First Santa Visit

I took Abby and Nathan to see Santa this week for their first time. Abby has been so excited all week and she's been telling me exactly what she is going to say and what Santa will say back to her and so on. So we went down to the mall and waited in line. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself. So we get up to Santa and she sits in his lap and says. . .NOTHING! He asked her what she would like for Christmas and she just stared down at the floor. Then he asked her if she would like some toys and she stared down at the floor but said "mmm-hmm". And then that was it, we couldn't get anymore out of her. Nathan, of course was so distracted by everything that we couldn't get him to look at the camera. Then after we left Abby says, "Mom, I want to go back and see Santa. I'm not gonna be shy now." Oh well, I guess we'll try again next year.

Fall...and Winter Fun

Can you believe these pictures were taken within a few days of each other?! The week started out with some nice warm fall days and then less than a week later we were hit with a blizzard. We had TONS of leaves in our backyard. The kicker is that we also do not have any trees in the backyard. However, our neighbors do happen to have lots of trees in their backyards. Abby saw all those leaves and wanted to go out and walk around. I raked up a small pile and she had a ball jumping in them. We went out a few days later and got them raked up. Nathan loved walking through them and hearing the crunching noise they made when he stepped on them. Then the blizzard hit. Abby was so excited for the first snow of the season. As soon as Nathan went down for a nap, we bundled up and went outside. She wanted to make a snowman, but the snow just wasn't sticky enough. She had fun sliding down the slide and into the snow. We made snow angels and Abby loved the footprints we left behind ("look mom I'm making feets in the snow!"). We had a fun time and then when she finally got cold enough, we went in and warmed up with hot chocolate. It was fun but I am glad it has warmed back up for the time being!

Halloween

Aunt Lindsey and Nathan

Nathan and Great Grandma

Abby and Aunt Lindsey

So I finally got around to posting some Halloween pictures. Nathan was the cutest little elephant EVER! His costume was so adorable, it just made me smile every time I looked at him. Abby, of course, was a princess. She loved to be able to wear her beautiful dress outside of the house. We went to visit my grandma in the morning. She lives in assisted living, so there are a lot of other ladies there who oohed and ahhed over her and made her feel special. I took her trick or treating for the first time this year and she loved it. We only went to a handful of houses around the neighborhood, but she still managed to get a ton of candy. Plus the weather was so perfect, we didn't even need jackets. It was a fun Halloween and Abby is already looking forward to next year.

Pumpkin Carving

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is carving pumpkins. We have been getting together with our friends Mike and Stephanie Geist for the last five years to carve pumpkins. It has been more difficult as we've added kids into the mix these last couple years, but still lots of fun. Stephanie has a 2 year old son, Tony. We let Abby and Tony paint their pumpkins while Jeff and Mike played Star Wars Battlefront on the PS2 (that is their favorite tradition!). They had lots of fun mixing paints and making a general mess of things. They insisted on covering every inch of pumpkin with paint. We then had them make Halloween jell-o jigglers. They loved that and we had so much fun watching them. After entertaining the children, we finally got started carving our own pumpkins. Of course by then the children were getting tired so we called it a night and I finished my pumpkin later. So now here it is all finished up and now sitting on our front steps. In case you were wondering, Jeff was trying to match the face on his pumpkin in his picture. Silly guy!

A Day at the Park

This week I took the kids to the park with my friend Stephanie and her son Tony. This was our first time at the West Jordan Park. Abby loved it! When she first saw it she said, "Mom can I play in all the little houses?" She loved running in and out of all the little buildings and swinging on the swings. I think Abby would swing all day long if I let her. Nathan loved having some rough terrain to practice his walking skills. He wore himself out and promptly fell asleep on the way home and took a four hour nap. Maybe we will have to do this more often!

Stats

Abby and Nathan had their 3 year and 1 year check-ups this month. Abby is now 36 3/4 inches tall (40th percentile) and weighed in at 23 lbs. 8 oz. and is in the 25th percentile now! This is good news because Abby has been underweight since she was 6 months old and this is the first time she has made it on the charts so the doctor and I were glad. I was surprised because Abby still never seems to eat much, but apparently she has been gaining weight. Yeah Abby! Nathan weighed in at 23 lbs. 3 oz. (60th percentile) and is 30 1/2 inches tall (70th percentile). So he is still our big boy, but that growth is slowing down. I thought he would catch Abby this time, but not yet. They are both healthy and developing normally. I couldn't ask for anything better!

Heidi's Wedding

Jeff's sister Heidi got married on September 26. It was a beautiful wedding and it was so much fun to be a part of it. While we were waiting outside for Heidi and Winslow to come out of the temple, Abby was spinning around and around. She loves to watch her dresses spin. Then when Abby saw Heidi come out of the temple she said, "Oh mom! Heidi is a princess!" She later made Heidi spin around so she could see her dress spin. Then that afternoon, I spent TWO HOURS doing Abby's hair for the reception, but it turned out so cute. She loved her fluffy green dress and spent most of the evening spinning around. When we walked into the gym for the reception Abby said, "Oh mom! Is this Heidi's princess castle?" She was enthralled with everything and wanted to stand and hold Heidi's hand all night. And now she has been staging weddings at home ever since. What a funny girl. Anyway, it was a great day and we are so happy to welcome Winslow to the family. Congratulations you two!

Heidi's Wedding