Visiting with Santa

We had our annual parade of lights tonight and Santa was seeing kids before he had to ride in the parade! Eli was so excited to see Santa-he told him he wanted an Indiana Jones Nintendo DS (good luck on that one buddy!:)), Caleb told me he already wrote a letter to him and told him what he wanted (he really just wanted to play the playstation instead of going!:-he's a little addicted to football!), but he went and also asked for a nintendo DS. We might have to explain to the kids that Santa's budget might be a little tight this year! In years past they've asked for things that they haven't gotten but have always been happy with what they got...so here's hoping!:) Rhett didn't really know what was going on, and Kyla didn't have an opinion one way or the other and just told Santa she didn't know what she wanted! The best part was that they got a "goodie bag" from Santa that had some 3D glasses in them. They were so neat--whenever you looked at a light while it was dark each light turned into a snowman! They loved them!
Caleb and Kyla froze during the parade and kept begging to go home, but Rhett and Eli were having such a good time and didn't want to leave so we stayed to the end--I thought it was a lot nicer than other years when I had absolutely frozen! Rhett loved seeing all the horses, and "reindeer" and dogs, and llamas, but I think the thing he liked most was when a group of boys came skating on rollerblades with their hockey sticks and a ball that they were slinging back and forth to each other-he was mesmerized! Tony had class this weekend and so it was just me and the kids and it went a lot better than I had anticipated!:) We really had an enjoyable time (except for the freezing of Caleb and Kyla!)

Caleb with Santa

Eli with Santa

Rhett wondering what's going on!

Santa is telling Kyla about the 3D glasses!

JUST KIDDING!

So now I mis-mis-informed everyone!:) We still aren't going to close the pampered chef party until monday after all! So you've got a little more time! Just in case you're interested!

Last chance!

So, I mis-informed everyone on my last post about the pampered chef party!:) We are going to be closing the show TONIGHT instead of Monday, so if there's anything you need...log onto www.pamperedchef.biz/tonyastites!

Where's your eyes?

I just love this age! What a cute boy!

Pampered Chef Party!

Everyone who knows me knows I love Pampered Chef products!! I usually have a party every other year or so and I attend as many as I can and just order a few things each time so I don't break the bank!:) Anyway, I'll be having a party on Nov. 20th and wanted to let anyone who is interested know where to go to purchase something. Pampered Chef makes such good Christmas presents-that's why I like doing a party around this time-so I can get some of my shopping taken care of! So if you're interested visit the website here! When you get there at the bottom just click order products and then it will ask you for your hosts first name-so just enter Jana and then search for host. On the next page just click my name and then you can start ordering. When you check out you can have your items shipped directly to you! How awesome! I'll be closing the show on November 24th! Enjoy shopping!

Rhett riding the broom!

I heard Rhett giggling and went to see what was up and this is what I found! Caleb was in charge of sweeping the floor and leave it to him to make a game out of it! Rhett was having so much fun! Rhett spotted some candy in the pile of dirt there at the end and bailed--but only for a minute-he got right back on!:)

Very Thankful!

I found this song on another blog and thought it was wonderful! I love Josh Groban's voice! It reminds us to be thankful for all we have-thought it was appropriate for the season! Enjoy!

Halloween!

Here's some pictures of the kids on Halloween! I feel terrible because we didn't get a picture of

Makyla this year! I sent Tony out to take pictures of the boys while I helped Makyla with her nose and hair and then we just totally forgot to take her picture! There is one where you can see her in the background of Rhett, but that's all we got!:) Anyway, here they are!

Halloween party ideas!

So I'm in charge of Makyla's class "Fall Party" which is the same thing as a Halloween party!:) We've got about an hour to play games, do crafts, treats, etc.! I'm having a hard time coming up with some things that we could do during that hour. I was kindof thinking we could split the class up into 3 or 4 groups and have them rotate between centers, but I'm not quite sure what to do in each center! If anyone has any good ideas for me, that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

Kyla's Birthday!

Our oldest turned 9 on Wednesday! Man I am feeling old! It was such a fun day though! In Kyla's class in school they have what they call a mystery reader every wednesday. You give her teacher 5 clues about yourself, progressively getting easier so that they will recognize that it is you. Since Kyla's birthday fell on a wednesday I was able to be the mystery reader and then take treats for her class! The last clue I gave was: I have 4 children, 3 boys and a girl. My daughter was born 9 years ago today! Then they introduced me and I got to pick out a couple of picture books to read to her class. Afterwards we passed out her treats and enjoyed some time together with her classmates!
It's has been so amazing to see how fast she has grown up! She specifically told us she didn't want any barbies this year! We got her a few gifts, and then she just wanted money so she could buy her an MP3 player. My little girl is growing up too fast!
She is such a joy to have in our family and although I don't like her growing up so fast, she is really turning into a wonderful young little lady! We love you Makyla!

