Halloween

Who knew October is SO FUN when you have a toddler?

Actually, I'm pretty sure I anticipated it- 

but still have been pleasantly surprised by how much fun this holiday is again!

(And it has me giddy about the fun to come at Christmas!)

We spent pretty much the whole week leading up to Halloween

celebrating! Unrelated to Halloween, but cute nonetheless,

on Monday I put the boys in these sweaters and they just looked

so darn cute I tried to take a picture.

(Picture spot chosen by Chase- he loves this little corner)

Um, this was the best of the 5 I took before I just gave up and decided

to just remember it in my mind :)

 Also, I now have one more thing to stress over-

Hudson and the stairs.

We've already had one [minor] fall.

Hudson, however, is psyched.

 Monday night for our FHE we carved pumpkins.

Chase was over the moon about this and kept exclaiming

"We are making pumpkins!"

and then kept demanding that he use his "sharp knife" [plastic]

to help.

 Carving pumpkins in Christmas jammies-

what could be more festive?!

 After talking about trick-or-treating, more candy, reading our Halloween books

and watching many [more than I care to admit] Halloween themed

Disney Jr. episodes-

Chase has got this Halloween concept down and is thrilled about it!

My friend Maryn asked me to watch her girls on Halloween so she could 

help with an older daughter's class party. So I figured since they'd be here anyway

we might as well make it our own Halloween party!

So I called my friend Jodi to bring over her two boys

[that Chase adores and talks about all the time]

and we made an afternoon of it!

Thank you pinterest for the food inspiration-

mummies-witches fingers [courtesy of Jodi]-and jack-o-lanterns

Okay, here's a close up of these just because I was super proud of them.

                         

 The kiddos ate their Halloween lunch, then we read two Halloween books, played a few games

(pin the nose on the witch and toss a bean bag into a jack-0-lantern's mouth)

and the did a little Halloween craft.

I loved it! I'm pretty sure the kids all did too.

Edyn LOVES Hudson,

and tells me I have a cute baby every time she sees him.

I think he likes her too.

 Chase thought this game was hilarious!

 Chase and Edyn are just about 3 weeks apart

and are the cutest little friends.

I think we could arrange a marriage between them,

if only Chase would stop throwing toys at her in nursery.

 The whole crew-

Chase as Lightning McQueen, Emersyn as Merida, Edyn as Minnie Mouse,

Matt as Fix-it Felix and Will as Fix-it Felix

And then it was time for trick-or-treating-

Chase was so excited he could barely eat his dinner.

We talked him into switching to his monster costume from last year

for trick-or-treating, just because it's so warm!

He finally consented and he was off to trick or treat with dad.

 Huds the pumpkin stayed home with mom to pass out candy.

After he went around our little neighborhood we put him in the car

to go to Nana and Papa's and a few other close family friends live a little farther away.

After Nana and Papa's he said,

"Now we go to a few more houses,

and get candy, and fill my pumpkin all the way to the top."

Eh- there were probably 15 pieces of candy in his pumpkin,

and really, he was pleased as punch with that.

Now we are trying to get a very hyper Chase into bed

and I can't stop smiling thinking about how fun this whole month has been!

I'd be sad that it's over, except that I know there is more fun to come

in the next few months.

I start playing Christmas music tomorrow!

Trunk or Treat!

Ever since I personally left the trick or treating stage, I really haven't been into Halloween. Having little ones has totally changed that! Halloween is so fun again! I loved dressing up my boys! Hudson was fittingly a jack-o-lantern. Ben used to call Hudson "pumpkin" (which Chase shortened to "punk") and it has evolved into "the great pumpkin!" My mom made this costume for my sister when she was a baby- so it's vintage :)

Chase has an irrational fear of costumes- if you'll remember last year when he was terrified of his monster costume! Well the adorable monster costume still fits, and our friends lent us this Lightning McQueen costume, plus my mom showed him an old bat costume she had from when my brother was little. Needless to say, he had choices! He went back on forth on what he wanted to be, and last weekend just changed his response to a "Lightning McQueen Monster Bat". For the trunk or treat we actually got him all the way dressed as a monster (his choice) and then he changed his mind and decided to be Lightning McQueen. Oh silly kid- and this was because I bribed him with some chocolate to just put a costume on! Once we got out to the party and Chase said, "Look mommy! The other kids are dressed up!" I think he thought he'd look stupid and be embarrassed?

