A collection of randomness

that I've wanted to blog about, and just haven't gotten to... I'll post a few things tonight, and try to do some more tomorrow? Maybe. You can tell how that's been going if you see how long it's been between posts lately.
Also, since Jeremy got his new camera, our pictures are on both, and things are a little jumbled. This is a problem, because if I'm OCD about -anything-, it's keeping the chronology together with pictures and videos. This "two different filename beginnings" is a very upsetting..
So this picture is from early October. Yep. Soon after Reilly got his "Lucky Ducks" game for his birthday. It doesn't come out very often, though, because these two manage to fight over 10 almost identical ducks. And it's very quacky.
Here is a cute shot of my super-sleeper. (and the magical elephant) It's nice of her to be so agreeable about taking 2-3 hour naps (after the initial protest as I carry her to bed) and 11-12 hour nights. I guess she's making up for the whole first year where she was up anywhere from 2-10 times a night? Whatever. We'll take it, and cherish it while it lasts...


Here is a fun winter activity: I filled a container with beans, lentils, and popcorn, and let them go at it with the measuring cups. Yes, it makes a mess, but it's an easily-swept-up mess. And they love it!

And last, but most important:

Here are some pictures from Jeremy's "pinning ceremony" a few weeks ago. He got to officially put his white coat on and got stickers on his clinic badge, I think. ;-) This means that he'll be cleared to start seeing and adjusting patients in clinic sometime in the next week. Is that crazy, or what? We're so proud that he's made it this far, and he's very excited to start working with patients. Yay Jeremy!

Pontifications

Reilly just looked deep in thought while eating his breakfast, so I asked him, "Reilly, whatcha thinking about?" (He has asked us this some lately) "Um, I thinkin' about it be Jaina's party tomorrow!" He knows Jaina's birthday is next, and this kid is seriously into parties. :) ("tomorrow" is how he describes anything in the future right now) Hopefully he'll enjoy the Thanksgiving "party" later on this week...

Palmer Break, take 2

Jeremy's Daycare Service
2 weeks (ish) ago, we ended up with an extra little boy for 2 days (his mom was busy producing a little sister for him!), plus that Saturday we offered to watch another friend of Reilly's for the morning while her parents went to the temple, then meet them in Nauvoo with all the kids. I wasn't feeling too hot that day, so Jeremy ended up taking care of all 4 kids (3 and under) all morning, and then driving to Nauvoo with the older 3. (I kept Jaina so she could get a good nap in). He's pretty much amazing, and the kids had a blast! :)

Halloween!

The 30th was Davenport's "trick-or-treat" night, so we dressed the kids up and did about 8 houses. It was FREEZING! They thought it was cool though, and were quite excited about the candy. After 8 we threw in the towel and grabbed some late dinner at the mall...

On actual Halloween night we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat, and had a lot of fun again. Again, it was super cold though, and I was afraid we were going to lose a finger or two to frostbite... The kids were troopers and collected a lot of candy! (thankfully, I gave at least half of it away the next day during Singing Time) Here are pics of us at the Trunk-or-Treat, and with Reilly and Jaina's favorite friends, Chad and Jamie, hanging out at our "trunk."

Troublemakers

I mentioned that our kids had been making a lot of messes lately. One of the more exciting ones involved sidewalk chalk. One evening they found it under the sink (thanks, Aunt Sophie... ;-) and decorated all of our kitchen chairs. I was at a meeting or something, and Jeremy discovered the chalk-escapade when they came into the living room and started writing on his back. Sidewalk chalk doesn't come out of cream-colored fake microsuede (or whatever it is). Jeremy was very upset at them and told them all about it while they sat in time out and watched him attempt to clean it.

It obviously didn't make enough of an impact though, because the next day they found it again (from wherever he had stashed it) and proceeded to color all over our couches, toys, and chair in the living room. They did it all in 5-10 minutes, because that's how long they were alone down there before I came to check on them.

I was extremely angry, especially since they had just gotten in trouble for the same thing the night before, and because I was afraid it wouldn't come off any better than it did in the kitchen. Luckily for them, between the texture and the color of the upholstery, it came off much better, and there isn't really any sign of it. Here are the culprits in time-out as I cleaned.

I was smelling carpet cleaner when I sat down in there for DAYS, and I keep finding surfaces I missed (but they didn't), like the back of the couch next to the wall, for instance...

Jaina has also recently discovered the magical powers of stools (which we have in both bathrooms, to make it easier for Reilly). She's been using them to access all sorts of places that she couldn't before, and Reilly is only too happy to join in if she finds something that makes a mess...

Picture Time

We still love them, of course, and they made sure our break was anything but boring. Here are some pictures we took the Sunday before last, when we were actually ready before we had to rush out the door to be on time. They are getting so big!

Palmer Break, take 1

Jeremy just finished like 10 days off of school, and we were so busy! We spent a lot of time together, which was really nice, since we didn't see him much last trimester. Here are a few of the things we have been up to over the break:


We were excited to have Brent and Emily stay for a few days (in Brent's case) or hours (in Emily's). It was great to see them, and we were excited that Brent really did get to graduate! The kids loved having them here, and Jaina kept asking about Brent for days afterwards. Jeremy got in trouble at dinner one night (after they left) for sitting in "Brent's chair..."

One afternoon and evening Jeremy and the kids worked hard to get all of the leaves cleaned up. Of course we had a big windstorm after that, but they still got the majority of them! I'm not sure if Jeremy or Jaina's pants will ever be stain-free again though. Who knew that wet leaves are so oily and dirty?
Can you see me helping?

Here is Jeremy dragging Jaina back after she decided to run away from home. She refused to listen to pleas or commands to turn around and come back!
Mostly, these two just kept us super busy! They have been rather naughty lately. More about that later...

Harvest Festival

It certainly is fall here in the midwest. It seems like just a week or two ago the leaves started changing colors, then with all the rain we've had this weekend, it's like half of them are already on the ground! Here is a picture that Jeremy took down in Nauvoo about a week and a half ago:
















And one of our backyard a few days later:

Last weekend our stake had a "Harvest Festival." It was mainly geared towards the little kids, and Reilly and Jaina loved it! They played beanbag tosses, colored pictures of pumpkins, got to fish for little toys, eat hot dogs, pumpkin-flavored ice cream, and popcorn. We danced to a lot of fun silly kids songs, and our whole family got to go on a hayride behind a tractor. Reilly was pretty impressed! We're glad everything but the hayride was inside because it is already pretty cold here most evenings! (and sometimes in the middle of the day...) Here are pictures from the Harvest Festival: