brownie eyes

A neighbor and friend here at the Peters home told me a while ago that when she looks at my boys' eyes, she has a craving for brownies. Today was a rough day. Sometimes I wonder how such little bodies have such big, strong opinions.  Today, 7:00 couldn't come soon enough. Now that they are sleeping soundly and I am looking at this picture of them in their "secret hide-out" from a couple months ago, I am so grateful for their big, brown, brownie eyes. 

Tomorrow will be a better day. It always is. 

It was a big one

I haven't gotten around to documenting our Halloween, because I just could't find the energy. We had a whole month of it, and as fun as it was, I really needed a break. It started on October 1st when I turned the calendar to the new month and Owen asked when Halloween was. I pointed to the 31st and told him it was so very far away, and then we talked about it every day until the month ended. He talked about it in school every day. He learned songs and created art and heard stories all revolving around the holiday. It never was my favorite holiday to begin with, and lets just say I couldn't be happier that we have a whole year til we have to do it again. 

We had a Peters costume party early because Telisa was in town with her boys, and it was so fun to have them there! This party is always great. The Peters love Halloween, and are really the only group of people who have brought me close to enjoying the October festivities myself. 

Owen knew weeks before the party that he would wear his Captain America suit. Treavor, Lewis and I threw together our costumes hours before, inspired by owen's costume, we went with the superhero motif,

Treavor printed out Lewie's batman sign and pinned it to his black shirt, and he was thrilled. When we got to the party he repeatedly pointed to his shirt proudly grunting, showing everyone that he was batman. 

All the avengers were there, and Owen couldn't have been happier!!! It was unplanned that all these superhero fanatics would assemble as the amazing team of avengers, and worked out perfectly. they had a blast chasing uncle Adam and saving the day.

The Peters party, as always was a success.

The next big event to anticipate was the school program. Meanwhile, we painted, pumpkins, carved pumpkins, crunched leaves, discussed all things "scary", "spooky" and "just pretend". We talked about the fact that it might be tricky for Owen to sing and perform with his Captain America mask on and that maybe he should choose another costume. 

He came to the very calculated decision to be superman with black hair.

This was a great day. Gram came to watch him perform, He sang big and loud, and I hope to always remember the twinkle in his eye when I was spraying that sticky black paint in his hair. He said over and over "don't I look juuuust like Clark kent?!"

We talked more about Halloween around the house, ate Halloween cookies at grams, talked to Grandma Kat about her Halloween decorations, made ghost suckers for his school party,

pointed out every store that was "ready for halloween" with halloween decore, discussed what Owen wanted to be next year, and the year after that and the year after that, and then it was time for the ward party. The kids were asked not to wear masks, so Owen happily opted to be "the best superman ever" again. (this costume was Treavor's by the way when he was the exact same age) Lewis was the yummiest lion you've ever seen. 

We played games, talked about costumes, ate treats, won prizes and tucked two tuckered out boys into bed. 

As the actual holiday approached, Owen told me about 16 times that it's his favorite holiday, we picked out trick or treat buckets, got a halloween package in the mail from gram, made paper plate spiders, planned what Lewie should be next year, counted the days off on the calendar, talked about where we would trick or treat, answered questions like "do you think everyone will think I'm the best cap?" and then it came. The big day actually came.

It started with lots of stimulation and buckets full of candy at Treavor's work. Trick or treating through the cubicles was a thrill to both boys. When the evening arrived we were exhausted. Treavor had to go to class, and I took the boys to 4 neighbors by our (the peters) home. then we headed to the bells. We visited about five more neighbors and enjoyed a few cozy hours in their house.

 Mally was Ernie for her party, which of course was a huge hit with Owen and Lewis.

The next morning. We rolled out of bed with groggy sugar hangovers. Just as I was feeling relief that the endless holiday did in fact come to an end. Owen declared that he can't wait til next halloween. I can.

Oh ya, Owen also celebrated by eating a skeleton cookie the size of his head of course.

Our family

  

We are so blessed to have Grandma Kat! She is a talented photographer and always captures such beautiful images of my boys' personalities. Did you know she updates family and individual photos of all of her offspring every year?! unbelievable. That's 12 adults, 23 grandkids and 6 families. She tracks us down, sets a date, finds a location, makes us look pretty, gets the settings just right, experiments with poses, makes our kids smile, snaps hundreds of pictures and gives us this amazing gift of a visual record of what our ever changing, and growing family is at that particular moment. 

