Lately

Just cute.

Too cute.

We haven't been to the zoo in a long time. In fact, Carter couldn't even remember going to our zoo and Hazy had never been. We had such a good time. The kids loved the animals and the fresh air. I loved watching them have a good time.

These little people bring me inexplicable joy!

Coloring.

Lego. Carter has been doing an awful lot of building lately. He's a really creative builder. Our train table has turned into a Lego table.

Lily has been sewing. I'm pleased to see her develop her skills and talents.

Hazy is a little girl with initiative. She pinpoints what she wants, and finds a way to make it happen. I came downstairs the other day and found the back door wide open. I went outside and found Hazel jumping with noodles! She had pulled a chair into the pantry, climbed up to get a box of noodles, taken it outside and dumped it on the trampoline. She was chewing on raw noodles and jumping away!

She thought it was great fun!

Trick or treat!!

Trick or treat!!

"Trick or treat, smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!" Carter discovered that song this year. He thought it was pretty funny. Apparently Lily already knew the song, with the second verse, "If you don't, I don't care..." Carter heard it once and thought it was hilarious. Surprisingly, they sang it once, and, at my request, that was all. Now we just make knowing allusions to it and all smile at each other, rather than sing it over and over again.

I usually like to have a family theme for our costumes, but Lily knew early on that she wanted to be a vampire for Halloween. I was so surprised because we don't usually do "scary" things for Halloween. But Lily was set on it because she and her pals play vampires during recess. So she and her closest girl friend dressed as matching vampires for our church trunk-or-treat activity. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I don't have a picture of the girls together. :(

3, 2, 1...blast off! I can't get enough of Carter the astronaut! I just think he's so darn cute. He wasn't dreaming of being an astronaut for Halloween, we just found this awesome costume and chose it on a whim. After we bought the costume he told me several times, "I don't really want to be an astronaut. I want to be an airplane coyote." Gosh, I just didn't know what that was. He explained that it's an airplane that looks like a coyote. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that costume...so we stuck with the astronaut!

Carter had a super fun party at preschool. I'm so glad I could go. I loved watching him play and do the freeze dance. It was the cutest thing. What made it so stinking cute was that he was watching his teacher, Minnie Mouse, for cues on how to dance. She'd swing her hips and move her arms up and down, and Carter would do the same. His eyes were almost always glued on her. It was adorable!

Can it get any cuter than this?!!? I had two costumes for her to choose from: a cute little witch or this rooster. She wouldn't have anything to do with the witch dress and hat...but she loooves this chicken suit. I love seeing her walk around in it...the tail bobs back and forth over her diaper-bum and the little wings flap as she runs around. I love it!

Ask her what a chicken says, and she'll tell you, "Bock, bock."

As happens more often than I'd like to admit, we took care of the kids and sort of neglected to take care of ourselves. :) At the last minute I pulled out these witch accessories that I've worn a million times, and Aaron pulled out these scrubs, and voila, there we are! Not too exciting, but at least we're dressed up and ready to go trick-or-treating with our kids!

As is tradition, we visited our good friends on Halloween night. They had some extra special surprises for the kids. Four years ago Lily told them she loved Pixie Stix, and they've never forgotten. They give her a stash of them every year! (My kids love their cute dog, Scooby. He brushes his own teeth and loves to wear sunglasses!)

It's autumn time!

We don't exactly have autumn weather here. When it finally cools down, it's in the 90s. So I took my kids up to Flagstaff for some fall weather over a long weekend.

Our nature walk in the crisp air was so great! It helps that Uncle Neal plants crystals in his rock bed. My sweet aunt and uncle let us stay at their house. They were out of town and we missed playing with them. Carter was particularly bummed that Grandpa Neal wouldn't be there.

Gathering leaves, sticks, rocks, pine cones, and the like.

Cuteness!

Carter wouldn't smile for a picture. So I said something silly like, "There's a booger on your earlobe" and it got him smiling.

It snowed!!!! It was only a very tiny bit, and it melted when it touched the ground, but to us that was pretty darn exciting!

Hazy's first fall nature walk.

Lily sat down with a book, a mug of hot chocolate, and she was a happy girl on a cold afternoon. My daughter is just like me! She's a complete bookworm! I would read as much as she does, if I could. But I can't, because mommies have a lot of work to do. She's read over 2,000 pages for her school's read-a-thon in the last 5 weeks!

Carter was happy on this cold afternoon too: building for his vehicles. He played trains and cars all afternoon.

Hooray for long weekend trips!

Mother's day

Mother's day was very sweet. Aaron and the kids took good care of me. I love my kiddos immensely. Sometimes it feels like my heart will burst.

I also enjoyed thinking about my sweet mom. My gratitude for her grows more as the years move on. She is wonderful!

I call it an eskimo kiss. He re-dubbed it the ladybug kiss.

Another great treat: my brother and his family are staying with us for a couple of months this summer! We got to have Mother's day together.

This is Kelly's first Mother's day. Her little boy is so cute. We love having him here. He's so easy-going and laid back. He just fits right in with all the kids here.

Warrior Dash!

Aaron and I ran a crazy fun race last weekend. It's a 5k peppered with obstacles that have you climbing over cargo net structures, leaping over fire, and sloshing through a mud pit under barbed wire. We intended to run it together, but didn't have anyone to watch the kiddos. So we staggered our runs and went separately.

Before the mud pit...

...and after.

Wahoo!

The Warrior Dash has a viking theme...hence the viking horns.

The mud pit leaves you utterly covered in mud. To clean off you get sprayed down!

Over the fire.

In the mud.

Dir.ty.

Wahoo!! It was so much fun!