The Mouse

If we're friends on facebook, then you know ALL the drama this past month about our uninvited guest, the mouse. 

Yuck.

I hate mice more than I hate spiders, and that's really saying something. 

A few weeks ago, I woke up one morning at 5am and I could hear something munching something under my dresser. It kept me up, it was so loud. So at 6am, I pulled on some sweatpants and drove to the grocery store, where I bought 10 sticky mouse traps. Bryant didn't even know I had left the house. I got home and placed them all around the dresser, thinking I'd surely catch it sometime that day.

Ever. Single. Night. that mouse would somehow, get past the traps, and eat it's dinner under my dresser. I even had two traps under there! And every day, I'd pull the bottom drawer out thinking I'd find a mouse, and instead, I'd find a half eaten cracker, or fruit loop. One morning, I headed into the bathroom and nearly had a heart attack when the little monster poked it's head out from where the wall and the bathtub meet. So I set two traps there. 

On another day, I was at the computer when it scurried along the wall near my feet. Another two traps along that wall.

On another day, while watching a movie in the living room, I watched it climb out of the heating vent and run into the closet. I yelled at Bryant to keep his eyes on the door to make sure it didn't run out and I set traps all along the threshold. 

Two nights later, It was directly under my bed, munching loudly away. 

At one point, I went to get Savannah's clothes out for the next day and found mouse poop in every single drawer. I took all her clothes out, washed them all, sprayed and wiped out all the drawers, then unleashed nearly a full can of lysol on them. I'm kind of a germaphobe (I make Bryant wash his hands for EVERYTHING like changing diapers, taking out the trash, mowing the lawn. He puts up with me...)

I found more mouse poop in the bottom drawer of my dresser, but I still took out every single drawer and did the same. 

In total, after nearly a month, I had 24 mouse traps (all different kinds) and some "One Bite" that Sandy sent me (thank you Sandy!) and the only thing I managed to catch was Deagan 4 different times (all in the sticky ones. I put the snap traps in the vents and under my bed where the kids can't get to them.)

This mouse was either really clever, or very lucky. There was one dramatic night when my sister and I were watching a movie and we saw it go into the closet again, so we set 4 traps across and 2 deep along the threshold and proceeded to take EVERYTHING out of the closet that was on the floor, like an old stroller, my yoga mat (that I threw away. It was falling apart, had cobwebs on it, smelled, and now had had a mouse near it) and some jackets. The mouse ran out towards us, and made it through all the traps! It ran into the vent on the opposite side of the room, where we placed traps all around. It kept poking it's head out, then scratched around the vent for a while. Seriously, this was the loudest mouse I had ever heard in my life. Every night it would keep me up.

Occasionally I'd find the peanut butter on a trap all smeared and eaten. Or crackers missing from another. Once, I found some hair stuck to one and decided that at least waxing the mouse was a small victory in and of itself.  Somewhere, that mouse had a Brazilian wax and was covered in peanut butter. 

I ALMOST caved in and got a cat. The allergies were almost worth it.

Then, it happened. We caught the little sucker! Last night, Savannah didn't want to go to bed yet so I let her come lay in my bed and watch a movie with Bryant and I. There was a sticky trap right next to my side of the bed that had sat there and not moved for weeks. The mouse had to pass by it in order to get underneath my bed every single night. And then all of a sudden, I heard a squeak and I looked down to see it stuck. I started yelling "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and Savannah looked over the bed and shouted "WooHoo!" and gave me a high five. I was a little worried that she would be sad, because she's referred to this mouse as a pet and constantly talked about making it a door in the wall for it's home. But she took a look and said "Oh, that's not my mouse Mom. That's yours." When she asked what we were going to do with it, I told her that Dad was going to take it outside and let it go. Sometimes you gotta lie to your kids to spare their feelings. I mean, we're talking about the girl who cried this morning because all the snow was gone. I had to show her the snowflake symbol on my weather app to show her it would snow again before she stopped crying. 

I'm keeping the traps around though, for every one you see, who knows how many more are around.

Uck, they are so gross. 

Savannah Jane Desings!

Ok, so if you've followed me on my blog for the last year-ish, then you know I have been talking for months about starting my own clothing business right? Well, we have finally launched!

Ahhhh!!!

