Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween Night

Halloween did not disappoint this year. John got home early from work and Sara and Henry were able to come and spend the evening with us. Eleanor and I made a cinnamon bread spider which turned out pretty good. I was going to try and make something spooky for dinner but didn't have time but we did have some yummy butternut squash soup.

Eleanor was planning on being a princess but last minute she asked if she could be the witch from It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I tried talking her into wearing a green mask and a witch hat but she only wanted to wear the white sheet. I was actually thrilled that she asked to be the witch rather then the princess. I have a thing for homemade costumes. I think they are so much fun and I think she looked so cute in her little white sheet. Eleanor was pretty excited to hit every house in the neighborhood. Its nice living in an area where we know some many people.

Amelia and Henry were little buds and went as Winny the Pooh and Piglet. It was pretty dang cute watching the two of them. Henry has the best little walk and you could tell he was quite proud of his outfit. He was dripping wet when Sara took off his costume! Amelia had a great night. She didn't want to wear her costume when I tried it on her earlier today but I told her she could only get candy and see Henry if she wore her costume. I don't think she complained once about her costume all night! She had a great time walking around the neighborhood. She was excited to have Henry and Sara with us. She kept telling Sara to watch her as she walked up to the doors.

Jude got to wear the traditional pumpkin costume. All three of our kids have worn it for their first Halloween. I was a little afraid Jude wouldn't fit in it but we were able to squeeze him into it. He was a pretty cute little pumpkin. It's hard to think that he'll be walking around next Halloween.

Overall we had a great night. I'm sad to see Halloween be over but I'm excited to know that the holidays are just around the corner!! And even more excited that our newest little niece will be here by the end of the week!! Yeah!















Sunday, October 30, 2011

Jude's Room






A few weeks before Jude was born I moved the girls downstairs. Well, actually Amelia still sleeps in the crib and will probably do so until I move Jude from the bassinet. Its been nice to have the girls downstairs and to have a space just for Jude.

Happy Halloween!


I love Halloween and I love that John loves it too! He's always such a good sport to go along with the family theme each year. This year was very last minute but I think it came together great. We all dressed up for John's work trick-or-treating but by the time we tried getting photos the kids were done! So, I made all of us dress up again for Katelyn's birthday party (which actually wasn't even a costume party. Oops).

When I first got Amelia and Eleanor in their costumes Eleanor said to Amelia, "You look like a girl from Idaho and I look like a girl from Las Vegas!". Classic Eleanor. She loved being dressed in what she thought was the fanciest dress ever (my slip) and having her eyeliner and mascara on. She wasn't too thrilled about the mole I put on her face the first day and refused to allow me to put one on the second day (so I had to photoshop one on). She had another costume party just before Katelyn's and I told her she could go as what ever she wanted but she really wanted to go as Ginger.

Amelia could care less what she looked like, she just wanted ALL the candy. It was so much fun watching her at John's work. She would take candy from anyone (which was nearly every employee) and had no problem asking people to open her candy. She also loved seeing all the scary costumes and would say, "scaaaaary". I was also impressed she kept her wig on the entire 2 hours!

Jude had no clue why I was making him wear a size 18-24 shirt and a sailor hat pinned in half but he was a good sport and went along with it! It made me really sad looking at this photo and seeing just how big our little boy has gotten.

John's costume cracked me up! His hat was about 10 sizes too small but he still wore it all day! His pants were also a little too small and I told him to just not tuck in his shirt but he refused. He'd looked at all the photos of The Skipper and his shirt was tucked in so by darn his was going to be tucked in as well! He also didn't think anyone was going to get the whole Gilligan's Island theme and was surprised when people knew who he was even without the rest of the gang.

My outfit is by far the most hideous but of course I put mine off until the very last minute. When Eleanor saw my dress she asked me to buy her one just like it if I ever found it in her size. She also was very jealous that I got to wear the pearl necklaces and white gloves but she was not envious of my wig. I seriously never looked at myself in the mirror and now I'm wishing I would have at least combed the wig. Oh well.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Jude

This sweet little baby boy won't stop growing! I hate that he is past the newborn stage but I am loving that his little personality is starting to develop. I haven't been able to capture it yet but Jude has got the best smile. He smiles most when his two sisters are laying next to him, giving him kisses and/or playing with him. You'd think he'd be pretty annoyed with them in his face all day but surprisingly he really does like it. He's one loved little boy!

He didn't like the bath the first few times but now he's very relaxed and stays in there for a about 15 minutes. He's a little more difficult to bathe then the girls. His neck has multiple layers of wrinkles to clean as well as his thighs.

Jude is my first baby that loves to be swaddled. At night when he's getting fussy I start wrapping him in his miracle blanket and by the time he's all bundled up he's calm and almost asleep. He still likes to be rocked to sleep which I love! He does pretty good sleeping at night. He goes down around 9 then wakes up around 2 and then 5. I can't complain. He's not the greatest cuddlier but we are working on it. He's taken a few good naps on my chest and I love it! He defiantly prefers to be held but he also enjoys being in the swing or on the couch.

I can't even describe how much we love this little boy and love having him in our family!






