Happy Halloween

My Mom and Dad came over for the afternoon on Thursday just to visit, bring the kids a Halloween treat and to see Lindsey. :) It worked out well because Preston had his preschool Halloween party that night and so they got to see the kids in their costumes. My Mom had given the kids cards in their Halloween bags so she was playing a game with them.

Kyle and I went to a Halloween party on Friday. Kyle went as a farmer with his chicken and I was his wife the witch. hee hee, cackle cackle.

Lindsey as the chicken. She stayed toasty warm. Kate wore this costume and Lindsey looked just as cute in it as Kate did. I loved her round chubby face sticking out and wanted to kiss her cheeks all the time. SO cute!

Arrr! Preston the Pirate. He did well dressing up this year. The last couple of years he kicked and screamed while getting dressed. He liked being a pirate and even knew what to say when trick-or-treating. He would also say, "Happy Halloween!"

Preston with his preschool teacher Miss Ellen. He likes her.

Miss Ellen reading the 5 Little Pumpkin book to him that he loves. This was at his preschool Halloween party and Preston was reading this book to himself over and over. They also had crafts, games for the kids and trick-or-treating. It was for families and my parents were here too so we all went and had a good time.

We put these silly glasses on Lindsey and laughed whenever she would look around with them on as if nothing was wrong! It was hilarious!

Kate was a witch and has been talking about her costume forever so she was excited to wear it 3 days in a row for different parties. She's already talking about what she wants to be next year for Halloween!

All the kids together in their costumes before our Ward Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday. Kate's eyes are weird in this picture, but I liked Preston's face in this one. It's so "fun" trying to get a good picture of all of them.

Our trunk at the Ward Trunk-or-Treat. We combined with 3 other wards for this activity since our church building burned down. There were a lot of people there so the kids got lots of candy. They had hot cocoa there and since we are Activities co-chairs we had to go early to help out, but it was so much easier than the activity we had planned! The weather even cooperated. It was raining ALL day until like 10 minutes before the activity started and then the rain stopped. We all were so happy about that. It was a fun night.

Kids

I was changing Lindsey into her pajamas and let her just chill for a while. It was fun to see her rolls and she was as happy as a clam.

The kids acting like Lindsey.

Can this count as a family picture?! We need a new one and I'm dreading getting one taken. I just had Preston get his 3 yr pictures and Lindsey got her 2 mo pictures in her blessing dress and that was an ordeal enough. Why are pictures so stressful...yet you want them because it's fun to see them over the years.

Family Night Halloween

For Family Night we carved pumpkins. Kate loved digging out the guts, but Preston wouldn't put his hand in all the way. He wasn't so sure about that slimy stuff.

The kids hovered around Kyle, the master carver.

Each kid picked what shapes they wanted for the eyes and noses. Here they are so proud of their Jack-o-lantern's. The pumpkins are called Jack-o-lantern's according to Kate because they are carved now. ha.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Even though we live in a city there are plenty of pumpkin farms around. My friend and neighbor, Darbi, gave us a pass to a pumpkin farm around here and they weren't going to use it. We went to The Farm and it was a lot of fun. There were lots of activities for the kids like jumping off hay bales into hay, playing in corn, going down plastic tube slides, playing on a playground, going through a hay maze through an old barn and coming down a slide, riding a cow train, petting animals, watching a duck race and riding on a tractor hay ride. And, of course, there's the yummy food: corn dogs, roasted corn on the cob, cider donuts, cider, scones, caramel apples and more. This pumpkin patch has a corn maze shaped like the state of Washington so as you go through the maze you are on highways around the state and you can learn about different towns and cities in our state. We even found the Vantage Bridge. :)

Catch-Up

About a month ago, Jeff and Sadie came to my parents house and Lindsey and Reagan met for the first time. Reagan is a week older than Lindsey. Here they are with my Mom and Lindsey was not cooperating for picture time.

My niece Aubree got baptized a couple weeks ago in Tri-Cities. She was SO excited for this day and we are excited for her too. My Mom made her dress. Jeni made a yummy dinner for all the family after the baptism. It's crazy to think she is already 8 yrs old because I remember when she was born while we were both living in Cheney going to school. I would come home from a stressful day of school and go to Jeni's and just hold Aubree. It would make my day better.

Before the baptism, we went to visit my Grandma Joyce in the Care Center she is staying at. She had hip replacement surgery and is in the Care Center for a little while to recover. Even though the kids were loud for a place like that I was glad we stopped by to see her. She was excited to see Lindsey again.

Kate and Preston playing play-doh and Lindsey watching them. The kids thought this was funny.

I'm in need of boy dress up clothes! He has started to dress up into "costumes" with Kate. I keep telling him dresses are for girls. I need to get him some manly costumes.

Office Upgrades

We lived amongst this mess...

and this mess for 3 days while we put down wood floors in our office and painted. I felt like a hoarder because we only had certain pathways we could walk to get around the kitchen. It's just amazing how much crazier life can feel when your house is such a wreck!

Here it is all finished! I didn't take a before picture- bummer. Just imagine cheap stained grey carpet. Ha ha.

Kyle did a great job putting the wood floor down. It's the flooring from Costco so it's like putting a puzzle together. Very tricky especially around the doors. We love it. You can tell the room is already colder and louder though because of the wood. We come in this room from the garage all the time so the carpet was disgustingly dirty. With fall and winter coming it will be nice not having to worry about dirty shoes making a mess of the carpet. I painted the walls Humble Gold(my sister Marci has this color in her house and she got it from my Aunt- it's a beautiful yellow) and it goes well with the floor and the black furniture.

Our next project...new carpet in our front room. We have really cheap carpet that came with the house so anything different will be an upgrade.

