Halloween pics

carving pumpkins
painting pumpkins decorating sugar cookies with Grandma Beatty

this is how Jake decided he needed to eat his cookie.

Cute little cowgirl and giraffe

the trick or treating party

We were lucky this year to go trick or treating with friends and my mom. Too bad I didn't get a shot of Jake from behind. The giraffe constume had this big padded bum that would shake from side to side when he walked. It was so funny! Now I will be rationing candy out for the next two months and sneeking some to the garbage as well!

Birthday Babes

yay presents!
Cute cousins!
Thanks Aunt Shelly for the #5 and #2 tee's.
ahh....this boy finally got a train!

Sorry I didn't get pics of them with all the lovely gifts they got, but thanks so much everyone - they love them all.
Spider cake - since their party was so close to Halloween I decided why not!

Two candles on the front for Jake and five on the back for Carly.

Not sure black frosting was the best choice:)

Their birthdays are a fun time, but always a little sad to see them grow-up. I sure do love these two little sweeties!

Carly's party with her friends will be on Friday so more birthday pics to come!

LEGOLAND

We flew into John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California

Halloween Night at Legoland

Carly, Ellie, Tyler, Jake

We went to Legoland with my sister Shelly and her family. It was the first time I had met her baby Ellie and the first time she had met Jake. It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them. Carly and Tyler got along great.

Then we headed over to Carlsbad Beach to take some pictures. Shelly took some great pictures (I'll post those later). These are a few that I took. It was a chilly day and of course both kids fell in the water and were covered with sand. Luckily we had all of our luggage in the rental car so it was a quick fix. Trying to build a sand castle The moment right before she fell in:)

The waves are so mesmerizing.

We then said goodbye to Shelly and headed up to Santa Ana in Orange County where we would be flying out of the next day. We spent the afternoon playing at Newport Beach where, unfortunately, I left my camera in the car. It was warm and sunny and the kids had so much fun splashing in the waves. They LOVED going out and running back as the tide came in and out and we did it a million times at least. Carly collected a bunch of shells. Jake watched a boat come in. We all played in the sand and splashed around - it was really great. Then we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up. We decided to go to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We took them there since it was so close to their birthdays and that was where we took Carly for her first birthday in Vegas. Hopefully we can have many more birthday dinners at Rainforest Cafe - so fun!

The next morning we had to get up at 4:30am to catch the early flight out (gotta love flying stand-by). It was a great flight and we all came home and took a nice long nap!

Quick update:

Staples are out and his wound is healing great!

No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed!

Carly and Jake were playing on my bed while I was brushing my teeth yesterday. I heard a big thud, screaming and Jake laying on the floor. He fell off the bed right onto the corner of the nightstand. I picked him up and blood started gushing from the back of his head. As I held back the tears I though ok, what do I do? Call 911, go to the ER, call Brian (who was in Canada so he wasn't going to be any help), ahhhhh what do I do!! So, I calmed myself down, calmed him down and tried to look at the wound. He quit crying after about 3 minutes and the blood was slowing so I decided to call his doctor and ask her what I should do. She said to bring him in, so I did. As we were driving to the doctor, Carly sheepishly told me that she tripped him and that was why he fell. I told her it was just an accident so she wasn't in trouble, but you should have seen her guilty little face. She felt pretty bad. Anyway, the doctor numbed it by injecting litocaine into his scalp. Jake didn't budge as she was poking him, not even a whimper! Then came the staples - 4 total. She began stapling him and again, not a flinch a cry or anything. At this point she actually asked the nurse if he was still breathing and sure enough he was just enduring it so bravely. Then he got to pick the color of bandage he wanted and he picked this neon green color. So, now I am calling him my ninja warrior because he is wearing this hilarious green bandage around his head. Today you wouldn't even know he was hurt. He is acting totally normal and just running around with me running right behind to make sure he doesn't bump the back of his head again! Oh, my poor brave little boy! So, he has tried three times today to get back on my bed and I just keep telling him, "No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed."

A bit graphic - sorry.

My little ninja warrior
Where's your owie?

Girls weekend in Phoenix

Back in July, Carly and I went to Phoenix to see our friends the Wilkins. Katie and I took Ashlynn and Carly to see the broadway version of Beauty and the Beast. Carly had been watching the movie for weeks before we left so she really knew the story well and loved Belle. It was so fun. The play was really good and the costumes were amazing. The girls loved it. When Belle came out with her yellow dress on (near the end of the play) the girls jaws dropped. Carly kept saying, "thank you mommy, thank you this is so much fun." I'm sort of surprized she sat through the whole thing! We went out to eat, had some good girl talk and then flew home the next day. It was great and hopefully we can make it an annual event! (Yes, Katie I stole all of these pics from your blog since I forgot my camara!)

First day of preschool 2009 - Better late than never!!

Sure school has been in for a couple of weeks already, but didn't she look cute!! She is loving it and I am enjoying some time to myself since Jake is usually asleep while she is at school.