Maddie had her first recital the Saturday before Halloween and did great. She loves piano and has an amazing teacher, as do most kids who take lessons from her. One day when Carson isn't running around like a mad man I would like to take lessons...right now it is all a foreign language to me:)



Saturday morning my sister calls me at 8:30 and asks if I want to go to the zoo for trick or treaing in an hour. I like to have things planned, but the weather was so nice for the zoo and we didn't have any other plans, and we have a zoo pass,  so I was spontaneous:) It was so busy and we had to walk from our parking spot quite a bit, but it was fun and not freezing like it was when we went a few years ago.



Rob took the day off for Halloween so we could plan on him being there for trick or treating. We borrowed some costumes for Cleopatra and Marc Antony this year and had fun with it...can't keep my hands off him:)

The thing I love about this picture is that I was able to use a editing site and make me look tan, and not show all of my breakouts that week:). Fake eyelashes were a first for me too. I would never dress like this on a normal day but it is fun to pretend once a year:)

Such a stud:) I would have preferred he not wear the shirt and shorts  underneath it, but apparently he didn't want to be cold:)

such a drama queen.

Obsessed with dragons and knights

Had to be a Honey bee this year. This pic is from her parade at school

Maddie wore this butterfly costume when she was 4, and it is nice when we can reuse a costume. They are each adorable in it in their own way anyway:)

Silly girl loves this nasty little squishy mouse

Looks so snuggly doesn't he?

He LOVED trick or treating! He went to every house but one in the hour we were out. The one house we didn't take him to because he was getting heavy,  he got pretty upset. We took turns helping him up driveways and stairs and it was a lot of work:) He would say "treat" and "thank you" and it was precious. Plus they would put a treat in his bucket and he would look at it and then back at them again sweetly waiting for more:)

Our first house. Thanks to Maddie for the crazy face:)

I didn't post my Aj's 6 yr old pic. He is still getting taller and skinnier and used to be my little chub. He is in kindergarten and reading at a 3rd grade level and amazes me with his creativity, reading and drawings. He is working on a book series with Maddie called "Zippy the dragon". They have written 12 short stories and open up the library for us to "check them out". They are so adorable:) The author of their books is AJ Madison. He also just learned to ride his bike without training wheels and was so proud.

Carson's 18 mth picture. At his well check he was 31 lbs (97% I think) and feels like every one of them:) His height is in the 93% and we are not sure where this big kid came from. He is wearing 3Ts  that Aj wasn't wearing until a year from now.  He is a BUSY boy and we have had to come up with new ideas to keep markers, scissors, soap dispensers, anything he can think of to cause mischief...and keep it locked away from his reach. He is such a sweetie and adores his daddy more than I have ever seen the kids do. It is nice for me. But the down side is that he refuses to go to family, friends, nursery, etc. He has woke up twice this week just because he wants to sleep with me. This attachment and stranger anxiety seems wierd at this age and never happened with my other kids at any age really, so I am not sure what to do. He will cry with a babysitter for about 30 minutes straight---and they are usually his grandparents or other family he should be fine with:(

He does amaze me with the naughty things he does because they seem so clever:) He also took after his sister Chey and started talking up a storm at 18 mths. My older son didn't say much until after 2 and not much then. Carson hears a lot of talking and something clicked and he is now a parrot. By 18 mths he was saying 35 words and I jsut stopped writing them down because now he will usually say what ever you ask him to say. I love when he says "excuse me" when he farts, burps, needs to get by...or he seems to pick up on moods like when I groan about something he will say "what?" Or when the dog licks his face he will say "hey!"  He still does his signs but says the word with it now. He thinks pleade and thank you will get him anything:)  He has also said,  "Aj's bum bum " and "oh, man" a lot...thanks to his siblings using him as entertainment:)

We will start potty training at 20 mths, in December. Stay tuned for that adventure...He takes off his diaper, says the potty words and has gone a couple times himself and I was planning on doing it early with this one, so i am glad he is ready.

sunday before halloween we went to my moms house and had dinner and decorated cupcakes, then visited their great grandpa nearby.

my nephews as bacon and egg. They make me laugh:)

the snake bread to go with chili

veggie tray pumpkin

punch hand

cute pumpkin jello. I was impressed with the fun things my sisters all brought for the dinner:)

And now today we woke up to 3 inches or more of snow and we built a snowman, then came in for cocoa and listened to Christmas music....Rob had a day off and we played games and hung out...it seriously seemed like Christmas and I wondered how fall just disappeared overnight:) My pumpkins and scarecrow are covered in snow and I thought about putting up Christmas decorations for a minute, but I am getting ahead of myself. We still have the girls birthdays this week and next and then Thanksgiving to focus on....the girls Tangled birthday party is another adventure to stay tuned. It has been 3 weeks of prep work, cake sketches, game and decor prep...this year I am doing a first ever friend party on the saturday and family one on sunday...15 little girls running around should be fun huh?