A visit from Aunt Ruthann

We had a really fun visit from Aunt Ruthann. The kids had so much fun being spoiled with attention from her. She read them stories, played with them, and basically did anything they wanted her to do.

The last time she was out was when James was born, and we kept her so busy taking care of Hailee while I was in the hospital that she didn't get to see the coast. Even though it was November and not really beachy weather, we had to take a quick trip. It was COLD.

 

 

We enjoyed some nice warm clam chowder at Moe's in Cannon Beach and took a little walk on the beach. Even though it was freezing Hailee had to make a sand castle. She brought her bucket and shovel and would not go home until it was built. We really need to take her to the coast when we can really build a sand castle, but she was just as pleased with her little one.

 

We had so much fun with her, we are really hoping she moves out here to be closer to us. The funniest thing that happened while she was here was on Saturday when she was going on a date. A kid she knew in Provo is working out here. When he came to our house Todd started grilling him on where he was taking her, what they would be doing and stopped short of asking him what time he would have her home by. I was dying of embarrassment and Todd saw no problem in giving him the third degree after all "he was taking out my sister Nicole..." Oh heaven help the boys who ask out Hailee. I can only imagine what is in store for them. Luckily Ruthann wasn't too interested in this boy so she wasn't too bothered by Todd's overly protectiveness.

The Princess and the Frog.

When trying to decided what to be for Halloween, Hailee knew that she wanted to wear a dress and she wanted to match her brother in some way, other than that she didn't care. Since James has been so fond of kicking his little legs and sticking out his tongue we thought the princess and the frog would be great costumes.

 

 

 

Overall I say the costumes were a success. Hailee loved dressing up with her brother and James didn't seem to mind his costume too much. He at least kept in on during the church trunk-or-treat and for pictures.

Trunk-or-Treat

For Halloween this year our ward did a carnival and trunk-or-treat. Hailee had such a good time and James had to be woken up from a nap to go so he just sat in his stroller half asleep the whole time.

The first place Hailee wanted to go at the carnival was the cupcake walk. After 25 minutes or so of not winning a cupcake and watching lots of kids get cupcakes she exclaimed she was done and told me "Mom this game isn't very fair." Luckily we had better luck at another game of hot-pumpkin and she got a glowing bracelet as a prize.

James didn't move from this spot the entire night. Once we got home he finally woke up all the way and had a great Halloween.

 

After the carnival they had the trunk-or-treat outside. Hailee loves to go trick-or-treating and loves getting candy, but what I don't understand is she never finishes her candy. She'll eat her favorites (usually about 4 or 5 pieces) and then the rest just sits there until Todd or I eat it.  When we moved to our new house I actually found last years candy still in her Halloween bucket.

Class Party

Friday before Halloween I got to go and help with Hailee's class party. It was a crazy wild time and I really don't know how her teacher does it all day. I know party days are probably worse that normal days, but still it's crazy. I really liked going and helping in her classroom so I can meet the kids and other moms.

 

We played games, worked on crafts and ate yummy snacks. The kids all seemed to have a great time.

 

Hailee playing games with Katelyn and Kortney

The most perfect pumpkin

Hailee went to the pumpkin patch with her school class the middle of October. She was so excited and started counting down the days until she went. The morning arrived and she didn't need to be told twice to get out of bed, in fact she woke up on her own and started getting ready without any help. She wore her favorite striped sweater and had a smile on her face the whole morning.

When I picked her up from the bus stop she still had a huge smile on her face, but unfortunately she couldn't find her pumpkin. Somehow the most perfect pumpkin was lost. I told her that it would probably turn up and that if it didn't we could go pick out another one. Surprisingly she was okay and told me about all the fun things they did at the pumpkin patch.

 

The next day she was thrilled when she got of the bus with her pumpkin in her hands. The day before she had told me that it was just a little perfect pumpkin, so I was a little surprised to see the size of it. Not overly huge, but definitely not the small pumpkin I had envisioned. She was so thrilled to find her pumpkin so she could carve it for Halloween.

She was so excited when we finally sat down to carve it. She drew me a picture of she wanted it to look like. Once we decided on an idea (they rosy cheeks and eyelashes just weren't going to work, especially with my carving skills and tools available), we got started. She wanted to help do everything, that is until I lifted the lid off the pumpkin. "Oh gross, what is that mom." So instead of helping me clean out the pumpkin I recieved all kinds of words of encouragement as she sat right by my side. "You're doing a great job mom." "You are really good at that." etc, until the whole pumpkin was cleaned out.

Next year we might have to invest in some real pumpkin carving tools, but for this year our old spoons and kitchen knives didn't do too bad of a job.

Hailee was thrilled to have a happy-not-scary pumpkin for Halloween.  Next year we'll have to work on cheeks and eyelashes. This one looks a little more silly than pretty, but we're learning.

7 months

I can't believe that James is now 7 months old. He is the happiest little guy and we are so happy to have him in our family.  Some of his favorite things are...

Sitting on the counter when we're making something. He hates being left in a room by himself, he would much rather be with the family.

He also loves playing in the laundry basket while his big sister is taking a bath.

He loves his dad time. Mom doesn't let him do all the fun things that dad lets him get away with. As soon as he wakes up in the morning his ready to give his dad a hug and when Todd gets home he is very annoyed if Todd doesn't come right over to say hello.

I absolutely love that James and Hailee are such good friends. They really love each other. The other day they were downstairs playing and we heard Hailee shouting "Come and look at what James just did, it's amazing." He had crawled up to her doll house and pulled himself up to sitting on his knees. She was so proud of him and he was so proud of himself. She loves watching him grow as much as we do.  Now she is going to have to find a different place to hide her special things, they use to be at the top of the doll house.

Shortly after the picture was taken he pulled the doll house down on top of himself. He squawked a little but once I pulled it up he was trying to do the same thing again. He is definitely a little boy, little things like doll houses falling down on top of him hardly phase him at all. He has had a lot more scratches, bumps and bruises than Hailee ever did. We don't know what we would do without our little guy. He makes our family so happy.

James Crawling