Busy Weekend

Our weekend has been busy. I've been kind of neglectful on blog postings, but for good reason. One of the main reasons is I've been busy having fun doing stuff in photoshop, thanks to Crystal!! She rocks. She came over and stayed late one night last week and taught me some basics. So now I'm completely addicted and still learning, but it is oh so fun!

Saturday I spent the day cleaning house while Will spent literally the whole day preparing our backyard for "winter" grass. Our yard has been all dirt since we moved in, so we've been itching to get some grass back there for the kids...especially since the weather is finally beginning to cool off!

Saturday night our good friend Laura got married so we attended her wedding. It was very nice. It was in her brother-in-laws backyard and it was decorated so nicely and the weather was perfect! Laura looked beautiful and she seems so happy. We are extremely happy for both her and Dennis to start a new life together. Congrats Laura and Dennis!

Sunday was another typical Sunday. All the kids slept in later than usual which was nice for us! Sacrament meeting was another "fun" time with Easton. Ugh, I really dread that hour! But, now that we are in nursery the rest of the block isn't so bad since he plays in nursery with the other kids. After church I came home and played in photoshop some more and we all just lounged around the rest of the day. It was really nice. I made cookies tonight, and of course Jaden was right there to "help". He LOVES to help! I guess I should savor the moments instead of get annoyed right? Will's brother Eric came by tonight to hang out with the kids. My boys just love him! Especially Easton....whenever Eric leaves Easton cries and cries because he doesn't want him to go. It's pretty sad. But I'd say Eric is probably one of their favorite uncles!

And now here we are starting a new week and a new month....OCTOBER! Where did the time go? Happy Monday everyone!

how cute is this?

Mariah was sharing her ipod with Jaden so he could listen to his FAVORITE song from HSM2 "Bet On It". They sat there at the dinner table eating and enjoying some tunes. I just had to capture the moment cause it was too cute!

The Name Game

(stole this from another blog)

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Tiger Windstar

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Cookie dough-snickerdoodle

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): M-Ste

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Brown Cat

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born): Ann Mesa

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): Steme

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink): The Navy Dr Pepper

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers): Kenneth Harold

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Curve Hot Tamale

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ): Dee Eugene

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Maxy Modesto

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Fall Daisy

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Orange T-shirty

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Cereal Oak

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”): The Scrapping Rain Tour

This was kinda fun....ALL who read are tagged!

This is what happens when I sit down at the computer

AND TRY TO BLOG!!!! Like she is starving for attention or something??!??

This is one of our cats, Kenya! She will literally lay on my arms as I'm trying to type.

Almost Forgot...

to welcome my niece Kamry to the wonderful world of blogging!!!! You are now officially "sucked" in!!! Check out her cute family if you haven't already!

3 year old independence

Yesterday after Mariah's party we came home and got some rest. While Will and I were asleep on the couch Jaden decided he would "fix" his own hair! I got a kick out of this because I didn't really think boys were into themselves as much as girls. He was VERY proud of himself! He got into daddy's gel and made more of a mess than was needed but here is the outcome of a 3 year old doing his own hair all by himself! Pretty funny.

MARIAH'S BIRTHDAY PARTY PICS

Mariah had her birthday party with her friends today...it was a swim party at Grandmas house. The one day it decides to be overcast and this past week it has started to cool off some so the water wasn't exactly ideal...a little chilly. But the girls had lots of fun. And there was A LOT of screaming....I forgot how much girls enjoy screaming for fun. I think we broke some sound decibals.

Will getting ready to toss Jaycie in

Mariah's turn to be thrown in!

Cohersing Easton to jump off to daddy...(believe it or not he did actually want to at first)

Mariah LOVED all of her presents!!

Grandma's famous cake magic (thank you G'ma Irvine!)

Wills Favorite Cat Video

Will wants a cat that will do this!

Look at this naughtiness! Another water cooler bandit! And, he thought he'd use his car to give him some leverage!

