Trick or Treat?

I love the Fall! It's so much fun with these little ones. We took the kids to the pumpkin patch by Westminster mall. It was great for pictures and Jude was introduced to a new hero: Batman. Poor little guy is surrounded by princesses it was like he finally found the mother ship or something. Jamin and Zoe carved the pumpkin for Family Night and I think it turned out pretty good. We went to our ward trunk or treat to do a test run for Halloween the week before. Jamin's work had a kid party during the week that had a bounce house and that's really all Zoe needed, but there was face painting and cookie decorating too. On Halloween we typically would go to Mains st. so we stopped by but to my disappointment the bounce houses were lacking and there was no petting Zoo. Stores were giving out candy though. I was so impressed that Jude kept his costume on. He actually like having it on. While on Main st. 2 people seriously stopped me and asked if the could take pictures of Jude or with him. Funny, huh? I was curious to see how trick or treating went in our new neighborhood. Much to my delight it was great! Kids were out knocking on doors and houses were ready to offer them candy with warm smiles. Zoe got really good at it too. She was a little skeptical her first few houses but once we caught up with some other trick or treaters she fell in line and was at the front knocking and yelling,"trick or treat!" Jude was a trooper. We eventually gave him a sucker to help him endure all the trick or treating. Another fun time was had. Now what to do with all of the candy....?

Halloween Time

Happy Anniversary!

I woke up this morning to find this on our table. What a great surprise! It hit the spot on the "awesome things my husband does" scale. Thank you Jamin. I love you! Happy 6th year anniversary!

House Update

before

after


Here is what our house looks like today. What a big difference from when we bought. We have painted it ourselves with a lot of help from family but I think we did a pretty good job. Now we just need some plants. I'm still trying to figure out what those will be though. Any landscapers out there have any ideas? We were thinking tropical but aren't really sure what will work best in the space or against the wood siding. To be continued...

He's 1!

Our little Jude is a year old!! Let me tell you, it went by so fast! He's been walking for a few weeks now and he's 1! What happened to my little baby? How did this go by so fast? Zoe's first year wasn't nearly this fast or painless. He is such a sweet little guy! I just want to eat him up. I want it to slow down. I want to play with him on the floor more and have those moments when I had to feed him in the early morning. Those intimate moments that begin the relationship between mother and child are so precious. I must say, I don't miss the no sleep part. To be frank, it makes me slightly insane. I'm glad to be feeling like myself again. Having done a 1st birthday party before I wasn't up for all of the hoopla and potential drama. We had a little family party at my parents house that he shared with his cousin because their birthdays are 4 days apart (who's 14). It was perfect and their are plenty of pictures for him to look at to show that we did something. Currently he is walking pretty fast to keep up with his sister. He doesn't say much except "mama" when he is really hungry. He saw his first airplane in the sky 2 days ago and went,"whoa!". He will play by himself or with Zoe. He is a picky eater and will quickly spit out food he doesn't like. If he wants something he will bring it to me or me to it, he's pretty cute. I think I''ll keep him.

Friends to creatures great and small

I can't ever remember the day anymore but some day not too long ago we decided it would be fun to feed the squirrels or at least go look at them. There is a long patch of grass by our house that is home to many squirrels and we told Zoe we would take her to see them. My experience with squirrels has been with the timid ones. I have to say I was a little scared and feared that one might quickly scamper up my arm and perch itself on my shoulder. These squirrels were psycho and more aggressive than I've ever seen one be! As we raced away on our bikes I seriously looked behind me to see if we were being chased. Maybe it's evolution? Kind of like teenage girls?

I am now at a respectable age where people don't ask how old a girl is, they just wish her a happy birthday. Disneyland is free on your birthday and if you already have a pass you get a $72 gift card to spend on merchandise. So, really I went to Disneyland and got a free Billabong jacket. Thank you Walt Disney, it was just what I wanted. We spent a long day there it was a sweaty lot of fun. As we were leaving I remembered to take out the camera and that's what we got.