A Happy Halloween

Halloween lasted for a whole week at our house. 

Last Saturday, our ward had a trunk-or-treat. Lilly loved hanging out with her friends, having a Halloween parade, getting tons of candy, painting pumpkins, and eating cupcakes and cookies.

On Wednesday, I had a Joy School Halloween Party at our house. I hung bats and ghosts from the ceiling, played carnival games, went trick-or-treating at Lilly's bedroom door, had a costume parade, sang Halloween songs, and made witch cupcakes. It was great fun!

On Saturday we went to our friends, the Jensen's, to carve pumpkins. I haven't carved a pumpkin in SO long. It was really fun. The kids ran around and played while the parents carved their pumpkins. Gus carved the spider and I did the cat. It was a good time.

That night we went trick-or-treating to a few friend's houses in the ward. We were glad it was put together so we didn't miss out on trick-or-treating this year.

Florida Trip 2010: Days 1-4

On October 2nd, Lilly and I decided to crash my family's vacation and join them in Florida. We flew to Orlando where my parents, Brandt, James, and Brayden picked us up from the airport. We were SO excited to see them and spend the next 11 days with them. 

We loaded our bags into the big GMC Suburban that my dad rented, and headed down to Clearwater Beach. It took us about 2 hours to get there and when we arrived it was just about bedtime for Lilly.

The next morning, I woke up to Lilly saying, "Mom, you are not going to believe this! It snowed last night!" I walked to the window and saw all the bright white sand. I had to laugh.

We found an amazing condo right on the beach. We had a wonderful time relaxing for 3 days. Lilly loved hanging out with her uncles. She thought she was just one of the boys. One night Lilly was getting ready to go to bed, and Limey came into our room and said, "Goodnight Sweetheart."  Lilly looked up and said, "Goodnight my Darling."

Lilly loved building sandcastles, collecting seashells, and jumping over the waves.

Our favorite thing to do while we were there was to go out an hour before sunset and walk up and down the beach. The sunsets were absolutely gorgeous. There was also a good breeze for flying kites.

James, Brayden, and Brandt had a great time on the boogie boards.

 Lilly missed her Daddy so much, she decided to write his name in the sand

My dad brought Lilly her very own harmonica. They had a great time playing together. One night he even helped her make a shell necklace.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Lilly turned 4 today. She was SO excited to finally be as old as all her best friends. Gus and I on the other hand were a little sad. I never imagined my baby would turn 4. I never imagined that she would still be an only child. She has grown up WAY too fast and I wish I could turn back time.

She is already really great at being 4. She is spunky, sassy, and acts like she is 16. But she can also be so sweet. She is amazing with babies and younger children. She tells me daily that she wants to have "5 kids" after she gets married.

She has become quite the little cuddler. Her grandma recently taught her how to "spoon" and I usually wake up in the morning to her spooning me. I love it.

She is VERY brave but shy around people she doesn't know.

She has an endless amount of energy. My brother once said she has as much energy as 8 children. Before she goes to bed, she runs around the family room as many times as she can so she can "get her energy out". This endless amount of energy came in handy on our trip to Disney World 2 weeks ago. She was such a trooper!

She is an amazingly self sufficient child. She has such a can do spirit. Whenever her friends ask me to zip their jackets or tie their shoes, Lilly always says, "Hey, I will do it for you."

She is very mature for her age. She is my little adult.

She is our miracle baby. We may not have known that when she was born, but we sure know it now and we are so happy she joined our family when she did.

We love you sweet girl!

Ears Pierced

Today we took Lilly to the mall to get her ears pierced for her birthday. She has been begging me for months now to get them pierced and I figured if she was brave enough back then, she would be brave enough to get them done for her birthday.

When we arrived at Claire's, I think Gus and I were more nervous than she was. I kept expecting her to freak out at any moment and change her mind. But she didn't. She just sat in the chair and smiled, except of course when the ladies tried to talk to her. That's when she got real nervous. Whenever people she doesn't know talk to her she just stares at them and gets all nervous.

I asked for 2 ladies to do it at the same time so she didn't back out after she already had one done. They got everything ready, told her to take a deep breath, and then it was over. She didn't even flinch! Seriously, the expression on her face stayed exactly the same the whole time. She is such a funny, brave girl. We are so very proud of her.



Lilly's 4th Birthday Party

Today we had a birthday party for Lilly. We invited 11 of her friends. Gus had the day off so I had a lot of help, which I desperately needed with 11 children.

The theme was "Lilly's Sweet Shop". These were the invitaions we sent out:

We bought a TON of candy and set up a sweet shop table. We also decorated the house and hung candy decorations and pom poms from the ceiling.

It was such a fun day for Lilly. We made candy lei's, played duck-duck-goose, had a bean bag toss, a scavenger hunt, a cake walk, ate cupcakes, and opened presents. After each game the kids each got a ticket to use at the end of the party to buy candy from "Lilly's Sweet Shop". Lilly even served them herself.

Joy School Field Trips

This year Lilly has Joy School on Tuesday, and Thursday mornings, and then every Wednesday all the kids go on a field trip. I have volunteered to go on every one so far. I love spending time with Lilly and her friends and enjoy taking pictures of all thier fun adventures.

On the 15th we took the kids to Frying Pan Farm Park. They were able to see so many fun animals including tiny baby piglets. Lilly told me that she wanted one for her birthday. Hmmmm... probably not.

It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun.

Emerson taking Lilly and Addie for a ride

On the 22nd we took the kids to the Washington DC Temple. We walked quietly through the grounds (well, tried to), and looked at the remaining flowers of the season. Then we met up with our friend Ie Li and her 3 kids at the visitors center. The kids watched a movie and then looked at all the sculpters. On the way home we stopped off at some picnic tables to eat lunch. The kids all had lots of fun.

On the 29th we took the kids to Cox Farm. It was the perfect day. Nice, cool weather and no crowds. Lilly loved the slides, but her favorite part of the day was a cat she found roaming the grounds. She followed the cat around and kept hugging him. At one point we watched the cat climb the hill to the biggest slide. We all joked that he wanted to go down the slide too. Sure enough, when the cat got to the top he stood in line and then jumped onto the slide and went right down. It was pretty amazing (wish I would have gotten a picture of it).

 Trying to feed the baby cow some straw