Fieldtrip

Today was Jaden's first fieldtrip of the year for preschool. They went to Chevy's mexican restaurant to tour the kitchen and then learn how they make tortillas and tacos. They learned how to say "si, por favor" and "no, gracias". Then we sat and ate the tacos for lunch. It was really fun. Jaden loved it. He was mesmorized by the machine that made the tortillas! They gave them each a piece of dough which he played with forever! I think I need to scrap play dough and just make regular dough for him to play with since it doesn't make the mess that play dough does! It was a fun and exciting day!

It's official...

Well folks....Will and I have a new calling in our new ward. Ready for this......NURSERY! Oh fun times. Should we be surprised?! Well, the good news is that at least it is a calling TOGETHER as opposed to sticking just Melanie in, and we will be able to spend more time togehter, and it solves the problem of chasing Easton around church! Lucky us Ü

The Fun Stuff secrets

After all the hype of learning how to do hearts the other day....thanks to Julie....I found this useful information for quick learns by blogging hopping.....I found it on this blog http://glovergang.blogspot.com/2007/09/altered.html (which I know some of you have as one of your friends and may have already seen this) but for those that want the FUN stuff, here ya go!

If you have never played around with your alt key, it is pretty fun! Try some different combinations and see what you come up with! Ü (alt 2202)
alt 1 ☺
alt 2 ☻
alt 3 ♥
alt 4 ♦
alt 5 ♣
alt 6 ♠
alt 7 •
alt 8 ◘
alt 9 ○
alt 10 ◙
alt 11 ♂
alt 12 ♀
alt 13 ♪
alt 14 ♫
alt 15 ☼

...and it just keeps going! ► ◄ ↕ ‼ ¶ § ▬ ↨ ↑ ↓ → ← ∟ ↔ ▲ ▼

THIS is the EVIDENCE.......

of this....

I've never had any of my kids draw on walls or doors before. Apparently Easton found a crayon and had some fun.....but all the while I'm SURE he was encouraged by his big brother....who did THIS.....

Guess this is what happens when you're trying to blog?? I was just trying to help Kamry set hers up....geez, can't my kids find something more constructive to do?!

who says tantrums don't start til the terrible 2's???

This is hilarious. He's not even 15 months yet. He woke up a G-R-O-U-C-H!!! He didn't know what to do with himself.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

...and the fun comes to an end

Tonight we ended the birthday fun with dinner at the Olive Garden (Mariah's choice). She got to bring her friend Victoria along. Mariah got the birthday present she had really been wanting....an ipod nano! She was SO happy! Needless to say that was her only gift from her parents since it wasn't all that cheap. But worth it. Gotta love ebay! Jaden and Easton did get her a fun HSM2 card game though. Mariah and Victoria shared the music the whole time they ate dinner (we were smart and downloaded a ton of music on it beforehand). It was kinda funny. Luckily we were tucked away back in a corner at the restaurant. After dinner we came back home and had dessert of Mariah's choice.....homemade ice cream! Mmmmm, yummy (cherry chocolate chip). It's always kind of sad for a birthday to come to an end. I'm glad Mariah had a good day. I can't belive how fast our kids grow up!

Couldn't resist including the goofball pic of Jaden at dinner. There's always entertainment with him around!

birthday lunch

So I decided to surprise Mariah and take her to lunch today for her birthday. First I got her a bouquet of balloons and delivered them to her class along with her cupcakes. She was pretty surprised! She got to pick what she wanted for lunch. We checked her out at the office and off we went to Panda Express for some good ole orange chicken and fried rice! It was yummy and we had a good time.

Here is Mariah's fortune on her birthday from her cookie! Just the fortune she's always wished for!!! Lol

Happy Birthday Mariah!

Today my "baby" turned 9 years old! Where has the time gone?? She is no longer our little girl or our princess. Those days are gone. Instead we now have the beginnings of a tween.

