Red Dress

Since we were cheap & lazy this year :) and had Autumn wear the same Christmas dress (which was so kindly handed down to us from Jeanine) she wore last year (it was on the big side then), I thought it would be neat to compare pictures of her wearing it...... The pics from last year were taken on Christmas Eve...and the pics from this year were taken shortly after her bath this past Sunday morning by Peter; she didn't go to church
(nor did I) the Sunday before Christmas...

a couple more before the year's up...

I caught Autumn on the morning of December 13th sitting like this while watching a TV show...I just had to capture the moment. :) Sometimes she likes to have her binky (although we've been giving it to her less) and blanket and baby with her too. This picture reminds me of how much she loved graham crackers earlier this year; she still enjoys them, but it's just not the same as when she practically thrived on them. :) Rather amusing, I think, how she's learned how to recline in her Dora chair (which Santa brought her last Christmas)!

"Aww, shucks; you got me, mom!"


"You about done so I can get back to my show?"

Would the real Ethan please show his face???

When I was looking at recent pictures on the computer the other day, I once again chuckled to myself when I saw yet another crazy expression created by Ethan. Then I thought it would be fun to post about it, but when I found so many pictures I wanted to use, I thought I'd make a slide show! (Thanks to Liz and Shelley for their great examples.) So, here 'tis...the majority (not all, mind you) of Ethan's kooky faces starting just before Halloween 2005 and ending just before Christmas 2007. :) ......I believe this is a wonderful illustration of Ethan's unique (and, of course, sweet) personality...I believe this is the real Ethan showing his face in all its many-splendored glory!! :)

Miss THANG!!

Autumn definitely has that girly sass & flair! She can have quite the "attitude" too. And, as is typical for her age, she often does the opposite of what you ask her to do.

This first picture was taken on December 1st; I think she'd been wandering around putting her hands on her hips for who knows what reason, so I dashed for the camera and she struck this pose for me (that's Ethan drinking from his water bottle in the background, by the way)... :)



















This next picture was taken on Sunday; some of the kids (including Josh--hee!) had put ribbons around their heads after an exciting round of 'gifts-from-Jeanine-opening' and Peter tied this ribbon in her hair, so when I saw it I got the camera and told Autumn to look at me so I could take a picture with her looking (obviously) and she deliberately turned her head away from me... :)

Knock, knock...

We like jokes, especially the boys. We gave Brandon a knock-knock joke book for his 7th birthday. Since then, my mom gave him a riddle book and Peter found his giant book of jokes (that he got when he was around Brandon's age) in a box in the basement and pulled it out for him. Then just a couple of weeks ago, my mom and dad gave our family a knock-knock joke book. Needless to say, it's been quite a hit with the boys. And now that Ethan's reading has really 'taken off', he's been flipping through the book maybe even more than Brandon has. Well, Miss Autumn (as I often like to call her--and Tyler & Rylee sometimes call her that too) has been her sponge-little-self and quickly figured out the knock-knock joke banter... :) Here's proof:

Humpty Dumpty tree...

Humpty Dumpty tree sat on the wall (not exactly),
Humpty Dumpty tree had a great fall (definitely),
All the kings' horses and all the kings' men (our family) COULD put Humpty Dumpty tree back together again (finally)!!! :) Hooray!
...Peter took this picture of the tree after our efforts Sunday evening...doesn't it look luminously lovely?!?

