Halloween Festivities

Rapunzel. Kate designed all the details, Pascal, the flag bag. Oh what fun.
Super Sam fighting bad guys and saving the day.


I made Marianne this owl costume. Such a cute little owl.


The older kids went out trick or treating to five or so house. They had already filled their bags at trunk or treat at church on Saturday. Marianne and I stayed home and passed out candy. She was a sweet helper, just smiling and looking sweet in her pumpkin pj's.

We gave the kids the choice of painting or carving their pumpkins this year. They picked painting. So glad because really carving pumpkins is a mom and dad job still, but our little ones could actually paint the pumpkins, and loved it.

Our awesome friends threw a Halloween party. We got home from Fresno about 36 hours before the party and I threw together these costumes. In the end I was pleased with our Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy.

Costume Preview, Money and Little Marianne.

Kate had a costume party at school today. She got to wear the costume, then parents got to watch a little program. It was very cute, and Kate was wonderful. She was so excited about her costume. She made most of it herself. She decided she wanted to be Rapunzel, and came upstairs one day in some purple dress and shoes she has in her dress up box. She told me all we needed was long hair, and makeup and she could be Rapunzel for Halloween. We had a lot of fun together making the wig out of yarn. Then she remembered it had flowers in it, so we got those. Then she insisted she needed Pascal the lizard on her shoulder, we found one at grandma's house lucky for us and pinned it on, then she remember she needed a purple sun flag. She has got the details down from the movie. So we sewed a purple bag for treats and painted a sun on it together. I love that she loves Halloween so much. And even though it is a ton of extra work for a Mom, I am happy to make her Halloween dreams come true. I even caught her pretending to talk to people, imagining they thought she was actually Rapunzel, and she would tell them, "no it is Kate, I'm just dressed up like Rapunzel" She thinks she has everyone fooled.

Sam wore his costume today too since Kate was sporting hers. He is superman. Nothing hard there, just a $15 pre made ready to wear costume from Wal-mart. He loves it though and runs around with his hands outstretched like he is flying saying"Superman saves the day"
And a picture of angel Marianne for good measure. Her huge cheeks, big eyes, and awesome hair, sweet smiles and lots of "goo goo-ing" from her lately. What is not to love?

The kids have been saving their money up for some time now. Once your kids know about money it is pretty awesome. After lunch everyday, and after dinner they have a few chores, but sometimes I offer them the option of doing more extra chores for 75 cents. Kate had saved $14, and Sam had $4. They decided it was time to cash in, so we went to the store. Kate picked out this tangled set, and still had $7 left over. Sam picked out a fire truck with buttons, even though he has like 6 fire trucks already. They were so pleased with their purchases.

M is 2 months old

My gorgeous baby is already two months old.

Crazy Stuff.

She is such a precious addition to the family.

All four of us just love her so much. She has had a little bit of a rough start, jaundice, low sugars, low birth weight, thrush, ear infection and strep throat all in her short life so far. But that hasn't stopped her for the most part, being a sweetheart and growing like crazy.

We love when she smiles at us and "goo's" at us most of all, and when she falls asleep in our arms.

She had her two month apt. yesterday.

Weight 11.6lbs 66% up from the 12%

Height 23.5in 88% up from 47%

Head 16 in 90% up from 82%

Perfect as can be.... well except for that ear infection she has had from birth, it is still there and didn't respond to the antibiotics. Hmmmm????? At least it is not currently bothering her.

That is some good growth. In fact our pediatrician joked she was the size of some 6 month olds.

Way to go Miss Sis!

But don't grow up to fast.

Pumpkin Patch Day

Nice air Kate. Sam wouldn't step on these trampolines. He is such a scaredy sometimes.


Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point last week. This is our fall tradition. Our kids were so pleasant, even despite a bit of chilly weather. They wanted to play on these wooden vehicles most the time.

Kate did say her favorite thing was the princess dress up cottage.

And we quickly got some pumpkins too. The kids had trouble picking one out. Kate kept changing her mind. In fact, I took this picture of the pumpkin she had finally decided on, but then she changed her mind again. Sam didn't like any of them because he said they were all to big and heavy for him. You can see his face below and that is the smallest one we could find.

We ended the evening like every year, with burgers from JCW's. Marianne did so well. We were out for 5 hours, and she was mostly content, except when we left the restaurant to go the car. I think the cold just put her over the top and she was screaming up a storm after that.

For the record, Jake, Marianne and I were all here too. We just don't have any pictures.

I just am finding that three kids- including one strapped to my chest- is more than enough to keep track of when we go on outings. So I have been leaving my SLR at home and taking along an old point and shoot we have. The pictures are not as great, nor as numerous, but it works. Perhaps less pictures even gives me the opportunity to enjoy the activity a little more.

Got it!

my adorable chubby cheeks miss M.

I finally got a smile on camera

Sweet and sillly

my kids are extra awesome lately.

Like how they are perfect patients for the doctor.

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician to check their growth. With all the food allergies and digestive issues Sam and Kate have, and seeing how everyone in Kate's dance and preschool seem to tower over her, I thought it a good idea to get their growth checked in between their annual well checks..

I stay up at night with worry for their silly tummies that never seem to work just right.

Turns out they are doing alright. Perhaps I will sleep better now.... or find something else to worry about more likely.

