Picnic Party in the Park

For Williams party this year I decided not to go overboard as I have done in the past. A simple picnic in the park. Because kids really just want to play. The only thing I did was make a cake (my friend Samantha made the cupcakes for me:) the picnic lunches and the insulated, monogrammed lunch bags for all the kids.
Different ones for boys and girls. All the fabric was purchased at a second hand store for a dollar a pound which means it was realllllly cheap.They did take time, but I could do it all pre-party and then I was not stressed at the party. It would have also been less time if Will didn't have so many cousins and friends, but we love all his cousins and friends so it was worth it.
Enjoying the picnic
They played for a long time.

Gracie decided that should could go down the slides and that she liked it.

William pushing his buddy CharlieThen we had cake, cup cakes, and ice cream

William requested a cake with sprinklers and sugar on it. No problem.ReadyBlow!He did it!

Here my kids show you what they think the most important part of a cupcake is. In fact I don't think either of them actually ate the cupcake.

Now time for presents. When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said...."presents!" He did eventually tell us he wanted a lot of star wars action figures. Here he is after he opened a set my mom got him. It had everything he wanted, except it had an old OB WAN instead of the young one, but he didn't mind.

He got some moon sand, pretty neat stuffA basket ball to go with his new basketball hoop (not pictured) Unfortunately we left the ball outside and it is gone so we need to replace it.And what could this present be?A cow! When William saw what it was he said, "what?" He was pretty surprised.Then after he was done opening all the presents my dad pulled a little toy calf out of his pocket. They went perfectly together.Here is my mom doing what she does best, holding my friends baby.

And here is Gracie playing with my brother Ryan. She sure likes him.
She also likes buckling car seats and strollers. She never leaves one undone if she can help it.

What a cute little rag-a-muffin

It was a beautiful day and I was glad to see all that came to celebrate our little boy turning five. Not so little anymore;)

Halloween 2009!

The morning of Halloween we made it over to Trader Joe's for their petting zoo. Little Bo Peep was pretty excited. It took so much to get her in that costume and to be happy about it, little stinker. That costume, by the way, was made mostly by my mother and kinda by me. I spent a whole day at her house and I would cut and she would sew. It was great! The only sewing I did was the dots on the skirt and the chest piece of the dress.

She liked petting all the animals

William watched from the outside. He didn't want to go in because he was mad there was not a baby cow (we were under the impression there would be one).

After Trader Joe's we went to the park to have Williams birthday picnic in the park but I will do pictures of that later. Then we made a quick run to a house that we had looked at before so Russ could have a second look with a better attitude (because I loved it and he didn't) and so Connie could come and see it and tell me if I was being weird for loving it. It turns out I am not weird for loving it because she did too and now Russ loves it and we should be putting an offer on it today!

After that we went home and got ready for the ward Trunk-or-Treat.

Here is Woody putting on Bo Peeps bonnet.

And here he is putting it on again after she took it off and that was the last time we did that. We decided she would just be bonnet-less.
Look at the cuties!

The whole Toy Story gang. William spent the whole night running around with his little mummy buddy, Noah.

And Gracie just charmed everyone with her cuteness...well that is after she ate. Before that she was not being so cute.

Here she is getting some candy. She was so cute when she would say trick-or-treat. Halloween is so fun.

After that was done we went home and put the kids to bed and stepped out into our front yard to an awesome adult only party my sis in-law and neighbor put on. There was good food and good company so we had lots of fun. I wish I had pictures.

Carving Pumpkins

One night when we probably should have been getting the kids ready for bed, we decided to carve pumpkins. It was one of those, if-we-don't-get-it-done-now-it-will-never-get-done, kinda things. When I told the kids what we were going to do I was surprised when they went outside and carried their pumpkins inside to me.

I mean, they are kinda heavy and Gracie is really small.Then they both made really funny faces while carrying their pumpkins, without being asked. They are good kids.

All ready to go!It took a lot of convincing to get William to put his hand inside the pumpkin and pull out the guts.But once he did it, he loved it and started making typical gross boy noises.Gracie thought it was cool, but what she thought was really cool was... Lighting them. She wanted to stick her face right in the top of the jack-o-lantern
Like this. She sat looking at these guys for a long time.And here is the man carving the pumpkins...with a drill:)Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. More on that to come.

