The Lyon's Den

Sorry everyone it's been so long since I've updated. I hope you're prepared for a marathon of pictures. A lot has been going on, but my camera has only been taking blurry pictures so I was waiting to get pics with mom and dad's camera. Here's what's been going on.
We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, like every other year. This year they made big improvements and there was more to do; including watching piggy races. They were so cute! The kids enjoyed the goats and petting zoo, jumping in hay, the train ride, climbing on huge tires and tractors and trains, and of course sharing a pumpkin spice cake. I did take pictures, but unfortunately it was with my blurry camera. Bummer.
For family night that next week, we painted the pumpkins the kids had picked out. Because of my blurry camera, I wasn't able to get a good picture of them until yesterday. Some of the paint had started chipping off because we forgot to spray them afterwards, so they're not quite as good as they once were.
Kelman with his "Jack the Pumpkin King" pumpkin, from Nightmare before Christmas

Carter and his Batman pumpkin of course

And Brechin chose an M&M


Kelman has been doing well with school still. However, getting him to let us leave him at the beginning has been a struggle. Once we're gone and he's warmed up he is fine. The teachers have been bribing him with stickers. He does enjoy it and has made some good friends, whom now are talking about play dates. I can't really fathom having another little kid at my house right now though with how crummy I've been feeling. A very nasty bug went around the whole family, but of course hit me harder with my pregnant immune system being down. I think we are pretty much over that; now it's just headaches and nausea. It will pass, and hopefully soon. I'm still happy to be pregnant, but it's not been as easy as I had hoped. Lots of mixed emotions into the batch this time that I've never experienced before. I just can't wait to hear this little one's heartbeat in another two weeks.
Next up would have to be the twins' birthday! It was on the 28th of this month, but we celebrated it on Saturday due to the fact that their Grandma was going to be out of town on the actual day. They didn't know the difference. They awoke to a family room full of Red and black streamers (representing batman and superman OF COURSE; which is who the twins think they are), and yellow and blue balloons with the batman and superman logo on them. I hand drew them all and I think next time, I will try to buy premade ones! They were excited none the less. We took them for their first time bowling and I think they enjoyed it. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of that. They were pretty cute though. After bowling, we went home for lasagna and cake and ice cream. Just to clarify, Brechin is Superman, and Carter is Batman. After dinner the boys were surprised by their nursery leaders, who brought them some brooms to be their quidditch brooms. They told us a story of one week in nursery when the boys wanted to play quidditch, but didn't have a broom. So they improvised. They grabbed their tiny pretzel rods from snacktime and stuck them between their legs and proceeded to fly around the room. Sister Sannar and her sister Joene got a kick out of it and found them some brooms online. They were thrilled to receive them.


Carter is in green and Brechin is in blue

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Lyon for the cool sweatshirts and books!

Just talking on their new cell phones that we surprised them with from Disneyland

Superman/ Brechin getting ready for flight

Batman/ Carter is flapping his wings I believe to prepare for takeoff

I will be taking some pictures soon of them in their new cowboy boots that Grandma and Grandpa Stubz got them.

Oh yeah, the night before we celebrated Brechin and Carter's birthday, they all got to go trick or treating at the Courtyard (the assisted living where my grandparents live). They loved it. Because they didn't get their Halloween costumes (batman and superman jammies) until their birthday, they had to dress up as something else. Kelman was Buzz Lightyear, Carter was a cowboy, and Brechin was a pirate. I think that's about it for us for now. We will take pictures tonight at the Trunk or treat at church and of course tomorrow on Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.
Kelman - To infinity and beyond

Brechin, little pirate - Argg

Carter, my cowboy - Giddyup

The three little musketeers

I just got home from running errands and noticed my "Vote Yes on Prop 8" sign was missing from my yard. I got inside and had a message from the man in our ward who has been helping campaign, asking if our sign was stolen too. Apparently they are being stolen all over town! And these are the kind of people that we have backing up the "No" on Prop 8...criminals. We are simply stating our belief and our vote; not tearing anyone down. Then they come and steal off our property. This only makes me even more for Prop 8. I don't want to be associated with a group of people who will stand up for stealing just to get their point made. Bad point to make. I think it's very sad for the gay community that the type of people backing them up, are thieves! Anyhow, I just wanted to vent a little. I'm getting a new sign and possibly borrowing my parents' surveillance camera to catch the thieves stealing everyone's signs.

I got tagged by my dear friend Summer!! I was asked to go to the 4th file in my Pictures and select the 4th picture in that file. Here is what I came up with.

