Halloween 2014!

                           

 Happy Halloween to one and all!  Here are a few fun shots of the kids costumes this year.  We had a visit from Dr. Who, the famous soccer player Messi, a BYU football player, and two pirates: Jake and Zarina. 

To truly be a Jake and the Neverland Pirates look-a-like, we decided that Carter needed to dye his hair black. It took a little doing, but we did finally convince him how awesome and fun it would be to spray his hair.  He relented, and while it wasn't as jet black as I had hoped, it was fun!  However, by the end of the night he looked more like Jake might in his nineties.  His hair was definitely more gray than black!

And, if you don't know who Zarina is, then you need to spend a little time with this action-packed movie right here:

We never knew there were such things as pirate fairies before!  And, if you ever wanted to know where Captain Hook came from, then this is the movie for you. 

 Enjoy your candy!  I know I, I mean, WE will!

Pickle Jars and Super Strength

     There is a great story that will, inevitably, go down in Gordon Family Lore.  A couple of years ago I bought a big jar of pickles.  The next day when I went to open the jar, I found it impossible to even budge the lid.  The boys began taking turns exerting their manliness and tried to open the pickle jar.  But alas, the lid would not give.  The next day we tried again, but again to no avail.  I began to wonder if we would ever be able to enjoy those yummy pickles. Lunchtime came again the next day, and again we were craving those pickles.  Sam pulled the jar out, gave the lid a squeeze, and low and behold the jar opened!  Amazing!  My eight year old boy saved us from the pickle famine!  And, to this day, we still talk about the day that Sam opened the pickle jar.

     Just a few weeks ago, while waiting to go to school, Sam was doing some of those funny quizzes you find on the internet, you know the ones, where you answer certain questions and it tells you which character from Harry Potter you would be and so forth.  Sam was interested in knowing which Superpower he would have, and after answering all of the questions, this was the result he got...

Oh yeah!  That's my boy.

Teach Me to Walk in the Light

Carter and I have a little bedtime ritual each night.  After a story, and a drink comes a song.  Carter usually has me list ideas for a song, and then he chooses whichever one suits his fancy best that night.  So tonight our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Which song do you want tonight?"
Carter: "How many do you know?"
Me: "Oh lots, do you have an idea which one you want?"
Carter: "Tell me which ones, and I will pick one."
Me: "Well, there's 'Five Little Ducks', 'Five Little Pumpkins', 'The Wheels on the Bus', 'I am a Child of God', 'Teach Me to Walk in the Light'..."
Carter: "We already know how to walk in the light, so you can get rid of that one."

The Lucky One

     Carter and I have some good conversations during all of our "one-on-one" time during the day.  Just a couple of days ago Carter was asking me some questions about when Steve and I got married.  After processing my answers he was quiet for a few moments and then said, "That was really nice of Daddy to marry you."

                                               Yes, Carter, I am one lucky girl!

Happy Number 4!

    Carter has been looking forward to his birthday for a LONG time now.  It all started back several months ago with vitamins...  See, when the kids would take their vitamins in the morning, everyone got a whole vitamin, but Carter could only have a half.  This made him a little upset at first until I explained to him that once he turned four, he would be big enough for the whole thing.   So, while you may think that he was looking forward to cake and presents and such, it really was about that big, whole vitamin! (Well, maybe at first).  In fact, when we were visiting the Fords a little while ago, I was explaining this excitement about being four to Jenni and Jacob, and Jacob looked at Carter and said, "You know Carter, when you are sixteen you can have 2 vitamins!" Carter turned to me with this look on his face like, "Mom, is it true?"

   Well, the big day finally came and Carter chose a Transformers theme!  He loved decorating and helping make up some games for his little party.

 We kept it really simple, with a few friends and his siblings.  Carter kept explaining to me that he wanted a party with JUST boys, and the girls would have to go downstairs while the boys partied.  At the end of the day, he did let Sydney and her friend join in the festivities!  We did a little "Corn-hole" (glorified bean bag toss)...

A Transformers matching game...

 And a pinata...

 When I asked Carter what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said, "Cucumbers! And Carrots.  Ooo, carrots are good!"  So, that is what we had for dinner, with a little pizza on the side! (This was Carter's "YES!" when I gave him his plate of cucumbers and carrots!)

 A little more cake action with the family, nothing like cake twice in one day!

That's my big four year old!  Happy Birthday Dude!

Sydney-ella

     Once upon a time there was a young maiden named Sydney-ella.  Sydney-ella was a beautiful girl with long, strawberry blonde tresses, and big blue eyes.  But, despite her great beauty, she was consigned to be the dishwasher in the great Gordon Castle.  It was hard work for Sydney-ella, with piles of dishes surrounding her, but she was a hard worker, and not prone to giving up even when she was exhausted...

 While Sydney-ella washed the mounds of dishes she dreamed of the day her Prince Charming would come and sweep her away on his mighty steed.  Such dreams brought a smile to her sweet, beautiful, chocolate-kissed face...

If the truth be told, "Sydney-ella" asks me after dinner every night, "Can I wash the pots and pans Mom?"  And she then scoots her stool over to the sink, fills it with soapy water and away she goes.  Not sure how long this will last, but I will enjoy it while it does!

My Hero

     So, it's the season of resolutions and I am going to try this old blog thing again!  I love having old posts to look back on for memories sake (seeing as my brain resembles something more like a sieve than a steel trap) and my kids are still doing those cute things that I don't want to forget.  For instance...
     Just moments ago I was sitting at my kitchen counter listening to my kiddies play downstairs.  They were racing Carter's new hot wheels on a track down the stairs. Tyler, Sam, Sydney and Carter each had their own car and were vying for the honor of "fastest car".  All was happiness and comraderie (and thus, inevitably had to come to an end, right?). From among those happy sounds rose the tears and complaints of a little girl who was never winning.  It sounded quite distressing and sad. The two big boys were trying to tell her all the reasons why she wasn't winning, when from among the chaos came Carter's sweet, reassuring voice, "Here Sydney, you can have this car. It's super fast and will demolish all the other cars!"  Lucky girl to have that boy giving her tips! Just yesterday he and I were racing those cars and determining which ones were the best!  He knew what he was talking about! I know where he got his knowledge of which are the fastest cars, but where he came up with the word "demolish" I can only guess!