Carving Pumpkins

One of my most favorite things about Halloween is carving pumpkins. I don't know why, but I absolutely love getting my hands dirty and getting creative all at the same time. This year proved to be another fun, VERY messy experience.

MIKKELE

She is always such a girly girl drama queen when it comes to getting messy. She was a little less whiny about it this year, and dove in and got messy. Still had to have some grossed out facial expressions though. She decided she wanted to make a witch out of her pumpkin because she thought the stem looked like a long witch's nose. She even glued crazy hair on the pumpkin. Still need a witch's hat to go on it though. I always have to crack up at her and her tongue. It's always sticking out when she concentrates. One of these days she's gonna end up biting it off.

GRANT

I have never really been all that adventurous with Grant while carving pumpkins. This year, I decided I just needed to let go and let him have fun with the goop, even though I knew it was going to be a HUGE mess. He definitely proved me right. He had a great time though. He was super funny and kept trying to eat and lick the pumpkin.

At one point all the pumpkin goop fell off his tray onto the floor. He thought it was pretty funny. No matter what limitations he has, he still finds little ways to be a typical 4 1/2 year old boy.

Grant's favorite super hero is Spiderman, so I asked him if he wanted a spider carved on his pumpkin and he said "ya". Here he is with the finished product.
HALLIE
Hallie is always wanting to feel new textures, so I knew that carving pumpkins would be right up her ally. I stripped her down and stuck her in her Bumbo chair. We started by showing her her pumpkin. She basically just looked at it cross-eyed for a bit. She touched it a little bit, but mostly just sat and inspected it.
And then she found the bowl with the pumpkin goop next to her and decided she liked that better than the pumpkin itself.
So we glopped some on her tray. She had such a good time with it. First inspecting it...

And then digging in and making a big ole mess. Good thing kids and bumbo's are completely washable. Both Hallie, Grant and the bumbo and tray had to have bath's after we were done to clean the goop off of them.

Mikkele showing off the finished products. Jeremy did a Pac Man going after a Pac Man ghost and I did a barfing pumpkin. Mikkele's witch pumpkin still needs a hat, but it has the hair glued on. It looks more like a old man right now instead. We didn't carve Hallie's pumpkin since it was too little. Plus it already has character to it since it has curves like she does. :)
All light up

A Hayride and a Pumpkin Patch

Last Monday, my sister in law, Holly, and I took our kids to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin. You go on a hayride to their pumpkin patch, pick out the pumpkins you want, and take a hayride back to your car. It was such a fun way to pick pumpkins, and we'll be turning this into a new pumpkin picking tradition. Warning: Picture overload...

Waiting to get on the hayride.

On the hayride

Picking out our pumpkins.

Mikkele wanted to get a pumpkin with a really long stem. I think she succeeded.

My beautiful girl
My handsome boy
Look! Is that the "Great Pumpkin" from Charlie Brown? No that's just me. Why in the heck did I choose to wear an orange shirt to go pick pumpkins? Obviously didn't think that one through that morning when I got dressed.

Scary Ghosts Dillon and Mikkele

Cute pumpkin kids

Hallie, Dillon, Mikkele and Grant

Our pumpkins: from left to right, top to bottom

Mikkele, Jeremy, Grant, Hallie, and mine

We picked a curvy one for Hallie, since she has lots of rollie pollie curves.

Fall Pictures

While I'm not loving the cold fall weather, I do enjoy seeing the leaves change colors. They have been really vibrant this year. We always like to go up in the mountains and take some fall pictures. We have gone up a couple of times now and taken some pictures of my kids, cousins, and friends. Here are some of my favorites.

This little guy and his brother were playing in the parking lot when we pulled in at Jolley's Ranch. They ran off as quick as they could when we pulled up. This one ran up a tree and was hugging it for dear life. The kids thought it was pretty cool to see racoons up close . They were such cute little baby racoons.

My Cute Kiddos

Cousins

Mikkele, Grant, Hallie, Connor, and Dillon The colors were much more vibrant 3 days before this when I took some pictures of Tina's kids (picture below). We have had a bunch of snow and frost at night since that day. So some of the colors have dulled out a bit, and the leaves are starting to fall. But they still look pretty good.

Tina's Kids
Owen, Carter, Luke, and Lucie
The colors here are much more vibrant, and it's the same mountainside. Amazing what a difference 3 days makes.

Look at Me!

Hallie started rolling over on Sunday night. I kind of thought maybe it was a fluke and she wouldn't keep doing it, but she is! Now when I put her down on her back, she immediately flips to her stomach. She is growing up way too fast. Pretty soon she'll be running around and back talking like her big sister. But hopefully not too soon.

4 Months Old

Hallie turned 4 months old on September 21st. I'm a little behind on getting this post done, but I was waiting for her 4 month check up so I had her stats. And here they are:

Height: 25 3/4 inches 95%
Weight: 17 lbs. 7 oz. 95%
Head: 42 1/4 cm. 85%

I have such a chubby little girl! But I love all her chub, it's so cute! Mikkele is concerned that she won't grow out of it. I told her that she did, so Hallie will also. Although, I'm pretty sure Hallie is chunkier than Mikkele was. I should have kept better records of that kind of stuff. Oh well. Her little personality is continuing to grow. She always has a smile for anyone that will stop to talk to her. She has started to giggle a little bit this last month as well. She is typically a pretty quiet little girl, so you have to work hard to get her going. But once you do, it is so worth it. She is starting to roll a little bit. She can roll side to side, and has rolled over from her stomach to her back, just not consistently. She has discovered her tongue and has it sticking out all the time. She will also chew on it, and blow raspberries with it. She does not like to lay in your arms and cuddle. She wants to sit up and see what's going on. If there are other kids close playing, she gets really wiggly like she's wanting to get up and go. She just may be an early walker like her sister. She continues to like different textures in her hands. She is always grabbing at her shirt or belly if she is being changed. She plays with just about anything she can get her hands on. She also will bring it to her mouth and suck on it. Holding onto the toole of her tutu.

