Happy Halloween!

Whew, what a week so far! We started our Halloween festivities on Monday night with cookie decorating and pumpkin carving. Benson and Sabrina loved the pumpkin but Grace was terrified. She was really afraid of our jack-o-lantern last year but I thought it was just because she was so little, but nope, she's terrified of carved pumpkins. Which is so hysterical because she is not afraid of ANYTHING else. But I guess we all are afraid of something.

Sabrina thought the pumpkin looked tasty

Grace thought the cookies looked tasty

Daddy DID NOT think the pumpkin guts looked tasty

The finished product (not sure why they were all shirtless at this point...)

Then Tuesday night we went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. The kids did the Cupcake Walk, Donut-on-a-String, Grace did the Jupiter Jump, and of course they trunk-or-treated.

Benson enjoying his donut

Eating cupcakes

Helping hand out candy at Trunk-or-Treat

Sabrina was actually at Trunk-or-Treat but she has been quite sick the past few days and miserable, so she really wasn't in a picture taking kind of mood.

Tonight we went to my Aunt Julie and Uncle Ryan's house for an Elder's Quorum barbeque and then we went trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. Their neighborhood is actually where my family lived when I was in high school and it is CRAZY on Halloween night. There are cars parked on all the streets in both directions and tons of kids. Half the town must come over to Colonial to trick-or-treat. Anyways, the kids had lots of fun and really got into it. They would run up to every door and they loved saying trick-or-treat! As soon as Ben would get his candy he'd say "Ok, let's go to the next house." Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sarah came with us which made it easy to carry them from house to house when they started to get cold. We left Sabrina at home since she is still not feeling well and it was pretty cold and windy. By the way, Benson was Peter Pan, Grace was Tinkerbell, and Sabrina was supposed to be Michael. Benson got asked if he was Robin Hood a lot. My mom and I made Benson's costume and I think it turned out pretty good for basically my first sewing project ever. Anyways, Happy Halloween!

All dressed up!

The kiddos with Grandma Stacey

Grace running away screaming from the Jack-O-Lantern

Practicing at Grandma's house

They know the drill

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT KATHLEEN!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Mike's 27th Birthday. We went to the pumpkin patch and then to a park for a picnic. I was kind of bummed because the weather was not nearly as nice yesterday - very windy and a little too warm for my taste, but we made the best of it. The kids enjoyed the pumpkin patch for the most part, although Benson found the only mud puddle on the entire farm and jumped in it with both feet. Mike literally had to pull him out because his shoes got stuck. But we found a pumpkin and Benson got to go on another pony ride (Grace was being shy so she wouldn't ride the pony). Then my Aunt Julie watched the kids last night so Mike and I could go out to dinner, which we really appreciated. I think it was a pretty good day. I am so grateful for Mike and all that he does for me and for our children. He is a wonderful husband and father and works so hard to meet our needs. We love you Daddy!

You would think we could get 1 kid to look at the camera...
Well we got 1...sort of...

Benson sitting on a pumpkin (I think we promised him candy if he would look at us)
We went to the pumpkin patch with 3 kids and
left with a giant pumpkin with 3 faces

Daddy feeding Sabrina cake (he even shares his birthday cake, what a dad!)

Happy Birthday!

Outdoors Unlimited...

We finally got some good pictures and videos of the kids playing outside.

Benson wouldn't ever look at the camera, so this is the best picture I got of him

Benson and Grace both like to push Sabrina in her stroller

On your mark, get set, go!

Gracie LOVES her bike

Exciting week

It's always amazing to me that some weeks are so uneventful and others are so full you have a hard time remembering what's happened. This week was a very full one at our house. On Tuesday the kids and I went to Tulsa to look at a rental house in Broken Arrow. No decisions yet, but it has possibilities. On Wednesday my family left to go to Moab for Fall Break and we had the biggest storm since we moved to Oklahoma. It was a little scary for all of us. Mike wasn't home from work yet and it was pouring rain, the wind was really blowing, lots of lightning and thunder, and there was even some hail for about 10 minutes. Then the power went out. It went out at 7:30pm and didn't come back on until 9:30pm. I was so glad that I had called my dad earlier in the day to ask him where the flashlights were and that I had been carrying one around with me when the storm got bad. I don't know how I would have gotten to a flashlight in a pitch black house with 3 scared little kids. Anyways, Mike got home shortly after the power went out and we found some candles and put the kids to bed.

Mike reading Benson and Grace a story with the help of a flashlight (it looks like there was a light on because of the flash, but there really wasn't).

