Is It Naptime Yet

Tonight we went to the Springs Preserve for their Haunted Harvest festival. They had decorated it with lights and different scary things. There were scarecrows all around for a contest and we visited different areas of the preserve to get candy for the kids.

The girls seemed to really enjoy it and we might have spent more time had we gotten out of the house sooner. (I tried to have dinner ready early, but it wasn’t finished early enough to have Eden have plenty of time to not eat it. She didn’t get to go trick or treating, instead Lilah just got her candy, but it all goes into the same bucket, so really it’s not a big deal. She hasn’t been eating many of her dinner meals lately, so I’ve been frustrated with her a little. )

I forgot my camera, otherwise I would have taken pictures of some of the scarecrows and Lilah dancing.

We also had a couple young children, like two or three, be weary of the girls in their ghost costume make-up. They just stared at them, or walked very far around them.  We thought it was kinda funny that our girls were ghouls, were as all the other girls were something nice, like fairies and princesses, nothing against those, just funny that ours are such the opposite.   I bought some glitter make-up to put on them, but the white and black make-up doesn’t dry and the glitter make-up doesn’t work on it, it’s kinda like crayons and they just don’t write on the wet make-up. I wanted to make them more pretty ghosts, but I still think they’re cute. I guess they’re my scary ghosts.

After going to the Springs Preserve we quickly visited Jon’s parents so they could see the girls in their costumes.

Two parties down, two to go.

Last night we went to our first Halloween party of the season, we have four total. It was for my sister Carolyn’s work. The parties are for families, and since she has no kids, and even when she does I hope she continues to invite us, she invites us to be her family.

My girls love Carolyn’s work, though you wouldn’t know it by the expressions on their faces. Whenever we go, even on regular days, they’re so excited to see Carolyn. People at Carolyn’s work love my girls and sometimes I wish my girls were as excited as the people who see them are.  Lilah has become more outgoing, but Eden has become more reserved.

Anyways, as I was checking the time and trying to figure out when we needed to leave I realized I hadn’t called animal control on the cat we had caught the night before. I called, but they were not coming as quickly as I needed them too, so Jon had to come home, rather than stay on campus and study, so we could head out to the party. Since I wanted to be ready as soon as possible, in case animal control came quickly, the girls sat in their costumes and make-up for around an hour and a half. I had PBS kids on in hopes they wouldn’t touch their faces too much, and they did a pretty good job.  (I was going to go to JoAnn’s before the party, but we had to go after.)

Jon got home so we gave quick hugs and left. (Animal control came around 7, I think we were probably a last stop back to the office since we’re close by it, so it was a good thing Jon came home.)

We got to the party and ate. I had the girls on an empty desk which had a wall behind it, and many people commented on how cute they were, and some even said they thought they were apart of the decorations since they were siting so nice and still.

We went trick or treating to each office and the girls even went into a haunted office. Eden was holding my hand very tightly. A witch that had been going around, who scared and made almost every child cry who was under the age of 5 except my girls, was in the office. There were a lot of witch cackles, which made Eden nervous, but they did well and made it out OK. It was “just the right amount of scary” Lilah said,  according to my sister Carolyn’s blog.

Carolyn’s boss, Tim, was dressed up and sitting in one of their rooms to scare the kids. He gently got Lilah and mostly just hugged and gave her a few kisses, I think she was only slightly scared, but we told her it was Tim, so she seemed OK with it. When I took a picture of him with the girls, Eden was definitely not enjoying sitting on his lap, and even when he took the pantyhose off his head she was weary of him, though Eden’s pretty much weary of everyone lately.

It was lots of fun and the girls were pretty happy with their loot.

Lilah with her hair braided to crimp it.

My scary ghosts.

The girls with Tim. He was scarier with the lights out, which they were but I have a good flash.

The loot.

Last week was my niece Zarina’s first birthday.

She was asleep when we called to have the girls sing happy birthday, so we made a little video of them instead and e-mailed it to my sister.

Just for fun, and because I don’t have much more to blog about, here’s them singing.

Enjoy, and happy belated birthday Zarina!

So, I actually forgot to make Eden’s video for her birthday. (I think it was lost in my mind somewhere.) So, today I made the video celebrating her first three years of life, though half of it is pictures from her first year. (She was such a a cute baby.)

Since I’ve made a few of these some of the pictures will be duplicates, but what can you say, if it’s a cute picture it’s a cute picture.
And the song is the same one I used for Lilah’s, but I love it too much and have not found another song that I like better.

