Happy Halloween!

Let's be honest- I am not crazy about halloween. I think it is a silly holiday. But today was fun. How could it not be when I have a two year old that thinks that everything is great and a baby that likes to giggle. Here is how our Halloween went;

We woke up early as usual. Tyler, Spencer and I were up before Garret so I got started making pumpkin shaped biscuits and orange gravy (I think that food coloring is one of the greatest inventions- It is the perfect addition to every holiday). I decided I would pull out a Halloween table cloth since I had not gotten around to decorating. Then when it was ready I went in and sat by my sleeping Garret and whispered "Happy Halloween". His eyes lit up and he was up. He ran in the kitchen, saw the table cloth and almost hyperventilated. It was so cute, that something so insignificant as a table cloth could invoke such excitement. He pointed and said "ohhhhhh,ohhhhh,ohhhh". It was a perfect start. We enjoyed our breakfast together then sent Tyler off to school. I tried to do some special Halloween things with the kids and then I tried desperately to get them to nap. Spencer did alright but Garret was too excited -for two hours he layed in his bed singing and laughing, then crying a little when I told him the Halloween party was later. He never slept. We waited anxiously for Tyler to return from school. Then he quickly helped us make six different kinds of popcorn. We had fun inventing flavors. He altered his hair, we got the kids ready and went to our friends house for a little get together. Garret always loves seeing his friends and he trick or treated at a couple of peoples houses. We came home exhausted and put the little ones to bed. And here I sit- while Tyler studies.

On the way home from Richard and Erica's house Tyler and I started talking about some of our Halloween memories. Here is one of each of ours;


Rachel- One Halloween, I am not sure how old I was, I want to say I was about 6- I was dressed as a princess (every little girls favorite costume). I remember feeling so pretty and I couldn't wait to trick or treat. Because we lived in the country we would drive to our friends house and then all go together. We never went to very many houses so it was important to take advantage of your turn ringing the doorbell. There were five of us so you really had to get there first if you wanted to get to ring the bell. Anyway we went to our good friends the Bennett's house. There I was a beautiful princess ready to ring the doorbell, yell trick or treat and get my first pick of whatever treat they were giving. I bolted for the door and then suddenly things took a turn for the worst. Down I went. . .right into there built in hot tub. So much for ringing the doorbell, so much for being a pretty princess. It may sound like a little insignificant event but I remember being quite devastated. I took off my dress because it was soaked and my parents wrapped me up in a blanket that had been in our van for who knows how long. Then to make things worse a good friend showed up while we were still there visiting and she asked me what I was. I tried to sound cool and I pretended I was a mermaid and the blanket was my fin. Everyone laughed- poor me- sad day. It's one of those stories that I enjoy reminiscing about especially with people that were there. It just gives me a good laugh!

Tyler told me he always enjoyed Halloween but he especially loved the year his Dad helped him make a transformer costume. Homemade costumes are the best!

"Me. . Hayride. . Dave"

We had such a fun Saturday. We went down to our friend Briste's parent's farm. Garret was excited all week to go on a hayride with Dave. he walked around saying "me. . .hayride. . Dave". So we went for a hayride, the guys shot guns, we ate good food, and we got to get away from the city for a little while.
I think this is the backyard we want someday!

Despite the great time we are having living in Buffalo I think deep down I am a country girl. I think the country is so beautiful and slow and peaceful. I like the idea of having a garden and working together, playing sports in the backyard, watching my kids build forts and go exploring. I have great memories of playing outside and I guess because of it the outdoors has become my place of solace. It was so wonderful to experience the beautiful New York countryside. The leaves were beautiful, bright oranges, yellows and red. Some of the views are like the pictures you see in books or on jigsaw puzzles- it's just gorgeous.

We had a great day with our friends. Then we got home and got the kids ready and headed off to the stake play (Joseph and the amazing technicolor dream coat). When you hear stake play you picture something fun but not really professional. I was so wrong- seriously this play was as good as the plays we saw at college. The performers did so well, the set was great, the music was great- plus it was fun because we knew people in it. It was nice being on a date with no kids plus it reminded me of when we were living in Rexburg we used to go to plays together all the time. I am a sucker for a good musical- they just kind of make me want to get up and start dancing around- they are just so fun. (Good job to all our Friends in the play!- it was awesome).

Don't ask!

I have a feeling these will be some of the photos we pull out to embarrass Garret when he brings home a date!

