Happy Halloween

 Halloween is becoming a more and more beloved holiday. People, it seems, deck out their houses more each year than the last and parties become more extravagant. I'm not a hater, I love Halloween, but maybe not as much as others. I never quite get into the spirit of things before the holiday is over. But, here are our spooky festivities we have been enjoying.

To start off the season, Baylub had an art project at preschool. The teacher asked him to make a Halloween picture out of the pieces of yarn. Every other kid made a pumpkin. I asked him what his picture was of and he said "It's a spider that's been shot. Those are his legs." I'm still laughing about it. Wow!

Somewhat unrelated but also funny, we had an FHE lesson on sins and the atonement. Very simple. To give you an idea, our spirit was represented by a paper towel, sin was ketchup, and the atonement was a bowl of water. Anyway, a few days later, Lulu was commenting on how Siya's skin was peeling on her forehead. She then gasped and said "Oh no! She can't go live with Heavenly Father." I was quite confused by her statement and asked her why. She said "Because she has skins. She can't live with Heavenly Father." I tried not to laugh and talked with her again about what sins are. It's amazing what kids do (and don't) absorb.

We had a super duper Halloween Preschool party. As you can see, Siya didn't allow me to get many good shots of the party. She was HUNGRY!

The goodies were darling; mummy dogs, spider cheerio treats, ghost cookies, cake pops, and a graveyard bean dip. The potion drink was ornamented by a peeled grape with a tiny olive making it look like an eyeball.

We painted pumpkins..

... or plastic pumpkin buckets.

Toddlers in costume are so CUTE!

Our costumes this year are Jo as a chicken (recycled from last year, it is just too cute to pass up) Baylub as a dragon, Lulu as Belle (a sassy Belle apparantly), and Siya as a black cat. 

Lu's hair made her look so princess-ish, like a ballerina.

We went to a ward trunk or treat that was PACKED. We circled the parking lot pretty quick and many were already out of candy. Lu wouldn't go to some of the cars that were a little too scary. Jo wasn't phased and Baylub was brave! 

We can't wait for our actual Halloween night. Jo wouldn't go to sleep without her bucket of candy by her bed.

Goldie

Meet our new pet "fish" Goldie.

A few weeks ago, Baylub picked up this rock while we are at the beach and dubbed it his new pet fish.

He's tried to feed it raisins and peas and has cleaned out it's water twice. He says that Goldie is the cutest fish in the whole world. I hope our landlord doesn't find out. We do have a no pet policy in our contract. I suspect that he won't mind.

Anastasiya Megan

She is finally here!

7 lbs 5 oz, 20 in, her arrival was much more long and difficult than I anticipated but we made it with a prize worth every second at the end.

We decided to be cruel to our new little girl and give her a difficult name that she will have to explain and spell out for people for the rest of her life. It is the russian pronounciation of "Anastasia." Ah-nah-stah-SEE-yah.

Jo right before she fell and chipped her other front tooth on the hospital floor.

He nickname will be Ana... or Siya... or something cute.

We are all so excited and happy she is here and healthy and safe.

It's Hard To Be a BYU Fan

This is how we started off our BYU vs U of U game party last Saturday.

We had bean dip and cherry 7up (wink wink Brad)...

we were all so excited.

We even tossed the pig skin around to help get our jitters out.

Now, Adam says, these pictures and video will forever remind us of the day that BYU had their b***s handed to them

(that word is "butts" which is still a bad word at our house)

Pre-School 2011

Another wonderful school year of coop preschool groups begins! I feel like my kids are growing up SO FAST!

Baylub's group is moving up to sight words and doing more independent things, cutting with no help, writing in upper and lower case letters etc. He's with a great group of kids.

This was Lulu's first year in her own group instead of tagging along with Baylub when it was Mom's turn to teach.

I call this her school morning pioneer picture. I don't know what is with her expression.

Jo and I have been having so much fun just the two of us for a few hours. At least for a few more weeks before baby buns number four decides to arrive.

Four

Four

Three beans

Three chicks

Three peas in a pod

Three friends

Three foes

Three heads start to nod

Three hands in my own

Three hugs to enjoy

Three tummys

Three bummies

Two girls and one boy

Three laughs

Three cries

Three screams to appease

Three blondies

Three babies

Three scrapes on three knees

Three is enough and

Three still need more

Three always loved but soon

Four I’ll adore.

Preschool Graduation

Heading to our little party in Ladera Ranch, I kept thinking about that scene from Pixar's "Incredibles" where Mr. Incredible is arguing about going to his son's graduation from the 4th grade to the 5th grade and having ceremonies that celebrate mediocrity. I laughed to myself. Not that I think our home preschool program or results were mediocre, I just thinking calling this a graduation is funny. All the kids will be in preschool again next year. We just wanted an official party to celebrate all of the hard work (mainly the moms') done this year.

Our little group of kids including siblings like Lulu and Jo not in school yet. We played at the park for a while before having lunch and getting our official prizes.

Jackson's mom made these awesome super chocolaty graduation cap cupcakes!...

They were thoroughly enjoyed. Lu is not crying she is just trying to smile while covered in frosting.

as is Baylub.

Each child showed a project they completed this past year. Baylub showed an owl. This was actually the last project he finished. Unfortunately, the garbage ate all his other projects throughout the year before I could stop it. I am obviously not very sentimental. And, he made a TON of projects.

After getting his star, certificate, and cute cute t-shirt, all thanks to the other creative moms in our group.

The back includes the handprints and initials of Baylub's classmates, including Marisa who moved to London a few months back. She was sorely missed.

The graduates (the ones wearing the white t-shirts)

I really am so grateful to the other amazing moms in our preschool group. They were all so dedicated, creative, and most importantly, patient with all the different personalities in our sweet group. Teaching this year has helped me really appreciate what kids are capable of as well as how different each child is which really does make them so special. Here's to a great year and hopefully another good one scheduled to start this fall!