Saying farwell to the mullet

Cutting Colter's hair has always been an easy thing. Get out the clippers and buzz away. It's hard to really mess up boys hair. Maybe that's why I've been putting off cutting Brooklyn's hair and letting her mullet keep getting longer. One bad clip and she'd have a GI Jane cut. So I finally got sick of her hair in her eyes and decided it was time. She did pretty good and it turned out ok. I still don't know what's in style for toddlers. Bangs, no bangs, long, short....

Before the cut

the back, it was long
afterwards, wet and curly

dry and and straight as it gets, man it looks so blond

She looks happy to see, runny nose cuts and all

Yabba-Dabba-Doo!

We had a great Halloween! It was kinda different where it was cold outside. Brooklyn didn't learn to say "trick 0r treat" but she learned the most valuable lesson, hold your bag up and people give you candy.
With that being said, I'll tell you about my fight with Spiderman. Now I'm not saying I don't like him. I mean anyone who can wear spandex and live a double life gets props from me. And this isn't a physical or mental fight(I would win both), its a creativity fight. A fight for Halloween. Growing up, I remember my mom making my costumes and when I was old enough me thinking of something (I was once Mary Poppins and made a darn good one). This year trick-0r-treating, we probably saw 12,492 Spidermans of course that's just a rough estimate. There was a group of 4 boys in front of us all as you guessed it Spiderman. Unfortunately Halloween has become this holiday of just going to Walmart and buying whats there, not being creative. I've seen many creative costumes, not all homemade. Some were soap, jelly beans, cactus, a dead golf man...there's so many. So here's how I fought the pesky spider this year.

Dressed for the cold weather

Pebbles and Bam-Bam

Brooklyn loving her fur bag

Colter's cheesy smile

Ok can we get candy now

What to do in Farmington

I've been slacking on my blog. We've done some pretty cool things here in Farmington and I'm gonna cram them all in one post. So here's what we've done and had fun doing them.
The air show: This is more of Nick's thing, but it was still fun. The best part was a girl went out on the wings of the pane while in the air and did stunts.
Four Corners: Cold and windy. Other than that it was cool to say you're standing in four states at once. And of course there was awesome fry bread.
The Great Pumpkin Patch: This was my favorite! It was a train ride to a pumpkin patch. The train went about 5 miles out of town and came to a farm with a free carnival for the kids where they met some of the Peanuts gang. Brooklyn was fascinated with Lucy and would follow her around. Maybe she thought she was a big baby doll. Colter loved the tractor ride. They played some games, went through a maze and got to pick out a pumpkin to take home with them.
Indian ruins: We went about 1 1/2 hours to some ruins that were built up in the side of the mountains. They were pretty cool. It was a nice day and we liked walking around. We wanted to go to some that were harder to get to, but having Brooklyn scale down 40 feet of ladders didn't sound good. Next time.
Playing in the snow: Last week it snowed about 6 inches. I think its the first time our kids have been in enough snow to play. I layered Brooklyn up so much that if she fell, she couldn't get back up. We're excited to have a winter with snow and get to go sledding and all that stuff that doesn't really exist in southern AZ.
Monster Trucks:We went to see monster trucks. Colter loved it and I think I'm finally regaining my hearing from it:)

Here's some pictures

Why I don't like to shower

This morning I decided to take a nice long relaxing shower while Nick slept in (he's worked 12 days straight and needed it). Usually my showers are quick so that the damage isn't bad. And now I remember why I do that. My kids didn't interrupt my shower which in the long run is never a good thing. So while I enjoyed my shower Brooklyn squeezed the entire bottle of blue toothpaste onto the carpet, unrolled all the toilet paper, spread dog food everywhere and Colter cut her hair. Good thing she has wild curly hair and its barely noticeable. Back to short showers or no showers at all.

Creative Juices

I think paint, even washable paint should have a warning "WARNING THIS PRODUCT MAY BE WASHABLE, BUT MAKES A BIG MESS. PLEASE KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN." Then maybe I wouldn't have left it were Colter could use it while I was reading. Looks like most everything my kids get into is because I'm busy trying to read and not watch them. Maybe I should give up reading and start being an attentive mother. Who am I kidding, I'll find another way to escape. When its reading a book or cleaning and watching kids play, reading always wins. At least he cleaned up the mess.

