Halloween at Our HOuse

We had the cutest Ninja Turtle, Scooby Doo, and baby giraffe at our house this past weekend! Here are some pictures so you can agree.

As my good friend, Meg, observed...we are having the hardest time getting all of our kids to smile and look at the camera at once. I usually take several pictures and then just give up and usually have to post a few of certain poses so that you can see all of their faces. :) You will see later on that David is much better at this than I am. :)s a few more pictures 'cuz this was her first Halloween and all.
Kacianna get

This is them helping to pass out candy after they went trunk or treating. There was actually a pretty good turnout. Carter was at first unsure of what was going on, but as soon as he saw that he got candy in his bucket for going to these strange cars, he was all for it. :)




Afterwards we were able to go to Dan and Charbel's and celebrate a Halloween dinner complete with bat wings, mummy dogs, goblin hair, and pumpkin blood. What get together, especially holiday get together would be complete without a cousin picture? Here is one that I stole from Charbel 'cuz our camera died at that point: It was so fun to see all of them dressed up in their costumes, but our kids were pretty well spent at that point and would not look at the camera, let alone smile. :)




Since Halloween was on a Sunday, we did the trick-or-treating on Saturday and saved the pumpkin carving for actual Halloween. We almost got away without doing it, but our boys wouldn't let us skip it. David is, unsuprisingly, a pretty good expert at whipping out custom jack-o-lanterns and did a great job while I got to act as camera lady/baby holder.

He made this cute carving of a pumpkin cottage for Kaci for her first jack-o-lantern and here she is admiring it. In case you're wondering, yes, Kacianna is wearing diaper jeans. No, I don't make a habit of buying designer diapers for my baby...but when you can get them for 2.99 a pack at Riteaid using coupons...it's hard not to buy them. I still would have bought the regular 'cuz there're more in a pack, but they were sold out...so Kaci and Carter get to be in style now. We are hoping that Carter won't be needing them much longer. Is it mean to tell him that Santa will have to bring diapers instead of presents if he's not potty trained by CHristmas? :)

















Here is the picture that Daddy took that got everyone looking and smiling at the camera, nevermind the partially/not dressed children, they are still looking! :)

Mason's 4th Birthday

Now I must be the worst blogger/mother in the world for waiting FOUR months to post about my child's birthday, but I am determined to catch up and have these memories recorded for my kids, so here goes. :

Mason turning four was so fun for us! He was at the age where everything was exciting and he could really anticipate his birthday. A few days before his birthday, Katie suggested we go up to SLC to watch a Bee's Baseball game and they were having fireworks. It happened to be the day before Mason's birthday.




We thought that might be fun, but as it came up, I started having second thoughts, realizing how late we would be getting back and we have early church (9) the next morning. Anyways, I tried to convince Mason to go to the zoo that day instead. He held strong, though and insisted he wanted to see a baseball game 'cuz he had never been to one before. I couldn't argue with that, so off we went to the baseball game.








It was fun 'cuz Katie and Forrest rode up with us and we met David, who was at a class in SLC, Cindy, AJ, and Lyla at the game. It was really fun.

We opted for the cheapest seats, which put us sitting on the grass way in the outfield. I think this is definitely the way to go with kids 'cuz we didn't have to worry about making them sit still through the whole thing and there were lots of other kids for them to play with around.















Mason, in particular, made a fun friend, Sophie (the one in the pink and green shirt). The adults were just chatting and suddenly we realized that Mason was sitting really close to this little friend of his. Then the funniest thing happened...Carter came up and started chasing her around, almost like he was trying to keep her away from Mason. Every time she came back, Carter would chase her. They had a fun time and even watched the fireworks together. About a week later, a girl from our ward saw Mason at the park and started calling his name. He didn't see who it was and excitedly exclaimed "Sophie!" Maybe he will meet her again later in life...











