1st Movie Theater Experience

We took Zachary and Adam to see Astro Boy in the theater. It was Zach's first time to go to the thearer and we were a little bit nervous about the way he would behave. He did great! Josh got the boys a big popcorn (that is a big deal to me because that was never allowed for me growing up) and Zachary held it the whole time. He just sat in my lap ate popcorn, watched the movie and snuggeled me. It was a nice family outting.

Halloween PARTIESSSS

The parties started Wed. We attended a party at a Library with some of our friends. They boys were very proud to be in their costumes. Adam pretended to fight all of the older boys as Zach wooed a couple of the girls with his charms and cool cowboy hat.
Next the boys had their parties at the schools. As I was trying to get Zachary in his Woody costume he was resistant and didn't seem excited to ware it. Thanks to a cute friend from pre-school I had a dinosaur costume on hand and offered that to Zach. He got really excited about that. It was smooth sailing from there. When we got to Adam's school to drop him off there were several adults that had gathered to see the pre-school kids in the costumes. Man, Adam and Zachary were so excited to strut their stuff. They ripped off the jackets Adam threw on his wings and pretended to fly while Zachary stomped around like a T-rex. They soaked up the attention. I loved it too.


The next day we got to ware our costumes again at our Church party. It was a perfect party. Lots of people, food, games, and of course trick-or-treat candy. For Adam and Zachary the party was a little slow with the chili eating, and the socializing. They enjoyed the games but the best was when they went down the hallway trick-or-treating. As we left Adam exclaimed "that was awesome!"

The day finnally arrived. Halloween was upon us. I made gumbo and we gathered a group of friends over to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Our neighbors give out quality stuff! We just did our little loop and the boys came home happy, tired, hungry, and with a huge bag of candy. Near the end Adam didn't want to carrie his bag. He said it was "too heavy". We came back to our house with our little herd ate gumbo, played games and had a very nice evening. "Thanks" to every one that came.


I think that my favorite thing about Halloween this year wasn't the costumes (although my boys were SUPER cute) but it has been Adam's desire to share his candy with his little brother. Adam had me get out the sissors to cut his star burst in half so that he could give some to Zachary. He was excited that he had four of something to give on to everyone in the family. Adam is a challenge but then he can be so sweet and tender. I love being a mom and experiencing the joy that comes from seeing my child being kind to others.

Pumpkin Picking

The boys are doing well. Here are some pictures from yesterday. We went to Adam's soccer game and then we went pumpkin picking. Adam's game was as always a good time. I really enjoy watching Adam kick the ball during practice and run with the crowd during the game. This week was one to be remembered because he actually kicked the ball during the game. WooHoo! Zach wants to join his brother out on the field so we keep him entertained with a little one-on-one with daddy.
Our annual pumpkin picking was a little different this year b/c we went to a different farm. It wasn't as authentic as the other place that we have gone to in the past. But the boys don't care one way or the other. Zachary had a great time. The first thing that he did when we got there was plop down in the dirt and made tracks with this fingers and found some good rocks to put in this pockets. For the past few nights I have had to empty his pockets of rocks. We have a good collection going on right now. Adam and I had a good time looking for the perfect pumpkin. I made the mistake of pointing out some rotten places on some of the pumpkins and dirt. Well after that every pumkin with a little dirt on it (with is every pumpkin) wasn't good enough. He would find one that he liked and then inspect it only to find a little dirt. The pumpkin was then declared "gross" or "not perfect". We ended up going with the one that daddy picked and carted around the whole time we were there.

Zoo Adventure

My friend Julie and I packed up our kids and went to the Turtle Back Zoo. One of the best Zoos that I have been to. We got to go on a train ride and warmed up in the reptile house. After that we hopped around to the other exhibits.

(Sara, Sam, Shandra, Miriam, & Adam)

(Zachary, Miriam, & Sara)

Adam and Zach weren't really into looking at the animals as much as they were running around with their friends. At the cougar exhibit they jumped from bench to bench. I think that Adam could have done that all day long. Sam was pretty frusterated that he couldn't jump like Adam but Adam has had many years experience since I let him jump on and off of the furniture. At the horse barn they had a better time just running around. I'm so glad that Adam and Zach have good friends that they love spending time with and play good with. It is such a blessing to have friends.