I am sure you are wondering why Garret is dressed up so goofy. Well he was playing with tissue paper and then he started saying he wanted a hat, so we made a hat then he said he wanted a tail and ears. He was just being silly but then he didn't want to take it off!

When in Buffalo. . .do what Buffalonians do. . .

What do people in Buffalo do. . .well. . .they eat a lot of fatty food. . .they say "the" before a lot of things (ex. the 33- that's a road). . .they decorate for every holiday (I have not started doing this yet) . . . but most importantly they love their sports. I enjoy sports and have been saying since I moved here that I wanted to go to a pro. lacrosse game and a pro hockey game. Well Friday I got to go to a Sabres hockey game. My friends Cathy and Amber ended up with an extra ticket- not just any ticket we were in the fourth row! It was a lot of fun. They lost but win or lose there is just something about sporting events that is exciting. The crowd was really excited and honestly almost everyone was in Sabres clothing. I have never seen that before. Seriously people here love their sports. It was tons of fun and I feel like I get to cross of one more thing from my list of "to do while in Buffalo".

Once when I was talking to my brother we started talking about how everyone wants to go to far away places and on exotic vacations- when most people have not even seen what is in their own area. We have really tried to enjoy our experience here and although there is so much more we want to see I think our time here has been as good as it has because we have jumped in and really experienced life here.

What good would a blog entry be without some cute pictures of "the boys". And one funny story (not so funny at the time). Garret came up to me and Tyler and said in a very excited voice "me tooty" and then he proceed to "toot" unfortunately it was more than a toot. He was a little confused- hopefully we get that straightened out before we fly for Thanksgiving. Oh little Garret!

Milestones

On Wednesday Spencer rolled over for the first time. At least the first time I saw. He went from belly to back. It was pretty exciting and scary, I kind of like being able to put him somewhere and know he is not going to move. He is getting pretty cute and he is sleeping very well at night. Garret and Spencer slept in the same room for the first time last night. That was exciting for me and Tyler because Spencer was not in our room! Spencer is very gassy and it is nice to not have to hear all of his nightly flatulence.

Garret has been enjoying the rain. We jumped in the puddles today and he thought it was pretty great- I love how every little thing is so exciting and fun for him. It's cute becuase he loves the song "Take me out to the ball game" and sometiems when he is in bed I can hear him trying to sing it. He is borderline obsessed with baseball. Anything that he likes is baseball whatever. For example we went to the pet store today. He says "baseball pet store", he likes dinner so it's "baseball dinner".

Tyler successfully made it through his mid-terms. It was a long hard week for him and we are so proud of all the effort he puts into school. I am sure Tyler will have to study some this weekend- I am hoping we will have time to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall. There really is nothing like the leaves out here. Hopefully I will have some pics to post of them soon.

Single Parents

How do single parents do it? Tyler has been busy with test this week (by the way the last post was a Tyler contribution), he still comes home for dinner but I miss having him around so much. My children have really been wearing me out lately. Luckily Spencer slept until 2 last night then a quick feeding and back to sleep til morning! I am anxious to see how tonight goes. I am thankful that I have a husband that helps when he can. We really are partners, I am so glad we are in this together because holy cow is is hard!



On to other things, we decorated Halloween cookies and took them to some friends today! I hope by next year Garret enjoys more than just eating the cookie. Spencer did a photo shoot for Fisher Price, I am pretty sure they will not use his pics because he would not take his hands out of his mouth- oh well it was fun seeing their studio and they pay you no matter if they use the pics or not and lets be honest that is why we went! Other than that this week has be a bit crazy but not overly exciting. I am learning that life with a two year old is either the most fun thing ever or absolutely and completely exasperating. If anyone has good advice for getting through this wonderful stage my once innocent and now manipulative child has entered- please pass it on to me. (Really I am enjoying Garret, he is just testing his limits in ways that are new to me)

Yes, Hell Has Frozen Over and It's About Time, Rockies Won the Pennant

Our little firefighter. . .almost!

