Getting ready for Christmas

 This last year my little munchkin has turned into a crafting, decorating, and baking girl.  That being said, there was now way we were going to get out of making gingerbread houses.   She planned them out, had me write down a list of all the candy she thought we needed, made me read the list back to her several times to make sure I didn't leave anything out, and at the last minute the jammie-wearing girl jumped in the van with me because she could stand the thought of me picking out the candy without her. 
Lucky for me, she wasn't too particular about how we made them so we tried making them out of rice crispies and sticking the graham crakers on the outside.  It didn't work out as planned but Claire didn't seem to care at all.  She had a blast!! 

 

 

Randomness

This last weekend I realized that I hadn't really taken pictures in awhile of all the little things.  The little things that you don't want to forget but you know you will if you don't write it down or take a picture.  So here is a little randomness from our weekend.

 

Claire loves taping her mouth shut.  She thinks it is just hilarious. So hilarious that she has gone through about six things of scotch tape in the last couple months.  Well I can't say that all of it went over her mouth.  She did have a "great idea" a while ago that she would be able to keep Crue out of all the drawers and cupboards if she just taped them closed and since she was so excited about her great idea, I just didn't have the heart to tell her that it wouldn't work.  I guess I can't forget about the week earlier this year when she decided that the chairs would look more beautiful if they had tape all over them.  Hmmm, maybe by daughter just has a tape fetish.  Anyway, Claire came over to me with tape over her mouth and Crue thinks he needs to do everything his sister does so pretty soon this is how they looked.  

Crue is all about the markers these days and since Claire is always busy with one project or another he usually has plenty of access to them.    He is also all about getting his picture taken these days and the second he sees a cell phone or camera he starts yelling "cheese".

 

Claire burned  out the motor on our last vacuum and it looks like Crue might do it to this one.  He loves to vacuum and can get quite mad if he is not given his fair share of vacuum time.   Look at that cheeser too.  He cracks me up.  I seriously love Claire's retro carpet.

 

Another fun game at our house is getting buried in the ever growing collection of stuffed animals. 

 

 

Claire trying to not get bucked off the horse.

Claire and Luke trying to get away from the lion.

 

Claire got an early Christmas present from our great neighbors which she immediately exclaimed was the "most amazing present in the world ever".  They gave her a childrens baking set.  My little girl loves to bake.  At 8:00 the next morning she had her dad out of bed and helping her put the baking set to good use. 

They made cupcakes and this gingerbread man. 

My Little Dancin' Girl

Claire had her first dance recital last weekend.  She practiced and practiced and all her hard work paid off...she did a great job.  It was so fun to watch her up on stage dancing her little heart out. 

Her dance recital was all she could talk about all day long.  And her excitement doubled when she realized that she would get to wear a little bit of makeup.  Several hours before her recital she was bouncing off the walls with excitement.  "Is it time to go yet?  Mom, I think it is time to go?  Does my makeup still look good mom?  Dad, how do I look?  Dad, come look at my hair and see how beautiful it looks.  Mom, Dad says like I look like I am six years old!!  It's dark outside so I think its time to go.  Mom, I don't want them to start without me."....and on and on it went.   We finally decided to get out of the house for awhile and go out to dinner just hoping to get her mind of the recital.



 

 

 

Several days later she told me that she needed to sleep on couch that night with her tap shoes on because the next day was going to be a big day.  I love how her "Big Day" consisted of dancing at an assisted living center and then going to the ward Christmas party.  She was so excited about her "big day" that we couldn't tell her no. 

My not so little anymore little guy

Over the last month my little baby boy has turned into a just a little boy. It makes me so sad in some ways but excited in other ways.

His speech has totally picked up and not only is he talking a ton, but we can actually understand him.

He has picked the terrible two's right up.

He has learned how to climb out of the crib in no time at all so he is officially in a toddler bed. I can't say he actually sleeps in it but he starts out there at least.

 

When we go check on him he is usually on the floor somewhere in his room.  Two little legs sticking out from under a blanket.   

Or sometimes he is found in the rocking chair.

I just had to include this.  Here is Claire sitting in our time out spot. It just kills Crue to see his sis in trouble and will try to sneak over and sit on her lap until she gets out.  On this day she ended up with two babies feeling sorry for her and keeping her company while she did her time. 

He really wants to just hang out with the big kids but it makes me happy that he still wants his mommy to rock him at night and sing him primary songs. 

He loves to sing popcorn popping.  He also thinks he should have complete control over the radio while we are in the car and gets mad if we don't listen to his songs.  This boy will have the primary songs all memorized long before he is ever a sunbeam.  

He loves to dance.

He still thinks his sister is the funniest person in the world. 

He torments his sister just as much as she torments him but they love each other so much.  When she is sad he runs over to give her hugs and comfort her and Claire instantly comes to his defense if she thinks another little kid is picking on him or if he is wronged in anyway. 

He is still a total mommy's boy but gets so excited when his daddy walks in the door after work and runs into his arms.

He tends to throw things if he doesn't get his way or else he will go over to the table and try to lift it up when he is mad.   

He loves to sweep and vacuum.

He gets into my make-up more than Claire ever has.

He has the best smile. 

We love you so much Crue. 

Thanksgiving

I love that our family is close enough that we get to spend all the holidays with them.  This year we started out our Thanksgiving weekend like we normally do...baking, baking, and then more baking.  This year we met at my house to make pies and we had so much fun.  I took tons of pictures and then realized that I never put the SD card in.  I'm brilliant!!  I had some great pictures of Crue too because he was totally into the whole pie making thing this year.  Anyway, we really did have a great time with my mom, sis, bro, and the kiddos. 

