Family Pics, Thanksgiving, and more...

This year I decided that I wanted to host Thanksgiving since I'd never done that before. Grant was a wonderful help... honestly, there are times that I don't know what I'd do without him. We had a small gathering of people: Grant's sister Amanda and her husband Jeff along with their 4 kids, along with Leslie who is Grant's other sister. Dinner was delicious (as I'm sure everyone else reading can attest to), and we had a lot of fun. My biggest fear was the turkey, but Grant helped a lot with that so it turned out great. After dinner we rented a movie and spent some time down at Jeff and Amanda's house. We slept in the next morning while everyone was out doing their Black Friday shopping. Then we relaxed the next day watching movies until Grant's brother and his wife (Nathan and Stefani) came over. When Grant went out to the car shortly after, he noticed that our stereo had been stolen out of our car. Honestly, I wasn't ticked- I was mostly just annoyed. Because of that I had to call the police and deal with that whole headache. I just hate it when people are dumb. Luckily the cops were really nice, and I actually enjoyed chatting with them and the CSI lady (who dusted for prints). It was just an extra thing that had to be done, so that bugged me. Honestly, we can't wait to move from here. Hopefully it won't be much longer.
So that was our fun Thanksgiving. We also just got family pics, so it was fun to look through those. I didn't take any pics of Thanksgiving, but here are a few from our family pics we got done.

Getting big...

I figured I'd better post these things about Hunter while they're fresh on my mind. I'll start with the funny story first. Hunter recently saw one of his cousins standing up while they peed. He thought that was quite interesting and wanted to give it a try. He couldn't quite get it at first, and he was getting quite frustrated. He even tried to stand ON the potty... I'm thinking that he didn't think he was tall enough. Anyways, he recently has got that down and is getting better at it. He still misses occasionally, but I guess that's what happens with boys. One thing that is funny though is that he still insists on taking his pants and underwear off before doing that. He just thinks they do not belong on him while he's going potty. Okay, so now onto the funny story. As he was still getting the hang of things, this one day I walked past the bathroom and he was looking frustrated and looking on the floor. I just thought he had missed. Well apparently, he didn't understand that you only stand up to pee.... yep, that's right. As he was peeing standing up, he had to poop as well and pooped on my floor. As much as I don't like having to clean poop up, I couldn't help but laugh. He hasn't had that problem since, but it sure was funny while it lasted.
Another funny story I wanted to mention... last week Hunter and Grant were wrestling a little bit and Hunter bumped his nose and ended up getting a bloody nose. I took him to the bathroom to clean it up and what does he ask? He wants a picture of his bloody nose. So I called Grant in laughing my head off and asked him to get the camera. Hunter loved posing for those pictures.
The next thing I wanted to mention is how proud I was of Hunter this last week. I cut his hair and he was actually good. Now just to give you some background on this, he has NEVER liked getting his hair cut. It usually takes 2 people to cut his hair.... One person to hold him down, the other to cut. Plus, it usually didn't look very good because he was moving all over the place. I have even sat on him to try to cut his hair before. It was a struggle. Well, this last week I asked if I could cut his hair. He agreed. I turned on a movie for him in my room to help entertain him. He sat and watched the movie while I cut his hair no problems. I don't know where this came from, but I am loving it. I just hope he keeps it up, because I was actually satisfied about the cut this time. Now, I'm not saying it's perfect- I cut it. But for me, I thought it was pretty dang good. It just looks like my little boy is growing up.
As for Ayla, she too is getting big. It's crazy to think how fast time has gone. She is just this little person now, and I am loving every minute of getting to know her. Daylight savings time really screwed her schedule up though, so that was a bit annoying. But even with that, she is typically sleeping 10 hours a night any more, and I'm hoping she keeps it up. I LOVE my sleep, so this has been wonderful. She is starting to "talk" more every day as well and it is so fun.
Anyways, here are some pictures of the kiddos.






He wouldn't let me take that yellow shirt off at first, but eventually let me. Oh, and he kept getting mad at me standing in front taking pictures... I was blocking the movie and he couldn't see. So this is sort of a smile, and sort of a "get the heck outta the way!"

Halloween!

This year for Halloween we went down to Provo to visit Nathan and Stefani. We got there Friday night, and had an enjoyable evening watching movies and playing with their new puppy. On Saturday, we spent the day visiting, and then headed out to do a little shopping. Grant had decided to make his famous White Chocolate Raspberry cheesecake for Stefani who had never had the opportunity of having it. And let me just say... YUM. I love that my husband cooks, let alone some of the best cheesecake ever. Honestly, whenever we go out to eat and I order cheesecake, I am sadly disappointed anymore. Anyways, after we got the ingredients, Grant and I came back and turned a movie on for Hunter while Grant made the cheesecake. After that, we got our little cuties dressed up for Halloween. It was so much fun. Hunter actually understood what was going on this year which was great. He was a fun little spider. He didn't end up making it to too many doors though because at the last house there was a lady dressed up as a witch... she did such a great job. Hunter was a little stand off-ish. He sure didn't know what to think of her. After that house, he asked to go back home. Which we were totally fine with by the way because he really doesn't need that much sugar. Well, I guess I should say we ALL don't need that much sugar. Let's face it, of course the parents are going to dip into the Halloween stash. :) Anyways, we ended up dressing Ayla up like a mouse since she squeaks so much. She was a fun little mouse too. Honestly, I think I want my kids to dress up all the time. It was sad to think that they only dress up like that 1 day a year. And by the next year, they are too big to fit into their outfits. What a waste! So I'm hoping that Hunter wants to wear that spider outfit around because he was so cute it in, and had so much fun.
After trick or treating, we came home and ate dinner with Nathan and Stefani and then we watched another movie. Afterwards, we decided it was time to hit the road. Luckily, our kids are great at being put in their beds after being asleep in the car. We had no problems with that.
And the great thing is, I was so worried about it being daylight savings time- but there was no problem with it at all. At first I thought- great... I'll be up at 6 in the morning. But Hunter slept in until about 7:45, and Ayla woke up about 7. It was wonderful. I love that Ayla has been sleeping so well lately. Honestly, I don't know how I'd handle a child that didn't sleep well. I've heard so many horror stories about people's kids who sleep 3 hours a night until after they are a year old. I could not do that.
Anyways, that is how our weekend went. Lots of fun, lots of candy, and some fun time with family. Who could pass up that combination?

