Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween

I took the kids to our ward trunk-or-treat. They do a chili cook off every year too. I don't like chili, so I didn't have any. There were several to choose from, and the girls chose the one that won the "hottest chili". Olivia kept saying it was hot, but I just thought she was talking about the temperature. Ashley really liked it. I thought that was kind of funny. Van did not want his picture taken. There were kids running around, and that's what he needed to be doing too.

He really like wearing Ashley's hat.

These next ones were taken just before trick-or-treating. I was not looking forward to it. I have a cold, and it was pouring rain outside. I tried to talk the girls out of going, but they didn't go for it. I thought Van and me would just stay in the car. When we got in the car it had calmed down quite a bit. Van and me went to several houses with the girls. He was so cute saying trick or treat. At first he was trying to go in every house. He wasn't sure what we were doing there. When he got the hang of it then he'd say, "trick treat", Hiiiiiii, thank you, bye bye. Everyone thought he was pretty cute. Several people were giving him more candy than the girls. Which is silly, because it will be Jason and me eating it.

I first got this picture. I said "Hey Liv, people usually smile in pictures".

Then I got this.

Sorting their loot.

Van wearing Ashley's hat again.

Ashley Is 11

Our little Ashley had her birthday yesterday, even though Jason insists that she's not allowed to get any older. He even threatens her with groundings, but she just doesn't seem to care. She just keeps getting older.

Ash is in 5th grade now. Last year was a rough year for her, because of a crappy teacher. So far this year seems to be going good. She has been reading tons lately. She's always enjoyed reading, but now I have to tell her to stop and come spend time with the rest of the family. I'm glad she likes to read, but sometimes I miss her. She started orchestra a few weeks ago. She's in the beginning strings class. Her teacher told her if she can learn her fingers, than she'll move her up to the advanced string class. She knows a lot more than the other kids in her class. Ash practiced for a few days, and she told me she knows all her fingers now. Her teacher will be testing her tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. It seems to come very easy to her. With my limited knowledge of music, I can already tell that she's learning and getting better. We're very proud of her.

We didn't do much for her birthday. We're just not birthday party people. We did go out to eat though. We went to this place called Charlie Chow's. Oh my, heaven in my mouth. We all got this thing called the dragon grill. You can have noodles or rice, and any vegetables you want, and there's several choices of sauce and meat. You put it all in a bowl, and they grill it all together for you. It was so good. The whole family really enjoyed it. Ash said it's her new favorite place.

This cake was a pain in the butt. I had cake issues, frosting issues, and design issues. I just had to settle with what I got. I'll do one more cake for Livy's Birthday, then I'm retiring from the cake business. It's just not for me.

This is a thing of erasers. They're kind of popular now with the kids. They have moving parts that you can take off. I think they're pretty cute.

Ash in her new coat that my Mom got her.

Color Me Mine

I took the girls to "Color Me Mine" a couple of weeks ago. For those that don't know, you paint ceramics there. We've been there twice before, but both times we made something for Jason. I thought it was time I took the girls to paint something for themselves. My grandmother had her own ceramic room, and I always loved the times I got to paint. They seemed to really enjoy it. They kept saying things like, "The next time we come....". I was lame, and forgot the camera. I just took a couple with my phone while they were painting.

Olivia's elephant.

Ashley's star box

Van Is 2

Do you remember when he was this round ball of chub?

Now he's this handsome little boy

It's just crazy how fast time goes when you have kids. He's not a baby anymore, and that makes me sad. I do love his age right now, but I also want my cute little rolly polly baby back. He's such a fun kid. He makes me laugh all the time. He is learning so much, and understands more and more everyday. He's not speaking in sentences yet, but everyday he puts new word combinations together.


Some things that he knows: Alphabet, numbers 1-10, Just about all body parts (including pee pee and bum), Most colors (just today he learned brown and gray), lots of animals and their sounds (he doesn't like doing them much anymore though), and the basic shapes.



I took him to the doctor on his birthday, and she was really impressed with him. She told me he knows more than her three year old. What's funny is I don't really work much with him on this stuff. I'm not one of those parents that are overly concerned with how much he knows. He mostly just picks it up on his own from his toys or T.V. I'm also not one of those parents that brags about their kids constantly, even though I seem to be one right now. I'm just proud of him.

Two year stats: Weight 29lbs - 60%

Height 36in - 95%

Head 19.5" - 90%

We didn't really do anything for his birthday. I just made some cupcakes and a cake for him. He hasn't had one bite of either. He's not really a junk food kid. He sure likes fruits and vegetables though. We did go out to eat with my Mom and A.T. the day before for his birthday. My Mom got him a tricycle, and a toy for the fridge that spells three letter words. My sister also came over on his birthday, and got him a couple of cute things. Here's the few pictures we got of him.

I know you're all wondering, where I get my mad cake decorating skills from. My answer to that is, it just comes natural to me. It can't really be taught. ;) It was actually pretty crappy overall. I didn't really care though. It was my first attempt at creativity.

He got the hang of opening gifts really quick.

I like this one. He looked back at me, and gasped then said "truck!".