 

Thanksgiving morning was spent down at Thanksgiving Poing since Luke was running a half marathon there. He did a great job. We are proud of you babe!!

 

 
We had Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws and then went to my dad's for pies later that night.  It was a great day. 

St. George

After doing the TOU 1/2 several months ago we decided to sign up for another race to help us stay motivated to keep running.  (It worked for Luke but not so much for me.)  We looked around online and registered for the Butch Cassidy 10K just outside of Zions National Park.  Yep, Zions is kind of far to go for a 10K but we were looking for a good excuse to get out of town too and since a few of our favorite people are down south going to school that is where decided to go.  We had a great weekend!!  Luke and I had a date night while the kids went and played with Abbey and Callie, we did a little shopping, ran our race, went up to the red rocks, played away at an arcade, took the kids to the temple grounds, visited with Callie and Sam, and just had a great weekend. 

 

The race was in Springdale which is just outside of Zions and I must say it was absolutely beautiful running there. 

Me, Luke, and Abbey just before the race.

 We tried to go on a hike with the kids but soon gave up.  And why did we give up....this little boy is obsessed with rocks and wanted to pick up EVERY rock he saw along the way and when he couldn't pick up anymore rocks he would just plop down next to them and refuse to leave them.  It was actually quite entertaining. 

 

Here he is sitting with his rocks.  Refusing any help and not wanting to leave them.  He just make me laugh. 

 

Claire loved climbing on the rocks.

 

It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect.

 

My favorite part of the trip was when we came here.

The Saint George temple is so amazing and the kids loved the visitor center. 

 

Claire was so worried about Crue falling down the stairs and refused to let go of his hand.  She is such a good sis.   

Leaves are falling all around...

 

'Leaves are falling all around,

on the rooftops, on the ground...' 

Lately everytime we happen to be playing in the backyard this song just pops into my head and I end up singing it over and over again. I don't even know where I have heard the song before.  Is it a primary song?  I don't know.  But some how the lyrics and melody got stuck in my head and as long as it is fall outside I think they are just going to be staying there.  For weeks and weeks Claire has been anticipating leaves all over the ground, raking them up, jumping in them, and who knows what else.  So lets just say it was a very happy day around our house when the leaves finally fell.  Her and Crue and all the cousins spent hours outside.  At one point Luke was putting the leaves on the trampoline for them and they thought that was the coolest thing ever.     

 

 

 

It's not just outside that we have leaves (or in Crue's diaper)...we have them inside too but these ones this mama really likes.  We put together a Thankful Tree for Family Home Evening.  Each evening until Thanksgiving we all write on a leaf something we are grateful for and then place it on our tree.  It has been so fun hearing the things that Claire is grateful for and coming up with things for Crue.  Can't wait to see how full our tree gets before Thanksgiving. 

Let the fun begin

Here are the last of our Halloween pictures.  What can I say...we had a blast this year!!  Each year Claire gets more excited about it and Crue was even getting into it this year.

 

Even though we grew pumpkins in our garden we still decided to head out to the pumpkin patch in town to get a few more.  Picking out pumpkins and then going out for icecream has evolved into a tradition for Family Home Evening.

 

Then this last week for FHE we carved our pumpkins. 

(lol...ignore Claire's out of control hair.  It was teacher work day so she didn't have school and she told me that morning she didn't want her hair done at all.  All she wanted to do was play with her cousin Sydney all day long and that is exactly what they did.)

 

 

Claire had her Halloween parade and party at school.  She was so excited for it.  She got to pick who her partner was so of course she picked her best friend, Alabama. 

 

Earlier in the month the kids decorated a pumpkin for Miss Janet's Pumpkin Patch and then on Halloween they brought them home. 

 

 

Claire and Alabama

 

After the parade all the kids sang us some Halloween songs that they had been learning.

 

 

Our awesome neighbors brought us a pumpkin pizza for dinner.  We seriously have the best neighbors ever.

 

Then we all got ready and headed out.  We have never had more than 10 kids stop by on Halloween so now we don't even bother making sure one of us is home to give out candy.  I must say it is really kind of nice. 

 

Claire loved her pink and purple owl costume and insisted on wearing it all day and I must admit that Crue was the cutest little Mr. T ever.

 

 

 

I seriously can't get enough of this cute face.  And his hair just makes me laugh every time I see it.  We grew his hair out for two months just for Halloween and in the morning it will be cut short again. 

 

Crue had the whole Halloween thing perfected in no time.  He would walk right up to the doors with Claire and instantly start pounding on it, grab candy when they offered it to them, say thank you, grab a little more if they weren't paying attention, say thank you again, and then go back and sit in his seat and wait to be pushed to the next house.  At one point he had a sucker in his mouth, another unwrapped sucker in his hand, and he was trying to hold onto his bucket while unwrapping another piece of candy.  And if you even came close to touching his bucket he would YELL at you until you backed away. 

 

Our little fam on Halloween. 

 

 

Halloween Party

Today was the annual Halloween party and as always we had so much fun.  I love seeing everyone in their costumes, eating yummy soup and treats, and playing fun games.  We really had a great time.

 

All the cousins

 

Our little Mr. T

 

Claire kept changing her mind on what she wanted to be but finally settled on a pink and purple owl.

 

Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein

 

 

How awesome are these costumes!!  My brother is Captain Hook, my mom as Peter Pan, and Ron as Tinker Bell.

 

Ron definately won best costume!!  He went all out...fake lashes and all.

 

We had a race to see who could make a mummy first.

 

The youngest ones ended up winning.

We bowled with pumpkins.

 

Played a little bit of piano

 

Crue taking advantage of all eyes on the games being played.  He just sat himself down in front of all the carmel apple toppings and started eating away.