Of course when Matt is out of town...

something eventful always happens. Good thing picture re-take day was today. Here are a couple pictures and a video of them explaining why they decided to cut their hair.

Ear "Infections"

This little guy is obsessed with putting food in his ears. ALL the time! I've never had a kid do this. It's quite gross, but also entertaining.

Spaghetti

Ravioli

Scrambled eggs & toast! Yum.

Cheerios

Chicken piece with noodle

Noodle

Manicotti

Maybe it has to do with eating a lot of Italian type foods?

But/Butt

Conversation overheard between J & A. A: I am telling you said butt.
J: No, not that kind, the other but.
A: Daaad! Jay said butt!
J: No Asher there is 2 buts, I said the other one.
A: There's no two but t (es).
J: Yes there is.
A: Oh yes...(pause) I forgot! There IS two but (es).

It's a small victory when they can work important things like this out on their own.

Staying busy...

While growing up on the "compound" of Fort Jenkinsville [13 acres + 5 families (different houses) =FUN!] My uncle Vance would constantly remind me that I was living "The good ol' days." Luckily the good ol' days don't end, they are just different. My sister Sariah has a quote on her blog that I love "Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am right in the middle of everything I ever wanted."
These are some of my recent good old days...

Constant occurance I mean CONSTANTLY everyday. Ridge on the table.

Loving the saggy diaper

Asher is great about dressing himself. Especially for a 3 year old. Sometimes he just grabs clothes that don't belong to him. I realized at Target the other day he was wearing Jay's jeans!

This picture is after he was told to change out of his church clothes. He obediently disappeared for a a few minutes & then came down in this. Those are not capris. They are Ridge's pants! I'm impressed he could zip and button the 12-18 month size pants!

I love this picture even though it's not composed very well. If Matt is home, that is where the boys are, even if he has a headache Matt never turns the boys away from snuggling. (Ridge is in there too under Asher.)

This NEVER happens so I had to take a picture.

For me it's a good ol' day when I accomplish a long overdue project. Exhibit A.

After clearing off the desk it was sad to see the calendar said MAY! Wow, June-September sure went by fast!

Exhibit B. One week later, it's still looking good.

The right month at the right time. My goal is to change it to November without having to go through exhibit A. again. My fabulous in-laws will be visiting so that's my little motivator.

The Enchantress turns 32

For my birthday this year my mother sent a box filled with all the doo-dads needed to create a hoppin' partay. Party horns, poppers, banners, cake mixes, candles & a light up tiara to name a few. (Carrie N. do you recognize that b. day sign from U. of I. days?)

The boys loved it and really got into it. Check out Asher holding up the balloon he blew up all by himself & Jay with the face paint from a school field trip.
Matt & the boys outdid themselves & cleaned, baked and created a very fun day for me. Dinner at The Cheesecake Factory & lunch the next day with friends at The Tea Room. All in all the perfect weekend.
Muchas gracias to all my family & friends for your packages, cards & calls. I feel so loved!

My mom outdid her creative self and made me this. Note the orange/peachy Land of Enchantment sunset color motif.

And this

And this one although I "helped" make itwhen I was back home for Seth's mission farewell. The fabric on this one was given to my mother by my grandmother Meme when I was a baby. So I'm calling it vintage, since it's 32 years old now. I love them all!

What every Enchantress needs, a cute apron, some cash & a tiara.

Halloween Decor (some new ones)

A few more pictures. These berry bunches and wreaths were found at the Dollar Tree.

Common sense afterthought to self: Next time I spray paint I will go outdoors so my 3 year old won't keep asking "what's that yummy smell?!"

Here are the berry wreaths on my candlesticks. I think I would prefer white pumpkins on top, but my hubby says I "have enough gords now."

I hung the berry bunches with black ribbon from our entrance chandelier and bought some tulle. I wanted to use a black feather boa, but Hobby Lobby was all out.
This picture just makes me happy. It is an adaptation from an idea I saw on Joys of Home.

The boys kept asking if we could make our house more spooky for Halloween. I didn't want to go out and buy more stuff, but I found this on Martha's website. It was very simple and the boys were satisfied. I also did a lamp for their room.

Ridge is such a big helper!

I was trying to get a shot with my cutsie stuff, but my helper helped a little too much...

and tipped it over the first chance he got!

Here is my Halloween tree in better lighting. But realistically all of my delicate things like this are up high out of the reach of little hands.

This is a picture of Jay's rendition of what everyone will look like for Halloween. Asher is a knight, I am a princess, Matt is not dressed up "because it's his birthday" and Jay is Luke Skywalker with R2D2.
Ridge didn't make the drawing but he is going to be a monkey. Asher will be a three-eyed monster and Jay is actually going to be a Storm Trooper.

Matt's allergies

*Warning: This post will probably only be of interest to us and maybe some of our immediate family.

Good news! Matt was able to get his allergy testing done yesterday (despite not much improvement on his breathing test.) He was off the charts allergic to ragweed & sagebrush, which we expected. It's just nice to know & get started on our treatments.

I took the boys with me, to get my shots while Matt was being tested. Here are Ridge & Jay looking cute together. They were pretty well behaved considering we were all crammed into a small exam room. We ended up leaving earlier then Matt due to Asher falling off the rolling chair and majorly smacking his head on the floor. Poor guy.

Ragweed is upper right corner. It got even bigger as the time went on, but our camera battery died.

Catch & "Release" Video

Greater Kansas City Area

This weekend is special for us because it is General Conference. A two day conference held twice a year for all members of our church. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Today our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson announced that 5 new temples are going to be built. One of them in the greater Kansas City area! For the full story go here.

We are thrilled beyond words! Matt & I were jumping up & down & hugging. I couldn't stop the tears of joy & gratitude. Our closest temples right now are St. Louis & Winter Quarters, Nebraska. For more info on why temples are important to us, click here.

The picture above is of the Bountiful, Utah temple where Matt & I were married.

Random pictures & happenings

Jay loves kindergarten and is very interested in writing letters & sounding out words. This is Jay working on "his book," which contains a made up song, people he loves and various thoughts & illustrations. I'll have to take some pictures of it.

Asher's preschool today had of a visit from a real fireman, in complete uniform and firetruck. He loved it! His teacher Miss Angela says Ash is very good at coloring, especially for a 3 year old.

For FHE this week we went fishing with our friends the Whitney's. I love the look on Jay's face smiling at the fish. The boys fished for maybe 20 minutes, caught tadpoles and then threw rocks in the pond the rest of the time. They were in heaven. I loved watching them laugh and conspire together. These brothers are good friends.

This is a shot of Ash handing off a tadpole to Jay, so they could both hold it.

Sweet Matthew Ridge. If you look close you can see his chipped front tooth. A few weeks ago he gave us a scare by biting through his tongue. He had bent down to pick up a ball and bonked his mouth on our tub. The scar is pretty bad. Ridge gives the best hello hugs any time he hasn't seen you for a few minutes. We love the sounds of his enthusiastic running toward us and little arms clinging to our legs. He is good at making others feel loved.

And of course hardly a day goes by without major fort building and made up games. This game consisted of seeing which stuffed animal would collapse Thomas train the most. They were catapulting all kinds of animals. I think the alligator won.