Kyla's presents

Rhett bringing Kyla the present from him! You can't see it in this photo, but what he is staring at is the cake!! (I think he was actually more interested in the burning candles than eating the cake!)

Blowing out the candles-she got 6 of the 9 on her first try!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Win a free handbag!

So I followed a link on a friends blog where they are giving away 24 free handbags in 24 hours! I love bags & purses so I thought everyone else might enjoy entering for a free chance to win a bag as well. Just go to www.handbagplanet.com and enter to win!

Rhett's favorite pastime!

So, I was washing the dishes yesterday morning, and Rhett usually scoots a chair over to the sink and "helps" me, but today he didn't! After I was done with the dishes I went looking for him. It didn't take long to find him in the front room curled up on the chair with his 3 blankets looking at a book! It was so cute and he looked so relaxed and enjoying himself that I had to take a picture! Since then he has been doing that quite often or else bringing me a book with his blanket, and he also has added a new word to his vocabulary...BOOK! What a sweet little boy!

Painting!

I've had so much fun painting this last weekend! My walls were so boring and I'd been wanting to get some color, but always had a hard time deciding what colors to use and worrying that I wouldn't like it when I was done! Well, I made the plunge and am so excited about the results! I even attempted some color washing-which turned out so good! I'm still a novice at this, but I know there will be lots more painting in my future! Makyla's been getting excited about painting her room and making plans for what colors she wants. (her plans are quite eloborate!) Anyways, here's some pictures!

Accent wall in the Family Room. This took me three coats and I think it might need one more! (Tony wants to paint a big white "U" in the center of the wall-but don't you worry-I won't let it happen!!)
This is the first coat in my front room-I liked it like this and was debating whether or not I should even attempt the glazing-I'm sure glad I did!
So this is the final product! I think it looks so good! I'm going to see if I can get Aunt Virginia to paint me a picture of Wilson peak like Mom has at her house from out at the cabin to put in this room somewhere-it will go so well with the wall!

By the way...Thanks so much to Ben who works (or should I say "worked":)) at Sherwin Williams where I was able to get our family discount on my paint! I had to hurry and get it while I still could!:)

Eli's trip to the Hospital

Okay, so I keep forgeting to write this story down in Eli's journal, and since I'm on the computer enough already I figured I could document it here before I forget! Plus it's a cute story and you just might like hearing it.
A week ago Sunday after church the kids were complaining that they were starving (we have 11:00 church, so lunch kindof gets skipped) so I got out my apple slicer to cut some apples to tide the kids over until I had dinner ready. Next thing I know Caleb is using my apple slicer to cut Eli an apple and somehow Eli's finger got inbetween the blades of the slicer and the cutting board and it sliced his finger pretty good. It wouldn't stop bleeding, but we could tell it was pretty deep, so Mom and Eli made a trip to the ER. After checking in, they had us wait in the waiting area until they were ready for us and while we were waiting Eli leaned over to me and asked if we could say a prayer so his finger would get better. I asked him if he wanted to say it and he said "no, could you?" We were the only ones there so we just bowed our heads there and I said a quick little prayer for Eli. When I was done he looked up at me and said "well that was short!"
We then headed back to our room and the doctor was able to stop the bleeding enough to be able to glue it shut instead of having to do stitches! Eli was so brave! While the nurse was cleaning his wound with the syringe (he was blasting the sterile water in there pretty hard!) he kept asking Eli if he was okay, and I could tell that it was really hurting him, but he always replied (between clenched teeth) that he was fine. So the nurse kept cleaning and I kept watching Eli go whiter and whiter, and then his teeth started clattering, and he started making noices like he was going to throw-up, but he never cried! And if you know Eli he can be quite dramatic (at home he was screaming his lungs out!) so I was quite surprised by his reaction. He didn't ever pass out or throw-up, and after the nurse left he told me that it "kindof hurt"! Anyway before we were ready to go Eli looked at me and said "if I ever cut my finger again Mom you'll have to say a longer prayer!"

