Day of the Dead

Our library had a really great celebration for "Day of the Dead." I don't think the kids really understood what it was all about, but they had sugar skulls for the everyone to decorate. All was going well until I had to take Oliver to the bathroom. This is what Emmaline's skull looked like before we went to the bathroom.

This is what it looked like when we came back.

She said she just couldn't resist it, it smelled so good. Then, she remembered that she really wanted a skull to take home, so she stopped eating it and drew a skull on the leftover piece. The funniest part was that before this point, I don't think most of the kids understood that the skulls were actually made out of sugar. Suddenly all the kids were furtively trying to take a lick. I hear parents around the room saying, "Those are not to eat!" but it was a lost cause. Who ever heard of sugar that isn't for eating?! =) We quickly scooted out of there to escape all the dirty looks from the other parents. Emmaline is such a nut.

We lost Oliver today.

I'm not kidding. We lost him for a whole 30 minutes this morning and I'm still having trouble recovering from the trauma. The girls had already left for school and I was feeding the baby. Oliver wanted to watch T.V. and I said "no" because Tucker won't pay attention to what he is doing if there is any noise in the room. I asked Oliver to go to his room and play until I was done. It was taking a long time to feed the baby, so I asked Tyler to get Oliver dressed and feed him breakfast.

That's when we realized he was gone. At first I was sure he was downstairs, watching a movie, but he didn't answer when Tyler called him. We quickly checked the house and couldn't find him anywhere. This took about 5 minutes, but I was already panicked! He is just not the type of kid to wander off by himself and he only has one friend in the neighborhood- our next door neighbor- who had already left for school.

I called 911 in the first 10 minutes. I just couldn't fathom where he could be if not inside the house or right outside the door. That is the WORST feeling- describing your child to someone, trying to think of their most unique features that would immediately help find them. I was very near hysterical at this point. Something kept telling me that he was fine and not outside, but I couldn't be still and listen, even for a second. I was running around "like a chicken with it's head cut off" as Mama would say. I finally gave in to the prompting and ran inside, this time screaming, "OLIVER." I hear a groggy, "What is it, Mama?"

He is such a sweet little boy. Earlier, when I told him to go back to his room- that's just what he did. He went and laid back in his bed, and fell back asleep. He didn't even hear us calling him and was a bit confused by my tears and crushing hug. Man, I'm glad he is safe. That feeling was so awful- I can't stop thinking about it, although I feel really stupid!

Megan and Tyson's Birthday

I'm way behind... so this is a bit of back-tracking, but a couple of weeks ago we celebrated Megan and Tyson's birthdays (Tyson's was earlier, but he spent it with his own family- imagine that!). It was a lot of fun, although I didn't get great pictures. Taking pictures with a baby on one arm (who is constantly trying to grab the camera) is tough!

We introduced Tyson to such traditions as "Round the table you must go...." Where did Mama get that, anyway?
I really can't believe Megan is so grown up. It seems like just yesterday she was that little tiny something with TONS of black hair.

Chef Oliver stikes again

You might remember this post. Oliver has always liked to cook, including such delicacies as a cornbread sandwich (cornbread between two pieces of white bread). Today while I was blow drying my hair, he decided to make Tucker a morning snack.

A turkey sandwich is hard to eat with only two teeth.

Later in the day, he made himself a sandwich of 2 pieces of bread, with a thin spice cookie filling.

He must have learned to cook from his Dad.

Quotes of the day

Oliver: Mama, why do you call me "big boy"?
Me: Because you are so big. What would you like me to call you?
Oliver: I don't know, maybe cowboy.

We have a guy working for us that was in the Marines and served in Iraq. He's been doing some work on the house, and Oliver has loved kind of following him around and asking him questions about "army guys." The other day he asked him what "army guys" eat. John told him "M.R.E.'s." Oliver asked:
"Do those have horns?"
The next day John brought him some M.R.E.'s to clear up any confusion.

Resolving to be a satisficer!

Last month, Real Simple magazine had an article that I've found myself thinking about a lot. It was titled "10 ways to be happier." The whole article was pretty great- kind of unusual for the magazine- I often love the "look" but find the content a little trite and inapplicable to my life. But the part I really liked was a section titled "Don't insist on the best." I was shocked to think that might make me happier. It went on to say that there are two types of decision makers. Satisficers, or those that make a decision once their criteria are met and maximizers, or those who want to make the best possible decison. Satisficers tend to be happier because maximizers spend more time and energy reaching a decision but often feel anxious about their choices- possibly wondering if there isn't something better out there that they missed. It ends with "sometimes good enough is good enough." I think setting up the criteria is the key. Then you can know when you are done and decide to be satisfied with that.

I think this kind of goes along with some things I've been learning over the years, but it was worded in such a way that it really struck me. I'm kind of a perfectionist by nature, but the truth of the matter is- in this life, perfection isn't always necessary or desireable. I love all of the handmade quilts, purses, bunnies, etc. that Tyler's Grandma makes. I've learned a lot from looking closely at these items. The finished product is the goal- not making every stitch perfect. I've learned to use some pictures that aren't perfect for my scrapbooks. I could spend a lot of extra time photoshopping each one- but I don't think my kids care. They just want a book to look at. A "clean" house is usually good enough, even if there are a few dog hairs under the coach. I have a long way to go, but this is something I'm definitely working on.