Kate was 31 lbs 7% and 39 in 12%

Samuel was 28.5 lbs 31% and 36.5 in 48%

They are a little small, mostly Kate, but I guess she'll be just like me.

While at the doctors Sam repeated to me over and over again

"my daddy is my best friend" in his cute broken word voice. I loved it. The doctor had some comment about his ridiculously large vocabulary, but sentences like" daddy is my best friend" are better than any big words.

later that night during family prayer he said he was grateful for "Mariannd"

he is such a sweetheart.

Last night- after we taught them how to play fruit basket for family night :)

Sam went upstairs and came back with this diaper box- ripped up. He was siting in it saying it was a digger tractor. It did after all have a working cardboard shovel. Kate and Sam sat in it until Kate decided she wanted it to be a bed for a baby. They fought, until she found another box and turned it into the craddle.

Sam is just making me laugh left and right.

Last night he was sitting on the potty, and then requested "spiderman panties"

he does not own or has never seen spiderman underwear, but I think Kate gave him the idea that he should want them.

Here is Marianne. She is still cranky from her ear infection and strep throat. Did I mention to you that our pediatrican has never seen strep in a baby so young. Seriously- poor girl. She is smiley again though. She actually has huge laughing smiles now, but we can't ever seem to catch them on camera. Here is one we just barely missed. You can see she is adding chub to that chin and cheeks every day. Also her hair continues to grow, and now it is dark brown at the end, red in the middle and blonde at the roots. I actually can't wait for her hair to be all blonde like I am sure it will be, just because then she will look like the rest of us.

Kate is still loving preschool. She dresses herself, and tells everyone about her school coat or shoes or hat or dress or whatever she is wearing. She likes the layered look in case you did not know that already. I often have to coax her into wearing only one dress or skirt to school. Today she brought her toothbrush for show and tell. She sees what other kids bring and then always wants to bring that the next time it is her turn. Last time we were at he store she asked if she could buy a new toothbrush- then described the kind she wanted because somebody at school at brought it for show and tell. We found what she wanted, then I let her get it.... it was a toothbrush after all. Then today she insisted on bringing it. I didn't realize we were buying it just so she could show her friends she had one too, but I guess that is what we were doing. Is this really already happening?
This morning I spent some time on the phone shopping auto quotes. Sam got a hold of some of the papers and within a few minutes he had created several masterpieces he was very proud of.

He tells me this is a snake in a hole.
And this one is daddy happy.


Kate arrived home just in time to make a masterpiece of her own. It is a dad hunting a bear like some kid at preschool told her about. Her dad does not hunt. She tells him he should. So she can get a bear claw like the boy at preschool. She tells me you can tell it is a dad in the picture because he has no hair. Ha!

Such sweet and silly kids!

The Score

Kate: 0 Strep: 1

Sam: 0 Strep: 1

Marianne: 0 Strep: 1 with additional points for an ear infection.

At least I know the reason for the uncontrollable screaming from my baby for the last three days.

And that there is an end.

I thought it might just be the worst colic ever.

Thank goodness it is strep and an ear infection, it can be resolved with some antibiotics and we can return to just the normal level of colic. Babies are suppose to be protected from this sort of thing because of their mother's immunity if they are breast feeding. But that is only if their mother has some sort of immune system, and clearly if the past two months have taught us anything it is that I have absolutely no immune system.

Wal-mart didn't know what to do with all the prescriptions I just dropped off.

Really. It took them almost an hour to fill them.

That almost had me uncontrollably screaming.

And again the question.

Will we ever be healthy again?

And I thought I might actually get the laundry done this weekend.

yawn.

Sunday Drive and Listen

For Sunday Conference we went on a drive. How lucky we are that we live in an area where we can listen on the radio no matter where we drive really. It really is a smart idea. We heard more conference this Sunday morning session than any other. Why? Because children were strapped into car seats and didn't need anything. We could even leave the doors open in the car and sit outside in the forest. That was one good reason for the drive.

The second reason, the fall colors.

There is something almost sacred to me about the roads that lead up the mountains on every side of the valley where we live, and where I spent many of my formative youth years.

Many times, whether by myself, or with one of my close friends, from the time I was 16, until, well still sometimes, I would make my way up the roads that wind up the mountains.

Usually when I needed a moment of clarity, time to think, or thirty minutes to communicate whether in my heart or out loud to my Heavenly Father. Sometimes it was planned, other times it was on my way to some where else I was suppose to be. Most often it was when I was confused or heart broken, trouble at home, or had a big decision to make. And some how the driving, the beauty, the quiet... and embarrassingly the EFY or Peter Breinholt music that was playing in my car, made the world alright.

Sometimes it was in the green spring or summer when I would admire the ponds and wild flowers.

But usually,

Usually it was in the fall.

The quilt like pattern of colors seen on the hills from the valley floor would call me up.

And it is without a doubt that a good portion of myself and my testimony was found driving the mountain roads distracted by gold trees and crisp air coming through my windows from ages 16-20.

Today as we listened to the prophets and apostles speak in that same environment, I found myself holding back tears, from the feeling driving the fall road still gives me.

Saturday Conference Kids

That 1st picture is so representative of the kids.

Sam is in love with Marianne. Kate thinks she is the star of the show at every moment, and Marianne does whatever..... as long as that whatever is not sleep.

This day Sam said to me "Mariand Special, Mariand Ours"

The 2nd is Marianne playing with a doll Kate gave her. She doesn't look amused.