Happy Halloween!!

Happy Belated Halloween!

We went out of town (post soon to come) immediately after Halloween and the post never made it to the blog. So the pictures are a tad late... but here nonetheless.

We we very excited to celebrate Halloween this year in our new neighborhood.  Last year we moved on November 2 and just missed the Halloween festivities.  But our neighborhood was overflowing with children trick or treating and we had a blast!

We ate a yummy Halloween breakfast of cantaloupe pumpkins and my "attempt" at whole wheat pancakes in the shape of spiderwebs.  Dang.  Those are hard to make.  Next year I'll do something easier like a bat.  Spider webs are tricky.  But I had the fake spiders to put on top, so it all worked out.  And Emma and Grant were thrilled.  Gotta love Emma's bed head here.

This was a hysterical (to me, not to Emma) FAIL in the mothering department.  I saw this cute little farm really close to our house.  So after Emma's swimming lessons, we stopped by Sonic to get our free corn dogs and then ran by the farm to see what it was all about.  I had just seen it from the road and thought it was just a pumpkin patch with some cute little "picture moments" that would be festive.

What I did NOT see from the road was the hay ride, bounce house, maze, yummy food, etc.  FESTIVAL that was happening in the background.  BUT.  It cost a lot of money and we only had 30 minutes, so I didn't want to spend $30 for 30 minutes of fun.  Had we had more time, it may have been worth it...

But Emma saw everything and she was DESPERATE to participate.  I mean, DESPERATE.  She could see everything through the fence and all the kids laughing and having a wonderful time and her mean, cheapskate mom would not let her go in.  She'll probably need therapy later in life for this one.  It's like taking your kids to Disneyland and making them stand outside the main gates watching what you are missing.  In my defense, had I know there were all those wonderful things that were out of my price range, I would not have taken her there, just to taunt her.  But, alas, we wandered around the FREE pumpkin patch and then went home.  Poor Emma.  Tough life this kid leads.

And here are my little trick or treaters.  They were SO excited to get out there and get some candy!!

Grant wanted them to give him the candy in his hand and then put it in the bucket himself.  And he could mumble trick or treat, but he wouldn't say more than once every 30 minute or so.  He waddled his little elephant bootie around the neighborhood.  Emma was elated to fill her basket with candy as well.  I brought Grant home to tag team Greg has the offical "candy passer outer".  Every time kids would come to the door, Grant would try to escape outside with them.  A few times he even ran so fast I had to chase him down the street.  Poor guy.  He really really really wanted to go back out but I didn't know where Greg was in the neighborhood and didn't want him to have to walk back.

Kurt, Tara, Taytum and Kasyn came to trick or treat with Greg and Emma.  They had fun wandering out neighborhood, but they had even MORE fun waiting for the kids to come to our door and handing out candy.  Cute, cute cousins!!

We LOVE Halloween at our house and hope yours was wonderful as well!!

Our First Trunk or Treat!

This year we got to participate in our first ever trunk or treat with our ward. Our previous wards have always had great Halloween parties, they have just never been a trunk or treat... so we were excited to participate in our first.

Emma chose to be Silvermist this year for Halloween.  Silvermist is one of Tinkerbell's side kicks in the Tinkerbell movies.  She has been asking since last Halloween to be Silvermist and she did not change her mind for 365 days.  Grant, as the unfortunate second child got stuck with Emma's old costume from 3 years ago.

We decorated the car like a monster (forgot to get a pic!) and made some homemade chili and cornbread to contribute to the dinner.  Then we got the kids all dolled up and headed for the party!  We had such a great time!!  We combined the activity with another ward and so there were a lot of kids and a lot of people and a lot of candy.

Emma - 2009                                                           Grant - 2012

Definitely siblings, right??

Emma and her babysitter Lexi.

Greg and I threw our costumes together at the last minute... but I thought they turned out pretty cute.

Emma - 2009                                                               Grant - 2012

There was a train ride, a bounce house and a merry-go-round.  Emma flew off the merry-go-round and hit her head pretty hard.  She was fairly traumatized.

