Halloween

Usually I can't wait for Halloween to pass so I can start listening to Christmas music, but this year I had so much fun planning and putting together our costumes that I almost didn't want it to end! I hope I still have this much fun when my kids start having an opinion about what they wear. :-)

First, I'd like to introduce you to our little ladybug. Precious? I think so.

Next is our sheriff. He rules the town around these parts.

And finally I'd like you to meet Dr. Gregory House and Dr. Lisa Cuddy.

Our Halloween fun began Friday morning with a neighborhood party. We paraded around the block, made googly eyed pumpkins, and decorated scary Halloween cookies.

That afternoon we visited my office where cubicle world had been transformed into a spider's lair. I knew it was going to be a long evening when both Logan and Savannah hit a sugar high at 2:00.

On Saturday, we got an early start trick or treating in our neighborhood. To help speed things up, we loaded the kids in the wagon between houses.

Savannah didn't have any trouble picking up on the concept of trick or treating. Look cute... pick candy... put in bag... repeat. Logan was very polite and did great minus one small instance of "Trick or treat, smell my feet...". Now who taught him that? (Grandma.)

All in all, it was a great holiday and I can't wait to do it all again next year.

Hallow-bean

I really wanted to do something fun and Halloween-y for FHE on Monday. Thanks to some great suggestions via Facebook (maybe that site does have some value, after all), we decided to go to the Bean Museum for their Halloween Family Night. This was Logan and Savannah's first trip to the Bean Museum, and Jeff and I hadn't been in years. Other than the costumed kids and some scattered cobwebs, it was exactly as I remembered.

One of the Halloween activities was "spooky crafts." Jeff and I each took a wing, which explains why Logan's bat is a little lopsided. The real mystery of the night is why you would give kids a bag full of candy in a museum with a "no food" policy.

Savannah and Logan watched a really boring movie about elephants for 10 minutes. We had to drag them away kicking and screaming to go do the other activities. I think the next time I need some peace and quiet I'll just turn on the Discovery Channel.

We ran into some friends from our ward and all went to the "scary animals show." The whole show was narrated by a skull (i.e. the guy in the back of the room with a flashlight reading a script while another guy in front carried the skull from place to place). I didn't know whether I was more amused by the kids reactions or by the phantom reader's overzealous enthusiasm.

A good measure of a quality kids activity is how tired it makes them. This one scored pretty high.

First day of winter

As I walked out of my office for lunch yesterday, big, fat snowflakes fell from the sky. One of my co-workers shouted, "Hooray!" A little girl on the sidewalk scooped up handfuls of snow in excitement. Others smiled, some laughed, and one cheered.

I cried.

Yesterday marked the first day of winter. (Winter: the period of time from the first snowfall until the last snowfall.) It usually lasts about seven months. Last year it was eight. Let me explain to you why I dread the next 7-8 months.

It will be seven months before I:

• can walk outside without a jacket.
• can get in my car without shivering for the first 10 minutes.
• won't have to wake up early just in case I need to shovel my driveway.
• can sleep without socks on.
• can drive around town without facing weather-related traffic and slippery roads.
• can be outside for more than 5 minutes without my nose turning bright red.
• won't be paranoid about bringing the flu epidemic into our home.
• can wear flip flops.
• can spend lazy afternoons reading in my backyard hammock.

I could go on, but this is getting rather depressing. Luckily, my FAVORITE holiday of the year is less than 2 months away, so at least the early part of winter will be bearable. But once January hits, I will spend my days staring at pictures like this and wishing for 90 degree days.

Help!

I need some pictures of the kids to put alongside our family picture, but I can't narrow it down! Please vote to help me pick which ones I should enlarge for our "family wall."

Here are Savannah's options:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

And here are Logan's options:

1.

2.

3.

Help! As both the mother and the photographer, I am too biased to pick. Comment and let me know which ones you like best.

Saying goodbye

Before I married Jeff, grandparents were unknown territory to me. I never knew most of my grandparents, and by the time I was 16 none were living. You can imagine my surprise when with a short wedding vow I inherited not one or two, but seven grandparents! I have loved having these grandmas and grandpas in my life and have learned to appreciate the wealth of knowledge and advice they have to offer.

Last week, however, we said goodbye to Grandpa Skousen. He was Jeff's great-grandfather, and at 93 years old, his passing wasn't entirely unexpected. At our family reunion over the summer, we made a special point to take a picture with him. This is only a third of his posterity! There are five generations represented in this picture; Jeff is part of generation four and our children are generation five.

I am honored to be part of such a great legacy and know that Grandpa is joyfully working on the other side of the veil.