Eden watched the video twice tonight and enjoyed it. I’m just happy she’s young enough to not care that it’s a little late.

I’ll post events and pictures from the birthday celebrations later.

On Sunday Lilah saw a flyer and asked what is was for. I told her it was for the Stake Fourth of July breakfast and she said she just had to go. I told her it started before she got up and that she’d have to wake up really early. She said I could wake her up.  So we went, even though I wasn’t planning on going. (She even would ask me during the week what day it was. Then on Friday she woke up by herself and was so impressed with herself. )

Some old friends were in town from Texas so it was fun to see them at the breakfast. Other than that the line was  pretty long for food and the girls only ate part of their plates of food. It was a beautiful morning and didn’t get too hot until we left.

We hung out at home for most of the day and then had a birthday party to attend for my niece Katy. Eden did not take a nap because she was too excited for the party.

There was swimming at the party, but the pool was pretty cold since the sun was low in the sky. Lilah had fun floating around and Eden had fun putting cold water on Mommy. Luckily there was a big step  for Eden to play in so I didn’t have to go in.

After cake, ice cream, and hitting the pinata we headed over to my parents house to enjoy fireworks.

The girls did OK for the most part. They sat on laps with their ears covered for a period of time, then they sat in Carolyn’s car and Lilah went inside for the last 15 minutes or so, until sparklers. Lilah really enjoyed the sparklers since they didn’t make any noise. She was weary at first, but once she realized they wouldn’t hurt her she did well and could hardly wait for them to be lit for her once one was finished.
We saw a lot if aerial/ illegal fireworks on the way up to my parents and while we were there. We also had a good view of the Henderson City Hall, which launched fireworks off the top of the building.

It was a fun night and we got home around 11 pm. (Jon came home after the party to make sure our house didn’t burn down from aerial/illegal fireworks going off in the neighborhood. I’m happy to say our house did not catch fire.)

Saturday we went and saw WALL-E. We all enjoyed the movie thoroughly and Jon said that Pixar’s created a robot more lovable than R2 D2. It really has a great message and is wonderful. I almost cried at one part. Pixar is able to do that to me though. (Sometimes I cry during Cars too. )

Lilah had her hands over her ears for the first half hour or so of the movie until she realized it wasn’t too loud. Eden had her hands over her ears for the most part, though she would relax and remove them for short periods during the movie.

My children are very strange when it comes to loud noises. At least they don’t cover their ears with our own toilet anymore.

I’ve figured out a way to get Google video to work so now I have the four videos I’ve wanted to post for your viewing pleasure.

The first is the piñata hitting– order of the kids: Lilah, Britta, Aurora, Eden, Aaron, Isaak, Katy, Howie, Adrienne and Howie again.  Side note: At the end Eden is the child under the table and she always laughs about being under the table.

The second is the of singing Happy Birthday to Lilah.

The third is of Lilah kicking around the pool and other people in the pool.

The fourth is the video I made to celebrate Lilah’s birthday.

Father’s day was a bit of a bust. I was so preoccupied with the party and the lesson that I had to give on Sunday that I didn’t have the girls make anything for Jon and I didn’t make breakfast because lets face it, I don’t get up any earlier than I have to and I was very tired from the previous day.  Lucky for me Jon has very low expectations, I think I keep them low by not doing anything, and he thinks Father’s Day is a manufactured day of appreciation anyways, even though he always does something for me for Mother’s Day and I like it that way.

Anyways. Sunday while at church our organist, and also first counselor on the Relief Society, came up to us to get Jon’s name and tell him how wonderful of a dad he is. She said how she’s watched him from the stand and is always impressed with how he treats our girls.

This isn’t the first time someone on the stand has noticed him. I remember one week he had carried in both girls to Sacrament and the chorister thought it was so cute that he was carrying the girls and also mentioned how he is always so loving towards the girls. The organist in our old ward also loved to watch the girls and said Jon was always so good with them.

Jon is a great dad and I appreciate all the love he gives our girls and patience he has with them and myself.

Happy Belated Father’s Day my love.

This is going to be the birthday post for May. Jon and I both had our birthdays so here’s what we did.

Jon didn’t like my idea of bowling so we went to the Springs Preserve for his birthday. Lilah had gone earlier in the week with Britta so she was a pro at showing us around.

 

Getting ready to hit the road.

 

Posing for a picture in the “canyons”.

The lizards were fascinating.

Jon was looking at Eden for this shot and Lilah was looking at me.

