{ "The Donut" }

We have a new favorite toy around the house. "The Donut". I have some serious issues with my tailbone when I am pregnant. My doc gave me this to use to help ease some pain, since there really isn't much they can do about it. Well my kids think it's the greatest toy ever! The other night, we were just sitting down for dinner and Peyton wasn't coming. We had the following convo:

Me: "Peyton, where are you? Come sit at the table."

Peyton: (with a very calm voice) "I can't." 

Me: "Why not?"

Peyton: "I can't. My bum hurts." I walk around the corner to find her sitting in her chair with my donut. She is hilarious! She was totally mocking me! ha ha. Guess I say "my bum hurts" more than I think I do. ha ha.

They also love to run around the house with it on their heads saying, "I a mister! I a mister!" while laughing non stop.

And of course, it comes in definite handy as a flotation device so they don't drown

When the donut is out, the silly girls come out! Who needs toys when you have a donut?

{10.21.10}
 

{ Smore Making }

We've taken advantage of the great nights and had a few smore making treats. I love just hangin out by the fire with my little family and having a good time.

Do ya think Peyton is having a hard time chillin?

Yep, that would be me who attempted these smores. I can sure eat them! Just not the best at cookin them!



Quite the tongue Peyton! This is what we get when we ask her to smile.

{10.9.10}

{ HALLIE'S OCTOBER CAPTURED SAYINGS }

• “Mom, you’re my best mom than anyone’s!”

• “My puppy is so furzy. That fancy for furry mom.”

• Hal: “I wish I could wear a necklace to soccer.”
Me: “You better not. It could get in the way while you’re playing.”
Hal: They don’t have feet! How could necklaces get in the way if they don’t have feet? You’re silly mommy.”

• “Camerican flag! Camerican flag!” “Texas flag!” (she is super into the American and Texas flags. I hear her yelling this at least 20 times while we are driving as we pass all the big flags in the air. She’s also made quite a few of her own to display around our house as well.)

• Aaron was singing a song to Hallie and she interrupted him saying, “No Daddy. Don’t sing it like that! You need to sing it delightfully!”

• Me: “My brain is not working today.”
Hal: “yea! You gotta get more thinkings. My brain always works.”

• Hallie was showing me the letters she had written from preschool. I said, “You should ask your teacher if you can practice writing the lower case letters too.” (since she already knows how to write her uppercase with no problems and could use a little practice with the lower.)
Hallie: “If YOU want me to learn it than YOU have to ask!”

• Overheard Hallie on the potty talking to herself “Come on poopies. Please get out!”

• Overheard Hallie talking to Peyton: “yea, we’re gonna have a baby brother! I can’t even believe it! Can you?” (in her cute little mother voice)

• “Mom, you’re the best mom ever! Just not right now.” (While I was trying to get her soccer shin guards, socks and shoes on)

• “I have the most enchanting idea!”

• “This is so embarrassing!” (super exaggerated voice. After spilling a drink on her picture and pants in the car.)

• “Mom, I’m glad I gottcha. Thanks for all the things you do for me.”

• “I got a surprise for you.” (she gives me a big hug) “And that’s not all.” (gives me a kiss) “Mom, anytime you need some love, you just ask and I’ll give ya some.”

• “Mom, thank you for doing everything for me.”

• Hallie and I had just finished playing a game that she made up. She said, “make sure you put this in your brain so you can play it again with me. Okay?’

• “Do you know what I wish? I wish the food was candy and candy was food.” (so she could eat all the yummy candies for meals and only food she doesn’t like on special occasions.)

• Hallie:“I really want to buy a pillow pet.”
Me: “Are you sure that’s what you want to spend your money on? It costs $20”
Hallie: "Yep! I’m sure. Cause the guy that lives at the store who takes care of the pillow pets will give me some more money when I pay him.”
(doesn’t realize he’s just giving her change back. She actually thinks he’s reimbursing her) I tried to explain it to her. She’s quiet for a minute and then says:
“Well…can’t I just use a credit card? That’s much better!”

• “Mom, if you don’t get up off your butt, then your toes will fall asleep!”

• “I’m starving of drink!” (she was really thirsty)

• I was late driving Hallie to preschool and the car in front of me would NOT go through the green light. It just sat at the light and then finally went about 4 mph. I was a little impatient and was talking out loud to the car. Hallie says, “its okay mom. Maybe the car driver just doesn’t know any better. Like you know how we go to church. Well some people don’t go to church, but we know better. So that driver just must not know any better. So it’s okay.” (in her motherly voice)

{ PEYTON'S OCTOBER CAPTURED SAYINGS }

P.S. I LOVE that I could change this to "Sayings" instead of "Moments". She is talking SO much and it's so fun. My little girl is growing up.

• Whenever she enters a room she says, “Hi Everybody!”

• “isgusting!” or “isgusting! My pooh pooh is isgusting!” (Disgusting) She says this every time she’s pooping.

