Halloween 2014

I love that we are into November already!!  I love the excitement around Christmas time (I know a lot of people get annoyed when Christmas is all around before Thanksgiving ... but not me!!) and the weather is finally cooling off a little bit.  The kids have been loving the Halloween festivities and loved trick or treating at our ward party and again on Halloween night.  The countdown to Baby Harbor #3 is really on - I have approx 3 weeks left (I will most likely schedule my induction tomorrow for Nov 24)!  Here's to catching up on blogging before Baby arrives ...

Just snapped this sweet photo of Ryan and the kids playing a game on the ipad.  Jax and Avery love to sit on his lap (and climb all over him) when he comes home from work. 

Ryan had been playing basketball in a city league and even though many of the games were later than I wanted the kids awake, I tried to go whenever I could.  It's funny how much anxiety the games give me ... I am sure when my kids are older and playing, I will be the crazy mom in the stands.  The kids liked to cheer for their Daddy  and were often yelling "hi daddy" in the middle of his games.

Playing dress up.  Iron woman & Spider man.

Role reversal. Spider Lady and Iron Man.

Ryan & his friend took Jaxson on a fun guy trip last weekend.  Jaxson loved shooting the gun and hiding in the hunting box.

Trunk or Treat night. Mario & a Pumpkin Princess

I think his mustache is a bit too big.  Guess we should have trimmed it (he only wore it for the picture - I don't blame him!).  Ryan and I had a disagreement though ... Is Jaxson's mustache on correctly or should it be flipped 180 degrees to be the real Mario?

Love that Avery actually smiles for photos now and I wish I had her skin coloring!

Donut eating contest ... Jax might have used his hands a bit...

pumpkin broom ball

They got quite the load from the Trunk or Treat

Next Halloween activity ... pumpkin carving. The kids actually didn't like touching the insides and thought it was gross - especially Jaxson.

The final result.  A ghost (picked by Ryan), General Grievous from Star Wars (picked by Jaxson), and Minnie (picked by Avery).

Avery showing off some of the cute apple themed art work she made in preschool. 

Another Halloween activity:  Decorating sugar cookies.  I think the kids just liked eating the candy more than decorating, but at least they enjoyed it!

Ryan caught me mid bite of my cookie.

Halloween Day ... our pre trick or treating dinner. Mummy dogs, jello brain, and Frankenstein pudding cups.

Pure joy right??

Take 2 on the mustache.  He only wore it for about 2 minutes this time.

This cutie was ready to go and insisted on holding her bucket the whole time even after it got really heavy.

Yesterday, Jaxson tested for his orange belt at Tae Kwon Do.  He did a great job and passed.  This is his instructor presenting him with his belt.  Way to go buddy!!

Jaxson posting with his new belt alongside his best cheerleader!

Sept-Oct 2014

I have taken a lot of photos recently and figured it was time for another long blog post with lots of pictures and minimal writing ... and I only have 5 weeks until baby #3 comes so I wanted to make sure I was caught up on everything.  Here is what we have been up to the last few weeks ... 

Sometimes when I am trying to get Avery to take a nap or sleep at night, I will give her something to keep her mind occupied while in her crib.  This time she choose a giant elephant and I thought it was cute she fell asleep on it. 

Avery officially started preschool at the end of September.  Doesn't look excited at all eh?!   I am not allowed to bring her to my ultrasounds (which are getting more frequent) and having her at my other various doctor visits was getting hard.  There was a opening spot in the 2 year old class at Jaxson's preschool, so we decided to put her in.  She is LOVING it!!  I love that Jaxson and Avery get to do lots of crafts and art projects at school because I am not very good at doing them at home.

First day of preschool for Avery.  Um, I love these kids!

The kiddo's helping me at mutual one night at the church.

Snack time at the table.  Avery wanted to sit by Jaxson, so they scooted their chairs together :)

Pumpkin painting!  I was trying to be a cool mom and let them do something fun (aka messy).

After taking the vinyl face off

Attempt at getting them to listen to conference.  They got treats from the various cups when they heard specific words ... it worked for a bit.  Maybe in a few years when they are older it will work better.

Avery has been asking ever since the pumpkins to paint again.   During this time (2 weeks ago) I was also potty training her, so she got to paint as a reward for doing so well.

Guh Goh Harbor sent the kids some awesome blankets and bed sheets!  The kids love them!! Thanks to Erika and Christine too for helping to tie them!

During the potty training process, I didn't put Avery down for a nap because I was worried she wouldn't get out of her crib and pee in there.  Well, she was obviously tired enough and fell asleep on the couch like this.

Yay, Karen (my sister) and her hubby Alvin came to visit us last week!  The kids LOVED having them here because they would play all sorts of games with them.

We took them up to San Marcos for a bit of outlet shopping on the rainy day.  Avery was pretty stoked to be in a new vehicle (gotta make room for baby #3, so we got a van!)

On Sunday, we cooked a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner because we weren't up in Canada to celebrate.  It was fun having Karen there because it motivated me to make thanksgiving dinner.  I think this is the first year being in the US that I have actually cooked a turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving. Like our aprons?

Yummy....

Yes please.  The leftovers are gone, boo :(

On Tuesday, we headed down to the Alamo and Riverwalk to show "Kalvin" (Karen and Alvin's nickname) around.

LOVE this photo of Avery Jo and Daddy

Sitting on a cannon

Riverwalk

We also couldn't pass up the $3-fill-your-cup up deal at Aspen leaf.  Nom Nom Nom

Jaxson loves the colorful flavors (he picks based on color)

I just put a bunch of candy in Avery's.  Love that big smile of hers!

After Jaxson mixed his 3 flavors together (pomogranite, cotton candy, and cake batter) and his ice cream turned purple, he declared it tasted like grape :)

It was a nice 85 degrees outside, so we went over to the pool for a swim. It was windy outside, and the pool isn't heated, so it was actually fairly cold.  It didn't both the kids at all, just the adults.

Good thing Kalvin was there to jump in and swim with the kids when I didn't want to!

Last day with Kalvin, sniff.  We dropped off the kids at preschool and went to the church for some awesome volleyball - so fun!

We took the kids to Sea World on Friday because Avery has been asking for a while now if we could go.  Jaxson requested the Shamu Show.

What a good Daddy - bought the kids cotton candy

Happy and sticky

He plays follow-the-leader too!

He goes on the spinning rides I doesn't want to take the kids on.

And he takes them on the Merry-go-Round too.  What an awesome guy!!

I was very glad the splash park was still on for the kids because it was 90 degrees outside (good grief! it is mid of October - please cool down soon!).  The kids had a blast running around cooling off.

Just one last cute photo I snapped of the kids before left Sea World.