Making Halloween Memories

Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. When I was younger I loved getting dressed up, and even won a few costume contests! But I hated trick-or-treating. I would always go out for about 30 minutes and then I was done. My dad when bring me back home and then take my younger sister Whitney back out and they wouldn't return until late. She loved trick-or-treating! Then Whitney and I would sit and trade candy. I would give her 5 pieces of cheap candy for one Reeses. She was all about quantity and I was concerned with quality. Though I didn't enjoy the holiday, I have fond memories because any holiday was a special time at my house. I want holidays to be fun at our home too!

Creighton got a fun Halloween toy this year, a dancing/singing Frankenstein. He loved to watch him go!
My friend Heidi from dental hygiene school told me once about a tradition her family had. Each year they had a "Halloween Feast" and would have different Halloween foods. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun so I decided to try it this year. I came up with a few clever things. We had green "ghoul-aid" and there were bugs in our ice cubes.
A chocolate spider cake!

Cheese ball Eye-balls. Cason loves cheese ball, it's one of his favorite snacks, so he was loving these!

And mummy wrapped hot dogs and bloody fingers! Ok-so the bloody fingers weren't so clever, but I was running out of ideas. And Creighton loves french fries. So he was very happy!

Creighton asked his daddy to help him carve his pumpkin. Creighton wanted his face on the pumpkin. Cason tried his best-and it turned out great! He even included Creighton's two teeth!

Creighton "our little monster" was so pleased with how his pumpkin turned out.

He has a great monster face!

I just couldn't get enough of this little guy in his costume! He looked so great and was such a good sport about the hood.

Creighton made the rounds to visit grandparents and we even stopped to get some neat Halloween pictures taken. He was so tired! His first Halloween was sure great!

Creighton is an Explorer

Creighton is an explorer! Now that he is crawling and steadying himself on furniture, he is discovering everything and he just can't get enough. He is such a smart little guy.
This is one of Creighton's favorite places-the entertainment center! He likes to remove all of the pictures, but then he lays flat on his back, holds them above him, and studies them very closely. Another favorite place of his is the pantry. He has turned a bag of potatoes and the canner into his toys.
Creighton is crawling to new places in the house. He loves to go into the bathroom. And when I'm not watching him close enough he manages to dump the trash everywhere. He thinks it's funny. I've learned to keep the door shut! He does like when I keep the front door open and the screen door closed. He likes to watch everything going on outside.

He loves cords! Any cord! Vacuum cord, computer cords, lamp cords, etc. I learned this a few weeks ago when all the sudden...it was dark! He unplugged the lamp! All the cords have been adjusted out of his reach and outlet protectors placed.

Creighton likes to take "the hard way" anywhere that he goes. He likes to crawl under, over, and through all obstacles in his way. Oh, and of course we have put up a gate in front of the stairs. He notices when it's down and heads that way quickly!

No Place Like Home

Thursday morning at 5:00 am I left for Salt Lake City with my dental team to attend a training conference. I didn't return home until Friday at 9:00 pm. The training was great and we all learned so much. We are excited to put into action all of the great things that we learned. However, I was extremely homesick. It was my first time being away from Cason and Creighton and I didn't like it very much!Creighton didn't like it very much either... He cried all day Friday and couldn't be consoled. He missed his mommy! It doesn't help either that Creighton has his first cold. He coughs and sniffles all day! He has been very clingy the last two days. I don't want to leave the boys again for a very long time. It was too hard!

I Can CAN

This year I wanted to learn to can! My sister-in-law was nice enough to let me do a few quarts of peaches with her and she showed me the ropes! I figured it was easy enough, so I got busy! I ended up doing 40 quarts of peaches, 21 quarts of apple pie filling, and 10 quarts of applesauce. I was able to do the canning after Creighton was sleeping, and Cason was working, so it went quickly without any distractions. However, I did have an incident of pie filling boiling over (what a stinky, sticky mess to clean up!) and a pretty nasty burn on my thumb to show for all of my hard work. I am definitely done for this year-I'm burned out. But I am excited for next year to try some new things also-maybe salsa, Cason loves it!

Are You My Mother?

A girl in my Primary class told me the most amazing story today.

She was on an overnight camping trip with her school. She was sharing a tent with a few other girls, some of the LDS faith and some who were not. She got very homesick and missed her family. Especially because at nighttime they have family prayer, and tonight she would miss it. She asked some of the girls if they would say a prayer with her-like a family prayer. She knew that it would help her feel better.

I was so touched by her story and her faithfulness.

Another girl in the class said, "Weren't you afraid of what the other girls who weren't praying with you thought?" She said, "No. I don't care what they think."

What kinds of things do mothers do? Most days, my day looks something like this: Start the day off with a bath for Creighton and laundry because Creighton has once again managed to wet through the greatest leak protection diapers I can find. Sweeping Cheerios, wet and mashed ones, from the kitchen floor. Creighton manages to eat 1 for every 4 that end up on the floor. Discovering a crusted throw-up spot on the carpet with my bare feet and scrubbing it clean. Woolite carpet cleaner works great. Begging Creighton to take a much needed nap-screaming and crying usually involved, mostly by him though. Cleaning baby food out of my hair (and changing clothes at least once). Creighton has learned if he pushes his lips together and blows then it makes funny noises and food/formula/saliva goes everywhere.

Those things I don't especially look forward to each day.

However, I do look forward to: dancing super silly and singing for Creighton because his whole face lights up and he can't get enough of it. Giving him a bath so I can watch him giggle and enjoy splashing water in his face. Chasing him through the house so I can watch him get stronger and faster as he crawls after me. Then listening to his delighted scream when he catches me! Cuddling him to sleep at the end of the night-wore out from an exhaustive day of playing. In a Dr. Seuss book, Are You My Mother? A little bird wanders from different animals to machinery asking, "Are you my mother?" I LOVE that Creighton KNOWS I am his mother.

There are some things about being a mother that I am sure I could do without. But I do them because I love Creighton. I also do them because there are many more rewarding times than there are hard times. The girl in my Primary class today reminded me I am a mother so I can teach my children to have courage to do what is right in any situation and to teach them to understand the principles of the gospel. I am a mother so I can teach them they are children of a Heavenly Father who loves them and that they have a great mission to fulfill. I feel so strongly that Creighton is a very special little boy and I feel honored to be given the role as his mother.

Because We Can

The second week of September we had two nasty days of weather and I was sure that fall had arrived. I was excited to decorate for fall, so I unpacked the few things I had and hung my pumpkins on the front door. However, the last 3 weeks Pocatello has hit record high temperatures. Even though my house looks like I am eager for autumn, I am welcoming any warm days we've got left. Today though it was rainy, windy, and cold. Creighton and I took full advantage of the nasty weather and stayed inside all day. We didn't even go outside to get the mail! We stayed inside in our lounge clothes and were lazy. Creighton even took a surprising 3.5 hour nap. I thought about a few things on my to-do list: wipe down the blinds, re-organize the pantry, scrub the bathtub, and vacuum the stairs. Instead I tried out my new hair rollers and watched Judge Judy. Today seemed like a good day to do absolutely nothing, because we could. We had a great day today!

6 Month Pictures

Creighton was excited for everything about 6 month pictures-except for the pictures. He loves being outside and was loving, and getting very distracted by: the weeds and rocks and the wagon. We also got him up early that morning so he was feeling very tired. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for picture day, we ended up with a few really good ones.