yum, yum - part 2

the new favorite dessert as of yesterday - hot chocolate!

yum, yum

first taste of baby food - squash... and she liked it!

one of the best sounds in the world

LM loves laughing at CJ.  He can get her laughing like no other.  Unfortunately, almost every time when I get the camera out, it becomes a distraction and she doesn't laugh quite as much.

And here's another one just for fun.

a little adventure

** Here's a little background to help my story make a bit more sense.  CD started preschool in December.  Last week they started helping her potty train by making her wear underwear during school.  She has enjoyed wearing the underwear so much that she asks to wear it on top of her diaper while at home.  And here's our adventure...

Yesterday we decided to do something fun and spontaneous as a family - something that Jon wanted to do since he doesn't get to do too many things he wants being away from home so much.  So we decided to go down to Salt Lake to the Auto Show at the South Towne Expo Center.  It probably has been about 5 years since we have gone to the show and obviously we have never taken three kids with us.  We knew it was bound to be an adventure with 3 kids - we just didn't know how big of an adventure.

The kids weren't too entertained by the cars, especially since when we first walked in we happened to be by a place where playground sets were available to play on, there were scooters to ride, and many basketball tosses set up.  The kids just wanted to stay there instead of look at cars, so I convinced the kids to go on a treasure hunt.  I encouraged CD to find a pink car (not knowing if we'd find one) and told CJ to find all the blue cars he could.  So off we went on our treasure hunt.

And lo and behold, look what we found!  --all our pictures were taken on our phones and didn't turn out too well.  sorry--

a blue car for CJ

and a pink car for CD!

Jon liked this one - a Jeep Wrangler - and I happened to love the color of it

And here is where the real adventure begins.  I had to stop looking at the cars to feed LM, so we sat down in the back of the building by some restrooms where I could be out of the way to feed LM her bottle.  So while I fed Jon took CJ and CD to keep looking.  This is what they found.

Bumblebee from Transformers

and a Corvette Jon claims is on Transformers too

 After Jon took the picture of the Corvette, he turned around and CD was gone.  GONE.  She had disappeared on him.  He quickly looked around him and then immediately phoned me to tell me that CD was missing.  I hurried and put LM back in the car seat on the stroller and headed off to look for CD.  We frantically walked around the building for about 10 minutes looking.  We told the security people there and they called everyone on their walkie-talkies and gave a description of CD.  Jon and I both kept thinking that we needed to check by the bathrooms.  I quickly looked in the one I had been in - after I left the area - and didn't see anything.  After looking around separately Jon and I both ended up back at the same bathroom where I had been.  Just as I was arriving Jon was asking a lady who had been cleaning the bathroom and was leaving if there was a little girl in there.  We heard her say, "your daddy is out here looking for you."  And then CD appeared walking around the corner of the bathroom.  What a relief!

Now believe it or not, but this is where the story gets interesting and kind of funny.  After finding CD we were going to start looking at cars again when CD kept telling me that she wanted to sit on the potty - she never does this at home and remember, she still wears diapers.  So I decided I may as well changer her diaper and we went into the bathroom.  We went into a large stall wear CD proceeded to pull down her pants.  When she did this I discovered she had her underwear on wrong - both legs in one leg - and she had on NO diaper.  Apparently when she disappeared she took herself to the bathroom, went in a stall (which is why I probably didn't see her when I looked for her), took off her shoes, her pants, her underwear, and then her diaper.  Before leaving the bathroom she put her underwear back on (wrong), her pants on correctly, and put her shoes back on.  Had I not decided to take her in the bathroom to change her diaper, I would have had no idea she had done all of that.  As we were leaving the bathroom, I saw her diaper sitting on the floor of another stall.  Silly, silly girl.

Before leaving the Auto Show we stopped and let the kids play with some Legos.  They were suppose to create a car and then race it.  CJ made a very cool car and actually won a race against a much older kid.  He didn't get anything for it - he was just able to have a moment of fun.

We finally decided to end our adventurous evening with one last adventure.  So we took the kids to eat at the Mayan Adventure.  They seemed to like it and we had a good time.

Overall it was a good day - even if we didn't get home until after 8pm.  We were just extremely grateful that we found CD safe and sound after disappearing in such a large place with lots and lots of people!  What a blessing!

new trick

LM just started this yesterday.  I think it's pretty cute.  The kids get a kick out of it too.  (You may want to pause the music to the side so you can hear better)

preparing for winter

I have been wanting to make a reversible car seat cover for quite some time now.  I bought fabric and everything a long time ago.  But before making it, I was going to have to learn to sew.  Thanks to a friend I was given the very basics of how to operate my machine.  After about a month I had got as far as cutting the fabric, pinning it together, and sewing the two pieces together.  After having my project sit on my counter for a couple of months, it was time to be honest with myself... I was never going to finish a project I had to sew.

Knowing that winter was coming, and coming fast, I knew I wanted something to use.  So I decided to still make a car seat cover, but I cheated a bit.  I went out and bought some fleece - a material I figured I could handle.  Within a week I had my project complete - and just in time for the first huge snow storm!

I just cut and tied the edges - so much easier than sewing.  So all I had to do was figure out how to sew the straps on.  If you were to see my sewing job you'd be able to tell that sewing isn't my thing. But guess what, I did it!  And it works!  Hooray!  Oh, and can I just say, I LOVE the fabric!

5 months

On Thursday, November 18 our little LM turned 5 months old.  It's hard to believe that it has been that long already.  Like everyone says, she is still like a newborn.  From the scientific method of weighing me + baby and then me alone, I estimate she weighs about 8.5 pounds.  I think that's the big increase.  She also has increased the amount of food she is eating, so she really is growing!

our little princess

of course upon getting the camera out, everyone else had to join the picture

when we brought her home she was about the size of this doll

primary program

Yesterday was our ward's Primary Program.  The theme this year was, "I know My Savior Lives".  All the children in our ward had speaking parts and each one helped in writing their own part.  Both of our kids had their parts memorized and did amazingly well, requiring no help.  Here were their parts:

CJ: "A miracle is something that turns the sadness into happiness.  My new baby sister is an answer to praying for a miracle."

CD:  "He gives me food."   --Her class was asked how they know Jesus loves them.

Jon and I were very proud of our little ones.  Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Clint & Hilary, and Grandma Parker all came to support them.  It was a very beautiful program.

why oh why do I let them...

Most people have beans as part of their food storage.  Not us.  Our beans are for entertainment.

happy Halloween!

Here's a bit about our day while celebrating Halloween.

While carving pumpkins... Dad did most of the work - cleaning them out, that is.  CJ but his hand in a couple of times and thought it was pretty cool.  CD put her hand in, touched it, and immediately said, "that's gross!"  Mom carved her first pumpkin - Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  And Dad carved a dragon.

This was a rainy Halloween but we were determined to go out.  So we suited the kids up in their costumes and found umbrellas for everyone.  We even took LM out for a bit.  CJ was Mr. Incredible, CD was a dancing butterfly, and LM was a kitty.  Even though it was quite wet, it really wasn't all that cold.  I think I'd much rather deal with rain than snow.  Mom took the kids around after Dad took LM back inside.  Surprisingly we didn't get as wet as I thought we would.

While trick-or-treating CD would repeat almost everything any one at the door would say.  The cutest is when she'd say, "happy Halloween!"

Here are some pictures from the day for you to enjoy.