monsters

A little something to get you in the Halloween mood...

From me and the kids.

http://www.monstermashup.com/e6c46c

q & a

To get out of the house this afternoon we all went for a long drive (we had 10am stake conference that only Rob and Burke went to since Hewitt and Tosh have pretty bad coughs).

We started out playing "20 Questions" and then decided to take turns making up questions for each member of the family to answer, or in some cases guess the right answer. Rob jotted down the answers while I drove. Here is a sampling:

Favorite Food:
R: stuffing with gravy
T: fresh fruit
B: homemade hamburgers
H: hot dogs
T: mac & cheese, macaroni, mac & cheese

Favorite Treat/Dessert:
R: creme brulee
T: dark chocolate ice cream with fresh raspberries
B: any ice cream
H: mint choc. chip ice cream
T: ice cream

Favorite sport to PLAY:
R: tie between basketball/soccer
T: volleyball? not sure
B: soccer, midfield position
H: tennis and baseball
T: basketball

Favorite vacation that you have been on:
R: Newport Coast
T: Palm Springs (just Rob and me. A true vacation)
B: camping, Disneyland
H: hunting... I guess camping (did Rog take Hewitt on a hunting trip we don't know about?)
T: Grandma Grandpa house

Favorite Drink:
R: chocolate milk
T: chocolate milkshake (wait, is that a drink or dessert?)
B: milkshake
H: Gatorade
T: apple juice (he then asked for juice for the remainder of the drive...)

Favorite Color:
R: blue
T: blue
B: red, white and blue
H: black and white and yellow and blue
T: blue one, white one

Favorite Sports Team:
R: Portland Trailblazers
T: BYU (except when they get creamed...)
B: "Peterson Express" (the team Burke and Rob created)
H: Michael John
T: Uncle Todd

Favorite thing to do as a family:
R: swim
T: vacation
B: Disneyland
H: go to the park
T: "Tickle Tiger" (Rob pretends to be a tiger and tickles the kids)

If you could go anywhere that you haven't been, where would you go?
R + T: tour Europe
B: A galaxy far, far away...
H: "I don't know where I haven't been!"

And finally,

Favorite Place:
Tosh: anywhere with "Bear" (Mom helped on this answer)
Hewitt: Arizona
Burke: Heaven

When Rob said that his favorite place is "home," Hewitt then added "Depot!"

We all had a good laugh.

60 second recap

Real quick: I taught R.S. today (just subbing). It felt nice to teach again and made me feel "at home" since this was my calling in our last ward. The lesson was on "True Friends" and I couldn't help but get emotional a few times thinking of my friends (both family and non-related ones) and how blessed I am. The kids did much better today than they did last Sunday. Liv has moved into "size 2" diapers so this has helped eliminate more blow-outs (cross fingers).

Liv's 4 month check was on Friday. Turns out that my "chubby" baby is actually pretty little. She was 30% across the board (head, weight, height). I've never had a child under 75% for height... She weighs only 12 lbs. 14 oz. Hewitt was 15 1/2 pounds at 4 months!

The painters are finished. I had them redo our master bath in the main house color. It's much better and more flexible too since I couldn't decide on what I wanted... I repainted the border stripe in our "play room" last night (the hour before and hour after having the missionaries over for dinner). The blue didn't look quite right and so I used the "purple-y brown" color, (technically called "Lincoln Cottage Brown") that we had used in our dining room and we REALLY like it now. I will take pictures and post them soon, I promise. We have been so busy going from one thing to another...

Well, that was more than 60 seconds, wasn't it?

"Shift"

When Aunt JaneAnne and her family were visiting over 4th of July weekend, her son introduced an online computer game called, "Shift" to our boys. Burke has since played it a couple of times while Hewitt (trusty side-kick) watches on.

Imagine my reaction when I was finishing up mopping the kitchen last week and glanced up to find this on our fridge (in magnets):

When I asked Hewitt about what he had "spelled" he said, "It's that game. Shift."

On Sunday just before church he proudly handed this to Rob and me:

(This is an illustration of the game as well).

When we told Hewitt that he forgot the "f" he got kind of upset and yelled, "I just want S.H.I.T.!" We had a hard time concealing our laughter. Hmmm, maybe that was what kicked off a rough Sunday (read last post).

mama said there'd be days like this

Church was pretty bad today. The worst I can remember in a long time. Hewitt freaked out at the very beginning of Sac. Meeting (can't remember why; he has really had a hard time in general lately). Rob took him out and Liv got fussy right after. I picked her up out of her seat to discover a blow-out. Worst yet (she's only had a handful). Of course this is the one time I don't have the "just in case" onesie with me. I wait until the Deacons sit and leave my kids to the darling Laurel that was sitting behind us. I got Liv all cleaned up and had her wrapped in my nursing apron (no blanket either). When I went to go inside I noticed that Rob was now in the hallway with Tosh who had started yelling loudly for no reason (undoubtedly he just wanted a turn at leaving too). Liv then threw up about 3-4 times soaking all burp rags, nursing apron and my white shirt.

After Sac. Meeting I went home to get clothes for naked baby and wished Rob luck on his new calling: Nursery worker (Tosh's nursery). Liv slept the entire drive home and back so I didn't put in her clean dress until we got back to the church. About 10 minutes later she had blow-out number two (not quite as bad, but still got her bloomers and dress). I changed her again (now into back-up onesie) and spent the rest of church in the hallway because she wouldn't let me sit. My back is bothering me again today, but I think it's because church chairs are the worst, second to standing in heels at church.

All of the kids were a handful tonight (super tired and grumpy), but after we got Tosh and Liv down (by 7pm) we were able to arrange B + H's room. We have separated the bunk beds and it looks so much nicer and it will be so much easier to change sheets (which we still have to do more than we would like if you catch my drift...). We finally have their matching bedspreads out and it looks great with the new paint.

By the way, the painters have now finished Tosh's room, B + H's room and our room. They have textured the master bath, the downstairs bath and the kitchen where the wallpaper was. We are hoping that the painters will be back tomorrow (Labor Day), but who knows. They said it would be 4 days total, but there is still a lot to do... Much of the house is covered in plastic (and dust) so I am hoping to really have things cleaned up and in shape by next weekend.

I am teaching Relief Society next week and don't know what I will do with Liv. Everyone I know fairly well either already has a baby or is in a calling that doesn't work for babysitting... Any takers out there?

the many faces of liv

Liv will be four months next week! She is still the sweetest baby ever. She makes happy noises a lot and her "talking voice" sounds kind of low to me. She is rolling over all the time now which poses a problem when she is trying to nap and gets stuck. She likes playing on her tummy though and loves the play gym and swing (still). She still eats great and is mellow and sweet. She gets so giggly when the boys play with her. She adores them all. I can't stop taking pictures of this girl! I love how she looks so different in each photo I take...
Here is a video of Hewitt and Liv playing "Pat-a-Cake" a couple of weeks back...

the blog that is "sweet petes"

I got thinking today that I need a place to share photos of the kids in a more intimate setting than my normal blog. Besides, I figure that our family and close friends can handle "kid photo overload" without necessarily a great story or deep thoughts to go with it. It will also allow me in other cases to share "the rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say), and to give more details about our home and life here in AZ.

As outlined in the description, these blog posts will be written especially with the "missionary grandmothers" in mind (and wonderful aunts too).

In other words, consider this blog "the extended version" of Pete Pages.