Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Little Ghouls Trick-or-Treating

Another fun Halloween come and gone. We had a great time decorating the house, trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treating (at the church), and watching Halloween classics like Charlie Brown's "It's The Great Pumpkin" and "Casper The Friendly Ghost". We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween.

Our haunted house


Mini Dracula


My little Fairy Princess



The Tews down in Tewville liked Halloween a lot, but little Lily Lou Tew, she herself, oh no, she did not.




Happy Halloween



Thursday, October 25, 2007

bad mommy day

Today was one of those days. You know, the one where you're like "Please remind me why I signed on for this?" Not that you need to remind me, I already know the reason. It is the highest calling. I know this.

So today, I picked Ethan up from school and he told me how good he was, his teacher even gave him a special gift for showing such great behavior. I was very pleased. I have seen him make tremendous improvements in the last few months. Anyone who knows Ethan is aware of how busy and precocious he can be. And his energy level is through the roof. He is also very obstinate. Which makes for a challenging child, and my patience is tested every day. When Ethan was two he ran away from me constantly. It didn't matter if we were in a mall, airport, restaurant, Walmart,or our house. I resorted to putting latches on the tops of my doors, just to keep him safe. In public places he would find the nearest exit and make his fearless getaway. Recently he's gotten a lot better, although I've found him outside our house on the sidewalks a few times. We live on a busy road, and I've practically beat the dangers of running in the road into him.

Anyway, he asked if I would take him to McDonald's playland for lunch because he was so good. I agreed and we went. I noticed he started misbehaving after about a half hour, so I told him it was time to go home. I through my tray away, and when I turned around I couldn't find him. I figured he climbed back up into the playset. I called for him, no answer. I quickly walked through McDonald's, no Ethan. I went back to the playset, and the crappy part was that it's so difficult to find your kids when their up in that thing. There were tons of kids up there, so I just called his name hoping he would come down. After about 5 minutes or so I started panicking. Another mother caught on to my anxiety and offered to help. We looked around McDonalds again, we went outside etc. I seriously was about to call the police. This McDonald's was right against State St. in Lindon, which is a monster of a road. Horrible scenarios were going through my mind, and I was loosing it. After what seemed an eternity (probably about 10 minutes...maybe less) a lady came in the playland and asked if anyone was missing a child. She said there was a little boy in the Smith's parking lot behind McDonald's playing with rocks in the middle of crazy lunch hour traffic. I was hysterical, and went running outside with Lilly in my arms(perfect little soul). There Ethan was, happy as a clam, with no clue of what danger he was in. I grabbed him and we went in to get our bags from McDonald's. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself. My emotions were through the roof. I was literally pulling him and yelling "You scared Mommy to death, you could have been killed!!". You could have heard a pin drop in that McDonald's. All eyes and ears were on US. I could have cared less. I was so hysterical, I WANTED to beat the crap out of him (of course I didn't). But I did publicly chastise him. And I spanked him hard on his bum before we got in the car. I wanted him to be embarrassed, and shamed. I was so angry I was shaking. Ethan is a smart kid, and a boy ahead of his age in many ways. They've put him in a class with 5 year olds at school because he talks like he's 20. So, it's hard for me to remember that he's still 3 3/4.

So, here's where the advice is needed. What would you have done? I took his lovies away when we got home, and he went straight to his room, all privileges gone for the rest of the day. I also feel bad because the talk given in Sacrament meeting last week was about controlling your temper as a parent, and I feel I lost mine today. But honestly people, I was enraged because he could have been killed. I would appreciate some good mommy advice right about now.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Fall fun!

I love the fall, and having fun little ones to share it with is a blast. In the last couple of weeks we've been to the Scarecrow festival and Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We've also been to the big red barn at Stoneridge Farms in Santaquin, UT for apples, hayrides, a pumpkin patch, and delicious apple donuts and cider.

Scarecrow Festival and Cornbelly's.
We had fun getting lost in the corn maze!








Hayride & Pumpkin Patch
My friend Amanda and her cute kids Courtney, Peyton, and Aubrey joined us. The kids ate it up...literally.















Monday, October 22, 2007

Aloha!

We've been back from Hawaii for more than a week now, it's about time I wrote a post about it. Hawaii was an absolute blast! It was everything I thought it would be...and more. We visited the island of O'ahu. We did all the typical touristy things the first couple of days. We visited Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, Hanauma Bay, Punch Bowl, and the Dole Plantation. The rest of the time we lounged around like true Hawaiians and enjoyed the beach, scuba diving, and surfing. We ate tons of food, and we actually got to sit down and enjoy every meal...how rare! I was dying to get in some reading time too. I managed to have so much time to read, I made it through all of Stephanie Meyers new vampire books. It was kind of strange to be childless for a week. I missed the little ones, but the time away was just what we needed. Just us, the island, and no responsibilities. How lovely...for one week of course.

Ryan's family joined us for the first leg of our trip. Ryan and I decided to extend our vacation a few days. It was well worth it. My mom was kind enough to watch Ethan and Lily (a week after knee surgery) for us while we were away. I think they gave my mom a run for her money, but I'm grateful she was up for it. They love spending time with Grandma.

This was our first night in Hawaii. We ate dinner on the beach and watched the beautiful sunset on Waikiki. It is so hard to get my husband to pose normal for a picture...honestly, are we in the second grade?
Pearl Harbor
Hanauma Bay
Ryan and Peter making fire with the Samoans at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Ryan and Peter surfing on the North Shore
Me on the North Shore...this beach was gorgeous.
Ryan up in a tree...boys will be boys. And monkeys will be monkeys .
Hiking to Waimea Falls