(Adam & Sam best buddies)

Good Mommy Moments

Adam got in his head that he wanted spider cookies. So that is what we did. We spent the afternoon making cookie dough, rolling the dough out, and cutting the cookies. We cut out our family and the round cookies I thought that I would put webs & spiders on them with frosting. But Adam got uninterested in cutting out the cookies and really wanted to see the SPIDERS so I sculpted the dough into spiders. I think they turned out pretty good.

Let me explain the cookie picture. No that is not a naked cookie man. Josh put the frosting on his cookie and he choose to highlight his pecks, belly button, and side burns. He was really proud at his accurate depiction of his self. I Love him so much.

The cookies didn't really taste that great though. Does anyone have a favorite sugar cookie recipie that they love? I would love to have a better one on hand.

Daddy's Flamming Cake

31 Yes, that is how old Josh is this year. Since Josh doesn't like anyTHING I made him a special dinner and cake. When I went to put the candles on I thought that I would have enough but.... oh well. Had we had all 31 candels on the cake I think the fire department would have been knocking on our door.

I thought this was funny. The day before Josh's b-day Adam I wraped daddy's borning gifts (items that he needed) just before he came home. When Josh walked in the door Adam announced "Daddy we have surprises for you! A shirt and a belt!" Adam hasn't gotten the concept of surprises yet. Oh well, the surprise isn't the fun part of the gifts anymore it is watching the boys help their dad unwrap them.

First Day of School!

Zachary gets to go to pre-school this year and he is LOVING it! He runs into the class room, finds a toy, and thats it. When class is over he runs out, takes my hand and whooshes me back to the car.

First day of school he was so proud of his backpack that he did not want to take it off. His cute teacher tried to teach him where it goes by trying to take it off and hanging it on his hook. He was going to havae none of that. The staff told me that he walked around the whole day with that on.

Adam also started school, kind-of. Sam (Adam's best friend) are going to be in the tots and teens program at the High School but it doesn't start until October so we are doing a mini pre-school program for the month of Sept. in our homes. So far I think it has been really good.

My Litter Reader

Zachary is really into books. I absolutly LOVE it when he brings me a book that he wants to read. He looks up at me with his deep brown eyes and I just melt. He will stay up till all hours of the night reading. After he and Adam have a good wrestel Zach likes to tone it down by picking out a few books and sitting down in the hall way and read. What he should be doing is going to sleep! He knows that he's not suppose to be doing this and so therefore works his deeds very quietly. Josh and I go up stairs for bed and have found Zach asleep on the floor with his books. It is really cute but a little bit naughty.

Soccer Saturdays

I know it has been a while. My boys are doing great. The latest in Adam's life is Saturday Soccer. So far we have had two soccer games. Adam's first go at the game was not so good. He did alright at the practice but when it come time for everyone to be out on the field and kick just one ball he wasn't too sure about it. Adam turned to us and asked us for his ball and when we didn't give it to him he was upset. So he sat and watched. As a parent I didn't understand why he wasn't out there with all of the other kids.

Next Saturday we tried again. Adam was hesitant at first but after he made some buddies at practice he got into it. He played in the game and even got a little aggressive. After a while Adam noticed how cool his shadow was. As he ran the field he watched his shadow and had his hands out like web shooters. I would love to know what was going on in his head.

Fruits Of My Labors

These are some veggies that I picked out of my garden. I was really excited to finnally be able to eat from our labors.

I hope that it is still there when we get back from our vacation.

Engstrom's January Back Bloging

Since I was MIA for the first half of the year I decided to post my recent pages. These are my scrapbook pages for January '09.

