Thanksgiving

*Update: I have been called as the 1st counselor in the Primary.*

We had a great day! I almost forgot to put the turkey in the oven and the stuffing in the crock-pot, but I made just in time to eat at 1. Chloe loved the corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pretzel salad, and the rolls. She didn't like the turkey to much. Drake loved it all and made a turkey sandwich with his roll, just like Daddy. I made a pumpkin pie that turned out awesome and a banana cream pie that Drake and Chloe love because it has whipped cream on it. While I was making the pies, Drake kept asking to lick the whipped cream off the lid. We are still eating leftovers even though I bought a 16 pound turkey instead of the usual 20-24 pound turkey. One more night for the turkey and then I will freeze the rest. I need room in the fridge for the broccoli cheese soup I am making for tomorrow's lunch. I better make some bread bowls, too.

All of the decorations are up for Christmas, except a tree. K-Mart had one for $20 yesterday, but when my sister went to get one, they were all gone, so we need to find a tree lot and buy one that is skinny and about 6 1/2 feet tall. It is a good thing that I stocked up a couple of years ago on shatterproof ornaments because Chloe is a grabber and I think that she will drop many ornaments this year. We will see. She may just look at the lights. I think we will have to wait to put presents under the tree until Christmas Eve because she likes to play with everything.

I have finished a handful of presents and they turned out so well. I can't post pictures because they are for some people that I know read this, so you will have to wait until after Christmas for those. I have also received a new calling and I will update this post with what that is tomorrow after I have officially been called.

Oh, and Chloe will be turning 1 in 13 days! It has almost been a full year. Boy the time has flown by. Must be because of the days blurring together due to lack of sleep.

Mater's Tall Tales

Just in case you have not seen Mater's Tall Tales, I caught Drake singing one of the songs from one of the shorts on the movie. *You will need to click on Read More at the end of the post to see Drake singing.

And because a post is not complete without something about both kids, I caught Chloe "reading" the other night. She loves to sit in this chair and look at books and watch Drake play.

Oh, Chloe is also WALKING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chloe has a tooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHLOE'S TOOTH FINALLY BROKE THROUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(You may now resume your previously scheduled activities).

Christmas Lights & Suck It Cups

Here is her laugh with a nose wrinkle.

We are going through all of our Christmas lights tonight so that we can get them up tomorrow with out having to stop and check lights and fuses. In one of the boxes, there were some suction cups. Drake goes, and I quote, "Look Mommy and Daddy! Suck it cups!" We laughed pretty hard and even after correcting him, they are suck it cups. I can just see it now, we are in a store and looking for suction cups and Drake will pipe up to the cashier, "We need suck it cups!"  Ah. The way kids pronounce words.

In other Drakeism's, he says everything is cute, and I take full responsibility for that. He likes to rake leebes (leaves) and put on his glubes (gloves). He is always asking us how stuff is, ie, "So, Mom. How was your book? How was checking stuff on the computer? How was your nap? How was sewing? So, Dad. How was work, your game, your book, your nap?" Take your pick. He says any one of these all the time. Every morning he asks how our long naps were.

And in Chloe news, she is starting to cut a tooth on the bottom left. It has not broke through yet, but hopefully really soon. While I am typing all this, Lot is getting her to walk a few steps. We are going to have a walker really soon. She can say mommy and daddy and has a certain yell/raised voice that means Drake. She can also wave hi and bye and tonight at dinner, she folded her arms all by herself. She does the Drake fold, though. That means that she after a few seconds into the prayer, she unfolds the top arm and uses it to eat or take a drink, while leaving the other arm folded.

Chloe at 11 months.

Drake about 11 months.

What do all these things have in common?

(Laundry detergent, Oxi-Clean, Clorox 2, WD-40,  a medium bristle toothbrush and a hard bristle brush)

They are all products that were used to get orange crayon out of a FULL load of the kids' clothes. I forgot the Dawn dish soap, so just picture a bottle of the blue stuff next to the detergent and Oxi Clean.

I did a load of the kids' clothes last night because Drake has 5 pairs of pants and was wearing the last one. There must have been a crayon in a pocket, because when I pulled the clothes out of the dryer, they all had orange crayon all over them. While I was feeding Chloe, Lot took the clothes and started to work on them. Did I mention that this was at 9 o'clock last night? Lot's mom helped him and when I put Chloe to bed, I ran to WinCo to get more WD-40, Oxi-Clean, and cheap toothbrushes. We sprayed the clothes with WD-40, squirted dish soap on them and then scrubbed with the toothbrushes. Then threw them in to wash twice with the detergent and Clorox 2.

There are no more orange splotches on the clothes, but they do smell a little, but not as bad as I thought they would. I got a tip from someone who said to use mineral spirits instead of the WD-40, so next time (and there WILL be a next time) I will try that instead. There is also a product that is used with an iron. It couldn't make it any worse, so that is on the list to try next time as well.

The only casualties were some socks of Chloe's that were not worth the effort to clean. She needed new socks anyway.

