.halloween 2014.

.our halloween was pretty low key.

.or so I thought it would be.

.b had been telling me for 2 months before halloween she wanted to be tinkerbell. 

.done.

.and since parker still is a bit young to realize I was going to put him in his sisters leggings... I decided he would be peter pan. 

.between me and my darling friend, we found on our community garage sale facebook page a tinkerbell outfit for $5 and a Peter Pan outfit for $5.

.done.

.parkers Peter Pan outfut was a bit short, so I cut off the "boots" and added them to a pair of b's leggings.... Than with green felt I had leftover I added the dark green to his top, to add contrast and a little more length. 

.we were done. 

.or so I thought. 

.wednesday, the day before our Ward party and trunk or treat, Andrew asked if we were going to dress up. I was not as all planning on it. So Wednesday night I ventured to goodwill and Walmart. Found a jacket for $6, a cowboy hat for $3, got sone yellow ribbon, and red spray paint. Found my striped shirt for $3 and a Santa hat for $1. Stopped at the dollar store for $1 glasses and headed home. 

.it was late, and I needed to wash andrews jacket still, so I started a load and went to bed. 

.in the morning, I started at it. Trying to create some masterpiece. I spray painted the cowboy hat, spray painted the white to my Santa hat. Popped out the lenses to the glasses and with help from Mandy, cut the white wig I bought from her for $3.

Time clicked away, and I continued...adding yellow ribbon to the jacket and hot gluing the hat to look like a pirate hate, now a cowboy hat. I added feathers to the top of the hat, but there was still something missing...I added yellow ribbon, and that was the final touch. 

. I quickly made cornbread and made parker a Peter Pan hat, and realized I didn't have a lace shirt for Andrew. I quickly got dressed, got the kids dressed and ready and Andrew walks through the door. I tell him what to throw on and grab one of my lace skirt extenders. I pin it to the front of his shirt and close the jacket, and it looks great. I was thrilled with the overall turnout. 

.we got so many compliments. It was a ton of fun. I forgot to add facial hair to Andrew until we were already at the church. We ended up taking second. My best friend Mandy took first with her cute Mario cart family. She was peach, her boys Mario and luigi, her daughter was toad, and her hubby was donkey kong. I gave her the idea of donkey kong....darn it, we probably would of took first otherwise. She even had cars for the boys with balloons in the back (that you shoot in the game) it was way cute!

.we enjoyed dinner/dessert and andrew stayed at the van handing out candy, while i took the kids around to each car and got candy. 

.the next day, we waited for andrew to get home, and headed to IHOP for dinner. they had FREE "scary face" pancakes for the kids, and also a 2 for $10 deal....so I totally jumped on that, NO COOKING?!?! heck yea!

.than we headed to jamba juice and got the kids FREE kids smoothies, and Andrew and I got one to share..than headed to the nice neighborhood next to us, to trick or treat. the kids really enjoyed themselves and filled up their buckets almost twice within the 2 hours we went. we headed back to the house around 8, and had a few trick or treaters of our own...Brooklynn and Parker LOVED handing out candy, and that it was the best thing ever. We went through almost an entire bowl of candy because B would give them a HUGE handful each.

.we really enjoyed halloween this year. with the kids being a little older, and understanding how it all works, and with their matching outfits (tinker-bell and peter pan) people LOVED it and gave many compliments. it was fun to see their faces light up, and run from house to house. it made me even more excited for christmas this year, and seeing their excitement. we have really just wanted to enjoy our last 3 holidays (halloween, thanksgiving, and christmas) as a family of 4 before baby brother comes. 

.summer activities wrap up.

(warning: VERY LONG post)

.once grandma and heather and lily left, we had hard nights. b cried herself to sleep probably 2-3 nights. "ggggrrrrraaaaaannnnndddddmmmmmmaaaaa come back!" i want my gggrrraaannnnddddmmmaaa" we heard over and over again. 

.when we had to drop them off at the airport, b started to cry, so grandma gave her a pen. b fell alseep in her carseat crying and holding her "grandma's pen."

.we had MANY swimming trips. with friends, and solo. it is still one of my kids favorite thing to do EVER. 

.we celebrated our favorite daddy's birthday. he turned the big 27. we slept in, went to lunch, and dinner. we also got baskin robbins for dessert. 

 .kids bringing daddy his presents.

 .dinner date with daddy.

 .he was SO excited for his present from his mom.

.he told the kids he would give them candy if they scratched his back....he is watching his show, and they have theirs up on the tv.

 .the kids werent the only ones who were spoiled when grandma came....she came with 3/4 of her suitcase with books for the kids, presents, clothes, and a BOSCH for me. i am SO spoiled. 

 .one night, i was grating cheese for dinner, and andrew said, "why arent you using the bosch to grate the cheese?"....this is my "sad face text" to grandma telling her....im still not use to having it for small projects. but we have definitely used it for other big projects....like....pizza dough.

 .the kids LOVED making their own pizza, and than watching it cook through the oven door. 

.andrew got VERY into it.

 .we cuddled when we were cold at the grocery store.

 .we looked cute getting ready for kk pirate day.

 .we deep cleaned the van (2-3 times) and moved carseats...this is our future in 8 weeks. LOVE my van, and how easy it is to put 3 carseats across. 