Burned

Our Church Building in Mukilteo was burned down last Saturday! It was arson. Such a sad, sad thing. Everything is lost for the two wards that met here. Now we have to meet at the Stake Center where three wards already meet! It will be a busy church building. The Sunday after it happened we met at a building out of our stake and the media was there interviewing people. I made it on the news that night in the clip they showed! It was weird to see myself on TV. It's just sad that someone would do this. It will probably be over a year before we have another Church built.

Preston's Starts Preschool!

Preston's went to his first day of preschool on Monday! I took him there so I could meet his teacher and then he rode the bus home. He threw a fit when they tried to get him to go on the bus to go home, but the bus drive said he calmed down a minute later. Today he rode the bus there and home and did great. It was sad to see his little head look out the window and follow us as the bus left. It made me sad! He's so little! I think he's doing good. He comes home happy and scarfs down his lunch and then goes off to play.

He was totally being cheesy and funny while I was taking his pictures so I included a few of him.

His new little backpack he got for his birthday.

This makes me sad...his little face peering out the window. How cute.

I love Kate's outstreched arms. She's always excited when he comes home. He spilled water on his jeans at preschool so they changed him into some they had there. His bus driver in the morning is Miss Shellie and for the ride home is Mr. Mike.

Kyle's work is going good. It's always an adjustment going to a new job so he's trying to learn everything. I told him I wanted to take his picture on his first day of work and he said "no". Shocking. He loves pictures. He has to wear business casual clothes and before he could wear jeans (which he loved) so that's a change for him. He works for a consulting company as a consultant for a bank near our house. The bank has a bunch of propery they need managed so he works in the land development side of things. So far so good. I haven't gone back to work yet. I was supposed to this month, but he got a job (phew) and so I get to be home. It's had it's stressful moments, but now with two kids in school in the morning it's pretty nice. :)

Lindsey's Blessing Day

We blessed Lindsey in my parent's ward and had a lot of family come and support us. It was so nice to have everyone there. Kyle gave Lindsey a beautiful blessing.

Here is Kyle with his Dad and two sisters. L-R: Jill, Kyle, Lynn and Melanie

Our family! It took an army of people to get Preston to smile. They had to sing the Miss Mary Mack book to him to get him to smile. Lindsey did great during the blessing. I am always nervous they will scream or cry during it, but she was good.

My Mom, me, Lindsey and my Grandma (my Dad's mom)- 4 generations

My Mom made this beautiful dress!!! She could seriously sell them and have her own business. We tell her that a lot! I found an idea online that I liked and so we copied it and it turned out so pretty. Kyle's grandma, Arlene, made the baby blanket that she's laying on for when Kate was blessed.

What an angel...with chubby arms. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Preston!

Happy 3rd Birthday Preston!!!

Preston loves playing with trains so we did a Train Party. I made this cake on my own (I was so nervous!). I got ideas online and then made up my own. Preston loved his train cake. It was time consuming, but I'm glad I did it. They had some good tips online like making the rounded part on the blue train car by baking the cake in a green bean can. Then the smoke is polyfil and then I made everything else by baking the cake in loaf pans and cutting them up to make the littler cars. I had a coal car (choc covered raisins), animal cage car and a little red caboose.

The decorations for his party. We also have a tradition of decorating their bedroom door on their birthday with streamers.

Opening his presents.

Eating the animals first!

L-R: Kate, Preston, Sara holding Ashlynn, Dallin, Alyssa and Asher

My Mom and Sara came over for the day and that was so nice of them. Preston had Asher and Dallin meet him at the playground in the mall to play. Then we all came back to our house for lunch, games and cake and ice cream. We played musical trains, throw the coal in the bucket and green light/red light.

The aftermath! It was hard to cut into the cake after spending hours making it.

And a picture of Lindsey for fun. :) She's already over 2 months old! She's eating better most of the time. At her 2 month check-up a couple weeks ago she weighed 12lbs 5 oz (86%), length 23.5 inch (89%) and so the doctor wasn't worried at all about her growth. She was doing great. She's already rolled over from her stomach to her back. I don't know if it was an accident, but it's happened twice now. She's strong.

Kate kept begging Sara to do beauty parlor with her. Sara put it up in a bun and then Kate had to dance like a ballerina for us. It is fitting for Sara to do this because she just finished Beauty School and will take her tests soon to get licensed. Good job Sara!

New Journey

294 job applications and/or contacts +

80 times of filing unemployment +

20 months of being home+

Countless prayers and fasting on our behalf=

Kyle starts his new job today. :)

Thank-you!

We feel blessed!

Update

I had to give an update on my post yesterday...

• The washer got fixed, it was the water pump and now $200 later we can do laundry again. How did people survive without washers and dryers?
• We had the meeting for Preston's preschool this morning and they found him an AM spot for preschool! I was SO relieved! I had my reasons why he needed AM all figured out in my head and had a pit in my stomach walking into the school, when 2 minutes into the meeting she tells us, "oh and we found an AM spot for him." Little did this lady know how much sleep I lost over it! Kyle said I worried for nothing. We are excited and know Preston will enjoy it. He starts next week after his 3rd birthday.
• Lindsey is eating today. :) She wouldn't drink the soy formula. So we continue on with the normal stuff. Why do kids give us a hard time eating their food?
• The TV guy came (right before the Sears' washer repair guy did) and he was about to put the part into the TV and realized it's the wrong part! So we wait some more with the entertainment center apart.
• Kyle uplugged the bathroom drains. much nicer.
• Kate turned in her homework and library book.
• And something I forgot to add yesterday in my post is that I got pulled over yesterday right in front of Kate's school- about to pick her up- supposedly I didn't stop long enough at the stop sign. Great, now I have to go to court to contest it.