Oh, and if you need to know how to get dried paint off clothes, I can tell you how to do that as well. Or nail polish off of tile and a counter and sink. And crayon and colored pencils off of walls.

Mouse Update

We thought the mouse was gone, but then I heard it in the laundry room wall yesterday. Today I saw it run across the dining room and then later I saw it by the fireplace. So, I set out some traps. I had to move them because I did not want Chloe to get into them, but I did not put them up high enough. She got one and sat on it and ate the peanut butter off the trap! Here is the best picture I could get of the peanut butter all over her face.

More paint where it does not belong.

Drake wanted to help me paint, so I let him wash out the brushes for me. He did a really good job, too. Until I washed out the last one and walked into the laundry room and found this.

I turned around and found this.  I washed the paint off the washer, but left this one up. I love the smiley face.

Here is an update on the "goosebump." It looks really gross now. All yellow and green, but still some purple in there.

The first real snow

It is snowing pretty good outside and Drake wanted to go out and play. Here he is posing for me. Chloe looked like a giant pink marshmallow. And a picture of the shoes I made for Chloe. I need to modify the pattern a little bit, but they are cute and keep her socks clean and feet warm.

I just love how that right eye is always partially open when she sleeps.

The next pair I make is going to have a busy pattern so that you can't see all the dirt and junk that she picks up on the shoes when crawling.

90% off costumes are the best!

We went to Walmart yesterday morning and all the Halloween stuff was 90% off, so there was NO WAY I was going to pass that up. We bought 8 costumes for Drakes for about $15. The most expensive one was $1.90. They also had some Toy Story pajamas for $5, so Drake picked out the Buzz pjs. He has tried on most of the costumes, but opened all of them. They are currently taking up space in a 18 gallon pink tote that I bought for Chloe's winter clothes. There weren't any girl costumes for Chloe, so next year, I am going to go as soon as the costumes go to 90% off and possibly for 75 % off so that I can get some dress up clothes for her.

Top: Cars Pit Crew, Iron Man, Bumblebee, and an astronaut. Bottom: Superman, a ninja, a knight and a soldier.

This is the only one that I have witnessed Drake wearing the whole costume.

I bought a few wigs and Chloe laughed at me when I put this one on, so I put it on her. This was the best picture I could get of her. She was very quick to reach up and get it off.

Drake is Buzz Lightyear. The thing on his head was the container that held all of my cookie cutters, but I made a drawstring bag for them, so Drake confiscated the container for a Buzz helmet.

A Goosebump

Or at least, that is what Drake calls it. While at Pre-School today, he was playing and him and a little girl ran into each other somehow and Drake walked away with a big bruise/bump on his right cheekbone. He says it doesn't hurt, but it sure looks like it hurts!

I just took this one. It is really hard to see in the previous pictures how swollen it is, but it was not too much. Here, you can see how big it is. Sure hope it doesn't get any bigger.

Pumpkin Carving & A Mouse

At first, Drake refused to stick his hand into the pumpkin to get  the guts out. After I grabbed some gloves for him, he decided that it was okay.

Still not quite sure if he should stick a hand it. I think he was afraid that the pumpkin would eat his hand or something.

Going for it.

And all the way at the bottom.

Drake took this one and most of the following pictures.

"You need to smile Mommy & Daddy!"

Chloe eating Kix, I think.

What a goofy goober!

Here is my pumpkin.

All lite up!

One tired little girl!

On a side note, while we were eating lunch today, I look over to my left and see a small field mouse run from the hall closet into the bathroom. Lot tried to trap it, but it ran and went under the dishwasher. We have a mouse in the house! I am hoping that it will come out and get stuck to a trap, but we can't stick those out until bedtime because Chloe will probably stick all of them to herself.  I hope it gets stuck while Lot is here, because I do not think that I can take the mouse out. Last time this happened, in Pocatello, Lot was at work and I called Kendall (Lot's brother) to come and dispose of it. I wonder how the thing got in the house in the first place. I need to find out and then plug up the hole. It is just gross to think that there is a mouse in the kitchen. YUCK!

"The List"

I forgot our camera at the ward party and when Drake went trick or treating, so no pictures of that. But in better news, Chloe will walk 2-3 steps unassisted! I really need to get to making her some shoes like these from Tao Of Craft. Her socks just aren't cutting it anymore on hard floors, she slips. And the only place I know of to get socks with non-skid soles are at Old Navy and I don't go to the mall. I thought that I could just make her some shoes for way cheaper than it would cost to buy about 10 pairs of socks. I just need to run to JoAnns to find non-skid material and bonus! I have a 40% off coupon that I can use. Not that I am going to need much material, but every little bit helps. I just hope that she will keep them on.

Aren't they so cute? They look really easy to make too. These are on "The List" to make for Christmas, but I think I need to make Chloe a pair soon. "The List" also includes:

A fleece jacket made from a dollar store fleece blanket at Naptime Crafters.

 A wallet for Drake from Nancy's Couture.

And a car organizer from Pickup Some Creativity. But instead of a hanger, I am going to use a dowel and a rope. I think that will hold up better than a hanger if and when it is pulled on.