Halloween Fun

This past weekend we were able to go to Bryan's cousin's Halloween party. This is something we look forward to each year. It is always a good time. We are so glad they have it every year. They have a costume contest were we all vote for who had the best costume. Results will be on this post in a bit. This year they did a Price is Right theme game. John (Bryan's cousin) was Bob Barker and LeeAnn (John's wife) was Rod Roddy...I went as a Bob Barker Beauty (I wasn't so cute so I won't make you all suffer with seeing a picture of me). I will however post a picture of my girls and Bryan in their costumes...mostly because they won. Claire and Mia won. They were Princess Peach and Toadstool from Super Mario Brothers.

Claire was so determined to be Princess Peach. We finally found a costume. It was like 7 inches too long so we had to fix it where it fit, but it looks so cute on her. Then my mother-in-law helped me make a pattern and I made Mia's hat and vest for her costume.

I'm not sure how many of you have seen the SNL more cowbell with Will Ferrell. If you haven't seen it you need to look it up and watch it . If you have never seen it Bryan's costume won't make much sense. Bryan tied for the winner of the best adult costume at the party.

For Family Home Evening this week we made a haunted gingerbread house. I say we, but really it was Bryan and Claire making it and I held Mia and took pictures. Here are a few pictures of them making it and the finished product.

Claire got to do something that helped us to see how much she has grown and that she truly is a great big sister. She got to feed Mia.

It isn't often that Mia gets a bottle, but she had one the other day and Claire was just so excited to be the one to feed her the bottle. She asked if she could feed Mia and it was so cute to watch her do it. Then today was my preschool Halloween party. It was a bit crazy, but I think everyone had a good time. Here is a picture of Claire with two of her cousins who attend our little preschool.

Here is Mia in her cute little Halloween shirt. I couldn't help but post such a cute picture.

Here is the picture close up because I couldn't resist posting such a cute picture of the smile and the chubby cheeks and the little fohawk.

ONE YEAR!!!

I wanted to just tell everyone that reads this blog how proud I am of my parents. Last year this happened....

They have now been serving the Lord on their mission in Sweden for one year now. I love them so much and I am grateful for their example and dedication of serving the Lord. Thanks for all you do Mom and Dad!!!

The Fair

A few weeks ago we went to the fair. I've never been to the fair before (at least I can't remember going to one)...Here are a few pictures from it. This one is of Claire next to the huge zucchini and also the huge cherry tomatoes.

Here is Claire next to the massive pumpkins. The one with the ribbons on it was 420 lbs.

Of course we had to let her go on a few rides.

We had so much fun. Thanks John and LeeAnn for having us go with you and introducing me to elephant ears!!! It was fun and we loved our time with you...and the cotton candy was yummy too.

Hot Stuff

Claire has had a difficult time lately. She has learned to spit and enjoys doing it. She will spit pretty much every where we go...the park, on cars in parking lots, her bed, etc... I got fed up with it one day and put some cayenne pepper on her tongue. Just enough it taught her that it is hot and we shouldn't spit. I felt like a horrible mother, but it worked. She hasn't spit in over a week now. YEAH!!!

Well that isn't the point of this post the point is to tell how much she has understood we don't spit. The other day Bryan was working in the garage and Claire was out with him...she came in and told me she needed the "hot stuff". I asked her if she spit outside and she told me no. I then asked her why she needed the "hot stuff". She responded to me by saying "Daddy spit, he needs the hot stuff on his tongue". I gave her the cayenne pepper powder and she took it out to him and kept telling him he needed to put it on his tongue. She was persistent and stood her ground until Bryan put the powder on his tongue. I guess my moment of feeling like a bad mom is paying off.

Playing with Mia

Claire loves being a big sister and she always wants to play with Mia. This is an example of how Claire plays with Mia. They are playing with the farm together.

Here is another great example of how Claire plays with Mia. Claire is into calling people on the phone. She wanted Mia to play with her on the phones. So this is what Claire came up with.

Preschool

I have been teaching Claire and some of her friends preschool each week. I know many of you might think I'm crazy having a newborn and teaching 8 kids preschool...you may be right. Here are some of the preschool pictures I've taken. (I'm sure there will be more pictures to come in future posts) First off here is another picture of Claire before preschool. Aunt Janelle and Grandma Lois bought this outfit for Claire. She calls it her rock star outfit...she says she looks like her Aunt Terin. I just think she looks cute.

In this picture some of the kids are making Autumn Wreaths out of paper leaves and paper plates.

This past week we talked about different birds. We made an owl puppet and acted like birds. One of the things you could do with the kids is make a bird nest. Claire, Bryan and I made the bird's nests yesterday. Here is a picture of Bryan and Claire making the nests.

Here is Claire and I with our finished bird's nests. (They were actually yummy too)

Claire practices her writing skills too.

Here she is painting an apple. It is a for Johnny Appleseed's birthday. The instructions called it a pointillism painting. Basically you take the pencil eraser and dip it in paint and dot the paint on the apple shape.

Updates

These past two weeks have been quite the adventure. It has been a little adjustment to having two kids. It is wonderful though. Claire loves being a big sister. She doesn't like it when her little sister cries. She loves to sit by her sister and look at her.

Claire loves to hold Mia and always asks if she can. It is really cute.

Claire started preschool this past week. I had to have her sit on the front porch and take a first day of school picture (which is funny because I'm teaching her preschool, so all she had to do was wear her backpack outside and then back in the house for school).

Then when Mia was a week old, a good friend came over to take newborn pictures of her. The pictures were taken to showcase these beautiful silk bows. There were so many wonderful pictures taken and here are just a few of them.