Catch up

 Holy cow do I have some bloggin to catch up on! I have been so focused on making awesome Halloween costumes, all my other hobbies have taken the back burner. I tend to get super creative when I am procrastinating things, such as a mountain of paper work and dozens of phone calls to set up services for Mr. Zekie. Ezekiel was officially diagnosed with Autism about 3 weeks ago. This is not a surprise to us. We got the best possible diagnosis code for him to get services such as occupational therapy and even possibly a preschool program...we will see. First step was getting denied for social security...check. Next comes applying for medical assistance, I guess he automatically qualifies through what they call "the loophole" this is what pays for the help. Thank goodness because our insurance is awful! I am so happy to have such wonderful resources available to us. He also got to do a sleep study the other week to determine whether he should have his tonsils removed, so much fun. We go back the the ENT the middle of October to see what the plan is.

Pantera is hilarious and driving me up the wall as usual. She was telling me about a girl that she didn't like in 1st grade, I guess she was jealous because her little friend Carter had a crush on this other girl. She said "Remember my markel enemy Rainy? She's not so bad now, I guess I just let the green eyed monster get the best of me."  Seeing as last week was Zeke's birthday, she took it upon herself to get all of her classmates and even her old teachers to make birthday cards for him. She came home with an entire backpack full of cards for Zeke. She fell and hurt her wrist yesterday. It is SO HARD to determine if she is actually in need of medical help sometimes. She is so OVER DRAMATIC it is crazy. She had her wrist in a brace and propped on a pillow for a good part of last night. She even practiced her writing with her left hand "Just in case I can never write with it again." 

Amari and Zeke got on the stand while I was bearing my testimony today. They both insisted on giving their testimonies as well. First time for both of them, very cute. Amari is so cute in nursery these days. Today she set up the table and chairs and told me when to start the lesson. She sat and answered questions and has been talking about the Holy Ghost all day. I hope she continues to love the gospel. She has this wonderful habit of pulling out all of the wipes and "leaning" things, including the dog pictured above. She drops the first letter of most words like instead of flip she says lip, she is so stinkin' cute!

Ms. Katurah took her first steps last week. Papa and Daddy claim it was last Sunday, Grandma and I saw it on Wednesday and that is what counts. She took 7 in a row last night! She is starting to tell people "nanana" when she is mad at them. She also loves to try to get Zeke's attention by saying "CARS!" really loudly. She knows how work him. Maybe that's why he just adores her the way he does. They are all such great kids, I am one lucky mom!

 LOOK AT THOSE ROLLS!!!

 4 year old pics of my little man.

Zeke is 4

My sweet little Zekie turned 4 today!!! I really hyped it up this year and he was so excited, which made me so excited. We decorated the house last night and he got to sneak down and take a peek so daddy could see his reaction...priceless. He has been grinning from ear to ear since and singing himself happy birthday over and over again. We went shopping today, made a "Toys for us" run, and did lunch at McDonalds. Zeke got a bunch of-can you guess??? Drumroll here folks....Disney Cars Diecast toys! We also got him a Francesco Bernoulli powerwheel. Grandma and Papa Houser were here for the festivities and got him some Cars books (which he liked better than the powerwheel) and some cute new jammies. I tried my hand at cake making for the first time, it was so fun and I really loved the way it turned out.

Lately if you make Zeke really happy he will say "You're the bomb!" or he may just point to you and yell "I love that guy!" then tackle you and give you hugs. He has had a hard time adjusting to the idea of using a booster seat instead of a carseat and told me "I don't want to use a booster seat, gosh dangit!" The best was the fact that he was completely calm when he said it, almost monotone.

He is such a wonderful little boy and such a great brother. We are so lucky to have him in our family. We love you Zekie!

Mater the Greater

I wanted Zeke to have a costume he would love for Halloween this year, I wasn't sure how long this would take so I started and finished last week. Using stuff from around the house (besides the paint and duck tape) I made him Mater.

 Phase one shaping and taping.

 Then I used paper mache followed by a coat of primer.

 Then came the final paint job...not to shabby!

