Four eyes no more!

Brooklynn has been pestering me about allowing her to get contacts. Not sure where it came from or why she decided she was ready but at her eye check-up last week we asked the eye dr. about it. He was more than willing to give it a try. He asked me if she was responsible and I had to say yes! She is such a great kid that way. She is very to the letter with directions and everything. It's nice! I'm very lucky. I never have to nag her to do her reading or homework. She usually is helping me remember what she needs for school! Anyway, they let her try some on and she loved them! She was so excited. She had to call Addy before we even got home so that she could tell her. It's been quite the adventure but once they're in she loves them. I know that she'll get the hang of putting them in soon enough. She looks so grown up now!

So random--and gross!

Found Brea standing in a pile of diaper guts. A book had torn a hole in the bum of her diaper and the yucky gel-type stuff was coming out. So nasty. She apparently thought so too! Little Miss Doesn't-like-weird-textures threw up after touching it! And let me just tell ya, that stuff didn't clean up all that easily. It's a pain! Gotta love the random parts of motherhood!

Brad totally stole my idea!

So the last time I talked to Brad on the phone, I told him what my kids were being for Halloween. Lo and behold, he went and stole my DJ Lance idea! The black underwear was his own idea though. ;)

Bubba's big day

I found some cute spider web pizzas online and tried to duplicate them for the Spiderman fan. Didn't turn out as good as the online ones but they were still cute!

The spider.

Proud to be three!

The presents. He had a hard time staying out of them until the party!

The three amigos.

Best buds.

Presents galore!

His three mother hens helping him. So cute!

And the best part for this little sugar addict was the cake!

Ever since Brooklynn's birthday, Bubba has been waiting and waiting for his turn. Every day he would ask, "Is it my birthday now?" I wanted to postpone it until the weekend but I knew he was just too excited. We ended up doing it today on his real birthday. He has been so excited all day! Three is such a fun age. He knows what is coming and has had a ball all day shopping for his party and looking forward to everyone coming. He has told pretty much everyone he has seen today that he is three. He is such a great little boy and we love him lots (and he knows it and uses it to his advantage daily!) :) Happy Birthday my handsome one!

Halloween--finally!

The Corpse Bride.
(She wanted to be this last year and I said no. This year I gave in and she loved it! The little kids were not a fan of this get-up!

My little Foofa (from her fave show Yo Gabba Gabba)

DJ Lance Rock (also from Yo)

All the cousins.
Averi, Alesia, Isabella, Brooklynn, Ashlynn, Lexus, Bubba, Brea, and Payton.

This was the first house we went to and Brea was amazed that she got a treat! She was pretty much ready to go home after this. Didn't quite understand that ya get to keep getting free stuff!

DJ and Dorothy

More loot.

So excited that they got a dollar!

After the baptism, the kids were all anxious to get home and get their costumes on. Well, almost all the kids! My nephew Payton decided he'd just like to go naked! We got them to cooperate for a minute for a couple of pictures and then they were ready to get out the door! It's always so fun for all the cousins to be together for stuff like this. They sort of break up into groups and just all do so well together. It's so fun for all them! We took the younger kids around the loop in my neighborhood and then Brea and Bubba were done. Amber and her kids left. But Brooklynn, Isabella, and Lexus decided they needed some more so we took them to a few more houses. They were the most excited that one house gave them a dollar! It was hilarious. What a great Halloween!

Halloween Baptism

Luncheon

The sweet baptism girl

The proud dad with his daughter

Bubba couldn't be found for pictures!

Our awesome family and friends. We are so blessed to have such awesome people in our lives!

Brooklynn's BFF was able to come. Thanks, Addy!

Brooklynn and her buddy Xander.

At first when we heard Brooklynn would be baptized on Halloween, I wasn't too in love with the idea. Halloween is a crazy day anyway and I was worried about asking family to ditch their regular Halloween plans and come to a baptism. But we have such awesome family and friends and when we told them the day they were all more than willing to come. It turned out to be such a fun day for a baptism. She'll definitely never forget the day she was baptized, that's for sure! We had a luncheon before the baptism and then Jeremy, Brooklynn, and I headed to the stake center to get her ready. She was nervous but super excited for her special day. After Jer and B got in their jumpsuits, a member of the Stake Presidency gave us an orientation talk just letting the girls (there was one other girl getting baptized) know what to expect. It was very surreal for me to be watching my little girl listen intently to these words. I just hope as her parents that we have prepared her enough for this day. We hope she'll always remember the special way she felt and the importance of the covenants she has made. We hope she'll always be grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and it will be a constant companion with her on her adventure through life. I am so proud of her for deciding to get baptized and for learning all she can about what it all means. We love her so much!

Pre-Halloween fun

Adrianne, Brooke, and I

With a creepy zombie.

Doing the different classroom things--Halloween bingo, decorating a cookie, a ring toss, and Halloween dancing!

The Halloween mamas.

In Brooklynn's classroom a lady told a spooky story and they got to have homemade rootbeer. This lady was amazing with her storytelling!

They made these awesome dioramas in their class. So fun!Outside of the Hollows.

Halloween week is always a whirlwind week! So many fun things to do and see. I love it even though I'm exhausted by the time it's all done (especially this year with a lingering, pain-in-the-butt sinus infection that has severely cramped my style!). First off this week was Thriller. Brooklynn got invited to go on Monday with our friend's the Peck's and then I went with some friends on Wednesday. After I watched it I was amazed that Brooklynn didn't come home more scared! Some of it is silly and cheesy but it definitely had a spooky vibe to it all. It was freezing but way fun to go with the girls and get spooked by zombies! On Thursday, Brooklynn got to wear her costume to gymnastics so she was thrilled. Friday was her class party. I volunteered to come in and help and it was a blast! The kids were so cute in their costumes and they had a great time going to different Halloween stations in each 2nd grade classroom. Then we of course had to hit the Haunted Hollows. The fraternity did it out at Willow Glen this year and I loved it! What a great Halloween week this was.