It's really been kind of a crazy year, trying to get this thing going, on top of school, kids, and everything in between. But we finally did it! And I really have to thank my parents for this, because without them, who knows if I would have ever accomplished this? I had been talking forever about this, I had ordered shirts and bags in MONTHS ago that were just sitting in a box in my room. Waiting for me to do something with them. Then one day, my Mom said "Hey, I got us a booth at a boutique, in 3 days..."

What?!?

That's what really got me to get off my butt and do this thing! My Mom had given me what I needed all along: A deadline. So those 3 days were spent gathering items to create our booth, printing the shirts and bags, thanks to my dad for all of that by the way! Creating tags, and ordering more product in.

So our first show was the Battlecreek Boutique in Pleasant Grove!

I was pretty surprised at how well we did, at out first show, considering the short time frame we had. The first day, I went down to straighten it up and restock a few things, and realized we had completely sold out of a few things! The first day!!! 

The night that I had to take everything down, I was running late and asked my brother and his friend if they could go down and start packing it up for me. I made it down by the time they had everything in boxes, so I didn't notice that we had also sold out completely of 5 other designs until the next day when I unpacked everything and started cataloging our inventory! As I was cleaning up, I was talking to a gentleman next to me who said he had noticed a lot of people at my booth and said he was very impressed. He said he does shows all of the time, and this was the slowest and least profitable of all the ones he had done this year, yet I had appeared to do really well! 

He advised that I try to get into a holiday show, since those do really well, so we did just that! My Mom had found a show that will be held this weekend called the Raspberry Robin Market, in Manilla at the Stone Gate Events Center. We are also going to be in one on Black Friday and Saturday later this month in Spanish Fork!

We inquired about the Christmas Show that is held at the convention center in Sandy every year, and they said they had no openings. Then the next day, my Mom got a call from the coordinator, and she said she moved us from the bottom of the waiting list to the top because she really liked our stuff, and they had a spot open up. Unfortunately, we decided to decline this time. We are just barely starting out and I wasn't feeling quite ready to play with the big dogs just yet. But next year, I am planning on applying again!

I've also been working hard on getting a website up, since I had a ton of people message me, asking where they can order from, which I found really encouraging!

I'm really grateful to my Mom, if this business was a band, she'd be the band manager. She's helped me with finding the boutiques and shows, and she used to do this all the time when I was a kid, so she's well experienced. I'm grateful to my dad for helping me navigate the ordering process, and for helping me with my designs and for helping me print everything! And I'm really grateful to Bryant, for when I went to him and said "Hey honey, I have this crazy idea. I want to start a business, but I need your hard earned money to start it" and he just said "Alright! Let's do this!". He's been supporting me every single step of the way. He's been encouraging me through all of it. When I start doubting myself, he is there to make me feel confident!

I'm really excited about this new adventure! Wish me luck!

Punkies!

A few days before Halloween, we decided it was high time we go out and get us some pumpkins! So we headed out to a pumpkin patch in Orem to scout some out! 

 

^^Most of my photos didn't turn out. Partly because it was starting to get dark, and partly because trying to take a photo of Deagan is equivalent to attempting to take a photo of The Flash.^^

As soon as we arrived, the kids went NUTS! I don't know what it is, but both my kids are fascinated by pumpkins. They both just took off and ran their little hearts out! Deagan was adorable, shouting "Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Punkiiiissss!" It was like he had discovered gold! 

There was a teepee made out of corn stalks, which lead into a tunnel. Savannah went through probably a dozen times, but Deagan crawled in and camped out in the middle of the tunnel, which was far too small for Bryant or I to climb in after him. We basically had to ask the other kids to go in and shove him out for us. 

^^This was the best photo I could get of both of them together, and it still came out blurry!^^

It's always fun to do little things, like go pick out pumpkins, with the kids, because it's a really big thing to them!

Frightmares!

Remember my last post where I committed to writing more often? Yeah I'm still working on that. But I've been crazy busy (which I'll write ALL about in it's own separate post. Someday.)

So last week, my brother Sawyer and my sister-in-law Kenna invited Bryant and I to Lagoon for Frightmares!

 

For those not from Utah, Lagoon is an amusement park, and every October, they hold an event called Frightmares. Basically, they have a few haunted house walk-throughs and have people dressed up in scary costumes running around scaring people (the chainsaw people are the worst! Ack!)

 ^^This is one ride I refused to go on.^^

Now, there are two things in this world I am more scared of than earthquakes, and that is big roller coasters, and being chased by creepy people. And Frightmares has both. But I still really wanted to have a night out, sans kids, with Bryant, Sawyer and Kenna, so I agreed to go along. 