B-day Party

So for the last three weeks it has been raining and still is. I didn't think that when we were moving to New Jersey we were coming to a tropical state. I thought that for sure that since it was raining so much before Adam & Zachary's party that it would dry up by last Saturday. Well, I was wrong. The guest arrived and it started to sprinkle. Everyone got to play outside for a little while but the rain became increasing heavier. So, our party went from backyard fun to inside sprawl. I didn't think that I invited that many people until they were all inside our home.

My inventive cousin Kristin came up with the game "pin the mask on Spiderman". She got a few of the kids to play that game while Josh cooked hotdogs, and I was trying to find Adam who locked himself in his room. I got him to come out by asking him "do you want to go open your presents?"

We got everyone eating, then we did cake, the pinata (which was great! Elder Glead played Scott Joplin as the kids took a wack. It was so worthy of film. After everyone got a turn We let the b-day boys take another wack and as Adam was in the process of hitting it I pulled the rip cord. Candy was everywhere and the brawl was on.) Then we opened presents.

Thanks to everyone for helping making Adam's b-day a happy.

De-Georgeing our house

So about the title. The previouse owner's name was George. He concidered himseld to be a handy-man. Well, Josh and I both agree that he really shouldn't have picked a hammer. We have had to redo or undo almost everything that he did to this house. Unfortunatly it is done usually in an emergancy situation because everything that he did breaks. This week's break was the water heater.

Josh walked down stairs to a river in our kitchen. It looked like it started at the fridge, then we traced it to the pantry, we poked some holes in the dry wall.......and found that it was the water heater. I was releaved because I thought that is was a broken pipe or somthing. I was having visions of our house being gutted out and money flying out of our pockets. We were able to call our handyman and he took care of the rest. He really like us and I'm so greatful to him. He went and bought our new water heater, removed our old one, and put in our new heater all by 12:00 this afternoon. LOVE HIM! I really LOVE Josh for adjusting his work schedual to make sure that things were taken care of before he left. He almost had everything moped up before he came and told me about it.

The New One

It stinks that this happened but it could have been SOOOOO much worse: we could have been out of town, it could have happened a day eariler when we had company, we could have had to wait a lot longer to get it replaced........
My sister says that these things come in threes. We had our lawn mower die, the ball barrings replaced in my car, the fridge, and now the hot water heater. That makes four. I hope that big pocketbook surprises are over for a littly while so we can prepare for the next ding.

Bunkmates

It is time for my little baby to move to a big boy bed. We got this great trundel bed from some of our friends at church (thanks Glads). For the last couple of nights Zachary has been sleeping in this new bed. Adam LOVES having a bunk mate. The first night Zach wouldn't stay in bed so we started to put him in his crib in the other room. Adam would not have it. He protested this by getting in front of Zachary's crib with arms extended yelling "NO! You can't put him in his crib. He needs to be in my crib! Put HIM BACK!"

I was afraid of Adam not liking Zachary being in his room and feel like it was an intrusion. To my heart's delight it was just the oppisite.

The brothers have been having a great time. Adam chatters to Zach, and then we can hear the little patter of little feet exicuting their plans. Their 8:00 p.m. bed time hasn't been obeayed at all but they are having a great time being brothers. I absolutly LOVE it.

Prayers & Toots

I had a stake youth activity to go to this last Saturday. Josh, Adam, & Zachary also came to get out of the house and to be with me. It was suppose to be at the beach but it got rained out, so we all ended up at the church building. The youth had a good time playing vollyball, watching movies, and playing "signs". I was asked to join in and so naturally my boys were there having a good time getting attention from the youth.

It was time to say a blessing on the food and just as it got quite to start the prayer Adam launched a very loud "T-O-O-T!"

The whole loby of youth tried their best to be reverent for the prayer but it was filled with snickers muffeled laughs. As soon as everyone said "amen" there was a release of laughter.

Why is flufing so funny? I don't know.....but it is.

Working Late

Poor Josh has been working super long hours for the last month. He goes in early and comes home late (6am -12am). So he goes a couple of days without seeing the boys. I know the boys miss him.

When Josh comes home the poor guy crashes with the boys in fron to of the TV. I've been catching Zachary curling up to his daddy on the couch when ever hs gets the chance. We have such cute boys!