We had our ward Halloween party last night. The kids had a blast! Lukas was Donatello from TNMT and instead of wearing the mask, we painted his face green. He thought it was pretty cool. Max had a last minute costume change and decided to be Batman instead of his original Spiderman. (I found a Batman belt on clearance for $1 and had to buy it since we had the cape already). They loved being in character and had a fun night running around and getting candy. Maxers didn't have bat ears, so we improvised with his hair. (Lukas is with his Sunbeam teacher in the picture above. He LOVES his teachers!) Today was also Lukas' preschool Halloween parade. We got to go see all the kids dressed up. They sang the cutest little songs. (Lukas was being shy and hid behind that wall-thingy. Later today he was singing the songs, so I know he knew the words. Stinker.) OH well, he was still cute.

Crafty Wednesday

My friend Emily and I got together today to do some ModPodge. We've been trying to do more crafty things lately. It was a lot of fun.

Fall Leaves

I have been meaning to get the boys 4 and 2 year pictures taken. I decided to head to my parents house where the leaves are gorgeous and changing colors like crazy. It was a bit harder to get the right shot than I thought it would be and I never did get a great one for Max, but here is our fun day in the leaves.

CUW

My trip to California was wonderful! It was amazingly easy to travel without kids! The flights were great and very relaxing and I even got to take a nap and read a book without interruptions!! It was fantastic. And it was even better to see my friend Jyl and her cute family. We had a great time and the boutique itself was a hit! There were so many people that came and I sold out of a lot of my stuff (capes, magnets, Halloween kits). I had a blast and can't wait to do it again. (Excpet for one minor incident with my tags and the lady in charge getting after me...) Thanks again Jyl and James for your hospitality! I love you guys!!! And thanks Pat (and Sonia) for taking care of the kids this weekend. I didn't worry about them at all. I stored up some patience while I was away from the kids, so now I'm 'Happy Mommy' again. It was a trip well worth it!!

California...here I come!

I am headed to So. Cal this weekend for a boutique. So for anyone out there in the Orange County area, I'll be at the Disneyland Hotel on Saturday, October 25th from 7 am to 12:00 pm (selling Design By JaNece products) at the California Utah Women's Boutique. I've been sewing and preparing for months now and ready or not, here I come!!!

Monster House

After thinking about the lessons I had just learned, I called my friend Emily to see if she wanted to hang out and do something fun with our kids. We are always wanting to get out and do fun things and we recently talked about getting together weekly to do a craft or project. She had the fabulous idea to make Halloween Monster Houses. And look how cute they turned out...

Life's Lessons

After spending some time cleaning up my house today after a messy weekend, I learned a few lessons. Here's what I can share:

1. Dishes, laundry and housework will NEVER dissapear. If you do it today, more will show up tomorrow.
2. Time just keeps ticking...whether you are having fun or not.
3. The T.V. is a magnet and a big time waster.
4. Kids are just kids for a little while, so if you're busy doing housework or orders, you may miss it!!!
5. I do not have to be supermom/woman and accomplish everything I think I need to for that day.

So, after mopping the floor and scrubbing the floorboards, I realized the above lessons and decided that enough is enough. I love a clean house and I can't stand to leave orders unattended BUT my kids are more important! I want to make the time to do special things with them and show them I love them by being THERE for them. As hard as it is for me, I am going to make a huge effort to leave the chores and orders, turn off the T.V. (my kids are watching it, not me) and just play! Tonight as I was trying to get the kids ready for bed, the boys put on their capes and started running around being superheroes. Max had on a knight helmet with a Batman cape and he was being so cute. He would run up and down the hallway with his feet jumping as he went and his arm out to shoot the bad guys. They were being so loud and I just looked a Pat and smiled at how precious our kids are. They can be loud, make messes and disobey and they don't go to bed when they are asked, but they are so sweet and forgiving. I got after Lukas for being silly and not laying down after asking him to go to bed. After a minute he turned to me and kissed me goodnight and immediatley fell asleep, even though Max was making noises and bugging him. I watched him as he slept and I felt bad for not making more time for him and for letting other things come before him. So...

1. Leave the housework (unless the kids want to do chores with you!)
2. Always have fun no matter what you're doing. And it there isn't anything fun to do, make it up!
3. Use T.V. as a reward and not a babysitter.
4. Enjoy your kids now!
5. Get a planner so you know what needs to be done and what can wait. PRIORITIZE and get done what you can, then leave the rest.

Weekend Update

I just LOVE the fall.  It's been gorgeous outside, so we spent as much time outdoors as we could.  Here's what we did this weekend:

• Pumpkin Patch.  I could spend all day here.  The boys picked their perfect pumpkin, got to ride in the wheel-barrow (which tipped over on them) and played on the tractors.     
• We went to see the witches as Gardner Village.  (Sorry we didn't get to meet up Norton's!) The weather was amazing and it was fun to walk around and enjoy the festivities.    
• Can you say J E L L O?  Jello pudding finger paint.  Delicious and educational.  
• Pat and I play a rousing game of Phase 10.  I won.  
• I finally get through another week of laundry (thanks to Lukas' help!)
• Max learns how to ride a scooter...wheeeeeeee!!!!!  
• Pat volunteers (with 5 other guys from the ward) at the docking station at D.I. 
• The Utes win again!  The Cougs don't...