David started the tradition of making all of our kids' birthday cakes, something that I am happy to let him take care of. He enjoys making it fancy and original. Every since Carter's birthday in June, Mason knew exactly what kind of cake he wanted: Scooby Doo and Shaggy being chased by a T-Rex. David was glad to comply. He watned to do the whole thing in fondant...but as luck would have it, he ended up having to do a training class that was 40 minutes away and lasted 12 hours a day the two days before and the day of Mason's birthday. David still was planning to do it, but we decided that a cut out of Scooby Doo and Shaggy would be ok..and Mason loved it. :)

It was fun for Mason to have his family that live here in Utah come and help him celebrate. I'm so glad that we have family here so that my kids can grow up with good memories. We always miss our Colorado family at times like these, though!

Mason, when you are 4 years old, you love to make friends. Without fail, everytime we are at a playground, you will go up to someone and say, "My name is Mason, do you want to be my friend?" You have made many friends that way and you are setting a good example for your little brother who has started to do the same thing. You love to help and are always asking me to help you clean the playroom or your room 'cuz you really like it to be clean. You are a great big brother and Carter and Kaci love you! You are learning to read. You love preschool. You like to come to the store with me and get something out of those quarter slot things, and are especially happy when it is a fake tattoo. :) You love to be hugged and are very affectionate. You are very helpful and carry on quite good conversations with adults. We love you Mason and are so happy that you are ours forever!

Kacianna

Obviously, Kacianna doesn't talk, but I'm just going to post some things about her now at nine months.

As I sit here looking at this sweet face staring back from this picture, all I can think of is how blessed our family has been to receive this particular spirit in our home at this time. I have mentioned it before, but I truly feel that Heavenly Father sent me my sweet daughter at this time because he knew that my life would be very hectic and that she would be a light and joy and have such an easy disposition. I'm not saying she doesn't ever wake up at night...she definitely does and even more so lately for some reason, but she is a baby, afterall!

Kaci, darling, if you are ever reading this when you are older, I hope that you know that just because I haven't been able to post as often as I did when your brothers were babies, doesn't mean that we aren't as excited about every little thing you do as we were with them. Life is getting busier and we want you to know that we love you so much and are enjoying each of your milestones with you.

For recording sake, here is what has been going on with our Kaci:

• Kaci got her first tooth at 5 months. Now at 9 months, she has both bottom teeth, three top teeth, and a few more on the way.
• Kaci started eating baby food at 4 months and absolutely loved it! At 7 months, she decided she was to grown up for baby food anymore and REFUSED it. She still loves to eat solid foods, just not the baby stuff.
• Kaci started army crawling at 5 months and getting everywhere she wanted to go. At 7 months, she was an expert at crawling on all fours. Now her poor knees are rough and almost scraped up because of all of the time she spends crawling on them.
  
• At 9 months, Kaci is pulling herself up on anything and everything and has briefly stood for a split-second now and then without holding onto anything. She loves to climb and tries to get up on everything.
• She is such a wiggle worm! Diaper changes are such a work out for all involved because Kaci does not like to lie on her back still for that long to get changed. As soon as she can wriggle free, she will turn and crawl away, laughing hysterically the whole time.
  
• Kaci is my little helper and especially enjoys helping unload the dishwasher.
• At her 9 month appointment, she was in 55th percentile for height and 14th percentile for weight. She also had a low hematocrit, so we are supposed to make sure she eats meat every day for a month and get it retested. If it is still low, she'll have to have iron supplementation.
• Kaci has a birthmark called a hemangioma on her back, i'll have to get a picture of it sometime.
• Kaci has the most incredible, enthusiastic smile. It is so fun because when she is really happy, she will just keep smiling and smiling so big that her eyes are all scrunched up. We will definitely be needing a picture of that.
• Her hair is still growing, but not very fast. Kaci refuses to wear headbands, despite my best efforts. We have recently taken to using corn syrup to "glue" a bow on her head and that seems to work okay. I am hopeful by the time she's 1 year that we can use clips or even have a pony tail.
• Kaci loves to be outside. Whenever her brothers go outside, she is quick to crawl after them as fast as she can.
• She is very clever...most of the time when she is getting into something that she shouldn't, she pauses and looks at David or I and when we see her, she goes at it in full force with the cutest little laugh.
• She loves her baths!
• Most of the time she is down to taking only one nap a day.
• Her brothers can make her laugh more than anyone else can.
• We love her!
  

