HALLOWEEN 2015

Yes, Valentine's Day is just a week away. Let's talk Halloween anyway.

The girls LOVE the movie Big Hero 6. Love it. I don't know how many times they've watched it. We don't even own it. Yet. Just about every time they stay with my parents they watch it. I honestly haven't even seen it all the way from start to finish. 

Our girls talk about Halloween ALL.YEAR.LONG. They are always deciding and changing what they are going to dress up as for the next year. Hailey knew months and months in advance that she wanted to be Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6. Kyle and I were thrilled. It would be totally awesome, how many other Honey Lemons would be out there? Like zero. And it would be a fun costume to put together.

We had months and months to get the costume ready. And of course we waited until the last minute. There's nothing like a deadline to motivate. When I say WE, I more mean me. Kyle was a bit more on top of things and finished with a week or so to spare. Me? I was up sewing until 1 am the night before the Halloween party at school. I still had some details to finish up that morning too. But, like always, it got done!

I made the dress and leggings, which were altered from a pajama pattern. Kyle made the helmet from an old dress up race car driver helmet my parents had that my brother played with as a child. The side pieces are made from MDF and screwed into the plastic helmet. Kyle's coworker painted the helmet in their paint booth at work. The frame for the bag was made from plywood and covered in felt. We bought some ball pit balls and Kyle sewed them onto the purse strap. 

Too much work for a Halloween costume? Probably. Why do we do it? Because we are crazy and enjoy it. 

Hailey loved the costume. She was so funny. She was complaining about the attention she got from boys at school. I don't think the girls knew who she was. But the boys did. "She's from Big Hero 6!" "That's awesome!". Hailey just laughed and shook her head telling us about it. She said she just ignored them. I think she was a tiny bit embarrassed. :) 

Now, Keira wanted to be a princess. She told everyone she was going to be a princess. Kyle and I had planned on her wearing one of Hailey's old costumes. (Sorry Keira! Luck of the draw being the little sister.) I tried so hard to talk her into wearing Hailey's dragon costume that I put so much time into. Kyle and I even told her she could be a princess dragon, we'd put a crown on the dragon. I was really hoping she'd go for that, I thought it would be funny. No luck. Though once she spotted the witch costume with the dress she was sold. All she really wanted to do was wear a dress. So a witch it was. And she was happy.

Talking about last minute... Kacey's costume was completely last minute. Kyle had talked about making her an airplane he could wear with her in the baby carrier. It wasn't until the morning of Halloween that he decided to really tackle it. (I do think we had been busy with other things as well... so it really just ended up coming down to the day of.) While Kyle cut and taped and created, I ran to the craft store to find butcher paper and duct tape. I actually set out with the girls to start walking the neighborhood when we finished and met up with us. Too much work? Yes again. But the number of comments we got on it kind of made it worth it.

The name of this post really should be, THE WEEK OUR HOUSE BLEW UP. By blow up I don't mean a literal explosion. Rather an implosion of the biggest mess we had yet ever created. There was not a single room that had not spewed nearly its entire contents all over. Yes, I really mean that. We reached a new level of in-home disaster. That is what happens when you wait until the last minute and have a new baby. Things explode. :)

I also had every intention of taking all sorts of fun pictures of the girls all dressed up. These two pictures are all I have. It never happened. Again, don't procrastinate! Oh well. It was a crazy week, all for an hour or two of fun. I think Kyle and I would do it again anyway, because we are a little crazy and enjoy it. Next year, we're starting earlier! 

Christmas 2014

This Christmas was a bit of a struggle for our family this year. Early on I struggled to find some real Christmas spirit and that just seemed to carry through to the holiday. I tried to fend it off by doing some baking and a craft with the girls, but it still carried on.

What really didn't help the mood was that poor Kyle was sick, his entire break from work. He came home Tuesday with a sore throat, head ache and severe chills. After that it was a couple of days of a temperature of 102, aches, no appetite, and no energy. Kyle spent his holiday on the couch, sick, sick, sick. It was so disappointing, for everyone. I tried to get past my grinchiness and carry on with Christmas festivities with the girls. It just wasn't the same without Kyle. Luckily, I don't think the girls noticed too much. They're still young and don't have as high expectations for the holiday as I might.

Our Christmas Eve was spent at my parent's house (except for Kyle, he stayed home alone on the couch watching movies). We enjoyed my family's traditional Christmas meal of ham and yummy potatoes (more commonly known as funeral potatoes). After dinner was my family's traditional Christmas program of reading scriptures and singing Christmas hymns, to remind us of the real reason for Christmas- the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Then it was the much anticipated moment of the night, opening presents! (Yes, my family is crazy. We open them Christmas Eve.) The girls were spoiled with scooters from my parents and Hailey received the much loved Magic School Bus DVDs.

Afterwards we came home and opened up Christmas PJs from Papa and Rara Hill. The girls placed mint Oreo cookies on a plate for Santa, which sadly Santa was too sick to eat. Mrs. Claus enjoyed them alone. :) I wrapped presents and excitedly placed them under the tree. I may have been grinchy, but I was totally excited about watching those girls open their gifts.

