Addicted to Haircuts

Ok, I guess more news about haircuts in our family (we hope to take family pictures soon with Brent...hint, hint). Ryan has three , count THREE, vicious cowlicks so we have to keep his hair pretty short. A sad Ryan with long hair and a happy Ryan after chopping it all off.

Special Unrelated to Haircutting Note: Ryan just came downstairs to ask a question. To understand this question, you need background info. Wyatt and Ryan started sharing a room after this move. They sleep in a bunk with Wyatt (obviously) on the bottom. Wyatt is having a hard time not talking to Ryan (and vice versa, although he denies it) and an especially hard time staying in bed with a companion in the room (which must mean playtime, right?). Ryan is forever coming out of his room with complaints about Wyatt. Well, with that info, here is the question:
Ryan: "Can Wyatt get in trouble if he is not talking and not getting out of his bed?"
Mom and Dad: "What?? What is going on?"
Ryan: "He is not doing anything-- Wyatt just wants to get in trouble"

Huh?

Pumpkin Guts

So, we attempted, for the first time EVER to carve pumpkins with kids around. It actually wasn't too bad. The kids were utterly grossed out with the idea of putting their hands into the slime inside, but after they were (strongly) encouraged, they got over it. The kids cleaned out their own, designed faces on paper and helped mom and dad hold the carving utensil for the rough parts. They loved pushing the parts that were already cut right out of the pumpkin. Mia had more fun than anything else putting the pieces in and out again and again. You can tell she is my puzzle girl. Mom carved a bat and Dad did a ghost from a template. Really fun - except for the massive amount of pumpkin slime that ended up on the floor....

Oh the PRESSURE!!!!

So, I've been told by a close maternal figure that I am the ONLY one of my generation not posting regular updates on a centrally accessed Internet site, commonly referred to as a blog. I thought about telling this as-yet-unnamed person that the pressure would be too much and I like keeping you all in suspense, waiting for the littlest morsel of news. Now what am I going to put in my Christmas letter? Or will this absolve me of any responsibility for holiday cards at all? But the pressure finally got to me. So here goes...

We have been in our new house a little under a month. We are still trying to decide where things should go and the master bedroom still has piles and piles of books waiting for a bookshelf. But things are starting to resemble normal and the kids are getting used to stairs. 

We decided (OK, mom decided) that Mia's hair was getting too long and since she didn't like combing it (except with food covered fingers), we were going to cut it. Unfortunately we didn't take any "before" pictures, but here is an "After" picture. Don even admits it is cute and he is president of the "women shouldn't cut their hair...ever" club.  

Halloweem was also interesting. I bought a 75% off dragon costume after Halloween last year, thinking that since Mia was going to be three -surely she would want to be a princess this year and I could do a cute fairy tale theme. Well, when Mia saw that dragon costume, she decided that this was exactly what she wanted to be. She puts it on herself and walks around "scaring" mom and dad. When we get a frightened look on our faces, she pulls back the hood and says, "Don't worry! There's a pretty girl inside this dragon!" Well, we don't have to work on self esteem issues yet.... We finally convinced her that she was the only one who could be the princess, so she wears the dragon during non-official Halloween functions. The picture above was taken before our ward trunk or treat.  Wyatt was trying to get the dragon head up, Ryan is protecting...someone, and Mia is dancing (immediately what she does when a camera is pointed her way these days). 

Oh...one more thing that makes me laugh. Mia has adapted the term she has heard Ryan use for his closest friends for her own use. Quite fun to hear, "Mom, did you know that Ryan and Wyatt are my best boys? Yup, they are my very best boys."