Dancing in the koolaid

I was having a great afternoon reading without any disturbances. Colter and Brooklyn were happily playing together. That is the first sign of something wrong. So I found them busy dancing, in koolaid. I seriously don't get why it only seems to come in colors that stain everything. Its not like it spill and you wonder where it spilt. Your stuck feet will tell you that. I'm just glad that it was in the kitchen for easier cleanup, from floor to ceiling.

Brooklyn admiring Colters mad dancing skills

She's now a purple nose

Busy dancing

Milestones

Every parent holds their baby in there arms and thinks about the one milestone they look forward to. For some its the first step, talking, wearing undies, going to school or even graduating and moving out. For Nick it was the first gun. I think the first step Colter walked he started counting down till I would let him buy a gun for Colter. I gave in. Its not like I'm against guns at all, its just...well...he's my baby. It was cute seeing his eyes light up as he got to hold it. He's excited and wants to shoot a bird. He still needs practice and nobody in range.

It was too late to go out and shout when he got it, but he of course wanted to hold it at home.

Nick trying to show him how to look through the scope

How to wear out a four year old

A couple of weeks ago, Nick and I were talking about how we've never seen Colter worn out. There's been time that he's gotten tired but if you bring up something to do he gets all excited and ready to go. We have now finally worn him out. This past weekend, my parents came to visit us in New Mexico. I told Colter the night before they came that we were going to go to some caves in the morning. So of course he was so excited that he woke up at 6am (really early for him). We got ready and headed to Carlsbad, about 40min away. I took my parentals on a driving tour of the town, poor Nick had to work on a Sat. Once Nick got there we headed to the caves. All the boys took the natural entrance down while the girls went for the elevator. We all met up at the bottom and walked around. Colter walked about 2 miles, that's got to be at least 4 with the size of his legs. Brooklyn had learned a new word the day before, rock. So being in a place made of only rocks we heard "Wrook wrook wroook" for a straight hour and a half, who needs a tour guide. It was a lot of fun. To make sure he was good and tired we went swimming afterwards. This is when it hits me, Colter is too daring. He like jumping into the pool and touch the bottom before someone would bring him back up. I'm glad we don't have a pool at home. Here's some pictures at the cave.

Don't they look thrilled

Brooklyn stayed by Grandma cause no one else took interest in her babbling about rocks

And yes here is proof there are big rocks

Family Campout

Last month, we went camping with my family in Williams. It was so much fun. We went to some of the local touristy places. We went to the Grand Canyon. Nick says its just a big hole, nothing too special. That the only way he'll go again is if we hike down. We went to Sunset Crater and the Indian ruins there. Our favorite thing was going to Oak Creek Canyon. We stopped on the road and hiked down to the creek. It was a nice secluded spot that went to 7 feet deep. Colter had so much fun with all his cousins, he wishes that we were still there.

Home is where the heart is

Well we've moved. It was hard and sad to say goodbye to Bagdad. It has been home to us for the past 2 years. We knew that the day would come, we just wished it didn't come so soon. We're now in Artesia New Mexico. We're only going to be here for about a month and then on to Ship Rock New Mexico. This is our 15th move since we've been married so I guess I've kinda gotten use to how it goes. It took me a couple of days, but I found a furnish dump house for us to live in. Yes its in the ghetto, but its better than a motel and Nick thinks he wouldn't make it being alone. This has been the hardest move we've made. We really loved Bagdad and wanted to stop traveling, but the Lord thinks He knows best. I've been trying to stay positive and think of the good things about being here, so here's my top ten
1. Being in a small house, we will become closer as a family
2. Since we're in New Mexico instead of Arizona we can have fireworks for the 4th of July
3. There's more than just a Bashas to shop at
4. I get to feel more appreciative of what we have
5. Great Mexican food
6. Being in different house lets me see what I want & don't want in my dream house
7. A full size bed means Nick & I will have to snuggle
8. We get to see and smell new things, like the oil refinery. They call it the "Sweet smell of success" I call it the smell ofrotten eggs.
9. Having no TV means I'll get to entertain the kiddos and Nick & I will get to have conversations
10. Having nothing to do and no friends, I get to try things I've always wanted to do but didn't have the time for.

The new house

Now you don't need the tour, that's the whole house minus the bathroom

Who need a red cape when your omnipotent and omniscient

Tonight when we put Colter in bed we were talking about and looking at pictures of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. We told him how they were put in a fire, but God saved them. Colter asked "Is God a superhero?"

