hApPy hAlLoWeEn!

What a fun weekend we had over Halloween. It was full of excitement as we all waited with great anticipation for Grandma and Grandpa to come. They arrived Friday evening, just in time for us to go to the ward Trunk or Treat. The weather was perfect and we had such a good turn out at the Trunk or Treat - it was so fun to see our friends and their kids' costumes. Here were my little characters - as pirates:

The kids saw their costumes come in the mail a couple weeks ago and got to put them on then. Since then they have been so excited to wear them. Cash kept saying, " I real pirate," and "argh!"

Do you see the mustache and chest hair. Loved those little touches, although you couldn't see them once we got the kids all dressed up for a little cooler weather.

Vanna was a pir-ette. Her little tu-tu and headband had little white skulls on it. She didn't quite know what to think about the outfit - and she definitely hated me doing her hair in lots of little ponies but doesn't she look adorable?!

These were Ty and Cash's pumpkins. I opted out this year - I know - party pooper. But these turned out cute and Cash loved doing the project with his Dad.

Saturday we got some projects done around the house that my mom helped me with (making a FHE plaque to hang on the wall and caulking between our countertops and travertine backsplashes). We also enjoyed a local pizza joint with the grandparents and then went Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. Most of our neighbors are older and adore the kids as if they were their own grandkids so that's fun. We even had some neighbors bring each of them over a bag of candy because they were just leaving their house and were afraid they'd miss their peak at the kids and their plea for more candy :). That neat we were treated to our Stake's Adult Session of Stake Conference while our parents watched the kids. This was a special occasion because our stake leadership was being reorganized and we were blessed with the opportunity to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry (of the Quorem of the Twelve Apostles) and Elder Chambers (of the Seventy) as they were on assignment to take care of the reorganization. How neat! Of course, we got more out of the Saturday night session than we did on Sunday with our little tikes keeping us busy. It was a great experience though.

My step-dad took my mom fishing Monday morning while I got a few things done around the house and then we chowed on Wingers that night. Grandma and Grandpa had to go home on Tuesday - much to the dissappointment of the kids (and I can't lie, me too). We had such a good visit with them and got such a kick out of Cash's facsination with everything Grandpa. Everywhere Grandpa went/did, Cash asked, "What doin' Grandpa?!" We hate to see our visitors go but now we can look forward to seeing the family on Thanksgiving. Yeah!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY- TWICE

We had a wonderful weekend with Ty's parents. They made it up Friday afternoon and when they arrived we showed them our house (which probably looked totally different from the pretty much empty house they helped us move into), the bike (and of course Ty took both his mom and dad on a short ride), and then we just visited and watched a movie we'd rented since it turned out rainy that day. Saturday we celebrated Ty and James' birthdays. Ty was born on his dad's birthday - October 25th which was Sunday so we wanted to play on Saturday with teh two birthday boys. Itwas a bit cold but we still went forward with our plans and picked out pumpkins to carve at a local large pumpkin patch, went to a local corn maize that was fun - the kids especially liked it (it was most everyone's first corn maize experience), went to dinner at Sizzler, and played lots of games and filled up on birthday cake that evening.

It was a great day and so good to have James and Orillia visit. Cash was so dissapointed when we got back from church and he really realized that Grandma and Grandpa weren't there anymore.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Ty turned 31 and James turned 55

Cash and Vanna, Vanna and Cash...

...to the tune of Max and Ruby (the cartoon Cash is watching at the moment in order for me to finally blog again).

Cash Update:

Love this picture!!!

Well, Cash is not quite 3 1/2 yrs. old and is finally potty-trained. You can not imagine my enthusiasum and excitement! Okay so most of you probably can because you've been through the experience yourself. We had tried to potty train about a month and a half ago, which went great for a few days and then Cash seemed to go backwards. As a result, we decided to give him a little longer before hitting it hard again. And it worked. I guess Cash just had to decide he was completely ready for it. We still have accidents through the night but are working through those and hope to be accident free soon. Other than that, Cash does fantastic. He will announce he has to go potty and run into the bathroom by himself, go, and then, of course, announce that he's gone potty and demand to show both Mommy AND Daddy. After going he says, "I make Mommy happy!" And he does. Another funny thing he says (when I remind him throughout the day to tell Mommy when he has to go potty) is, "No I fine, I careful with my poop." I think it's hilarious.

Doesn't he look proud of himself! We are so proud of you, Cash, and your new accomplishment!

Cash says such adorable things and lately he has been plugging in some larger words such as: delicious, beautiful, and dangerous. After dinner he always says, "Thanksa dinner mom, licious (it was delicious).

Cash loves to talk to Grandpa on the phone, draw, color, and put puzzles together. He loves playing baseball and football with Daddy (doing anything with Daddy actually), watching cartoons - especially Go Diego Go (darn kid would watch them all day if I let him), and riding his bike (he's so cute the way he revves the handlebars and says, "Lika Daddy's motorcycle."). Cash does not like peas or squash, he hates sitting in the cart in a store and hates it when you make him hold your hand in the parking lot. He is getting more and more independant all the time and wants to open his own doors, dress himself, and doesn't want any help with washing his hands or face or any help with brushing his teeth.

Cash loves doing anything outdoors. Here he's picking up all the worms that had crawled up onto our back patio after it rained.

There were a ton - and he was so facsinated.

Vanna Upate:

What a drama queen! Vanna is at the wonderful age of baby tantrums. She has learned to throw herself onto the floor when she doesn't get something she wants and often screams at the top of her lungs if Cash comes anywhere near her (I guess he's bugged her just enough she assumes he's going to do something else that will bug her before even giving him a chance).

This is Vanna's first pony tail. Too bad I'm going to have her hair cut again, I think it looks cute

(she was cursed with my fine hair and I don't think it will look too good to grow it out yet).

She says: "da-da", "ma-ma", "pu-pu" for puppy; "ba" for ball; but is also learning to say a few new things like: "meow" for kitty; "no", "ow" "ca-ca" for cracker; and makes such funny sounds for "diaper", "nose" and "again" that the average person would never be able to decipher that those are the words that she means.




Vanna loves her blankee and totes it everywhere (as you can see in the above picture), being tucked in at night, cold cereal for snacks (she always picks out the best parts - like the marshmallows - and leaves the rest), and loves running around without clothes on (she always begs me to take off her shirt-silly girl), playing hide and seek and being chased around. But she hates sharing Mommy, brushing her teeth, and riding in her carseat for very long.

There is always so much more to write but that is what comes to mind at the moment and all I have time for. Now I need to get back to my hungry and crying kids! Joy!