::pre-birthday party::

Since Grandma was at our house but couldn't stay until Sandy's birthday we had a little pre-birthday party.  We got a couple of delicious pieces of pie from Harry's Roadhouse and stuck a candle in them.



Luckily we had a FOUR candle hanging around the house from somebody else's birthday in the recent past.  Sandy looks nervous here, but really he was super excited and happy to be in the spotlight.

Remember how he used to cry when a group of people would sing Happy Birthday?  Well he doesn't do that anymore.



And then Grandma gave him his present.




It was great--something he really wanted.  One of the exploring submarines from the Octonauts show that he really likes.  He was thrilled.



And here's a special new picture face.  Not sure where this one came from.



Maybe from his goofy brother?  Anyway, it was a fun night.  Nobody complains about having more than one birthday celebration--especially with Grandma there!

::phoenix::

Kris and I had a business trip in Phoenix, and we talked Kathy into coming along to watch the kiddos.  It was at a cool hotel in Scottsdale--the Biltmore.  It was party designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and it had fabulous art deco style.

Of course I didn't get any pictures of it's awesome looking grounds or buildings because we were way too busy.  But I did get a few pictures of the kids having fun in the pool and hanging out with Grandma while Kris and I were working and learning.



There was a great big water slide that both the boys loved.  I think the first day they both went down it for hours.  Long enough, Kathy said, that Sandy started asking the life guard at the bottom of the slide to push him towards the stairs because he was too tired to swim over there anymore.



Lucy was happy to hang out with Kathy and watch the boys swim, which was so nice.  She even took a couple of naps in the stroller.  Yes, she's adorable.



Look at this silly guy.  He swam so much that he got his bottom all chafed and had to quit early the second day.



I took Lucy with us for the afternoon session on the last day and she got SO much attention from all the people.  I don't blame them, she is so cute.

It was a good trip, the kids had fun and we got a lot of stuff done.  I want to go back there sometime and just relax though, it was a fun place.

On Saturday we just had a half day of conference and then we went to the mall--which is something that must always be done in Phoenix since that's one of the only positives out there--and then flew home, taking Kathy with us for a few days.

::::

Lucy update:
Our Lucy has finally been sleeping a little better!  We were on a trip this weekend and she slept through the night 3 times in a row until 4 or 5 AM which is truly miraculous.  Truly.  And the last two Sundays she took a 3 plus hour morning nap.
I always love her, but I'm very happy to see her in the morning when she's been sleeping all night!
(post 3.5 hr Sunday nap last week, SO HAPPY!!)

::sunday mom and lucy::

Are we cute? I think we are. We were taking some pretty pictures to send to Kris since he was on a biking trip.

::::

Lucy tries on Max's old ski boots.  Think she's ready to go skiing?

::sandy hair::

Sandy's hair is all long and shaggy right now.  It's cute and curly and adorable but so dang hard to manage.  I showered him the other day and used some of my fancy cleansing conditioner on his hair and it turned out SO cute.  His hair was so happy and smooth and curly.  I was proud of myself.  Look how cute:



Now I'm not going to want to cut it.  It's just too dang cute.

::fall cookies::

We always make our traditional delicious sugar cookies for Halloween, but sometimes we run low on time and they end up being fall cookies instead.  This was totally one of those years.  Fall cookies all the way.



They still taste just as good--except if the dough has been in the freezer for way way too long and smells and tastes like freezer burn.  Yes, that happened to me today, but I didn't realize that the dough was nasty until after I had spent quite a while cutting out and cooking cookies as well as making all the frosting.  I had to start all over.  Oh well.





Lucy watched the process and Kris tried to feed her sweet potatoes.




Then we had to switch because Kris couldn't get enough potatoes in the baby, so he had to frost the last few cookies.


Max is weird.



Sandy is cute.



And there are some fall cookies, decorated by a little person.  We love them.


Happy fall!

::halloween 2014::

Halloween was just another super busy work day for all of us. When I got to the office I was very pleased to see that everybody had taken the time and effort to dress up.  Don't they all look great?  I brought all the kids in costume at the end of the day so that the staff could see them.  It was pretty fun.



Lucy was very unsure about Jessie's mask.



Everybody loves our Lucy at work.  And when she's dressed up like Tinkerbell she's all the more cute.



And after work we hurried over to the ward trunk or treat.  The kids were excited, and that was good because Kris and I were quickly running out of steam (Sandy had been bouncing off the walls since about 6:30 that morning, and it was getting old).



Cute Kris as Jake from Jake & the Neverland Pirates.






These guys totally crack me up.  Sandy finally had the guts to go and beg candy without a grown up, so Max and Sand made the rounds together.

I don't love the trunk or treat, it's quick, boring and just somehow less classy than real trick or treating.  But the one thing that's good about it is the high concentration of good friends.  And that's nice.





Oh that mustache.  And the curls on the other one.



And that's about all we did.  It got dark and cold and we went home.  We let the boys trick or treat at all of the outside doors of our house (4 or 5 doors) and then we sent them to bed.




The End.

::cookies and stuff::

Halloween cookies are one of our things. We love to do them.  All sorts.  But lately we've just struggled to have time to do anything.  Max saw an old photo of he and I making these Nutter Butter ghosts before Sandy was even born a while back and he remembered how fun they were.

So when I realized we needed cookies for Max's school party and the church party I resolved that we would dip ghosts again.  Max was delighted.



Classic picture face!

These cookies are so stinking good, you could eat like 10 of them in one sitting without even realizing it.



So speaking of halloween parties, on Thursday Sandy and Max both had school parties, so they got to wear their costumes to school.  Lucy wore the downgraded version of her Tinkerbell costume.  She likes to suck on the skirt.



Sandy had a fun time, but he was most psyched up that he got to go to Max's school party.  The night before he said to me, "I won't be four for THIRTY YEARS, but I still get to go to Max's party??!"  He was happily incredulous.

Max's school is in a new location across the parking lot which has a large fully fenced outdoor area which is GREAT.  It about triples the functional space of the school.
Max was inside playing halloween bingo and Sandy was outside running and playing with the kids.  He was really shy when we first arrived but after about 10 minutes he was having the time of his life.

And Max was having a lot of fun too.  He's in a good spot here at this school.  It's been great for him.





When it was time to leave Sandy started to cry--real true sad and miserable tears because he wanted to stay and play.  It was pretty cute, but no I'm not enough of a softie that I let him stay.  But I told him he can go to school there next year and he was pretty excited about that.