• “Tractor! There’s a tractor! Tractors eat dirt.” (so excited to tell us this)

• “Best Mom ever!” (will randomly say this throughout the days. Copies Hallie.)

• “I don’t wanna go to nursery! I wanna go to Costco!” (said this about 10 times before church and also screaming this as I took her into her nursery class!) I said, "Peyton, don't you want to see your teachers?" She said, "My teachers wanna go to Costco too!"

• “ALL BY MYSELF!” “I WANNA DO” “NO, I DO IT!” "I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF!"

She has reached the independent stage and wants to do everything by herself. It makes it difficult sometimes, and my patience is for sure tested on several days, but she is learning and getting to be such a big girl! She’s so proud of herself that she can get in and out of the car, put her seatbelt buckle on, put her clothes on (except over the head), wipe herself off after meals, take her dishes to the sink, do her own makeup and hair (or so she thinks), etc. She for sure thinks she can do a lot more than she really can. But she is determined. I’ve learned to just let her try it by herself first (even when I know it is a task there’s no way she can do), and wait very patiently until she asks for help. The key is SHE. She has to ask. If I ask to help her or try to do it for her, the switch is flipped and we have some screaming tantrums with lots of tears for awhile. Glad I finally figured this one out.

• Peyton: “I got a booger!!!” (I’m driving and turn around to see her finger in the air with a big booger on it.)
Me: “Eww! Caca! Here I’ll get you a Kleenex.”
Peyton: “I gonna eat it!”
Me: “No! Gross! Don’t eat it!” (as I’m still searching for a Kleenex)
Peyton: “I hungy mama!” (in the sweetest voice possible)

• “OH NO!!!” If something goes wrong, she says this very dramatically.

• Peyton has been so full of love. She is constantly just randomly saying,
“I wuv ew Howie.”, “Mama, I wuv ew.” “Wuv ew dada”

• Peyton set off the alarm at McDonalds!!! I took the girls to eat lunch and play and was chatting with a friend. All the sudden, the alarm was going off and I said to my friend, “I guarantee that was Peyton”. I run around the corner. All the kids are screaming and crying except one. PEYTON. She stood there by the alarm with a big smirk on her face. I said, “Peyton, did you do that?” She smiled at me and said, “Yes mama! I did it!” She was so proud. Little stink.

{ Happy Birthday Aaron! }

Poor Aaron had a crappy bday. His bday was on the 30th. He got home from a night shift around 8:00 a.m.. We all headed out to Hal's soccer game at 8:30, got doughnuts afterwards, went home, he crashed in bed, woke up 15 minutes before he had to get back to work and was off till the next morning. Happy Birthday Aaron! We Love you! I did make an ice cream cake that we ate the next day and hopefully we'll be able to go out soon to celebrate! He's such a hard worker for our little family! We are lucky to have him!

{ Halloween & some Trunk or Treating }



My cute little girls. Peyton insisted on carrying this chair over and sitting on it.



I have to be honest. This Halloween was kind of a bust. With Aaron working Trauma for 2 months now (80+ hours a week) and me being pregnant and feeling like someone has taken a sludge hammer to my tailbone, I have just simply been exhausted! So I did the best I could. We didn't carve pumpkins, have our traditional potato soup in bread bowls, make sugar cookies, have any parties, go to a great pumpkin patch, go trick or treating (that can be blamed on Sunday though and not me :)), etc. But I did my best to make sure the girls still had a good time. I've realized lately that it's the small and simple things that bring joy and happiness to them.

The girls and I read lots of fun Halloween stories, made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, did the Sea World Halloween stuff, painted some pumpkins (thanks to my YW activity :)), decorated the house (Hallie's doing), watched some fun shows, made some fun crafts and passed out candy. So it probably wasn't the best Halloween, but it worked for us this year.

Here's some pictures from our ward Trunk or Treat. Aaron was working, but the girls and I had a good time. Hallie changed her mind every day about what she wanted to be for Halloween. First it was Sleeping Beauty, then a puppy, then Clifford, next a witch...! But she ended up deciding that she wanted to be Fancy Nancy for Halloween too (same as preschool). She had a blast getting her outfit together all by herself. Alot of people had no idea who Fancy Nancy is...but she didn't seem to notice or care. Whenever someone asked who she was she would say, "Fancy Nancy and the POSH puppy". If someone asked me who she was, Hallie would look at me after they walked away and would say, "Mom! I can't believe they don't know who Fancy Nancy is!" and she'd chuckle like they were so silly and the joke was on them. I love her. She carried her dog around the entire night and kept her glasses on the whole time too. Peyton was our cute little bumble bee and had a blast too!