Yes, she is growing up! There is no stopping it! She has become the best big sister to her 2 little brothers! Depsite the fact that she wanted a little sister, she does great with her brothers. She is literally their 2nd mom. Mariah has become a beautiful young girl. She loves going to school where she can socialize and make new friends. She is great at reading the scriptures...if we ever start slacking on family scripture reading she'll let us know! She is very responsible with getting her homework done and doing a good job on it. She has grown up so much over the years. We look forward to what is to come of her young adult years....even the not so fun stuff too. Mariah is who brought motherhood to my life. I can only wait for the days when I can share in her own motherhood someday! Happy birthday Mariah! We love you!

Bedtime

So is it just our household, or does anyone else have the same problem of fighting with your kids to go to bed EVERY NIGHT!???!!! Will and I are both so sick and tired of this same old fight each and every night. All 3 of our kids moan and groan, and kick and scream, and cry and fight at bedtime every night, day in and day out. No matter what the threats are. We're getting very tired of it! It's becoming so frustrating because it's not like this is something that doesn't happen consistently at our house. EVERY night they KNOW they have to go to bed. Same routine.....bath time, jammies on, scripture reading and prayer, teeth brushed.....then off to bed! Come on...what don't they understand? Or better, what are we doing wrong??? We have 2 very frustrated parents in this house by the time we do get our screaming/whining kids IN bed! Ugh. The joys of a parent!

Yo ho, yo ho...a pirates life for me

Julie's post about Halloween got me on the prowl. I knew Jaden wanted to be a pirate for Halloween, and up until recently Mariah was planning on being a 50's girl which we already have the poodle skirt for. Now she wants to be Hannah Montana so we'll see about that. I hadn't decided on what I really wanted Easton to dress up as, until I saw this costume at Walmart today for less than $13!!! I thought, CUTE, he and his brother can both be pirates! Except they didn't have a pirate costume that I liked in Jaden's size at Walmart, so I'll have to keep searching for J. I couldn't pass up the deal for Easton! I got it home and had to try it on him! I think he'll make a cute pirate! What do you think? Now, I'll have to figure out what shoes he'll wear with the costumes....hmmmmm, any ideas?

new shoes

Somebody got new kicks today AND won't take them off! Lol. On Tuesday Jaden was sent home with a letter from preschool saying that flip flops must not be worn to school anymore. They are trying to adjust the preschoolers to when they actually do start school and want them in "real" shoes. Okay, okay. Since the only pair of shoes that Jaden own at the moment are flip flops and church shoes we had to go out shopping today for some new shoes. When Jaden saw these he was dead set that he wanted THESE! I tried a few others, but he wasn't having it....his mind was made up. He wore them all day until it was bath time. He requested that I even take a pic of his new shoes! LOL. Too cute. So of course I had to blog about them. OH, and how could I forget....he even told me and showed me how FAST they make him!!! ;)

In Remembrance of 9-11

Last night our family actually headed down to Tempe Town Lake for an evening bike ride. It was then that we came upon the 9-11 memorial there. It is an annual thing there at Tempe Town Lake and they call it the "Healing Field". We (Will) forgot the camera last night so we headed out there once again tonight to get some shots of the field. If you haven't been and you live here in the Valley, I suggest you go next year. It is truly amazing. They have a flag and yellow ribbon for every single person who lost their life tragically on 9-11. Quite the memorial if you ask me. Last night Mariah was questioning what all of it was. The tragic event took place 6 days before her 3rd birthday so she doesn't remember it at all but is now old enough to realize what did happen. Will gave her an explanation of what happened. We will never forget! How thankful we are for each day we are blessed with and saddened by those whose lives were cut so short that horrific day. In love and honor of those people and their families!!!

Forgot to post these.....

This was taken last week at Bunko! This was the purse swap between Julie and Laura!

As much as we can't stand the desert that we live in, we couldn't help but think this pic was beautiful. Will captured this picture early the other morning while he was out on a bike ride out east. It is a gorgeous view. A postcard pic.