house of silvey

So, what has been going on in the House of Silvey? I'm still plugging away at potty training Colin. I think I'm highly trained now. I've got myself on a good schedule. As long as I remind him to go, he goes. If I don't, he doesn't. Also, he likes to poop in his pants sometimes. It's super gross. But the way I figure it, at least we're saving money on diapers, right? He'll get it someday. He's still young. I have to remind myself about that.

Kate is walking! She started about a week and a half ago, right after she turned 10 months old. She is so fun to watch as she staggers drunkenly across the room. I have video of her first steps, but the camera doesn't cooperate with my computer when it comes to videos so it will have to wait. You'll just have to trust me that she does it. She also loves to laugh, especially when Colin is laughing. They are starting to play well together. Colin can get Kate to laugh pretty much any time. She loves to attack him and pull his hair or pinch his face, and he does not like that. He'll tell her, "No no, Kate. It's not nice to pull hair." She also likes to steal Colin's blanket and play with it. She'll play with any blanket, but there's something about Colin's that makes it so much more fun. It's probably the fact that he doesn't want her to touch it.

I don't remember why I took this picture. Colin looks super white trash though.

I think I did something to make her mad.

Nate's grass! He's very proud of it, and it's growing rather nicely.

We took Colin to the doctor a few weeks ago because he had a nasty ear infection. The doctor gave him some amoxicillin to clear up his ears. Ten days later, this happened:

The day after he finished his meds, Colin broke out in some crazy hives. Nate took him to the insta-care to get him checked out. The doctor said it was the amoxicillin that did it, and that it takes 7 to 10 days for the reaction to show up. I've never experienced hives before, nor do I have any allergies, so this was all very new and strange to me.

And here is Colin all dressed up to go to his first play date on September 28th. This is the first time that I've dropped him off somewhere to play with a friend all by himself. Apparently he cried for like 10 minutes, but then he enjoyed himself for the next 2 hours. I think it was harder for me than it was for him to leave him there.

Kate's first ponytail. September 29th. She did not appreciate it.

Two of the best looking boys I know.

This is how Colin chose to watch the Saturday morning session of Conference.

The flash was weird, but I wanted to show Kate wearing her stripe-ed tights. I love them.

When I pulled the camera out, Colin insisted I take a picture of Fritz. All of his guys/pirates/stuffed animal friends have names, and he remembers all of them. A few of my favorites are Rosita, Cracker, Julio, Pierre, Harold, Marvin, Skip, Reginald, Zoobie, Horatio, Nelson, Bill, Ted, and Penelope.

He loves this Halloween Guy shirt.

Yay for Cousin Donovan! DeAnna and Donovan were in town so the boys got to play together for a couple of days. The only time I remembered to pull out my camera was when they dressed up in Kate's hats.

So pretty!

Donovan was showing off his sexy calves in this one.

And yet more cross-dressing fun! Colin helped me sort through the hand-me-downs that DeAnna brought for me from Iowa when he came across this little number. He said, "Mommy, I like this one!" He started off with wanting the bloomers on, but then he needed the entire outfit. He also told me how cute he looked. "Cu-ute!"

What's a dress without a matching hair bow? And here's a little trivia for you, this is the dress my mother-in-law made for my niece to wear to my wedding 6 years ago.

Kate's Halloween costume. On Colin.

Kate wearing her hat. Not the best pictures, but she's still adorable.

Yesterday the boys went out to the garden to dig potatoes before we went to Caleb's for dinner and the BYU game. (Way to not lose this time, Cougars!) DeAnna and Donovan drove down from Lehi so D-Van could dig in the dirt with Papa Sam and Uncle Nate. Colin also had a good time digging with "Uncle Nate." It cracked me up to hear him call his dad that.

Yeah, our potatoes are huge!

All total they dug eight 5-gallon buckets of potatoes, and picked a few grocery bags of squash. And this isn't including all the potatoes we have eaten over the past few weeks. Huzzah for gardens!

even newer spice

woot woot!

No accidents today! Woot woot! Colin went all day in his Hero Squad Underpants and he kept them dry! Huzzah! Here's hoping tomorrow goes just as well.

old spice/new spice

And yes, Nate does use this body wash.



And I totally studied in the HBLL.

time to go. community is on.

I didn't realize that I haven't done a proper post in almost a month. Oops. Let's start with the pictures, shall we?

