He wouldn't let anyone help him carry it.  It got so heavy for him that he was limping trying to haul it around.  He was determined to carry that thing the whole time.

The Past Month

Sometimes I do really well with updating my blog and staying in contact with all of you and then I go for a while being such a slacker.  I know I need to be better.

Anyway, the past month has been so busy.  Kelli started Kindergarten.  And she rides the bus!  It has been a big change for me.  Nothing like I had expected.  When Kelli has homework, I have homework too.  And it is amazing how much time goes into helping your child with things they need for school or things that they bring home from school that they need help with.  So Kudo's to all you moms with multiple children in school.  It is a lot of work.  For me anyway.  I could just be a big whimp.

Well, Kelli loves school and it makes it all worth it.  She thinks the bus is super cool and I finally feel much better about sending her on it and hoping that she will get to her class safely.  Carson is also getting a little bit better about his sister being gone.  He was pretty sad for a while and he kept asking me where Kelli was.  Now whenever he sees a bus, he thinks Kelli is on it.

Kelli's first day...

She got a sweet Kelty Kids backpack...

Getting on the bus...

On the bus...

Horray! She did it!

Another thing Kelli started up on the first day of school was soccer.  She plays with all boys.

For Labor Day weekend, we went camping and I failed to take a bunch of pictures.  Shame on me.  So I only got a picture of my kids in the trailer.  The weather was perfect and we got to go camping in the mountains where I grew up.  I couldn't ask for anything better.

The Count of Monte Cristo

I just finished reading probably the longest book in the whole world, the Count of Monte Cristo, which was about 3500 pages on my ipad.   I just loved this book.  I can see why so many people hated the movie.  I loved the movie, I think only because I saw it before I read the book.  Now that I have read the book, it makes sense to me why so many people hated the movie.  The movie is completely different than the book.  And the book is wwaaaaaaayyyyy better than the movie.  Anyway, have any of you read the Count of Monte Cristo, (long version)?  If so, what did you think?

Ashlee's Wet Canvas

I have another blog that shows many of my oil paintings and progress on my current oil paintings.  Please feel free to check it out and give me critiques.

www.ashleejudd.blogspot.com

Carson's 2!

Carson is now 2 years old!  Crazy!  He turned 2 on the 1st.  Carson loved his birthday.  He loves his presents and loved his birthday cake.

Here is the amazing cake!  Not really.  I am terrible at making cakes, but my kids seem to love it and I enjoy it too, so why not try.

Opening presents...

Carson loves this toy.  I got it from my neighbors because their son who is 3 months older than Carson doesn't play with it. So they just gave it to us.  It is in great condition and Carson loves it.  He loves taking all his cars and sending them down the ramps.  Great deal huh!

He got clothes from my parents!  Thanks again mom and dad.

He loves his basketball and hoop also from us.  When he makes a basket, he claps his hands and shouts, "I did it!"

And last, but not least, he got a balance bike from his other grandparents.  Thanks again Kory and Darlene!  Carson loves his bike as well and loves to get his helmet on to ride it.

Such a happy boy!


Carson at 2 years old...

He still loves his mom the most.  He throws a fit when I leave the room and screams until he finds me.

If I leave the house or take him anywhere to get baby sat, he screams with delight when I get back.

Carson has great motor skills, including, jumping climbing, throwing, etc.

He is the little boy in nursery that every nursery leader would dread having because he throws his cup of water on the kids next to him and thinks he is so funny afterwards.  He steals the other kids snacks.  He just loves being the bully.

He is our little rooster without the cock-a-doodle-doo.  He wakes up at the crack of dawn say somewhere between 5:30 and 6:15.

Carson hardly takes a nap.  He sleeps for about 1 hour to an hour and a half, and when he wakes up from his nap, he is the most unhappy person I have ever met.  I wish I could just eliminate the nap and have him sleep in longer, but nothing helps.  No matter when I put him to bed he wakes up at the same time.

He is obsessed with his Utes blanket.  He loves to carry it wherever he goes.

Carson's favorite show is Go Diego Go.  Whenever he wants to watch it, he says, " a show, go, go go."

Other movies that he enjoys are Rio, Despicable Me and Toy Story 3.

Carson loves to swim.  The pool is probably his favorite place.  He blows bubbles, jumps in the water and goes under, lets me put him under the water and loves every minute of it.  He especially loves the water slide and say weeeeee the whole way down.  When we get to the bottom of the slide, he shouts, "Again!  Again!"

Carson has such a love for life and enjoys and is fascinated with everything around him.  He sure keeps me on my toes, keeps me super busy, makes me completely frustrated,  but I sure love him and love having him in my life.

Another Oil Painting

I was asked a while back to do an oil painting for my father-in-law.  Last fall, he and three of his sons, (my husband included), went on an elk hunt in the book cliffs (roadless).  They had to ride horses in and camped for almost a week hunting elk.  My father-in-law asked me to do a 24x30 painting of the book cliffs with some elk in it.  They rode their horses through this valley as shown below.  Here is the finished product.  The painting looks much better than the photo of it.

The Smartest Mouse I Ever Knew

WARNING...If you can handle gross stuff, continue reading if you would like.  If you can't handle gross stuff, don't read.  We have had a mouse in our house for a while and it has been the biggest pain trying to catch him.  I was an idiot and left our bag of dog food in the furnace room.  I'm sure that is what attracted it.  At the beginning of the week, I set out the regular wooden spring traps and placed peanut butter on them.  Well, the next morning the mouse had taken the peanut butter off without setting the trap.  So I decided to cram some cheese up in the slot.  Sure enough, the next morning that mouse had got the cheese out of the traps without setting them.  So I decided to try something a little different.  I made some chewy oatmeal fudge bars.  This delicious treat is gooey and sticky.  So I crammed this stuff up in the slots on the traps and I even tested the traps to make sure they were working properly and they were.  I thought for sure I would catch that mouse. Well, the next morning, it was the same thing as before.  That sneaky mouse got the crammed up chewy oatmeal fudge bars out of the slots without setting the traps! Amazing!  I thought, this mouse is such a smart mouse.  I thought for sure I would have caught it by then.

