This Is Halloween

 Halloween this year was awesome, it was AWESOME! If I do say so myself :)

To start, I really prepped so well and so ahead of time, I'm very impressed with how I pulled it off. My favorite part was the kids REALLY getting into it this year. They were so excited to help put decorations up, they would switch the count down each morning, they talked non stop about their costumes and going trick or treating. Here's a bit of a breakdown of how our whole Halloween went.

Costumes: We bought our costumes the last weekend of September (a bit of a gamble that everyone would still want to be what they picked come Halloween, but it worked out). We made sure to do try-ons the first week of October to make sure they did fit (and didn't need to be exchanged). We also checked to see what extras we would need for the day of.

Larry chose Mario so he could have a silly mustache and he (and the kids) love Mario so it was great...and silly. I didn't feel like dressing up and had nowhere to go in costume so I just got a couple shirts to wear the weekend of. I'm not even too sad about that either (in the future I may just pick characters I love from movies/shows and pick a favorite outfit and buy that so I'm not wasting money on a costume I'll never wear again, but I get an outfit I'll wear over and over haha)

Cara ended up being a unicorn, we were able to find a pink shirt and pant combo in her closet that went well underneath and would keep her warm enough. Her rainbow tennis shoes went so well with the outfit and would be great to walk in. We also ended up getting some jewels for her face to make it sparkle (my compromise because she wanted to have makeup on haha). It all came together so adorably perfect haha.

This pic is from the try on, not the full costume

Gwen went with Miraculous (aka ladybug). We found some warm black clothes to wear underneath. And instead of the blue wig, which she hated, we got some blue hairspray to use. She decided no on the gloves (which were fine, because they seemed a bit too small) and had to go with just regular tennis shoes that didn't fully match, but they worked for lots of walking haha. Everyone made comments on how cute she was.

Lucy decided to be a kitty cat. We found a black outfit to wear under her outfit as well as some cute black furry booties. The only thing we needed to add was some black makeup to make a nose and whiskers. She didn't love the hood, but we had some cat ear hair clips we could try. They didn't match and she ended up wearing the hood as we left the house (and then took it off for trick or treating) so no real ears for her, but everyone still knew what she was. Even being shy, she was a pretty precious kitty.

Pierce we made a little monster. I mean how could we not? Haha. He didn't need anything for his and was the absolute cutest chunkiest monster in the entire universe!!

Decorations: We went through all our decorations the last week of September so I'd know if we needed to buy anything. We also got rid of old decorations that we didn't need or won't use anymore. I did find some cute bloody window clings at Smith's that I was figuring out where we'd put them. But once I figured it out and we went back they were no longer there so I had to order some from Amazon and ended up getting a bulk pack that we only used some of haha. Cara really got into decorations this year. Her favorite thing was driving to and from school and looking out the window at everyone else's decorations. She kept asking when we were going to put ours up and when I asked her to choose between a creepy or cute thing she'd always vote the creepy one haha. 

We got things hung up the first weekend of the month and it was SO great! It didn't take nearly as long as I worried it would've and they stayed up pretty well. The girls love everything, even the freaky stuff (they asked repeatedly to see the bloody handprints even though they were scared of them at first haha). I loved how things turned out and walking through our house had little reminders of the holiday, which is exactly what I wanted.

We also went driving around our neighborhood after dinner one night (the week of Halloween) to see all the decorations lit up. It was so awesome seeing how much people get into it. Now that our neighborhood is HUGE there's plenty to see and it's such a fun tradition.

Pumpkins: We bought our pumpkins in the middle of October at Ridley's, who had quite the options and all were VERY large. We started to carve them the 26th so they'd stay "fresh" enough for the day. We only got the kids done, which is ironic since they didn't choose carve faces to put on theirs. Cara went with a unicorn set (of course) and Lucy and Gwen did pirates. Larry and I chose the It clown face for ours and he ended up doing it while I napped on Sunday (the 30th...better almost late than never, right?). They all turned out so cute!

Day of/Trick or Treating: We bought our candy from Costco in early October and then Larry ordered a bulk mix bag off Amazon as well so we knew we'd have plenty to cover us.

