Halloween Dinner

Since Halloween was on Sunday this year I decided to make the entire day special. Lilly had actually gotten sick the night before, so I was home all day on Sunday and able to prepare. We started our day with pancakes in the shapes of witches hats, ghosts and other fun shapes. The kids think it is pretty cool to have fun pancakes like this! After that we prepared for our Halloween dinner that night! I had a blast getting ready for it. I set the table and made these little coffin treat boxes as the place cards on the table. The kids had their own little bag of treats to keep them busy and a candy corn themed table, which I found out was a small mistake because they ate all the candy corn and not their dinner! What can I say - it was cute anyway! We had fun food and a really fun time with our friends and Amber. Thanks for all your help Amber! I love you and am sorry we got you sick!!!

The table

The coffin place card boxes

Eyeball drink stirer (they ended up being really cool)

I am really not sure

And she just loves the camera

This is the mummy meatloaf. I thought it came out pretty good for a first try!

Aaron with his candy corn trifle

Amber

Sarah

Jasen

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween this year. Our day started off slow but in the afternoon we went out to a ward party and trunk or treat. The kids had a great time. After the trunk or treat we decided to try and go to the mall. It was a mad house over there so we left and went to another ward trunk or treat instead. We also went over to the assisted living home in our ward so that some of the members that live there could see the kids. They were all so nice. After we got home Lilly was really stoked about trick or treating, so Aaron left and took her around our neighborhood. She had a great time! Amber loved handing out all the candy to anyone coming around. I am glad she got to do that. Molly was exhausted and went to bed a little early. The girls loved getting dressed up. I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Lilly getting ready to go around the neighborhood. She loved that her glow stick matched her witch costume!

Molly loved running around at the park

Aaron and Amber

Pumpkin Carving

Aunt Amber came to stay with us for Halloween weekend. We hadn't had a chance to carve the kids pumpkins yet so Amber helped us out by carving with us. Lilly loved it. She was very specific in what she wanted us to carve in her pumpkin. She helped with the entire process. She cleaned it and she helped do all the carving on it. She was so proud of herself. I was happy to see how much she has grown up lately. Molly of course wasn't interested. She liked all the tools but that was about it. Amber ended up carving all of Molly's pumpkin and it turned out great. She was happy to do it. We put them all outside and Amber got some really great pictures of all the pumpkins. All in all we had some pretty great pumpkins this year.

OK, so I don't know what is up with Lilly's face in the two bottom pictures. The one on the left just makes me laugh every time I look at it and the one on the right - well I'm just not too sure!

Love this picture!

All of our pumpkins. Lilly's is the skull and cat. Amber's is the face, Aaron's is the skull and crossbones, and mine is the house and bats

Preschool Parade

At Lilly's preschool they had a Halloween party. To start out the day, the kids lined up and had a little parade around the cul de sac. They loved walking past all the Mom's. They thought it was pretty cool to be able to show off their costumes.

Getting started with the parade

back: Seth, Ellie, Abigail, Braden, Lilly and McKenzie

Bath Time!

Tonight Lilly was in the bath. Molly didn't need one tonight because she had ended up getting one earlier in the day. Aaron and I were in the bedroom and apparently Molly had gone into the bathroom to keep her sister company. Well she definitely kept her company! All I hear is Molly say "Ow" and that was it. She got herself into the bathtub! She was so proud of herself. I asked her if she wanted to sleep in those pajamas and she said "No" - Gee I wonder why! I guess now I will have to watch more closely. She is so curious and tries to do everything at least once. I think we have our work cut out for us!

Grandma And Grandpa's House

The girls and I just spent a week at my Mom and Dad's house in White Bird. My Mom just had some surgery so I went to help out. The girls had a great time. Lilly is much braver now and played with her cousins a ton. Molly spent most of the time trying to hang on me. I found out during the week that she had begun to teeth her 2 year old molars! It explained a lot! We also spent some time with Aunt Cody. We helped her can some pears and decorate cupcakes for my nephews birthday party. Then I helped my Dad organize and inventory his food storage. It definitely wasn't as bad as I expected it to be! During the entire week, my parents had some friends stay at the house while they hunted. One of the things they did was all the cooking and cleaning of the kitchen. It was awesome. I didn't have to worry about cooking anything all week. It was such a bummer when they left on Friday because then I had to clean the kitchen again. ah well, good things can't always last! I also, somehow, kept the suckers to a minimum. But you can bet that whenever Grandpa was around, the girls were forever giving him hugs and kisses in return for a sucker. Anyway, we had a great time and it was good to be able to help my Mom out. Thanks for everything Mom and Dad!

The apples are on!

I think she had a pretty good time

Brittany and Lilly

Molly decided that her sister backpack was pretty cool

But it is as big as she is!

Deadly Ever After

Our friends just threw a Murder Mystery Dinner Party. It was a blast. It is always fun to go to an adult only party. I don't know how it happened, but we didn't get a couple picture of Aaron and I. I am sad because Aaron had the best costume. He had puffy sleeves and a ruffled shirt. It was awesome! I was assigned the character of Rapunzel and Aaron was assigned Hamlet. We rented some costumes so we could find just what we wanted. I bought a super long wig and braided it and Aaron added a skull to his outfit. Dinner was great and the game was even more fun. Once we all got over being a little embarrassed everyone got into it. Even the husbands who weren't as excited for the party. Thanks Sarah for letting us help with the party and for showing us such a good time. We had tons of fun!

Nicki Stanton a.k.a. Juliet and Heather a.k.a. Rapunzel

All the boys
Top: Prince Charming (Tyler Thurman), Hamlet (Aaron Haws), Sherlock Holmes (Jasen Feil)
Bottom: Dracula (Skylar Allen), Black Beard (Ryan Stanton), Robin Hood (Robert Stosich), Mad Hatter (Heath Mitchell)

The Girls
Top: Wicked Witch (Ashley Thurman), Red Riding Hood (Sarah Feil), Rapunzel (Heather Haws), Alice (Stacie Stosich)
Bottom: Juliet (Nicki Stanton), Snow White (Lacey Allen), Lady Catherine (Heather Mitchell)

All the couples (except us - I don't know what happened!)

The table centerpiece - Look at Aaron in the background - he must be in character!

Swim Lessons

Lilly has been taking swimming lessons at the Community Recreation Center. They don't really teach her a ton, but I really like that they are just getting her more comfortable with the water. She has always been really nervous in the water so they are really working on that. We can already see improvement and she is loving having more to do during her week.

Molly on our way to watch swim lessons

Swimming Away