This weekend our friend told us the fire department was putting on an open house. We went and got the kids ID stuff done and looked at the fire trucks. Garret loved them, he was so excited. All the fire fighters thought he was so cute. He kept pointing to the fire engines and making the noises and saying "Wow". It was so cute. A really nice fire fighter let Garret try on his "real" fire fighter outfit. I thought this was going to be the best photo-op. I was so sure little Garret and his cuteness would make this man feel like the best fire fighter. Once Garret got the boots on he freaked out. He got so upset that we couldn't get his feet out. It was awful. The poor guys felt so bad. I was so embarrassed and kept telling the man that he just got scared and that it was so nice of him, not to feel bad. Oh well I guess. What can you expect from a two year old? He did have fun overall. Then we had dinner with Josh and Kandis and her parents and then I got invited to a friends 30 birthday party- I wonder what that feels like? Today we had some friends over for dinner. It was so nice to visit with friends and have some good food. Tyler is a great cook- I am so lucky! It was such a nice weekend! (I love it when it is busy!)

Grandparents

I know I already posted something today but after I published my last post something happened; There was a knock at my door and when I went to answer it a young man was there. He was probably my age. He said his Grandpa used to live in this house. He asked if the bar was still in the basement. Apparently he remembers his Grandpa working on it and his Grandpa recently passed away and he wanted to buy the bar. First of all I felt so bad that we sold it, I wished so bad I could say "here it is- take it" but I had to tell him we sold it. Then after he left I wished I would have given him the email address of the man that bought the bar, but I didn't think of it then and now I have no way to reach him. After he left I got to thinking about my parents and grandparents and some of the things that remind me of them. There are so many things but some of them that remind me of my Grandma Gappmayer are (by the way I plan to write a whole entry on my Grandma someday- she is one of my heroes, all my grandparents are). When I hear certain country songs I think of her, When I see beautiful flowers I think of her (she loved flowers), sometimes when I hear the sound of a ceiling fan if I close my eyes its like I am in the basement of her old house (weird I know), Apricots make me think of my Grandma and embroidery. I remember watching her embroider beautiful things- she had to use her teeth (My Grandma was quadriplegic). She was an amazing woman and I love it when something triggers a memory of her. I am reminded of my Grandpa Gappmayer when I see McDonald's (I remember him waking me early to take me there), when I read poetry, and when I eat candy I can hear him saying "only take two". Also whenever I hear the name "Sally", its silly but my grandpa used to call me "Sally". It was a nickname from a time when I was upset with him (I was three) he said if Rachel wouldn't talk to him maybe Sally would. He called me that from then on and even used to through "Sally" a birthday party! It always made me feel special and I really thought it was my middle name for awhile. I just thought of another one- they always had these creamsicle things- mmmm good! Somethings that remind me of my Grandma and Grandpa Beck are coon lake, these dolls that they had that I loved playing with and these bright colored Disney toys, when I see toy snakes I can't help but remember the time Leah and I saw one on their property and we thought it was real and we made grandpa come and "get it" for us. Old trucks remind me of my Grandpa and pretty flowers of my grandma and divinity. someday I plan to learn how to make divinity and grow flowers. I love memories, I am very sentimental, I wish so badly I could remember everything about the great people and times in my life.

Movie Review

Last Night I went out- no kids! I just went with some of the girls from our book club. We went and saw "The Jane Austen Book Club". It was not the best movie I have ever seen, it was a little slow but overall I enjoyed it. I am a sucker for romantic movies and I happen to enjoy Jane Austen. The movie is about a book club that focuses on Jane Austen's books but while they are reading these books the characters lives are similar to the lives of Jane Austen's characters. It was fun for me because I know four of the six Austen books fairly well. It was fun to find the correlation between the book characters and the movie characters. I think that the movie would still have been enjoyable without knowing Austen works but definitely better if you did know the basic story of "Pride and Prejudice", "Emma" etc. Mostly it was fun to get out with the girls. Our book club is reading "the giver" this month. It's a very interesting book and I think we are going to have a great discussion about it.

The only bummer is that I have had this headache for a couple days now. It feels like my head will explode and my throat feels a little sore. I am hoping it doesn't turn into anything more but it makes it a little harder to enjoy things.

It has turned to fall here. It feels like it happened over night, it went from clear sunny skies to cool Autumn weather. I enjoy the fall, I like wearing socks around the house and being able to use the oven without feeling bad about how hot the house gets. I just hate that I know winter is coming. I am not ready for the short days and impassable roads. I have enjoyed getting out with my kids and I know it won't happen as much in the winter. Speaking of getting out Garret started going to "Toddler Time" at the library. It's every Tuesday for about a half hour. He gets to sing songs, do art and read stories. He really enjoyed it and I feel like its good for him to be around other kids and work on following directions. I was very proud of him this week. He listened to the teacher so well and he was polite and at the end he ran up and said "thank you teacher" and gave her a big hug.

