Halloween Part 1: Things We Made

October has kept us busy busy. I love the fall because for some reason I suddenly start to feel the need to create. Maybe it's because all the flowers are dying and I have to compensate or something, but here are some shots of what we've been doing.

Ghosts, Pumpkins, Moons, Witches, Cats

Pumpkin carving! Sofie refused to touch the inside.

(I also made the Halloween tutu)

Try holding an 8 month old while slicing up a pumpkin. She screamed and screamed unless I held her that night. Seriously?

Mine was supposed to look cooler. I used translucent beads to spell "boo" but when you put the lid on there wasn't enough oxygen to keep it burning brightly, and I should have used green or blue beads, instead of red...

Derek's

Sofie's (aka Derek's)

My "jug-o-lantern"

Goblin Eyes

(Any excuse for deviled eggs is wonderful)

I found the perfect thing to keep Sofie occupied for like half an hour! Chopping Velveeta into itty bitty pieces for our chili queso dip.

This dip (my new tradition) and the goblin eyes were a hit at the family party.

Some felt, some scissors, done.

My sister and I were making this haunted house kit, but it took so long for the icing to set that we gave up. I think I'll use them for Christmas next month!

Xiao Mei

Mei has insanely grown this month!! At 8 months she is crawling around like a crazy woman, wiggling, chomping, babbling, and racing up my stairs. (She taught herself the stairs and the first time I found her scaling them I just about had a heart attack!!) No surprise that I'm 11 days behind in making this 8 month post, she keeps me on my toes. Seriously, not hard to get my 10,000 steps in every day.

She's fearless. Jumping right in to the wrestle session with daddy.

She's climbing up furniture and walking along things already!! It's totally foreign to me. At this age Sofie had another month before she even crawled!! SLOW DOWN MEI!

Those blue eyes are turning slightly grey-ish brown and I'm sure they're be as brown as Sofie's by her first birthday. She's a pretty good eater, but usually doesn't have much of an appetite after finishing off her bottles. Her top 4 teeth are all cutting through this week! This is her typical snuggle for bedtime pose, however why she wanted to snuggle with a wet rag is beyond me! Those two fingers are still her favorite...any help?

Aside from my stairs, which she scales at least 20 times a day, her favorite activity is standing. She loves to stand one handed but occasionally is brave enough to let go. The longest she's balanced without holding on is about 3 seconds. Poor child's tailbone is probably so sore!!

Other random 8 month stuff:

favorite sound is "na na na"

sleeping 11 hours at night

3 naps usually 1 to 2 hours long

pats with her hand when she sees someone or something she likes

loves to be silly and tease

holds her breath instead of laughing outloud

sweetest darling ever and I want to keep her right here at this stage!!

This was a few weeks ago when she had a different babbling phase, then it turned into growling, and now it's mostly "nanana"

Kasey's Marathon!!

Over Conference weekend my sister-in-law Kasey ran a freaking marathon!

She did great and came in at 4 hrs 43 min!! It was a beautiful day (for those of us who weren't running...)

The whole crew!

Sporting our nerdy homemade shirts to show our support.

The kids melting in the sun.

Proud Mom and Dad

Almost at the finish line! Kasey is the less flamboyant one on the left.

Triumphant Kase! Way to Go!

Keeping Busy...er

As if the 3 year old and 7 month old weren't keeping me busy enough, I've been working on some fun fall creations to fill in the itty bitty moments I have free, or close enough to free.

I didn't create these flowers, but I did plant them, water them, and pick them... and they're beautiful!

I was kind of sad they didn't have the wire in brown, but the green works.

It was fun to pick through my sister's backyard and find "spooky sticks" as Sofie calls them. A little spray paint, some black buttons, some ribbon, voila.

This looks nasty, but it turned out tasty. My very first pie (no good at rolling out pie dough turns out...). Pear Pie!

I put these up high so they wouldn't disappear the first day.

Free frames, free paper, free-hand letters, done.

They ran out of the original candy corns, so the vase on the left has layers of normal and "harvest" candy corn, not as cute.

Made from leftover scraps and stuff found at grandma's house.

Family Night Candy Corn pudding treat.

Next time I will be using orange food-colored vanilla pudding, not butterscotch, too brown.

But a fun treat!

Oldies

Title not referring to our age, of course! But it does refer to the good times we had back in the days. We all roomed together back in 2005/6 and it was really one of the best times for me!!

Now Julie is getting married and we finally got together again for her bridal shower! It was so refreshing to be around you darling girls again! Sad that Rizzle couldn't make it! :(

A few years wiser.

September

Sofie started Joyschool (preschool put on by fellow moms in rotation).

My turn! I promise that's not an angry face. I was thinking, "dang it! how does the song go again?" Sofie LOVES it! Now she wants to play preschool all day long!

Some extra darling kids in there.

Bless my sister's heart for helping me out on my teaching days!

Caramelled Apples for Family Night!

Life Saver dust for a garnish

My little tiger helper!

She's so excited about her Halloween costume she insisted on wearing the hat all night.

"Is it Halloween Time yet?"

"Nope, not for a lot of sleeps."

"I want it to be 6 sleeps."

She has asked me at least 30 times today if it's Halloween Time yet.

Mei turned 7 months!! Giving her formula instead of nursing led to a 2 pound weight gain in just 2 weeks. Poor baby girl was starving. I'm sad to stop nursing, but happy to see she's doing so well with the formula! She's a crazy hyper happy baby! She never holds still. Has to have mommy in sight at all times. Teething top 4 teeth all at once. Working on crawling, standing up against stuff, taking regular and longer naps. Sleeps about 11 hours solid at night. She loves squealing loudly, chewing, sticking her tongue out, wiggling, and being in her crib. And her hair is finally growing!! Yay!

Spice of Life

I love zucchini and all, but THIS is really what a garden is all about. Fresh salsa!!

(and now that I'm not nursing anymore I can actually enjoy it!!)

Blessed Harvest

My garden has been awesome this year! For first time gardening I couldn't be more thankful! I'm thinking maybe I should try selling some zucchini bread! I've already got several bags of shredded zucchini in my freezer and at least 8 more on the vine right now.

We've done:

zucchini with pasta (all sorts)

zucchini boats

chocolate zucchini bread

zucchini casserole

fried zucchini

baked zucchini

grilled zucchini

zucchini kabobs

Any other suggestions?

Birthday Picture Highlights

Pictures tell it better than I do!

Sofie turned 3 last week! I feel like she's been with us forever, not just 3 years.

Her birthday lasted about a week though, with lots of friends, family, gifts, and parties!

Birthday morning she got an "S" pancake. (Ate it with tears in her eyes because she burned her finger on the skillet)

She loved the tutu I made for her!

Enjoying her new princess table and chairs. Fairy wings and all.

Mei joined in on the festivities.

The perfect sized birthday cake for just the 4 of us!

A few days later she had a big birthday party at the park with lots of friends and family and food!

Grandma P and Meimei

My latest discovery! So excited they turned out. Fruit Jello. The kids and adults loved these!

Scoop out the fruit, fill with jello (3/4 c boiling water per package), slice and serve.

Also a fun discovery, "happy birthday" candles! Too bad it was too windy to actually light them!

Lots of gifts to open. Thank you to all who came and supported Sofie on her birthday!!

Also a video of Sofie dancing with her fun dress-ups from G-ma and Papa B. She insisted I sing the alphabet song for her dance. :)

Birthday Surprise!

I can't wait to show Sofie this tutu I made for her to wear on her birthday Tuesday!!!

(and probably every day/night after that...)