Sammy 3 1/2 Years Old!

Oh man! This little boy just cracks me up! 

 

 

Doesn't he look so big in this picture?

 

 

Sammy at 3 1/2 is a handful of descriptions - one minute he's snugly and sweet, the next he's crazy and jumping all over the furniture. One minute he's sharing the last of his fruit snacks with you because he loves you so much and the next he's fighting you with his pretend sword. 

 

 

He is such a funny eater. Some days he can't get enough and sits still in his chair. Other days he hardly eats anything and it's a major chore to get him to even sit down to dinner. I guess that's pretty normal though for a growing little boy!

 

 

He is loving joy school and learning his letters. The other day he was looking at the large leaf in Eliza's room and mentioned that it looked like a football. He repeated "football, football..." a few times and then said, "Mom! Football starts with F!" It was awesome and adorable. 

 

 

He loves playing "Patu-guns" whenever he gets his hand on anything that looks like a gun. He loves watching movies and playing on the iPad. He still loves trains and Legos.

Eliza 5 Months Old

 This little lady just keeps growing! At the beginning of November, she turned 5 months old.

 

 

She is more and more alert these days and loves to interact with everyone and everything around her.

 

 

Eliza loves to play with toys now - sucking and chewing on whatever she can get her hands on. 

 

 

She is still a great sleeper and takes 2-3 naps a day. In the morning they are just little 1/2 hour - 1 hour cat naps and then she takes a 2 1/2 - 3 hour afternoon nap.

 

 

We started her on baby food at the beginning of the month too. She has loved it! 

 

 

She loves playing with her big sister and brother. 

 

 

We still get compliments on her hair, and now her chubbiness, all the time. 

 

 

Sure love this little angel!

Halloween, Wreck It Style!

Now that it's December, how about we blog about our Halloween costumes? :)

 

 

Every year since Lucy was a baby, we've worn coordinating costumes as a family.

 

 

This year we went with characters from the movie "Wreck it Ralph." Lucy was Vanellope Von Sweets.

 

 

My mom made most of her outfit, including dying and embellishing the sweatshirt, embellishing the tights, and making the skirt. I was in charge of her hair. I think we did a pretty good job!

 

 

 Eliza was one of the other racers in the movie - Candlehead (hence the candle on her head!).

 

 

Her outfit was mostly just finding the right pieces to put together. Nana also made her a super cute hat but her head was just too big for it! :(

 

 

Sammy got to be Fix it Felix. Nana made the patches for his hat and shirt and we pieced the rest together.

 

 

I think his favorite part was the golden hammer! (Which we just made by spray painting one of his toy hammers.)

 

 

Spencer got to be Wreck it Ralph and I played the part of Sergeant Calhoun. It was a fun cast to dress up as!

School & Church Halloween Parties

Oh man, Halloween week was crazy! Sammy had a little party at Joy School the day before Halloween.

 

 

The kids all dressed up and paraded for the parents. Then they "sang" a couple of Halloween songs. Afterward, we decorated yummy cookies.

 

 

 On Halloween, Lucy had her school party. 

 

 

I came in and helped out, along with 5 other parents. It's so neat to see how many parents are willing to help out here at Truman. (And how many of them are from our neighborhood!)

 

 

 They played games, made a little craft, and made a yummy treat.

 

 

The night before Halloween, our ward had it's annual Halloween party and chili cook off.

 

 

 After a yummy dinner of chili and soup sampling, the kids played carnival games.

 

 

 And Lucy got her face painted.

 

 

 Sammy loved the ghost bean bag toss.

 

 

 Love the butterfly Lucy!

The Choo-Choo Train!

Sammy has an intense love of trains.

 

 

We've been saying we needed to take the family on a train ride since his birthday and this October we finally did.

 

 

We got discount tickets to go on the Heber Valley Railroad.  It was so much fun!  

 

 

 

 The trains are pretty old and the seats are super close together so we had some fun, close, family time!

 

 

 The fall view out the windows was beautiful.

 

 

 The girls! :)

 

 

 Daddy and Eliza.

 

 

 It was neat to feel how the old rail cars ride on the tracks. It really did go clickity-clack, clickity-clack.

 

 

 It is incredibly hard to take a photo of all three kids. This was the best one out of 10ish?

 

 

 It was a short 40 minute train ride - which I think was a good length for the kids.  It was Halloween themed - with music and people dressed up.

 

 

 After the ride we went through a "haunted car" that was a bad idea - it totally freaked Sammy out, as did a really tall guy dressed up as Frankenstein's monster.

 

 

 We also got to pick out a pumpkin each and get a little tattoo.

 

 

 They also had this old steam engine there that they are working on getting back into working condition. It's from 1906 - how cool is that!?

 

 

Overall, it was a great trip! :)

Fall Bucket List: Pumpkin Carving

This is an activity that actual is always on our fall bucket list! Though I think this was the first year since Lucy was a baby that we carved pumpkins before Halloween night! :)

 

The kids really liked getting the pumpkin guts out.

 

 We did one for each of them. They got to pick the pumpkin out.

 

 Lucy drew her own face on and then she and I took turns carving it.

 

 Daddy helped Sammy with his.

 

 And the finished products!

 

Love these kiddos!

Fall Bucket List: The Crazy Corn Maze

 Spencer got to take the kids on the next (un-) bucket list item - the Crazy Corn Maze!

 

One Friday evening he and the kids headed out to South Jordan and made their way through the corn maze. It was their first time in one and Spencer said Lucy loved it and had to make sure they found each of the 10 "checkpoints." Sammy had fun but his attention span was a bit shorter.

 

 

 

On the way home they stopped for a milkshake, which they shared with Mommy. :)