Trick or Treat!

 Dorothy and the Wicked Witch have invaded our home this Halloween!  That little tiny wicked witch has so much fun chasing Dorothy around the house, trying to steal her little doggy out of her basket.  These two girls make the holidays the best.  They got to do some Trunk or Treating at the church, trick or treating at the Great Wolf Lodge, and then have one more night of neighborhood trick or treating!

Heading to the pumpkin patch is a Halloween activity must so we headed to the patch with the best activities: Tractor rides (big and small), corn maze, petting zoo, and hay maze.

More tractor rides! (of the swing variety)

Liz and Juju are SO into Hello Kitty right now that we couldn't resist these matching outfits!

Then, later that night was the pumpkin carving.  These girls are not afraid to get their hands dirty.  They loved cleaning out the pumpkin and carving them.

 Julie's, Mom's, Dave's, and Lizzie's

Julie and I had fun making these banana spiders for snack during our preschool time!

And then....we went to the pumpkin patch AGAIN with the preschool!

 The kittens were the favorite.

Julie came along for the ride with all the preschoolers which had both girls elated!  This is a part of the class that has a total of 15 kids.

Halloween Party 2013

Yes, I swore we would NOT do a Halloween party this year.  I am one month away from my due date, but somehow got roped into another party.  Well, take a look at this 1920's medieval style mansion and tell me if you could say no to planning and decorating for a big Halloween party in that bad boy. The place was already complete with dimming chandeliers in almost every room, statues, and antique paintings.  We had a great time preparing everything with friends: The Hjelms, Watsons, Pages, McGiffins,Van Woerkoms, and Mortensens. 

My belly says, "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS."  (Let's hope we open it sooner though.)  Santa Clause got me a great present this year!  Since baby will be making an appearance in Dec. and halting all normal activity, it was only fitting that we combine all our holidays and celebrate Christmas at the Halloween party too!

 I love seeing all the costumes people come up with.    The VW's had a great pregnancy costume too! The classic milk man scandal.

 This was the only room that my pictures turned out in...lost so many in all the other rooms due to the lighting and messing up my camera settings!  Oh well, at least I got some.

 Linda was so funny in her cave woman costume!!  I hardly recognized her!

 This was the dance floor pre-party.

 Celeste gave out the awards for best costumes and appetizer/desserts.

 Steve was pretty scary due to the fact he kept hiding in the dark and jumping out at people as they came in!

 These guys were the awesome music DJ's who had the room set up with "Scare-E-okee" and everything!

 We would have been partying out here too if it hadn't been so cold!

 Mitt Romney/Obama and cave woman made quite the pair.  If only the girls could have seen their Grammy and Papa!

 

 This costume won scariest award and she definitely deserved it!  Creepy! Any yes that's her real baby sticking out of her stomach.

 Spider rooms are my favorite.

Probably because I'm a huge arachnophobe!

 Love the depiction of the movie UP!  These guys were so nice to let everyone into the mansion for Halloween!

Another Halloween party...it was definitely a good one! Would have been better if I hadn't come down with a cold that night but that is my personal Halloween tradition (being sick every year).  Next year will really are taking a break and leaving our decorations all packed up....I promise!  ;)

Julie the Fashion Bug

It has taken me forever to post these pics from summer but it has to be done so we never forget this funny little stage she is in.  Lizzie has never cared much about her clothes, but the complete opposite is true with Juju.  She is our fashion bug.  First of all she refuses to wear pants-ever.  She loves dresses and skirts only!  Her clothes are very exciting to her and every summer morning the first eager question on her lips is, "Can I get dressed and wear my Hello Kitty Dress?  OR wear my Halula dress?"  If I somehow talk her into not wearing one of these so they can be washed she can often be found sneaking into the dirty clothes mid day and changing into it anyway.  It's a bit of a battle at times.  When I told her I wanted to take some pictures of her in her favorite dresses she was SO excited.  So here they are:

HELLO KITTY DRESS

"HALULA" DRESS

Julie is still wholly and completely in love with her favorite stuffed animal, Mimi.  Mimi is very much a part of all of our every day lives.  She usually plays the part of Julie's daughter or baby and is often getting into mischief.  Mimi is a bedtime pal MUST.  I dread the day we lose this stuffed animal.  It will surely be the end of the world as we know it.  Julie occasionally sucks on this cat's nose for comfort.  The other day she she brought her to me and I saw she had worn right through the fabric on the nose and some stuffing was coming out.  "Can you fix Mimi?" she asked, anxiously.  So of course I stitched her nose back up.  While doing so I commented, "almost done with the surgery!"  (not thinking she even knew that word).  Apparently Julie does know the word surgery somehow( despite the fact that no on in the family has had surgery in her lifetime) because she burst into tears and shrieked in grief for her poor Mimi.  "SURGERY??!!  POOR Mimi!" I quickly finished, though and she was good as new.  All is right in the world again.  