The basket was a new texture for her. We had a hard time getting her to look up to take these pictures, because she was trying out the new feeling of the basket weaves.

She doesn't take a binki hardly at all. Which I think is a good and a bad thing. She will suck on her hands a lot to help soothe her instead. She is getting up sometimes every 2 hours at night. We talked to the dr. about that at her check up and he said that she has enough fat stored that she should be able to go 6-8 hours without eating, so we need to start letting her cry it out and sleep train her. The only hard part about that is that she is sharing a room with us and Grant right now. So to do that, we will all have to have a sleepover downstairs so we can still get some sleep. I thought I was gonna do it this weekend, but it almost seems like less sleep to do that, than to get up with her a few times in the night. I know it will only be bad for a few days, and I just need to suck it up and do it. Maybe next weekend. :) But overall, she is such a good little baby, and just the kind of baby that I needed. She is so patient with her brother stealing most of the attention away from her. We are so happy to have her in our lives!

Sleepy Baby

I know you are all waiting patiently for Hallie's 4 month old post, but parts of it have been delayed. So while you're waiting for that to come (I know the suspense is killing you) enjoy this one.

Last night while I was feeding Grant dinner, I had Hallie in her Bumbo chair next to us on the table. I looked over at her and her head was bobbing. She was falling asleep sitting up. Lucky for me (and all of you) I had my camera right by me. Funny baby.

Sorry the video is sideways.

Unfortunately when I grabbed her to lay her down her chubby thighs got caught in the openings and made her mad and she wouldn't go back to sleep.

Catching Up

It has been brought to my attention that I have been neglectful of my blog. It may have something to do with having 3 kids and school starting. But all excuses aside...below are 3 new posts. Yes, I know that they all are only centered around Grant. Yes, I know I have 2 other kids. Look for a 4 month old post for Hallie to come soon. And we'll see if I can find something cute Mikkele is doing amidst the sassy attitude that has started to accompany her daily. Until then...It's all about Grant...

G-tube Removal

After 3 years as a part of Grant's life, he had his G-tube removed a little over a month ago. This is something that has needed to happen for quite some time now, but I have not been ready to have it out quite yet. He has only used his tube for his meds since March 2008. It has been my security blanket with him for so long, that I had a hard time taking that next step. But in all reality...he is doing SO well with his eating! He has made so many improvements and is still continuing to make more all the time. We are so proud of him and the progress he is making. The procedure was really quick, and we didn't have to stay in the hospital overnight which was a nice surprise. He did really well in the days afterward. Very few problems. He is doing well taking his meds orally, which is a big relief. I just can't wait until it is healed completely. Soon...very soon.

I have been waiting to blog about it because I wanted to do some before and after pictures once he had healed up a bit. It's still not completely healed, but it gives you somewhat of a picture of the before and after.

BEFORE: in all his scrawniness

AFTER:
No G-tube, and still healing.
He's gonna look like he has 2 belly buttons for the rest of his life.

Problem Solved

Since we got Grant's wheelchair a year and a half ago, we have had problems with him dropping his head off to the right side and whacking his head on the frame. While it sounds like it would hurt, he thinks it's funny and has turned it into a game. A game that drives Jeremy and i INSANE! We have tried to resolve the problem quite a few times, and in quite a few different ways, but this week we finally fixed it! I am so excited! We have tried this little "spot" in a different position and it didn't work. But the tech that came out this week is brilliant, and moved the spot to a different position and it did the trick. It kind of looks like a microphone. It's a little bit in the way, but whatever it takes. The only real draw back to having it there is when he's eating. If he has any food on his face and turns his head to the side then it gets on the spot. But the cover comes off and is washable, so really it's not that big of a deal. I'm just excited to have the problem solved. Now if only we could figure out the other "problems" that Grant likes to stump us with. Well...one thing at a time....

Holding onto his mic.

Talking into his mic.

Grant's Last, First Day of Preschool

I feel like I have done this post so many times already, since this is Grant's 3rd first day of preschool. This may explain why it has taken me 2 1/2 weeks to post this. Things are a little different this year. Grant is now in the "afternoon" class at school which is really a late morning early afternoon schedule. It has kinda thrown us all off a little bit, and we are still trying to figure out a good schedule that works for us, but we will figure it out eventually. Last year Jeremy put Grant on the bus most days, but since he leaves later this year I get to do it. He has cried almost every day. Some days he starts crying when he hears the bus pull up before we even leave the house. He's done a little better the last couple days, so hopefully he'll continue to do better. I think that his separation anxiety has gotten 100 times worse since I quit working and had Hallie. He has me home 24/7, which really hasn't done him (or me) any favors. But really I think he's just a little stinker, because the bus driver/bus aid say that he quits crying by the time they reach the stop sign (which is 2 houses down). And I know he has a fun time at school. He has the BEST teacher and aid's at school. So basically he's just doing it to try and make me feel bad. Too bad it's not working. :)

Blowing us kisses good bye.

Trying to decide if he's happy or sad. Or try remember that he's trying to make me feel bad that I'm sending him away.

Either way...he's one handsome boy.