Pre-Halloween Catch-up

Here's Cpc playing soccer (due to rain his class was in the gym.
CPC: I love the guy that was by me. I love him so much. I'm kicking the soccer ball. I like this picture. It's so great. Here's Cpc at Lagoon (a while ago I know!)
Cpc: This is the Lagoon picture. It's me in a robot. It's a rocket. It looks like a cool picture, you will love it. It's picture of Cpc.

Cpc: It's a picture of dad doing the deck up at our cabin. He looks cool. I love our cabin, and the swing. That's all of it. (cpc took this picture)

Cdc: Uh, it's good. Oh, I saw something. We were hiking. The rocks are good ones. I brought a rock home.
Cpc: It looks so cool, because we're on a hike. It's of Cpc, Cdc, Arc and mommy! There's rocks and flowers and leaves that look beautiful. The leaves are different colors, because daddy likes them and I like them and mom likes them and Cdc likes them, because we were on a hike. I love the big tree, and the leaves on it.
Cdc: Uh, it's good. Cpc is playing with your hair. I'm clapping my hands. Oh, my light hair. I'm wearing a sweatshirt. Me and the computer, those pictures are good ones.
Cpc: Cdc is clapping his hands, and I am playing with your hair like I was just a minute ago.
Arc REALLY likes to push her head ALL the way back so that she can see EVERYTHING, and then she falls asleep. It doesn't matter how far down in the carrier we get her, she WILL get her head back like this!

These lucky boys got a signed ball at the UofU women's soccer game. As we walked in, one of the Student SID's (sports information directors) just stopped us and asked if our boys would like to have it.  What a cool way to cement the memory of the game in their minds! They are thrilled every time we play with it. Here's the kids after the church Halloween party. They had a blast!
We had a blast raking leaves - and we're excited to finish the job in the coming week. Arc also enjoyed our time outside. Even though it was a bit windy she just kicked and looked around the whole hour! She is definitely a nature girl.

I'd like to make this shot a yearly tradition with my kids. I LOVE raking leaves. We had SO MUCH fun jumping in the leaves. The boys really enjoyed climbing in the garbage can to smash them down - and then hiding under the leaves and having us close the lid on them. We recently enjoyed the UofU basketball scrimmage. Arc was tired. She is a 7-o-clock bedtime girl all the way.

For your viewing pleasure...

Cdc Cheese Louise

Just Dance 4

Should be black

The title of this post is brought to you by Cpc!

This week from Cdc:
"That's a great picture of the fridge. It's me! I'm taking off my clothes! I'm putting on my clothes in that picture. Daddy's clothes. They look good on me! Those clothes are yours daddy!"

Pmc wore that outfit when he was little. His mom sure had good taste. She still does!

This week from Cpc:
"I liked Joy School this week. I really really really like Joy School. I love the picture. It's a pinecone. I mean a bird-feeder. I really really really love it. Bird-feeder. I love love love bird-feeder. I maked it. I love the things that I made. I love Joy School. So much. That's it! Love, Clark"

We are loving some of the conversations we have with this kid lately. When we give him a compliment it goes like this:
Dad: I love your smile in that picture!
Cpc: Yes.
He's a pretty confident kid! We're so pleased with that fact!

The kids enjoyed their annual cousins' Halloween Party, hosted by Grams and Papa.

Cpc: "I like Mr. Potato Head the best. I played go-fish. I sitted on the cement. I loved Tinkerbell the most. SLO was the penguin. I watched one scary movie. I really really really like Tinkerbell the most. I loved the princess. I loved what I was for Halloween."
Cdc: "The Halloween party had bags. There was three lights there. There was footballs there. I played games. I watched one scary movie. The ghost has black eyes. Yeah, and the white dress. And it scared me. Yeah. The game with the ghost scared me. Being a turtle was pretty good. I keeped my turtle socks on. We should wash my turtle socks."

Love these kiddos

Workshop GIVEAWAY!

 

Dear Friends and Family....

Next week I will be presenting another Power of Moms workshop - "5 Steps to Less Stress!" So if you're a mom who's feeling a bit stressed (or know one), I suggest you read on or pass the info along!

