This is Halloween!

Almost all of us came down with colds Halloween Eve, but it didn't stop us from getting dressed up and going out to enjoy the night. First, we went to our ward costume contest and trunk or treat which turned into a trick or treat inside the church thanks to the rain. Lydia even won a prize for her costume. Erica joined us right before we went out the door and we were all excited to have her with us.

After the church party we hit a few streets close to our house. Erica was a pirate wench! Love her!

Lydia already had shelter from the rain with her pretty, purple parasol. I love the dark, looming sky in this picture. It was a little hard for her to walk around in her dress thanks to the hoop skirt, but she did a great job. I could totally relate since I'd worn a hoop skirt two years earlier.

Violet was warm and snugly as a cheetah! After a while she got tired of sitting in the stroller so I held her and she really loved going up to people's doors.

I didn't have any costumes that fit. I'm not quite at my pre-pregnancy figure so I threw together a vampire costume at the last minute. Wes had in fact made the corset and cape years earlier. The dress is a relic from times long past :)

Adelle was a little scared of me, especially when I hissed at her. He he!

It wasn't long before a very cold wind picked up and Adelle had to use the restroom so we quickly headed home.

The candy stash isn't as big as years past, but Adelle still got 172 pieces!

Erica hung out with us until the girls went to bed.

It ended up being a fun Halloween! I wonder what we'll dress up as next year ;)

Costumes

The Thursday before Halloween the girls got to dress up in their special costumes for school. I wish I would have gotten better pictures of Adelle's Mulan costume. She was in a hurry to get out the door to the bus. Her sleeves are particularly amazing and flow down almost to the floor.

Lydia as a southern belle! She just LOVED getting dressed up, wearing my pearls, and makeup.

Love it!

Thanks Daddy!

I love my husband so much! Not only is he the man I adore with all of my heart but he can also sew. The talent he has is amazing to me! He is also FAST! Oh, did I mention he is also a perfectionist! He will often start making something from a pattern and find that he doesn't like the way it is turning out. So what does he do? He just adapts it, changes it, and makes it his own. He decided he would dust of the sewing machine and make some fabulous costumes for Lydia and Adelle. Lydia decided all the way on our Disneyland vacation that she wanted to be a southern belle. I think Wes was the one that suggested it after Lydia bought a personalized parasol in New Orleans Square. Wes made the southern belle dress complete with on overdress and hoop skirt! Did I mention the man has oodles of talent?

Adelle wanted to be Mulan. She got nervous in the end because Lydia's was taking a while to make. Wes did come through for his girl though and he got it done the Sunday before Halloween. It only took him two days to do Adelle's since there wasn't any gathering. He did have some beautifully finished french seams on the costume though.

I love him!

New Friends

A couple of weeks ago after the girls and I had cleaned the house really good I thought it would be nice for the girls if they got some new friends. After our errands we went to the pet store and each of them chose a beta fish of their very own. Adelle chose a blue, female beta and named her Beauty. Lydia chose a crown tail, male beta which she named Prince Charles. Both of the girls were super excited. We saved by buying the fish bowls super cheap at the DI where we had gone to find a costume for Violet. The girls are very careful to always leave their bedroom door closed so our cat can't make a snack out of the special pets. Yeah for pets!

10 months and Violet's Faces

Violet has many faces. I decided to capture some of them.

Yesterday Violet turned 10 months old. She is growing up so much. She is now crawling on her knees and is pulling herself up on more and more things, including Wes' Aragorn sword which was hanging on the wall. It is now in the closet. She is making more and more sounds, including something that sounds vaguely like kitty. She isn't sleeping as well as she was last month. She likes to get up once a night nowadays. I hope that stops soon. She also isn't napping as well either. It is a phase I'm sure. It does look like she's about to get another tooth on the top so that could be contributing to the frequent wakings.

She is really getting her own little personality. She likes to yell at us to get her more food when she is in her highchair. We're trying to work through that one. She doesn't like green beans and she will throw them onto the floor. She likes most other foods and has recently become a big fan of banana bread.

She does give us lots of smiles and gets excited to see us. She gets especially excited to see Wes when he has been busy and cries when he goes away. She LOVES touch and feel books. She likes to touch all the special materials. She still loves to suck and bite blankets and stuffed animals. She loves to play Peek-A-Boo and is very good at it! It is pretty easy to make her laugh most days and it is a hearty laugh.