 Trunk or Treating was pretty much a dream come true for Chase. The kid loves chocolate! At dinner before trunk or treating he was a wild man and kept trying to run away from me- partly because he gets overwhelmed by so much excitement and chaos, and partly because he was trying to get back to our trunk- where he knew the chocolate was!

Ben was working (but has the real Halloween off!) so my parents came down to help me wrangle the kids and pass out candy. My dad ended up taking Chase around and said that Chase was very focused and serious about it. He was great at just taking one piece of candy and saying thank you, just like we practiced. And after each trunk he'd turn to my dad and say, "Where we go now Papa?"

And he was all too happy to come back to the trunk and dig into that hard-earned candy stash! 

This kid was so wired from all the candy and excitement that as I was putting his jammies on him that night he kept saying "happy! happy! happy!" That's right Chase- Happy Halloween!

9 months

This beautiful baby boy is now 9 months old!

We took him today for his 9 month well check-

and apparently all the food we've been feeding him

(he eats mashed up lasagna, enchiladas, pot roast and potatoes- you name it!)

is only doing the slightest amount of good.

Height: 28.5 inches- 57th percentile

Weight: 18 lbs 7 oz- 28th percentile

Head circumference: 17.5 inches- 33rd percentile

Our "chunker" as we used to call him

is officially on the smaller side!

But he's perfectly healthy in every way,

and still just as happy as can be!

No scheduled shots at this appointment, but we all got our flu shots.

Hudson looked completely unphased for a good 15 seconds after the

shot was given and then his sweet little face broke into a heart-wrenching cry.

 His biggest achievement this last month is that he now climbs stairs!

He's also babbling all the time now, and although he's mostly perfecting Parseltongue 

(he hisses all the time!)

he's also saying a whole lot of "i-yi-yi-yi" and "da-da" and "a-ba-ba"

I'm sure with the way this kid mostly only wants to be held by me

that "mama" can't be far away. 

Oh we love you Hudson James!

Black Island Farms, Part II

Ben's dad, Ray, came out to visit! 

We wanted to go do something fun with him, so we decided 

to take advantage of it being October and headed back to the pumpkin patch!

Ben was delighted, since he didn't come with us last time.

I know I've said it before, but Chase just makes everything so fun.

He has so much enthusiasm for life-

it's pretty contagious!

 This time we did the corn maze-

which is apparently a first for Ben!

Chase loved leading the way and directing "left" or "right"

and then usually turning the opposite direction of what he dictated.

The whole time he kept exclaiming excitedly,

"We've got the find the way out!"

like it was a real threat that we might be in there forever.

 Then Chase wanted to do the little train again,

and even though he wasn't scared this time, he still wanted Daddy

to go with him. I had to laugh at Ben squeezing into this thing-

Chase didn't even fit in!

 And then there is our little thrill seeker-

raising his arms while going 2 miles an hour.

Family Pics 2013

Oh man, getting family pictures done- one of those things I want DONE, but don't necessarily want to DO. We haven't had a picture done of all of us since Hudson joined the crew and I really wanted some to put up in our new home. One of my friends from my BYU nursing school days, Caitlin Petersen, is a beautiful photographer, and she was willing to work with my (very limited) budget to do our pictures! And then I started trying to figure out what to wear, then the weather didn't cooperate the first two times we were supposed to do them, then on the morning that we actually did them it was pretty cold, my kids were kind of grumpy, impatient husband, my hair didn't cooperate, basically I had pretty low expectations for how they'd turn out. 

We took these up American Fork Canyon- and just the drive alone made it all worth it! It was gorgeous up there. Ben announced that now he wants to move to Alpine. This place is just one more reason I love fall. 

And even with all those factors working against us, I was so happy with the way they turned out. Thank you Caitlin for making it happen!

My Little Men

I cannot give over how cute my little guys look in their Sunday best.

I might be considering dressing them up on Wednesdays as well

just so we can get more use out of these cute outfits.

However, when I tried to get a picture, 

Chase kept pulling this face. 

 Let's get another look at that, shall we?

Yeah, he stayed that way for a solid 3 minutes.

So we put the big man in with the little men,

and were finally able to get a good shot.

