Halloween 2011!

What a beautiful warm year Halloween was!!

Our day started off by watching the kids school parade.

I LOVE that it is outdoors!!  My neighborhood is so charming.  Makes for a cute parade!

The costumes in the parade are always amazing!  So many creative ideas.  

We ended up with the non creative, commercial cheap costumes.  Couldn't get easier than that!

I LOVED having aunt Jill here to share the day with us!

Frankie wondering what happened to Cole. :)

No coats to hide the costumes! 

Ready to get started!

My cute neighbor made us these darling owl cookies.  Yum!

Jill brought two movies the kids hadn't seen yet.  

Sound of Music (which they LOVED)

and Wizard of Oz.

After trick-or-treating we all cuddled downstairs and watched The Wizard Of OZ.

Cole always likes to sort his candy. 

The girls were too much into the movie.

I wish I could link to Jill's blog (it's private :( ).  She did such a cute post of all the fun things she did with the kids while she was here visiting.

The day after Halloween we met up with my cousins for lunch and gave them a little tour of my world here in SLC and the cute homes on tree lined trees.  

We ate at Eggs In The City and then went to my favorite store across the street, Jolley's.

It was so fun.  I can't wait to get together again!

It was fun to spend so much time with my sister this trip!  

We are so excited she will be here again soon for Christmas!

  

Family Halloween Party

Sweet little MaryJane all dressed up as a mermaid for her preschool celebration.

Why not be the same thing her big sister was the year before?

Anything to be like Sadie.   

This cute little face didn't know that while she was at school, I was picking up Aunt Jill at the airport.

Jill came to town for Halloween weekend!  Yay!  We were so excited to have her!

She was so happy and surprised to see Aunt Jill with me when we picked her up.

She loves her so much!

We had our annual family Halloween party on Saturday night at my house. 

Everyone knows how much I HATE SPIDERS!!  

So the kids got a big kick of Jill dressed up as a black widow.

The gang, minus my brother taking the photo.  

Cousin Kate's costume hadn't arrived yet.  Grandpa a serious GI-Joe and Nana as Mary Poppins.

My little fireman was so serious trying to figure out why everyone he knew looked so silly.

That darn hat wouldn't stay on him.  A little on the small side.

We ate soup in cute bread bowls bought from the store,

 had a coloring contest,

 donuts on a string,

and pumpkin carving.  

My camera was having issues that night.

I made my favorite Candy Corn shortbread cookies that I made last year.  Yum!  I got the recipe from Morgan at One More Moore but I also saw the recipe all over pinterest this year.

The kids pumpkins-

Sadie's, Cole's and MaryJane's

It was fun to host the party at my house this year.  

I probably wasn't the best host because all I remember from that night was how darn tired I was! 

Too many fun late nights hanging out with my sister I guess.

Eye Surgery

A post blasted with Frankie photos!  He is such a good baby. 

 I can't believe he is now 18 MONTHS OLD!!!

Really it's like having a ten month old...which I LOVE!

  He has been trying to pull up on things lately.  

Favorite game of all time, emptying out the toy basket.  

Wearing his Hip Helpers.  Frankie's muscle tone is so low.  He is always doing the splits so the Hip Helpers keeping him from doing that and to teach him how to properly use his hip flexors for crawling and walking development.  

Frankie can army crawl and is ALL over the place!!  Always looking for his siblings to play with.

And he puts everything in his mouth!  Yuck!

He is scheduled to have surgery this month on his left eye.  To straighten his eye muscles (Sadie likes to call him googlie eyed :)).  I am really hoping this will help him along in his gross motor skills.  

Of the moms I have talked to that have had this done for their child, most of them said their child hit a major mile stone within a few weeks after the procedure.  Walking or crawling.

Having his eye cross inward affects his depth of field and balance.  He is always looking and studying things with his head tilted.  I'm SO hoping this will help him along.  

Going for the split to sit motion.

Unfortunaltey this procedure was supposed to take place in Novemeber but two nights before he got croup, AGAIN!  Any clear runny nose he gets turns into croup due to his small airways.  

So I have been trying my hardest to keep him healthy for the new suregery date this month.  

What a terrible time to do it!  

I love this picture of Frankie!  He was happily playing one day and I walked in and said hi to him and he just cheesed right back at me with that feather stuck to his chin.  No clue that it's there.  Just happy to see his mama.  I don't even know where the feather came from?  A pillow?

I love the simple joy this little boy brings!

Fall Happenings 2011

My awesome sister sent these darling dresses and leggings to my girls.

We all love to receive a package from aunt Jill!  

Thanks Aunt Jill!!  You rock!

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Fall Break

For UEA Kevin had to work out of town in Wyoming so we decided to tag along instead of staying at home.  We stayed close to a great castle park.  The kids thought they died and went to heaven!  We spent lots of time playing there and swimming at the hotel.  My kids idea of a perfect vacation.

Staying at a hotel was excitement enough.  It was just good to all be together!

We took a few photos with the great light in the hotel room.

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Cole's first BYU football game with grandpa and daddy.

They had a great time.

Park City

Over General Conference weekend we went up to Park City (like last year) and stayed in a condo with our little family.

I love it when we have mini trips with just us.  Leaving distractions from home behind to reconnect with one another.

Our Condo was right next to the pool and hot tub and most of the time we had it all to ourselves.  

Playing Marco Polo with the kids brought the major giggles out of me.

I can't remember the last time I played that game.

Like a good little boy, Frankie was happy to just chill.

An evening walk on Main Street.

We stopped for some ice cream at the Java Cow and before I knew it, MaryJane was on the floor milking the cow.  How did she know how to do that?  

MaryJane is so lovable to Frankie.  She is always expressing how much she just can't get enough of him.  So cute.

Piggy back rides!

We sure found time to take a lot of pictures.

I got plenty of chances to get out from behind the camera.

We had a fun time playing games, watching conference, going on walks and just hanging out together.

I love spending time with my family!

Sadie's a Winner

The kids school had a fun run to raise money and my kids really got into it!

Depending on how much money each kid raised, they'd receive raffle tickets.

Cole and Sadie each got to put their tickets toward the prize they wanted to win.

Sadie told me she put one in the Doll House raffle and that she really hoped she'd win it.

Strangely enough,  I actually had a feeling that she would.

After the fun run they get grab bags full of fun things.  Stickers, bagels, a nice water bottle etc...

Sadie and her friend Lilly during the run.  

Lilly is always writing Sadie "BFF" notes.  So cute.

The kids run around the track to fun music provided by a very entertaining D.J. for 20 min.  Cole wishes it was a real race.  But he runs around that track like it is a real race.  He loves it.  I'm going to have to get him in to Hershey Track and Field next year.

After school that day I got a call from the school telling me that Sadie has won a prize and that it was too heavy for her to carry home.  

The Barbie House!!

She was so excited and I was so happy for her!  

  

It's a very big doll house.  What a fun thing to win!

Somehow I need to figure out how to get her good luck to rub off on me. :)