 

Jon likes stopping and moving the stone.

I’m tired of walking.

I’m happy to walk.

In the garden demonstration area.

Playing with the oranges in the trash place. (This was Lilah’s favorite and we didn’t find it until on our way back from the gardens. It was about recycling and energy use.)

We spent most of the day at the Springs Preserve and the girls and I got Jon’s cake in the oven after we came home.

Lilah choose the blue sprinkles and Eden choose the orange.

Happy Birthday Honey!

For my birthday we went bowling. They didn’t have a shoe for Eden in her size, the smallest size they had for children was 9 and Eden wears a 6 1/2. Eden started crying and the nice attendant let us use a size 9 on Eden free of charge. She did wear them even though I was sure she was going to trip and fall a few times, but she always caught herself.

The battery went low after I caught these few shoots.

 Lilah had a blast.

Even before we left she was talking about how much she was gonna love bowling.

I don’t remember the scores but Eden and Jon actually got a strike and I’m pretty sure Eden’s score was higher than mine and Jon’s was the highest.

After bowling Jon and the girls baked my cake and I took a nap.

Then for dinner I picked us up a pizza, that’s what’s on Lilah’s face.

It was a fun birthday.

The end of April is when the season of Birthday’s begins for our family.

We have a lot of birthdays in May, June and July. At least for the family we keep in touch with. (Since there are 21 grand children on Jon’s side I have no idea when any of them are because we don’t keep close tabs on most of them, though I’m sure I could get the list of birthday’s from his mom. I also only know 3 of his siblings birthdays. Dara and Jason’s, whom we keep close contact with and his brother Conrad’s, but only because it’s the day after Eden’s and the day I wish I had Eden because it’s the same day as mine, just a different month, and I use to always say the wrong day for Eden’s, though I think after nearly 3 years I’ve gotten her birthday through my head. I know this is all pretty vague, but this is the internet after all.)

Then there are some in the Fall, but now are the ones I worry about.

Jon turns 33 at the beginning of May. He’s getting so old.

I’m turning 25 at the end of May. (I’m getting old because I feel like I should only be 22 or 23.)

Lilah turns 5 in June. FIVE. I’m going to be the mother of a school aged child. Yikes!

Eden turns 3 in July. So my next child will be at least 3 1/2 years younger than their closest sibling. That’s such a big age gap, and it’s only getting bigger since I like to have children in the Spring or Summer months so they’re more likely to be nearly four years younger than Eden, if not more. Plus the thought of packing away the crib next year when Lilah gets the top bunk and Eden moves to the bottom is so exciting to me that it almost overrides any desire for another child.

We also have other family members in there. My mom’s, MIL, FIL, BIL’s, a sister, SIL, and a niece, though I’m sure there are more.

Plus some friends.

This year I’m going to give Lilah her first friend party. We’ve always done family parties, and the kids in her class have done friend parties so I’m going to venture and try to entertain about six 4 year olds for 2 hours, plus some older cousins. Though it may be a swimming party and the mom’s will have to be there with their kids rather than just dropping them off. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, but I should get started on my plans soon.

So lets get this cake season started.

Friday the 21st.

The girls loved dying eggs at Grandma Harvey’s house. Unfortunately I was the only one there so I only got the following two pictures.

Eden patiently waiting to begin dying eggs.

I was patient and let Lilah handle getting eggs out of the cups.

After dying eggs we were off to Aunt Carolyn’s work for their Easter Party.

They decorated cupcakes and made bunny ears plus had an egg hunt.

Eden

Lilah

Sunday the 23rd- Easter Morning

I had the gate up so the girls would come into our room to get us up and so I could get pictures.

Coming out Easter morning.

Yes that is Eden’s hair sticking up in the back. I think she could be a who from Dr. Suess.

Checking out the merchandise.

What they saw. (Hello Kitty was my accidental theme.)

Here’s a short video of their reactions.

The sunglasses.

Jon took some pictures before church, but while they were watching TV.

They turned and gave him the same smile at the exact moment.

After Church

Waiting to get started on our backyard egg hunt.

Let the fun begin!

(Please ignore the messy backyard in the following pictures and video.)

I told them they could find 8 eggs each, in which I had miss counted and they could find 9 eggs each.

Another video.

The final kill.

Later that day.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Harvey’s for another egg hunt with some of the cousins and to have dinner.

Eden finding a real egg.

Katy and Lilah hunting for eggs.

Katy, Eden, Lilah, Adrienne, and Howie.