Thank you for the 2012 shots! They really sum up our year -- busy, bright, happy and full of love. 

Photo booth

Owen loved these props. Mostly he loved learning to use the camera on my phone and taking pictures of me and stuff all around the house.

Breakthrough

That sweet face is a little deceiving. The last couple of weeks, Lewie's boisterous voice has been delivering constant grunts, screams, yells, cries and extreme fits. He is wearing me out big time! The blaring sounds are usually accompanied by body thrashing, head butting and even hitting. I think these major tantrums hit because of a combination of teething and his age, but mostly because of his desire to comunicate. He is so frustrated that we dont always know just what he wants and he can't express it. 

The other day, just when I thought i was going to lose my aching mind. After lewie had spent hours making it very clear that i was somehow not meeting his needs, he pointed to the fruit basket and very sweetly said "nanna?" It was such a breakthrough! It was the very first time he had told me what he wanted! I was thrilled. He was proud. Do you want to know the sad part? We didn't have a banana! Heartbreaking.  Now we keep the bananas stocked and he's making baby steps. Somehow, through his loudness, he's still so full of gentle pudgy sweetness. I don't know how he pulls off both extremes so very well.

Sunday Evening

On a Sunday evening a week ago, I was able to leave Treavor home with the boys and go with my parents and sisters down to Provo for Haylie's patriarchal blessing. It was fun to be away for a few hours, to have dinner with my angel grandparents and to be able to listen to Haylie's blessing. She is such a sweet girl, full of Spirit and life, and a desire to do right and make people around her happy. I felt blessed listening to all that she is. I am so very fortunate to have 3 Sisters who emulate such grace, beauty and virtue. 

It was a great day, and always so special that our Grandpa can give us that powerful blessing.

 

Nursery

Guess who started nursery...

He had a great time. Right when I walked in to get him after church, he went and picked up the laminated  apples and worms and started jabbering away, telling me all about the lesson. I hope he's able to communicate ok with his teachers in his made-up language.

I put him in the same vest that Owen wore on his first day of nursery. 

Remember this?

Lately

 

We closed on our house in Lehi. It is such a relief and a blessing that that chapter has closed. It's something we've been waiting for, for a long time now! We feel blessed to have been able to live there, and that we were able to move when the time was right. We were blessed to find renters while we still owned it, we would have loved to have sold at a higher price and it will continue to affect us financially for a while i'm sure. But that's what life is about right? Trials and blessings, and hardships and joys, and tender mercies and challenges all in the same set of circumstances. One thing i've learned in the last few months, is that everything works out. Always.

Fall is here. It is beautiful! The air feels fresh and great! The leaves are bright! This kind of change is always welcomed by my soul. I love variety in weather and am grateful for the newness when the next season comes along. A new season always reminds me of God's blessings, his beautiful creations and his love for me. What a blessing the gorgeous mountains and the changing leaves and the crisp air are. All for us to enjoy.

Lewis is a lefty! He's always used his left hand a lot, but lately that's all he's been using. I think it's safe to say he takes after his daddy and his gram and is a right brained, left handed guy.

So cute!

Also, his toes still don't fit on his feet. Ever since birth that toe that pops right up and sits on top of his big toe has cracked us up. Treavor says to him a lot "i'm sorry your foot, just wasn't made big enough" maybe there will be room for all 5 toes someday.

 Owen had Howdy day at school and LOVED it! We knew that there would be horsy rides available for the kids, and a couple days before, he told me he would be too scared (a couple weeks ago a firetruck came and he was too nervous to get on it). After a short talk about how he is always proud when he tries new things, and that he didn't need to be nervous because his teachers would be with him, his mind was set to get on a horse. I was so happy he did it, and he came home so proud. He loved dressing up and told us that when he got on the horse he said "ride like the wind".

We've been enjoying the last few opportunities to be in the pool, and all of the sudden Owen took off with swimming! He's been a little cautious all summer, not getting his hair wet, staying on the big step and dipping his face in occasionally was a really big deal. Last night we spent a fun family night in the pool with goggles on. We would go under and wave and play and dive for things. He was a total fish! Swimming all around and going down the slide over and over (his first time trying) Treavor and I were saying that we could watch his cute face under water all night. Owen was thrilled and very proud of himself!

It seems that he is at an age where new things happen every day. It has been so fun to watch how happy it makes him.

Treavor and I spent the weekend in Midway with three other couples.We were thankful to  Mally who came and worked her tail off with the boys, while we got to have a fabulous get-away. It was so great and we came back totally rejuvenated!