More Halloween Fun

Here are some pictures from Halloween today...

This little girl sure loves her big brother and wants to be just like him

 

Thomas and all his preschool friends



Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Our little "pumpkin"

Carving Pumpkins

On Monday night we carved pumpkins for family home evening.  Dave is out of town and I was hesitant to attempt carving pumpkins without him, but with some encouragement from Dave to keep our tradition alive, I decided we'd give it a try.  It actually went really smoothly and we ended up with three pretty cool jack-o-lanterns when we were done.  The boys each knew exactly what they wanted their pumpkin faces to look like, and for the most part, they were able to do all the work by themselves.  I love how different they all turned out.  Nothing fancy, but the boys sure are proud of them.

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Halloween Crafts

The older I've gotten the less appealing Halloween has become to me.  It seems like such a pointless holiday.  I don't care for the scary, bloody and eerie aspect and now that I have kids, the stress of finding costumes coupled with hyper, anwry kids begging for candy 24/7 has really given me a negative attitude about the whole thing.  I realized this year, though, that to a kid Halloween is so much fun and I don't want to let my negativity rub off on my kids nor do I want it to lessen the excitment for them.  I decided that instead of just brushing the holiday off, I would try to make it a time to have fun and positive experiences together as a family.  Here are some of the things we've done so far.

We decorated our door to look like a monster and Hyrum spent sevearl hours creating the witch leaning in the corner.  He saw a Wizard of Oz witch decoration at Walmart and after I refused to buy it he decided to make his own.  I think it turned out pretty good considering the resources we had to work with.
 

This is a pumpkin vegetable tray we made and took to a Halloween carnival. 

These fun spiders turned out too "sweet" to be scary.  We made them using styrofoam balls painted black, colored wire, gumdrops, gummy life savers, a candy necklace and straight pins.  The kids had a great time eating the leftovers. 

Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without some caramel apples.  Hyrum and William's school was selling caramel apples as a fundraiser, but since Hyrum can't eat real caramel we decided to make our own.  They turned out really yummy, I was impressed.  The boys thought it was pretty cool that they got to eat their very own apple right off the stick.  (I usually just cut the apple into pieces and they all share since it's less messy that way).

There will be more Halloween fun to come...

Emily is 18 Months Old

 
Emily actually turned 18 months two months ago, but I'm just barely getting around to writing about her. Since I use this blog as our family journal it is worth taking the time to write about events that have already happened.  I especially like to write about our kids; the milestones they reach and their development at different stages of their lives.  As time goes by I find myself forgetting the little things that made each child so unique and fun at certain stages of his/her life.  Writing those things down now will hopefully help me to never forget.  With that said, here is a little bit about our Emily now that she is 18 months old.  She has really begun to grow up fast.

• She's becoming more independent each day and wants to do what her big brothers do. She has learned that if she wants to keep up with them she has to move at a fast pace.  She rarely walks anywhere now.  She has discovered that running is much more efficient.  She loves to stand at the front door, yell "go" and then race across the living room, her chubby cheeks jiggling the whole way.
• She insists on putting on her own shoes and often times tries to dress herself as well.  It is cute, yet frustrating since she can't quite do it by herself.
•  She has found that screaming is a fantastic tool for getting what she wants (ok, maybe we spoiled her just a bit when she was younger, she was just too darn cute).  
• She loves, loves, loves her daddy and brothers.  She won't go to bed at night without giving each one of them a hug and kiss.  If I try to skip the nightly ritual, she reminds me by making kissing sounds with her lips as she points in the direction of where Daddy and the boys are.  Her whole face lights up when she hears Daddy come home at night and she runs, with a huge grin on her face, to Hyrum and William when we pick them up from school.
• She is a natural born cleaner.  She frequently asks me for rags to wipe up spills or dirty spots she sees.  She insists on washing her hands whenever they get sticky or have visible dirt or food on them.  She will also put anything back into it's container if you just ask her to.
• Her vocabulary is still very limited.  Her choice of words includes: "Momee" (mommy), "Daee" (daddy), "quack quack" (duck), "ah bee" (thank you),"hi ya" (Hyrum), and "nack" (snack).
• She continues to be very shy, though she is breaking out of her shell a little bit.  When she is nervous of a new face or situation she sticks her finger up her nose (pretty sure she learned that one from her brothers).
• She loves to giggle and laugh and almost always has a smile on her face.

Emily brings such light and joy to our family.