Halloween 2009

We had a fun Halloween this year. We were able to go pumpkin picking with Grandma and Papa and Uncle Jeb and Auntie Jen. It has become a tradition, which we love. Then the kids and I went to Florida and were able to go to Sea World with Auntie Heather, Zack and Ashley. They had a Halloween celebration. The kids wore their costumes (well, Kai refused to wear his), and went around the park getting candy. It was lots of fun. Then on Halloween I took the kids to Walmart to do a little trick-or-treating, then we had our wards trunk-or-treat, then around the neighborhood to a few houses. The kids had a fun holiday! Here are some pictures.

A quick family picture by the tractor. Kai is in the stage that he doesn't like to take pictures.

This was supposed to be just the grandparents with the grandkids, but again Kai didn't want to be in it, so Nathan had to sit in.

That is Nathan's new school in the background.

Gabi found her pumpkin!

Grandma helped Gabi around the find a good pumpkin.

Kai got a fun ride back to the front of the pumpkin patch.


Koa enjoying his first pumpkin patch.

Cute Auntie Jen and our adorable neice, Hannah.

Kai just ran and ran around the pumpkin field. Grandma was nice to follow him around.

Kai slowing down to check out the pumpkins.

Gabi showing off our pumpkin stash once we got home. There is one for each of us.

Next, is our Sea World adventure.

Since Kai would not take any pictures with the characters, I had to do more candid pictures of him.

The three of us with some of the characters.

Gabi with the witches.

Gabi, Ashley and Zack with one of the princesses.

It is hard to see, but the kids were chasing bubbles.

More bubbles. This was a cute maze to help find Abby's wand.

Gabi with Abby

Kai was checking out the candy he got.

Trick-or-treat! The kids got candy, markers, pretzels, peanut butter. They did pretty good!

Kai surfing on Shamu's back.

All four cousins together: Gabi, Zack, Kai and Ashley.

These characters on stilts were fun. Here is Gabi and Ashley.

Another candid shot of Kai. He really liked these pumpkins.

These star fish were cute. They were dancing around.

Now, on to trunk-or-treating with our ward.

Trying to pick out the best candy.

We were happy to have Uncle Michael with us. The kids all love him!

All three kids. We even put a basket with Koa and people were putting candy in it. We later used it at our car when we ran out of candy. :)

Auntie Jen and Hannah were there with us also. So cute!

Can you guess what Hannah was? Casper the Friendly Ghost! :)

Our happy puppy dog, Koa.

Another happy picture with Michael.

While trunk-or-treating, one of the cars gave Koa this package of dried fruit! Score!

Kai was really good to stay in the stroller, but really liked saying Trick-or-Treat and getting his candy.

Koa and Hannah together. Koa is just four months older than Hannah. She is so nice and petite! Koa will always be the bigger and protective cousin!

Daddy and Kai.

After Gabi and Kai went around they had fun handing out candy.

Koa giving Hannah a horse ride. :)

Gabi and Kai out door to door trick-or-treating. At this house they just had a bowl out for the kids to take a candy. I think Kai took 2-3. :)

Gabi's Halloween School Performance.

Gabi's class had a cute 10 minute performance for the parents.

Gabi was not at school for about a week and a half leading up to this performance because of our trip to Florida. She did very good remembering most of the songs. Even the song she had never heard, she did pretty good!

This was the end part of Gabi's favorite song.

Gabi Reading

I have tried for the last month to get these uploaded. I kept getting errors each time. Luckily, it worked tonight. Our little girl is growing up so fast. This summer she learned to read. And not simple books. She is a great reader...and is only 4! She is a bright little girl!

This is the Dr. Seuss' book 'I Don't Want to be a Bunny." We came home from the library and she read the entire book to me. That is when I realized she really was reading.

This is Gabi reading a book that Rachel and Jason gave Kai for his birthday. It is one of the kids' favorite books.

Gabi started her second year of preschool. We switched her to the neighborhood school because it was more days a week and for longer hours. Plus, it is at the end of our court, so I can just pack the boys in the stroller and we are there within 2 minutes. Thanks to Rachel, I am able to go in about once a month to help out in her class. She has had fun meeting new friends. Here are a couple videos and pictures from the last month.

This was actually the day before school started. The teacher had a day where they come to make crafts and things and meet the teacher. The theme of the classroom this year is the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Here Gabi made her snack...a palm tree out of graham crackers, apples and grapes.

This is their place mat. They got to use water color paints and paint it and then the teacher laminated them, and that is what they use each day for snack time. Cute idea!

Gabi asked me to take this picture. They have a kid sized bathroom. Everything is on their level. How fun for them!

In front of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.

Everyday the kids get to pick two centers that they want to play at. You can bet every day Gabi is at the play house. She loves it!

This is Gabi and her good friend Joseph from church. We also do play groups with him once a week. It was nice that she got to start a new school with a friend.

This was from the first day of school.

