Our Little Monsters

Halloween with little kids is pretty awesome.  We had a lot of fun with halloween celebrations during the last week.  Over the weekend we went to two different halloween parties.  Our monster costumes were a huge hit.  Brigham looked so cute waddling around in his, and Lexi was adorable crawling around in hers.  

We visited Hee Haw Farms with cousins and friends.  Brigham loved seeing all the animals, riding on the big slide, swinging on the horse swings, riding on the hayride, picking up pumpkins and throwing them, riding the little train, and especially playing in the corn box.

My mom hosted her annual chili dinner and had the kids dress up so she could see their costumes.  She helped me make Brigham's costume.  And by help, I mean she did most of it.  I designed the face and painted the hat.  She did the hard stuff like come up with a pattern and sew it all together.  I love the way it turned, out and I love that she was willing to help me on sort of short notice.

Sully

Mike Wazowski

On Halloween I took the kids to a pumpkins patch with my mom.  It was a great time to go because we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Brigham could take his sweet time walking through the patch admiring the pumpkins and corn stalks and goats and chickens.  He would point things out say "wow" and then start jabbering about them.

 Brigham loved wearing his costume around, especially the hat.  He would waddle around and pat his stuffing.  It was pretty funny to watch him try to sit down and stand back up while wearing it, but he got pretty good at it by Halloween night.  He looked really cute walking around in it, but we only wanted to trick or treat to a few neighbors and some of them were a couple blocks away.  We didn't want it to take forever (he gets super distracted when walking around the neighborhood) so we decided we needed to transport him with some wheels.  We had borrow a bigger stroller to make room for him.

He liked knocking on the doors as long as there wasn't anything too scary on the front of them.

He was so excited to get glow sticks, M&Ms, and 3 Musketeers.  It was such nice weather that we were able to keep the monsters outside on the porch to hand out candy to the trick or treaters.  Eventually we got Brigham to come down from his sugar high (picture him running around the house using his glow sticks as drum sticks on his hard hat) and go to bed for the night (with his glow sticks clasped in his hands).

Under the Table and Dreaming

The little munchkins have been keeping us busy, as usual.  They love their post-nap cuddle time with their pacifiers.  They also both enjoy playing under the kitchen table.

Brigham likes to play with this toys in an orderly way.  He lines them up, puts them in boxes, moves them to another location and lines them up again.  Here he has created a world with his animals, Cars, and the halloween decorations.

Lexi is scooting and army crawling and rolling all over the place.  Often she is scooting to get closer to Brigham or Brigham's toys.

We've been spending lots of time at the park enjoying the awesome fall weather.  

 Brigham loves to "help" make dinner and do the dishes.  When he sees us turn on the water in the kitchen sink, he pushes his chair over and climbs up to help. 

He also loves to dance in the kitchen.  One of his favorite dancing songs is "I've Got a Dream" from Tangled.  It is some good entertainment.

We love fall!

Can you tell that Brigham loves fall leaves?  He was fascinated as Cousin Courtney started picking them up and throwing them in the air.  For the next half hour he couldn't stop doing it himself.  He would throw them and then laugh as they fell down around him.  I love the look of pure joy on his face.

We have been making more trips to the park with the nice weather that we have been having.  Brigham loves to take both of his buckets and transfer wood chips between them.

In addition to enjoying the fall leaves and the park, we have been enjoying hoodies, fuzzy socks , pink track suits, beanies, pumpkin spice donuts, and playing with the halloween decorations.  

One of our favorite things about fall is watching BYU football.  I had an unexpected treat to go to the game this last Saturday with my 3 brothers and sit in the student section.  I forgot how much fun games can be when you sit in the student section.  Although I felt completely out of style because I was not wearing skinny jeans, Toms, Vans, or boots, and I was probably about ten years older than most of the students there, I had a great time.  It was fun to sit on row 11, yell, and stand up for the entire game.  It reminded me of the good old days living in Regency 23.  I really did love going to BYU so much.  For a few minutes I even wished I could go back and relive some of those days.  Then I remembered all the studying, writing papers, taking tests and dating (or not dating), and I didn't miss it quite as much.

(Aaron didn't come with us to the game because in a moment of insanity he decided to run in a 12 mile race with all sorts of crazy military obstacles, freezing water, and mud.  Hopefully I can get some pictures soon.)

The little lady has started eating solid foods, and mostly likes them.  Her initial reaction to anything new is to scrunch up her face like it is disgusting, but she quickly gets over it.

Sometimes watching TV is a very emotional experience for Brigham.  This is his typical reaction when the grasshoppers come to take all the ants' food in A Bug's Life.  He says "oh no" and mostly covers his eyes, leaving just enough uncovered so that he can still see what is happening.  I think he is going to LOVE Disneyland when we go next month.

Peanut

Have I mentioned that we think this little girl is pretty amazing? 

She is already six months old (almost seven) and has become quite the mover over the last few weeks.  I set her down in one spot in the room and come back a few minutes later and she is often on the other side of the room, or under a piece of furniture, or stuck somewhere. 

She doesn't crawl yet, but she rolls and scoots and spins until she gets to what she wants.  She likes to straighten her legs and arms so she is in a pushup position.  She also likes to lift both arms and both legs off the floor and balance on her tummy.

 She has always been an awesome sleeper and continues to sleep through the night like a champ, even when she gets her leg stuck in the crib.

She doesn't nap quite as well.  She is a bit of a cat napper.  She likes to take short naps here and there throughout the day, and she naps best when snuggling with mom or dad or relaxing on the love sack.

 She loved her first time on the swings at the park. 

She likes riding in the stroller, especially when big brother is next to her.  She likes to relax, lean back, stretch her legs out and put them up on the bar.

 We love our little "peanut" so much.  She is such a happy and content baby, even when sick or teething.  We recently found out she likely has a milk allergy, and she has been great as we switched her to this disgusting and outrageously expensive formula.  It seriously smells terrible.  I can't imagine how it must taste.  She gagged and refused it the first time, but within a few days she made the switch and is doing much better. If it weren't for other symptoms, we wouldn't have known anything was wrong because she is so happy.  She loves to smile at anyone that will pay her some attention.  She loves to laugh, especially at her brother.  She brings so much joy into our house.  We think she is pretty amazing.