Happy Halloween!

 Carving Pumpkins:  Kristi, Tyson, Kira and Kinsey, Chandra, Bracken, Brian, Melissa, Steve, Zedek, and Spencer took the picture.  Tyson: Owl Pumpkin, Chandra (and Daddy): KittyPumpkin, Bracken (proudly designed and cut out on his own): Bat, Kristi: Toothless the Dragon, Melissa: Larry Boy

 The kids had fun at the YM/YW Halloween Carnival.  Bracken thought the vampire teeth he won were awesome.

We had a week full of fun and dress up!  Bracken was a cowboy for the YM/YW Halloween Carinval, a Ninga super hero for Shay's work party, and a race car driver for trunk or treating.  Chandra was a princess, except for Shay's work party when she decided that morning she wanted to be a fairy pirate. (I'd never even heard of a pirate fairy before). So that morning we made Chandra a fairy pirate wand out of paper and ribbon, used a pirate hat Melissa made out of newspaper ages ago, and pulled on black boots and butterfly wings from the dress up.  With Bracken dressing himself as a Superhero ninja (blanket turned into cape, super hero goggles, and mismatched swords) they kind of looked like homeless trick-or-treaters next to all the other kids' store bought or parent made costumes.  But they were so proud of themselves. :) 

On Halloween we went to Shay's work party lunch/trick or treat, and that night went to our ward trunk or treat.  They had a blast and got way too much candy.  On the way home, Chandra kept saying, "This was such a fun day.  Such a fun day!!

Ready for the trunk-or-treat!

 Kira (dressed up as myself), Brian and Kinsey went as doctors, Chandra as a princess and Bracken as a race car driver. 

Church Parking Lot

We love living close to a church!  We play at the church parking lot multiple times a week...raking the leaves into piles, jumping into them, riding bikes, exploring behind bushes.

Our wonderful backdoor neighbors gave Chandra this trike.  Their grandkids were all too old to use it. She adores it, and rides it everywhere.  She especially loves the "trunk" that she uses to store all the treasures she finds on our walks or while exploring. 

 The boys helped me try out "panning,"  a camera technique where I followed them with my camera with a slow shutter speed to make the background blurry and them sharp to show motion.  It was fun for all of us.

We love having Tyson come visit us!

Kinsey likes being outside.  And we LOVE that she's started smiling.  Her baby smiles and the way she tries so hard to "talk" to us is adorable. She doesn't actually coo much yet, she just waves her arms and legs, smiles, and opens and closes her mouth and takes little gasping breaths over and over.  We love her!

Goodbye Binkies

I know, I know...she's three years old.  I was one of those parents who said I would never let my child have a binky.  But Chandra was addicted.  Only at bedtime, but she absolutely loved her binky.  She'd ask to go to sleep just so she could have it.  We've been meaning to take it away from her...for the last two and a half years!! We had several attempts where we gave up.  But now the binkies are no more, and here's how it happened:

My awesome sister-in-law Sally called me one day and said, "I think you should get rid of Chandra's binkies." I told her I agreed but wondered why she'd called to tell me.  She'd just been to the orthodontist with her daughter who sucked her thumb, and was looking at spending $7200 for braces. And they're going to be the painful kind.

I told Chandra about this, and that we needed to get rid of her binkies soon.  That night she asked me for her binkies and I truthfully told her I didn't know where they were.  She got a sad look on her face and then said, "Oh, yeah, I know where they are.  They're in the garbage." She took me to the bathroom garbage and showed me her cut up binkies.  Apparently Bracken had overheard me tell Chandra about their cousin, and the two of them decided to cut them up and throw them away.

She was pretty sad that night, but Kinsey shared her soft pink blanket with the owl and that made Chandra cheer up.  She's named the owl Tweet-Tweet and sleeps with it each night.  So thanks to my kids making it happen....No more binkies.