Cuddle Session

"I will not play tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war. Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug, where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins."

Shel Silverstein

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween! We had such a GREAT day filled with FAMILY and SWEETS--How can you possibly go wrong with that combination?! We spent the first half of the day lounging around in our PJ's, watching movies, and cooking up some yummy Halloween food. I decided to stay with my traditional Mummy Hot Dogs and Worm Juice, but added Mummy Pizzas this year to shake things up a bit. They were all pretty yummy, and Annabelle was very pleased with her themed meal :)

Later that night we headed out to Grandma and Papa's house for an AMAZING Halloween dinner and trick-or-treating. My mom went all out and made it so special for us and the kids. It was so fun to walk in and see all the decorations and fun food tables. Annabelle was so excited to find her place and sit at the table :) The kids looked adorable in their costumes (Belle, Aurora, the Nice Witch, a Puppy and a Spider). That's right, Stockton ditched the Pea in the Pod for a more roomy and comfy spider ensemble. I must say, I liked the spider more than the Pea anyway, so it all worked out well.

Trick-or-treating was too cold for the babies this year, but they partied at Grandma's, and Brady and Angie showed them a good time ;) Annabelle, Paige and Daisy had fun, but were done pretty early--wayyyyyy earlier than I ever was (I swear we'd stay out for a good couple hours)! Luckily Annabelle still scored enough candy for her mom to sneak a good portion of it without her noticing. Ha ha.

What a WONDERFUL Day!

Grandma's Halloween Spread

Gearing up to hit the streets

Do I have a gorgeous husband or what?!

A-Dorable

Cute as a Button

Halloween 2010!

Trick-or-Treating with Mimi

We had so much fun trick-or-treating through Mimi's office this year! Me, Josh, Annabelle, and Stockton met up with Nikki, Eric, and Liv to load up the kids' buckets. The girls were so excited! Little baby stock was uncomfortable to say the least--I swear to you I bought his costume ONLY 2 weeks before Halloween, but when it came to dress him up? Wayyyyy too small! There we were sitting outside Mimi's office preparing for the grand entrance, cutting out the entire bottom of Stocky's costume just so those chubby little legs could straighten out (and kick at break-neck speed). Unbelievable growth spurt! Stocky was a good sport for the 45 minutes we kept him in that costume, bless his heart :)

As I'm sure you can imagine, the kids were a HUGE hit and looked adorable. They were on the receiving end of many Oooohhhs and Aaaawwws, and deservedly so. What a sight :) The funniest part was listening to Annabelle say "Trick-or-Treat smell my feet. I don't care, I'll take off your underwear." Ohhhhh my goodness! You're probably saying "What?! That's not funny. Such poor manners!" BUT she sincerely thought that's what she was supposed to say; she had NO clue she was being funny. :) I can't fault her at all; I can, however, fault her father and her uncle Prince Eric. I kept feeling like I needed to apologize to every soul who made a donation to her bucket, but she was so innocent and sincere--and I admit darling--all I could do was have a good laugh with Nikki each time it happened :) What a priceless memory. Still makes me smile when I think about it.

After we traveled through every nook and cranny of Sandy City Hall, we headed over to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. It was such a GREAT time, we loved it. The girls ate their lunch, laughed, played, and loved staying in their costumes a little longer. Thanks for the wonderful day Mimi, Nikki, Eric and Livers! :)

The Pea in the Pod that popped!

Annabelle the "Nice Witch"

Beautiful Rapunzel

Adorable Trick-or-Treaters

Awwww

Trick-or-Treating, sugar, playing, eating, and laughing all combine together to produce this result: A much-needed REST and peaceful drive home.

A Cold Day at Cornbelly's

We spent a full day at Thanksgiving Point with the Simpson girls, Angie and Rusty, and Grandma! The pony rides are always a MUST for these girls--they could go again and again and again and again and...you get the picture. They LOVE those cute little ponies! After giving those cuties a full day's worth of laps, we slowly made our way through the rest of the farm. I say slowly because we really took our time, stopped to feed babies, stopped to talk, stopped to take pictures, stopped to feed goats and ducks, stopped to let Paige, Daisy and Annabelle dance on the stage then run to the jail then back to the stage again, over and over and over again. It was so nice and the fall colors were BEAUTIFUL!!

After experiencing everything the farm and all its animals had to offer, we walked across the parking lot and continued the fun at Cornbelly's. The event started off with a bang! The girls loved playing in "Mrs. Brown's House," as well as sitting in Cinderella's carraige. Annabelle was in HEAVEN as she gazed around that carriage with a smile on her face, just soaking it all in. Paige was a champ and stepped in as her driver :)

At about this time, it became FREEZING! However Paige and Annabelle had just began their fun so we tried to stay as long as we possibly could, hitting the jumping pillows, the Cow Train, a little playground, a few pig races, and a REALLY bumpy hay ride. The girls enjoyed themselves, but baby Stock? Not so much. The poor little guy was miserable :( We called it quits and lucky me listened to a screaming baby for close to 30 minutes straight the whole way home. Would you believe Annabelle fell asleep, then continued to sleep right through it? I guess that gives you an indication as to how tuckered out she was! I think cold weather does a similar thing to our bodies that swimming does...EXHAUSTS it! :) We got home, fed the kids, put them down to bed early, and all was well. What a day! Extra THANKS to Grandma for stepping in to make Stocky as comfortable as possible while I rushed Paige and Annabelle through as many "games" as I could before we all froze! What would I do without her?!