Unfortunately, Gwen, Lucy, and Pierce got hand, foot, and mouth this last week and I got some weird flu/nausea sickness yesterday so the day off was pretty dreary for us, but I still made sure to take the kids out and get our usual costume pic so it worked out. We just went out for about an hour (just around our circle and a few houses across the street), but the kids really seemed to like it and they definitely ended up with enough candy. They love coming home and watching our projector and handing out candy to the other kids. We ended up getting about 150 trick-or-treaters and quite a bit were what looked like high school aged kids and I love seeing them enjoy their childhood as long as possible.

Overall, our Halloween was great! The only downside is we didn't really do any activities like a pumpkin patch or corn maze or anything. We got pretty busy and it just never happened, but the kids definitely didn't realize anything was missing. That and the sickness I would've changed haha.

Going on a Train Ride

One thing I've always wanted to take the kids on is the Heber Valley Railroad Train. I read they do all sorts of themed rides throughout the year and couldn't wait till the kids felt old enough to do one (they tend to run at nap times or later than I'd like to take young kids, especially since it's at least an hour drive away just to get to the station). Well, about a month ago Marie said she could get us discount tickets to ride the train today (not themed, just a regular train ride) and when she mentioned it I wanted to go, but the ride was right at Pierce's last nap time. I asked Larry what he thought and he was for it so I figured we'd go and just wing the day (I figured he'd probably nap on the way home so at the very least he'll have that nap). I was secretly excited to see how the kids would do on it and to show them what a real train ride is like.

Luckily, between when we made the plans and when they came to be Pierce dropped his 3rd nap (if he ends up taking one during an errand it doesn't throw the night off, but he doesn't need it) so the whole nap situation wasn't an issue. We made sure to head to Heber during the big nap time so that anyone who needed a nap could take one (Pierce and Gwen did, but Lucy and Cara completely stayed up, of course). The drive up the canyon was amazingly colorful and so pretty to see. I couldn't get sick of that view!

We got there a little early, but luckily they had some fun things to keep the kids entertained while we waited for Marie. The girls loved picking up the fall leaves and throwing them up in the air saying "surprise!" haha. 

Can't get Lucy to look for anything, but best shot I got

Once we got on the train we luckily had seats that could be switched so we could face each other, which was nice with the kids. Marie also brought snacks, which is a must with kids (I probably should've thought of that myself, honestly). We got started and the girls had fun looking out the windows...for about 15 minutes. Then they decided to play the "lets see how much moving around we can get away with before someone tells us to sit still" game haha. They did have some people doing little skits that entertained the girls and there was another baby next to us to entertain them (and Pierce, a little bit as well haha). Fortunately, the ride is just long enough that they didn't get stir crazy, however I was telling Larry in the beginning that this would be a nice test run to see if they'd handle doing the Polar Express ride this Christmas, but after seeing how they didn't want to sit still very long I figure maybe it's something we'll wait for next Christmas to do. I do want to do it, but I'm not paying THAT much for them to just wiggle around.

Once the train ride was over we headed over to a nearby playground so the kids could wiggle and we could feed Pierce his 5:00 bottle. They girls had SO much fun there (they may have liked it more than the train ride haha). Gwen got brave and tried the slides, which was amazing to see (she's always been too scared to go down slides on her own, but for some reason decided to try it on her own this time). Lucy was climbing all the rock walls and ladders she could. Cara loved to show off her swinging skills. Pierce enjoyed the grass and his bottle haha. 

Overall it was a fun adventure with the kids. They had fun, I loved watching them, and it was one of those everything worked out perfectly well all day, which makes me so happy. Bedtime even worked out so well, even with Pierce and the older girls taking late naps (Lucy of course boycotted all nap opportunities today...typical 2 year old!).

Pierce is SIX Months

   I am SIX months old!

I like: watching my sisters play around, the sound of my laugh (he'll literally be laughing at nothing, but he'll laugh and then laugh at the sound of his laugh), watching dad mow the lawn, being lifted in the air, being flipped upside down, when we pretend to eat his belly, and when dad shakes him to make his voice shake (by thunking his chest or shaking his legs, etc.)

I have a very similar pic of Gwen with a
Towel like t his haha

Sleeping with feet crossed

I dislike: being hungry, tired, or put down when he's not ready to sleep (it seems when Larry just puts him down he cries, but when I rock him a bit he does better)

I am now: wears 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. At his 6 month checkup he was 20 lbs 1 oz. He's now in the 80th and 90th percentile for height, weight, and head size haha. Super chunky!