I had not been to Lagoon in probably 6-7 years, and I had never done Frightmares, and Bryant had never been to Lagoon, so it was an adventure for both of us!

 

^^They had a few different performances going on throughout the park.^^

 

^^It was freezing, by the way... And yes, both of us are wearing Savannah's hats.^

We were kind of disappointed in the fact that the park was only open from 5-10 (and yet, you still had to pay full admission AND basically the entire back half of the park is closed.) but thankfully, the park was pretty empty. We walked right onto every ride. And yes, I even rode some of the roller coasters! Including colossus, which has TWO loops, thank you very much! The boys rode everything several times. I was good with one. I only did one of the haunted walk throughs, and I didn't even see much of it. Bryant wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face into his arms. One thing I didn't know about myself, but that happened several times that night: I get the hiccups when I get scared. 

Once we rode everything, we walked around and played some of the carnival type games, and we even won a few things!

I will say this about Lagoon, most of the people who work there are high school aged kids, and every single one of them was extremely friendly and nice (I'm sure the chainsaw people were lovely as well, I just didn't stick around to find out!). Lagoon seems to hire some really great kids! I just thought I'd throw that out there because they really made an impression on me!

We really had SO much fun! It was really great to go out on a double date, somewhere other than dinner or a movie, and get to spend time with Sawyer and Kenna. Bryant was extra flirty too, which was probably my favorite thing about the whole trip :-)

It's been a while

Just now, I fed the kids lunch (grilled cheese, which we have probably 5 out of the 7 days a week around here) and then put DJ down for a nap and I was just cleaning the floor up, sweeping it and prepping it for a good mopping (a coke, AND a full cup of milk was spilled on it today, which means it's mopping day!) and I walked into my room to put something away when I looked at my sad and lonely computer in the corner and thought "Gee, it's been a while since I've read up on some blogs".

Now, I used to have this morning ritual where I would make breakfast for the kids, get them dressed, maybe do some dishes and laundry, shower, then plop myself down and read all the blogs I follow, and maybe read through the news. But now with Deagan being this crazy, I-have-to-tear-apart-the-house, climbing monkey, I can't really just leave him in a room alone for more than 10 seconds (hence, how the cup of milk was dumped on the floor this morning...) So I've really had to change up my morning routine.

Now, I shower at night, something I NEVER liked to do before. But it really does save me so much time, especially because I don't have to really do my hair in the morning, and that way I don't have to be showering and wondering what my kids are destroying while I'm in there. I still get up, get dressed make breakfast and do a few chores around the house. But pretty soon, it's nap time, or I'm picking up Savy from school, or I'm running to the grocery store. And when I do have a free minute, I'm usually reading or attempting to take a nap (never happens) or sometimes I find myself just sitting on the couch with Savannah watching cartoons and scrolling through Facebook for an hour. 

But I'm hoping to carve out more time for blogging, because I really like to do it. I've always considered this blog as a journal/scrapbook of my life and I want to be able to keep on top of it again. 

So here's a quick catch-up of life here at Chateau Stokes.

I am not going to school this semester. This is a big change for me since I've been going non-stop for a year. But I am 5 classes away from graduating, but I can't get into any of them without my math. I am scheduled for a test that will kind of determine how my math will pan-out around December. I might post more details about that later, but it's really all just kind of a ginormous mess and it makes me stressed just thinking about it.

So, because I'm not busy with school this semester, I'm really diving into getting my silk-screening business off the ground! Between my sister-in-law Kenna, my sister Sage, and my Mom (who has been in this business for years and knows all the in's and outs) and I, we have some really fun ideas that I'm hoping to share really soon! We are also planning on doing a holiday pop-up shop sometime in November, so look for details on my Facebook within the next few weeks! After that, I hope to be fully online and running by the end of November! Guys, I'm so excited!!! This has really been a long time coming. I was really hoping to be running this summer, but school and life just got really crazy. Now I've got much more time to fully commit myself to this. Yay!!!

Savannah is still loving preschool. She wakes up early on school days because she gets so excited! I'm sad it's only 2 days a week because she loves being there so much!

Deagan has been growing and learning at breakneck speed! He's really taking off with talking. Even just today, he was yelling "Museum! Museum!" (I take the kids to the museums at Thanksgiving point about once a week) 

Bryant is busy, like always. Thankfully, 2 of his sports are over (for now...) so that has freed up some evenings for him, which I love and he hates. The other night he didn't have a game or anything and he just really wanted to do something physical, so he went out for a long run. That kid has always got to be moving. And I wonder where my kids get it from...