Ayla's 2 month appointment

Ayla had her 2 month Dr. appointment today. Poor girl, I hate it when they give shots. I know they're important, but it's so sad to see them jab that needle into their little legs. Needless to say, she's sleeping right now. It sure is rough on them.
Anyways, all went well with the appointment. And we got her stats in as well. I thought it would be fun to compare Hunter and Ayla from their 2 month appointments. At 2 months, Hunter was 24 inches (60th percentile), 12 pounds 12 oz. (75th percentile), and a 40 cm. head circ. (50th percentile). As for Ayla, she is 22 inches (55th percentile), 11.6 pounds (90th percentile), and a 36 cm. head circ. (3rd percentile). So basically he was bigger overall, but as far as percentiles go, Ayla is a chubby little baby compared to him. Yes he was taller and had a BIGGER head, but she is chubbier. The funny thing is she is only 1 inch taller than he was when he was born. So basically she's short and chunky. I love it.
It's hard to believe that Ayla is already 2 months old. She continues to make me smile every day. Here are a few things that Ayla has been up to:
She has the best internal clock ever. She goes to bed at 8. Not 7:45, not 8:30, but 8.... every single night.
She usually sleeps for about 7-8 hours which means she typically wakes up about 4. And after she eats, she goes back to bed pretty quick. I'm usually only up about 30 minutes to take care of her. And she's so good at going back to bed on her own now. Even if she's awake when I lay her down, she knows it's bed time, and she just goes to sleep on her own. I love it. Then she sleeps for another 3-4 hours.
As far as nap time goes however, I have a more difficult time with her. She is spoiled. It's like she thinks that her bed is for BEDTIME, not for NAPTIME. Occasionally I can rock her to sleep and get her to sleep in her bed, but typically the routine is the swing. Boy does she like that swing.
Ayla is such a happy little girl. When I change her diaper in the middle of the night, or go to nurse her, she usually looks at me and gives me the biggest smile. That makes waking up in the middle of the night totally worth it.
She LOVES to have her hair brushed. If she cries after getting out of her bath, I can just brush her hair and she calms right down. What a girl.

While I'm at it, here are a few things about Hunter:
He is currently learning how to put his underwear and pants on after going to the bathroom. He hates doing it (a lot of time he says "I can't), but he can do it. The more I have him do it, the better he gets. And lately, he hasn't been complaining as much about having to do it. And I haven't had to help him with that for a few days now.
If he walks up to you with 3 fingers in the air and doesn't say a word, what he's trying to tell you is that he's 3. The first time I saw him do this it was hilarious. He had just had his 3rd birthday and we were at the doctor for his appointment. While I was checking in, he walked up to random people with his fingers up and didn't say a word. They had no idea what he was doing.
Hunter loves his little sister. He is always asking to hold her, and wants to help constantly. Sometimes, a little too much. :)
Hunter loves to help me do chores. Especially the laundry and the dishes. I just hope it stays that way for a while.... maybe that's too much to hope for. :)

We just love our kids.

As far as the rest of the family, we spent this last weekend carving pumpkins. Hunter had a blast. He loved pulling all the gunk out of the pumpkins, and he loved it when Grant lit the candles and let him blow them out.
The next day we enjoyed some time together making suckers. My mom just recently gave us all of her old candy making stuff, and we decided it would be fun to try it out. Grant didn't seem too excited at first, but apparently had a lot of fun because he decided to make another batch later. It was a little hard doing around Hunter since it was so hot, but Hunter loved it. And of course, he really enjoyed the suckers.
Anyways, here are some pictures of what we've been up to. Enjoy!




I love putting bows on her, but I feel so bad when I take them off because they always leave an indention on her head.




Hunter putting his pants on.




Funny faces... he loves the camera.


This is what he does to random people everywhere...


Hunter loves Ayla.






Carving pumpkins


Hunter and Daddy watching movies afterwards.

Who wants a 3 year old? Anyone?

So apparently I didn't get upset enough the other day when Hunter destroyed my house every time I fed Ayla. Today, he topped them all. Once again, I'm feeding Ayla, Hunter disappears. When I finish, I walk downstairs to see him with scissors cutting up my porta crib that is practically new. I bought it a while back at a great deal even though Hunter didn't need one anymore, so I just barely started using it when Ayla was born. Honestly, I want to keep him in his room the rest of the night. I am FURIOUS. This is how I found it. Anyone know how to repair mesh on porta cribs?

Pampered Chef

I'm looking for hosts for November and December shows. The Pampered Chef is doing a sell-a-thon for consultants during those months. If I sell a lot, I can get new spring products for free. You can do a catalog party, cooking show, or an open house. November hosts save 60% on our Simple Additions pieces, and December hosts save 60% on holiday favorites (snowman platter, plates, and cookie press). Any help would be appreciated.Thanks!