This is a picture of the "Art Wall" I made downstairs. My friend Angela gave me the idea and Garret loves putting his art on it.

Last night Tyler and I slept upstairs so we weren't in the same room as Spencer it helped a little I only got up with him twice, normally I am up a lot more than that. Hopefully it is a sign of good things to come.

We made 72 hour kits Monday for family home evening. It got me thinking a lot about being prepared. I feel like we are doing the best we can at this point in life but I can't help but hope that nothing bad happens til we are done with school and living somewhere else. I feel safer in the country. I think about my parents and they have a wood burning stove a well, land they could live off if they had too. It scares me here because even last year when we had no power we had no heat for a few days. Now that I have kids I really want to try to be as prepared as possible. It is a scary realization that I am responsible for two little people if there was some sort of natural disaster. It was so nice when I was young because I didn't worry- someone else was taking care of me. I hope my kids always feel safe with me. I am sure I sound like I am freaked out that bad things are going to happen and I'm not I just hope if they do I am prepared.

A few random things!

Spencer is a giant- not literally a giant but until yesterday I did not realize how big he is. Garret was a big baby always between the 75-100 percentiles for weight so yesterday I pulled out my notes on how much he weighed and Spencer is a lot bigger. For example- Spencer weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces at three months- Garret weighed 15 pounds 1 ounce at 4 months. Garret weighed 18 pounds 10 ounces at 9 months. It's weird though because I don't think that Spencer looks that big, he has creases in his arms and legs but he doesn't have any of the Gerber baby rolls.

I got to see my friend Natalie's baby last night and he is so little and cute. Congratulations to them! It really made Spencer seem big. I told Tyler I wanted another one (He just laughed because he knew I wasn't serious!)

It was conference weekend this weekend and it was cute because Garret really wanted to see President Hinckley. He got bored pretty fast but at least he was excited. He has trouble falling asleep on our laps but he was so tired. I told him to just put his head back on Tyler and listen to see if he could hear Tyler's heart. It was cute they ended up falling asleep together like that. Here is a picture of the awake conference listeners and the nappers!

Tyler and I went out for a couple hours on Saturday, it was nice to go out without the kids. Our good friends Josh and Kandis watched our kids. Garret hasn't had an accident in a few days but he decided to do a little number two over there while they were watching him. Sorry guys! He really is doing great with potty training.

I talked to my brother this weekend and he got a new job and just bought a house and I have to admit I am a little jealous. I can't wait until we know where we will settle down and I really hope it is close to family. Whenever I talk to my family I realize how much I miss them. Tyler and I are both blessed with great families. It is hard being so far away from them, luckily we have lots of great friends here.

We really haven't done anything too exciting since Garret's birthday. He is happy with all his new toys to play with. Spencer is always happy and I am happy when they are happy- Plus the weather has been amazingly great for this time of year. I am dreading the winter but I will vent about that in another post. Right now the weather is great!

Happy Birthday Garret!

Guess who is 2. . . .GARRET!

Garret's birthday was so fun this year. He really got into it and has been excited for a couple weeks. Tyler and I made him a truck cake and decorated a little the night before, when he woke up he was so excited about the balloons and cake. He loved all his presents (he has so many toys I am running out of room for them- but he is enjoying them)!

After Tyler left for school we headed off to the zoo. Some of Garret's friends were there so that was fun and he always likes the animals. He is convinced the Giraffe said "Happy Birthday" to him.

After the zoo it was nap time!!! He was so excited he didn't nap too long. We picked up his friend Ella and they played in the backyard all afternoon. They started getting tired and they laid down on the driveway so I brought out a blanket and they got so excited they started playing on it and pretending to go "night-night" on it. It was so cute.

About a week ago we told Garret he could invite two friends over for his hot dog birthday dinner. He picked Ella and Teton (Josh and Kandis's dog). So we had cake and dinner with his friends.

It was a really great day. It was fun trying to make it special for Garret. I love making him happy and that was what today was all about. Spencer was a little trouper going along with whatever we were up to.

I still can't believe he is two but I am glad he had such a fun day. Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and emails!

The Tongue Surgery

The tongue surgery was supposed to be this morning- I say supposed to because it didn't happen. The doctor looked at Spencer and decided he could do a better job if he put him under and used stitches. We are now scheduled for December. He says he gets better results this way. I am nervous for him to go under but glad he won't feel it and glad he will someday be able to say his "L" and "D" sounds. He weighed in at over 17 pounds!