Tidbits

-Joseph lost his first tooth this week. He now believes in the tooth fairy.
-Samuel got his first black eye courtesy of big brother grabbing his legs and causing him to hit the coffee table.
-Joe got a job in Lehi (looks like we are in Utah for a long time to come...maybe even till retirement).

To catch up...kind of

I thought the boys looked so cute I had them pose for pictures. Joseph likes to pose more than Samuel. Joseph was ready to be done and Samuel liked being outside.


My cousin Leslie was in town last week. It was great to see her. She looks great for being a grandma. She is only a year older than I am.


Fall colors and Joseph. We went up to Sundance last weekend to take in the nice weather and beautiful colors. It was a fun time.


Joe and Joseph walking along the mountain trail.



Yesterday we carved pupmkins. We as in Joe did all the work. They look pretty cool. Joseph chose a large pumpkin that weighed over 30 pounds and Samuel chose a green one. Joseph's is in the middle, Samuel's on the right and Joe's Jack Skelington on the left. They look great lit up.

We have been busy. Joe is working on GIS stuff and is starting to apply for jobs. I have been super busy trying to balance everything. I have class till late on Mondays, so I spend about 30 minutes with the boys before they go to bed. At least we have the whole bed time routine mostly down.

Joseph is doing great at school. He is reading more and more each day and is sounding out words pretty well. He laughed when we looked at the word "know" and he started to sound it out. I told him it was a word that didn't follow any rules like he knows and that it is pronounced like "no." He is sooooo excited to have his birthday party next weekend. It is a Halloween costume party. We made a bean bag toss for it and just have had fun getting ready for it. Thanks Uncle Ernest, Aunt Lydia, Elena and Brandon for Joseph's card. To quote Joseph: "I got cash." :)

Samuel is in a phase where he constantly wants medicine. He explains: "My throat is burning and really hot...I need medicine." I don't want him to have medicine all the time, so I started to give him a placebo. I bought Tylenol that is shaped like candy. Once he took it a couple of times, I substituted the Tylenol with Smarties. It worked just as well for the most part. Now his newest thing is that he wants "tums for my tummy." He is also comes to sleep in our bed early in the morning because "mommy is scared."

Yesterday I took the boys to a chemistry week activity at the library. Joseph and Samuel enjoyed it a lot. They made giant bubbles, watched hydrogen explode, a can collapse, a super saturated liquid recrystallize, a liquid that changed colors by itself, pulled rope, watched a balloon collapse in liquid nitrogen and blow up by itself, and watched a vacuum make a marshmallow expand and collapse once the vacuum was turned off. They LOVED it. Samuel was telling everyone: "The marshmallow got bigger and bigger, then it crumpled." He made the hand motions as he explained it.

Car conversation

Today as we were going to the store:

Samuel: "I looking for temple."
Mommy: "The temple is not over here."
Joseph: "My teacher told me that if you get married at your house you are not married forever, but if you get married in the temple, you will be married forever."
Mommy: "That is why you need to get married in the temple."
Samuel: "I am going to get married."

At the grocery store all was going okay till we got to the checkout. I don't know why, but Samuel decided that he would bite Joseph's shoulder. He hasn't really bitten anyone, so it was a surprise. Joseph screamed. Samuel apologized and gave Joseph kisses on the shoulder where he bit him. It was a strong bite. After we got home, I had Samuel tell daddy what he had done.

What did he tell Joe?

Joe: "What did you do?"
Samuel: "I eat Joseph shoulder."
Joe: "What did you do???"
Samuel: "I eat Joseph shoulder."

Later that night, Joseph "accidentally" locked Samuel in the bathroom as he was washing his hands. Joe had to take off the lock because Samuel did not know how to unlock it. Fun times. :)

Joseph and Samuel

Joseph is really enjoying school and has enjoyed his homework so far. He does not like to trace letters, but all the tracing has helped his handwriting. He has made some friends at school and is excited to go every day. Samuel points out the school anytime we go by it. He is getting better about not crying when we take Joseph.

Samuel is a funny little boy. He likes to eat onions (I just can't relate). He also likes to dip things in his drinks to "clean them." For example, today:

Samuel: "OH Goodness. I need to clean my pepperoni (puts it in his milk)."
Samuel: "It is clean now (puts his hand in his milk and then proceeds to eat it)."
Samuel: "I need to clean my onion (repeat the above)."
Samuel: "It is clean (repeat above)."
Samuel. "Mmmmmm."

My sentiments...gross. At least he likes it.

Random Joseph quote

I know that my Joseph is a thinker. He will often ask questions or make statements that are out of the blue. Tonight was one of those times. As we were driving back from football practice:

Joseph: "Marriage is hard, huh mommy. You have to work hard not to break up."
Mommy: "What makes you say that?"
Joseph: "It was just something I thought of."

I wondered why he mentioned this and he said that he had been thinking about it. I asked if he had friends with parents that broke up. He said no. He then said that he wanted our family to stay the same, with me as his mommy, Joe as his daddy, and Samuel as his brother. I hope he doesn't stress out about the what-if scenarios that I did as a child.

Homework

Joseph was enjoying his homework before dinner. During his dinner prayer he said, "We thank thee for homework."

This was prior to his breakdown and not wanting to write any little a's.

Kindergarten

Joseph started school on Wednesday!! He is having a great time so far and seems to be enjoying his teacher. He comes home excited and saying that he loves school. His teacher is really nice and he says he is making friends. There is a kid from his soccer team in his class and I visit teach a sister whose son is also in the class. Joe walks him everyday and picks him up.



What a handsome little kindergarten boy!

Samuel of course misses his brother and Joe says he screams when they drop Joseph off. Samuel's conversations now consist of him saying:

"I go school too."
"I need school supplies."
"I need go my class."

It is crazy that we have a child in elementary school. Time does not slow down at all!