Furthermore I'm going to GIVEAWAY one registration to this workshop. There are four ways to enter my giveaway:

1- Leave a comment on this post.

2- Sign up for my Power of Moms emails by emailing me at tenille dot cundick at powerofmoms dot com with "Newsletter" in the subject line. Then leave a comment stating that you have done so.

3- Email 10 friends about the workshop with a link to the workshop. CC me in the email at tenille dot cundick at powerofmoms dot com. Then leave a comment stating that you have done so.

4- Post a link to the workshop on facebook tagging my name in your post. Then leave a comment stating that you have done so.

I'm not nearly giveaway/blog-savvy enough to know how to use rafflecopter or something - so it's important that you leave a comment on this blog post for each of these entries. I will select a winner by letting my son draw the comment number out of a hat!

Recent Videos

Recently Cpc participated in the Primary Program at our church. Essentially the kids do the program instead of adults. Each child gets a chance to "speak" for just a moment, and they sing lots of songs. It's very cute. Cpc practiced his part, which was taken from a talk he gave at church months ago, until he had it memorized! This is for the relatives who couldn't be there (aka Aunt Cse and Ace):

Arc also surprised us today by suddenly doing this:

I think she even surprised herself! She's shown no interest in even attempting to roll over before today!

She has also taken to lots and lots of giggling, squealing, and screaming. If she's not giggling or talking to us, she does so to the mobile on her swing, or whatever toy happens to be sitting next to her. Today she cooed and laughed at a bucket of blocks for about 10 solid minutes.

I was surprised to discover yesterday that I think I have a connection with Arc that I never had with the boys. It's not that I love her more or less than the boys - but I think it's the simple fact that she's a girl and she and I both know that she's like me. I can't quite explain it - but I just get her better than I do the boys. Good thing those boys have their daddy!

Routines

Have I ever mentioned just how much I LOVE routines? I drive myself crazy trying to make things that should be routine - uh, routine. There are certain things that I'm not very good at remembering to do. Like brushing my teeth at night, or watering the lawn, etc. etc. And I know that if I can just establish that thing as routine, then it will just happen instead of me always trying to remember to make it happen.

Well, the good news is that I've gotten a lot better at DOing this lately rather than just trying to plan out the perfect routine on certain things. But the best news is that there are certain things that aren't part of a routine that I finally have space in my mind for. In particular - spending more time doing fun things with my kids!

I have these beautiful kids that are growing up way too fast already! Look at them - they're so cute and WAY too big!
I can't stand it when I get through the day and realize all I did was make them work or let them play while I worked. Mothering is really SO MUCH WORK! But ever since I was a little girl I VOWED that I wouldn't forget to play with my children. I have a mother who knows how to play, and I was so proud that all my friends thought I had such a fun mom. She knew how to work and play. Still does. Anyway, lest I digress - I've been spending more time playing and doing the fun things I WANT to do with my kids, and the fun things THEY want to do! And one thing is for sure - I LOVE mothering even more - if that's even possible!

So, here's some of the things we've been doing that may seem routine, but are the times I cherish:

Going through an inordinate amount of stickers...
Letting cuddle time last extra long...
 
Goofing off for extra long periods of time... Making sidewalk paint and using lots of it...
Enjoying our meals with a little extra enthusiasm...
The best part is that even our routine things have become more fun too. The time I spend teaching Cpc how to mop or Cdc how to vacuum is where I'm learning the most about my beautiful children. They LOVE to do the housework these days!

Cpc has been melting my heart lately with the way he understands things well enough that he is constantly asking "what may I do next?" Even if I tell him a certain chore is next, he just jumps right in. While Cpc is at Joy School, Cdc knows that we get to do some chores together, and then we get to play together. When Cpc gets in the car after Joy School, before he tells us all about what he did, he asks us what we did while he was gone. It's so sweet!

In other random news, we recently:

Went to visit some friends up in Heber and were astounded by the beauty of the layers of mountains...

Had a mission reunion where we really enjoyed talking with people we love, and were reminded of other people we love who we'd like to get back in touch with...

Discovered that even though Cdc doesn't fall asleep at nap-time anymore, he still can't quite make it 'til bedtime...

Had a Joy School outing at the park...

Discovered Cdc is still fearless...