Pumpkins

     The Monday before Halloween Joel took the night off and we went to my grandma's house to decorate our pumpkins and we decorated some sugar cookies that grandma made. Grandma even fed us dinner. Joel was sick the weekend before and his back was really sore so I think he really needed a break from working on the house. We had a lot of fun. My grandma, aunt Lora, and my cousin came along with my parents and my brother Brian and his wife.

     Annalyn painted two pumpkins pink and then my dad helped her to carve a face in a pumpkin. She also decorated several cookies and ate them.

     Brynlee wanted a bat on her pumpkin so her dad helped her to carve a bat. She also decorated several different cookies.

     Kyla really got into the whole painting thing. Everytime she saw me with the camera she would look at me and say "cheese." She painted for a long time. Then she decorated some cookies. Mostly she just put lots of reese pieces and chocolate chips on her cookie and then she would take them right off and eat them.

Joel spent a long time and carved a cool fancy face on his pumpkin. The picture doesn't do it justice because you can't see all of the intricate designs that are on the back and sides of his pumpkin.

     I helped with all of the decorating and took lots of pictures. It was such a fun night. It was just fun for me to enjoy watching my kids have fun.

     We had a lot of pumpkins at our house this year. I love how they all turned out. I love these girls.

Joel Turns 30

     Joel turned 30 during the month of October. I don't know how I feel about that. Mainly because that means I will be turning 30 in just a few short weeks. To celebrate the girls and I got Joel a few fun gifts including a movie, some candy, and lots of gatorade. We made him a pretty cool ice cream cake but I didn't even think to take a picture. Oops. I keep taking my camera with me but then I don't take any pictures. Joel's birthday was on a Sunday but since we planned on celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving on that Sunday we celebrated a little early. I made Joel come home early from working on our house on Saturady and we celebrated his birthday with his favorite dinner, cake, and presents. It was a fun day and some much needed time spent together.

     We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with Joel's family. His mom cooked a turkey and we had a good meal with pie and a birthday cake for Joel for dessert. Joel's mom put a huge forty on the cake for Joel. She thought he was turning 40. I am glad he isn't that old yet. I think that helped him not to feel too old.

     I think Joel has accomplished a lot of great things in the last 30 years. We sure do think he is great. Here's to 30 more great years spent with this guy.

September

     I started this post forever ago but things have been so busy around here that I am just now getting around to finishing this post. Here is what happened back in September. I hardly took any pictures this month but we were plenty busy. We still have a lot of work left to do on our house and December it getting close. I really hope we can meet our deadline and be moved in before Christmas. Part of the hold up is that Joel decided to do a lot more of the work than he originally planned. They were going to charge us $3,500 in labor to put up the siding so Joel decided he would do the siding himself. The insulation is also going to cost more than we expected so Joel is going to do the insulation. We still accomplished quite a bit on the house this month.

     Joel finally got the electrical passed and running. After the first inspection the inspector left a list of things to fix that was 25 items long. Joel fixed everything pretty quickly and the next time there were only four items that Joel was able to fix and it passed the next time. The heating and cooling guys came in and did all of the heating and cooling stuff. They put the fireplace in and all of the vents are in. I nailed a piece of board over all the vent holes so they won't get full of dirt. My job has been to clean up around the house. I have swept, vacuumed with the shop vac, and thrown lots of wood and garbage into the garbage trailer. It is an important job.

     Joel got all the siding put up on the house pretty quickly. He even found some shutters from work that they weren't going to use and he put them up on our house. My dad came over and did most of the caulking. My brothers and my sister in law came and helped a little too. It was huge blessing that we got the siding up in time; some help showed up right when we needed it. The next Saturday we had all kinds of help and we got the whole house painted. I think it looks pretty good. Now Joel just has to do a few more things and then hopefully the house will pass the framing inspection and then we can start insulating.

     The kids and I spent lots of time playing outside. Me and the little girls would play outside while we waited for Brynlee to get off the bus and Brynlee loves playing outside so we would usually let her play for a few minutes before we went back into the house. They love swinging, playing on the trampoline, and collecting mushrooms and other treasures.

      Brynlee is still loving school. She loves riding the bus and sitting by her friend Athena. She has made several new friends that she enjoys playing with, and she is learning a lot. She likes to teach Anna what she learns. she can read us some of the paper books she brings home and she is constantly singing the songs she learns. Brynlee also started doing TaVaci this month which is kind of like a show choir. They learn songs, sing, and learn some acting skills. Bryn really likes it especially since two of her really good friends are doing it and sometimes she goes to play dates at their house after it is over. She is a little bit disappointed that I didn't let her do ballet because that is what she really wanted to do but she loves the costume she got and I think she is going to really like it in the end. Brynlee also did her part in the primary program this month. She said, "Jesus was baptized by immersion." She said it nice and clearly with no help and then that same Sunday I helped her give a talk in primary. She sure is growing up.