 .we got caught doing things we werent suppose to be doing.

 .we cuddled our babies.

 .we dressed ourselves (multiple times, this one was TOO cute)

 .we werent on scouting stuff (lots and lots of hours of scouting....this is andrew sewing on his patches on his scout shirt...i refuse)

 .we had doughnut dates.

 .we made MANY videos of singing happy birthday...this one was my favorite, they wanted to wear sunglasses like uncle tyler, when they found out it was his birthday.

 .mom got creative with b's hair.

.she looked darling, and got many compliments.

 .we started "bon-fires" WAY too close to the house. 

 .we craved fruit....and cookie dough.

 .we got "cold" and snuggled with our blanket....and towel.

 .finished parker's name for his room (now to make a matching one for baby brother's name)

 .made and consumed a ridiculous amount of cookie dough.

 .started gymnastics for an 8 week groupon trial. ---we just ended week 8 and b was SO sad. i told her once baby brother comes, we can talk about putting her back in (aka...checking finances). 

 .met, cuddled, and adored our friends new "baby jane"...she is ADORABLE, and gets cuter by the day.

 .went to pirate day at krispy kremes and got ourselves 2 dozen free doughnuts.

 .went on a date night with mommy and daddy. we took them to texas roadhouse and b said "its really loud" lol.

 .we snuggled our baby dolls some more.

 .we played together.

 .we had sick days...can you tell parker doesnt feel good.

 .my amazing VT took b for 2 hours to a gymnastics open gym....when she left parker cried and cried and cried...he looked pretty pathetic right?

 .that night, he kept saying, "brooklynn's room" we finally gave in, and they fell asleep together. he just wanted his sister when he wasnt feeling good.

 .my morning audience every morning while i pee....no, im not kidding.

 .we discovered if i give the kids target popcorn they are SO quiet, and SO good for long days/shopping trips.

WE ALSO HAD USAA SIX FLAGS DAY....USAA rents out the ENTIRE park for I.T. Employees and their families. Last year, our in laws flew in and watched the kids while Andrew and I went together.....this year, we took the kids. Besides going on pretty much ZERO rides (i did get to ride the train) we had a BLAST. We got fed lunch, and the kids were tall enough to go on almost all the kids, including the roller coaster. THEY LOVED IT. We met up with our good friends, The McCanns from our Rexburg ward and Andrew, Mark, and Erica went on different rollercoasters while I watched their baby, "j" and Parker and Brooklynn. It was a great day. The kids were ALL SMILES. 

 .parker had some of the BEST smiles this day.

 .a few days after debbie left, we notice parker would occionaslly cross one eye.....and than it continued, and got worse...FAST. 

**SHOUT OUT TO CHRIS LEADER...I texted Katie, asking her to ask Chris about it, and Chris called me multiple times that day, and the next...and asked his friends, and professors. LOVE LOVE that family. They are simply the sweetest family ever.

i contacted my good friend who's son was in glasses for a LONG time, to get a reference to an eye doctor and glasses/frames reference. 

 .he totally rocked his apt. he was VERY shy and was a pain at the beginning. i thought "great, this is going to be a waste of a trip"....but they said they saw what they needed, dropped his eyes to dilate them, and than waited 45 minutes and looked again.....the solution...glasses.

 .b asked her dad to color with her one night...here is his family drawing. pregnant mommy and glasses on parker.

 .we met our friends at the gymnastics open house.

 .grandma spoiled the kids again, she sent this digital picture frame....they LOVE to sit and watch the pictures. they get to remember grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, trips...i love it too..

 .we have had many wrestling matches. 

 .parker LOVES being close to his sister. 

 .we got parker's glasses. i was in COMPLETE denial when he got them. i thought he looked funny in them, and i would seriously cry sometimes having to try and win the battle of him putting them on. we still have our hard days, but he is doing really well in them...and they are growing on me.

 .b started dance....yes, we had dance on fridays and gymnastics on saturdays for 4 weeks....gymnastics is over, and b has just dance until december.

 .cutie showing her dance outfit.

 .this is what parker thinks of dance.

 .good thing he is getting a baby BROTHER...his sister has had WAY TOO MUCH influence on him...he came down with cinderella heels, a tutu, a nacklace, stroller, and even a purse. 

 .b wanted to wear a handband to church one week....so i made it happen...she looked SO cute.

 .we have had MANY playdates with our friend Andrew and Jane. (seriously, these kids play AT LEAST once a week, but usually twice a week.)

 .my kids loving on baby jane.

 .after accidently throwing his first pair of glasses in the garbage (and taking the garbage to the curb, and it getting dumped before realizing it), tearing apart every inch of the house, and RE-ordering his glasses again....we spent a whooping $550 on glasses in 3 weeks. It made us sick to our stomach.....but I was reminded how thankful I am for a hard working hubby, with a good job, that it totally sucked paying for them (twice) but that it didnt have to come out of savings, and we still enjoyed life, and it didnt effect our budget and our normal way of life. 

.he is a pretty cute kid in glasses. especially when he smiles.

.that was our end of summer wrap up. 

.coming up next, halloween......

....holy shoot, im almost caught up!!!!