It's 8:30 am and. . .

. . . I've been used as a kleenex, pooped on, and had my face sat on! My day can only go up from here, right?

Fun Filled Friday!

Today was a packed full day! We started off by going to Maisey's first field trip ever! It was to Bauman Farms! It was a little cold, a lot muddy, but NO Rain!!! Yay!

I let him out of the car and the first thing he went for was the mud puddle!

And that's pretty much were he stayed for 15 minutes while we waited for everyone to show up.

Miss Maisey stayed far from the puddles. She was so excited!

Our first stop on the field trip was the cider press. It was really cool to see how apple cider was made. And Maisey was able to tell Daddy the whole process after he got home from work.

They each got a little taste and an apple cider donut! YUM!

Next was the hay maze! It was interesting with my 2 crazies and only one of me, but we all survived! Gage thought it was cool to explore everywhere.

Next was the group shot!

After that, we did the tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids each got to pick a pumpkin, gourd, and Indian corn.

Peyton and Maisey on the tractor ride!

After the tractor ride, we went to the animal barn and then we headed home!

I threw the kids in bed for naps (after we changed their muddy clothes of course!) and they slept while I baked up some sugar cookies!

I woke them up, got them in their costumes, ran to Safeway to pick up some fruit platters, stopped by McDonald's to pick the kids up some lunch, headed to the library for the kids to run in and trick-or-treat there to their favorite library ladies, then headed up to Shaun's office for a Halloween party!

He looks like a little mischievous Mickey, huh?

And my sweet Minnie!

They got quite the buckets full of candy from trick-or-treating at his office!

And now we're off to a baptism!

I said it was a fun-filled day!

SUCCESS!

5 sleeping kids + 1 kid having quiet time on the couch =

My favorite time of day!!!

18 Months

My little "jewel" is 18 months today! I started taking a few pics to document some of the things that he is in to right now.

He LOVES shoes! He plays in his closet all the time, and often times shuts himself in there. In this pic he is also wearing one of Maisey's shoes. When people come over and take their shoes off, he takes their shoes to them. He seriously is obsessed with shoes!

He also HATES getting dressed and LOVES running around naked! Getting his diaper on, or his pants on is a battle. Sometimes I have to sit on his legs and use my hands just to get him diapered!

He likes to shut himself in rooms then sit there and knock on the doors until we come and open them. Then he thinks it's really funny. He can open doors all by himself, which he is also really in to, but he thinks it's more fun to wait for us to come find him!

He likes to unload Maisey's undies drawer!

And play in his hamper every Tuesday when I do laundry!

He was going through some paci withdrawals so he found some puzzle pieces with a little knob on them and started using those! This habit didn't last too long though.

He also HATES pictures! He crawls away, cries, runs, screams, bugs his sister, or falls off of where I put him. I do remember Maisey going through a stage like this, so hopefully it's just that, a stage!

He likes to play with his lawn mower, but he LOVES to ram it into his sister! And make her cry! He rams it into me too, and it hurts.

He is also quite the climber! The kitchen table table, Maisey's art table, the oven/stove, Shaun's dresser, the ottoman, any where I don't want him to be, he's there!

He likes to sit and figure out how to put his socks on. He hasn't ever actually gotten one all the way on, but he's gotten close! It keeps him pretty busy and entertained for at least 2 minutes!

These 2 pics are the best I can get of him at 18 months, which really shows his true personality.

He is such a crazy little man! He keeps me so busy, but he also gives me kisses and loves, he's so cute. He is talking more now. He can say: All done, yay, uh oh, thanks, please, up, more, buh-bye, momma, ma (grammy), dada, backpack, ball, and night night. He loves cheese! He'll eat 3 string cheeses a day if I let him. He also likes apples, gold fish, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, enchiladas, and MILK!!!! He's starting to enjoy reading books more, and loves Dora! He likes to play outside (i.e. swing, ride bikes, dig in the rocks) and just run around and be wild.

We sure do love our little Gagey boy!

And we love him even more now that we can take him to nursery! :)

Wordy Wednesday

I know I've posted a million things today! Just trying to catch up!

My Georgia Peach!

Piedmont, a hospital in ATL, is one of Shaun's clients that he is assigned to! Apparently they really like Shaun because they sent his boss an email telling him what a good job he does AND sent Shaun a bag of Georgia peaches! I'm hoping this results in a BIG Christmas bonus! :)

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On another note: I know I say my kids are CRAZY. . . but here's more proof:

Tonight the kids were in the bath and I made Shaun come in the kitchen for a minute to show him something. All of a sudden Gage starts SCREAMING! I run in there to see what was wrong, and Maisey is "baptizing" him! Hand in the air and everything!

My Randomness for Today!

* It must just be something about Wednesdays, but Gage fell asleep early again today! This time in the car on the way home from preschool!

* Also this morning, he and his buddies thought it would be funny to tear the wall paper off in his room -- AGAIN!!!!! (See pic below!) And again, my father-in-law had the best come back -- Maybe he is just upset at BYU's poor performance this season!


* We went to the temple again last night. Note to self -- Do not, I repeat DO NOT wear flats with no socks all day and then go to the temple. You will still be able to smell your feet!
* My plan for the week was kind of thrown off, so now I'm not sure when I'm going to get everything done! This week was already a CRAZY one as it is! Lucky (maybe not cuz I'll have to go next week) my visiting teaching fell through for tomorrow night! Maybe I CAN hit up 5 stores + Costco in an evening?

