Thanks

Had to get that out of the way....Merrill is about to pee his pants with excitement since they won. He is very grateful!

I'm grateful that my mom and dad got to come to Texas and be with my family. They left Tad home to be looked after by Natalie, Ren, and Annie with her Bo - M.C. Hammer. Its good to know that they trust Annie. She drove down with some other college kids(MC Hammer too) and surprised my mom on Saturday, and she left to come see me on Monday! She had no problem leaving Annie with MC Hammer and all the other siblings.

I'm thankful for the Church and the rules we were taught growing up about how we should, and were, expected to act. I see all the problems in other families that didn't have any morals taught to the children, and they are not in a good place. I'm thankful for parents who taught us what was right from wrong. And parents who said something when it needed to be said. Us kids show respect and make our parents proud when we do what we were taught in our youth.

Being a new parent (4 years isn't that far into an 18 + year job) I have come to see that its hard. Saying the same thing over and over and over and over and over. But I know that some day they will hear me and listen to me and I hope follow what we have taught. Its always int resting to me that each child is SO different. Braxton wants to mind me and wants to be a good boy, but gets caught up in the moment. Merrick is deaf right now - and I have to physically make him aware that I'm talking to HIM! We will see what Sophie is like......but they are all my kids. That's what makes it MY and Merrill's job to teach them. And to figure out what works for each kid....Braxton will do time out and Merrick will not. So we are trying to find something that will work instead.

All of this has made my more grateful to my parents. They had to police some of us kids more then others, but in the end it was what we each needed to succeed and be kept in line.

Thanks Mom and Dad.

Braxton

On the Trampoline yesterday.

Close up

Pre-bounce

Lovin' it!

Yumm!

I was told about this blog by my aunt: www.ourbestbites.com I have tried a few things already - and have loved everything! This morning we made the No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls. WOW! I had them made, baked, and we were eating in less then an hour. And it made the perfect amount for our family. They use baking powder and soda instead of yeast, so they are very biscuit like....and very good. Kinda flaky, kinda sweet, kinda De-lish! I didn't have cottage cheese on hand (yes - they call for cottage cheese) so I used sour cream - and it worked out fine. Maybe they would have been a little more tangy - but DANG! Good recipe. Fast and Easy - Just how I like it!

Sophie's New Tricks

Standing in the crib....got up all by her self.

She loves pretzles.

Climbing up the 1st step - all by her self.

My fave - The bird!

Merrick Food

I decided to blog this because it is funny to me - and I don't want to forget. Merrick is my boy who is a real weired eater. I was gonna say picky - but he will eat things Braxton won't touch and he is always asking to try things when I'm getting dinner ready. Like raw, diced onion. Or Flour. Or celery. He LOVES berries. And pickles. Or raw garlic. Or potato. Really anything raw that I cut up for dinner - with the intent of cooking it.

So this morning here is what he has eaten: 2 bowls of coco puffs, 1 pickle,

12 strawberries, a handful of pretzels, some shredded zucchini (we made zucchini bread), a finger tip of cinnamon, a BIG finger tip of vanilla pudding mix, 2 glasses of milk And its only 9:21

Halloween

This year we went to our Ward Halloween Party! (after kickball) We got the boys new Transformer costumes, but Braxton decided to use his Bumblebee outfit from last year - and it still fit. So he will be Optimus Prime next year. I helped the boys carve a pumpkin (good thing too, because we went to buy one on Thursday and couldn't find one ANYWHERE!) - but did not win a prize for "Best-Ever-Skull". The boys got to play the "toss the salt water taffy in a bucket" game, go trunk-or-treating. And Merrill did a great job passing out mini play-doh and candy to the kids who came to our trunk. Sophie had her hair in a mo-hawk at one point during the day and had a little skull tattoo on her cheek - so she was a "PUNK-in" for Halloween.