A Place to Call Home

Ok, I know you have all been in terrible suspense to find out where we are going to move to. After a suggestion from my mother-in-law we decided to check out the ASU student housing at Williams Gateway. (The old Williams Air Force Base). They are an excellent price and were able to get us in very quickly. Most interestingly, Scott was born there when his dad was in the Air Force 27 years ago. Yeah yeah yeah he is old. So anyway we are just going back to Scott's roots. We are supposed to get the keys on Wednesday so that we can move in but we will not count on it until the keys are in our hands!! The house has 3 bedrooms and a den so we will have plenty of space for all of that stuff that we have. Also, just a few yards down the road is a fun park which Stephen is already in love with. (The slides you know.) He also loves all of the "a- pu" (airplanes) and helicopters flying around. Here are some pictures of our supposed new place. We are excited to actually move and unpack our kitchen and other things (like the iron) that we have been living without. If you are wondering how we have lived without a kitchen I must tell you we have been eating really really well. Some might call it mooching but I call it super good cooking at my mom's house for almost every night for a week! Thanks Mom!!! (She is a really good cook).

Moving Day...or not?

Okay, when is the last time your house looked this good? Mine looks this way now! We have been working like crazy to get all of our stuff (where did all of this junk come from anyway?) packed up and ready to move. Stephen has mostly been a good sport and really enjoyed the empty kitchen cupboards today. Then the real shocker came. I got a call from the apartments we were planning to move into (today, remember?) and instead of saying, "come on down and sign the lease and get your keys," they say, "I'm sorry, your application has been denied." "Um, excuse me???" These apartments are called "affordable housing" and so you have to make under a certain amount to live in them (which we do) but because of some technicality on the application we are out of luck now. (If you want the full story, call me). So now we have our entire house packed to move and nowhere to go. I don't think there is anything left to say (or do). In fact, I just told Scott I don't know what to do right now which is why I am blogging. So anyway, this post about moving was supposed to be cute and funny, but now it is not quite the way I pictured it.

Happy Halloween!

Stephen played with the bowl of candy at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house for about half an hour tonight. He kept picking up the candy and tossing it and giggling. He reminded me of a piarate opening a chest of gold and letting it run through his fingers.

Here we are waiting for trick-or-treaters at my parents' house. That's me in the front row - second from the left. Just in case you couldn't tell...

Harry Potter and a Clown (Cousin Talan) hanging out at the Smith's. They had so much fun throwing Tootsie Rolls all over the house and crushing some Reese's Cups inside the wrappers!

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns

For FHE we went to the Quist home and had a "Pumpkin Night." My mom made pumpkin muffins, cookies, and pie and then we went out to the garage to carve pumpkins. We had so much fun designing and carving our jack-o-lantern. I designed the face and gutted the pumpkin, then Scott took over and did the carving. Stephen was entertained by my parents' beagle, Indy. He crawled around on the ground the entire time, giggling and getting completely filthy. I was so impressed at Scott's carving abilities - I had no idea he was so talented in this area. It just goes to show that you don't know everything about your spouse! Scott did an awesome job and even gave the back of the pumpkin a semi-transparent "S" monogram. It looks really cool with a candle in it! If you look carefully at Stephen's feet and legs in these pictures you can see how gross he was.

Harry Potter

Ok - here is the standard ward trunk-or-treat post. :) I never thought it would happen to me, but I will admidt it - I am one of those crazy moms who spends hours sewing a costume for my little one...I made it big so that he can wear it a few more years. Mostly it was just fun form me to have a "project." Steve enjoyed the party more than we expected. He got a kick out of watching all of the "big"kids walking around in their constumes. All three of us liked eating cotton candy. We left just as they started the "trunk-or-treating." One-year-olds do not need candy. One-year-olds' mommys also do not need candy. One-year-olds' daddys do not eat candy. (At least that is how it is in our family!)

Wild Nights

We have always been fortunate because Stephen is a great sleeper - he rarely wakes up during his 12 hour nights. . . but every now and again (just when I start to gloat) he has a wild night like last night ...

8:00 pm - Stephen goes to bed.

10:30 pm - Scott and I go to bed - (this is early for me)

11:21 pm - Something wakes me up - after a while I realize that it is Steve's Lights and Sound Aquarium playing full blast. (You have to know that his room is in the absolute opposite end of the house, but the sound carries!)

11:23 pm - I am trying to ignore the music - it will shut off soon - but I am also wondering why Steve turned it on?

11:24 pm - I am awake fully now and go down to check - Stephen is fast asleep under the aquarium with full sound and lights flashing. I turn off the aquarium (with the grown-up button) and go back to bed.

12:07 am - Stephen is crying now - he does this occasionally for about 15 seconds and then goes back to sleep, but this time I am not so lucky - he is not going back to sleep.

12:15 am - Ok he is really not going back to sleep so I go and check on him. I give him a drink and some Tylanol (he is teething) and check the diaper. All very standard procedure. Finally, I take him to sit in the rocking chair for a while. He is very content and as he starts to relax, some toots start coming. Of course - I should have known!

12:25 - I put Stephen back in bed. (He must feel better now). After 5 minutes of fussing he is back asleep.

12:27 pm - Aaahhh, now I can go to sleep finally!

12:28 pm - Scott starts snoring and something is dripping in the bathroom. . .

12:30 pm - Put ear plug in one ear...thats all I remember.

So the question still on everyone's mind is "Why did Steve turn on the music?" I don't think we will ever know...

By the way, these pictures were from a different wild night. I am not entirely sure how he got his arm through the neck hole, but this is how he was when I got him out of his crib. Also, you can't see it in the picture, but one leg was up inside the pajamas.

A Slumber Party

My sisters, Chery and Celsea, came over for a sleep over one night this week. They were on fall break and we took the opportunity for some real "girl time." We have had several of these sleep overs in the past but I don't remember Stephen ever getting so involved. While we were doing pedicures in the bathroom he kept crawling over and throwing random stuff in the bathtub (which was full of water). We tried to wait to make the marshmallow popcorn until after he went to sleep but he was in a really cheeful mood until nearly 9:30 and didn't really want to go to bed. Finally, I put my foot down and he went to sleep. My sisters and I then enjoyed our movie (Serendipity) and popcorn. The next morning Stephen was so excited to see his two aunts still at our house. He had a lot of fun climbing on the trundle bed and pile of sheets and blankets. We finished off the whole party by making crepes for breakfast. Over all, we had a lot of fun.