Emma and Emma.

JJ and Zac and kids joined us for the party.  They were a themed Star Wars family and their costumes looked amazing!  Here is baby George!  So darling!!

Princess Lea and Luke.

Darth Vador and Emma.

The Great Pumpkin Carving

I am really enjoying the Halloween season this year!

I got my decorations up by the end of September and we have been celebrating all month long!  Last year, we were in the middle of our move... so we really did not embrace the holiday, as we were up to our ears in packing boxes and closing documents.

We almost always carve pumpkins with the Lorenzen Family (JJ and Zac and Alex and Baby George), so we continued the tradition this year as well.  Karin joined us for most of it as well, which was an extra special treat!! We ate soup, caramel apples, watched Charlie Brown's the Great Pumpkin, and carved pumpkins.  If those activities don't say Halloween, I don't know what does.

Let the Halloween fun continue!!

Emma and Grant: The Update

Oh my sweet children. I could write a daily blog post on the hysterical things that they do and say... but alas, I am too busy chasing them around to make that happen.

I've been compiling my lists of funny moments and will take a moment to write them all here, so that I don't forget.

They are at such fun ages, I want to bottle them up and keep them young and innocent forever. I truly cherish my time with them each day. Some days, it is nap time that I cherish the most. But, I love to laugh and play and love on them all day long. What a blessing these little spirits are in our life.

EMMA -

• She is now 4 3/4 and tells us every day that she will be turning 5 soon.  She can not wait to turn 5.  She loves to show us how tall she is growing and how big her feet are.
• When asked in Primary how she could find something, she enthusiastically raised her hand and said, "my Mom could just ask siri!".  So I love my smart phone?!?
• Emma will frequently tell me that she needs to "get things out of her brain to make room for more things".
• My Mom gave us all the "Astro Reading Series" for Christmas last year, which is the intro to reading books that we learned on.  Emma and I have been doing reading lessons for 30 minutes every day and she is almost done with the 15 books.  Upon completion, she gets $15 from Grandma Krebs!  She is very excited.  Although she is not always thrilled to do reading lessons, she is getting quite good.
• She told me a few nights ago, "Mom, you are the best dinner maker ever!!".  And she will frequently tell me that I need to make certain meals a lot of times.
• She is in swim classes and doing very well.  Her teacher's name is Ben, which she thinks is pretty cool because she has a cousin named Ben.
• She is also in a "Let's Play Music" class, that teaches basic fundamentals of music and theory.  She is in the class with 3 other boys and she really enjoys it.  I have been pleased with the class and their teaching methods.  The parents come every other week to learn the material and spend time with the kids.
• Emma LOVES to have play dates with her friends and will organize them herself and then let me know who is coming over.  She already has a busier social calendar than me!
• She is really loving preschool this year.  Her class only has 8 students in it, so she is getting much more attention and more opportunities to participate.  She is learning a lot and enjoys playing with her friends.  Her new BFF from preschool is Ava and they have had lots of fun play dates together.  She seems to gravitate toward blond haired, blue eyed friends.  I think we need to work on a diversity lesson for FHE sometime soon.
• Overall, she is VERY kind and loving to her brother.  She loves to go to his room in the morning or after naps and talk to him, sing to him, read books to him.  He is starting to get more opinionated about the toys that he wants, but she is generally able to manipulate the situation to get what she wants without making him scream.  About once every few weeks she will lose her patience with him, but it is not often and overall she spends most of her time telling us what a cute brother she has!  Emma loves it when Grant copies what she says (which is basically everything).  She especially gets a kick out of Grant when he copies the word, "tootsie".
• Many times at night she does not want to go to bed because "I still have lots of energy".
• She was the STAR PERFORMER in the Primary Program this year and she loved every minute.  They gave her a solo at the very beginning and the very end of the program to start and end things.  She sang the song, "Choose the Right Way".  We practiced the verses hundreds of times, but sometimes she would still get them confused... so the primary president sat by her during the program to help with the words.  She was so darling standing up at the microphone.  She sang clearly and right on pitch.  Emma just loved being in the spotlight and she loved all the compliments she received after the meeting was over.  I think she has some of our performing blood in her. :)
• She has started to "dream" about various ways that I can do her hair, and instructs me step by step most mornings on how she wants it done.  I really don't mind because it is hard to come up with hair ideas all the time!
• She is starting to love "rock and roll music" as she calls it.  I don't listen to the radio much in the car while the kids are with me.  It is mostly classical or her music class CD.  But, occasionally she hears the radio music and she remembers lyrics and verses VERBATIM after hearing them only once.  It is both impressive and frightening.  One of her favorites is "You Don't Know You're Beautiful", which she recently asked one of her baby sitters to sing her at bedtime.  Yikes.  I will regularly find her playing in her room alone, singing some pop song to herself while she plays.  That girl has a memory for music like nothing I have ever seen.  I hope that is serves a better purpose than pop songs later in life.
• She begs me to leave with Greg so that she can have baby sitters.  OK.  Sure.  We can do that!
• I was leaving somewhere and she says to me, "Mom, are you going to wear that?  Because you look hopeless."  I think she meant homeless, because  I call her homeless sometimes when her hair is crazy... but still... hearing hopeless out of her mouth was pretty funny.  She has a fairly advanced vocabulary.  But she does not always know how to use the words correctly.  And sometimes she mixes them up to make words of her own.
• She is still VERY sassy sometimes and talks back to me like a teenager.  
• Overall though, she is a JOY to have around, she never stop talking, singing, laughing, imagining, playing pretend, begging to have friends over and just enjoying her sweet little life.

