Happy Halloween!

It's that time of year again. I propose we should call this week, Halloween Week. Seems like almost everyday one or more of the kids has to wear their costumes. I guess that makes the costume purchase worth it, being worn 5+ times in a week, instead of wearing only one day.
I always want to have a theme for our family and all wearing costumes that go together. This year for Josiah & Jacque wouldn't agree to do Dr. Seuss with me. :( In a September Sunday newspaper, there was a 4 page advertisement, with every costume one could imagine. Paul & I looked at it with Josiah and Jacque, to pick out what they wanted to dress-up as this year. Josiah chose to be "Doctor Deranged" and Jacque wanted to be "Super Girl". {She always wants to be a princess or fairy, but I don't let her, I tell her to pick something unique. Because every year, every girl is some kind of princess-fairy-barbie-doll. Perhaps, one year we'll let her be magical royalty.}

Going along with my desire to have everyone match; the twins at this age, don't have much of an opinion. Which is a plus for me!! We did "Thing 1" for Pauly, because he was the first to be born; & "Thing 2" for Hannah, she came after Pauly. I tried to find plain red sleeper jammies, but didn't have any luck. I found red turtleneck LS onesies and pants. I purchased white fleece fabric, used black marker, and iron-on bonding paper to make the signs. We sprayed their hair blue and used blue gel too. {not quite as bright as I wanted, with their dark hair, but wigs were not an option} The twins made their debut last night at our Church Party, and they were a hit!
We still have four more costume events this week, all include the dreaded candy-hand-outs.... which = hyped-up-sticky-children!
Oh, and another exciting thing to share; we are trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood this year! It's the first time ever for our kids. {We've always lived in renters' neighborhoods which = unsatisfactory-candy-collecting-opportunities. There is even a neighborhood party! How fun. Have a safe & enjoyable Halloween.

No Training Wheels!

I looked forward to living in a quiet neighborhood, without traffic, a safer place for the kids to ride their bikes. We now have all this; but on a hill. I wanted Josiah to learn to ride his bike without training wheels before winter came. But, we couldn't teach him how on a downward slope. My dear friend Charity told me an idea about teaching kids on a baseball field- the dirt and grass makes it more stable, not to fall so easily, and, if they do fall, it's not so rough, like the sidewalks and streets.

He got his confidence and never fell that day. It was a great day! He has been riding his bike around the neighborhood everyday since.

U N T i L

Yesterday, Josiah went to a neighborhood friend's house to play. While he was riding his friend's bike, a bee came flying by his head. {Josiah was stung by a bee this summer, so he flips out if one gets near him} He was tyring to 'shoo' the bee away, and crashed off the bike.

He had a road burn on his cheek-bone, and huge goose egg above that, small scrapes on his knee, and his right-index-finger-knuckle was blue, swollen, and sore. The x-ray shows a fracture on his hand- the metacarpal bone. We will be doing the R-I-C-E {rest, ice, compression, elevation} method this weekend to get the swelling down, and they will have to cast his hand on tuesday.

Poor Buddy Boy. I told him that most bee's don't sting, and if it would have stung him, it would've hurt a lot less than scrapes, bruises, and a broken hand. I don't think he'll be scared to ride a bike again though, he has already been asking when he can ride his bike again.

Snow!!

The first snowfall of the season. On Mount Timpanogos was a couple weeks ago.

Josiah was 3-1/2 and Jacque was only 1-1/2 when we moved from Cleveland, to the Deep South. Josiah remembers snow, Jacque doesn't. She asked me how the snow gets on top of the mountain, and how it grows back, if it melts... "no sweetie, it doesn't grow, it falls from the sky" Jacque loudly replied, "WHAT THE!?" {by-the-way, she doesn't say anything after that, it's just, 'what the' period...}

Last weekend, we saw the first snow-fall in 'Happy Valley'. It only lasted for 10 minutes, and melted as soon as it hit the ground, but it was a very memorable moment. The children were mesmerized, watching the snowIt was a very cold weekend and we only saw a tiny bit of snow collect on the edges of the roof-tops. My Grandfather told me it snowed almost 8 inches at his house. It was so freezing cold. I was really, really missing New Orleans. It's, of course, warmed up since, and was in the 70's today. I think this will be a very cold winter for our family in comparrison to the last 3 winters in the south, but I think it is also going to be very, very fun!!

Stuffed animals, toe-eating, and Spunk!!

Pauly is so adorable with stuffed animals. He hugs & pats them, makes a little "aww" and pouts his lip out. Then, after all this tenderness, he puts their nose in his mouth, holds them with his teeth, bites down so hard his head shakes, then runs across the room.

I love seeing the twins observe each other, I love Pauly's bed head, and the innocent look Hannah always has on her face.

Pauly is trying to bite Jacque's toe.

"Jacque don't let him bite your toe!" Mommy explains, "Pauly, we don't eat toes, no, no"

A few weeks ago, I was picking Jacque up from her friend's birthday party. Her mom told me that they had a lot of fun with Jacque, that she has a lot of "spunk". I smiled, and agreed with her. That is a wonderful word to describe Jacque's personality. SPUNKY!!!

Hey! You, get back here!!

18 months sitting in a stroller can get pretty borning for twins. I used to cringe when I saw parents using these. But, like most things, I became a mother, and knew they were invented for a good reason. It gives the care-free tots a chance to roam & walk, without me, trying to run in two opposite directions. {which, can I say, is completely exhausting!} When we are in a large crowd, people do not always see them, and knock the babies over. With the harnesses, I can stop the little ones from getting stomped on by big people. {another plus}

Josiah, Hannah, Pauly, & Jacque.

Fundraiser Carnival

Instead of requiring school children to sell products for school fundraisers,

our school has a few "fairs" to help raise money for the school.

Josiah had a fall festival at his school {a while back}.

They had games, balloon creations, treats, prizes, and more.

Our kids have been obsessed with golfing since we moved, to Paul's delight, and he had a chance to give them their first lesson.

mmm. blue snow cones! "What color is my tonge now?" is always the question after the kids have special treats. Josiah is even MORE reserved than his father. whoa.

They even had some color sprayed into their hair.

Dad: "Time for a bath kids!!"

Josiah & Jacque: "But, the color might come out"

Mom: "Yep, that's the point, it might get on your sheets tonight"

FireStation FieldTrip

Since I finally found a sitter, my first order of business was to be a chaperone for Jacque's field trip. I really enjoyed meeting Jacque's classmates. Her "buddy" that rode in the car with us, is such a cute girl! Her and Jacque just talked and talked and talked and talked some more on the way there. They were fun to listen too. ~girls!

I love their school t-shirts. They say AB/CD, w/two crayons instead of lightening!! & on the back it says, OUR SCHOOL ROCKS! {but with the actual school name}

We love you Jacque, and we are so proud of you! You are smart & beautiful & sweet too!!

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This post is of little importance. None-the-less, still demonstrates my continual clumsiness. Even if it wasn't my fault.

I was shopping at the Super-duper-Warehouse-extravaganza. {I just got my camera back, and didn't want to leave it in the van, so I put it in my purse, not expecting to take any picutres}

This, however, was not my fault. It just fell. I wasn't touching it. I was just looking at some infant clothes, and the whole bar fell. There was only one person who saw me, and she just looked at me with a blank. {it wasn't a smile, or a grimmace} Then, I didn't see any workers until I got to the cash register. I told them what happened. {only because, I didn't want them to think someone did it on purpose, or just left it there, and didn't care. Because I did care. :) ~ The woman said it was fine and would have someone take care of it. {She did, however, ask if we were alright} how sweet.

Just ask my husband; accidents always happen when I am present.