Hayden's Birthday Party

Saturday was a crazy day full of prep and running around to get ready for Hayden's birthday party that evening!  I had planned a small party for him with a few of our friends.  Hayden had requested a bear theme, so we had a bear snack bag to fill with gummy bears and teddy grahams, as well as a bear hunt and a build-a-bear station!  Our friends Sophia, Riley, Kennedy and Acadia all came and it was a blast!  Also Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete were able to come as well!!  That made the party even more special.

First we had some pizza, and then we made our binoculars for the bear hunt.

After we had our binoculars we went into the 'bear cave' to search for bears and other animals!  It was fun watching all the kids work together.

Then we did our build-a-bear station where we could let our creative juices flow!

Afterwards it was time for presents and cake!!  Hayden was so cute while we sang to him!!

He just loved all the gifts people gave him!  All the kids had fun playing with the toys until it was time to go home.  Thanks so much to everyone who came, and to Grandpa Pete for the pictures!!  Hayden is so excited to almost be three!

Happy Thanksgiving!

When Thanksgiving break started we decided to do something fun: dye Kylie's hair!  She had been wanting to dye her hair ever since her friend Sophia dyed her hair for Halloween.  We dip-dyed it in Kool-Aid and it turned an awesome red!  Kylie loves it!

We had our Thanksgiving one day early on Wednesday.  It was a fun day full of cooking our little feast and snacking on it for the rest of the day.  We also played outside and went and found Kylie some winter boots thanks to an early Black Friday sale.

Then we took a walk to the mailbox where the kids found some fun turkey cards from Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete!  They LOVE getting mail!!

Also gotta love those Kool-Aid smiles!!  We never make that drink so they were excited to drink it - a lot.

On actual Thanksgiving on Thursday the kids spent the day with Brandon up in Cedar City.  They played games and went ice skating.  It looks like they will be ice skating all winter long!  Kylie loves it!  Hayden will warm up to it I'm sure.

A Week in November

We had a beautiful beginning of the week and went outside a lot to play and take walks.  There is one tree in particular that Kylie and Hayden love to stop and climb for an hour.

We are excited for Thanksgiving next week, but haven't done any activities for it!  Instead we painted some Christmas ornaments. Totally my fault!  It's taking all my self control to not put up our tree yet!

On Friday we got together with Sophia's family and went to the Children's Museum in St. George.  It was all we could do to keep up with all the kids!  They were super excited and had tons of fun.  They even had a new dinosaur museum that I thought Hayden would love, but he was actually scared of all the 'roaring' noises they had playing.  Eventually he warmed up to it, though he only stayed in one corner of the room!

Saturday was a big day.  That morning we had Primary Program practice.  Kylie did ok - she was a restless as all the other kids!  Hayden didn't help by running everywhere with another little kid.

After lunch the kids spent the rest of the day with Brandon up at his new apartment in Cedar City.  Brandon took them ice skating, which Kylie really loved.  Hayden didn't really like it because he couldn't stand up in the skates.  When they got home Hayden demonstrated how he crawled everywhere on the ice.

Sunday was the Primary Program!  Kylie was AWESOME!  She was right up front and didn't fidget much at all.  She stood up and sat down for the songs perfectly.  She doesn't know the songs very well, except for about one or two words in each song.  And those few words she yelled.  It was hilarious.  And there was no nose picking at all this year!  (That is all she did last year.) It was all I could do to keep Hayden all the way through Sacrament so I could see the entire program.  He ended up playing with my phone and took a contraband picture of Kylie up on the stand:

Next year Hayden will be old enough to be in Primary and will be up on the stand!

A Visit From Uncle Dallan!

I didn't write last week because we were taking it easy after all that Halloween madness.  (More like, I forgot to write...)  Last week and this week we did our same old, same old- library, parks, walks, coloring, games, puzzles... anyway.  You know my kids and their short attention spans.  We did a lot.

On Friday evening Dallan and his girlfriend Jessica showed up.  Jessica was down for the weekend to visit her friend and Dallan decided to tag along.  He is staying with us while he is here, which makes the kids SUPER excited.  Like, as soon as he walked in the door it was a madhouse.  The kids would not leave him alone and there was much excitement.  Jessica was impressed that Kylie remembered her name, since we met her a few weeks back.