Loving the Pony Rides
Paigey

Baby Stock--How cute!

Cinderella'a Carraige

The Beautiful Fall Colors and one ADORABLE Little Girl!

A Ride on Shrek's Donkey :)

This is Ride #3!

Go Annabelle!

Thanks for a FUN Fall day everyone!

Fun with Foam

Annabelle and I are having a blast with FOAM creations! They're quick, easy, cute and FUN! She loves to use the glue, and always uses MUCH MORE than she needs, but the important thing is that she's having fun and being creative with her hands (ohhhh...and spending some Good Ole Fashioned QT with her mommy)! Together she and I made a collage of cute Halloween figures and pictures to decorate our front door. However, we decided to be non-traditional and hang on them on the inside, rather than the outside. I mean really...who appreciates them more: The insiders or the outsiders? In this particular case we had to go with the insiders and these insiders loved their Foamtastic Halloween door.

Hottest VET Ever!

THANK YOU for your SERVICE!

Barnyard Boo!

We continued our Halloween celebrations at Thanksgiving Point during Barnyard Boo! Once again, we joined Nikki, Eric and Liv for a fun day out of the house. Annabelle insisted on wearing her "Schoo clothes," which is pretty funny considering she doesn't go to school :)

We enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed watching Liv and Annabelle play in the little jail, frost a cookie, get their faces painted and go on a few pony rides. It's so nice to see how much simple activities can make them smile and have fun. We're so grateful for family and fun times together!

"Don't be scared Annabelle! It's not real see?"

"Mmmmmmmm"

Enjoying the simple things in life

A wonderful afternoon!

Halloween Fun with Friends

This year Josh and I decided to get a few of our friends together for a fun pumpkin carving party. The kids had a BLAST painting little pumpkins, watching "How to Train Your Dragon," chasing each other around, and screaming...yes...LOTS of screaming! This little group of kids have SO much fun together, and get SO excited to play and run around. I LOVE it! I was just happy we rented the clubhouse so they could run and play to their heart's content without breaking anything :) Between our 4 families, we have 7 children under age 5! Needless to say it gets a little crazy at times, but it's a joyful crazy! And it beats having to get a babysitter! Why get a babysitter when the kids are such great friends and want to get together as much as you do right? :)

Baby Stock had a hard time settling because of all the noise, so Josh and I took turns holding him in the next room. It's an interesting dilemma I sometimes face with 2 kids: Annabelle is having the time of her life, beaming with excitement and joy, screaming with delight, yet Baby Stocky is restless, fussy and overstimulated because of the noise. It's so tough! I can't bring myself to break-up such innocent, happy, blissful moments for Annabelle, so I do my best to pacify Stockton by taking him into the next room, holding him, singing to him, rocking him, etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I can't wait until they're both having the times of their lives, screaming together :) Adding a 2nd child brings such added depth, emotion, and love to your family, but being pulled 2 different directions is I feel the most difficult adjustment--wanting to be there completely 100% for BOTH of them at the same time--wanting to sit back and watch Annabelle play, laugh, scream, chase, and interact with friends, yet wanting to be silent with Stockton in my arms, rocking him, and staring at his adorable chubby face until he's asleep. Luckily I get those moments with each of them at different times; it's just tough when those moments present themselves simultaneously! But...back to the party :)

Season and Kenny's pumpkin turned out so great, definitely the BEST pumpkin success of the night! It was such a fun night with friends, and we're so glad they joined us!

Halloween Kickoff!

Happy Halloween! We kicked-off our Halloween festivities with a trip to Gardner Village during the ever-so-popular Wee Witches Weekend. We were so glad Nikki and Liv could join us because A) They are wonderful company and B) Annabelle has double the fun with a friend to play with! Besides the event being craaaazzzzzyyyy busy and PACKED, it was very cute and fun for the girls. The BEST part about this day was that Annabelle decided she wanted to be a witch for Halloween (as long as everyone knew she would be a nice witch). Josh and I were so excited! She had originally decided to be "Wonder in Wonderland" (otherwise known as Alice in Wonderland), and while we were excited for her, and knew how darling she'd be, I think we secretly wanted her to be something a little more different and Halloween-ish. After all, she dresses up as a princess every day around here, and let's face it--Alice doesn't stray too far from that map. Thank goodness for Purple sparkly witch hats, and a good friend willing to share in the witchy fun! Wee Witches Weekend created our little Wee Witch!

Annabelle and Liv

Baby Stocky. How can you not smile when you look at that face?
Me, Josh and Stocky (Annabelle declined a pose with her annoying parents) :)
The hat that inspired it all!

The fun cousin who played along

Annabelle LOVED her face paint, and was so upset when it came off in the bath. Liv chose cute pink and purple spider webs.

Cousins and friends

Not only is he a great dad, but he's an awesome uncle too!

Wee Witches Weekend, 2010

See you next year Witches! Ohhhh...I'll be the one without a stroller. That way, I'll actually be able to move around and go inside a store or two!

Children

There is no greater blessing than happy children who LOVE each other!

We LOVE you Baby Stock and Anna-Banana-Belle

Sweet Summer Days

"We'll talk of sunshine

and of song,

And summer days, when

we were young;

Sweet childish days, that

were as long

As twenty days are now."

William Wordsworth

I LOVED this day! I LOVED the joy on their faces! I LOVED the pleasure they found in simplicity. I LOVED that Annabelle had good friends to share it with!