Gabi sporting her new glasses for this year. This year we went with plastic frames...maybe they won't get bent up as fast. We will see! I think these ones are adorable on her! She has two pairs, brown and purple.

Gabi's first day of school interview. Turn your head to see it properly. :)

This was Gabi's first homework assignment. They have been talking about disguises. They were to take a pumpkin and make it into something (really just cover it with a disguise). From the start Gabi had been telling me she wanted to do a flower. We forgot about it all weekend and this morning two hours before school mommy found the paper saying it was due today. So, we quickly came up with this. I did the cutting, Gabi did all the glueing, and did a lot of the green stem. It was a fun project for us to do together.

Here is a video of Gabi explaining her project. I can't figure out how to rotate it, so for now tilt your head to the side. :)

I had to sneak a picture of Kai in there. He has been pretty mellow during the day when Gabi is at school. Maybe now he will start talking since Gabi isn't home to talk for him. :)

Updated kids and cousins

Just a quick post to show you how big the kids have grown this summer.

We have gone each week with Brayden and Auntie Rachel to a different splash park and park. Here are the three cousins together on the slide. A minute before Kai was pushing Brayden down the slide. This was about as good as we got!

We have been up a few times to see baby Hannah at Grandma and Papa's house. Hannah will be 2 months old next week. Koa will be 6 months. He has her by quite a bit! :) We try to do these cousin shots each time we are up there. Kai had to be bribed with candy to sit there.

Good, Better, Best

Good, Better, Best

Never let it Rest,

Until your Good is Better,

And your Better is Best.

This year's project on the house occurred in the kitchen. These were projects that we knew we would have to tackle when we moved in two years ago, and have finally gotten to them.

The people we bought this home from had two huge dogs, thus the doggy door. We do not have dogs anymore, so we did not need the door. All it did was let in the cold air in the winter.

Good:We got a new door, without the doggy door. Otherwise it is pretty much the same door, except the blinds are inside the door. We still need to paint the door.

Whoever thought white linolium was a good idea did not have kids! I had to mop the floor at least every other day, and still it did not come clean. I eventually tried a magic eraser and that would work, but there is no way I'm getting on my hands and knees to clean the floor several times a week.

Better:

To replace the floors, we went with Pergo laminate floors. So far, they have been much easier to clean, and they are NOT white! Even better!

The last poorly designed aspect of our kitchen was white countertops. It had stains from Hawaiian Punch, scratches, etc.

Best:
We changed the countertops to quartz. They look like granite, but they are easier to take care of. They don't need to be sealed, they don't chip, stain, etc.

Here is an up close view of the countertops. Nathan and I are going to attempt to put in our own backsplash eventually. We are thinking the glass mosaic tiles. These are the same ones that are in our bathroom. That will be another post!

Just a few pics to catch up...

Koa is very rapidly getting big. He turns 4 months old today, and I think he is around 15 pounds. He is wearing 6-9 month clothes. That is a big difference from the little preemie sized baby that came home with us! Koa sleeps every night from about 8:30pm to between 9-9:30 am. He is a fantastic sleeper, and does not get up to eat in the middle of the night. We are very spoiled with him! More pictures will be updated soon!

Gabi still loves holding her brother.

Koa spends a lot of time in his bouncer. As long as he can see you, he is a happy camper.

He is already making cooing noises. He is a lot of fun.

He wasn't sure what to think about the Bumbo seat the first time we put him in it. He is getting better now. He also enjoys his saucer.

Talented Sister

My oldest sister Heather is a very talented crocheter (is that even a word?) When Gabi was born she made her a Winnie the Pooh blanket. When we had Kai she asked us what character we wanted, so he got a Tigger blanket. By then I think she was sick of making these blankets. Then I had Koa. We could either pick between Piglet or Eyeore. We picked Eyeore. I think it is my favorite of them all. I love the blue and brown combination. My kids absolutely love their blankets. Here are a few pictures taken a while ago. Don't you agree these are the coolest blankets?

4 year old and 4 month old pictures

For Nathan's birthday I surprised him with some pictures of the kids. This is what we were able to get. Kai was not a happy camper, so he was only in one shot.

Our little girl is growing up so fast!

You can't tell, but the only way we could get this shot was to have Kai throw a baseball at the back drop, watch it roll off, and then he would laugh. At least we got one picture!

Koa is already 4 months old.

Kai was supposed to be sitting on the other side of Koa, but he would not sit down. So, Gabi and Koa got to get their picture taken together. I really wanted the boys together, and even had matching outfits on them. Oh well! :)

Gabi's traditional number 4 birthday picture.

This is Koa in his blessing outfit. My friend Theresea from teaching made him his outfit. She made all the kids their blessing outfits. They are very special to us.

Sitting up in his blessing outfit. If you can't tell, Koa is a very happy, smiley, content baby!

Summer of Give-Aways!

You will notice on the sidebar I have a new icon. My cousin Danyelle hosts a blog that has weekly give-aways. This week the give away are some great hand puppets that kids will love! Check out her blog!

http://queenoftheclan.blogspot.com/