I've begun instructing Colin in the fine art of fort-making. At first he didn't get it, but when I told him a fort was like a little house that he could play in he got really excited. Kate took it upon herself as her mission in life to destroy the fort.

Colin relaxing with his cooking supplies.

A view from the top.

Colin and Kate playing in the fort. I believe she was trying to steal his ice cream. He was not pleased.

Just some green beans that I picked one day. It felt like a lot. I've lost count of how many quarts and pints of beans we have canned this season.

Colin has decided that he's a drummer. Looks convincing to me.

Kate looks like she's playing an orange plastic flute. I took these pictures to show my mom how cute Kate looks in her red pajamas.

My father-in-law found a pear tree that is on city land. Since no one claimed it and the pears were just sitting there, we decided to go pick them on Labor Day. Nate was the designated picker. Tia took these pictures with her phone. We picked enough pears to can 28 quarts and eat some fresh. Huzzah! 

Please don't try to zoom in and verify the size of my bum. It really is as big as it looks, I promise. 

This is one of Kate's favorite new places to play—when it's in the house. She and Colin sat there for quite a while giggling back and forth.

I was wearing these socks (and looking mighty fancy, I might add). Then I guess I took them off, because the next thing I knew Colin was trying them on and telling me how "cu-ute" he looked.

Kate and her zucchini friend. We have pictures of Colin with his zucchini friends from the last two years.

I have also made a peach pie this fall—just like every other Silvey (or Silvey-Hiatt). But I bet none of the other pies looked this awesome! It says "N8'S π." Like "Nate's Pie." Get it?!

Kate had a great time browsing through the furniture in the Ikea ad. She is pretty.

This is one scary picture of Kate. She loves to play in the curtains by the sliding door. Her favorite is to play peek-a-boo with me. 

Colin has to play any time he sees us playing. Like his naked little legs sticking out of the curtain?

I found Colin asleep like this the other night. Hilarious. I did remove the pillow after I took the picture.

We've been potty training Colin for the last week. He loves to pee in the potty, and he's even graduated to using the big potty now. He keeps his diaper dry if I remember to tell him to go potty often enough, but he doesn't do it on his own yet. We've let him wear underwear a few times, but I get tired of cleaning the mess. Here he is showing off his Nemo underpants.

Woo woo!

My brother Grant came down last Saturday to play Rockband. My brother Seth happened to be in town too, so we all rocked out together.

Nate's friend's wife won an online contest from Fisher Price. She won one of each of their newest toys, 6 total, and as part of her prize she had to have a party for ten of her friends. We were some of the lucky ten. Colin really liked this kitchen—it spoke in English and Spanish and made fun noises. I forgot I had my camera with me so these are the only pictures I have.

Kate doesn't like people.

Colin is a very good helper—especially when you don't necessarily want his help. Nate was cleaning the TV and Colin needed to wipe everything Nate wiped.

These are his cute underpants.

And here's little Fat Face after enjoying a nice graham cracker snack.

Potty training is going okay. Although to be honest I don't know what's considered good or bad when it comes to potty training. Colin seems to improve every day, so I take that as a good sign. He doesn't throw a fit when I ask him to go, and he can go on command, and he loves prizes (Tic-Tacs and stickers or Otter Pops). Nate planted grass what used to be the weed-infested dirt pits. After one week they still look like dirt pits. Keep your fingers crossed. Kate loves to stand, but she doesn't want to walk just yet. She also doesn't want to talk or sign. Ah well. I have been working on business cards for myself and designs for my blog. Also, reading. Who knew I loved to read?! I had kind of forgotten. I joined the book club in the ward, and I've been rereading some of my favorite books, and I read a few books my mother-in-law lent me, and I reread the first two Work and the Glory books (speed-reading style). But my thirst for the written word cannot be satiated! Would you, Dear Reader, be so kind as to recommend some good books for me to read? I would be much obliged.

I need help

That will not come as a surprise to most of you. But the kind of help I need today comes in the form of a favor from you, my dear readers. It looks like I might be able to enter some of my "graphic design" work in our Stake Harvest Fair. (I know—it's a pretty big deal.) Where you come in is in telling me which ones I should to enter. "How?! How?!" you may currently be shouting at your computer. First, calm down. Second, click here and go to my card/design blog thing. Look around and see what you like. Third, come back here and leave me a comment (or send me an email) telling me which ones you like best. (If there are any you don't like, keep it to yourself, Debbie Downer.) Also, hurry could you? The Harvest Fair is this Saturday. Thanks, Friends!