The Rest of October

 Photo dump of the rest of our comings and goings in October.

 Grant sure has fun getting messy!

 Porter loved learning about firefighters at preschool.

 Bath time has become an extension of playtime.

 Brooke did this abstract drawing in school. It's the profile of a face. I thought she did a great job!

 The kids wanted me to take their pictures while eating dinner an Nonna's house.

 I have always thought that Blake had unfortunate initials (BM) and I swore that I wouldn't do that to my kids. Well, Brooke ended up with the same ones! If you don't know what BM stands for, ask your mom ;) Oh, and isn't Brooke's staged smile lovely? Yeah, family pictures are really fun right now (NOT!)

 Brooke says, "mom can you PLEASE make us some hot chocolate?" And then to make the deal even sweeter for me, "I'll watch a movie on your kindle while I wait."

Kid Funnies:
Brooke went to the dentist and was so happy when she got a youth sized toothbrush instead of a child one. At dinner that night Brooke said, "I think I'm ready for adult things now." I said, "oh, yeah? Like what?" She answered, "like spoons. I'm ready for adult spoons now."

 Childhood honesty at its best: Porter brings me a tube of chapstick. "Mom, can you open this for me? I need to stick my finger in it."

Trick Or Treat! Halloween 2015

 We had a lot of Halloween fun this year. On the 24th we had our ward  Halloween party. I pulled out Blake and my costumes from our very first Halloween as a married couple back in 2003. It was fun to wear them again. Blake's stomach is stuffed in the first pic :) Second photo courtesy of Brooke.

 It been a tradition for the last 3 years for me to make the kids' costumes. I really love doing it and seeing them all come together: A Mermaid, Pirate, and Shark

 Trying to get a good picture of all three of them was pointless.

 The next week started the plethora of Halloween activities. The boys and I went to the library halloween party. In this picture is Porter with his good friend Sam and some other random boy who asked to be in the picture. Sure, why not?

 Grant got his first taste of Halloween candy. I had to bribe him because he was not happy about being kept in the stroller.

On Thursday was Porter's class party at preschool and Friday was Brooke's class party. We finally decided to carve our pumpkins Thursday night.

 Brooke was a champ! We helped her a little bit, but she mostly drew and cut out her own pumpkin all by herself.

 I was trying to get a picture of Grant in his little "My First Halloween Outfit" (even though technically it isn't his first Halloween). I bought this outfit for Brooke and all of my kids have worn it.

Saturday was the BIG DAY. Not only did we have family pictures taken that morning, we celebrated Grant's birthday at lunchtime and then got ready for trick or treating that night.

Can you believe it's Oct. 31 and we're out trick or treating without coats? Eventually we did have to wear them, but it was nice to be able to walk around the neighborhood without being bundled up. The kids were so cute and excited to go to each door. Porter would run back to Blake and I to show us his treat. And maybe it was because we partied hard all week long, but after a few streets in the neighborhood both kids said they were done and wanted to go home. (Part of that was due to someone handing out cans of soda which made their buckets heavy too). Porter and Brooke both liked helping me hand out candy at home.

 Poor Grant, in the stroller again! Next year buddy you'll be out with the older kids!

Happy Halloween!

Grant's 1st Birthday

His cake was supposed to look like a birch tree.

Each of the kids have gotten these exact toys for their first birthdays: the stand n play music table and the learn n play dog. We just keep recycling them. What can we say? The kids don't know their getting Brooke's hand me downs and they're still in great shape!

The kids (and the cat) had a picnic outside during the party.

Grant got some new outfits from Nonna and Grams.

Not really sure what to think of his cake:

Still doing the scowl face at one year:

Grant, you are such a delight to our family! We love your sweet spirit you bring and calm personality. You are so happy and friendly to everyone. You love to wave hello, and play games. Your favorite game is to throw a toy on the hardwood toy and then crawl after it, grab it, throw it again, and keep chasing. You also like to crawl to the top of the stairs in the kitchen and throw things down to the basement. We know you're finished with your meal when you start throwing your food on the ground.

At one year old:
Has two bottom teeth
still army crawling, but is super fast at it
can crawl up and down the stairs without help
loves to stand up
favorite foods are bread and milk from his sippy cup
Is 30 inches tall and weighs only 17.10 lbs.

We love you Grant and can't wait to see what your future holds. Thank you for coming to our family!