Another birthday

I had a very happy birthday. My family made me feel very special that day. My mom made me a delicious zucchini cake. The zucchinis were grown in my dad's garden and the walnuts were grown on my grandpa's tree. Lily and Carter helped mom frost the cake. They love licking the beaters!

Dad was so sweet and thoughtful. He sent me off to get "that thing done to your feet." My first pedicure ever. Isn't that so thoughtful for a dad to come up with?! We had dinner at a restaurant that I love. It's called Neapolitan. It's delicious italian food.

As you can see, for Aaron it was more work than pleasure. He sure did give me a break by wrestling Carter that evening. He also made me crepes for breakfast that morning. What a dear.

Growing up my mom put a special table cloth on the table for our birthdays. To me, it's the epitome of birthday. You put that on the table and the whole house feels birthday-y. She was so sweet to bring it with her and put it on my table for my birthday.

Thank you, Aaron, Lily, Carter, Mom and Dad for a wonderful birthday!

Wow!

In a word, "Wow!" is my description of William Joseph's live performance. Aaron and I went to his concert last night. It was a fabulous show. His music is new to me and I completely enjoyed the performance. His music is very powerful and full of energy. Aaron and I loved the show. So did Hazel. She was awake and moving through the whole performance. The other performers in his quartet were extremely talented too. He had a violinist, cellist, and percussionist accompanying him.

My very favorite song was Kashmir. I also adored an unnamed ballad that isn't on his album, as well as Shine, a new song. Check out his website (linked above) and you can hear his fantastic music. Thanks, Michelle, for introducing us to your talented brother's music!

He's an incredible musician! His performances are amazing. He'll be performing Saturday night at the Mesa Arts Center. Go see the show!

Halloween spookables!

My mom and dad came to visit for Halloween! We're so happy to have them here!


We made our yummy sugar cookies. Grandpa got pretty fancy with the frosting.

Carving pumpkins was a lot of fun. Lily drew the cutest face with star eyes. Carter requested moon-shaped eyes.

Left to right: Carter & Jill's, Lily's, Grandpa's, Aaron's.

Lily dressed up as Tinkerbell when she was born. If you have a little girl, you probably know that Tink was not born an infant.

Ah! A witchy and a princess! That's the sweetest witch I know! Lily designed this costume for me. As I was hurriedly finishing sewing the kids' trick-or-treat bags, she came to me with this outfit and said it was my princess costume. It ended up winning the "cutest adult costume" at our church's trunk-or-treat activity. Way to go, Lily!

Our un-traditional Halloween dinner. I used to make pumpkin stew. But seeing as how Aaron and the kids don't like it, I've quite making it.

Look at those Halloween spookables! Carter did not like Grandpa's costume one bit. He didn't want to go anywhere near him. Hence, the crying. Lily wasn't too impressed with his costume either! I can't understand why.

Tinkerbell and Peter Pan! Carter loved being Peter Pan. After his bedtime bath he insisted on wearing his Peter Pan costume to bed. He was the cutest little Peter Pan!

Boo!

Pumpkins!

We went to a pumpkin farm up north in hopes of finding some cool fall weather. We didn't find any cool weather, but we had a lot of fun and got some great pumpkins.


Aaron's teaching the kids about the oil pan, where the fuel is burned, and how the transmission works.

Lily's favorite part of the day was feeding the horses.

Carter's favorite activity was riding the train.

I love these little faces!

Choosing a pumpkin.

We got fantastic pumpkins! We'll carve them on Halloween day when Grandpa and Grandma Ford are here.

Big kids' bedroom

Is our house shrinking? Or is our family just getting bigger? We're making room for Hazel. We moved Carter out of the nursery and into Lily's room. It is now called "the big kids' room!"

We brought Carter's bed in and made bunk beds for the kids. Lily is ecstatic to have bunk beds again and Carter likes that his bed is like a fort now. We got two cute little rugs to put on the floor that help define the room as Lily's and Carter's. It's been a great switch so far. The kids go down to bed well and I think it helps them feel more united.

My little goofies!

Sadly, our dear camera is ill and had to be sent away to be fixed. I'm hoping hoping hoping it will be fixed miraculously quickly so we can have it back for the holidays....or at least for all the Christmas festivities. Until we get it back, our old point and shoot is making a come back.

Great weekend and a sicky day

This weekend was awesome and a little crazy. Aaron and I attended our friends' beautiful wedding this weekend. Lily and Carter stayed with "Grandpa and Grandma Clark" who are really my aunt and uncle. Lily was feeling under the weather, so that changed our plans a bit. But we were able to attend the wedding and the kids had fun with their grandma and grandpa and cousins.

Carter adores "Grandpa." As long as he was with Uncle Neal this weekend, he was a happy camper. Uncle Neal sure is good with these kids. He plays with them and they have the greatest time together.

Cousin James, "Grandpa," and Carter, waving to a dump truck. I guess there was a bit of competition felt between the two little boys about their grandpa. Little does Carter know that James actually has more ownership of this Grandpa Clark!

Cousin Mary, Lily, and me after hunting for rocks in Grandpa and Grandma's streambed. They found a real geode and cracked it open. So cool! I also have to say that Aunt Chris (a.k.a. Grandma Clark) was an angel this weekend and took such good care of Lily when she was feeling unwell. Thank you, Chris!

I love being Lily and Carter's mom! Lily is on the mend but still a little under the weather so she stayed home today. I love having her home! We watched a Halloweeny movie together, colored, and then the kids made forts.

Lily snuggled in her fort with Lamby.

Carter backing out of his fort so I can't get his picture.


I love these kids! I adore them more than I ever thought humanly possible! They are both fun and surprise me with what they are capable of doing. I'm the luckiest mom in the world!