Halle Turns 5

Today is Halle's birthday.  She is now 5!  Every year I get a little more sad that she is "growing up".   I will never forget how a week or two after Halle was born I actually called the doctor to find out if it was really okay that I was getting as much sleep as I was.  Halle was such a content and happy baby!  Now . . .  5 years later . . .  Halle loves to be a princess, play with Barbies, dress up and be "fancy" . . . and luckily she has not grown out of it yet.  But I get really sad thinking about the day when she will be "too old" to do those things.

Halle wanted a "costume party" for her birthday . . . which of course is of no surprise . . . since she is always in a costume!

The kids played a game that Abby thought of and wanted to be in charge of . . . a "guess how many pieces of candy are in the jar" game.  They also played "hot pumpkin", went on a candy hunt, and played musical chairs.

We ate cake and ice cream and opened presents.

Happy Birthday Halle!

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is here!  I really start looking forward to this in June (summer heat is my least favorite thing . . . unless I am on vacation).  I love the pumpkins, the cold weather and the treats!

Abby has "Fall Break" this week . . . and so it was time to go pick out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  The girls LOVE this!  This is a little embarrassing . . . but being the cheap person that I am, on the way to the pumpkin patch  I drove by a grocery store that was selling pumpkins for SUPER cheap.  The pumpkins at the pumpkin patch are not that unreasonably priced . . . I just sometimes take too much pride in saving a buck.  But Abby and Halle were confused of course and quickly let me know that it is much more fun to get pumpkins at the pumpkin patch than at a grocery store.  I quickly agreed and am glad we spent a few dollars more for a happy and MUCH more fun experience.

It is really hard to pick the right pumpkin.  Abby had picked out a couple before she finally was ready to walk away with one.  Halle was able to decide a little quicker . . . despite the meltdowns that happened occasionally.  Halle was probably more interested in the maze that the kids could go through.  Gwen enjoyed it all.  We went to this same place last year to get pumpkins . . . and now I  think we have found our "pumpkin finding" tradition . . . since the girls are already asking if we can go there next year!

 

Cougar Fans

Ben and I have season passes to the BYU football games . . . but Ben cares a lot more about going to all the games than I do.  Today, he took Abby and Halle with him . . . and I stayed in our warm house with Gwen . . . it was like 44 degrees today!  Anyways, they all had a great time . . . and the girls came home talking about nothing else. 

Beauty and the Beast

We took Abby and Halle to the community theater to see Beauty and the Beast last weekend (Ben's coworker, Jennifer--pictured below, was in it). They LOVED it! They were so good and able to sit quietly for the most part. Why can't they do that at church?

They were so excited to wear "fancy dresses" . . . girls are so fun.

The Faithful are Rewarded

Congratulations to those who actually look at my blog!  You will be able to read about our news first . . . well aside from my mom and sisters who know because they have been speculating for months.      I am pregnant!  ETA?  April 4, 2009.  With my past history . . . I'm hoping that actually means the end of March, but I guess I may have jinxed it now that I actually put that in writing:)

Gwen Turns 2

My baby is no longer a baby!  Gwen can say the word "beautiful", has opinions about her clothes (she prefers dresses), needs a napkin at every meal, and says "thank you" quite often.  

For her birthday, we had a birthday breakfast and presents.  She enjoyed the attention a lot, but had no idea what was going on:) After that we went over to ride the hot air balloon at our insurance picnic.   While I waited in line . . . the girls played games, colored and won prizes.  

After I had waited in line for over an hour . . . and finally became the second to next person in line . . . the rides were stopped because it became too windy.   Luckily there was a park nearby and a catered lunch . . . so the kids weren't too upset.

Gwen seemed to enjoy her birthday . . . she liked the singing a lot! Happy Birthday Gwen!

Happy Birthday Ben

Ben turned 31 today!  We are finally the same age . . . for a couple months at least.  I hope Ben enjoyed his birthday . . . considering the mishaps we had.  We have a birthday breakfast/present opening tradition at our house.  That part seemed to go well.  The girls are always so excited for someone to open their presents!  Ben went to work during the day, and then we were going to have a birthday dinner at night.  Halle and I made his cake . . . and then I got the great idea to try making a homemade carmel sauce.  I found a recipe and it said I could leave a sugar/water mixture to boil for about 10 minutes (unless I read it wrong which is completely possible).  I got the mixture to boil, set the timer for 10 minutes, and went downstairs.  10 minutes later I heard the timer  go off.  I went upstairs to find that I could barely see anything!  There was SO MUCH SMOKE!  The sugar/water mixture had turned into something that looked like black lava.  After taking it off the stove and opening every window and door possible, the smoke left after a while.   I have a terrible cold right now and can't even breathe through my nose most of the time . . . which means I really can't smell anything.  But apparently . . . our house still smells like a campfire that went wrong and I'm not quite sure how to get the smell out.   Happy Birthday Ben! And sorry about the rolls that went wrong too . . . it really does help to add all of the ingredients.