The next morning poor Kyle was still so sick. We let him sleep in while the girls and I turned on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and I put our breakfast quiche in the oven. Once Kyle was awake we opened presents. Keira was ultra enthusiastic and it took some reminders to get the routine down of taking turns and watching others open their gifts. Santa came through for Hailey and brought her the movie How to Train Your Dragon 2. That is all she wanted for Christmas. I have never seen her have such a strong desire for anything before. The poor girl cried silent tears at the store a few weeks before Christmas when she asked me to buy it and I told her to wait for Christmas. She was so anxious! Little did she know it was already hidden in my closet waiting for the big day. :) The girls were gifted a few other movies, some games, new Legos and Mega Bloks and a load of new clothes.

Kyle surprised me with a new rice cooker- all I really wanted for Christmas! Mine died over the summer, I've been making it on the stove since- which totally works, but it's not quite as convenient as in a rice cooker. Actually, I was lucky enough to be given TWO rice cookers. I failed to mention to Kyle that I had requested one from my parents. :) Still- I was completely surprised, and I thought it very sweet of him. It was perfect!

Kyle and I normally don't exchange gifts. In the past we've made some sort of large purchase we can both enjoy, like the monster sacs in our family room. We didn't do that this year, which is fine. What I look forward to most is exchanging stockings. We go on a date to Target armed with $10 cash (plus one extra for tax), split up and shop for stocking stuffers. It really is fun trying to hide from each other and be creative with what we can put in the stocking for only $10. That limited of a budget is difficult! But it's fun. This year... it didn't happen. It kept getting put off, and put off, until finally Kyle was too sick to go out. So, Christmas Eve I left the girls at my parents and made a last minute trip to Target and spent both of our $10 on his stocking. The store was pretty picked through, but I still managed to find a few gifts to give him: a new loofa (which he desperately needed), a new shirt, new lights for his bike, and a bar of ultra dark chocolate.

What did make me happy on Christmas was the snow! Our first REAL snowfall of the year. Finally! I sent the girls outside for a little bit to play. I think they were only out there for about as long as it took them to get bundled up. Oh well. It was so pretty though!

Christmas really didn't go as planned. Kyle felt terrible, I was in a bit of bad mood of a result of it (totally my fault, I shouldn't have let a little disappointment bring me down), we postponed our Christmas dinner of homemade pizza and root beer floats so Kyle could enjoy it with us, and the day just lost it's excitement. I don't think the girls noticed. I think they were perfectly happy. For them Santa came, they opened presents, they played in the snow, they went to Papa and Rara's house, and I let them eat more sugar than they usually get. It was a great day for them! And that is really what matters most. 

I did finally feel a bit of some love as our family sat together and watched Hailey's beloved How to Train Your Dragon 2. Keira was cuddled up next to me, Hailey sat beside her absolutely happy, and Kyle joined us from the opposite side of the couch- we were doing something fun together. And that was great!

I do wish we could have a Christmas do-over and that Kyle could get his days off back. But I guess that's life, no do-overs. At least we have New Years. Hopefully we can make up for some Christmas lameness!

Fall Photo Dump: November

I finally have part 3 of the Fall Photo Dump ready to share! (Part 1 and Part 2) 

November was a busy month. Really, once we hit Halloween life stays fairly busy until the new year. Hailey's birthday is a week after Halloween, Kyle's is a week after Hailey's and Thanksgiving is just two weeks after Kyle's. Of course after Thanksgiving it's all about Christmas and then we relax. :) 

Hailey's birthday fell on a Saturday this year. She had a busy day. Her partying started Friday night when my parent's took her via the train to Salt Lake City to make her own bear at Build-A-Bear. Saturday morning we hosted a birthday party, then Hailey was wisked away to lunch with her fabulous Aunts and Uncle, after which Kyle took Hailey out to the movie theater to see How to Train Your Dragon 2, and then it was dinner and opening family gifts. Whew! That is a lot to do for a 5 year old! She had a blast of a birthday.

We don't do birthday parties every year- too much work and money (and she gets way too spoiled with presents)! But, turning 5 is a big deal, so it merited a birthday party. Not just any birthday party, a Batgirl birthday party. We had masks and capes for all of the attendees, a photo booth, and Kyle set up a batcave in the family room with bats hanging from the ceiling. The girls practiced their Batgirl skills by tossing bat-a-rang bean bags, and by playing pin the bat-a-rang on the robber. Of course we finished up with cupcakes and presents. I was a little unsure how the Batgirl party would be received, it's not the traditional princess party most of the girls her age have. The girls loved it! They all wore the masks and capes and were super excited about entering the batcave. A big part of this party wouldn't have happened without Kyle. Like most of it. I did the masks and capes, cupcakes and invitations. Kyle did the rest. He is awesome, boy am I lucky!