On Thursday the kids and I again went to Tulsa with my Aunt Julie and cousin Jackson. We went to the Aquarium and Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids had a BLAST! They got to feed some sting rays at the aquarium and loved checking out all the different fish. Benson's favorite was the baby snapping turtles. Sabrina enjoyed pushing the big double stroller all over the aquarium. Mike came and met us at Chuck E. Cheese's and when he walked up none of the kids would acknowledge his presence. They were too distracted by everything that was going on around them. It was a very exciting day! On Friday we played outside a lot of the day because the weather was so beautiful. If only it was like that every day. Mike's birthday was on Saturday, but I think I'll do another post for everything we did for his birthday. Here are some pictures from the aquarium.

Benson and Grace helping to put shrimp on the stick to feed the sting rays.

Grace feeding the sting rays (sorry, I know our camera is bad)

Sabrina pushing around the double stroller

Benson and a baby snapping turtle

Jackson, Benson, and Grace in front of some jellyfish

Tulsa State Fair

This post is a little late, but better late than never. A week ago Friday the kids and I went down to Tulsa and met Mike after work to go to the Tulsa State Fair. Kids 5 and under are free and Mike got some free tickets from some customers, so we figured it would be cheap entertainment. They have a huge petting zoo there with all sorts of crazy animals - a giraffe, a zebra, camels, water buffaloes, emus, great danes (I know, weird), plus the normal petting zoo animals like goats, sheep, rabbits, pigs, etc. Benson and Grace LOVED it! We bought a little paper cup full of animal feed and we would put the food on these little plastic shovels that were tied to the cages and the kids would feed the animals. I actually stayed outside the petting zoo area with Sabrina, because let's be honest petting zoo's sick me out, but I could hear Ben and Grace laughing and shrieking with glee so I had to go see what all the fuss was about. They had such a good time and they were both really upset when we had to go. As we were leaving the petting zoo there was a tent set up where they were giving pony rides, so Benson and Grace got to go on their first pony ride. They also really loved that too, they were both all smiles the whole time.

Grace feeding a donkey

Ben and Grace with a goat

Benson enjoying the pony ride

In other news, our baby isn't a baby anymore. Sabrina is standing up by herself a lot and for greater amounts of time every day, and she will take a step before she falls. We went to the duck pond again the other night and she is no longer happy to sit in her stroller, she has to push it. She walked probably 1/4 of the way around the pond and then back to the car pushing her stroller. We think she will be walking very soon. We see more of her little personality all the time and it's so fun to watch them learn new things.

Ponytails, Bicycles, and Turtles

After almost 11 months, Sabrina finally has enough hair to do a teeny little ponytail on top. For those of you who know me well, you know I'm very excited at the prospect of fixing another head of hair. Grace had enough hair for a ponytail at 6 months, but Sabrina has considerably less hair than Grace did, so I've been anxiously awaiting this moment. I can also get a barrett in, although it usually falls out pretty quickly. Last Friday, Sabrina got a hold of her barrett and was sticking it in her mouth and ended up swallowing it. We were a little concerned about it getting stuck in her throat, but it came through just fine (I know, TMI). So, we're being extra cautious with barretts now. Here's a few pictures of her 1st ponytail. :)





A few weeks ago my mom bought Benson a little tricycle since the poor kid has never had a bike (apartment living doesn't really go with bicycles). Anyways, the next day it became apparent that 1 tricycle was only going to cause contention so she went and bought one for Grace too. Benson has learned how to pedal, but we can't get him to put his feet down and push when he gets stuck. Grace on the other hand can't reach the pedals so she only uses her feet...and she is FAST! She loves her bike and she especially loves going to the top of the neighbor's driveway which is a small hill and lifting her feet up as she zooms down. The girl has no fear. She has wiped out several times and just climbs back on with almost no tears. I'll post some video of her with her bike soon.
On Monday we went turtle hunting in the backyard and found the best turtle. It barely went in its shell the whole time the kids were playing with it. Benson loved his friend the turtle. First he tried to feed it acorns, but the turtle didn't like those. Then he asked me what turtles like to eat and I told him vegetables. So he kept asking me to go get some vegetables because the turtle was hungry. I also caught him trying to give the turtle a kiss...on the lips. I told him that #1 turtles can bite and #2 turtles are dirty so he shouldn't be trying to kiss them. So then he asked if the turtle wanted to take a long bath so he wouldn't be dirty anymore (Benson loves to take long baths) and I said that I didn't think the turtle would like a long bath. Ben then informed me that his friend the turtle wanted to take a medium bath. Oh, the logic of a 3 year old. Needless to say, Benson mauled the turtle (I didn't know it was possible to maul a turtle) until lunch time when I made him set his friend the turtle free. Reason #456 that we will never have a pet - it would die from too much attention.