Halloween Day

We had a great surprise show up on Halloween day and that was PAPA!! We love papa and were so excited to have him drive out for one of his 24 hour trips to be with us on Halloween.

We played outside, carved our pumpkin and had a fun evening trick or treating. Here are a few pictures from our Halloween Day.

Ethan enjoyed helping me carve the pumpkin :)

Hollie and her papa!

This may look bad, but I promise it's not. Ethan doesn't like to just be pushed in the swing he likes it to be a rollercoaster. He loves to be pushed high. Here Ryan is laying on the ground under him and when Ethan went up Ryan took his picture. Ethan was laughing so hard and kept saying more, more. Funny Kid.

Well, so much for buying the Gabriella costume. Hollie decided that she wanted to be Belle instead. She was a beautiful Belle, who did have a little attitude. What is a princess without attitude? Ethan was a lion, but wouldn't keep the costume on, so I didn't bother taking his picture since I already had one.

Hollie loved having her Papa here. She wanted to trick or treat with just him and he was the only one allowed to go up to the door with her. It was cute watching them walk down the street and enjoy their time together...she is definetly papa's girl!

Trunk Or Treat

Our ward had our annual Trunk or Treat tonight along with a Chilli cook-off. I first was debating on wether or not to go because Ryan does Athletic Training at the Highland football games on Friday nights, so that means I would be soloing it with my 2 little ones...that wasn't very exciting to me due to the fact that they both are in bed between 6:30 and 7. But thanks to my great friend I made it and she helped me with my kids and I enjoyed myself and Hollie LOVED running around with Kruz trick or treating. Ethan was pretty good, he helped me hand out candy and entertained himself by climbing in and out of his stroller.

If I back up a bit to today when I was asking Hollie if she was going to wear her Gabriella costume she said, "No I want to be a princess tonight". I said, okay because I knew we could pull this off thanks to Janene and my dad for a chest full of dress-up clothes and all the accessories that go with them. We headed to the chest and she figured out she wanted to be Belle. I said, Perfect and she turned out to be the most beautiful Belle EVER!

Ethan the lion

Hollie our Princess Belle
I am anxious to see who she wants to be tomorrow night, Halloween night.
We had a fun evening and the kids came straight home, took a bath and were out sleeping in seconds!

Pre-school Halloween Parade

First of all I need to say that Halloween is NOT my favorite Holiday. First I do not like all the scary stuff and second of all I am NOT a fan of dressing up. Ryan and I go to our friends Halloween party every year and we always come as, Ryan and Kerri Larson. I am trying to get better at liking it for my kids sake, but that is not going to be easy...like I said I am TRYING. My house is decorated for fall, but not really Halloween and I like it that way.

Anyway, at pre-school on Thursday Hollie's class put on a little Halloween parade for all of us parents the last half hour of class. It was great seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes and excited about showing them off. When Hollie and I went looking for a Halloween costume she wasn't sure what she wanted to be until she found the most perfect costume ever and that was Gabriella from High School Musical. Once she layed eyes on that it was Love At First Sight. She came straight home, put it on and even put on the sandals just like Gabriella..So cute! She was so excited Thursday morning to put on her outfit and do all we could to make her look just like Gabriella. I was very proud of my little "Gabriella" she did a fantastic job.

All the kids in their costumes...even Mrs. Becky!

The kids were singing some of the songs that they have learned...it was so cute!

Hollie holding her pumpkin that she painted purple

Fall is finally here!!!!

Wow, I was beginning to think the weather was never going to cool down, but it did!!!! And this was a cause for celebration. We got the kids footie jammies and they both were SO excited to wear them, we ate nice warm chili for dinner and then had our scripture study right next to the fireplace. It was a beautiful cold evening and I honestly LOVED every bit of it. I hope it continues to stay cold, but it looks like we may be up in the 80's this weekend. I have enjoyed wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts and even a jacket. Gotta soak up and enjoy the cool weather while we can.

Our 2 Little Halloween kids

Our 2 munchkins ready for bed in their Halloween jammies.

Vertuccio Farms Pumpkin Patch

For our Pre-school field trip this month we went to Vertuccio Farms. (The farm located off of Power Rd. and Warner). I have to say that we all had a lot of fun! Our family has been there before to get a Christmas Tree and pumpkins, but we never did the "fun" stuff and this time we did!

It first started off we a "BIG" lecture to my little girly telling her that if she was misbehaving and not being nice to mommy that we were going to pick up and leave. She understood and we had a fantastic time...not once did she act up.