Thursday, October 27, 2011

Amelia

I love this little girl! All I have to do is take one little peak at her and I'm grinning from ear to ear! She is at a really fun stage right now. Just the past few weeks she has started talking so much more. She now puts words together and will repeat ANYTHING you say (I've heard her say a few things I'm sure she picked up from John!). Speaking of John, every night when John gets home Amelia hears the garage door opens and runs right to the garage door. She then follows John into our bedroom and starts telling him all about her day. John says he can tell she is trying to tell him everything and talks a mile a minute! I think this little quality time is so cute and hope it continues throughout the years.

One of my favorite things about Amelia right now is her love for shoes especially flip flops or as she calls them bac bacs. I didn't believe it either at first, but the girl knows how to put her shoes on the right feet. Amy and Sara tried convincing me of while I was in the hospital with Jude but I thought it was always just a fluke. She constantly has a pair of shoes on her little feet and will get so upset if she can't find the pair of shoes she is looking.

Just a few days ago she started calling Eleanor "Ella Bella" and she yells it at the top of her lungs. This drives Eleanor crazy which I think makes it more enjoyable for Amelia.

She loves her baby dolls! Well, she loves Henry's baby doll. Sara got Henry a doll and Amelia has kidnapped it. She totally knows it's Henry's doll and refers to it as "Henry's baby". Every time we leave the house she has to take a baby with her. She kisses her babies all the time and has just started wanting them to wear different outfits ALL DAY long! Drives me a little crazy but I love the outfits she comes up with (like baby wipes).

Jude's biggest fan in Amelia. She LOVES her "buder". She loves laying down next (or on top) to him and giving him kisses. She also loves to point out every part of his body and thinks it's funny when he has a poopy diaper. When Jude was about 2 weeks old she was sitting next to me while I was changing his diaper and he peeded directly in her mouth!! She spit it out, started crying and said, "drink yucky mouth". It was hilarious and now she loves telling people about it!

When Amelia gets tired she says, "Hold you. Arm". This means she wants me us to hold her and she wants to rub our arm. Eleanor loved rubbing our chin and Amelia loves our arms. We always have to remind her not to pinch while she is rubbing.

Amelia loves music and loves to dance. When she wants music on she says "Gaga". She thinks all musicians are Lady Gaga.

I don't think I've seen a messier eater. Nearly every meal ends up in her hair, down her clothes, on the floor and on Miley. Today she stuffed her pockets full of pasta when she decided she was full.

You've never heard anyone say I" Love You" as cute as she does. She says, "Nuv you". It's perfect!

She is completely obsessed with motorcycles. She can spot one a mile away and yells "macacycle" every time she sees one. Mimi got her a little riding motorcycle for an early birthday present and she can ride that for hours!

Amelia loves being outside. I let her go out back by herself and she is totally in her element. She loves going down the slide and has no fear! She can play for hours at the rock patio. Our neighbors have a little kitten that jumps the fence and Amelia loves playing with it.

I love when I do her hair in two little ponies. She looks so adorable! She too likes having her hair done and will often bring me a comb and say "pretty".

She still loves her lotion. She doesn't eat it as much now, instead she loves putting it in her hair and I just discovered she's been covering Jude's head in lotion as well.

She still has her strong sweet tooth!!

Amelia is the little clown in our family. She loves getting people to laugh. If she knows you think something is funny she'll do it over and over again and will say "watch". I don't know how many times a day I hear, "Mama watch" and then she'll do something. Sometimes it's something cute or funny but most of the time it's something so simple or dumb. It cracks me up!

I know I could go on and on about other things I love about her but I have a crying baby and Amelia is begging for her milk.







*She is also very difficult to photograph. She thinks its funny to avoid the camera!!

Pumpkin Patch Take Two

My kids were lucky enough to go visit another pumpkin patch and this time they got to go with Henry and Aunt Sara. Amelia and Henry were in heaven. Amelia loved the hay and Henry seemed to love everything. Eleanor searched and searched for the perfect pumpkin but was never able to find one. Both she and Amelia ended up with some cute little gourds. I couldn't believe how beautiful the weather was. It really was the perfect afternoon to spend at the pumpkin patch.









Monday, October 24, 2011

Amelia Turned Two!

Amelia has turned two and she is living up to the terrible two syndrome! No, just kidding...well maybe just half kidding. We sure love this little girl and would hate to think of our family without her.

The morning of her birthday was lots of fun. She had her birthday party the night before so she knew all about opening presents and didn't waste any time.

It was impossible to get her to look at the camera. She thinks she is so funny when she does this and it drives me nuts!For her birthday we wanted to do things she loves (its a lot easier when they don't realize they can actually choose what they get to do). We went hiking a few weeks back and Eleanor hasn't stopped talking about it. So, after her presents were opened we headed up to Provo canyon and did the little hike (aka walk) to Bridal Veil Falls. It was such a beautiful day and we were surprised to see that the leaves were still on some of the trees and were so colorful. Amelia had a blast gathering leaves and sticks. She was kind of a little pill when I tried taking her photo and she wasn't too thrilled that I made her stay out of the creek.

After our hike we ran a few errands so Amelia could get a little nap before dinner. Last time we were at Texas Roadhouse, Amelia loved the cinnamon butter so we decided to take her there. Right when we sat down she asked for bread and "sauce".

We planned on going swimming after dinner but we were all to stuffed. Overall it was a great birthday and it was fun being able to spend the day together.