A Few More Halloween Photos

Halloween 2010

Monday: For Family Home Evening, we carved up the one pumpkin I managed to grow in our garden this year. Dad did most of the work, while Anna and I supervised. Evie was already in bed asleep.

Wednesday: I dressed Anna up in her costume and we met her friend Will at the library for story time.

Friday: The kiddos got to go trick or treating at Dad's office and Evie got to wear her costume for the first time.

If you look closely, you might notice that Anna's left eye is pink. Her eye had been oozing eye boogers all day, but I just assumed she had a cold. So we let her root around in all the bowls of candy, leaving her germs behind. Saturday morning, Dan took her to the doctor and learned that in addition to pink eye, both ears were infected. So, yeah, I'm feeling great about my mothering skills.

Saturday: I hate rain on Halloween, but that's what it did on Saturday, when we were planning to go trick or treating. Luckily for me, the rain took a break around six. It was my turn to take Anna out, so despite her ear infections, I took her down our street. She loved it and didn't even want to wear a coat even though it was cold, but in an effort to resuscitate my reputation as a mother, I talked her into wearing a coat anyway. 

 Pretty quickly Evie found the candy bowl, but Anna did her best to keep Evie out of the candy.

 Evie made it out to a few neighbor houses and then spent the rest of the evening at home with Dad, working on her walking skills.

I'm starting to understand why some parents hate Halloween. Anna is noticeably more hyper after eating candy. She also often demands that we give her candy, "right now!" (her new favorite phrase). I decided I'd let her eat a bunch Saturday night and then we'd start to empty her bucket for her. I guess Anna was overwhelmed by all her options, because she opened several different kinds. She'd eat a piece and then move onto something else, except with the suckers, she just popped both into her mouth. A few minutes later though, she had abandoned both suckers and moved on to another type of candy. 

Four Teeth

Evie's top two teeth are finally starting to show.

Evie continues to be my easiest child. Recently though, she's started to make this whining noise if I'm too slow getting her some food to eat. It sounds like a puppy's whine and it breaks my heart. She's also become very interested in what it is I'm doing when I try to put her hair up. I usually put her in the bumbo chair in front of the bathroom mirror and hand her a little brush to play with. She loves to lean back and try to get a look at me, which makes it hard to get her hair into an elastic, let alone, to get a straight part for piggy tails. When she's not doing back bends to get out of her bumbo chair, she's started clapping. She's also become quite intent on stealing Anna's binky. If Anna is lying down on the floor getting her diaper changed (no, potty training isn't going well), Evie will often crawl over and try to rip Anna's binky out of her mouth. She found one of her own binky's the other day, so I let her have it, but she didn't really suck on it. Instead she bit down on it and started breathing/spitting around it. She sounded like a little Darth Vader baby.

Thursday night Dan was looking at photos of Anna when she was Evie's age and as cute as Anna was, it was sad to me that we didn't have Evie with us then. We're so grateful that she's a part of our family. I can't imagine our family without her.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Last November I had enough turkey bucks at Maceys to get a small turkey for free. Since we were celebrating Thanksgiving at my parents' house, I stuck it in my freezer and basically forgot about it. I kept thinking that one of these days I'd get it out and roast it, but I never seemed to get around to it. Around the first part of October, I decided it was now or never. Since Dan served his mission in Canada, I thought Canadian Thanksgiving would be a great excuse to invite friends over to share it with us. But being an ignorant American, I assumed that Canadian Thanksgiving is late in the month of October and probably on a Thursday. Around mid-October, I looked it up on the internet and discovered that that very day was Canadian Thanksgiving (the second Monday in October). Oops!

To make a long story short, we decided to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving a few weeks late and on a Saturday when I figured I would have enough time to stuff a turkey and roast it. We invited one authentic Canadian and another friend who served her mission in Toronto and their families. We kept it pretty simple, but as always there was still more than enough food.

 I had to get a photo of Evie's first time eating mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing. She LOVED it all. Anna, on the other hand, didn't eat anything but a mint brownie.

 Then she got bored and decided to see what mashed potatoes could do for her hair.

Finally I cleaned her up and let her get down and crawl around while the older kids played and the adults sat and solved all the world's problems. She was pretty content to toodle around and I kept finding her under the adults' table. She was probably looking for more food to eat.

Bed Time and Hide and Seek

Anna has a hard time going to bed most nights. She's often awake until after nine even though we read stories and tuck her in around eight. Some nights she plays quietly in her bed until she falls asleep. Some nights she calls out regularly, doing anything to get us to come visit her in her room. Tonight is one of those nights where she's been calling out and since I've been home alone while Dan was at Church meetings, I ignored many of her shouts for attention. Finally I went in to check on her and she said, "my pants came off" as if they just leaped off her body. I guess I should be surprised she doesn't strip all her clothes off more often. So I put her pants back on and tucked her in. Maybe this time, she'll start to settle down.

