Trick-or-Treating

Last Thursday was Trick-or-Treat night in our neighborhood. This was Jenna's first year to Trick-or-Treat since she wasn't quite a year old last Halloween. A friend of ours gave us some costumes that her kids had outgrown, so instead of making Jenna's this year, we just went with what we were given (free is always nice!). So Jenna was a ladybug and Grant was a dinosaur.

The week of Trick-or-Treat night was in the 70s, but of course by Thursday, it was in the 40s!!! So it was very cold out! Jenna had a few layers under her clothes to keep her warm and some black gloves. She was so excited to get going - I think because she saw all the other kids out and wanted to be with them. She LOVES watching and being around other kids.

So needless to say we had a hard time getting any "before" pictures. We're already at a tough stage of trying to get her to even look at the camera. She likes to cover her face with her hands or turn her head away whenever we try to take her picture. Many times we have to "trick" her into looking towards us.
Our neighbors had just left the house to go trick-or-treating, so they offered to take a family picture of us. Somehow she got the picture before Jenna turned away. Haha!
Walking with our neighbor...at least for a little bit. Jenna's too slow of a walker for the older kids. Ha! Don't you just love those ladybug wings...too cute!

Daddy and his little dinosaur. Doesn't Grant just look so excited to be out in the cold weather? Don't worry...he and Mommy went back to the house after only going to 1 house. It was too cold and Grant was hungry so he needed to eat.
Thursday night was also Uncle Brian's 33rd birthday, so we went over to their house to celebrate. Jenna and Grant stayed in their costumes, which everyone enjoyed seeing. Here's Grandma (whom Jenna calls "Mawmaw") with Dino-Grant. (It's too bad we didn't take any pics of the back of Grant's costume. There's a long tail with little spikes - very cute!)

Jenna enjoyed eating a yummy birthday cupcake!

Great-Grandma Jones (also known as "Gram Gram" to Jenna) holding Grant.

And then Gram Gram with both great-grandkids.

Earlier that evening we also took pictures of the kids in their Halloween shirts. The first one turned out pretty good, although my elbows partially in the picture.

Jenna holding her pumpkin as it's about to fall out of her hands. Mommy rescued it before it went splat on the ground.

Pumpkin Carving

It's Fall, which means it's pumpkin carving time. Daddy and Jenna did a great job drawing, carving, and cleaning out the pumpkin. Here Drew's drawing the face on the pumpkin.

The finished drawing (I'm a little surprised he didn't use a compass and ruler to draw it on...it's the engineer in him. Hee hee!)

Carving - Jenna was very interested, can you tell?

Stopping to pose for a picture

The pumpkin is carved and now it's time to clean out the guts.

Jenna enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkin and kept saying, "YUCK" very loudly each time. It was hilarious! We have it on video, so if we ever figure out how post videos again, we'll have to post that one.

Jenna got tired of cleaning out the pumpkin, so while Daddy finished she got to draw on one of her own pumpkins. She of course loved drawing with markers (it was her first time), but it was a royal mess for Mommy to try to clean her hands and highchair tray.

Jenna doing a quality inspection on the finished product...

This one's a little dark, but I was trying to get the full effect with the candle lit inside the pumpkin. She was very intrigued with the candle being in there.

The final product

Up next...trick-or-treating...

Playing with Pudding

I recently bought a book that has lots of ideas for games and activities to do with toddlers. One of the suggestions was to let your child play and make designs with pudding. So I thought we'd give it a try...

The book suggested coloring the pudding with food coloring; however, I couldn't remember where I put the food coloring after rearranging the pantry, so we went without this time. :)

It was oh so much fun and YUMMY too!

Jenna hadn't eaten her lunch yet and since she was already a mess I decided to have her eat then so it would be one big mess to clean up instead of two.

It was way too messy to try and just wipe off of her, so she got a bath.

This is what Grant was doing while Jenna got her bath. Such a happy boy!

Again, I wish I was able to upload videos - I have a cute one of her playing in the pudding. Maybe once I figure out what the problem is, I can upload them all later. We're headed to Chicago to visit some friends this weekend, so I'm not sure I'll be able to get a post up tomorrow. We'll see. The next post will be our pumpkin carving adventure!

Scarlet and Gray

He's already rooting for Ohio State...

We decided to go outside on a chillier day, so I got the kids all bundled up. I think this picture of Grant is too funny. His overalls are too small for him, which is why they wouldn't stay buttoned. Poor guy!And then both kids in the wagon.

Both kids are down for a nap...at the same time...wow! What do I do with myself? :) Maybe I'll go scrapbook a little. Drew's traveling this week (although he should be home tomorrow in time for Trick-or-Treat) and since we got rid of cable so I'm not able to watch TV, I've been scrapbooking in the evenings. I'm DETERMINED not to get behind with Grant's scrapbook like I did with Jenna's. I figure if I can get caught up again before the rush of holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Jenna's b'day) than maybe I'll be okay.

My goal is to update the blog each day over the next few days so I can keep up with the pictures we've been taking. Tomorrow's post...Jenna playing with pudding.

Just another day...

The other day Jenna had a blast playing with some pots and pans...and her vitamins. She was mixing her gummy vitamins with a whisk in the pans. For some reason I haven't been able to upload any videos lately...so sad...there have been some really cute ones. I have video of her playing with the bowls and then near the end she notices that I have the camera and thinks I'm taking a picture, so she puts her hands on her cheeks and smiles. Haha! It was cute!

I did get a picture of her...and again, with her hands on her cheeks.

Later that day - Jenna's wearing her Halloween t-shirt and eating a cookie.

We went garage saling that morning and I had a GREAT find...lots of dress up clothes and accessories all for....get this...25 CENTS EACH!!

Here are some pictures of my loot. These are the piles of dress up clothes - dresses, princess gowns, and a Pocahontas dress.

And here are some of the accessories...boas, fairy wings, a princess cap, a blonde curly wig, an "I Dream of Jeannie" cap with braided wig, and a cowboy hat. (They're all hanging from my light fixture because I frebrezed them since they can't exactly go in the wash.)

And lastly, a few pairs of shoes and a scepter.

She loves the shoes, especially with "Bella" ones on the right. Some of the clothes are still a little big for her, but I know she'll grow into them and will enjoy dress up more one day. I figure I can't pass it up when it's only a quarter each, especially since a few of the items still had their tags on them and they were listed at $10-$20 each! Crazy! :)

Jenna's Turn

And now for a Jenna update (with a few pics of her brother)...

I thought this was such a precious picture.
She laid down next to him and then put her hand up on his cheek.

Jenna wearing her Burger King princess crown.

Jenna in her "Bella" (Cinderella) costume

Lately when I ask her to smile for a picture, she'll put her hands on her cheeks, but for this picture she pulled a little too hard on her cheeks. Haha!

That's much better!

Ready for church
(Once again...hands on cheeks)

It is almost impossible for me to get a good picture of the two of them together. This was about the 6th picture I took and was just glad to get both of them with their eyes open and somewhat facing the direction of the camera.