Carter

Carter is 2 years old and growing up so fast! He loves to sing, eat sweets (like his mommy), Caillou, play with his big brother and little sister, nursery, and sleeping in his brother's bed.

He has quite the vocabulary and is always saying things that make us laugh. Here are some of his latest:

He is deathly afraid of lawn mowers at the park and screams so everyone in the park thinks he is hurt. When I rush over to see what's wrong, he points to the lawn mower and says that it is going to smash him.

"T-rex is driving a car!" haha He kept saying this over and over and over to Forrest when we were driving up to SLC one day.

"Awwww....I have a little friend!" At the park when he was playing with another little kid.

"Ok, let's go home" at movies

He is scaring me with a fake bee, I say "that's not funny!" he says "that sure is funny!" giggling. :)

Sometimes I sing the wonder pet song (if you have heard it you may know that it is catchy,) but instead i insert my kids' names. Sometimes Carter gets very upset and insists, "No!! I am not a wonder pet!!"

"can you wash these" referring to his bowl of banana "buttons" (slices). I ask him "what happened did they fall on the ground?" (I have washed off peaches and apples when they have fallen.) "yeah they just fell on some nasty things."

I was just talking about how I don't like rattlesnakes (Mason was making a trap for one), I bent over to pick up some laundry and Carter patted my shoulder and said, "Mommy, you're safe. Don't worry!"

"I'm dying" when he was afraid of David's remote control monster truck.

Mason has been saying "I'm thankful for monster trucks" lately in his prayers, whenever Carter hears it, he immediately yells at the top of his voice, "I HATE monster trucks!" (David has one that is remote controlled and about to Carter's chest that Carter is terrified of).

Sometimes I get tired (imagine that!) :) in the day and will try to take a few minutes to lie down and regain some energy. Lately, whenever Carter finds me, he comes up and sweetly says, "you taking a little rest, Mommy?"

Mason

I cannot believe I haven't updated in four months! This is going to be hard to catch up. I think I will start with some cute things that I've been collecting that the kids say 'cuz they're all ready and hopefully add some pics from our last four months with brief commentary for our blog book's sake hopefully soon.

Mason is our big 4-year-old! He loves making traps, talking with adults, preschool, writing his name, drawing, catching snakes, and making friends every time we go to the park. Here is a taste of what we get to enjoy from our Mason daily:

After i told them to clean up the playroom for Daddy's b-day "Carter-we need to put these puzzles away and QUICK! Hurry run into the living room and get those two puzzle pieces." This is followed by Carter running as fast as he can into the living room and then running just as quickly back clutching the two puzzle pieces.

Looking at Carter who was carrying our lunch bag that was kind of big and heavy for him to be carrying "you look bad, Carter" when I reprimanded him for saying that he then said "you don't look strong."

Mason: "Mommy, I need a piece of cheese this long (showing me about 2 inches with his fingers) to tie to the end of this rope." Mommy (stifling a giggle) "REally? Why do you need cheese?" Mason- "to catch a mouse!"

On the way home from church "Mommy, while you were enjoying church i put that yellow thing in your bag." (I have no idea what the yellow thing was.)

Organizes Carter to make a rhino, alligator, mouse, and snake trap in the backyard. THen he decides to make a cheetah trap. He told us he needs to buy a chain to chain it to the tree when he catches it so he can keep it

"Me and Levi taught our friend in the glasses a lesson." (about two weeks after our family reunion) Me: "What was that." "at first he was mean to us, but we taught him that friendship matters!"