Yesterday morning she talked me into playing Hide and Seek with her. She learned this game from our neighbors Hayden and Parker when they came over to play. Hayden is five, but since Parker is only a little older than Anna, neither he nor Anna really understood the hiding part. Hayden would start counting and they'd both run to the opposite end of the house squealing. Then they'd stand in plain view, waiting for him to "find" them.

When I played with Anna, it was pretty similar. She let me hide first, so I hid under a sheet she had been playing with in our family room (she was making bubbles and popping them). After that, whenever I started to count, Anna would ask me to help her hide under the sheet. I tried to pick hiding spots that would be easy for her to find, like crouching down on the far side of our bed. But that one was a bit too hard for her. I had to call out to her so she could find me. Once I hid in the bathtub, making sure to make a lot of noise with the shower curtain so she'd know where to look. Another time I hid in my closet, just inside the door. It was so fun to watch her check beside the bed where I had hid before. When she realized I wasn't there and turned around, she could have easily spotted me, but she wasn't looking for me in the closet. I couldn't resist. When she got close, I jumped out and yelled "boo." She shrieked and it was loud. Not a great thing to do when Evie is taking a nap. I think she felt genuinely betrayed by me for scaring her, so after that the game was pretty much over.

As I was huddled in one of my hiding spots, I thought, "this is so much fun. Why don't I think to do this with Anna more often?" For some reason, I am always so concerned with all the things I need to do, like cleaning the bathrooms and balancing the check book, but when I do take time to play with my kids, it's always the highlight of my day. Of course, today we didn't have time for Hide and Seek as we were rushing off to story time and then to Costco. Maybe tomorrow.

Nine Months Old

Evie turned nine months last week and had her well-baby check today. She now weighs just over 21 pounds and she's 27.8 inches long. That puts her in the 83% for weight and the 56% for height. All the crawling is helping her slim down.

She still loves crawling and doesn't like being held much these days. She's also learned recently how to pull herself to standing and she'll do it anywhere she can find something to grab on to. Sunday morning I tried to put her down for a nap before she was ready. After letting her cry for some time, I finally decided to rescue her. When I opened her door, she was standing up, resting her head on the crib railing as she cried. It was so pitiful and no wonder she wasn't going to sleep, if she was standing.

I think she's actually licking our railing in the above photo. Squash is still clearly her favorite food, but she's not so opposed to carrots these days. She's also learning to eat regular food and so far she seems to like everything I put on her tray, although it doesn't all make it into her mouth. She's pretty good at picking stuff up, but sometimes it falls out of her hand before it makes it into her mouth.

Her top two teeth have finally broken through although they're still hiding up in the swollen gums. Every now and then Evie tests out those new teeth, grinding them against her bottom teeth and it sounds like she's chewing on rocks. It makes my skin crawl every time and I've checked her mouth for rocks more than a few times.

Our pediatrician noted how easy going Evie is after watching Anna and Evie interact. As usual, Anna was up in Evie's face or pushing her around. Our doctor said that many second children figure out how to defend themselves and are pretty good at warding off their older siblings, but Evie seems to take it all in stride. She's pretty good about putting up with Anna, but she's also not afraid to steal Anna's binky right out of her mouth and that usually gets Anna's attention.

Last week she started saying "da da" and this week I've heard a few "ma mas." Of course they don't mean much to her, but she's getting better at mimicking sounds. She laughs often, especially when Anna is playing peekaboo with her or when we give her raspberries. If you can't tell, we are totally in love with our Evie and think she's a doll.

Dudes and Princesses

Anna refers to most men as "dudes." We've got a lot of construction going on around our house, and Anna loves to point out the "dudes." Recently she's discovered princesses, specifically Disney princesses. We don't own any Disney movies, but we do have a few Disney CDs and Anna loves to point it out when a princess is singing. Today while we were driving home from the library, the Aladdin song, "A Whole New World" began to play, and Anna yelled, "Mom, a dude!" I thought she was talking about a guy walking down the street, but she clarified: "A dude princess, Mom! A dude princess." So I explained that we call those princes, but I kind of like the idea that princess is the root and male royalty is identified by adding the label "dude."

Stewart Falls

 The first Saturday in September, my girls and I hiked to Stewart Falls with my parents and my sister Erica. Thanks to my Dad for carrying both Evie and Anna and to my mom for taking her turn carrying Evie. Of course, Dad thought it was fun to hide off the trail with my kids in the backpack so he could scare us slowpokes. I should have checked my kids for ticks when we got home, but somehow I never got around to it.