* We are having guests this weekend! Lots of them! And we're excited. The kids need some lovin from their grandma and aunt!

* Last Saturday, after GWL and a baptism, I went to 2 Fred Meyers to do these awesome toy deals:

10 Littlest Pet Shop toys = FREE

3 Strawberry Shortcake toys = $10

1 My Little Pony Remote Control Airplane = $8

Total Retail = $ 143 My Total = $18 Savings = 88 %

* I'm getting so excited for Christmas! Only 66 more days!

* Maisey loves to "read" my cookbooks. I just bought a new one yesterday at a book fair at my mom's school, and she chose to read that for bed last night and nap today! And she's been reading the cake ball book ever since I got it. Maybe she will go to culinary school or something!

* I "made" the best carmel dip for apples! It's so easy, but it does take some planning ahead! Buy 1 can on sweetened condensed milk. Remove label. Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Insert unopened can. Boil for 3 hours! Remove and let cool (I did for 2 hours). Open and enjoy the creamy, gooey, carmely goodness!

* I have a million things I could be doing right now, but I think I'm going to go lay on the couch and read. And if I fall asleep, GOOD!!!!

Halloween Fantasy Trail

For FHE on Monday, we went with some friends to the Fantasy Trail. We had a great time!

The kids enjoyed walking on the lighted path, looking at all of the spooky Halloween scenes, going down the slides, through the tunnels, over the bridges, and in the houses!

It was a great night!

What made it all worth it was Maisey saying, "Mommy, this is a really fun Family Home Evening!" Love that girl!

Only bummer of the night -- I lost my lense cap! :(

Great Wolf Lodge: Day 2

We started the morning off just right: Cookies for breakfast!!!!!


Then we headed down to the water park!

Masiey loved doing the lilly pads, but wasn't brave enough to stand up on them.

Gagey hated his life jacket, it didn't last long!

Daddy and Gage waiting for the waves to start!

Maisey didn't like getting splashed in the face, so she spent a lot of her time sitting on the side of the pool!

Then she'd get too cold, so she'd dip in for just a minute, then return to her place up on the side.

Gagey, on the other hand, was a WILD man! He loved going down all the slides, he didn't care if he got squirted right in the face!

Gage would climb up the stairs to this slide all by himself, then barge through the line of kids, plop himself down, and SLIIIIIIIIIIIDE! He loved it! He even tried walking down the slide, then face planted it and still came up laughing and giggling!

We stopped swimming around 12:00 pm, grabbed some pizza for lunch, got ice cream and cupcakes one more time, then headed home!

I think Maisey had a lot of fun with the activities outside the pool, and Gage had a lot of fun in the pool! It was a really fun weekend, but I think we will wait maybe a year or two before going again! At this age, they weren't really ready to swim ALL day for 2 whole days! So I'm not sure we really got our money's worth. I would rather pay $15 for them to go swim at an aquatic center for a few hours then to spend all that money for Great Wolf Lodge!

P.S. The water was pretty cold! Gage's teeth were chattering, and I had goose bumps pretty much the whole time! The web-site said that the waterpark is 84 degrees! Yeah right! It was freezing!

Great Wolf Lodge: Day 1

We got to Great Wolf Lodge about 2 pm on Friday! We checked in and headed up to our room. I opened the door, Maisey ran in and yelled, "Welcome to the Kingdom of Maisey Grimmett!" Then proceeded to strip down and run around naked until I could get her swimming suit out. (this all took place in a matter of 2 minutes!) She was so excited! Gage had a completely different reaction. He started crying. I think he is scarred from hotel visits over the summer!

We got all situated and then headed down to the water park!

Gagey LOVED the slides!

Some kid pooped in the pool around 4 pm, so everyone had to get out. We decided to just head upstairs to get ready for dinner.

Both the kids were being so silly at dinner! I'm pretty sure other people in the restaurant were starring!

He is squishing applesauce in between his teeth! He thought it was so funny!

Maisey got these wolf ears with her kids meal!

We then went back upstairs again to get the kids in their costumes so they could go trick-or-treating!

Our very own, Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

They had a blast trick-or-treating. . .

. . . and got the perfect amount of candy! She was so excited!

So was he!

Back upstairs, getting into our jammies for story time!

But before story time we stopped to get a treat! Maisey chose a cupcake with a purplicious butterfly on it! The rest of us got ice cream!

Dad gave the kids while chair rides, until Gage flew off and hit his head, and Dad got some disapproving looks!

(This video was taken on my phone! Super poor quality! Sorry!)

While we were waiting for story time to start, the DJ was getting ready for the dance party, which started after story time. He was playing music, so there was a little dance party before the story even started. My kids were CRAZY on the dance floor! They loved to go up on the stage and dance. Maisey was seriously hilarious!

I had to put up a pic of the both of them dancing because when I print the blog into a book, the video won't show up! It's a shame, because the video is so funny!

Here's my little dancing man!

Calming down for story time!

The animated tree story!

Ms. Violet! Maisey was a little nervous so she wouldn't go up and give her a hug, but she did wave to her from afar, and Violet waved right back at her!

Gagey wasn't scared though!

Stomp, stomp, clap, clap, Ahhhhwooooooooooooo!

Violet taught the kids a wolf call! Maisey still walks around doing it and may or may not have done it right in the middle of Sacrament meeting on Sunday!

Gage didn't like the wolf call!

The Dance Party continued after story time!

But not for this little guy! He was EXHAUSTED!

Stay tuned for Great Wolf Lodge: Day 2