Pumpkin carving...

Last night we (I say we but I mean Coulter) carved some pumpkins. I found some stencils on the computer so Ethan thought that daddy had some mad skills with the knife. We did one carving of a bug in honor of Ethan's obsession. Rylie didn't seem too concerned with what was going on because she was eating candy...Ethan insisted on me baking pumpkin seeds so I did and they were actually good. I have never done it before or even ate them. Pathetic, I know...For anyone who knows my mom then you would understand (my mom is a picky picky eater so there was no way she was baking pumpkin seeds when I was growing up). I love you mom! Anyways...we had fun, good times at our house.

They are all monkeys if you ask me...

Our friends, the Topiks, let us crash their ward's trunk or treat on Tuesday night. Ethan and Rylie were just excited to have their costumes on and then they found out they would be getting candy as well...they could hardly contain themselves...It was fun and fast and the kids got to see Shaylee so they were excited. Thanks Topiks!

Ethan and his BFF, Shaylee

Our monkeys hugging it up...

Ethan (he is a bat if you can't tell) and Rylie (the monkey)

Halloween Fun

So I thought that I would be brave and plan a little get-together with my friends. It was actually something for the kids to do and an excuse for us to get together. I am not a "Martha Stewart" like my friend Marge so I'm sure that everyone was a little worried about me planning activities for the kids...I think that it went pretty good though. Ethan, Rylie and I at least had fun...The kids got to paint pumpkins, make spider pictures and decorate cookies. Everyone seemed to have fun and the kids got to play for awhile after the crafts. It was nice to catch up and let the kids play...Thanks everyone for coming!

Cookie time...

So it has been a busy week as usual but we have had fun. Ethan and I made sugar cookies for his friends a couple days ago. I don't bake so this should scare anyone who ate one...They did turn out edible and Ethan had fun. Rylie helped herself to some when she woke up from her nap.

Fieldtrip!

(Hola, this is Coulter writing this blog entry. Kirsten thought you all should be forewarned…)
Ethan’s preschool class took a fieldtrip today to the Syracuse Fire Department. So, since Rylo and I had nothing better to do, we tagged along. As you can see in the pictures, Rylie made herself a part of the group by attaching herself to Ethan’s side. While we were waiting in front of Miss Connie’s house, Ethan started playing chase tag with the kids and poor Rylie would lose track of him and get very sad, extending her lower lip and turning on the water works. Luckily, no chase tag continued after that and so Ethan had his sidekick during the fieldtrip.

Upon arriving at the fire station, Rylie and I had to find Ethan (he insisted that he had to ride with Miss Connie for unexplainable reasons) so that she could become the aforementioned sidekick. We then went inside and sat down to watch a movie about fire safety from the mid-1990’s. It starred the voice talent of Gilbert Gottfried (same guy who did the voice of Iago on Disney’s Aladdin) as a smoke detector. The video was actually pretty basic and simple for the kids to understand and a few of the firemen reviewed some of the key points from the movie such as “don’t hide, go outside”, “fall & crawl” and “stop, drop & roll”
After the movie, the kids were able to looks at fireman’s clothing, go in the fire truck and pose for pictures with the fire truck. Ethan and Rylie had a ton of fun and when we came home, they put on their plastic fireman hats they got from the fieldtrip and pretended to be putting out fires.

Cute Rylie...

So this is our little movie junky. Right now Rylie is hooked on Deeping Booty (Sleeping Beauty). Anyways, I didn't let her watch it until after dinner last night because my sister was coming over to babysit while Coulter and I went to temple. I figured a movie before bed would make her tired and it did. Before Coulter and I left Rylie had to put on her Mr. Potato Head glasses so she could see a little better.

We have church from 1-4 so Rylie is usually pretty tired during nursery. Last Sunday when I went to get her after nursery I couldn't see her playing with the other kids so I looked in the corner and sure enough, there she was asleep on a blanket. Poor girl...How many kids do you know that ask to take a nap during nursery? The nursery leaders think she is adorable (because she is). She does this a couple times a month. She will just ask the leaders for a blanket and tell them that she is tired. Rylie will then go find a quiet corner and doze off...

Pocahontas

This blog is for my Coulter, mostly because he will die when he sees this. I heard someone dissing Pocahontas today and I was rather offended. I think that I am the only person alive that likes this movie (except my favorite sister, Kaitlin!) and I don't understand it. I insisted that Coulter and I buy the movie for Rylie for Christmas last year and against Coulter's wishes the kids like it a lot. Whenever it is on Coulter gives the speech about how inaccurate Disney's depiction is...blah blah blah. Anyways, to make matters worse I also have the soundtrack (from when I was little of course) and play it in the car for the kids from time to time. Their favorite song is "Savages" and it is pretty entertaining listening to them sing it. But anyways....I just wanted everyone to know that Pocahontas is a good movie, give it a try. Plus John Smith is pretty hunky for a cartoon, just ask Kaitlin.