Oh!..Christmas Tree...:(

Well, it's time to face the cold, hard facts...and share them with you. I've been avoiding them long enough, I'd say. (Though 'bout half of the reason I haven't posted about this sooner is because we've been so stinkin' busy!) BRACE YOURSELVES......... I hadn't been sleeping that well Saturday night; I knew I had a bad headache but I was out of it enough that I didn't get up to take anything for it. So, when I was startled (only a little bit) to a wide-awake state by an odd assortment of sounds--a thud-like noise, a slight rustling, a muted jingling and a couple of clinks--I wasn't surprised that I heard it first. Usually Peter is the lighter sleeper; I'm usually sleeping deeply, especially at just before 5am Sunday morning. Anyway, once I heard it, I knew exactly what it was. Our poor Christmas tree had toppled over! Before going to bed Saturday night, I asked Peter if he thought we should try to stand it up more straight; it had leaned a fair amount from when we'd set it up last Tuesday night. He said no. I just hoped that it would be alright; we've had our share of leaning trees over the years! :) But alas, my hope failed. I asked Peter, "Did you hear that?" He mumbled rather incoherently, "Huh? No." I told him what I'd heard and what I was 99.9% certain it was and he said, "great". (Gotta love that Hartung sarcasm...) :) I decided to get up at that point to get some water to wash down some Tylenol for my throbbing head, and I half-stepped on an ornament on my way down the hall to the kitchen. There it lay, the majority of it now in the entryway instead of upright in the living room as it should have been. Ugh. I felt sad. When I got back to our room, I confirmed to Peter the tragedy that had occurred and gave him a couple of details about its position and how it'd slung a few ornaments into the hall toward the rooms. I also asked him to take a few pictures of it once he got up--knowing he'd be up before me--because I'd already thought, "I have to blog about this." (Guess that makes me addicted now, eh?) :) Unfortunately for me, I learned later that morning that Peter had forgotten all about taking pictures of it and had already moved it from its original spot, put it in a different tree stand, and had it fall again a short while later. So, the pics below are not 'authentic', but you most certainly get the idea.....

P.S. After church on Sunday, Peter trimmed some lower, larger branches in the hopes that it would help it be more balanced out. Then we put it back in the first tree stand. As of tonight (I typed the first draft on Wed. the 12th; my niece's 1st b-day!), we have yet to fix the lights on the tree and re-hang all the ornaments--there were a handful or so still on the tree, but I took them down yesterday so that we can start from scratch whenever we get around to the whole 'tree process' again. We had about 5 ornaments--all favorites--break in some way, so we need to see what the hot glue gun can do to mend those. Anyway, it's been a bit depressing to walk by and see our poor tree looking so pathetic these past few days. However, it has helped that the thing still smells sooooo good! :)

Growing Pains

Earlier this week, Ethan came up the stairs after changing into pajamas and as soon as Peter saw him, he said, "Uhhh, no; you're not wearing those..." Ethan had on pjs from this summer; short-sleeves and shorts. As you might guess from my previous blog post, Ethan went on to ask, "Why?" :) Peter explained that what he was wearing wasn't appropriate for a freezing cold night and then he said, "Plus, they look too small." Ethan got a little defensive and said, "What?!? They're not too small! I haven't had them for that long...how could they be too small?" Peter said, "Well, you've probably grown." Ethan was like, "What do you mean I've grown?" I had been a little involved in the conversation, so at this point, I piped in again, telling him that he's always growing--slowly but surely--at this time in his life. He then very matter-of-factly said, "No, I'm not growing." Rather than insist the truth, which I often do, I asked, "How do you know?" He said, "Because I look at the ground every day & when I look down, things aren't littler...because when you're bigger, they're littler because I'm getting higher up." ...He was serious... :) So hilarious!!! ...Oh, in the end, he did change into long pajama pants, but I do think that will be the last time he wears the shirt and of course the shorts...

O Christmas Tree...

On the first night of Hanukkah (which day was that, do ya know??) :), we headed north a couple of towns to get a tree. Couldn't find a tree lot closer...we live at the edge of civilization, remember? (We have since found out that there are two lots in the town just north of us...oh well!) Anyway, I thought I'd take our camera along this time to document our tree-picking experience; it's been a tradition since Peter and I were first married and so far we only have pictures of some of our trees from over the years, at home & all decked out. So, here's a shot of the kids by some random tree at the lot...... Oh, I have to share--it sure smelled wonderful there!!! I caught a whiff as soon as I got out of the van and then spent the rest of our time there taking big gulps (with my nose) :) of the intoxicating scent that gave me the final push to feeling in the Christmas spirit! Now most of our home is filled with the glorious scent...I love it!

And here's another shot of the kids by our tree after we hung ornaments & they changed into their pajamas on the third night of Hanukkah. :) (We had to skip a night because Peter had a church meeting...) I thought Autumn looked especially seasonal, since it kinda looks like she's 'laying a finger aside of her nose...& up the chimney she rose'!! Hee, hee! :)

Why Oh Why?!?! Part 2...well, kinda-sorta

A couple of weeks ago, Autumn all of a sudden started regularly asking Peter and I, "why?" or "why na?" (Translation: why not) when we tell her to do something or to stop doing something. It's rather amusing, but it's a bit annoying too. We have her inquisitive brothers to thank for this brand-new behavior; they are notorious for almost always asking us those questions almost anytime we tell them almost anything!! I'm grateful that they're curious and have such a strong desire to understand reasoning, however it sometimes seems a little disrespectful and it usually drives Peter and I crazy! :) We usually answer them matter-of-factly, but occasionally I find myself impatiently saying the dreaded, "Because I said so" or "Because I'm your mom/dad" or "Because I'm the boss" statements that we all tell ourselves we won't ever say once WE become a parent! Argh... :) Oh well; I believe that their intensely inquisitive personalities are just manifestations of their incredibly genius minds!!! And it appears that Autumn is following suit...! :)

To...and two, too!!