Quote of the Day

From Emmaline upon finding out that Georgia's having a boy:

"I'm doomed! I'm never going to have a girl baby."(said with her arm held dramatically over her face)

The rest of us are so excited for them! She will be too when she meets him, I'm sure. I haven't met a baby yet that Emmaline didn't love.

Hide-and-seek... in the dark

One of our family's favorite things to do is play hide-and-seek. And since our house is small, we always play in the dark. This has always been Tyler's favorite game, I think, but we didn't start playing it as a family until we moved into our little 3 bedroom apartment in Married Student Housing. Savannah felt like that place was HUGE, and she and Tyler played often.

Sunday night was Tucker's first time to play. I picked an easy spot, behind the door, expecting that he would be noisy and give us away immediately. He was actually amazingly quiet, although he thought the whole thing was hilarious. He took my cheeks in his hands and kept looking at my face. I think he was checking to see if we were supposed to be going to sleep. Then he started doing a little belly laugh and we were found. If you leave a room without finding Oliver, he quickly calls you back with a, "Hey. I'm right here." Or, if he finds a spot that he thinks is "really great," he will hide there for the rest of the night.

I don't know... as we were playing on Sunday, it suddenly made me all nostalgic and I wanted to write about it. The Horn kids will remember playing for hours in our house on Bayou Rapides. That attic was amazing... a little scary, but it just added to the fun. Also, Myrtle was so fun because she would help us find a good spot. Sometimes giving us a boost to get into the upper cabinets in the laundry room. I think I may have been a little like Oliver. I always thought the "fire escape" cabinets were the best to hide in and I think I hid there most of the time.

Pumpkin Patch

I always love to take the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin. There is really only one place to do that in Salt Lake and it is kind of far (102nd South). So by the time we got there, it was dark. Thus, the crazy pictures. It was kind of a "do it now or never" thing, though... so this is as good as it gets, picture wise.

Ollie's favorite part was this miniature wagon. Pulling pumpkins... or his brother was a blast.

Emmaline is such a cutie with Tucker. Tucker, as you can see, thought the straw was great.

This baby LOVES his Daddy!

Didn't realize Savannah had gum in her mouth, but pretty cute nonetheless.

Despite the late hour, I think everyone had fun. It was a real struggle for Tyler to limit his pickings. Here are a few we settled on (the rest are scattered on the front porch- yes, there are more =).

"Sad Yittle Doggy"

by Oliver

medium: chalk on chalkboard

Ladies Night Out

This year we took the DeHart girls with us to the Semi-annual Ladies Night Out at Robert's Craft.

Savannah was Emily's partner.

Emmaline was in heaven! I wish I had taken an "after" picture of how she used that ribbon to make her jack-o-lantern mouth.

Anna had the most patience with this project.

Aynsley multi-tasking. Don't worry-I didn't make her do this the whole night! I was just helping Emily with the hot glue gun.

We really enjoyed the night. Although you can't tell in the pictures (I took them later in the evening), there were about one hundred people crowded in this little tiny room. It was hard to hear them announce the "cake walk"- which is Emmaline's favorite game of the evening. She did manage to snag one prize. She kept saying she wished Stephanie was here to win a bunch of prizes (remember how many you won that year?)! The best part was on the ride home, in the car. They had a "show-and-tell" session where they each held up each craft and told about why they made it the way they did. Girls are so silly!

Guess who has 2 new teeth?

I am NOT happy about it!
My other kids were much older when they got teeth.
Could somebody tell this baby not to grow up so fast?!

General Conference

Our church held it's General Conference this weekend. Here in Utah we can tune in to our T.V. and watch as the leaders of our church speak. I was going to post a cute picture of my kids working on their "General Conference Activity Packets" and eating cinnamon rolls (some of our traditions)... only I couldn't get a good one. Oliver was too busy crawling around on the floor, knocking everyone's Skittles off their General Conference Bingo card and the girls were too busy trying to "cheat" and see if they had missed a word. Thinking of the one talk (can't remember who said it in this morning's session) and about how they would grow up and I would be wistful for these times, reminded me of General Conference days of the past.

Some kind of funny memories involve Martha's boys. I remember she often came to visit in Louisiana for the weekend and we would go to the church to watch the satellite broadcast. J.J. once commented that he "didn't like this movie" and Tucker complained that his "neck hurt" while holding his stomach. Crazy how some things stick with you.

I glanced at my phone for a second and had this crazy thought of wondering when Mama would call. I don't know if anyone else ever has those moments that catch you off guard. When you realize that of course she won't call, there is that second of aching. I have such wonderful memories of our Sunday talks. I can't remember a Sunday that she didn't call me and, particularly after Conference, we would talk about our favorite parts and impressions we had. Good memories. Kind of made me wonder what my kids will remember. Hopefully much more than worrying about who won General Conference Bingo!