We started off with the pre-school class picture (there are a few kids missing)

Next we were off to the "Pizza Farm". This was really neat. In a circle there was everything you need to make a pizza. First the wheat for the bread, then the tomatoes for the sauce, then the seasonings you put in the sauce-oregano and a few others, then the goat for the cheese and a cow, then the pigs for the pepperoni...pretty cool. The kids were so excited and loved learning how to make a pizza.

Here Mr. Vertuccio gave us a tour of the pizza Farm.

After this we were off to learning how to milk the cow...a fake cow I must say. Each child took a turn and was able to milk (water) the cow.

Kruz

Hollie

Following that we sat down, had a snack and a drink and then off to the corn maze. Now, this was an adventure. Since Mr. E came with us, I decided it would be easier to take the stroller through.....NOT!!! It was such a work out and kinda funny at the same time. I was glad to know that I was not the only one who did this there were 2 other mom's pushing strollers too. Lets just say the our kids took off with the other adults while we pushed, pulled and used every muscle in our body to get our strollers through the corn maze. Ethan was enjoying every minute of it...he must of felt like he was "off roading".

Following the corn maze...I was exhausted...but there were still a few more things to do. The kids got to go on a cow barrell ride around the farm and I would be safe to say, that was all of their favorite part.

Kruz and Hollie on the cow barrell ride...they LOVED this.

Following that we headed out to the pumpkin patch were the kids each got to pick their own pumpkin.

Showing off their pumpkins And last but not least the kids got to jump in the bounce house for 10 minutes and then we were SO ready to head home, eat lunch and take naps.
It was a great, fun and successful field trip. We loved having Kruz (Hollie's friend) come along with us and he is more than welcome to come anytime! Thanks buddy for being SO good and having a fun time with us.

A crazy and embarassing day

Hollie has school Tues, Wed and Thurs. Those are usually the days that I will run errands because it is a little easier with one child...I thought. This particular day it was NOT easy. We started out at CVS. We got in and Ethan was good until it was time to check out. I was up at the checkout and Ethan was pulling candy off the shelves...why do they keep that stuff right at a child's level??? He was climbing out of the cart (it was one of those "kid friendly"carts). The lady behind us gave Ethan 2 balls to play with, now, why in the world would you give a boy a ball, yet alone 2?? Yes, ofcourse he threw them and I had to go pick them up and thank goodness he didn't knock anything over. We finally get out of there safely, put things in the car and head on over to fry's. Yes, can you believe I ever attempted to go to another store, well, let me just say this I regret it and so does my car. We get into fry's and I first attempt the produce section. ( I didn't have much to get but I needed a few things for dinner). Throughout the store Ethan is throwing whatever he can get his hands on out of the cart..yes, he can reach back pretty far. Again he was trying so hard to climb out. I was moving quick throughout the store, but not quick enough. He is trying to climb out, screaming and is completely uncontrollable. I get in line to check out and, ofcourse, it is VERY slow...not helping my situation. Four firemen get in line behind me they are trying to console my uncontrollable son and at the same time laughing. He is pulling at the magazines, candy and all the fun stuff they have on either side of you while in line. I get everything on the belt, check out and as the bagger is putting the groceries in the bags Ethan's hands are quicker than his and some of my produce is quickly landing on the floor. I pick it up and look back at the firemen and say, if there is anything left behind me go ahead pick it up and you can have it. I was anxious to get OUT of there. I quickly load the groceries in the car, change Ethan's soaking wet diaper, put him in his seat and sit down. I take a deep breath, laugh and start to back out. I all of a sudden hear this loud noise look behind me and I don't see anything, but know I hit something. I get out, go to the back of my car to see that I forgot to put the cart away, which was still behind my car, but now knocked over on the ground. I now have a nice scratch along the back bumper of my car!! WHAT A DORK!!!!!!!!!!! Can I say how STUPID I felt. I was SO embarassed that I quickly put the cart away, jumped in my car and drove away.
We get home, open the back of the car to find that dish soap had spilt. Luckily most of it was in the bag and not all over my car. I was putting things away and realized, somehow, that I only made it home with 1 tube of toothpaste and not the second one, which was aleady paid for. I Called CVS, it was there and we had to go back to get it.
Moral of my crazy story, having one kid DOESN'T make running errands ANY easier!