On Sunday night, I was quizzing Brandon from his Brain Quest game. One of the questions was, "If you increase the tens column in 74 by 1, what number do you have?" After reading the question to him, I asked him if he knew what increase meant. He wasn't sure, so I told him that it means adding to something. He guessed a few times and each time he'd be wrong, so each time I'd re-explain that he's increasing the tens, which means adding to. It wasn't until he'd given 94 as his answer at least twice (as well as a couple of other numbers) and I was saying "you're increasing or adding to by 1" again, that all of a sudden, DUH!!...it hit me that he thought I was saying adding 2!!! It hit Peter about the same time, we both started laughing and I said "OOOOOPS!" Brandon was laughing a little and saying, "wwwhat...?" I got a grip from cracking up, and then I explained to him the hilarity in the situation...he said, "well, you kept saying add 2!" :) Once that was all cleared up, he answered the question correctly, of course! .........I took a minute before posting this to think if I might possibly have some picture of Brandon to add, and then I remembered this one and thought how perfect it worked, even though it was taken a month earlier... :)

Cousin It???

I took this picture of Autumn on November 7th...she put her sunglasses on this way and said, "Yook aaa me, Mom!" (Translation: Look at me, Mom) I pulled them off and put them on her the proper way, saying something like, "here--don't you want to wear them like this?" She adamantly said, "No!" and took them off to put them back on as she originally had them. I don't remember for certain, but knowing me, I probably pushed the issue again, asking if she was sure she didn't want to wear them over her eyes... Autumn insisted upon keeping them on like this, so I just had to snap a few shots of the moment! :)

Y! Oh Y!!

So, today I got to go to the BYU vs. Utah football game with Peter. The last time I was at a BYU football game was when I was first pregnant with Brandon nine years ago! It was a lot of fun. I think I'd forgotten about all the exciting sights, smells and sounds that are all around at the stadium. Though it was a chilly day, I spent most of the game warm with school spirit--oh, and the plethora of people packing the place also helped! :) It was a good game, though both teams didn't score a touchdown until there was less than 2 minutes on the clock. And when Utah scored theirs first, I began to lose hope. But after several seconds, with the BYU fans making noise around me, I realized that there's no reason not to believe...and then shortly thereafter, we FINALLY scored a touchdown and went on to score 2 more points! Final score: BYU 17, Utah 10. I'm tired and I'm hoarse, but what a great time! ...I think my favorite part was after BYU got a touchdown because Peter picked me up in a huge hug and planted a wet one on my cheek... :) I'm glad I was able to be more closely involved in one of Peter's passions today.


......And speaking of BYU, Autumn is now sufficiently (though Peter doesn't agree) brain-washed! :) If she sees any football players--on TV or even pictured on the back of a truck--she'll say, "BYU!" Out of the blue (no pun intended), she'll blurt out regularly, "Go BY...UUUU!" When Peter and the boys went to the last home game three weeks ago, she kept asking where they were and I told her that they were at the BYU football game. By the time they were almost home, she was saying every so often, "I wan go BYU game, Mom." Her wish came true; a week later, we all went to the women's volleyball game (hey, she didn't specify what kind of BYU game). :) Then Peter took the kids again a week later and as they were walking out to the car afterwards, Autumn said, "Wah-wah, wah-wah-wah...gooo Tougahs!" (Translation: from the BYU fight song, "Rah-rah, rah-rah-rah...Go Cougars") She even did the arm motion. I bet you can guess how ELATED Peter was, especially since he didn't even have to teach her; she figured it out all on her own!! :) ...It will be neat when she's older and I can expose her to other sides of BYU, like drama or art or dance... Ha! :)

Bloggin' Beginnin'

Well, here I am...becoming a blogger! Hooray, eh?!? We shall see; I'm overwhelmed at this point... :)