Snow Bound

This week it snowed here. It started in the late evening and then continued into the morning. When Claire woke up and came into my room. She opened my curtains and said "look what it did mom. Let's play!" So I got up and got Claire dressed and she went out on the back porch and played. i watched and took pictures since Mia was awake. Here Claire is all ready to go:

In this one she is trying to do a snow angel.

Then one of her playing.

Laughing

This is a video that we got of Mia laughing for the first time. You just need to be patient because Claire wanted the attention too so she kept putting things in front of the camera.

Preschool

Claire and I did our one on one preschool day this morning and we had a great time. We talked about our 5 senses, Veteran's Day and also Claude Monet's birthday. Here she is with one of her projects she made this week.

Pumpkins

We always have fun carving our pumpkins. This year Claire actually got into it and would help pull out the insides and also poke the holes. She even got to pick her pumpkin out of grandma's pumpkin patch. She was so excited about it. Here is Claire's pumpkin:

Here is my pumpkin:

Here is Bryan's pumpkin:

Here is how Mia contributed to our pumpkin carving experience.

Finally here is a new little family tradition we've had the past two years now (Thanks to my sisters telling me how to do them), we made mummy dogs. Here is Claire with her mummy dog. She loves to make and eat them.

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.