Chores = Fun

Sticker book with reward chart in back: $1.00

Willingly doing a chore to earn a sticker:  PRICELESS

________________________________

Lukas has a thing with stickers and charts.  He, on his own doing, will ask for a chore each day just so he can put it on a chart that he gets to color and hang up.  (Which he decided he wanted to do on his own).  Today Lukas asked me what chore he could do and I'm racking my brain thinking, "what could I have him do that would actually help and not create more work for me?"  I had loads and loads of laundry to do and so I asked him to take the clothes out of the washer and put them into the dryer.  I showed him how and then left him to it.  He did such a great job, shaking out each shirt and towel and putting it in the dryer.  I think I've found a new way to do laundry!!!  

A Normal Day

I love nothing more than a normal day. And nothing makes you more grateful for a normal day than a sick day (or 3 in our case). The kids got pink eye and the stomach flu (and if anyone knows how I feel about sickness, you'd know that I don't do well with it). And I do have to thank Pat, he's been home all week for Fall Break and has been helping me a lot. Otherwise I don't think I could've handled it. My kids have been so good through it all. I'm glad that today is normal and we are back to being healthy. Lukas is already asking me what "chore" he can do today...he's cleaning the windows...and Max is back to his normal mischeif (throwing crackers down on my newly mopped floor and crushing them with his fat little feet). AhhhH! I love my kids.

What was I thinking???

I, being the over-ambitious mom that I think I am, decided Max was ready for a toddler bed. He loves laying in Lukas' big boy bed and he's always trying to escape his crib. So the other day I busted out the little bed and took down the crib. He was very excited jumping on his new bed. Now, naptime was another story. He would not stay down and I finally just had to close the door and say "night, night". I could hear him playing, and eventually went to check on him to find him fast asleep on his little bed. :) It's so cute. Bedtime is a bigger challenge b/c he shares a room with Lukas and they keep each other up. Why couldn't I just let Max stay in his little cage?? Yikes.

Busy Weekend

I had a blast this weekend. It was the "Simply Chic Boutique" and it turned out great. I had fun and met a lot of new people. There were lots of other vendors that set up shop in a really nice vacant model home in Herriman. Pat was great taking the kids and I'm sure they loved time with him (which included Nicklecade, McDonald's playland, Redbox, Gma's and staying up late!) I can't wait to do another one and in just a few weeks I'm off to Cali to sell more stuff at the California Utah's Women's Boutique. I can't believe how messy I left the house this weekend, but literally I didn't have time to even pick up after myself. And now I'm busy busy busy with more orders and I wanted to get it all done or at least started today, but now I have two kids with eye infections and some other virus, so we are taking it slow today. It's great to stop and take a break. And Pat has Fall Break, so he's home with me! Yay! We got to see my brother and his family and my parents this weekend for Sunday dinner. It's always fun to see them and Lukas is so sad everytime we have to leave. "Can't we stay for two more minutes mom? Can we sleep over? Plllease?" It's so cute. And his cousins are all girls (my brothers kids), except for Baby Owen who is 7 months old. He loves it. Max, too. I'm glad we're close enough to see them every so often. So it's the start of a new week and my To Do list is getting longer. But I'm trying to have a new perspective and not feel so stressed. Enjoy my family and my kids and make time for the little moments. :)

Best Friends/Worst Enemies

Lukas and Max constantly are at each other, teasing, wrestling, fighting, playing and taunting each other. They have rare moments (like the picture) when they are in harmony with one another and everything is quiet. Usually Max is screaming b/c Lukas is chasing him and Lukas is grabbing something out of Max's hands. I try hard to teach them to be nice, to share, to play, to ask nicely, to be soft...but to no avail. It is very disheartening. I know brothers fight, but I just want to see Lukas protect Max and Max look up to Lukas and want to be like him. Instead, it's everyone fen for themselves. As soon as I leave the room, there is screaming. Then I have to come in and guess who did what and assign some time outs. It's rough. I love my boys and I want them to be best friends. I just hope that as they get older, they will realize that it's actually fun to have a brother around to play with. Does this sound like anyone else's kids? And I am so tired of getting after them. They are draining my energy...

Silverpups Preschool

Today was the long-awaited day of Preschool Orientation! Lukas has been asking me for months and days "Is today preschool"? Finally, I got to say YES! He woke up this morning and I asked him to get dressed (thinking it would take me asking several times for him to actually get dressed) and a few minutes later he came into my room dressed and ready to go. He said, "See how I did it the first time you asked? It's 'cause today is preschool." I couldn't get ready fast enough for him, he wanted to go RIGHT NOW. Richel & Tommy picked us up so we could all go together (Richel is Tommy's mommy). I knew right away that I was going to be one of those moms...the kind that takes pictures of every cute little thing and bawl when I take them on the first day of school. I was embarrassed to take my camera out, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't and LOOK HOW CUTE! Lukas just loved everything about his "brand new school". He goes to Riverton High School, so you think he'd be scared or intimidated of such a big school, but no, he was very excited. And he should be, it's a darling preschool and his teacher is awesome. It's actually the high school students that teach the preschool directed by Mrs. Hicks. Their classroom is so fun and I know he will learn so much this year. He wasn't scared at all and he didn't cry or anything. He just got right into things and started playing as soon as we walked in. They sang him Happy Birthday during rug time and he did so many cool things. He was very excited to put things in his cubby. There are several other neighborhood kids that go there, so it must've helped to see familiar faces. I can't wait to see what he learns and watch him grow this year! My little guy is growing up.

Simply Chic Boutique

I am going to be at the "Simply Chic Boutique" next weekend and I want EVERYONE to come!! It is in Herriman, so for those of you that are close, grab your girlfriends and come on over to see all they have to offer (including Design By JaNece Inc.). Here is the information for it, and I'll post again next week to remind you. Hope to see you there!