Cute little babies!

We went over to Dave and Melissa's house last night.  Matthew and Mieka have started playing together a little bit lately and last night they did the cutest thing.  Matthew sat on Mieka's train push toy.  Then Mieka pushed him on it all the way across the room.  It was so cute and they were both having such a good time.  Here are some pics, thanks to Melis for sending them to me!

Here's Mieka pushing him.  He was a little tired, but he really did like it.

Okay, they both have funny little looks on their faces, but they really did have fun.

Mieka looks at Matthew, "Did you have fun?"

This was on Sunday, but they were so cute playing then as well.  They both sat in the hall and played with some baby bottles.  It was so cute to hear them laughing.

Matthew liked their kitchen.  Maybe he will be a chef when he grows up.  We better get our little kitchen out.

A happy, scary Halloween!

We had a great Halloween!  I let Emma choose her own costume this year and she chose a lady bug costume.  I decided to get a bumble bee costume for Matthew so they could both be bugs.  I didn't have any costumes for Daniel or I, but while I was at the rental center that morning, I was talking to Ryan (our cousin-in-law who works with us) and he suggested that I be a bug catcher.  I thought that sounded cute, so I threw together a "bug catcher" costume for me.

Emma dressed up in her lady bug costume.

We usually visit my grandmother who lives in a care center on Fridays.  Since Halloween fell on a Friday this year, we decided to take the kids in their costumes and let them trick-or-treat there.  Stace and her kids also came, as well as Jan and Jenn.  The residents seemed to really enjoy seeing the children.

The bumble bee, lady bug and bug catcher with Grandma Spendlove!

There was this cute little girl who came walking by and saw all of the kids and decided to sit down and play.  She and Matthew were both dressed like bumble bees, so we got a picture of them next to each other.

Emma giving grandma a hug just before we left.

We went trick-or-treating later that night with Dave and Melis and their kids.  Annika and Emma had a fun time together and were so cute!

Our little family all ready to go trick-or-treating!

Mieka is a monkey with Dave and Melis as bananas.  Annika is a fairy.

Emma and Annika trick-or-treating together.  They were having so much fun!

This house had a little "spook alley" type of tunnel with smoke and "scary" things leading up to the door.  Emma wasn't scared at all.  I guess she was to excited about getting candy to be scared.

Here's one of them up at one of the houses.  They had put a bunch of those "snaps" fireworks on the sidewalk leading to the door so there were a bunch of popping sounds when the girls were walking up.  I thought that was a cute idea.

That was all of the happy part of Halloween.  The scary part came after we were done trick-or-treating.  We were on our way home and Janice was holding Emma.  They were a ways behind Daniel and I, so they decided to run to catch up with us.  They were about 15 ft. away from us when I heard a thud and then Emma crying.  I ran back and discovered that Jan had tripped and fell with Emma whose head hit the pavement.  I was rather worried.  I picked up Emma and quickly walked the rest of the way home.

When we got home Emma didn't look too good.  She was sluggish and tired.  We couldn't tell if it was from hitting her head or because she had a long day.  Jan was worried of course because she is a nurse and knows how bad a head injury can be.  We decided to give her a blessing and then make the decision whether or not to take her in to be checked.  Dave came over and helped Daniel give the blessing.  She was blessed that she would be okay.  It was a wonderful blessing, and Emma perked up shortly afterward.  

Needless to say, we did not go over to my parents house that night as we had planned.  Instead we kept an eye on Emma for a while and then put her to bed.  We are so glad she was okay.

I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood in my home.  I am also grateful that Daniel honors his priesthood and is able to give blessings to our children.  Emma has been fine ever since the blessing and I am so grateful for that as well.   And Jan, I hope you're no longer feeling bad about it, especially since she is just fine!