GRANT -

• Grant is 22 months old and my precious little angel.  Although he is starting to throw a few tantrums here and there, he is overall the sweetest, kindest, happiest little guy on earth.  I just adore his little face and everything that he does.  It is so fun now that he is getting older and is so much more interactive.
• He loves to shove things through our dog door (from the previous owner) and almost every night I have to go outside and collect the items that he has pushed through.  I have found my keys, my phone and food all placed through the dog door.
• Grant has started climbing.  Although he is never super dangerous, it still scares me and I don't like it one bit.  Boys and girls are SO DIFFERENT!!!  I still don't think Emma would climb half the places he tries.  He is so adventurous on the play ground and Emma would never try anything that resembled danger.
• When we say, "I... LOVE..." he finishes it with an exuberant "YOU!"  And recently has started saying the whole "I Love You" all by himself.  Melts my heart, every time.
• He copies everything his sister does.  She was in a performance this summer where they sang "Money, Money, Money" - which he has latched on to and now wanders the house saying "Money, Money, Money".  Maybe not the best message to pick up... but cute nonetheless.
• If he wants you to go somewhere or follow him, he will get behind you and push you where he wants you to go.
• He has just started combining two words together in the last few weeks.  While I was getting ready for Sharron's playgroup, he found me in the bathroom, grabbed my leg and said, "Go.  Chloe.  Car."  Chloe is Sharron's dog, who Grant just LOVES.  He loves finding shoes and saying Daddy Shoes or Emma Shoes.
• He is not as good of a sleeper as his sister.  Emma will still nap 2-3 times a week and regularly out sleeps Grant.  Grant will go through weeks where he refuses his naps and instead will talk in his bed for TWO HOURS+.  He never cries or gets mad, he just entertains himself in his crib.  I never get him out because I keep thinking surely he will fall asleep soon, but after 2 hours I generally assume that it is not going to happen.  On those days he will go to bed between 5:30-6:00pm and sleep until 8:00 or later the next morning.   His body clearly needs the rest, he just doesn't want it in the middle of the day sometimes!
• When he wants you to follow him he will say, "Mom.  Mere."  for come here.
• Grant is starting to sound like the seagulls on Finding Nemo when he says, "Mom. Mom. Mom." over and over and over and over and over and over again.  Sometimes it is cute, sometimes it is very annoying.
• He loves to close doors.  Everywhere.  And he has also recently found the joy of light switches.
• When we are driving around town, he goes BIZERK when we see buses, trucks, tractors, etc.  Anything big on the road and he is screaming with joy.
• He is already learning the benefits of having an older sister with cute friends.  He goes CRAZY when her friends are over yelling their names and running up to them for hugs.  When we mention that they are coming over, he hears us and starts to chant their name to himself.  He will frequently cover his mouth and proclaim "Molly/Ava/Whitney... OH!"  If only he knew the joy it will bring him in High School.  Ha ha.
• Greets strangers in the stores with a resounding, "HI".  Even the strangest looking people melt when his cute little smile and voice greet them.