     While Brynlee went to TaVaci, I would sometimes take Anna and Kyla over to the park to play while we waited for Brynlee. They loved that. They miss Brynlee when she is gone but we have found lots of things to do to keep busy. We have been going to the music class at the library again. Brynlee comes with us when she is home but when she is at school it is just me and the little two. Going to the grocery store with only two kids has been a breeze. Usually Annalyn is my challenge at the store but when she is the oldest one she gets to be my helper and she takes her job very seriously and is a great helper. She loves to help me with whatever task I am working on. She has found lots of things to keep her busy. I miss Brynlee when she is gone but I am enjoying the quiet moments I get to spend with Annalyn when Kyla is sleeping. Kyla gets really jealous of Annalyn lately and has been a real momma's girl. I sure do enjoy spending my days with these girls.

     I had Jury Duty toward the end of the month which required me to call into the courthouse every day at 5 to see if I was needed. They put me on stand-by on Friday and I had to call in. They made me call twice and then they still weren't sure if I would have to come in but in the end they called and told me I wasn't needed. Thank goodness. I really didn't want to drive all that way to the courthouse and I was really worried about leaving Kyla because she had been teething, super fussy, and she had the runs so I was changing several poopy diapers a day. My grandma volunteered to watch my kids but I am glad she didn't have to watch them in the end. It was a little stressful for me because I don't like the unknown of what I have to do with my day.

     We went to stake conference, I took Brynlee and Kyla in for their check-ups and found out that Kyla had Impetigo on her thumb and under her nose so she had to be on antibiotics to get rid of it. That girl hated that medicine. She really fought taking it.

     My girls have been begging to put up Halloween decorations all month. They have them up in all of the stores. I finally let them put a few decorations up the last week of the month. My mom gave them some pumpkins and Annalyn decided to paint them so we spent the last day in September painting pumpkins. Kyla loves painting just as much as the other kids. We painted those pumpkins for a long time. Anna's was mostly painted pink. Brynlee painted a cute face on hers and Kyla just had fun painting. I guess overall it was a pretty good month. The house is really coming along pretty well. I just can't wait for it to be done so I can have my husband back.

Annalyn is 3 and 1/2

     Miss Annalyn is now officially three and a half. She sure is a sweet and cuddly girl. She loves to be held and rocked whenever I will rock her. She is great at playing with and entertaining herself and she loves playing with Brynlee and misses her so much when she is at school. She is learning to play with Kyla but does not like when Kyla messes up her stuff and she will sit on her or push her away. We are working on that. She loves pretending to be a princess and she loves dressing up like a lady bug and playing with her animals. She loves to color and she can spend a lot of time drawing or coloring a picture. She likes to take her time when she does things. She insists on buckling her own seat belt, putting on her own shoes, and getting things that she wants all on her own but she takes forever when she does it. Annalyn is really the best little helper and such a hard worker. She likes to come and see what I am doing all the time and is constantly offering to help fold the laundry, make dinner, or change Kyla's diaper. She has been good at helping Joel to clean up and work at our new house. She hands him things he needs and likes to help sweep up the floors. She sure is a sweet little girl.

     A few days ago Annalyn asked about when her birthday was coming up and I told her it was almost her half birthday. She talked about her half birthday that was coming up for weeks. I told her there were no presents or cake but I let her help me make cupcakes. We made cupcakes with pink frosting and lots of M&Ms to celebrate Annalyn's half birthday. She made sure everyone knew it was her half birthday that day. HaHa. I think it was a good excuse to make some cupcakes.

     Annalyn still struggles a little with her speech but I think she is getting a lot better. Most of the time when we are out with Brynlee, Annalyn is just content to let Brynlee do all of the talking. She talks a lot at home and I can almost always understand her. Annalyn loves having long hair and is constantly having us look at how long it is. She loves to let me fix it in braid and fancy ponytails. Her favorite thing is to look on pinterest for new hair ideas. She finds a do she likes and I try to replicate it. I have really enjoyed fixing her hair but I am not that great at it. Good thing she doesn't know it yet. She loves animals and she likes to hold the cat at grandma's house. I did find her putting the cat in a little butterfly net and carrying it around the house one day so the cat doesn't usually stick around anymore when it sees Anna.

     Annalyn has been struggling at night time and does not want to sleep in her bed. She keeps coming out with all kinds of excuses and she complains every time I make any kind of noise. There were a few times when she would sneak out on the carpet and lay in the hallway where she didn't think I could see her and she would fall asleep there. I would just carry her to bed before I went to sleep.

     Annalyn has all of these little wart like things all over her neck and there are some on her stomach, bum, ankles, and elbows. Mostly there are a lot on her neck. She had one on her neck and she picked at it and it spread all over her neck. Apparently it is something called molluscum contagiosum and it should go away on its own. She had had them there for at least 7 or 8 months.

     Annalyn sure is a fun and happy addition to our family. I have really enjoyed having more time to spend with her while Brynlee goes to school and Kyla naps. Annalyn is really just a content kid. She is good with going where I want to go and doing what other people want to do. She is fine with staying home all day and just happily plays with her toys and does her own thing. I so am glad this little girl is mine. I tried to make a video with Annalyn telling me some of her favorite things but Kyla ended up waking up from her nap right before we started making the video. Sometimes it is hard being the  middle child. Here is the video we came up with.