I'm not Super-fly, I'm Colorfied

While I was showering, Colter colored himself with pen. When I got out he said he was colorfied. We had a friend over last night that has some tattoos. While I was scrubbing his skin off, Colter said "But Mark colored all over himself." Are things getting so ruff on the playground that he needed tatts? Maybe I'm just not hip and cool.

Habits are hard to break

CAUTION: DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER IF EASILY GROSSED OUT, YES I'M TALKING TO YOU NICK.

Brooklyn has a new habit which is making me develop a screaming habit. She sticks her hands down her nasty poopy diapers. I know your totally jealous of my life. I have tried everything I can think of shy of hand cuffing her hands behind her back. It doesn't matter what she's wearing. She's learned how to take off her clothes. I really wouldn't mind it if after she took them off she put them in the hamper and put on clean clothes...Anyways back to the poop. Without fail this is the scene I see at least once a day. I go to see what Brooklyn's doing. She'll be sitting in a room by herself with her hand down her diaper and pulling poop out. So I know your thinking nasty but I'll take it a step further and show you the pictures to prove it.




I just can't do this everyday. And hope that it doesn't happen while other people are watching her for me. I've thought of 2 solutions to the problem.

1. Get a suit of armour in her size.

2. Potty train her

I'm leaning towards the suit of armour

sugar spice and everything nice

I haven't updated in awhile. I seem to always be busy, but not with anything blog worthy. I'm sure a post with pictures of mile markers wouldn't be interesting. So I decided to post some pictures of our cute girly Brooklyn. The past couple of months she's become a funny girl. She loves to carry her baby around, put on necklaces, and carry purses. She also is starting to become a daddy's girl and gets jealous if Colter sits with him. (Daddy's the nice guy, his no is "go ask Mommy.") She also loves music, she'll dance and sing and of course play the piano, currently she is mastering her own minuette. She likes to be the center of attention. So here's some pictures of her being her.

There's no safe place for a purse to hide.

I hope it wasn't a call to Guatamala.

She may be girly, but she knows how to get dirty.

She always wants to do what Colter does.

Gooood Morning, talk about bedhead.

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

I seem to be having one of those days where I'm considering selling Colter to the Zoo but think they would return him. I do feel like I'm a zoo today. Yes bananas thrown at me, weird lingo I don't understand, screaming, and even being spit at. Colter is so just like me and now I understand why my parents stopped having kids after me. After a zillion time outs, some spankins, and his toys put where he can't find them, I've decided to post some pictures of him and think of the reasons I DO love him.
He is very independent. He knows what he wants and doesn't stop til he gets it. He loves his sister. Example last week Brooklyn wanted his fruit snacks and instead of putting them where she couldn't get them he gave them all to her. He's self entertaining, on long car trips he doesn't complain just stays busy playing and looking out the window. He says and does funny things. Sometime he calls me names, which I love. He'll say "Mommy you're a honey bucket" or "Your a orange pumpkin." Or he'll give wonderful compliments like "Mommy dinner was scrumptious." He loves being outside, I think he asks me every day if were going camping tonight. He is a daddy boy. He wants to be doing anything and everything daddy is from golfing to fixing faucets. He can't go to sleep at night until he get one kiss and hug from Daddy then Brooklyn and Mommy. No more and no less. I always try to bargain with him to get more, but he's firm that I only get one kiss. I'll open my arms wide and say "I love you this much" and his response is to raise both his hands as far as he can above his head and say "I love you this much." Okay now I'm feeling much better. My house still might be a zoo, but I least now maybe I'll enjoy my monkey. Here's some pictures that show the true Colter.

Wearing my lipstick.

A flower he mad in Sunbeams. He insisted that HE glue on all the petals.

Wrestling with Brooklyn in her bed.

I found him watching tv like this.

My hard working boys

This weekend Nick build me some grow boxes for a garden. Of course Colter wanted to do everything Daddy was doing. Last year we got Colter some kid size tools and wheelbarrow. He's uses them a lot. So here's so pictures of my 2 boys moving soil into the grow boxes.

Happy Birthday Nick

Thursday was Nick's birthday. I wanted to just tell him how much I love him. You are a great husband and an awesome dad. Colter's response to me telling him no is "When daddy gets home." You always like to see your kids happy. Here's some pictures to remind you what a great year its been:)