Halloween 2011

We love Halloween at our house.

I really do enjoy making costumes for everyone, especially when it is all over and I can sit back and see how cute they all look.

Anna really wanted to be Tinkerbell.  But not just any Tinkerbell.  She wanted to be Tinkerbell like in the Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure movie.  So I was trying to make a costume that looked like this.

And this is what I came up with.

Not bad. I think she looked pretty cute.

Nicholas was our little turtle.

I guess you could say we were going for a green theme this year.

Devin was Dobby.  His team at work did a Harry Potter theme.  So Devin got to be the world's biggest House Elf.  (He won 3rd place for Funniest Costume.  I guess shaving his head was worth $15.) Anna loves going to Devin's work Halloween party. She gets twice as much candy from that as she does from trick-or-treating in half the time.

Halloween night my brother Peter and his family came over to our great neighborhood for trick-or-treating.  Look close in the picture at our pumpkins this is the only picture we took that has them in it.  Devin carved Tinkerbell for Anna and it looks fantastic.

 The weather was AMAZING!!!!!  I don't remember the weather ever being this nice. The kids got lots of candy and had even more fun passing it out.

Emily made yummy doughnuts and everything turned out great!  On to next year.  I think we are pretty much decided on what Nicholas will be, Anna .... not completely sure yet. :)  

Anna's 3rd Birthday

Anna had her 3rd birthday last week.  We thought we would try and spread the birthday joy out and not try and cram too much into one day.

Friday we had a little friend party in the morning.  Anna is in love with Tinkerbell and fairies so we had a Tinkerbell party.  We played Tinkerbell bingo (Thanks Devin for the amazing game!). 

The girls went for a treasure hunt, because fairies love to look for treasure.

Each girl got to make her own fairy wings.   They were all so excited to decorate their wings with stickers and markers.  The look on their face when we put their wings on was priceless.

We then played Fairy Freeze which was basically run around, dance, jump, do whatever and then freeze when the music stopped.  Oh my, the camera doesn't do justice to this game.  It was so cute to watch!

We then opened presents.

And ate cake.

It was a SUPER simple party but the girls had a blast.

(Special thanks to Devin for taking such fun pictures!!!!)

Friday night we had our family party.  We are decided to start a new tradition.  Rather than having a friend party and a family party, we would just do a Family Movie Night where the birthday person would choose their favorite movie to watch.  It was fun.  We had cake.

Then we all watched Tinkerbell The Great Fairy Rescue.  

Saturday was Anna's real birthday.  Being the great parents that we are, we signed up to run the Highway to Hale 5k Race at the Hale Center Theater that morning.  I was feeling bad to drag Anna off to a race on her birthday, but she was SOOOO excited.  "I get to wear my runner shirt?!!!"  We borrowed a single jogging stroller from our neighbors so that Devin could push Anna in our stroller and I could push Nicholas in the other stroller.  The weather was great!  I was very pleased with my time pushing a stroller and Nicholas fell asleep.  It was fun to see everyone dressed up.  I even saw Tayla one of my 2nd grade students.  I love seeing my students!!!  I miss them.  I really do consider them my best friends.   Here is the great picture of Peter and his kids, and the Baldwins.

The highlight of the race was watching Anna run across the finish line.  I wish I had pictures.  Devin let her out of the stroller and she got to run her little heart out.  You should have seen the look on her face. Everyone was cheering for her.  That girl LOVES to run!!!  Not a bad way to start off her birthday.

We went home and opened presents. She loved her new Thomas book.  

Crazy girl would have been happy with that but we kept bugging her to open the BIG present.  Anna is now the proud owner of a green scooter.  If you ask Anna it is a Tinkerbell scooter.  And she can put pixie dust on it and it can fly.

Nicholas liked the balloons.

After snuggling up with Daddy to read stories, Anna and I went out to take the scooter for a spin.  I went out on my rollerblades.  I can't remember the last time I did that.  It was so much fun.  It was a perfect fall day.

We then took Anna to the temple.  The most important part of the day in my mind.  

I love walking around the temple with her and being able to talk with her about how important the temple is and how excited we are that she gets to go there in only 9 more years!!!!  She is growing up so much.  Here are my favorite pictures from her last three temple trips.

Anna's 1st Birthday

Anna's 2nd Birthday

Anna's 3rd Birthday

Happy Birthday Anna!!!!  We sure love you!!!!!!

Family Pictures 2011

What do you do when your husband decides that he REALLY, REALLY needs to shave his head for Halloween???  You get family pictures taken the afternoon before he shaves his head.  I am grateful it all worked out.  I am very grateful for my sister-in-law Emily who was willing to take our pictures.  I am grateful for my mom who watched Emily's kids so she could take our pictures.  I am grateful that the weather was nice enough to take pictures.  And I am especially grateful that my children were good for at least a few pictures.  I think Emily did a great job.  Here are some of our favorites. 

Say good bye to Devin's hair!  I wonder how long it will take to grow back?

Yes, We Are Alive

Yes, we are alive.  We have been having lots of fun.

Nicholas has fallen in love with books.  He loves to listen to stories and to sit and look through books.

When Anna was at this stage I could let her roam around our room and bathroom while I was getting ready in the morning.  I have been doing the same with Nicholas.  He has recently become fascinated with our tub. One morning while blow drying my hair I heard water running.  Yup, he has figured out how to turn the faucet.  He loves watching the water. 

Nicholas is about ready for hair cut number six.   He is exploring the wonders of bedhead. The pictures just don't do it justice.  Side note, doesn't he have the most amazing blue eyes?

We have one happy boy.  He loves playing with the stacking cups.  He also loves to wear his fireman hat.

I spend a lot of my day trying to keep Nicholas from ripping the whole house appart.  He loves pulling the books off the shelf. Cute the first few times, not so much anymore.

Halloween is fast approaching.  It's crunch time to get those costumes done.

And our garden is about done.  I have been canning tons!  130+ pints of fruits and veggies.  

I have one more batch of tomatoes to can and then I'm done with tomatoes!  Devin brought home a HUGE box of apples today so applesauce is next on the list.

This is a crazy time of year.  The next few weeks look sometime like this...

Finish Tomatoes

Make Applesauce 

Finish Nick's Halloween costume by Wednesday for the ward Halloween party that we didn't know about until last week. (I don't know if I'll be able to pull that one off.)

Finish Anna's Halloween costume. (Good thing she is ok being Boo again for the Ward party, there is no way I could pull of two costumes before Wednesday.)

Anna's birthday

Halloween

Thanks mom for teaching me how to make a list and hack through big projects one small bit at a time! It is going to be a fun and crazy couple of weeks.  

Splashingly Fun

Anna making pancakes

Anna loves to help me make breakfast.  She loves to help measure out the ingredients and mix.  A few weeks ago, she started matching the measuring spoons to the ingredients, and so I decided to video it.  I hope you enjoy!