Jakers and a Halloween Party

Jakers Jack-o-Lanterns

A couple weeks ago we hit a local pumpkin patch.  Not because we needed pumpkins.  We grew our own, remember?  We went because they have fun, free Halloween-y activities for kids.  Can't beat free!  The weather was AWE-SOME! that day, so it was no surprise that everyone and their kids were there.  We saw at least 5 different families we know.

Aurora's favorite always seems to be the corn pit
(the 2 girls in the pic are in our neighborhood--they were so excited to see Rori there)

Daddy tried to bury her, but she wasn't a fan--it was pretty short-lived.

 Exploring in the kids hay bale maze


The petting zoo was a hit too

They even had a kangaroo!  He was SO soft! I've never pet a kangaroo before.  It was pretty cool.
His name was Alvin, after Alvin the chipmunk


Our Sweet Savy was there too, no worries :)

And, we went on a hay bale tractor ride around the pumpkin patch.  Rori kept making Dar take pictures of the people looking for pumpkins.

Our family :)
(Savy was too into playing with my sunnies to look at the camera)


Halloween Party
A friend in our neighborhood throws a big Halloween party every year and we always enjoy going.
Rori and her friend Jack

Savy is dressed as a spider--in case you can't tell
Cutest dang spider I've ever seen!!

Rori and her friend, Lydia.
(I told Dar we should have done a line-up of all the Minnie Mouses.  No offense to anyone else, but I think Rori was the cutest.  But I'm allowed to say that---I'm her mom!)

Rori decorated a sugar cookie she helped me make earlier for the party.  And Daddy got to join us!

Playing a Mr. Potato Head pumpkin game

She was very focused and slightly concerned, apparently :)

Playing a witch hat ring toss game

Tossing bean bags

I think her favorite part was learning a Thriller zumba dance.  This girl LOVES to dance!

 
 
 I thought she was great at following the instructor

The kids all got together towards the end of the party and did a Thriller performance for all the parents.  Aurora did really awesome--especially considering she's not even 3 yet.  Way to go, Aurora!  You made your parents so proud! :)

Thanks again, Lalani, for all your hard work!

10.22.13 - 7 months!

Our Sweet Savannah is 7 months!  She's the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet, and she brings such happiness into our home.  Man!  We sure love this little girl!

At SEVEN months:
-Her first tooth poked through on Tuesday, right at 7 months old! 
-She's becoming a pro at sitting, and can usually get down to her tummy pretty gracefully.  She still gets bumps sometimes, but she really does pretty well.
-She definitely prefers sitting over laying down but she'll end up on the ground sometimes because Aurora mostly gently tackles her and makes her lay down.  It's not Savannah's favorite thing to get tackled by her sister.
-We've started giving her gerber puff snacks and she does pretty well with them.
-She really likes to munch on bananas or apples through her mesh food holder thing (see pictures below).
-We think she's going to be our shy one.  She gets really shy sometimes when anyone looks at her or talks to her (including us).  It's pretty cute.
-She's starting to get some stranger-danger and prefers for me to hold her over anyone else--but she likes Daddy okay too :)
-She just started doing a really cute bobble with her head this week.  It's hard to describe, but she kind of bounces her head back and forth like she's dancing or something.  I just about die every time I see her do it.  It's stinking cute!  I hope I can catch it on our video camera.
-She has really improved with sleeping completely through the night in the last month.  It's pretty rare when she wakes up in the middle of the night anymore.
-On top of kicking her legs a ton when she's happy she does a really high pitched squeal.  She's such a happy girl, so we get that a lot :)
-She's a rolly-poley on the changing table, and we have a few items stashed there for her to grab and hold onto, otherwise she just keeps trying to turn and roll over while we're changing her diaper.
-I weighed her at our doctor's office yesterday and she's up to 19 pounds!
-She definitely recognizes her name and will turn to us when we say it.
-She has added "ba-ba" and "ya-ya" to her babbling vocabulary.
-She's starting to blow raspberries and make other fun noises with her mouth and she thinks she's pretty funny and awesome that she can do it.
-She LOVES jewelry!  I can't put any jewelry on without her grabbing at it and trying to eat it.  I have to be really careful with earrings.
-She likes to suck on tags and silky things.
-She's already hooked on electronics--when we let her get her hands on them--that doesn't happen very often.
-She also loves to pull my hair a lot lately.  Especially when she's nursing.  Stinker.
-She doesn't seem interested in learning to crawl yet, but she's a pro at rolling and rolls all over the place!

Munching on some apples

Playing under the coffee table


And, as always, lots of pictures of her monthly photo shoot because she's so cute and kind of a goof sometimes :)



 It cracks me up when she sucks on her top lip--she does it sometimes when she's eating too



Silly girl--she wasn't very cooperative this time

Our little lady


Happy 7 months, Savy!

October Kick-Off

October is probably my favorite month of the year.  It's the precursor to the holiday season, and Halloween is my favorite, next to Christmas.  Thanksgiving is really awesome too!  Okay, I like them all, but who doesn't?

We're pretty lucky that we get to grow our own pumpkins.  We experimented this year by planting the pumpkins next to the tomatoes and long-story-short, we won't be doing that again :)

Garden harvest time is always exciting, but picking the pumpkins is extra special!  We feel so blessed to have these two cuties to share the excitement of holidays with now.

Too bad the camera was out of focus.  I still think she's cute :)

He's da man!

We had just been to my niece's baptism a couple days before this and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  With that as background, Aurora keeps calling our white "ghost" pumpkins the Holy Ghost pumpkins:)

Savy's our happy girl!


Rori thought Daddy needed a drink because washing the pumpkins was hard work! ;)

We didn't get many pumpkins this year compared to our norm, but we're just happy to have pumpkins :)
This past Monday our BFFs came over for FHE and the kids got to paint their pumpkins.  It's fun to see their different personalities and style of painting, even at age 2.






YAY for holidays and traditions!!  Bring 'em on!