This Crazy Thing Called.....

I start this post with a whole new respect for my parents. We all need to take a moment to thank our parents who did so much for us. Today as I talked to my Father on the phone I could hear the sound of joy in his laughter as both Faith and Emma proceeded to have meltdowns. Now while this in itself is not a big surprise ( all kids have those days), but you wouldn't know that just a few minutes before they were playing happily together. It is the curse of the phone. It never fails, no matter how happy your kids are, once you get on that phone they need a drink, or someone hit the other, or they are STARVING!!! Either way it's always something. There is a ray of light in this, it is that one day they too will have children of there own and I will be able to laugh with joy.

October was a month filled with excitement. Jason, the kids, and I all went to the Temple to be sealed on October 27. It was a very spiritual experience for Jason and I. Jason and I were both teary-eyed, especially when the kids came in. The girls looked like angels and seemed to almost float into the room. Charlie was as handsome as ever (just like his Daddy). At one point during the ceremony Faith (in her most angelic voice) asks if we are going to heaven. I could have just eaten her up. After that I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. The joy of knowing our family is sealed together for time and all eternity is not fully expressed in words. After the ceremony we had a little reception with all of our friends. It was so wonderful. I only wish our families could have been there as well. We really loved sharing our day with close friends.

The day prior to our Sealing we attended the Ward Fall Festival. What a great time we had. The kids got to wear their costumes to this event. It was also a Chili Cook-Off. I entered my chili and received the Third Place Prize. It was a fun evening filled with chili (and later with gas), candy, cake, and costumes. Jason and I also made a graveyard cake for the event. Using fondant is not as easy as it looks on TV. It was a wonderful evening. The day after our Sealing was Faith's 4th Birthday (by the way she acts you would think she was turning 30). We did a family dinner at our house (her party was going to be the following week). Then came every child's second favorite holiday, Halloween. When else can you dress up in ridiculously expensive costumes, knock on someone's door and get candy? The only thing better than that is getting presents from some fat guy in a red suit in exchange for some cookies that your Mom made (Christmas). Life is so hard when you're a kid, huh? The kids made out pretty well. We still don't have a lot of trick-or-treaters around here, but we sure had enough people handing out candy. The girls were on a sugar rush most of the night. Which I blame on their Father. For those of us who know Jason best, you would think that Jason would be the "only one piece of candy tonight" guy. Well, we were WRONG!!!! He thought it would be a good idea to let the kids have some of their candy while they were walking around the neighborhood. He said to me, "They were doing so good walking and saying trick-or-treat, that I thought they had earned some candy." OK, first off isn't the treat for all that walking and knocking the BIG HUGE FREAKING BUCKET OF CANDY!!! I forgot to mention he told me this after they came home and had already eaten about three piece of candy. Jason was on duty the rest of the night. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time:)
I have come to the conclusion that Jason and I love to cause our own misery. So just two short days (kids were still on a sugar high from Halloween) after Halloween we had Faith's birthday party. It was a Dora themed party. We had Dora plates, cups, table cloth, pinata, cake and movie at this thing (which explains why that night I had nightmares about Dora, I'm being serious). I spent pretty much all day doing her cake. I took me three hours to frost it, but it was well worth it for the look on Faith's face when she saw it. The girls had a great time making bracelets and eating pizza. After pizza we did the pinata. I didn't know that four year old were so violent. Poor Dora didn't stand a chance; it was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. They didn't scramble for the candy like I thought they would (yes, more candy, like they needed it). They sure ate it fast though. Then we played "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". The kids had a lot of fun doing that too (I was just praying they weren't going to throw up from being spun around too much). The kids decided that it was time for more sugar after the games, so cake it was. We asked Faith where she wanted us to hack into Dora first and without skipping a beat she says, "I want Dora's stinky feet". So stinky feet it was for Faith. We did some serious damage to Dora. There wasn't much cake left (luckily Jason took what was left to work). Faith got some wonderful toys that she so nicely shared with her guests (all the candy must have made her sick because she almost never wants to share something new). Jason and I were exhausted by the end of the party, not to mention our house was in shambles, but all in all a great party.
Now onto big news, Jason has officially hit what we now call as "The Hunt". He is now close enough to getting out that he can apply for jobs. He has applied to 50 so far and has received several responses already. We are getting so excited. It will be very different not being in the Army. Our whole marriage and family life has been spent in the Army, but it will be a welcome change. I can't wait to see where the Lord puts us.
Charlie and Emma are doing great as well. Emma's speech is growing in leaps and bounds. She loves to act just like her big sister. She is a beautiful and caring little girl (when she's not throwing one of her world renowned fits). Emma loves going to ballet with her sister and is learning a lot. She is going to steal the show at her recital. Charlie is the most beautiful little boy. He is so happy and just a joy to have in our lives. He loves playing with his sisters and especially their toys (they don't like that as much). I am anxious for him to start crawling. I say that now.....
We are very blessed to have each other.