 If you're wondering, Evie is chewing on my Dad's pocket knife in this photo. We raise 'em tough in this family.

Anna was a pretty good sport, but a little tired and cranky by the time we finished. I'm sure the slurpee she got afterwards erased any negative thoughts she formed about hiking.

Love This Face

 Evie is on the move and I'm having a hard time keeping up with her. She is also cutting her top two teeth and puts everything she can find in her mouth. Hours after I vacuum, she finds crumbs in my carpet and enjoys a little snack (I'm sure Anna has something to do with the crumbs despite the rule that she eat at the table). Like Anna, Evie also loves pulling books off our shelves, but unlike Anna, Evie often puts those books in her mouth. I've found more than one book cover that Evie nibbled on and mangled, although now I'm getting better at taking those books away immediately since I now know what she's capable of.

Love those teeth!

 I also love Evie's morning hair. I do my best to keep it out of her eyes, during the day, but each morning, I can't resist a little bed head.

I thought Evie had given up the binky a few months ago when she had her first bout of teething. She didn't like sucking on anything, so we gave up the binky. I felt like it was an easy victory, since Anna still calls out at night when her binky falls out of her mouth. But recently Evie has rediscovered the binky and although I avoid giving it to her, Anna frequently leaves her binky lying around. So this is a photo of Evie sucking on Anna's binky. For Evie's own safety, I usually try to take Anna's binky's away from Evie as soon as I notice she's got one. Hell hath no fury like a two year old who sees her binky in her baby sister's mouth.

Christa's wedding photographer took this photo of Evie.

Grandpa Sandy Bring It?

I guess all good things come from Grandpa and Sandy, because Anna is constantly asking me, "Grandpa Sandy bring it?" When we get her dressed, she wants to know who the clothes came from. Today I gave her pretzels and raisins in Church and she wanted to know if "Grandpa Sandy bring it?"

In addition to her obsession with knowing who provides her with all her stuff, she's also recently discovered her freckle on her bum. If she twists just right, she can see it. The other day while I was changing her diaper, Anna said, "I wanna see my seckle." Then after taking a good look at it, she asked, "Grandpa Sandy bring it?"

Highlights of My Day

I started the day off feeling like a not-so-great mom. I found a nugget of poop in the washer after the cycle had run--evidence that potty training isn't going well at all and that I am not so great at cleaning out soiled panties before they go in the washer.

Evie, who is now a master crawler, crawled out the garage door and rolled down the stairs. Anna tried to warn me but I couldn't move fast enough and ended up comforting two crying kids on the garage steps. I guess Anna does love her sister even if she expresses her frustration by hitting her. The fall didn't seem to leave any marks on Evie, but she's been a bit more clingy today. That might also be because of teething.

We had a picnic with our friends Melissa and Avery down by Bridal Veil Falls this morning. The rain stopped long enough for us to stroll up the path and eat lunch. Then as we were finishing up, the sky turned dark and the wind picked up, giving us just enough warning that we almost made it back to our cars before large rain drops began to fall. Fall is coming.

For the second day in a row, Anna refused to take her nap and woke Evie up by screaming. It's Anna's new favorite trick, to yell "aaahhh!" Last night she decided to do it all the way home from my parents' house and poor Evie started crying every time Anna yelled. I'm nervous that this decision not to nap is becoming a new lifestyle choice. I'm not ready for a toddler that doesn't nap.

After her "nap" Anna came to me with a booger--she often has her finger up her nose, but she's great about handing off her treasures to me rather than making them a snack--and then she decided to put it back in her nose. 

While I tried to finish cleaning the bathroom, Anna worked hard to keep Evie happy. Sometimes she was a little rough, but she had good intentions. Evie was just too cranky to be much fun. Anna also turned an empty diaper box into a slide, which kept all of us happy for awhile.

With the bathrooms cleaned and the laundry going, Anna and I sat down to enjoy some kettle corn. We practiced counting, and I decided again that staying home with my kids really is the best job I've ever had. 

Utah County Fair

In August we went with our friends Dawn and Will to the Utah County Fair. Mostly we just looked at the animals. I didn't see any awesome fried foods like deep fried pb&j, but we did grab a bag of cotton candy on our way out.

 Anna was so excited to hang out with her buddy Will.

 Checking out the animals: goats and piglets

These piglets were so cute.

Summer Picnic

We love spending time up Provo Canyon in the summer. I thought about it all summer and finally in mid-August we made it up to the canyon for a picnic. 

Anna loves eating chips and Evie loves eating grass these days.

Recent Snapshots

Anna loves her bike helmet and she loves dumping water all over the backyard.

Poor Evie is caught in her bumper, which is why I finally gave up and took it out. But then she got her feet caught in between the rails. It took her a few days to get used to the change, but she did figure it out.