"Is that a panda trap?" to our neighbor boy who was playing with a big bounce-back baseball net. (We have not been talking about pandas or anything recently, he just thought it was the right shape for one. )

"Did you know that in Star Wars, there're these cool-lookin' swords called light sabers? PRetty neat, huh?"

Carter was crying and I asked Mason why. He replies matter of factly, "because i just used him as a teddy bear."

Getting as much use as we can out of it!

When Mason was 4 months old, I realized that he was at the age that can start enjoying those exersaucer/jumpy-type toys. I remember becoming obsessed with getting him one and I did lots of research and tried to find the best price for a nice one. For some reason, I remember we got it on Halloween, so he was actually almost 5 months.

I was so excited to put him in it and see how much fun he had. I was glad that I had made the purchase.




Fast forward about 21 months or so and I realized that Carter was now ready for the jumping toy. I tried him in it and he seemed to enjoy just like his brother before him. So it was a success for two children!













Mason had fun reliving the funness of this musical bouncy toy and that made it twice as much fun for Carter to see not just mommy, but big brother Mason dancing around to the lights and music that the toy makes.











Now here we are, 3.5 years later (from its original appearance) and the third member of the Ford family has realized what a fun toy this can be!










Of course, Kacianna has realized that everything is much more fun when her brothers are around so her smiles comes easily when they are there to smile at her. And yes, it takes multiple pictures so that I can show off each of my children's smile. WE are still working at them all smiling at the camera at the same time. :)

I can't believe how much time has gone by and how big all my babies are getting!

Carter

• Carter loves to share with kids younger than he is. One Sunday, he saw a little girl who was starting to cry sitting across the aisle from us. He had a Sesame Street book and slid it across the aisle to her....and she stopped crying. Similar things to this have happened several times. He always looks so proud of himself after he shares.
• "help me!" (when he's stuck on the counter)
• "Taste one" One night he followed Uncle Aaron around for at least 1/2 an hour with a 10-pound bag of potatos yelling "taste one!" and trying to get Aaron to eat a raw potato.
• He always shares with Mason and wants to make sure that Mason gets one of whatever he is getting (popsicle, fruit, cracker, etc.)
  
• I brought home a candy treat one day from the store and Mason was sleeping. Carter kept demanding to give Mason's his, and then he went and put it right next to his face so he could see it when he woke up.
• Carter loves to wash his hands...and now all his toys in the bathroom sink.
• One night his pajama pants were on crooked. Carter came up to me saying "weird!" When I fixed them and asked if that was better he said "yeah" and ran off to play again.
• Everytime I take trash out, Carter waits excitedly by the door and then slams it in my face just as I'm about to come in. When I open the door, he is running as fast as he can, giggling to sit on the couch.
• He often says "Cold!" And then sits by the heater
• One day I was working and he brought me all of the way from the office and said "Cuddle couch!" When I sat down and cuddled him for a while, he said "Nice and warm."
• "Watch simpsons!" in a mad voice when we turned it off
• He walked in the room in obvious need of a diaper change. When I looked at him he said "Kacianna stinks!", trying to shift the blame. :)
• Carter is so anxious to show his little sister things about the world around us. He repeatedly says "Look Kacianna- Jesus!!" when we are reading a Jesus book or "Look Kacianna...snow!" when we were looking out the window. He says this about most things.

• ANy time we ask him a question lately the answer is, "Because.." and then he trails off. It's really cute the way he says it.
  

• Another phrase that he says is "How 'bout" and then he finishes it with whatever he is wanting at the moment, i.e., peanuts, candy, go on walk etc
  

• One day he came up to me and said "Eat- Ants!" Sure enough, there were little ants on his tongue. Gross! He got mad when I wouldn't let him have more.
• Last Sunday, Carter was playing with a boy his age in front of us in Sacrament, just sharing toys back and forth...David asked him what his friend's name was and without thinking, Carter answered giggling, "Funny face."