A prayer

Okay, I know I just did an funny Emma thing last night, but this is too funny!  I'm sitting here looking at blogs while Emma and Matthew are "playing."  Well, really Emma is trying to keep Matthew away from her blocks.  She was getting a little bugged and all of a sudden I heard this:

"Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.  Please help baby not to take my blocks.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I am totally laughing!  I guess her prayer worked though because he is no longer next to her trying to get her blocks.  He has now crawled a little away and is playing with another toy.  Oh the faith of a child!  :)

What do too many bideos do?

A conversation in the car today:

Emma:  "Mommy can I watch a bideo?" (video)

Me:  "Not right now sweetheart."

Emma:  "Yeah, cause it will rot my brain!"

Me:  (trying not to burst out laughing) "Yeah sweetheart, too many videos will rot our brains!"

I vow to have more fun!

I  just spent about an hour looking through random blogs of people I have never met.  I feel humbled as I read of other's trials.  I feel as though I too easily forget all of the amazing blessings in my life.  I don't take the time to laugh, especially with my children.  I seem to always be too tired, too busy or just plain too bugged.  What a sad thing to realize about one's self.  

My vow from here on out is to laugh more.  To let Emma be a child, do childish things, and to play with her and Matthew more.  I vow to give more of myself to being a mother and a wife, to throw the schedule out the window and do something spontaneous and to be crazy with my kids more often.  I vow to have more FUN!

Cute little Emma

Here are some cute things that Emma said yesterday:

Emma has a pair of red sparkly shoes.  While picking up a different pair of shoes and referring to the red ones she said, "These are kind of like my Dorky (Dorothy) shoes!  Yeah, like my red Dorky shoes."  Then later while looking at Halloween costumes she said, "I want the Dorky costume!"  I couldn't help but laugh.

Then, as we were finishing dinner, Emma started pretending there was a monster in our house.  I stood up from the table so I could go feed Matthew and Emma informed me that the monster was going to get me.  I let her know that our house was safe and that I would be okay because monsters aren't real.  She said, "I'm going to fast and pray for you!"  Then she ran over to the couch (where we say our nighttime prayers) bowed her head and said a prayer.  She ran back to me and said, "I fasted and prayed for you mommy, so you'll be safe!"  I was trying so hard not to laugh because it was just so funny, but at the same time, so sweet.  She is absolutely precious.

Also, we were at the store yesterday, and we had a serious power struggle over her going potty.  I am sad to say that I did not behave very well and was not very kind to her.  As we went back to do our shopping, I was fuming.  I finally calmed down a little and explained to her that I didn't want her to have an accident and that she needed to tell me right away if she needed to go potty.  She looked up at me so innocently and told me she would.  I looked into her sweet little eyes and felt ashamed at how I had acted.  I then told her I was sorry that I had not acted nicely.  With her sweet little forgiving spirit, she looked at me and lovingly said "that's okay mommy...I love you too."  What a good example she is to me to be able to just forgive and show so much love after I had been so wretched.  It's no wonder the Lord tells us to "become as a little child,"  they are so pure and perfect.  Hopefully I will learn from this experience!

Superman!

For anyone who doesn't already know, I think Daniel is absolutely wonderful! 

Matthew has been sick all week and thus has been clingy and fussy much of the time.  Saturday came this week and there was laundry and cleaning to do, and a fussy baby to hold.  Without being asked, Daniel went to work.

He started by  getting the laundry going, after which he began to organize our closet.  This was followed by cleaning/organizing our laundry room.  He cleaned off several shelves and set up our little can rotation system for me so that I would have more room to keep our food storage items near the kitchen.

After attacking the laundry room, he went to work on the garage.  He helped me move the sewing machine my mom is lending me to the basement.  He also did a fair amount of organizing out in the garage as well.  It is looking so much better out there.

Besides each of these other tasks, he also made breakfast, washed dishes, kept the laundry going, (including folding, which is one of my least favorite chores) entertained and fed Emma, went grocery shopping with me and finished the day by vacuuming the whole house before the kids went to bed.  

All I can figure is that those people in  Hollywood must be mistaken, because Superman lives right here in my house!