New Pictures...

It is amazing how quickly the kids grow up.  We took pictures in April shortly after Lydia was 1 and looking back on those pictures, I am amazed that these pictures make the kids look so much older.  Lydia has more attitude, Jenna has more hair and Anthony is growing up into a young person!  Its so crazy. Thankfully we have a great photographer for a Grandpa and the kids love to smile for him (most of the time).  We love these new pictures from November 2010.

Halloween 2010...

We had a fun, relatively warm Halloween this year.  I had been very cold the week up until Halloween day and it was supposed to be yucky that night too. I was so sad because I hate having to put coats on over my kids costumes, but it turned out to be a very nice night.  We had our ward trunk-or-treat and the kids came away with lots of candy.  We started a new tradition this year that the kids got to eat LOTS of candy that night but as soon as we got home the picked out some candy they wanted to keep and put the rest in the magic bag.  The Great Pumpkin came that night and exchanged their candy for little gifts.  Anthony got a light saber, Jenna got a princess book and Lydia got a Pinkalichious book. They were so excited and we didn't have to go days on end of having them ask for candy every 10 minutes.  I think it worked out great.  The kids still enjoyed a lot of candy, but I kept my sanity!  It was a happy Halloween!!

School Carnival...

Our school PTO does a Halloween carnival that is so fun for the kids!  We were pretty rushed this year because of some tickets Jake got to a concert in town, but we decided to go anyways and just do what we could.  Almost the first room we went into was a Princess makeover room and as you can see, Jenna was in heaven!  Since she was a purple princess anyway, she was so happy to have her nails painted and was given a ring and stick-on earrings.  She was so excited to be treated like a princess when she was all dressed up as one!

Anthony loved throwing the balls into the moving hoops and was really good at it.  He had to go back a second time so that he could do it again!

And, this is what the kids looked like when we got home....full of sugar :)!

What a fun way to start the Halloween weekend!  Cannot wait for next year...

Carving pumpkins...

 Jenna chose a grumpy pumpkin face and Anthony wanted to cut out the ghost.

 She was showing us her guts :)...with her fat lip and bruised nose from falling down the stairs face first.

Proud of their pumpkins.

For Family Home Evening before Halloween we decided to let the kids pick out their pumpkins and carve them.  We had a lot of fun this year.  Both kids actually dove right in and got their hands dirty.  They picked out the faces/ghost they wanted and put the guide stickers on them and even did most of the cutting.  Then we ate the pumpkin seeds!  It was a fun evening!!

Its that time of year again...

 And so it begins...with one more adoring fan!  Lydia really got into Anthony wrestling last week.  She had to sit up by the mat right next to him.  It was cute!  These are the only pictures I got this time because the first match was about 20 seconds and the second one was maybe 30 seconds, two quick pins for Anthony's first match being a Kindergarten.  He didn't even want to wear his metal, just add it to his collection at home (that is what he told the girl sitting next to me when she asked how come he wasn't wearing it).

Lydia...

Once again, I just had to make sure I am getting enough pictures of Lydia since she is my 3rd child ;).  Cannot have her saying she is picked on because there are no pictures of her growing up.  Lydia was eating some applesauce in her highchair that we pull up to the counter and I was at the stove making dinner, I turned around and this is what I found...no fingers in a cookie jar for her, just a jar of peanut butter.  For some reason, she loves to sit on the stool like that. I do not know why, but she does it a lot!  She also LOVES to sit in any sort of box.  If I have one on the floor whether it is empty or not, she will sit in it and either read books or sing.  We love you Lydia!!

Jenna...

Jenna is growing up and I'm not sure I like it.  I am having a harder time with her growing up than I am with Anthony getting older.  Jenna is really starting to talk now so that everyone can understand her, not just me and Anthony.  She is a great little helper around the house and always is thinking of others before herself.  She loves to have a dress on and to feel like a princess.  She likes to have her hair done and especially hates it when it is in her eyes.  She knows almost every sound the letters make, but has a hard time actually telling me which letter it is.  She loves to 'read' books to Lydia too, especially when Anthony is at school. It is fun to see her grow and develop.

The first picture is what I found when I walked into her room after she has been quiet for a little too long :).  I went searching for her and that is what I found!

The second picture is the day she went to her first day of Joy school.  A few of my friends and I have started a Joy School that we do once a week and rotate who teaches, assists and babysit.  It has been fun for her so far!!

A trip to the farm...

One Monday for Family Home Evening it was so beautiful that we decided to take the kids down to Grandpa Williams farm.  He has so many animals and the kids just love to run from here to there finding them all.  They all took turns riding the goat that was stuck in the feeder slot before Jake freed it.  Then Anthony decided he wanted to ride an actual goat so after Jake ran around for a long time to catch it, he gave it a try, but didn't last too long.  They got to pet a cow too since it was stuck as well.  Luckily we came along because we freed quite a few animals that night.

Balloon hats...

One of Jake's first assignments in the Elder's Quorum was to come up with a booth for the Carnival of Life for the youth in our ward.  Funny since we were excited he no longer had to go to YW/YM's.  It turned out to be a fun night and the kids were thrilled when he brought home these awesome balloon hats for each of them.  They wore them with pride all night and then again the next morning!  So fun!!