Friday, November 12, 2010

Halloween 2010

Its so crazy to have 2 boys now to dress up for Halloween. This year Brody was a cowboy and Ryder was his cow....or maybe I should say bull since he's a boy.


The whole week leading up to Halloween we built up the excitement in Brody and we taught him to say trick or treat, which sounded more like, "tri-treat." and even practiced knocking on the door and saying that and then giving him a piece of candy.


The day of Halloween roled around and I could hardly contain MY excitement. I couldn't wait to dress up the boys. Despite windy (very windy...this is SJ could we expect anything else) weather we got Brody and Ryder ready and headed to the courthouse where a bunch of goblins, witches, princesses, and other cute characters were waiting to start their parade! This is the third year Brody has been in the parade. Just like Ryder, he was a cow at his first parade and rode in his stroller during the parade totally oblivious to what was going on but this year was a new ball game. This year Cowboy Brody walked the whole thing by himself and never even wanted to be picked up. It meant that we were the last ones straggling behind the whole group because of Brody's refusal to be carried, but it was fun anyway.


Our kids are lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents living here so all 3 of them wre waiting along the parade route to honk their horns and take pictures of these cute kiddos. I love doing the parade because its just a little longer that they get to be dressed up and it makes dressing up that much more special because you are being admired by everyone you pass.


That evening there was a trunk or treat, but since Ryder doesn't eat candy at this stage of the game, and Brody really doesn't need very much, we decided to skip trunk or treat and just go to a few designated places. Even without going to the trunk or treat Brody was able to haul a nice amount of candy in his "puple punkin bucket." Getting as much candy as he did probably had something to do with the fact that he ended up with lots of pieces(one time a few handfulls) of candy from each house. We never just knocked on a door and then left either. Brody and Ryder were invited in so that they could truly be seen. As we would walk away Brody would say to us, "a more tan-ee! ( more candy)"


We really had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year. It just seems to be more and more fun as we have kids and as they get older. Just imagine the how fun Christmas will be this year!











Pumpkin Carving 2010

I love love love the fall and everything that comes with it. As soon as September 1st hits I put up the decorations and begin to enjoy this season. I love to do all the traditional things that most people do at the holidays. For Halloween I don't do the dressing up but I like to have decorations, I love passing out candy, and I always want to carve a pumpkin. Trevor drags his feet and roles his eyes everytime I talk about doing these kinds of things, but especially with the pumpkin carving. He hates it. If the truth really is told, I have to say that I actually don't LOVE carving pumpkins, but I just hate the idea of NOT doing it....thats tradition....thats just what you do. I want our kids to grow up and have memories of doing this kind of stuff with us like I have memories with my mom.
Last year Brody was just right in the center of all the pumpkin activity. This year he was a little more leary. We stripped him down to just a diaper and pulled a chair up and all he would do was take one of the tools and poke little teeny holes. He didn't really want that much to do with carving pumpkins. Well that is he didn't want anything to do with them until we put the candles in them. I truly believe that every boy is slightly a pyro at heart. Our little Brody is no exception to that rule. He kept saying, "a hire a hire!!!" (a fire a fire) when we would light the pumpkins.
I think the pumpkins turned out great this year. Despite hating the pumpkin guts(a lot), Trevor mucked out 3 of the 4 pumpkins and carved his own. I drew out the design of all of the pumpkins and carved 3 of them. The two boys won't remember these pumpkins, and they couldn't carve them themselves, but I wanted 4 pumpkins to grace our front door, and 4 pumpkins did.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Ryder's Blessing

There are still days that I can't believe that we have 2 kids. Yesterday was no exception. Yesterday was Ryder's blessing day. It seems like it was only the other day that we were blessing Brody. It makes it even harder to believe because I put Ryder in the same outfit Brody wore, and they look so much the same that it was like deja vu! Trevor said that he had even worried and had dreams all week that during the blessing instead of giving Ryder Joel Waite as Ryder's name, that he would say Brody Jay Waite.
Ryder was priveledged enough to have his daddy give him his blessing. He also had his great-grandpa Garner, grandpa Waite, Uncle Dustin, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Spenser participate in his blessing. How lucky we are to have family willing to travel and be a part of this special day!
Ryder's blessing was great! I don't know that there are blessings that are bad, but it was special all the same. I am always struck at these moments at how blessed I am to have the husband that I have. I am grateful that he honors his priesthood and that he can give our kids blessings. I am also SUPER glad that its him that has to do the blessings and not me! I do not like to do any sort of public speaking or anything that draws any attention to me, so its wonderful that men hold the priesthood and not women. Besides that it just makes me an emotional mess so its better for Trevor to do it and not me.

Thank you everyone that participated in Ryder's big day, and thanks to those that just came and were there! We love you and are grateful to you!

Friday, November 05, 2010

Random Act of Violence

Its sad but true. We had an act of violence committed against a member of our family. To make matters worse the criminal that committed the crime was our very own Brody Jay. His victim: baby Ryder. The crime scene: our living room couch.
I knew it was only a matter of time before Ryder was hurt more than just an eye being poked, but I have totally and completely trusted Brody around Ryder. I have left the two of them alone in a room on plenty of occassions without even a second thought. That was the case one morning last week.
Mornings are always busy for me. Feeding kids, getting us ready for the day, laundry, and all the other typical household chores. This morning I had done all of that but I hadn't had time to blow dry my hair yet. I left Ryder on the couch and Brody paying extreme attention to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv to go to my bathroom and dry my hair. With all my hair it sometimes can take a while to get it dry, but I didn't think twice about that until I finished and turned off the blow dryer only to hear the sounds of my baby crying. Not just crying...more like screaming. This was not the normal, 'i lost my pacifier' or 'i'm starving' kind of crying, this was 'i'm seriously not doing so hot right now mom, please help!!!'
I run into the living room to find Brody leaning over Ryder and holding his Woody(from toy story) figure in his hand. I go to Ryder and find scratches all over the right side of his head. Some places the skin has been broken and there is a little blood, but all the scratches were hard enough to raise his skin and make it look like they were welts. Not only this but the scratches are almost instantly turning into some serious bruises! I realize that Brody has taken his plastic Woody and dragged Woody's spurs all over Ryder's head.
To say the least I'm horrified. First, I feel bad that I didn't hear poor Ryder sooner. Who knows how long Brody was scratching Ryder. Second, I'm just sick that Brody could do this. And third, I feel SOOO guilty for leaving Ryder unattended with his brother.
I am pretty upset with Brody. Actually really upset. I feel somewhat mad, but mostly I just can't believe he did this. He quickly realizes he's in trouble....BIG trouble. I show him what he's done and tell him how wrong it is and I take him to his room for a time-out on his bed (a first for Brody). Brody begins to cry as I carry him down the hallway to his room. When I set Brody down he flings himself away from me only to whack his head on his bed! Instantly there is a black and blue goose egg on the same side of his head as Ryder's injuries and in nearly the same exact place!
My boys looked like they were being abused by their mother! I didn't hardly take either one of them out of the house for a week for fear of what people would think! Haha! It was pretty bad. Brody told me the next day, "Woody trouble." How does a 2 year old already know to place the blame on others? So not only do I have an abuser in my house, I have a little liar! Oh well...I guess its all part of having 2 boys....I know that it was just one beat down of many to come.