Dirty!

So we went over to my parent's house today and my sister, Kaitlin, had a surprise for Ethan and Rylie - A Snake! Dirty! Her and my dad found it in the backyard while they were working in the garden. Kaitlin hates snakes, so why she thought it would be alright to give the kids one is beyond me. Ethan about wee'd his pants, he was so excited. So now we have a snake at our house. Ethan played with it all day (he plays with it like it is a dog). Coulter hates snakes and the snake won't eat any of the bugs we gave it so we are going to have to let it go. We will probably be doing this tomorrow so if you hear some screaming from Roy, don't fret, it's just Ethan.

Tracy Aviary

I saw something on the news about the Tracy Aviary and decided that we needed to take the kids since they like any form of creature...I also decided that we should go down to Salt Lake on the "train" (the frontrunner and trax). The kids love going on the "train" and it would be nice to not worry about parking in Salt Lake. Coulter pulled up the map and he said it looked like quite a walk from the trax station but I am pretty stubborn once I make plans... so Coulter, being the best husband ever, said we could do whatever I wanted. Well the walk from the trax station to the Aviary was far (so maybe I was wrong) but we got there. The kids loved it. Their favorite was the flamingos. Ethan and Rylie also spotted the peacocks and spent quite some time trying to catch one. This was entertaining to us just like it was when they tried to catch one at the zoo...
After seeing all the birds we went to The Gateway for dinner. The kids were really good. They ate their food, were quiet, didn't embarrass us...all in all it was a good time. We got back to the frontrunner station and just missed it. We had to wait 50 minutes to catch another one. Oops...I guess I shouldn't have insisted on going to the Gap after dinner...But we had fun. I love taking the kids to do things. It is so fun watching them get excited over simple things and letting them experience new things.

Snow!

So it snowed big time yesterday and the kids begged us to play outside, throw snowballs, build a snowman etc. I wouldn't let them play outside yesterday because it was Sunday but first thing today they were breaking down our door to get outside. They had so much fun...Ethan wanted a snowman so I gave it a try. Honestly I have never made a snowman. I lived in San Diego when I was little and just never built one when I was older. So here is our "Should be riding the short bus" snowman. He needs some serious work but the kids were happy. I went inside to get something and they destroyed my creation. No love for the ice man...

Doctor's office...

So I had to take Ethan to the doctor this week and his pediatrician wanted him to pee in a cup... (Holy cow, what an ordeal) Ethan was so confused. We finally have him convinced that it isn't alright to pee in the backyard or at Layton park (don't ask) and now I need him to do it in a cup. So after a hundred questions from Ethan he agreed to do it. After a minute or so Ethan said "I don't have to pee now but I do have to poo so I'll do that in the cup for Dr. Alvey." I was laughing so hard. Kids are great! Their innocence is entertaining on a daily basis, that is for sure.

Hola!

Coulter and I got crap the other week from our friends because apparently we are the only people on the earth without a blog page. So we decided to give in and make one. I decided that it would be alright to give in on this because I gave in and finally read the Twilight series like all my friends and I loved them... So here you go...

Here is a little info on the fam for all that are interested...

Coulter: I am currently attending one of my last semesters at Weber State for my HR Management degree. I’m still working at Convergys on the AmEx: IBCS: Small Business program. After this semester, I will have one class to take in the spring and I will also be applying for internships and doing everything else to finalize my schooling and certifications and applications that I need to get my degree.

Kirsten: I am currently working at South Davis Community Hospital as a Respiratory Therapist. With all the rest of my time I get to just be a wife and mother. It’s so nice to be done with school and be with the kids each day.

Ethan: He started pre-school at the end of August and loves it. He is always the last one to leave because he just wants to stay “a few more minutes.” He loves his teacher, Miss Connie and he would take her home with us if he could. He will be learning about the letter ‘E’ and the number ‘5’ next week. He still loves going outside and looking for bugs. It is the first thing that he asks for each morning and then is constant question throughout the day.

Rylie: She is our stubborn little princess. She is so loving but she turns on you in a split second. Coulter and I are getting better at managing her mood swings…Rylie loves to follow Ethan around and thinks that he is gold. It is really cute seeing them play together. Rylie loves movies and would watch them from sun up to sun down if we let her. We let her watch one a day and this is torture for her some days. She is stuck on Mulan right now and I think she wants a sword… Rylie is finally “sort of” potty trained! She stays dry all day and just wears a pull up at night. She fought us for a while and then one day it just clicked. Coulter and I are ecstatic to have 2 kids in big kid underwear (and of course to be saving all the $$$ on diapers).