I can't believe in just two months she will be celebrating her first birthday. Time sure is flying!

Missing Teeth and the Tardy Fairy

Adelle has quite the smile when I ask her to grin for the camera. She shows ALL her teeth, or the lack thereof. A couple of weeks back while she was at school her other front tooth popped right out onto the classroom carpet at school. Adelle rushed over to the sink and all of the kids got excited and followed her. Now most teachers would probably get upset, but not Adelle's. She congratulated her on her most recent tooth lose and the kids all joined in. Her tooth came back in this special envelope. Adelle wrote on it "P.S. I lost this tooth at school". She then drew an arrow to the lumpy spot in the envelope and wrote "My tooth".

The tooth fairy came that night and delivered two whole dollars.

Lydia lost a tooth not long after Adelle. She has began loosing more of her baby teeth again. Thank heavens she pulls them out herself. I'm not sure I could pull out my children's teeth. I feel a little bad for the girl because for some odd reason I didn't take her picture. She lost her right canine tooth. I just asked her why she wasn't pictured. She just said she didn't want her picture taken. Phew....I'm not a bad mom. I knew there was a reason. It is that 11 year old "take my picture?" attitude. She isn't a fan of it.

Now, the tooth fairy was a bit tardy with her. Perhaps it is because deep down inside she doesn't really believe in the tooth fairy anymore. We had a discussion a couple of years ago not long after St. Patrick's Day. The leprechauns, Santa Claus, Easter bunny, Tooth Fairy and everything else was brought up and the sad truth came out. She honestly wanted to know and didn't want any lies. She said she'd had an inkling for awhile. We still believe in all of those things in our house though because it is fun to believe even if you know some of the secrets.

Anyway, the tooth fairy didn't make it the first night or the second night, but after the girls were up I "discovered" money on the stairs and asked to my dismay if someone had dropped it. When I was assured that no they hadn't, I remarked that the tooth fairy must have dropped it on the way the Lydia. It must have been that mischievous cat.

I'm glad my children love me so much!

Grateful for Small Spaces

So we have had a whirlwind of decisions recently. It all began with a coworker mentioning how great mortgage interest rates are right now. She said we should refinance. I brought it up to Wes and we both agreed we should look into it. We looked a few places and finally settled on our original mortgage broker that we used when we bought our house 5 years ago. We started thinking though "Instead of just refinancing, should we get a bigger home". We said this as we were tripping over toys, scooting around the playpen, and wondering where on earth we are going to place our Christmas Tree since we've reorganized the living room.

We began to search looking high and low for available houses on the market. You can get a lot of house for the money right now, especially since there are so many short sales. I really began to dig into this new thought. When I research something it is never half hearted, and in fact it often becomes an obsession. You should ask Wes. I think he dreads when I plan our vacations because I will search through hundreds of hotels and reviews. The house market was no exception. I looked and re-looked at houses on the Internet. No house was left unexplored. I knew pretty quick what I did and didn't want. It had to be something much bigger, something newer, in a well kept area. Something with BIG family spaces. I daydream in the future being able to entertain family at my home. Right now that is well...cozy :)

Something happened though. I was spending time with Violet, feeding her in the bedroom and helping her wind down for the night. I could hear noises of the football game coming through the window. The announcement of the homecoming royalty, the dance club halftime show, the cheers of the crowd. It warmed my heart. There is such a sense of community where we live. Our house is situated in a quite, cozy neighborhood, right next to the park. I offered a prayer to my Heavenly Father and felt like we should probably stay in our home.

The feeling was even stronger as I listened to the prophet talk during conference the next day of preparing for our futures. Right now we can refinance and shorten our loan by 10 years. We could absolutely be free of any debt in 15. School loans, car payments, the house, everything. It is so very possible and as I think of what we could do it makes me feel such peace and joy.

Also, this little house has grown on me. It is our little haven from the world. Besides, I have ideas on how to make it even better. Small project by project I could make it blossom into something even greater. Sure, I might not know where to put the Christmas Tree, but I'll figure it out. I will be ever so grateful for my small spaces :)