Halloween Carnival

Warning: Picture Overload Ahead!

Don't know why I slacked off and decided to post almost all my Halloween stuff in one week, but I did no going back now. Sad thing is I still have more! I will wait until next week to post the rest to give all your poor eyes a break! Anyone Halloweened out?
We've been so busy this month doing fun things, but that is ok cause they are all fun things afterall.
The elementary school in our neighborhood does a fundraiser carnival each Halloween which we've never been to. We went this year to support the school and have a fun family night and it was a pretty cute deal.

Garrett dressed up in his Ghost costume and brought "Teddy" with him and also wanted Teddy to be a ghost.

There were almost as many activities as there were doors in the school. Here Garrett got a animal balloon.

Ran into one of our little buddies after a little game they both won eye patches! "aarrrrgggh!"


Our friends and nieghbors do a mad science experiment show every year. That was fun!

Digging for skeletons in the "dusty old bones" station.

Trick or Treat? A puff of air on his hand gave Garrett and little trick which then earned him a treat!

Another thing I think we'll do next year. Keep going if you can I added 3 new posts today! ;)

Halloween Party

We have a Halloween party for playgroup each year and it is always fun for the kids. Here they are all lined up to trick or treat at each door inside the house. They love it.
Decorating and of course eating sugar cookies!

Everyone together! (minus one friend whom we missed very much!)

2nd generation playgroup. They even got dressed up too!

Awesome times!

Pumpkin Patch A Tradition

Last year we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. We'd never done it before but decided that it was enough fun to make it a family tradition. This particular one has a small corn maze just for kids (free) and about 10 old tractors that kids can play on as well as a large patch. The kids had lots of fun and so did we, it was a bit chilly though.

My little pumpkin pants!

Pint size pumpkin finder. He was cackling madly as he ran and picked up every small pumpkin and fit into his wheel barrow.

fun brother and sister moment

This is where Embrie began to fall off the hay bail. Luckily I caught her before she hit the ground, but I also had the camera in my hand. She hit her head on that. That wasn't fun. If you look at the first picture you'll see the bruise forming on the right side of her head. But she didn't loose her smile.

A chicken that we happened to meet in the corn maze, kinda funny. She just kept running from us until she decided that she could cut through the corn. Hope she found her way home.

This was probably Garrett's favorite part.

Kids with their pumpkins and the small ones that we got from Grandma.

Cover girl!

So I got Embrie's 8/9 mo. pictures taken. It was supposed to be 8mo. but she is two weeks away from 9mo. I think they turned out pretty cute but of course I think she is down right adorable. I just can't believe how fast this year is going by. I swear she was just born.

best smile

just a sweet face

the 8x10 we got

Princess Embrie

I also took some pictures in their Halloween costumes. Now here are the rules to viewing these:

1- you cannot laugh at their costumes! :< (see previous post about sewing maching challenged)

2- you can laugh at how cute they lookin their costumes ;)

3- if you want to think the cosutmes are cute I will not stop you ;P

If you cannot tell what they are I will tell you they are ghosts.

We only got 1 shot of them both happy before Embrie realized who was with her and started thinking: "Are you kidding me you let this kid near me again? you know he's gonna do something to me!"

And actually Garrett was a very good boy during the whole thing! (hmm. . . I wonder if bribing him with getting a beef jerky at Maverik had anything to do with that.)

I love these kids!

Dinosaurs

Playgroup last week was at the dinosaur museum - thanks Sheena for getting us in 1/2 off on your pass!

Second generation playgroup babies! minus 2. Finally they are not confined to the stroller!


It would've swallowed these little minnows whole!

They had 3 different play areas with things for the kids to do. They love getting their hands dirty don't they! Digging in the sand and water for little dinos.

What do these seashells feel like?

Now I think I am caught up.

Witches again . . .

I am a little behind on the things that I wanted to post so it is a little overload of pictures probably. Here the kids and I went to a playgroup at Gardner Village to go on a "witch hunt". It was pretty fun.

Just to explain why we are always going places for playgroup . . . well when we were smaller we used to go to each other's houses most of the time and just let the kids have at it, but now since most of us have had our second child and we've added a couple mom's since the beginning it has become too crowded to do it at home at least most of the time. But the summer is great cause we go to parks or play in backyards, now through out this season we'll be on the move doing some fun things and fun places, hence all the picture taking. Explained. Now you may notice that it doesn't seem like too many kids, that is because we've planned ahead and sometimes people don't come. ( in this instance we are missing three- there are usually 7 toddler/preschoolers -5 babies- 7 moms) I guess if we knew it would be a smaller group we could stay home more often, but

oh well it is fun to get out. This I just thought was way funny!

Can't believe we got them to sit for pictures more than once.

My "eventually" . . .

The title is inspired by someone else's inspiration, but this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I love my family so much. They mean the world to me, they are everything that is important. At times I feel myself to be quite inadequate or undeserving of such a great husband and such precious little souls. Especially since I had my second child and I often feel pulled in each direction. The day we brought Embrie home from the hospital, we were actually back on our way to the doctor's office (she had a few little problems and had been in the hospital some extra time). It was a rough day for her and for us. I remember on the way to the doctor's office telling Brad through tears " I want to do everything. I want to do everything with and for Garrett, everything with and for Embrie, everything with and for you, and I still want to keep the house spotless and get dinner ready on time everyday. . . and I just can't." I feel "giulty" all the time that I am not spending enough time with anyone in the family. I've often said "nothing gets enough of my attention, not Garrett, not Embrie, not Brad and not the house." What I want is for everything to get my attention all the time. And these feelings often tend to make me frustrated and then I loose my patience with those whom I love the most and who should have my patience. Then I just feel like a worse person and the cycle goes on and on.

Now this probably sounds depressing but I am lucky because I have something . . .
Constant prayer . . . that is the thing that helps. It is a good thing that the Lord is so understanding of our faults and that He is willing to forgive me my short comings and let me try again. (I need lots of tries.) I have great mothers in my life, like my own and my grandmothers, my mother-in-law etc. Plus wonderful friends and family that let me know I am not completely alone. Their kids have done things that have drove them crazy too (for instance taking the scissors to my bedspread). So many of the mothers in my life have encouraged me, lifted me up, and made me laugh (which is also important). Often through out the day I have to stop and ask myself how Christ would handle the situation. Sometimes I know and sometimes I am at a complete loss as to how he would do it, but that is probably because I am far from perfect and don't yet have that perspective. But that is my goal to handle things that way. With utmost care, just enough firmness, but not too much and to take a step back and decide if it really matters. (In the scheme of things bedspreads probably don't matter, but my 3 year old definatley does.)
So my eventually means to me that eventually I will be the person I want to be . . .

These are a few moments in picutres from our daily life that make me keep trying to be better.

daddy-daughter bonding time
one of the few moments when they love each other ;)

Did he run out of energy?

No he did not.

Sprinkles!!!

I'm up!

Peek-a-boo

Daddy helps with homework

Another rare moment

They are so perfect, now I want to be perfect too.

Eventually. . . if I keep trying then . . . eventually . . .