I went to the grocery store and checked out their mouse traps.  My dad told me that the glue tables were a good trap, so I bought them.  That night I placed the glue trap on the ground and did everything the instructions told me to do.  The instructions said that the glue tables are pre-baited, but I can put extra bait on if I wanted to.  I decided to do that.  Well, the next morning, nothing.  I still wasn't going to give up though.  So last night, I set up all the original traps, this time cramming peanut butter up in the slots.  This peanut butter had peanuts in it, so I made sure I got big enough peanuts that would be difficult to get out.  Then I figured out where I thought this mouse was coming out of the wall.  I placed the glue table where it was coming out.  I shut off the lights, closed the door and went to bed, feeling that for sure I would get him tonight.  So this morning, I woke up and went downstairs to check out my room of traps.  Sure enough, my plan worked.  There was that little mouse stuck on the glue table.  

I could tell by the way it was situated on the table that it had quite the struggle last night trying to get free.  Poor thing, but I worry for my kids health more than the idea of having to kill it.  I wish it would have set the regular spring traps, because then I wouldn't have to kill it.  I was standing there staring at this mouse with some kind of sadness knowing that I would have to kill this thing by myself.  I couldn't leave it there and wait for my husband to get home to do the dirty job, because what if by some chance it got off.  And knowing this mouse, I'm sure it could have figured it out.

So I went upstairs, put a show on for my kids and went out into the garage to find my weapon.  I thought a shovel would work out, but unfortunately we didn't have on, but we have a metal rake.  It was the best thing I could think of.  I wanted to be as far away from it as possible when I killed it.  I went back downstairs and just stared at the mouse for like 10 minutes because the idea of killing it myself made my stomache churn.  And of course the mouse looked frightened and it wiggled like crazy trying to get off the glue trap, so that didn't help my uneasiness.  Finally, I decided it would be best to hurry and end both of our suffering.  I used the back end of the rake and bashed it on the head.  It died after that.  Goodbye little mouse.  Hopefully we don't have any more in our house.  

Update on Carson

Well, I would have to say thanks to everyone for all their suggestions on how to help my son go to bed.  They have all been very helpful.  It has been working out better.  I have just had to put him in his bed and lock the door.  Most of the time he would cry, pound on the door, or just play in his room for like an hour.  Then eventually he would either fall asleep by the door or in his bed. 

Well, at the beginning of the week, Carson started to figure out how to unlock his door.  He was thinking he was pretty cool that he figured out how to get out of his room and of course he won't go to sleep when he can constantly get out of his room.  And we don't have perfectly round door knobs, so the child proof door knob covers won't work.  Anyway, so guess what I did... we changed the door knob around, so the lock is on the outside.  What a mean mom I am.  Well, it works.  At least he stays in his room and eventually goes to sleep 

Here Carson is asleep on the floor by the door.  Don't worry, I didn't leave him there.  I picked him up and put him in his bed.

My Life Is Over

Yeah, you see Carson's bed.  It is now a toddler bed because he kept climbing out of his crib and I was worried that he was going to get hurt.  Last night was when this all happened.  I couldn't get him to go to sleep. He would continually climb out and open his door.  And boy, did he think he was super cool.  He had a smile on his face the entire time he kept climbing out of his crib.

I normally put him to bed at 8:00.  Finally at 9:00, I decided that I would put his bed into a toddler bed.  I thought that I might as well, since he can climb out of his crib.  This way it will be safer.  Finally at 10:00, Carson fell asleep.  Now you know why my life is over.  I guess we will see if he even goes down for a nap today.  If any of you have any suggestions, on how to get this kid to sleep, let me know.  Anything will help.  Kelli just stopped taking naps about the time she could start climbing out of her crib, so it worked out ok.  Carson on the other hand, needs naps and I need him to take naps or I go crazy.

Soccer

Kelli had her last soccer game on Tuesday.  It was such an exciting game.  Kelli finally scored a goal right at the end of the game.  Right after she scored, the game was over.  She was so excited!  So was I.  Draper Recreation Dept was so kind to give all the kids trophies.  That sure lights up their faces.  What a cute soccer team.

Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend was quite the adventure.  We decided to go camping up the mountains.  My husband couldn't leave until after work, so I decided to leave earlier, and hook up with my parents and get camp set up.  I packed up all the camping gear, loaded the kids in the jeep and headed to go see my parents.  We bought grocery food, and got everything organized so we could head up the mountains.

We found a great camping spot and set up camp.  I would have to say that this year is the greenest Memorial Day weekend.  Here is our sweet camping spot.

Friday was a great day up the mountains.  On Saturday, it got cold.  We decided to go fishing.  The wind blew and it snowed on us.  Carson was not a happy camper.  Kelli did great though.  These were just some random pictures while we were fishing.

Saturday evening we went to another fishing spot.  It started to clear a little more by afternoon, but it was still cold.

Sunday, we went to church and then decided that Carson had had enough.  So we came up the mountain after church and took down camp.  Maybe next year Carson will enjoy it better.  I think he is at a tough age for camping.  He didn't sleep well, or eat well while we were camping.  Poor guy.  But other than that, it was still a fun trip and great to hang out with my parents before they head on their mission.