He handles his sisters SO well

A Typical Day looks like: 

Wake up around 7:30. He'll sometimes sleep in a little, and sometimes he wakes up early and we just leave him be (IF that works, he's iffy on if he wakes up happy or not).

8 get a 7.5 oz bottle (4 oz breast milk, 3.5 is formula)

8:30-9:30 wiggle & giggle time. I'll put a show on for the girls at 8:30 and put him in his activity table to walk around in (he seems to really like that)

9:30-11 nap time in his crib (we usually have to change his bum, turn off the lights, give him his lovey, and then set up down and he'll put himself to sleep within 10 minutes, if he's ready for a nap)

11 next 7 oz bottle(4 oz breast milk, 3 formula)

11:30-12:30 Lunch and wiggle & giggle / hang out time. We feed him about 3/4 of a small container of food while we eat lunch. Then he hangs out while we clean up.

1-2:30: nap time in his crib. Same routine as before. 

2:30 next 7.5 oz bottle (4 oz breast milk, 3.5 formula)

3-3:30 play/hang out time

3:30-5 hang out with dad while he works out. We stopped doing a nap at this time since he'd just fight it SO much. We just pushed his 2nd nap later so he slept later and lasted till bed time fine enough.

5 he gets a 4 oz breast milk bottle (just enough to hold him over, he's usually not hungry enough for more than that)

5:30 dinner time. He'll eat almost a whole small container at this point. 

6-7:15play time

7:157 oz formula bottle

7:30/7:40 start bedtime. Sundays and Thursdays start with a bath, then it's diaper change, pajamas, a little cuddle/rock while we read to him, and sleep by 8.

Playing in the nursery each night
To get him used to it

This Month: We moved Pierce to his own room the week of the 12th. We had the week off so we decided it was a good time to get rooms set up and get him moved over. I was BEYOND nervous, like I don't think I've ever felt so anxious about moving the baby to a new room. Larry and I had been sleeping in the guest room and giving him his own room, but I knew that was silly to have it like this and why wait till he turned 6 months to move him? It definitely took some getting used to for him, we had to let him cry it out a bit. BUT by the end of the week he was used to it and we were all sleeping so well. He's now used to it and the girls are used to their rooms (that took some time too) and things are feeling so much better now. I'm VERY relieved and look forward to more fun moments.

Ordering his new room stuff was pretty exciting!

We also started putting him up to sit (with many soft things around him to catch him if he falls) and I'm blown away with how well he's done so far. He doesn't stay up long, but I swear this was sooner than all the other girls and I'm so excited to be able to give him more toys to play with.

Update on last month's goals:

• Move Pierce to his own room: Done and done! SO happy we were able to accomplish that. We also stopped using the owlet and gave him a lovey. Things I'd normally be too nervous to do, but it hasn't been too bad.
  
  
• Get used to eating more baby foods: he's still very messy, but he is getting better at eating and seems to have favorites and non favorites (like green beans...he HATES those haha.
  
  
• Practice rolling from belly to back: He's got this down! He actually figured out rolling really well this last month and he's a rolling champ haha.
  
  
• Practice sitting up and scooting: Bubs is SO good at sitting up now. He still needs cushions around him, but he's good at sitting on his own. It feels so early for it, but he's ready. 
  
  
• Introduce Pierce to football season: Also done! Glad the girls are used to it so they just expect it now haha. Keeping a baby entertained during the games isn't always the easiest, but now that he sits and grabs his toys he is entertained a bit more. 

Goals for next month:

• Work on scooting and crawling more
  
  
• Prepare for teething...I'm sure it's coming and I'm a bit scared.
  
  
• Prepare for Daylight Savings Time to end...another thing I'm nervous about.
  
  
• Introduce him to Halloween and take out Trick or Treating!

Gateway Discovery Children's Museum

Now that Summer is winding down and we can't go swimming we've been looking for ways to stay entertained. Now that Pierce is getting older and sleeping better I'm feeling SO much better about getting out more. Larry mentioned today that we should go to the Children's Museum since it was free (I couldn't remember it being free, but thought it would be fun to go again, we haven't been since Cara was about 1 ish). 

Unfortunately, it is NOT free, but it is a lot of fun for kids. They had a few new areas that I don't remember from before. There were some areas that weren't as nice as I remember them last time, but the kids didn't really notice, obviously. We almost didn't have enough time there this time as they wanted to spend so much time in each area. We had to talk them into moving on to the next section. I think the helicopter might have been everyone's favorite. I loved sitting with Pierce and watching the girls just play and figure things out. 