He's also been applying to get back into school. When he took on the manager position at his job, he had to put school on hold for a while, but he's decided it's time to just go back at it with full force. We are hoping that he will be able to go full time starting in January. He asked if I would be able to handle him being gone all day at work, and then all evening at school, and I was like, Hello, you do that anyway except it's work and sports. There won't really be a change to my schedule here. Anyways, I'm really excited and very proud that he is going back to school.

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on. I feel like these next couple of months are really going to fly by, and in December, we are going out to Mt. Shasta for Christmas. I'm really excited! I am sad that we won't be with my family for the holidays, but I'm also excited that we get to spend that time with Bryant's family, since we don't get to see them very often (and in all the years Bryant and I have spent Christmases together, we've only spent one with his family!)

15 Month Deagan Update!

It's been a while since I've done a Deagan update!

My baby boy is a full-fledged toddler these days. This past month he has really taken off and learned SO much! It's kind of blowing me away how he was all baby and little, then just the last few weeks he's suddenly this big kid! Who is talking! I mean, what happened?!?

We took DJ in for his 15 month checkup. Like always, he's practically perfect in every way. (Mary Poppins reference? Get it?) But really, that kid is right on track for everything.

Just a few developmets:

The kid is a climber. I'm certain he's part mountain goat. His favorite thing to do is go outside and climb up the slide, get to the top, slide down, then repeat. He could do it for hours. He climbs on anything in the house he can get to. The other day, I was doing my makeup when Savannah came in and asked for a snack. I went into the kitchen to make something when I found half the contents of the recycling bin laying on the floor, with a stool in front of the stove, and Deagan sitting triumphantly on the counter with his hands in a pan of brownies yelling "COOKIE!!!" 

I very nearly had a heart attack! I think I will be putting the stools downstairs for a little while...

He has also really taken off with his talking. He has gotten really good at repeating words. Some of his words he uses pretty consistently are:

Mom

Dad

Baby

Sissy (What he calls Savannah)

Cookie (what he calls all foods)

Bite (what he says when he's hungry, or sees you eating something)

No!

Outside (this is the cutest! He says it "ow-sigh")

Say-yee (Sagey, my sister)

Coke! (He just started saying this when I was making him a sippy cup of milk. I think his grandpa had something to do with this) 

Puppy 

Hi

Hello

Hey

Bye

Thank You

Baba (bottle)

And the other day he clearly said "high five!" and now I can't get him to do it again!

He loves to give his sister hugs and kisses. She gets more than anyone else, which makes me a bit jealous ;-) And he likes to pat her head and say "Baby!" or "sissy!"

If my Mom or Dad is in the room, he doesn't want anything to do with me. He just wants them. 

When he pouts or throws a fit, he kneels down and slams his head on the ground. This has resulted in several bumps and bruises, and one fat lip. I keep thinking one day he will hurt himself enough that he will learn not to do it anymore, but that day hasn't come yet. Usually, I just ignore it and he stops fairly quickly. He did it in the bathtub the other night. I felt bad, but at the same time it was kind of the funniest thing ever to see his look of shock when he was sputtering out water.  

We have found that, unfortunately, he has inherited my extremely sensitive skin. 10 minutes running through the grass means hives and rashes from head to toe, which he scratches, and makes worse. It's so sad to see him all scraped up from scratching!

He's getting the most fun little personality. He's just like Savannah in that he loves being around other people. He's not shy or nervous around anyone. He's very loving too. He likes to give kisses and hugs, and when his sister cries, he starts crying with her. They both hold hands while in the car, or watching TV. The first thing that Savannah does in the morning is go crawl in his crib and they snuggle and play until I get up and go get them. They are best friends and I just love watching them play together!

I love you Deagan! Please don't grow up too fast!

Preschool!

So about a month ago, there was a day where I had about 5 people ask me if I had Savannah signed up for preschool yet, and I kind of freaked out.

I had COMPLETELY dropped the ball on Preschool! For some reason, that always just seemed like a very distant thing. I was thinking that you went to preschool at 4, not 3 AND 4! 

So I started scrambling, calling and e-mailing a bunch of different places, trying to find an opening. Do you want to know what is completely bonkers? Most preschools start enrollment a good 8-12 months before the school year even starts! Even for just the little community preschool that the rec center does, you have to go in January or February, line up at 7am to get a wristband, that will hold your spot in line for registration that evening, for class that doesn't even start until August. It's kind of a joke.