My to-do list

• Make dinner.
• Start the laundry.
• Finish rounding up supplies for Super Saturday THIS WEEKEND! (ahhhhhhhh!!!)
• Fix Logan's Halloween costume that is three sizes too big.
• Find a long sleeve black shirt to go under Savannah's costume because Halloween in Utah is FREEZING.
• Catch up at work. (Ha.)
• Catch up on editing photos. (Double ha.)
• Pick up Super Saturday kits from Syracuse... 3 hour round trip. With two toddlers. Bring it on.
  
• Order soup from Kneaders (yum!) for Super Saturday.
• Find frames for our family pictures that I can't wait to get on the wall.
• Find a shelf to put family picture frames on.
  
• Mop.
• Prepare my Relief Society lesson for next Sunday.
• Watch my new favorite TV show. (Glee.)

...

• Wish that it were Christmas already. (Check.)
  

$5 haircuts

My sister is attending Renaissance Acadamie of Hair Design in Provo (227 W 1230 N) and they are running a special for $5 haircuts or 50% off any color service (which I think start around $25). It's a great deal and it helps her out, so if you aren't partial to a particular stylist I'd recommend giving it a try. It's also a great way to get cheap kids' or men's cuts. Originally you had to have a coupon, but when I suggested I advertise it on my blog, my sister's teacher complimented her on her creativity and said you could just mention you saw it here. Be sure to mention my sister's name (Paige Mackay) so she can get credit for it. (She doesn't have to be the one to do the actual cut.)

Thanks friends!

16 months ... going on 25

Savannah is now 16 months and very much a little lady. She already has a shoe fetish. She is always bringing me shoes to put on her feet, and the other day I found her tramping around the house in my slippers. You would think it would be her curly blond hair and blue eyes that capture attention in crowds, but in reality it's her piercing scream. We've been told by numerous strangers that she has operatic potential with lungs as strong as hers.

Savannah walks like a champ and is quite the climber. She has found that she can push toys against her window seat and use them as makeshift steps to climb up. She also loves climbing up on the fireplace and singing songs in her own language. Technically, her first word was "uh-oh," but "no" has become so dominant in her vocabulary that we are hardly aware of anything else she says. In fact, "no" has many meanings depending on the inflection, and has even occasionally been translated as "yes." Despite her demanding nature, we love Savannah to pieces and are enjoying watching her turn into a charming little girl.

These are actually Svannah's 15 month stats. I started this post a month ago and have to keep updating it because she is changing too quickly! I figure I'd better hurry and post it before I have to rewrite it yet again.

Weight: 21 lbs 11 oz (32%)
Height: 31 inches (72%)
Head: 19 inches (95%)

I just had to post a sample of Savannah's amazing bedhead. It makes me smile every morning. Thank goodness for detangler.

Family time

Family pictures are usually an event which, in an attempt to document a happy and loving family, leave everyone feeling grouchy, hungry and tired. Husbands grit their teeth through the whole thing, wives are frantic trying to get everyone to look and smile at the same time (often forgetting to smile themselves), and kids are too busy doing everything BUT smiling, even amidst a slough of bribes. I have witnessed enough of such families to know that if I wanted to have a prayer of getting a good picture of OUR family, I had to relax, release, and remember that we are already a happy family so this should come naturally.

And the crazy thing? It worked! Mostly thanks to the talents of our friends Dan and Carrie, who flatter me by thinking if I take their family pictures next month this will be a fair trade. They did such a great job and the pictures turned out EXACTLY as I had hoped. I'm sure I will add to this post later, but here are two of my "favorite favorites" (as Logan would say).

I also took a couple of the kids prior to meeting up with Dan and Carrie to make sure I liked their outfits on film.

Out of the mouths of babes

My family makes me laugh. That's just one of the reasons I love them so much. Logan makes me laugh most of all. Are you ready? Here comes some chuckles.

While I was straightening my hair with my flat iron, Logan said, "Mom, the alligator is eating your hair!"

The other night Jeff asked Logan to take me a piece of paper. He instructed Logan to tell me, "Merry Christmas," when he gave it to me. Logan, ever the obedient child, walked straight over to me, handed me the paper, and said, "Merry Christmas! It's for when you get married."

We've been trying to teach Savannah to talk. Whenever she whines for food, I try to get her to say "please" instead. One day as I was working with Savannah to get her to say, "please," Logan looked over at me and in stoic seriousness said, "Nana can't talk. Her says, "Oh, I can't say please because I can't talk so I just say 'uh, uh, uh.'"

I'm impressed. If Savannah can say all that, surely she can say, "please!"

This week for family home evening the lesson was on Moroni and the Gold Plates. One of the visual aids in the lesson was a picture of the gold Angel Moroni that is found on top of temples. Logan loves temples and has often asked about the Angel Moroni when we drive by a temple. When he saw the picture, he recognized the angel from the temples and grabbed it from me. Then, using his best Angel Moroni voice, said, "Oh, Jesus, wait for me! I'm stuck here on the temple! Wait for me, Jesus!"