Halloween

Halloween was SO FUN this year!!  Isaac was excited and remembered last year (so he knew what was going on).  Elise LOVES dressing up, so this was the perfect holiday for her.  And she caught on to trick-or-treating really quickly.  :)  Both kids were obedient, polite, cute-as-all-get out, and grateful.  Caleb was cute and pleasant and easy going and just generally a fun guy to have around.  It was awesome!

Halloween morning the kids and I went to the annual playgroup Halloween party (always a blast).  That afternoon we had planned to go down to Jeremy's firm to trick-or-treat, but last minute Jeremy got asked to go to a hearing (or something like that) in Joplin - so he wasn't going to be at work for the trick-or-treating event (so we decided not to go) AND he told me he probably wouldn't be home in time to go trick-or-treating with us that evening.  We were all bummed.  But, as luck would have it, everything went quickly for Jeremy and he was able to make it home by 5:15 pm and join us for all of the festivities!  We were SO glad to have him home!!!  Everything is more fun with Dad around. :)

After a "gourmet" dinner of mac & cheese and hot dogs (oh well... it happens sometimes... at least the kids ate it well!) we got into our costumes and headed over to Brent & Michelle's home to go trick-or-treating with them.  Caleb was happy this time around, so I got some photos of our sweet little pumpkin (why didn't I think of buying an orange sleeper to go underneath his costume???  sigh...)  And I didn't do Elise's hair today - I just stuck her hat on her.  BUT - everyone was happy and I actually got a photo of all 3 kids together.  Yay! 

At last all the cousins were set to head out trick-or-treating.  Poor Brent got stuck behind the kids and was forced to stay in the photo. But at least he made the most of it. :)  Then the crew headed out!  The cousins had a great time trick-or-treating together.  It made an awesome night even that much MORE fun.

Caleb lasted for the first 30-45 minutes, but then he got tired (and it was getting cold) so Jeremy took him home and put him to bed.

Isaac, Elise, and I finished up by 7:30 pm and came home to show off our candy stash to dad.  We sorted through it and admired all of the candy and just hung out as a little family.  Then it was off to bed.  Yay for a wonderful and Happy Halloween!!!!

Gearing Up for Halloween

Monday and Tuesday we spent gearing up for Halloween and enjoying the celebrations and traditions as a family.

Monday we had our "Dinner in a Pumpkin".  It was delicious and the kids happily ate it - pumpkin and all.  I had considered not doing this tradition this year - just because we have been busy - but then I overheard Isaac telling his friend about it when we went to the pumpkin patch, so I had to make sure and squeeze it in.  This is our 4th year doing this and it was fun to me that he actually remembered it!  Elise, of course, did not remember doing it before and when she saw the whole pumpkin being cooked she said "that's so silly!"  It was adorable!

This year I roasted the pumpkin seeds a little differently than usual and I LOVED them.  We all did!  I made two different kinds.  Half I seasoned salty (olive oil, garlic, paprika, onion powder, tossed in sea salt after they were roasted) and the other half I seasoned sweet (butter, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, tossed in sugar after they were roasted).  Yummy!  I am excited to make them again next year!

Tuesday morning was Isaac's preschool party.  He dressed up as a cowboy for the event.  I was in charge of the craft (should have taken a photo - oops).  But it was fun to see him excited about that party.  Of course Elise had to dress up too, so I let her wear her dress-up clothes to her playschool.  And Caleb - he was just CUTE.

Tuesday afternoon (during Elise's nap) Isaac and I made mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  We had a GREAT time working together (even if he refused to open his eyes for any photos - the little goober!).   And Caleb was nearby the whole time playing happily and enjoying our company.  We were glad to have him with us. :)

Tuesday night we had LOADS of Halloween themed fun.  Isaac and Elise painted their pumpkins and got really into it.  It was fun to watch them at work.  While they painted pumpkins, I finished up dinner prep.  Jeremy was SO excited about our dinner - a Jack-o-lantern Pizza from Papa Murphy's.  Seriously, SO excited.  In fact, he showed the finished product to all of the kids and requested photos with the pizza.  He said, "I want this to be a new tradition, so we better document it so that it HAS to happen next year!"  That made me smile.  :)  What can I say - the guy likes pizza.

After dinner (the pizza was really yummy), we put Caleb to bed and set to work carving our pumpkin and our honeydew melon.  The kids watched Jeremy and I at work and chose the shapes of various features (i.e.  the eyes to be square, the mouth to be scary).  I carved the honeydew.  And let me tell you, I loved doing it!  It was fun!!!  I am so glad that Jeremy suggested it. :)  See... our very first Halloween together we were engaged and it was late Halloween night by the time we decided that we wanted to carve a pumpkin.  So we headed to the grocery store and they were COMPLETELY out of pumpkins.  Not a single one!!  Jeremy - ever creative and undeterred - picked up a honeydew and we took it home and carved that.  So this year, he asked if we could do that again.  It was fun to tell the kids the story from when we were dating and it was honeydews are awesome when you carve them and put a light inside because they glow GREEN.  It is eerie... and perfect for Halloween.