And then came Thanksgiving. We drove to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with Kyle's family at his aunt's house. It was the perfect weekend. We had a blast. There was a Turkey Table Tennis Tournament complete with brackets (both winning and losing), a night of Bingo with Target dollar spot item prizes, a fun run (2 miles, 4 miles, and a kids 100 yard dash), the girls watched enough movies to last them an entire year, we ate amazing amounts of delicious food, mostly not the healthiest-and loved it, did some shopping, and just relaxed. It was great. We were sad to come back home to real life again.

Admittedly, I didn't even bring the camera. We were packing so much stuff already I didn't want to add another thing to our load, and I just felt like enjoying the week and not feeling any pressure to document it. Luckily Kyle's mom snapped pictures on her phone and shared them with me!

Ok. Now we're all caught up. Bring on Christmas!

Pumpkins and Halloween

It's about halfway through November. How about some Halloween pictures finally?

Kyle and I decided this year that we were most definitely going to carve pumpkins with the girls. It really is a rite of passage in childhood. A child must carve a pumpkin at least once in their life. Right?

We opted to pick out our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. It was only slightly more than the grocery store, and the atmosphere is worth it. Or at least it would have been if we did not get eaten alive by mosquitos! Seriously, it was terrible. We honestly got there, found a cart, and searched for 4 pumpkins as quickly as we could. And then we left as fast as possible. The mosquitos were everywhere. Too bad. I would have liked to have stayed a little longer.

The next week we carved those suckers. Carving pumpkins is not my favorite, but we did it anyway. So messy gross.

The girls drew faces on their pumpkins with crayon. Kyle did his best to carve something out of it. And then he blew us all out of the water with his own creation. 

Let's pretend like this picture isn't blury and that I wasn't too lazy to pull out my tripod, ok?

Hailey's pumpkin is on the left. Keira's in the middle. Mine on the right. 

 And Kyle's.

Onto the costumes. 

Hailey decided she wanted to be Batgirl. We found a Batgirl costume at Target and bought it on sale. It was sleeveless and a short dress, so I made a shirt and leggings to go underneath it. Easy peasy, done. (Except I procrastinated doing my part of the ensemble. Whoops!)

I really didn't know what Keira was going to be until the week of Halloween. We debated between reusing old costumes or sewing a new one. There was a super sale on fleece the week of Halloween so I capitalized on that and at the last minute decided Keira was going to be Robin. Batgirl and Robin.

(For the record, Kyle says no more of this last minute sewing business. Next year will be done a month in advance. I'm with him. My sewing table is still a disaster!) 

I found the cutest tutorial online for making a Batman costume and adapted it for Robin. Honestly, I wish I had seen it before buying Hailey's costume, so we could customize it a bit more. But, whatever. She loved it and was happy. That's what really matters, right?

I took the girls to Lagoon a week before Halloween and they got to do a little trick-or-treating there, sans costumes. Keira was super possessive of her bag of goodies. It took a lot of convincing to get her to put it down to go ride a ride. The second she got off she ran right back to the stroller looking for her bag. I moved it once and put it down below and she was very concerned when it was missing. "Bag!?"

They also went trick-or-treating at the library the day before. Keira knew the drill already and was a pro. 

Then the day of Aunt Chelsie and Aunt Corinne went along with me as we roamed the neighborhood for 1 1/2 hours. Keira refused to walk. She insisted on riding in the stroller between each and every house. Whatever, makes it go faster I guess. :)

Both girls had a blast. Who wouldn't? Free candy and you get to dress up? Done deal.

Easter 2014

We spent our Easter in Provo/Orem with Kyle's siblings. We started our morning with the girls coming down from their bedrooms to find a new Easter dress and a new book. Hailey was so excited that the Easter Bunny had come and left her and Keira matching dresses.

After a very non-exciting bowl-of-cereal breakfast, we journeyed down to Provo. We parked and walked onto campus at BYU and ate a quick picnic lunch/snack. We met up with Kyle's sister Brittany and went to her YSA ward for church. It sure does make any small child or baby noises stand out when yours are the only ones. :)

After sacrament meeting we went over Kyle's brother Kris' house for another lunch, an Easter egg hunt, and an Easter elk roast dinner with all of Kyle's siblings. Kyle's brother-in-law Cody is big into hunting and scored an elk this past fall. He treated us to our (well, mine and the girls') first taste of elk.

Kris and Emmie put on a good Easter egg hunt. My two girls came home loaded with eggs and candy. Hailey was the oldest child (by a few years) and was pretty quick to rake in her loot. We had to slow her down so the smaller kids could collect their share of the eggs.

Keira on the other hand was an egg hunting novice. It took quite a bit of guidance to help her hunt. 

Although once she had the egg in her hand she was quick to pop it open and shove in as many jelly beans as she could before I shut it back up.

We had a lot of fun spending time with family and filling our bellies with jelly beans. Of course we are grateful for Easter not just because of the sugar rush, but mostly because of the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the saving grace of the atonement. Because I know the people in this house certainly are not perfect- but we are so grateful that Christ paved the way for us to repent and become better people each and every day. :)