Friday, October 31, 2008

All HaLLowS eVe

OuR FaMiLy!
I love Halloween! I love dressing up, trick or treating, and our tradition of soup and "spider" bread for dinner, and it's so much more fun now that I have kids. I love watching as they run from door to door and get excited about other costumes, how they wake up and are in their costumes before the sun rises, and then they want to sleep in them at the end of the day. The face painting, staying up late, and eating tons of candy are up there as well.
Today Halloween did not disappoint! We were up and out the door by 8:15 so we could get Jackson to school and stay to watch his parade. This was his first one and he was SO excited. I was glad that we were all there to see him and we even got the seats right at the beginning! I headed back to school at noon to help with his classes party, that was fun!
When Jackson got home from school we carved our pumpkins, Jackson and Chloe drew tons of designs all over their pumpkins, but after explaining that carving was a little different than drawing they settled for jack-o-lanterns. Chloe's favorite part was getting out the seeds, she got a little spoon and would scoop and get 2-3 seeds at a time, get so proud of her self and then dump them in the trash. I tried to help by scraping the sides, but she had a system and she was sticking to it. She didn't want to touch any pumpkin goop either. Jackson and Chloe wore Halloween aprons that I made them last year and looked adorable!
We went to my parents for dinner. Soup and bread shaped like a spider, we've had this every year since I was little and I love carrying this tradition on with my children. We trick-or-treated a couple friends over there and then headed to our neighborhood to finish up. It was a wonderful family day and I loved every minute! Happy Halloween!!!

JaCkSoN at his Parade
We LoVeD seeing all the CoStUmEs
Ella in our leaf PiLe
CaRvInG pUmPkInS ... Parker used an electric saw to open
all the pumpkins
CaRvIn'
ChLoE's favorite part was getting the seeds out!
"K" is for KeMp (I ended up with the smallest pumpkin)
Ella LOVES to CliMb
Almost Trick-oR-Treating time
Now we're ready...Face paint and all
Ella was the cutest chicken
We all LoVe being outside
What a GREAT day!!! HaPpY hAllOwEeN

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Chloe learned this song in school and has been singing it constantly for everyone we know. We think it's darling, a real heartbreaker!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

EllA's FiRsT tOoTh

Ella finally got her first tooth! She turns 9 months in 3 days, but it doesn't surprise me because all my kids have gotten their teeth late. It explains a lot about the last couple days, she's been trying to be sweet and doing a pretty good job, but just hasn't been herself. She got one of her "vampire teeth" (not the top front ones, but the ones on the sides) Chloe's teeth came in the same way. I'm excited to see if the other one comes in next.
She is getting so big so fast! She has been crawling for over 3 weeks now and she is FAST! She pulls herself up on everything and also puts everything in her mouth. She loves following her big sister and brother around and I know she is enjoying crawling to anything she wants. Ella loves to eat! She is constantly eating and trying new things, so far she loves everything I've given her. She is such a blessing in our lives and we are ALL enjoying her as she experiences new things each day!

This is what we get to wake up to every morning!
So fun!
Check out the bed head :)
I found Jackson feeding her one day.
He did a great job.
She is so sweet!!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

FaBuLoUs FrIdAy

We had such a fun day today! Chloe had a field trip to a pumpkin patch. We went through a corn maze, saw animals, played on a play set, and enjoyed the beautiful weather!!!

Jackson got 100% on his spelling test! He's had 6 tests this year and has gotten 100% on 5 and missed only 2 on the other one, I am so proud of his hard work and I love seeing how proud
he is of himself!

My Nana Jackson called at 3:30 and told me that James town (where she lives) was having a Halloween party at 4:30 and she would love it if we came, so we did. There were games and prizes, a blow up haunted house, dinner, face painting, coloring, lots of fun, and my kids loved wearing their Halloween costumes. My Nana lived in Salt Lake while I was growing up, but after my Papa died she couldn't take care of her house by herself and needed to be with other people. So she moved down to Provo and I love it, I know she won't be around forever and I want my children to have a relationship with her and I want to make wonderful memories that will last even after she's gone. I loved being with her tonight. We drove up and parked and Chloe said "this is where Anna lives", I corrected her and said "Nana" but, I thought it was darling. The only thing that I wanted while we were there was a picture of my kids with her and I'm so glad I got it!

We dashed from the party and picked up the babysitter so I could go play soccer. We tied 2-2, I played awesome and I feel so good. I have made wonderful friends through soccer and I LOVE playing! It has always been a passion of mine and I look forward to my games each week. My babysitter Erin is awesome. She comes to my games with me and plays with my kids, it's so nice because Ella is still too young for me to just leave her. Jackson and Chloe get to play with friends there but I don't have to worry about them while I'm playing. I'm lucky to have such a great thing going!!! What a great day!
Chloe was SO excited to be here with her friends
from school!!!
Ella eating straw
Chloe loves all animals
She was fascinated with this feather
In the corn maze!
Jackson, Chloe, Nana, Megan, and Ella
Fishing for prizes
Pop a balloon...get a prize
Our Chill Chicken
Megan was so great to have there and we
had tons of fun together
Face painting was a BIG hit
I couldn't find a cute skeleton costume, so I painted
my own...It even glows in the dark! I love it.
Chloe got a witch on one cheek, and a cat on the other
The haunted house with gargoyles
The whole crew from the Jackson family who made it.
The ghosts in the background were made by Nana, just like she
use to make at her house!

Friday, October 17, 2008

P-a-R-t-Y

Today we celebrated Chloe's birthday with her friends. Her birthday was a month ago but this was the first weekend since then that Parker and I were both home. We painted T-shirts, played games, ate chicken nuggets and cupcakes, broke a pinata, made animals, swords, and flowers out of balloons, and had FUN! The most important thing was that I know Chloe felt so much love from her amazing friends!!!

The Party posse (minus Paje, Paris, Preston, Ava and Jack
who got there right after this picture)
Making T-Shirts
Ella LOVED the balloons :)
Red rover, Red rover send everyone over!
We played a game where I tied balloons to both ankles of all the kids
they had to pop every one's balloons if they wanted chicken nuggets. It was really funny, Mia was the last one running around with all the other kids chasing her
pinata baby!
Cousin Paris
Opening presents
The Birthday Girl
Chloe was so excited to wear the shirt she made to
bed! She also slept with the balloon flower that uncle Scott
came and made.
Jackson wearing Daddy's hat. He loves any kind of
project, we may never get this shirt off him.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

fLYiN' hiGh


Tuesday we had a fun family day...we went to subway for lunch and then went to watch Parker fly his airplane. It's fun for us to all go with him because the kids LOVE being outside, especially when the weather is nice, and it's always great to be together without other distractions. After flying, Parker surprised me by taking work off so he could come watch my soccer game and take care of the girls. We won and it was fun to have Parker cheering me on. We came home and got Chloe and Ella to bed (Jackson is still in Idaho with Grandpa and Grandma having the time of his life) and then we cleaned our basement. I'll I have to say about that is I'm glad it's done! It was such a productive, fun day!!! Thanks Park..love ya!

Chloe was the co-pilot
Parker built this plane himself!
Hey Baby!
Fall is in the air