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.