After a while Jessica left and the rest of us packed up and went outside to run around on some rocks and try and drain the kids energy.  They literally ran everywhere and it was tough to keep up with them!

Saturday Jessica came over and we made waffles and visited.  Then Brandon came to visit with the kids and everyone went to a park.  I stayed behind to get some work done!  After Brandon dropped the kids back off we had a fun afternoon/evening playing games and going out for frozen yogurt.  Hayden kept asking where Dallan was, but he and Jessica were off doing their own thing for the rest of the day so Hayden was pretty bummed.

Today was the kinda the same:  hang out with Dallan in the morning (after they rudely wake him up at the crack of dawn), until he goes to hang out with Jessica and her friend.  Then the kids spend the rest of the day asking "Where is Dallan?"  Haha poor kids!  They don't realize that Dallan has other plans beyond being used as a jungle gym by them.  Dallan will be with us one more night and is heading out tomorrow.  We have loved having a guest and the kids especially enjoyed the distraction!

Halloween!

Halloween has finally come and gone!  I feel like we have already celebrated Halloween five times over, so it is a relief to know the actual holiday has finally arrived.

The weekend before we had tons of fun playing with Sophia for several days in a row and doing crafts and playing at parks.

By Sunday both kids had developed a nasty cough, so when Brandon visited that day they stayed in and played some games together.

Halloween started bright and early with both kids getting up before I was awake.  I came downstairs to see them digging into the pumpkin cake we had made earlier that week with Sophia and her mom.  Lovely.  After we did some chores we carved our pumpkins.  When going pumpkin shopping earlier this week both kids decided they wanted a tiny pumpkin instead of a regular sized one.  Easier for me deal with!  Or so I thought....  Turns out I am not a good carver.  Especially when trying to carve out the lines of a 2 year old and 5 year old.  So in an attempt to save them I brought out the googly eyes and we had fun making them more crafty.  Thankfully, they actually looked better afterwards.

Then it was time for school and Kylie's school parade!  Kylie loved getting to wear her costume to school and especially loved the glitter in her hair!

Hayden made me hold him the entire time at the parade because he was scared of all the costumed people.  The first time Kylie came around she was oblivious to us, though we were yelling her name and waving frantically.  Happily she saw us the second time around!

That evening was our ward dinner and trunk or treat.  Kylie was such a good helper and listener.  Plus she actually ate her dinner!  Hayden was still feeling pretty sick, so he didn't eat anything and made me carry him around the whole time - even trunk or treating.  That is why I didn't get any good  pictures... or even one of me!

AFTER the trunk or treating was over Hayden crawled into the car while I cleaned up.  I turn around to find him chowing down on candy.  Seriously, kid?  He won't eat anything all day and is all sick, but of course he will eat candy.  Go figure.

On our way home we stopped at a neighborhood house that had built a small Halloween Haunting maze in their front yard.  We had seen them building it for the past week on our way to school, and Kylie was eager to try it out.  Hayden, not so much.  So he sat outside with the nice ladies while I took Kylie in it.  The actors had been warned before hand that a five year old was coming, so they didn't try to scare us, but of course their makeup and costumes were super creepy and you could barely see them in the shadows so Kylie was thoroughly scared by the time we made it through!  She was proud of herself for doing it though!

Tuesday morning came too early and once again Kylie had found her and Hayden something suitable for breakfast - candy.  I had hidden all the candy the night before, but there were two small chocolates in the fridge that she found that I had forgotten about.  I think we will need a candy fast for the next few days to get all this sugar out of their system!

Carnival Fun

Been keeping these kids busy and in the Halloween spirit by hitting up some carnivals around town this week!  Last Friday we went into St. George for the Spooky Town Fair.  It was crazy busy!  The kids didn't care much for trick-or-treating at the booths because the lines were so long; all they wanted to do was play on the bounce houses!  So we went on a few bounce houses and then played some games and won some prizes.  Overall the kids had lots of fun and were definitely worn out from the evening and all the candy they ate!

Saturday Brandon dropped by after his trip this week with a surprise for Kylie and Hayden:  Rocks!  He got them some pretty colorful rocks from Bryce Canyon which the kids really liked.  Then he took them to the dinosaur park to play.  Later that afternoon we did a craft: spiders!  Hayden made sure to take my picture too, because I was only getting some of him and Kylie apparently!  After we made our spiders we hung them from the ceiling, much to the kids excitement.

