Almost Caught Up!

One more post so I can get caught up before Thanksgiving. The weather here has been very unpredictable. One day it is warm enough to not need a coat and then the next is full on winter coat weather. The kids had fun taking advantage of as much outside play time as possible while we were at Mimi's house. This year, Carter has discovered playing with the leaves. He was a little unsure what to think about them at first, but eventually he started cracking up laughing when they would crunch. Here are also some pictures from our photo shoot with Laurel in October.

October 16 - Pictures with Laurel.

Love, Love, Love this one!

It was fun getting pictures with Aunt Meagan.

October 30 - Playing in Mimi's backyard

Right after Halloween, we switched our gears and began celebrating Thanksgiving. It has been fun teaching Thomas about being Thankful. On Nov. 1st we started a Thankful tree. Yes, I realize now that I miss spelled Thankful, but for those of you who know me well, know that I am a terrible speller. Thank goodness for computers! Anyway, everyday we each put a leaf on the tree that says something that we are thankful for. At first, Thomas would say that he was thankful for something that he wish he had, like a Thomas the tank engine toy. So it took some time to explain to him that we can be thankful for things that we already have. It has been such a sweet experience to see him come up with something different that he is thankful for each day. One day, when I was filling out one of my leaves, I asked Thomas, what should Mommy be thankful for? He said "you are thankful for your Mom and your Dad that is in heaven." We do not talk much about the fact that my Dad died, but it made me realize how much older he is getting as he is able to comprehend more. I think that we will have to make this Thankful tree a tradition.

This is our tree on Nov 2. I will try to post another one when we are finished.

One day while watching TV, Thomas saw this idea of making hand turkey sugar cookies. He was very intense about making them until Ryan finally volunteered for the job.

I Love Shutterfly

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the annual holiday greeting card. Having lived in several places and made lasting connections, I love getting updates and pictures from my friends. I love the designs and photographs, too, and incorporate the pretty cards into the holiday decorations in my home.

I recently started a Christmas only scrapbook, where each year I put our own family Christmas card, cards we receive from our close friends, and our Christmas pictures from the year. It has been fun putting it together and looking at how our family and friends have changed through out the past few years.

I thought I would try to order our cards early this year when a message from Shutterfly offering 50 free cards to bloggers got me very excited. Using the Shutterfly giveaway as inspiration, I hit their site for ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

I like how this one allows some incorporation of the casual, candid, everyday photos from throughout the year.

And I absolutely love these tell a story cards. I think these are my favorite.

While I was there, I thought I might put together one of these. A friend of mine put one together and it turned out so cute!

Still looking, but extremely tempted so far...

I love Shutterfly! I love making photo books and ordering prints. I love their designs and how easy it is to use.

Though these are my actual opinions, Shutterfly is offering me free cards for this post. Get in on the deal, too. Here's the skinny: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the arrow à http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Halloween Fun

I absolutely LOVE Halloween and this year was a blast. Thomas got a pair of bat PJ's in September that inspired his desire to be a bat for Halloween. So we went to the library, checked out books about Bats (which are pretty gross) so he could study the part. Luckily we found a very cute bat costume for him and he was way more than excited. Since Carter does not like anything on his head, we decided he needed to be a pumpkin. I must say, he made a very cute pumpkin! Thomas kept telling me that some bats like to eat fruits and so he wanted to eat the pumpkin.

October 28: The first of our Halloween adventures was playgroup at church. They made a couple of Halloween crafts and had fun running around in the gym in their costumes. Later that night we got back in our costumes again to go trick or treating at the outside mall. It was very cold and there were lots of people, but it was fun. If Carter could talk he would probably tell you that he was not to fond of the guy dressed up as a gorilla at one of the stores.

October 29: In the morning we went to a Halloween story time at a very cute local toy store (Brilliant Sky). They got to dress up in their costumes and listen to Halloween stories from a very good story teller. Then later that evening, we went to the MBA school for a Halloween party for the kids.

Thomas had fun playing games and doing crafts with his friends from S3.

And Carter was very squirmy of course. Carter had fun eating his new found favorite thing: a sucker. He managed to get it all over himself.

Obviously, we are one of a very few that have kids in the program. Ha Ha!!!

October 30: Let the main event begin! We drove down to Mimi's house to attend their ward's trunk or treat party. I must say that I am pretty sure that this was by far the best ward party I have ever been too! The Saline ward really knows how to party! I only wish I had more pictures of the games and decorations. After the chili dinner, the kids had a costume parade that went over a bridge that was on the stage. As I was waiting with Thomas to go across the stage, I thought of how shy I was when I was about his age. One year, my Mom made me a costume to wear to school (I do not think it was for Halloween) and I was so shy that I took it off and put it in my book bag. So I was really proud to see Thomas so excited to do the parade. After they announced his name, he walked up onto the stage, turned and faced the audience, spread out his wings, and just stood there for at least 3 minutes before walking to the other side. It was so funny. Everyone was clapping and whistling and he was loving it. After the costume parade, there were lots of games and a couple of crafts set up for the kids to play. Finally, we went trunk or treating. Carter was so cute. He got the hang of trick or treating very quickly. He would drag his basket from one car to the next and then hold it up for them to put treats in it. Once he figured out that they were putting suckers in his basket, he was even happier.

I unfortunately did not get any pictures of him on the stage, but this was his pose.

Doing a Craft with Mimi

The haunted house that Mimi made for the haunted house fishing game.

Carter getting a sneak taste of all the treats

Trunk or Treating Time

Carter was determined not to loose any treats

Trying to find his favorite one

He found it... a sucker!

A Monster Party!

October 27th, 2010: Since we are new in the area, I thought it would be fun to host a little Pre-Halloween party to help Thomas get to know other kids better. It was alot of fun planning and even more fun for the kids.

Each child got a turn picking out a Monster Puppet from my spooky box. When they put the puppet on their hand, the monster would whisper in my ear what game they wanted to play.

We played:

Pin the Eye on the Monster

Feed the Monster (Bean Bag Toss)

Each kid got a Monster hat and we read the book, "If Your A Monster and You Know It." Afterwards, we listened to the MP3 of it and then had a monster dance.

We also had a monster craft. I had paper and paints out for the kids. After they painted their paper, we folded the paper in half so it was somewhat symmetrical. After it dried, they glued googly eyes and fuzzy balls on. I thought they did pretty good making monsters!

Then the kids got to decorate their own monster pizza (english muffin pizzas). Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of them before they were eaten up, but they were cute. For dessert, the kids got to eat monster cupcakes that Thomas had helped me make.

I made monster bags that each child got when they arrived at the party. At each game, they filled their bag with a prize. Since we are on a very tight budget, I sort of had to get creative with what I had.

I found these cute bag toppers at Hobby Lobby, but you could totally make it out of scrapbook paper too. You just staple it to the top of a ziploc bag. Pretty cool huh? I filled these bags with homemade playdough.

They also got to take home crayons and an activity book, the monster puppet, and the monster hat.

Thomas handed these monster brownie pops out to everyone before they left and told them "Thank you for coming."