Sunday Dress

Sundays are getting easier and easier. Ethan has now sat through 2 FULL sacrament meetings...those are about and hour and 15 minutes long. We used to be able to sit through the first 10 minutes and that was about it. We have now not had to take him out not even once, the last two times. It was amazing, such a miracle. Ever since he was a little baby we have never been able to sit through all of sacrament meeting and now we are slowly improving and that is exciting for us. He has started nursery and is in the same class with Hollie. It is so cute watching the two go to class together, Hollie is such a good big sister and takes great care of Ethan. For Ethan's first day of nursery we put him in a shirt and tie and boy did he look grown up and SO handsome.

She looks like a girl from the 50's...SO CUTE!!

Ethan's poop story

I know this is going to be gross, but I just have to blog it, because I will be printing this out and it HAS to be included.

Monday September 21, 2009 was the grossest morning of my life! Our morning started out normal, up at 6am with Mr. E, ate breakfast, got dressed and was ready to start our day. By 7:45 I was stripping sheets, doing laundry and trying to be quiet because Hollie was still sleeping. I left Ethan downstairs for about 5 minutes. He was watching Ciallou, had his milk and was very content. I see Mr. E coming upstairs and I said, let's be quiet bud, sissy is still sleeping. I picked him up and realized he was stinky. I took him into his room, layed him on the floor to change his diaper and realized that he has poop all over his hand, forehead and legs...I was TOTALLY grossed out. I quickly picked him up and took him to the tub. I didn't even know where to begin, it all was so gross. When I got him in the tub I realized I had poop all over my shirt and shorts from when I carried him the first time. I cleaned him up, got him smelling like a nice baby and was off to clean myself up. By now Hollie was awake because of all the commotion and I was sick to my stomach. We go downstairs and with a great suprise I see that half of my beautiful sofa is covered in POOP. Yep, can we say DISCUSTING!!!! Ethan must have been having a hayday in his diaper. I truly didn't even know where to begin. He had eaten raisins the day before and those were all over the sofa also. I quickly called Ryan and said, you will not believe what "YOUR" son has done. (Anytime the kids do something gross they quickly become Ryan's child, hehe). He about died and was laughing. I told him that I would be laughing if I were him too because I wouldn't have to clean it up. After trying to figure out what to do, I got some rags and cleaner and went to work. I was gagging throughout the process and for the whole rest of the day I couldn't get the smell of poop gone. I finally tried putting some vicks vapor rub under my nose, because the smell was making me sick. This whole thing was so gross that I just couldn't "capture" the moment, so there are no pictures.
Thanks to my amazing husband for cleaning our whole sofa with our carpet cleaner and sanitizer.

The "Dinosaur" Museum

Wow, I have just been slacking in the blogging department...well, I do have a few good excuses, this is not one of them, just an update.

A month ago Hollie's pre-school went on their first field trip to the Arizona Museum of Natural History, aka Dinosaur Museum. Let me just say that it was an experience, something I hope that doesn't repeat at the upcoming field trip we have on Thursday to the pumpkin patch. The only way to sum it up is, that by the time I left I felt like I was the worlds worst mom, that my 3 1/2 year old is completely out of control and FULL of attitude. It was one of those moments that when we got home I just cried. I couldn't understand why Hollie was acting the way she was. It truly broke my heart. We were so excited to go and the minute we got there, Hollie completely shut down and didn't want anything to do with me and when I tried to show her something, take a picture or just have fun with her she screamed and threw a fit. I talked with her teacher and she said that this is a whole different side of Hollie and that Hollie is great in school. Well, I am glad she is good at school, but do I make her this way, everything I do for her is this how I deserve to get treated...let me just say I felt horrible. After talking with my amazing husband he re-assured me that I was a good mom and that Hollie loves me and that that is just our girl. I really think that she doesn't like crowds and all the attention...I know, can you imagine that, a girl that doesn't like all the attention:) Anyway, Hollie and I had a great talk after that, she apologized and hopefully this next field trip will be a little better. Here are a few pictures of our trip to the museum.

Here is the class picture. Can you find Ms. Hollie? Well, you will not see her adorable little face because she turned her back and was telling us to stop taking her picture...that's my girl!

We were lucky enough to get a few with her looking once we got inside, but she is not smiling

The only one of her smiling and you want to know why? because I told her papa wants one picture of her smiling, so this one is for you dad!

Hollie in front of the dinosaur throwing a fit. And no, I was not forcing her, I asked very nicely and this is what she did, so I had to take a picture.

Outside paning for gold. This was fun, but she was being a stinker. I really was trying SO hard to be patient, kind and loving and it just broke my heart when all I would get back was attitude.

.Hollie, just always know I LOVE you more than anything in this world and you are teaching me way to much at the age of 3! Love you girlie!