Halloween

For Halloween this year, Rachel was a "Southern Belle", Caleb was a ninja, and Anna and Alex were monkeys. I wore a black hooded cape, and decided that I was the witch from Snow White. Becca did my makeup--and she made me look a bit scary. I was surprised that Alex wasn't scared of me.

I took the kids trick-or-treating, while Dan passed out the candy. I think we gave out around 7 bags of candy bars. And we were stingy and only gave the trick-or-treaters one piece. I've decided that next year, we need to both take the kids trick-or-treating, so we don't go through so much candy. I'll admit, I love chocolate. I was disappointed that the Junior Mints got all gone by the time I got back with the kids. I should hand out suckers and keep the chocolate.

Dan took Buddy to get groomed on Halloween. They put a bandana with ghosts on him. We tried to groom Buddy ourselves a couple of months ago, and it went very badly (blood everywhere, looked worse than when we started). Buddy looked cute with his bandana and groomed fur.

I left my camera at my parents' house, so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked. I still have my old camera, but the batteries were dying.

Alex is still loving the candy. His, and everyone else's.

A little poem I made up about Alex

The boy with the Mischievious Grin

I have a little boy with a mischievious grin
If you leave the room, you'll never know what shape it will be in

The bathroom sink is running
The toilet is overflowing
The door is unlocked
Who knows where the toddler is going?

The dishes are dirty
The dishwasher got stopped
The fridge door is open
Looks like the floor needs to get mopped

The couch cushions are on the floor
The computer has 3 cd's in
The vacuum has been emptied
The family room looks like its been through a war

There's a new mural on the wall
The diaper he was wearing now sits in the hall
The blankets are no longer on the bed.
And I find my little boy with a silly hat on his head.

He smiles with a big mischievious grin
I want to yell about what big trouble he's in
But instead I smile
And hope this stage only lasts a little while.

My little Anna is 4!!

Today is Anna's 4th birthday. We are having a party, but not the usual kind. We are having a "sick party". Rachel, Caleb, and Anna all have a fever and a cough. They are on the couches watching Anna's new Barbie movie. Anna has it the mildest so far. But as I've discovered from the older two, it starts with a mild fever and then turns to a high fever. I hope she still has a fun day.

Anna is such a joy. From the time we brought her home from the hospital, she has really brightened up our home. I love her cute, curly hair. Her little laugh makes me smile. Anna does everything whole-heartedly. She jumps up and down just at the mention of preschool.

She was born a few days after General Conference. I remember walking between conference sessions trying to go into labor. It did no good. I was scheduled to be induced on Oct 5. I was having false labor almost every day. On the morning I was scheduled to be induced, the hospital called and canceled it. They had too many people come in during the night and had no room. I cried. But it was all remedied a day later when I was induced. She was my fastest labor and delivery. From start to finish, it was 2 hours and 49 minutes (according to my chart).

I am so thankful for my little girl. I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

Corn Belly's

While Dan and I were gone this weekend, my mom and Becca took our kids to Corn Belly's. We had so much fun last year with the kids that I was a little disappointed that my mom wanted to take them while we were gone. But Ralphie was going, and I knew the kids would have lots of fun going with their cousins. I told them they had to take pictures for me. So, Becca took pictures.

I am really thankful for Mom, Becca, and Leslie for taking such good care of my kids. They had so much fun while we were gone. They even got one last swim in at Leslie's house since the weather was warm.

Fall is Beautiful!

Dan and I spent a day at Aspen Grove for a marriage retreat. We had tons of fun. We really enjoyed spending time together without the kids. The colorful fall leaves were so beautiful! Everywhere you turned it was yet another scene of brilliant colors. We hope to go back again next year for the retreat, but also for the great scenery.

No wonder there are so many wasps around.....

This summer my kids got stung by wasps several times. Alex has the record of being stung 4 times. One day when we were outside, Rachel pointed out this massive wasp nest in one of the neighbors' trees. It is huge! It is bigger than a birds nest. No wonder we've had so many wasps this summer!

First Day of School

Monday was the first day of school for Caleb and Rachel. They were both excited but nervous about starting the new school. Rachel her clothes picked out for a week or two before school started. Caleb battled with me the night before because he didn't want to wear "boring clothes". I let him go through all of the color combinations, and he finally settled on what to wear. The next day, I tried to get him to wear his blue pants. He was adamant that he would not wear them because the blue pair had a hook like "Sunday Pants" instead of buttons. After three days in a row of the exact same outfit, he relented and wore the blue ones. Then he discovered that the blue ones are much easier to undo so now he loves them.

Anna started preschool on Tuesday. She was so excited. She had a great time and now asks me what day it is every day.

The other picture is just a picture I took of her this morning. She was happy that I let her pick a rose. She wears dresses 90% of the time. So, it was a miracle that I got her to wear pants to preschool both days.