Preschool

Lizzie is loving her first year of preschool.  Her favorite part is all the painting and coloring.  The other day when I went to pick her up from school Ms. Michelle informed me that Lizzie was the "coloring queen" and chooses to spend a lot of the free time coloring and crafting.  Ever since preschool she has been really into doing just that at home too!  She has also gotten to be really good at writing her letters!  On one of the first days of school, Lizzie came home and told me that her teacher asked her if she could write her name.  She told her no, and seemed a bit sad about it so she immediately wanted me to teach her that day.  Within the day she was able to write her name all by herself!  Apparently, preschool is a great motivator for her!  

I think the hardest part of preschool for Lizzie is being without her best friend, Julie. Ms. Michelle has told me a few times that Lizzie talks about her little sister all the time! It melts my heart that every day of preschool Lizzie makes or saves a little gift to give to Julie.  Whether it's the one and only smartie she gets for a correct answer or a painting, she is always very excited to present her with a little gift.  

When Lizzie started preschool I was worried about how Julie would handle it.  They are so close in age and only one year apart (in school) that Julie has a hard time understanding that Liz gets to do some things first, without her.  Julie would ask me, "Can I go to preschool with Lizzie?"  The answer was no of course, BUT she does get to go to preschool!  Mommy and Juju preschool is what we call it!  Every M, W, F morning we paint, color, craft, learn about letters, read, do puzzles, etc.  We even have a snack time and Julie reciprocates the little gift giving exchange after preschool by bringing Lizzie a saved portion of her snack and/or one of her paintings.  We both really love this time together and Julie is such a smarty pants!  She is going to be a bit over prepared for preschool next year I think.  Julie's favorite thing to do is painting!  Her  first question every preschool day is, "Can we paint today?"

9 Year Anniversary

For our 9 year anniversary we headed to the Red Lobster for the famous, once a year, all you can eat shrimp!  Then, we headed out to shop for our new car.  By the end of the next day we were driving our new Corvette convertible home! (We have actually been looking to buy this car for the last year but FINALLY found the stellar deal we were looking for, which happened to coincide with our 9 yr mark.) Every time we hop in this car now, it will remind us that the last 9 years have been one SWEET RIDE!!  :)  

Fairs and Berries

Lizzie had a play date and was gone most of the day so Julie and I had a "Mommy and me" date!  We headed to a local farm and picked blueberries to our hearts' content.  Julie was an excellent little picker and when I told her she could eat some of them, she responded, "No, that's ok.  I want to save ALL of them for the muffins!"  One on one time with my little girls is invaluable.  Whenever it does happen, it is always a treat.   It's days like this that make my heart feel so full it might burst.  I love both my girls so much and relish these special moments we share together. This is definitely the stuff life is made of.  

The little girls and I had a blast at the 4US family fair!  All the activities, inflatables, and games were free.  Donations were encouraged and it was a GREAT cause!  This charity raises money to buy ultrasounds for pregnancy clinics.  These machines significantly raise the odds that mothers will choose life over abortion.  These are also the locations where abortions are chosen most frequently.  I was very excited when a friend told me about her friend, who founded it.  Sometimes the Pro Choice and Pro Life debates are so dead end.  This cause is actually DOING something about it and in such a positive way.  We had a great time and were happy to support the odds of life for those without voices yet.  If you want to know more, check out www.4us.org.

Baby Wyatt

This is such a hard post because the right words just don't seem to come to me.  I couldn't bare to post anything when it happened.  Sometimes there are no words to express the deep pain and grief that come with losing a loved one.  Especially, when it's your sweet little baby nephew.  Wyatt David Lauper, you were so perfect, so sweet, and loved by so many people.  Your passing away broke all of our hearts, and we all still miss you so much. We think about you often, and pray for your family who misses you, here on Earth, even more.  

On August 10, the whole family gathered together to remember little Wyatt on his 1 year old birthday.  We met at his grave site to reflect on his life, leave flowers, and present various mementos to Aaron and Michelle.  We then headed to the temple  as a family for more reflection.  The saving grace of this whole devastating loss is the comfort we find in each other, family, and most importantly, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  The pain is very real, but so is the hope.  "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." "Why art thou cast down, o my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God." -Psalms 30:5; 42:5.  It will take time for Michelle and Aaron to heal, but we know that through Christ and his Atonement, it will happen.  In time, all will be restored and that sweet little family will be reunited once again!  We love you Wyatt Lauper!