Lunch time

My mom was in town and we decided that we would go to lunch and call Connie to see if she wanted to go too. When trying to decide where to go I remembered a few days back when our offer was not excepted on a house I really wanted and I wanted to go to Nelson's Frozen Custard. It happens to be close to Russ work so he met us there. I had my delicious veggie grinder and then we ordered a pumpkin concrete with peanut butter cups mixed in.

William was eating so fast, he probably ate most of it.

Yummmmmmm.

It is fun to watch my kids be kids. William would only step on the white squares and Gracie just loved to run.

William's point of view

William found the camera and decided to take some pictures. Here is his sister with hew wiley hair.And here she is climbing on Grandmas couchAnd here is his dad. I really like this picture because it made me realize that Russ sits like that a lot and I think it is cute.
Yes, he is cute!

Watching Daddy Go

One morning after saying goodbye to Russ I looked out to see the kids watching him leave and saying, "bye Daddy". It was very sweet. These were taken awhile ago because Russ is now at his new job where he leaves for work very early and if the kids were awake to see it, it would be because something was wrong.

And also because William still looks like the flying tomato. His hair has been cut for awhile now (thanks aunt Ashley!!!! Those exclamation marks are especially for you:)
Gracie does NOT like the fact that Russ works, but it seems to be getting better. For over a week straight every time I went to get her out of bed in the morning she would see me and say (in a very sad/upset voice) "Daddy NO go to work." She wouldn't want me to get her. It was very sad. She sure loves her daddy.

Bubbles and faces

I don't know why but I think it is really funny when my kids lay in the bath and I just see their faces surrounded by bubbles. I guess it is just seeing them in a different way.

Laying in the bathtub is only something that happens because of Gracie. William would never do it on his own, but after watching Gracie do it a few times he decided he probably could. I love that they are so serious in this picture. Gracie loves to lay down in the water. I often catch her singing the Little Mermaid while she is doing it. She also loves that her hair touches her back when it is wet. One time she sat up and her hair was on her back and she said, "I a girl". She sure is a girl:)

The boy without a couch

One day Russ was getting frustrated with our leather couch because the cushions always come off. He asked me if I could sew them on and I reminded him that we were going to get rid of the couch when we moved so I probably wouldn't take the time to sew it. Then he said, "why don't we get rid of it now?" Good point. So we did. We took it to D.I. and William was not very happy about that. We did not get the other couch moved that night so the next day we were couch less until Russ came home. William out on a video and I found him like this-

He moved my grandmothers rotary phone off of her suitcases that sit behind the couch and took a seat. I offered him other chairs that looked more comfortable but he wanted to sit there. And he didn't want me to take his picture.The last time we were at D.I. he saw our couch for sale and was begging me to buy it! Sorry kid, I know you loved to jump on it, but there is no way I am paying money for that thing.

The girl in the banana box

Here is a girl who likes to have fun and make people laugh. Something she and William have in common. They are so different in so many ways, but they both love making people laugh.It has been a long time since I have posted (again). Things on the to-do list are getting done, but somehow the list is getting longer. I know I do it to myself, but I can't seem to help it. But, I don't want the blog to suffer. This is by far the best journal I have ever kept and I don't want to start slacking now. So some things to type for the record:

• we lost the house because they wouldn't lower the price to match the appraisal. It doesn't make sense. No one understands it and that makes me feel like it was not meant to be. Once I came to that conclusion I have had peace about it.
• We put an offer on another house that I like better. The idea of it is growing on Russ:) Hopefully we will know something next week.
• Russ started working at his new job and of course loves being there. I am very glad he is there too.
• The start of the holidays are upon us, including Williams birthday. Should be busy and fun!
• I am enjoying this season of Project Runway (we have to record it at my parents because we don't have TV) and the other night I watched Becoming Jane while I worked on a project. *sigh* I love that movie.

He tries so hard

Russ has been reading Catching Fire in is spare time (which he doesn't have much of). Here he is getting really into it.

Or just sleeping through it;) He actually did finish it and liked it and like me is anxiously awaiting the third book.