This is a goat from Apple Hill 2006. He's quite the looker isn't he?? My files are alphabetical. Now I get to tag 4 people to do the same thing.
Micah, Jill, Dan, and Kandis

After much agonizing over what to do with Kelman, I finally decided to start him in Preschool. Kelman has been experiencing a lot of anxiety, especially socially. He is still not real comfortable and happy in his primary class of two years. I had him evaluated with the Preschool Intervention Program, because of our concerns. We had wondered if he maybe had PDD (Pervasive Development Disorder), which is under the Autism spectrum. After some observation, the counselor concluded that Kelman must just have an Anxiety Disorder (not formally diagnosed though). I had been trying to get Kelman into preschool, although I was concerned how he would go to class without me. I figured he would just cry and cling to me for days; which is why he needed it even more so we wouldn't have to go through that during Kindergarten. Anyhow...I got a letter in the mail last week saying there was an opening at one of the preschools. Kelman had his first day on Friday, and he LOVED it. I had to stay the first half and then he allowed me to leave. All weekend, he was asking when he'd get to go back. Today he walked right in and didn't need me at all. Both days when I've gone to pick him up, his hair is all sweaty and messy from playing hard. I'm so excited!!! Some preschool was all he needed. He's still not a fan of church, because he says it's boring. He either cries or acts up. I think if they had some games and activities in there it might help. Any ideas of how to address that???
Unfortunately, preschool came up kind of last minute, so I didn't get any pictures until today after school.


Another exciting thing happened this weekend..... We borrowed my mom's fun sprinkler hose thingy for the kids to get wet and play with. We all got in our swimsuits and ran through it and swung on the swing set. While playing outside, I noticed we got some beautiful purple grapes from our grapevine!! I've never done grapes before, so I thought they were long gone since the leaves were turning brown. But finally, the grapes turned from green to purple and are edible! YAY!!! Hopefully we'll get even more next year.



Brechin

Saturday night I got to go to dinner and the Relief Society broadcast with my mom. We had a good time and the waitress at Applebee's was GREAT! We told her we were in a hurry, and we didn't have to wait for a single thing! It was wonderful. When I got home, Aaron was out in the family room and I found the twins asleep in the hallway. they had dragged their blankets and pillows out into the hall and fell asleep there together. I thought it was adorable.


That's about it for excitement for us. Oh yeah...except that we're gonna have a baby!!! I've been feeling healthy and strong and decided I was ready to go this road again. I feel really happy and confident that everything is going to be okay! That's about it for us.

We just got back from a three day trip to Disneyland and the beach! We took a long weekend and went with Aaron's parents. We were very fortunate to get some free tickets to park hop between California Adventure and Disneyland for two days. We had a great time and got to do some things we've never done before. It was especially neat because Kelman is tall enough to go on some of the bigger rides with us, like Soarin' Over California (a great, non scary ride). Both parks had a new ride we'd never been on; Finding Nemo, and Toy Story Mania (I think our favorite ride). Unfortunately we didn't get to see very many characters this time, but I think the kids were relieved to have less photo opps. I absolutely loved watching the kids in the Bug's life 3d show. Brechin started crying in the middle because it was kinda scary, so I took his glasses off for him to show him it wasn't real. He grabbed them from me and put them back on as he continued to cry. I think he was curious to see what happened next. Saturday was the day we went to the beach, and we had never been as a family. The kids were hesitant at the idea of a beach instead of Disneyland, but they ended up loving it, especially Kelman. Brechin didn't care for the cold moving water so much, so I just stayed on the sand and helped his Grandpa build a sand castle. It was so nice to have a vacation and to let Kelman unwind a little because he's been kind of uptight and anxious lately. He was pretty carefree at the beach, and it was a nice change! Oh yeah...and I can't forget to tell you about our little drive to the beach. We were driving down the freeway around Santa Monica and saw a cute little convertible old style car about like this one, but green.

I made a comment to everyone as we came up behind it, saying...I'll bet it's someone famous. Low and behold...we caught up to it, and it was Jay Leno, cruising along with the top down. He was driving at a comfortable pace and I tried to get Aaron to slow down to take a picture, but he wouldn't do it. =( Kinda funny though!

The beach was absolutely beautiful and not too crowded at all.


Kelman striking a pose in the water


Aaron and Brechin on The Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters




Kelman and I on the Jumpin' Jellyfish


On the Mark Twain boat




Carter and Tigger




The Pixar parade at California Adventure

In case you haven't read my last post, I think I've found my stalker! Are you ready for it... I'M MY OWN STALKER!!!! You might want to read my last post to better understand what's going on. Anyhow...I was at a friend's site and saw the Live Feed (that I have to the right) and noticed it said my visit was from Smartville, Ca. Well, I'm not from Smartville, but obviously my internet provider is! So I think I've been the one visiting my own page from Nevada City. My blog is my homepage so that's why I was getting so many visits from Nevada City. I was busting up laughing when I made this discovery! I'm such a nerd!

Soo.. my brother Micah told me about this thing called Google Analytics. It tracks who visits your blog or other webpages. It doesn't give names, but it gives locations and tells how many times a certain location (IP address) has visited your page in a 24 hour period. It updates every day and you can check to see what new visits have popped up. I've been doing this for over a week now, just out of curiosity; as has my mom. My point in this whole post, is to find out WHO is from Nevada City or Rough and Ready?!? I know you're reading this, so please leave a comment. Don't be afraid to leave a comment and show me who you are. Unless you enjoy being my private stalker!haha Even still...let's share the secret kay. Thanks!