• He has really started to love books.  He has his favorite that he asks to read every day including "Hop on Pop", "Five Little Monkeys", "Snuggle Puppy", "Old McDonald".  He has a lot of them memorized and will state single words from each page while we are reading them together. It is so fun to finally have his attention span a bit longer.
• He can entertain himself for HOURS with his cars.  Hours I tell you.  He does not need anyone playing with him, just Grant and his vehicles up and around furniture, doors, carpets, walls, himself, his sister, anything!  It is so FANTASTIC!  
• He has started to feel that he is too "grown up" for his high chair and when I am preparing dinner he will climb himself up onto one of the big chair and sit and wait for me to give him food.  Sometimes I give in, but sometime the food is too messy to chance the spill.
• He is a JUICE-O-HOLIC.  Man, does this kid love his juice.  We rarely have juice at our house, but Greg loves his Crystal Light, so when he makes it, Grant CHUGS it.  And screams and thrashes for more.  It is crazy to see.  Hope he never has a more serious liquid addiction.  Yikes.
• He loves singing "Wheels on the Bus", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" and more.  He is not as much of a singer as his sister is, but he tries and he seems to like it.
• He LOVES animals.  Follows them around anywhere we are.
• One afternoon when Emma woke up from her nap after Grant, he sprinted in her arms screaming "Emmy! Emmy! Emmy!".  He really, truly LOVES his older sister.  She can do no wrong.  And I hope she continues to make good choices, because he does EVERYTHING she does. 
• He loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Emma.  One morning I showed him Mickey Mouse on his diaper, to which he responded, "Oh Toodles!".  Haha.  It took me a second to realize the connection, but was pretty entertained.
• He loves nursery and the teachers love him in nursery.  Every week when I go to get him, I have at least 3 adults following behind him saying, "bye Grant! bye!".  He is such a pleasure to have around.
• Grant is a RAY of SUNSHINE in our home and we just can't get enough of his happy disposition.

Grant copying Emma while she perches on the fireplace.

Emma pushing Grant on the swing at the park!  It is finally cool enough to go to the parks again!!! YEAH!!!

Emma with chocolate stuck on her teeth.  She thought she was pretty hysterical.

Emma at the Children's Museum dressed up like a banker.  She was really amused with herself because she looked like her Dad.

Emma with the George Washington wig.

Haha.  Grant with the same wig.  Not quite a fan.

Yep.  He loves the IPAD already.  I told Greg we are going to need to get a second one REAL soon. :)

Our new sand box!!!  After much prayer and fasting (haha!) I finally broke down and got the kids a sand box.  I have been nervous about the sand in the house, but decided it was worth it if the kids enjoyed themselves.  I found this cool pirate ship sand box on Craigslist and we go the sand for free from Greg's brother.  It has already paid for itself a million times over.  The kids play in it for at least 2-3 hours every day.  They LOVE it.  And I love that they are enjoying themselves outside.  It has been perfect.

Last Friday Emma decided she wanted to have a picnic by the lake in our neighborhood.  I thought that was reasonable enough so we through some food in a bag and headed to the lake.  Plenty of shade under a tree and the gorgeous golf course grass to stare at.  It was a fun adventure!  And Emma was pleased with herself because she planned the whole thing.

Found this fire truck at Goodwill for $1.  SCORE!!!  It has not left Grant's hands since.

I just LOVE my little kiddos.  Pure joy.