 Zeke LOVES it and all I have left to do is make him some straps...and Lightning McQueen for Amari.

10 months

This pretty little girl turned 10 months on the 10th of this month. We were in between computers so I got behind on the blog. Anywho, she is just cute as can be and getting HUGE. At her 9 months appointment she weighed in at 25.5 lbs. She has to wear skirts everyday because she can't bend her chunky little legs in jeans...not to mention trying to button them around her waist. I just love her chubbs and so does the rest of the world. I can't leave the house with her without someone stopping to admire her thighs.

She is so darn independent, perfectly happy to get into things and play. She is starting to stand on her own and even attempting steps! She loves to be pulled in her wagon, the faster the better. She also loves her sit-n-spin or if she could talk I imagine she would call it her "Stand-n-look awesome." Another thing that she absolutely LOVES is her daddy. She gets so excited when he gets home from work, she even has a special spin on her butt she does just for him. She is such a pleasant little girl, I'm so glad she is mine. I almost forgot she can say mama, dada, zekie, car, and nana (for no no). Such a cutie!

2nd grade

Today was the first day of 2nd grade for Pantera. She was so darn excited you would have thought it was Christmas morning! Jess got up at 5:15am for work, as soon as his alarm went off she flew into the hall asking "Is it time?!?" Not quite. Finally at 7 I got out of bed and she was waiting, all dressed with her shoes on.

 She was kind enough and happy enough to let me take a few pictures this morning. She is getting so big and looks so grown up!

She is so beautiful. Her day was wonderful and she loved her new teacher. I was so happy to see she still had a skip in her step as she got off of the bus. Hopefully the rest of the year is just as great!

She's got the MOOOOOOOOVES like Jagger

Amari has been such a crack up lately. She's always been a funny kid, but her goofy personality is really coming out now. She does the most HILARIOUS dances and as always makes awesome faces. She has been staying up way to late and driving us crazy. The other night I heard foot steps upstairs and saw this....

 So BUSTED!!! Ok so I can see why wearing a silly snow hat and pushing a penguin in a stroller does sound more appealing then going to bed. As a matter of fact I tried it later that night and was up til like 3, it's quite addicting.

 She loves it when things are "wins" or twins. When I was unloading groceries the other night she was helping, then started playing with some of the food. She stacked the soy sauce on the salsa and had it tell the hershey syrups "Look at my hat." to which the hershey syrups replied "Oh, I like it. Look we are wins!" And the soy sauce sadly said "Oh, I not have a win." I LOVE knowing what is going through there little heads...most of the time.

Speaking of busted. Katurah is into EVERYTHING. I don't know if we will have clean dish towels for the next year or so thanks to her antics. She finally got her first tooth! She took the title of latest teether with it popping through at 9 months 10 days. Pantera held the title previously with 8 1/2 months. She is trying to give me a heart attack I swear. In one afternoon she fell off of the bed, then decided she knew how to go up the stairs, then fell down the 2 she climbed. My days of leaving her side for even a milesecond are OVER. She is lucky she is so great to be around.

Pantera starts school tomorrow. She has 3 outfits laying out on her floor. She got her hair recolored. Tonight she wants pincurls so her hair can be "super cute and curly." "Mom, do you think I'm gonna be the diva of the school?" Perhaps child, perhaps.

Go-Karts

 Last week Jess took part of the day off of work and we went to ride go-karts. We figured this would be right up Zeke's alley. Unfortunately, shortly after arriving Zeke was stung near his eye by a bee making him pretty sad and swollen. He was a trooper though and after a little benadryl we were ready to keep driving. Pantera loved driving but as she puts it "needs to work on steering" as long as she gets it down before she's 16;) Amari was hilarious and a little freaked out, she made her body completely straight and was slipping out of the seat belt over and over. It was a fun and much needed day as a family.

Over the past several weeks the only way to get Katurah to fall asleep is to sit her up next to her Daddy. She will fight it off until she is next to him, then she is out cold. It looks so uncomfortable. Of course Jess has to rub it in to me, she is a daddy's girl...I'm not bitter...ok not THAT bitter.