And the only preschools that had openings were far away and VERY expensive. Like, one preschool in Salt Lake was 1 1/2 hours a day, 3 days a week and it was 12,000 for the full 8 months! Twelve. Thousand. Dollars.

For PRE-school guys!

So then I started thinking, well, who needs school yeah? I'll homeschool for preschool! We will just watch a ton of Sesame Street and play with play dough all day, it will almost be the same thing! 

But I ended up calling my Mom, kind of upset about how I was basically the worst Mom ever for not signing my kid up, and she mentioned how a lady I had known for years might have a couple of openings. Of course! Why didn't I even think of her? She was my sister's preschool teacher! So my Mom called me back 5 minutes later and told me she had called her, and Savannah was all set to go! She had missed the first day of class, but she would be fine to join in the next morning. 

Let me tell you, no 3 year old who has ever lived, was more excited about going to school than Savannah was. We got up bright and early, and put her in her new school clothes that her grandma and grandpa had gone out and gotten her the night before. She barely ate any breakfast because she kept saying "Ok Mom, I'm done eating, let's go to my preschool now!" 

When I told her to come outside on the porch so I could take some pictures, she said "Yes, let's take pictures of fabulous Savannah!"

 

^^The moment she noticed a bird in the tree.^^

 

"Mama, get that bird!"

So far, she is absolutely loving it! She excitedly jumps out of the car when I drop her off, yelling "Bye Mom!" without even glancing back. Half the time, I ask for a kiss goodbye when we get to the door and she doesn't even hear me, she's so focused on getting in there and starting the day. She really loves her teacher and tells me that she is her best friend at school. The other day when I went to pick her up, Savannah started throwing a fit and didn't want to leave. I ended up having to pick her up and carry her out to the car!

I'm really glad I put Savannah in Preschool. I knew that a lot of the stuff they will learn she already knows. She knows her letters and numbers and colors already, but there are a lot of things she is learning that are new to her too. One of the most exciting things to watch her do is trace her letters! I knew that she didn't need preschool to learn social skills either. Anyone who knows her, knows how outgoing and friendly she is! (How both my kids are! Deagan got right up in a kids face the other day, trying to hug him and the kid kind of panicked and fell off my porch!) 

I think the biggest reason I wanted to get Savannah in preschool when I really thought about it wasn't because I didn't want to be the only Mom in the neighborhood who's kid wasn't in school, but because I wanted to give Savannah that time away from me, away from home where she gets to fully be her, completely Savannah. Where she will learn how to make friends, and where she will learn how to listen to other adults, and even how to get in trouble with other adults. 

Deagan really misses his sister while she's gone, the other day he just kept walking around, looking up at me and saying "Sissy? Baby? Sissy?" But I think it's really good for him and I to get that one-on-one time together too. Savannah had 2 years of just mom-and-me time and she gets that every day while Deagan naps, so it's nice to get a few hours to snuggle and play and get to know him a little better when he's not just tearing the house apart with his sister (A.K.A partner in crime!)

So far she's been in school for a month and she just absolutely loves it. She's really thriving at school and I get excited for her every time I drop her off!

Heading Home Again

And here we are at the conclusion of our California vacation.

I'm missing it already!

My parents recently went on a vacation to Santa Barbara, and while there, they went to a Spanish festival where they picked up these adorable outfits!

 

We went to church that Sunday morning where Chantel and Jacob both spoke in Sacrament meeting, and then Bryant, Ed, Chantel and Tyler sang a song in 4 different languages: Portugues, English, Tagalog and Spanish, it was beautiful! After church, we all went outside to take some family photos. Deagan was having none of it and fell asleep.

I think this is my favorite picture of Deagan and Grandma Donna! I'm having it printed out and framed to keep in his room. 

 

When we were at Donna's, Deagan didn't want anyone except her. He'd start to pout or cry and instead of running to Bryant or I, he'd head straight for Grandma!

 

We also dug out Bryant and Jacob's old Halloween costumes. My mother-in-law hand made those!

Can you guess what we will all be for Halloween this year?

 

And Deagan, trying to get in on the action.

Once again we had a great vacation! It was so fun getting to see everyone! We are planning on heading out there for Christmas this year (Let's hope there is some snow! California could sure use it!)