There was this derby car hill/track thing and I watched Cara find the cars, climb up to the top of the hill, put the cars in the right spots, and figure out how to pull the lever to release the cars down the hill. It was pretty cool to see her look around and figure it out. At one point Gwen had gotten hurt and was having a hard time calming down, but Larry took her to this spot that had light fabric pieces and a wind tube and you put the fabric pieces in the tube and it releases them into the air. That seemed to calm her down almost instantly. Lucy found a fun cart thing kids could ride and figured out how to ride it all around the area we were in (it wasn't as easy as it sounds). Pierce liked looking at books haha.

We had a lot of fun and then had to leave (my least favorite part of fun activities is forcing the girls to leave something they enjoy). I realized at that point we touched A LOT of things and my hands felt SO gross so we made sure to load up on sanitizer as we were leaving. I also made sure we washed our hands when we got home. I'm going to be getting some Airborn at the store tomorrow for us to take so we can make sure we don't get TOO sick from all the germs I'm sure we've brought home haha. 

Anyways, we had to pay more than we thought, but it was well worth it. There's HOURS of fun at this place and I'm so glad the kids had fun. 

Making the Most of our Summer

So with having a new baby at the beginning of the Summer we didn't do a whole lot. I'm one that will be a bit more strict at the beginning of the baby days to get them on a good routine and sacrifice our normalcy. That meant not a lot of getting out of the house. Normally, it's been fine, but with the girls getting older I did feel bad about keeping them inside so much and not having ways for them to get their energy out. Not to mention I wanted them to have more memories of this summer (even if they'll forget them in the future). I will say losing Baby Girl (our cat) really made me realize we needed to make sure we were having good times now, rather than waiting till later. It shook me up a bit more than I thought it would.

With that being said, we've been able to make the last bit of our summer a lot of fun. We made sure to get Cara and Gwen out swimming at our neighborhood pool for the last few weeks it was open (we switched off who got to take them during nap time on the weekends. Larry would do a Saturday and I would do a Sunday). The girls made HUGE strides in their swimming abilities this summer. They ended last year with Cara being okay being in the pool with floaties, but wouldn't put her face/head anywhere near the water if she could help it. Gwen always wanted to be held with floaties on and didn't want to swim much on her own. This summer Cara started taking her floaties off and walking to as far as she could, she'd practice holding onto the side and going to the deepest end, she also would jump into the pool in our arms then jumped in on her own with floaties on or into our arms without the floaties, but didn't mind if she went under a little. She also started practicing holding her breath and going under the water on her own. Gwen started jumping in and swimming ALL on her own with floaties on. We even got her jumping into our arms with floaties on as well. Both girls were so brave and earned many suckers for trying so many new things. We also practiced a lot of kicking to get them used to the swimming "pose". 

Swimming wears them out

We also had fun summer treats. We got some otter pops and had those anytime we went to play outside. But then we also got s'more makings and roasted marshmallows on our bbq and had lots of those. They were SO yummy and I was glad to have fun treats to share with the girls.

The marshmallows were a hit with this

We played a lot in the backyard. I made sure when Larry went back to work I'd send the girls outside during Pierce's first nap of the day so they could be loud and play and he could get a decent nap. I'd get them some snacks and water and make sure they had something like sidewalk chalk, play doh, coloring things, etc. Cara also learned to swing and became obsessed with it. It was really nice to let them get outside more and I feel it helped with nap time. I also loved being outside with them. I'd let them play while I worked. I'd take little breaks to swing Lucy (who LOVED being on the swings this summer) or do some homework items with Cara. It felt like I was really engaging with them and having good bonding time. On days it got too hot we let them play out back in the morning (when we had more shade back there) and then we'd play out front after dinner (when we had more shade there). The girls loved getting on their scooters and bikes and run around or race each other. We may not have gone far, but they had lots of fun.

We even took some family walks with Pierce in the carrier. He seemed to love being outside. This was a HUGE relief because in the beginning it seemed like taking him outside messed with his sleeping at night so we really didn't get out much, but him getting over that and liking being outside really helped make our summer more special.

So overall our summer might not have been ideal, but we still found ways to make the days special with the kids and I look forward to many more summer with the kids.