They thought the trunk or treat was great. It was so nice to hear Hallie saying Thank You after every trunk without me prompting her to do so. Peyton got a kick out of this. She's at such a fun age. First, she couldn't stop looking up at the sky and saying, "It's dark!" and thinking how cool it was that she didn't have to be in bed. Second, she thought it was the coolest thing ever that she could just walk up to a trunk, hold out her bucket and they would automatically put candy in it! Every single time we stopped, the same routine happened. They put a piece of candy in her bucket. She quickly pulled it back out to check out what they gave her. Looked over and me while still holding it up and saying, "Wook Mommy! Wook!". Then turned back to the person and said, "shank ew!" And she was off to the next. They both had a blast.



"My bucket is HEAVY mama!"



It didn't take long after we got in the door for Peyton to run to her room, dump her candy out and start eating it :). Hallie had a tummy ache (probably from all the cotton candy she ate) and wasn't in the mood for Peyton or the camera.

What mom? No more candy? I'll show you!

Shutterfly Rocks!

It's that time of year again for the Christmas cards to be sent out. I have started getting some in the mail already and I love it! We thought about bagging the whole idea this year, but when I heard about this great deal, I decided I should get my act together. I love a good deal! And I LOVE Shutterfly! I've been looking at some of their ideas and they are super cute. And who doesn't love an awesome deal? Check it out HERE. 50 free prints for blogging about it! I'm in! Shutterfly has such great quality and I have been very impressed with them. Check out their photo Christmas cards HERE. Here's a few that I think are cute: (So many to choose from)

This could be used to put a family pic and then an individual pic of each of the girls. Plus, I love the layout.

 I LOVE the colors on this card. And it's fun that you could put more than one picture on here.

 A photo card and little info about the fam all in one! I like it.

I also love their baby announcements and desk calendars. Maybe I'll use these for Baby Boy that's coming in Feb. The desk calendars would be a great gift for someone too.


Check it out! I think this is such a great idea. Thanks Shutterfly! I am really impressed with the selection of layouts they have too.

{ Storybook Character Preschool Parade }

Hallie's preschool had a storybook character parade where they got to choose their favorite storybook character and dress up as them for the day. Hallie was super excited for this. When I asked her what she wanted to be she lit up and said, "I could be Clifford!!!" ha ha. I was laughing so hard. I wish I was talented enough and had enough time to make her a Clifford costume. Well luckily, she changed her mind quick and decided to dress up as FANCY NANCY and the POSH PUPPY!!! She loves Fancy Nancy books and this one is her favorite book. Being her little independent self though, she did not want me to help her get her costume together. So, this fabulous fancy look you see is all her doing. She even spent a whole afternoon making her POSH PUPPY a fancy crown all by herself. I think she turned out pretty fancy. What do you think?! I love my little Hallie.

They let Peyton join in on the fun too. She loved doing it and felt like such a big girl.

Both classes combined.

Don't you love Peyton's infamous "stare down" look? Aaron got home from a long night of working just in time to join us. He actually doesn't even look super tired in this pic :). He's such a great dad!

Ms. Liz was "the old woman who swallowed a fly".



Hallie and her buddies. I'm so glad they are in her class with her. It makes it so fun for her.

{10.28.10}



{ Preschool Pumpkin Patch }

Hallie had a little field trip to the pumpkin patch with her preschool. It was fun that I was able to come along. They got to pick a small pumpkin out and then paint them at school. She loved it!

She was the last one to finally decide on a pumpkin. It was hilarious. She picked so many and then when she was about to buy it, decided it wasn't the right one. Oh dear, she has already gotten my indecisivness.

Her little friend was so cute. They were "buddies" at the pumpkin patch and he kept jumping in every picture I tried to take. It was cute. It's fun to see them be friends at school now. I love hearing them say hi to each other and go off to play.

Lots more Halloween and birthday pics to come...



{10.11.10}

{ PEYTON DANCING }

Hallie started up dance class again and last Friday was her third time going. I think Peyton was sick of taking "Hallie to dance class" "Hallie to soccer" "Hallie to preschool" and thought quick about how she was going to fix that.

She came into my room saying "Yook Mama! I ready to go! I did it all by MYSELF!" (add dramatic arms flying in the air). She managed to find an old leotard and some ballet shoes (that were 4 sizes too big), get dressed all by herself, and was so excited because she thought she was going to dance class too! Well she managed to charm her way into class. Hallie ran in ahead of her. Peyton sits down, gets her shoes on again and books it into the room before I could even stop her. Her teacher is super nice and let her join in. She LOVED it! It was so cute to watch. She thought she was just as big as all the other girls and had so much fun. Seriously, she was on cloud nine all day! She wouldn't let me wash her hand forever because she didn't want her stamp to come off. When she noticed it was off she said all dramatically, "Oh NO! I go back to dance class!"
THANK YOU THANK YOU NANCI!

I wish I would've known so I could've brought my video camera and/or camera. These are from my phone, so not great quality, but you can see her. Hallie is next to her in all but one.
(remember to push pause on the music sidebar)

Silly Dancing (that would be Peyton you can hear)

And some pics from the phone: (sorry for the quality)

 Pretty sure she put her leotard on backwards :).

I love my little ballerinas. So lucky to have them.