Oh how I love these cute, crazy boys!

Black Island Farms

Today we had a fun spur of the moment field trip! My cousin Kash just got into town and texted this morning to see if we wanted to meet them at Black Island Farms. This was on my fall to do list with Chase so we jumped at the chance! Spending time with my cousin that I just adore, plus doing something fun and fall and festive with my little guys seemed perfect for this Saturday afternoon!

We had a busy morning with our Smith family pictures and then we went straight to Syracuse to Black Island Farm. It was so fun! Chase absolutely loved it! He loved the big slides and the bouncy house. He is really into trains these days so I thought he'd love this little train. My kid who will ride ANY ride at Disneyland was terrified to get on this little barrel train! So I hopped in with him and as soon as it started moving he totally relaxed and had a good time. What a goof.

 Kash and me, with our babies- Margo and my Huds

 My beautiful mom was so sweet to come with me,

things are just so much more enjoyable these days when we have a

1:1 adult child ratio.

 Chase and Landon in the "torn" pit-

Chase loved this so much. At one point I looked over and he was laying 

on his back, lifted his shirt up and was piling corn on his bare tummy.

Such a fun outing!

I've been telling Ben every single day how much I just love fall-

but it's so true! 

We love fall!

The Dentist

Chase had his first routine dentist visit this last week! He chipped his front teeth really bad back in August 2012 and our regular dentist recommended an awesome pediatric dentist to take him to. So we went, were super impressed with this dentist and his staff, and Chase screamed at the top of his lungs all the way through the procedure even though we sedated him. Since we now have dental insurance I thought it was probably time that we revisit said dentist and start doing regular check ups and cleanings.

Needless to say, after the way it all went down last summer I was pretty nervous about how Chase would handle the experience. We talked about it that morning and practiced opening wide. When we got the office, which is decorated to look like the inside of Nemo's tank, Chase immediately started playing with toys. Then he sat on my lap and we read a few stories. Chase turned to me and said enthusiastically, "I like the dentist!" (You know, before anything dental went down).

Not only is this dentist great with kids, but his entire staff are as well. This sweet hygienist took her time with Chase, explaining what all the different tools did and letting Chase touch them and get comfortable. Once she was ready to start cleaning, Chase told her a few times, "Okay, but be really careful." And she was.

 Then while waiting to see the actual dentist another gal made him this balloon sword, which he was super psyched about! Then the dentist took a quick look and we were done! Chase reiterated, "I like the dentist!"

First trip to the dentist: SUCCESS!

My Favorite Things

I absolutely love being a mom. I feel so blessed to have these sweet boys in my life. I was just talking with Ben tonight about how being a mom is exhausting and frustrating, but so so sweet and rewarding at the same time. And there is nothing else I'd rather be doing right now. These little guys are amazing little people. I want to record some of my favorite things about them these days.

 Oh my sweet, hilarious, mischievous, compassionate, smart little two year old. I love the way he he talks all. day. long. I love the little insights I get into his mind. I love the way he's starting to come up with "solutions" to get what he wants when he knows the rules-(like last night he argument of why he should get to wear his summer jammies to bed instead of warmer ones was that "They are dark and it's dark outside. So I can wear them.") I'm sure he thinks he knows more than Ben and I do.

 I love his energy and how much fun he has all the time. Anything can become a toy and anything can become a game to him. I love that he laughs all the time. The smallest, most ridiculous little thing can make him laugh. I love how accepting he is of other people, he makes friends so easily. He makes others feel so loved. I love how much he already loves Hudson and tries to play with him and protect him. I love his love of reading and how long he'll stay cuddled up next to me as long as I'll read.

My favorite things about my smiley baby Hudson- first of all, his smile. I know I say it all the time, but he's just so happy to be here! I love his funny little "sea turtle" crawl. I love how motivated he is to try to keep up with Chase, and so he does his little scoot as fast as he can to not be left behind. I love the way his little face lights up when I go to get him out of his bed and he shoots me a big smile.

 I love reading to him before sleep time and the way he just relaxes in my lap and sucks his thumb, giving little smiles when we get to a page he likes. I love how he snuggles in my arms while I sing him a lullaby. I love that he takes such awesome, long naps and then wakes up happy. I love the happy spirit that just radiates from his tiny body.