On Monday we hit up another carnival here in Washington.  When we first arrived Hayden was saying "I'm scared!  Let's go home!" because they had you go through this little tunnel engulfed in fog.  Luckily that was the only scary part!  First we did the bounce houses, before they got too busy.  Always a favorite!  Unfortunately, one of the bounce houses collapses while the kids were inside.  All the kids got out safe except for Hayden, who managed to tangle his foot in the netting.  Poor kid was super terrified, but we got him out ok.  I wonder if that incident will scar him for life against bounce houses...

Then we did some trick-or-treating at the vendor booths before heading to the dance room.  My first impression?  Lame.  Let's go home.  Luckily my kids are not like me and immediatley embraced the loud music, dancing lights and runway.  They both danced for a good hour before we went home!  Hayden would only dance with others... Kylie or Sophia... while Kylie found some friends from school that she danced with!

There are a few more 'Halloween Carnivals' before actual Halloween, but after attending these two I am beat.  We need a little break before celebrating Halloween for real! Plus keeping track of these two kids by myself in these crowded events is exhausting in itself!!

Fall Break

With Fall Break this week I decided to be brave and take the kids solo up north to visit with family.  We needed a little break from our house and routine.  Plus the kids just love to visit their grandparents!

I took Kylie out of school on Wednesday (because I didn't want to arrive late at night), and the kids were so great on the way up.  We stopped and played at Beaver for an hour, after which Hayden zonked out for the rest of the ride.  We arrived with plenty of time to play and visit!  Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary were kind enough to let us stay with them.

For dinner we went on their usual date night - the food trucks!  We had never really experienced food trucks before, but it was yummy and the kids didn't mind the playground they were parked next to!

Thursday we wanted to hit Cornbelly's up early to avoid the crowds, but after getting over there we found out that they weren't open until that evening.  So we decided to go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity instead.  The kids always have so much fun there!  Aunt Kelsey even met us there and they all had so much fun together!

Afterwards we came home exhausted.  Hayden and I took a nap while Kylie played with Kelsey (she has boundless energy!).  When we woke up we decided to walk to the park and feed the ducks.  Always a favorite!  Then they played on the playground until it was dark!

Friday was another big day.  In the morning we went park hopping, first to one in Alpine, and then to the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove.  Kylie and Hayden just LOVE parks.  They always have the energy to play!  That afternoon we made it to Cornbelly's for reals this time.  Aunt Kendra and her boyfriend Jake met us there for some fun.  Hayden never really warmed up to Jake, but he was really nice and Kylie took to him almost instantly!  We had lots of fun on the hay rides, slides, jumping, and other activities that we never even made it to the corn maze before the kids were burned out!  There was one activity where you walk through a giant monster and go through his stomach, heart, and intestines.  It was really loud and there were lots of flashing lights.  Hayden did NOT appreciate it, and even by the end Kylie was crying!  Guess we shouldn't have gone on that one!

Saturday was our third big eventful day!  We really kept these kids hopping on this trip!  Saturday morning we got picked up by Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete and went to the Hogle Zoo!  Hayden and Kylie were so excited for the zoo and that is seriously all they talked about all week.  Kylie was our leader with the map.  We had lots of fun running from one animal to the next!  Kylie's favorite was the giraffe and Hayden like the bears best (especially the polar bear!).  They even got to go on a carousel ride and Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete bought them souvenirs of their favorite animal!

We picked up some lunch on the way back and then went to Grandma Tess' and Grandpa Pete's house for the afternoon.  Grandpa Pete's band had a gig, so we said goodbye to him and then had a crafty afternoon with Grandma Tess!  The kids loved having their own books and putting stamps in them and coloring them.  (I think I enjoyed it the most, haha!).  We had popcorn for dinner and then had to leave at 7 so we could catch Uncle Dallan before he went home.  Uncle Dallan is always super fun and he even brought his girlfriend Jessica to visit.  Hayden actually warmed up to Jessica, which was a surprise!

On Sunday we headed back home.  Brandon was glad to spend some time with the kids again, though Kylie and Hayden were sad to leave their grandma's.  They slept most of the trip back (catching up on what they missed out on the past few days!), so I didn't even stop and drove straight home!

Thanks to everyone for all the fun this week!  We enjoyed seeing everyone and seriously had the best time!!