Fall Pictures

This weekend we traveled up on the Grand Mesa to do some sight seeing and take the kids' pictures. It was so beautiful up there! We found a beautiful spot to take the pictures by some colorful leaves and bright red berries! They turned out quite well if I do say so myself! It was a fun trip. We had 2 people stop and ask us if we were looking at moose! Tony was quite disturbed-he couldn't believe people would think we would be out in the woods with our children running around if there was a moose close by. And then he told me some statistic (that I can't remember), but I think it was something like that more people get killed by wild moose (or is it meese!:)) than any other wild animal. Don't quote me on that-I guess I should have payed more attention!:)

Caleb (7)

Makyla (8)

Rhett (18 months)

Eli (5)

Hard day!

So, it finally happened today in church. I was officially released from being Primary President! It was so hard when I was called (over 3 years ago) because I had never been in Primary and didn't know what I was doing! But it is sooooooo much harder saying goodbye! I never thought it would be this tough to be released-you know it's coming eventually, but I was not prepared to go. I did pretty good (in my assumption) until I walked into the Primary room after sacrament meeting! I lost it-I ended up running to the bathroom to try to pull myself together because I was supposed to be conducting! Well, I made it through-barely!:) I am very thankful that Heavenly Father had enough faith in me to trust me with his precious children and that I had the opportunity to serve them. I will miss being there tremendously! But on the bright side (most people give me a look of pity though) I did get a new calling! I will be in cub scouts! I'm really quite excited for this-I think I'm going to be over both the wolves and bears and Caleb will be turning 8 in March so I'll get to have him then too. Yeah!

Froggy!

The kids LOVE hunting for frogs out back and have found quite a few this summer. This one that they caught is their "momma" frog. They've also found a few "baby" frogs.

Kyla with froggy
Eli loves playing with the frogs!
Eli wanted to make sure I got a picture of "Super Frog" flying!:) He is so imaginative!

Last Summer Fling!

This was our last summer fling before school started again. The kids love the swimming pool in Montrose-the slide is just so much fun for them. Rhett even had a good time going down the slide! I don't know how many times I had to climb clear up to the top so that he could go down. (I was worn out!:)) We didn't get a picture of Eli going down the slide, but he loved it too-he can even go down without anyone's help (which he was so proud of!). The pictures don't do justice to the slide-it really is quite fast and a lot of fun! The day was a lot of fun until after we left & Tony realized that quite a bit of money out of his backpack had been stolen. We went back to see if it had been turned in (fat chance of that) and of course it hadn't been-he was sick to his stomach! So our nice afternoon turned out on a bad note, but we still enjoyed this last little outing with our kids before school started up again!

Eli enjoying the pool!
Caleb entering the water off the slide
Mom & Rhett
Cheesy Kyla!:)

Out our front door!

How many of you have ever seen a crop duster? I had never seen one this close before-right out our front door! There is a corn field across the street and this morning we heard a plane flying around so we went out to check it out! It was so neat to watch it! At one point it flew right over the street in front of our house-it was quite loud! The kids and me could have stayed outside watching it forever, but Tony came out and said that maybe it wasn't a good idea to be out there when the plane was releasing airborn pesticides! Needless to say-we reluctantly came inside.

Little yellow planeFor a little plane it sure made a lot of noise!
I love this one-just check out that beautiful background!
There's the pesticides we were enjoying!:)

Eli's Summer School

This is Eli and his pre-school & summer school teacher Miss Dorothy. They had the kids for about 3 weeks this summer to get them ready for Kindergarten!

Part of Eli's program from summer school.

Our Grass!

Dad's been wanting to see some pictures of our grass so here they are! When we got home from vacation there were weeds everywhere, but we've been spraying for them and it's looking really good-although we still have a lot of weeds! Thanks to Dad and Mom for their help with our sprinkling system and teaching us how to grow a lawn!

YUMMY-Olathe sweet corn!

Rhett's first time to have corn on the cob! It was so cute-he couldn't get enough of it!

Wonderful neighbors!!

So we were on vacation for about 2 weeks and when we got home we discovered a nice little sandbox in our back yard! The kids were so excited! Caleb asked "Mom, did you do this before we left?" I told him no, but that I bet I knew who did it! We have the best neighbors who are always looking out for us and are so good with our kids. They are an older couple from our ward. As soon as Caleb saw them out working in their yard he yelled over to thank them for the sandbox! They have enjoyed it immensely!

Picture of our Hotel-ph(planet hollywood) in the background.

Our living room.
Our bedroom-the pillows were heaven! I wanted to take them home!
Bathroom-the tub looked so nice, didn't have the time to try it out though.
Foyer as we exit the elevator. The top 2 floors you have to use your keycard in order to even access. We felt pretty special!