Happy Halloween

We started off the evening with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Soup to keep us warm followed by delicious pumpkin bars. Who needs candy when you have pumpkin bars!

A cute picture of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.

Even though the night started out with a downpour, my kids weren't about to forgo the trick or treating. Donned with coats and umbrellas, they braved the rain and went out in search of treats. Thankfully the rain cleared up after a bit and the night was a success.

Aria was a beautiful little "Barbie" Princess who charmed the pants off everyone she saw.

Chase was a Mad Scientist. His wig cracked me up!

Hunter and Michela went as Goth Zombie Twins.

I'm sure it was Michela's idea and she convinced Hunter to go along with it.

Laina was a little Monkey.

I wasn't quite into the Holiday this year so some Monkey jammies from Costco saved the day. She's cute no matter what anyway.

I loved answering the door and seeing all the cute kids dressed up. I think my favorite costume was a KISS costume that one of the little neighbor boys was wearing. Totally cracked me up. It seemed like a bit of a slower night than usual though, I guess the rain and cold kept some people away.

The kids made a good haul.

My sister, Tiffany, and I helped them with their candy negotiations. I didn't want them taking advantage of Aria and having her end up with all the crap candy. I guess the silver lining on the lack of kids is that there was candy left over. Yeah for me!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we finally went and got some pumpkins to carve. It was pretty slim pickins over at Harmons. The kids were able to find some pumpkins that they liked so we left very happy.

Mike hates carving pumpkins, he says the pumpkin guts make him itch. After Michela cut open her pumpkin and found some mold in the pumpkin, she was devastated. Mike, being the great dad that he is, jumped in and cleaned the pumpkin out for her. I'm sure he'll be asking for half of her Halloween candy in payment.

The kids all worked hard and had lots of fun coming up with their own creations. I graciously cut the tops for them and helped them clean out the goop.

I love how Chase and Hunter have their tongues out in concentration.

This is Aria's "But I'm a Big Girl" face when I told her I didn't want her using a knife.

Notice the little pumpkin carving knife in her hand. Yikes!

All the pumpkins turned out great.

Aria's had two faces.

After coming back down from nursing Laina, I discovered that they had gotten the fake blood out of the makeup kit and went to town on their pumpkins.

Hunter and his wicked pumpkin.

Chase's is a vampire pumpkin with a goatee.

Michela even added some nasty horror flesh to creep up her pumpkin.

And we even had a little pumpkin just for Laina that Michela carved for her.

I love traditions like this, even though not all of our family members enjoy them as much as the rest of us. :)

Abs of Steel

Laina must have some serious stomach muscles because she does this all day.

Every time I see her do it I hear Tony Horton's voice in my head saying, "Banana!" If anyone has tried out P90X you know what a Banana is. During the ab routine he has you going from a Superman position on your stomach and then turning on to your back, with no use of the hands, and going into the Banana. The Banana position is where you are kind of balancing on your booty with legs, arms and chest up off the ground. Sadly I can remember the days when I could hang with Tony and the P90Xer crew. Where did those lovely muscles go? Will I ever get them back?

Princess Peach

My friend's girls wanted to be Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, from Mario Bros., for Halloween. Princess Peach costumes were easy to find, but Princess Daisy presented a problem. My friend found a Princess Daisy costume on ebay for $65. The catch is it was made in Hong Kong and it was like $50 to ship it. What?! I've done some sewing for her in the past so she asked me if I would be willing to give the costume a try. Of course!

I started with a basic princess pattern that I used for Michela when she wanted to be Cinderella about 8 years ago. I looked online to find a picture of Daisy and went to work. It turned out pretty darn cute.

Here is a picture when they came to pick it up.

She was so cute when they first came to pick it up. She was all nervous energy. She kept reaching out to touch it and wanted to grab it right out of my hands. It made me so happy to see that big smile on her face. Later I received an email from my friend. She said her daughter told her to send me an email to thank her for the dress. She said she loved it and it was so comfortable. :) My friend said she hasn't taken it off since they got home. Made My Day!

Cutie Pie

Laina is such a little cutie pie. The other morning Michela and Hunter were doing her hair. They love putting her hair in a little faux hawk. Aria is always putting her hands on either side of Laina's hair and pulling them up while saying, "Mohawk!"

Laina's hair is getting long on top and it kind of curls on the ends when they do this hairdo.

At 3 months she is becoming fascinated with her fingers and is always touching and grabbing things.

The other day she was trying to grab the design on my t-shirt. When she couldn't pull it off she dived at my shoulder and tried to get it with her mouth. She makes me laugh so hard sometimes. She loves to stare at me and when she catches my eye she gives me the biggest smiles.

She has started squealing and is close to laughing. Every time I try to get her to laugh though, she always ends up hiccuping. She is really ticklish on her sides, just like her Daddy, and jumps whenever I get her there.

Her big chubby cheeks are too cute and her smile is adorable.

Whenever Mike talks to her she will get a big smile and then she ducks her head down like she is shy. So sweet!

The other day I was talking to my Mom and she wondered if Laina would be confused as she got older since we call her Laina and Peanut all the time. I confessed that she gets called a ton of different names like Chubby Cheekers, Peanut Butter, Pistachio, ... the list goes on. Aria's favorite name to call her is Poopy Pants. Mom got a good laugh from that one.

Miss Creative

Michela is so creative, sometimes I get blown away with what she comes up with. She is in sixth grade and is going through the NOVA program at school. This is kind of like the whole DARE program I remember when I was a kid. For some reason they are supposed to make a rocket for class. They could make it any way they wanted to with any kind of art medium. Michela chose to sculpt hers out of clay. She was down in the craft room for a long time last weekend working on it. This is what she came up with.

It says NOVA on it in blue and on top is the NOVA mascot, the wolf. I love the colored paper strips on the bottom so it looks like it's blasting off. I love all her attention to detail. She used beads for some decoration as well.

Here are some close ups of the astronauts.

After making the rocket she had some white clay left over. She sculpted these two creations that day also.

I really hope she continues to use her creativity throughout her life. I know being creative brings me so much joy. I love watching her when she gets in her creative zone. The craft room is usually a total disaster during the process, but her creations and the joy on her face make up for it.

Grabby Hands

Laina spends time playing with her toys everyday. She gets so excited when I put her under these to play.

Two weeks ago she was lifting her little fists to bat at the toys.

Now she has progressed to actually grabbing the toys. I love watching her as she tries to get her chubby little hands to grasp what she wants.

This pictures cracks me up with her little tongue out as she concentrates.

She has also become a champion hair grabber and puller. Last night she was using my hair as her anchor. She grabbed a fist full and used it to support herself as she leaned out from my shoulder to look around. While she is nursing she usually is pulling on my hair at the same time. I'm seriously contemplating a drastic haircut to get my locks out of her reach. Too bad Mike doesn't like it when I have short hair. :(