Jeremy carved the big family pumpkin and enjoyed getting creative doing it.  When we were done we admired all of our pumpkins and put them outside on the front porch and watched them glow.  Yay for all the fun of Halloween!!!

(p.s.  Doesn't this pumpkin family look a little incomplete??  Poor Caleb - I should have gotten a little pumpkin for him.  Don't worry buddy - I promise we will get you a pumpkin next year!)

Ward Trunk-or-Treat and Costume Photo Shoot

During Troy & Emily's visit our ward held its annual Halloween Trunk-or-Treat party.  The kids were so excited to get dressed up in their Halloween costumes for their first time.  Emily helped me get the kiddos ready while Troy & Jeremy finished watching the BYU football game.  I was so grateful to have her help.  She did Elise's "princess" hair-do, which turned out perfect!  Before we left for the ward party I did a little photo shoot with each child in costume (except Caleb, he was having a grouchy day).  I thought the kids were SO cute!  And I loved seeing their personalities shine through their costumes.  I sure love these cute kids!!!

Here's a photo of the whole family at the Ward Trunk-or-Treat party. (Jeremy and I were lame and didn't dress up - again... someday...).  The party was short and simple - which was perfect.  We just got to have a soup dinner, visit with friends and admire everyone's costumes, play a few EASY kid games, have a mini costume parade, and then go get some candy by trunk-or-treating.  It was fun for the kids to have Troy & Emily there with them.  Troy & Emily were nice enough to play the little games with the kids and even take them around trunk-or-treating.  Yay for fun aunts and uncles!!!

Happy 30th Birthday Jeremy!!!

Jeremy turned 30!!!

It's kind of a big deal.  

I mean - 30!  

That's old, right? Or at least we are legitimate "grown-ups" now, right?

That's just weird.  Plain weird.

Anyway, Jeremy's birthday itself was extremely low-key.

We went out to Red Robin for dinner the night before.  But the guy didn't want anything special for his birthday.  He didn't want a big breakfast, or a nice cake.  Nothing.  I did talk him into getting pizza (from Minsky's!) for dinner and we bought donuts for dessert.  But we saved the fun, presents, festivities, and adventures for next weekend... so stay tuned.  We will most definitely be celebrating!

Simply put:  I love this man more than words could ever express.  He is my everything and I am profoundly blessed to have him in my life.  I love who he is and who he is striving to become.  Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Elise's Big Girl Bed!!!

For the last month or so Elise has been begging me for a "big girl bed".  I kept telling her when we moved to a new house she would get one... and that appeased her for a while.  But house hunting is going slowly, and we decided to go ahead and make some transitions now.  

SO... on Sunday October 14th Elise moved into a BIG GIRL BED!!!!  Her face lit up when she saw it and she squealed "my big girl bed!".  She danced around on one foot.  Then, when it was set up the first thing that she wanted to do was climb in and lay down.  So very classic for Elise.  She LOVES laying on her pillow and snuggling under blankets with her binkie (which she only gets at naptime and bedtime).  Here she is in her big girl bed for the first time!!!  She loved it.

The other excitement of the day was that Elise's big girl bed was in Isaac's room!!!

Yep, we decided to go ahead and move these two in together.  They were both so excited about sharing a room.  The very first night we laid down the rules.  Rule #1  Stay in Bed (we later adapted that rule to - keep your head on your pillow).  Rule #2  Be Quiet. 

I was really nervous about how they would do at bedtime.  But they have done remarkably well!  Sure there has been 20 minutes or so of giggling...  but that's part of the fun. :)  A couple of the nights have been a little more difficult - but nothing unexpected.  Seriously, the transition has gone very smoothly.  I am so proud of them and happy to see them enjoying being together!  And we are hoping they just get better and better at going to sleep together as they get more used to the sleeping arrangements.

The mornings are going great!  We had already taught Isaac to stay in his room until 7 am (he plays quietly in there if he wakes up earlier than 7).  So now he is teaching Elise to do the same!  Awesome.  Usually, they both come in to our room in the morning between 7 - 7:30 am. 

Nap times are a little bit of a different story.  Hypothetically, Elise naps in their bedroom and Isaac has quiet time downstairs.  However, Elise has only napped once since the room transition and Isaac has not napped at all! (She used to nap most every day and he used to nap 3-4 times a week).  But I am just trying to be patient and adhere to quiet time rules and see what happens.

When Elise moved in to Isaac's room, Caleb made the transition from sleeping in the porta-crib in our master closet to sleeping in a full size crib in his own room.  He has been in our room or our closet for the last 8 months!!  It was a big change, but he has made the transition very smoothly and I think we are all enjoying the new arrangements.  We have had a few more episodes of kids waking him up during naptimes... but they are learning to be quieter and he is learning to sleep through more noise.  It is all a process, right!