little randoms of today..

Today at preschool, Ava's class had a Thanksgiving 'feast', where they all brought some fruit for the meal, dressed up as Indians and pilgrims in costumes they'd made, and had a little feast together. She came home from school today more chatty and excited than she has all year.. she LOVED it. How cute is the little Indian headdress and shirt-thing they made??

Later on today, I told the kids we needed to go to Macey's for a few groceries. Macey's is one of Cohen's favorite stores to go to because they have 'race-car' shopping carts.. He's obsessed. Anyway, I mentioned we would be going to the store in a little bit, and the kids ran upstairs to "get ready". They came down a few minutes later dressed so random, but so excited about their choices I didn't have the heart to make any changes. So Ava went to the store in her fluffy skirt, dress-up high heels, too-small shirt, and self-done hair style. And Cohen felt the need to switch into shorts on this chilly day, then add some Dora sunglasses and Spider Man boots to accessorize. He originally had dress-up high-heels on as well, but he decided they weren't comfy, so luckily he made the last minute switch to the boots..

These two are becoming quite the best of friends :)

Follow the Prophet

Cohen's been in a singing mood lately. He'll get singing in the car, and it is entertaining to listen to because most of the songs he sings are made up and don't make any sense. And he likes to sing loud.

Cody and I just got called to be primary teachers at church, and this Sunday was our first day teaching. It was also the annual Primary program, where the primary kids put on a singing program for sacrament meeting. Cody and I had to sit up on the stands with our class, so even though Cohen is not in Primary yet, he got to come sit up with us. One of the songs of the program was 'Follow the Prophet'. The primary kids always sing that song the loudest and with the most enthusiasm, and Cohen surprised me by joining right in on the chorus! I was unaware that he new that song, haha :) And he sang with just as much enthusiasm as the rest of the kids. There is one line that says "Don't go a stray," but his version was "Don't go straight!", and he'd look right at me like and sing it like he was demanding me to not go straight. The rest of the day he had this song in his head, and would randomly break out in his version of the chorus. He likes to sing it 'loud and crazy'. Anyway, it was pretty cute, so I thought I'd try to get him on tape. He isn't as cooperative for the video camera, but it's still cute to see him attempting to sing :)

Happy Halloween!

Prepare your self for picture OVERLOAD.

A Halloween post has to be filled with lots of pictures :)

Every year our friends get together for our annual Halloween party. Now that the Taylor's are in New Mexico :(, Devin and Jessica have become the new hosts and of course they put on a GREAT party. It's always a blast to all get together and everyone's costumes seem to get more creative each year.

I don't have many pictures from the night, but here's a partial group shot.. missing Jessica, Mel and I (Jess was taking a more official group photo with a timer camera, but i don't have that pic yet).

Costume prize this year when to the Chickens!

Awesome costumes, Meagan and Ty!

We played some fun games, including this design-a-costume-in-5-min-with-limited-supplies contest. Our group won, with with Ty's kind cooperation to be transformed into hula babe!

Woody and Jessie, from Toy Story 2.

One of the best surprises of the night were when Mike and Jaime showed up unannounced!! They drove late the night before all the way from NM, just to be here for Halloween. Yay, we love the Taylors!

Moving on to Halloween Day:

Meet Toy Story 2 + Cinderella

Buzz Lightyear

Cinderella

Aren't they so CUTE?!

The kids were both SO excited to dress up this year. They'd been talking about their costumes all month. I made Ava's dress, and she had fun watching in all come together, which made her extra excited for when she could finally wear her dress to all her parties and trick-or-treating.

Sadly, it was pretty cold and rainy right during trick-or-treat hours, but the kids were too excited about trick-or-treating for us not to go.

So we braved the weather, took our umbrellas, and went for it.

It was pretty miserable at first.. it was so windy which made it FREEZING.

After shivering through a whole entire 3 houses, it was time to improvise. We took the carseats out of the Jetta so the kids could easily hop in and out of the back seat between every few houses to warm back up. The new plan worked out fabulous and the kids had the best time trick-or-treating. The rain eventually turned into a sprinkle and the wind died down too, so the last bit of the night was much better. Cohen had a blast.. He "flew" from house to house yelling, "To infinity and beyond!". And at 'scary' houses, he would shoot the decorations with the 'laser' on his costume. After each house he'd ask, "Can we go to another house?!?", not wanting the experience to end. Kids are so much fun :)

After trick-or-treating with the kids, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for our family Halloween party!

Bubba = scary, tall guy

He and his friends did a haunted porch again at my parents' house. They had six guys dressed up like this, all wearing stilts, creeping around the front yard. And they carved tons of pumpkins, had black lights, mist, and all sorts of other spooky stuff.

The Andersons = Cop & Robber

Todd was a hilarious looking cop! He reminded me of some dorky police man off Reno 911 or something :)

The Larsens = Oompa Loompas

Vanessa went all out sewing and creating these awesome costumes! They definitely took the cake for costume prize i think.

Mom & Dad = 50's

They win cutest costume prize :)
Ava was in total princess mode at the party. She was acting the part all night, all proper with gentle manners and pretty smiles. She was Vanessa's lovely assistant throughout all the games and activities :)

The activity of the party was playing Minute to Win It. Boozie and Devin modeled the game exactly after the TV game show, with actual clips of the show and everything.

Here's Todd attempting to knock down a standing pencil 15 ft away with rolling marbles. (The only one to accomplish this was Dad).

Cohen took a turn going for the pencil with the marbles, it was pretty cute :)

Here's a less than flattering shot of me trying to hook 3 keys in a minute.

(Todd was the only one to accomplish this task)

This challenge was funny.. Put an oreo on your forehead and keeping the rest of your body completely still, move the oreo to your mouth with only your face, not letting it fall. Cody had no problem with this one! (I had a picture uploaded of him here but I accidentally deleted it while typing and I'm not about to reload it and then bring it from the top of the post down to the bottom.. Anyone have any good advice on rearranging pictures in blogger, with a laptop? I struggle) Ava also tried out this challenge and actually just about got the cookie into her mouth!

Family Halloween Photo (Catudals your were very much missed!)

And that was our Happy Halloween :)

Preschool

I just wanted to give a little shout-out to Ava's new preschool

This is her with the 'principal' of her school Ms. Johnson.

And here is her teacher Ms. Ault.



Ava started preschool at the first of September and she LOVES it. Last spring, when I was looking around for a new preschool closer to my house, my mom mentioned this one, Peppermint House Preschool. She thought of it because it's where my brother Brennan went to school like 14 years ago, and it's still there! Ms. Johnson even remembers cute little Bubba :) Ava and I checked it out and she fell in love with the classroom and teachers, so we signed her up.

It's been such a perfect little school for her. It reminds me a lot of my preschool experience. She comes home with the cutest art projects, songs, poems, and stories. Because Ava already had her letters and sounds down solid, the teachers have taken time with her to start her on reading and she is loving it. She passed off her first set of sight words this week (a, the, for, are, he, ect...) and blend words (at, cat, fat, sat, hat, ect.) and brought home her very first book to start reading yesterday! She was so proud and excited to bring home her first reading book. It makes me happy to see Ava really enjoying learning and loving being at school with her new friends.

back again

Alright, I'm gonna do it.. I'm gonna start blogging again.

I hate to completely neglect my blog, especially with so much of my family and friends living away from Utah. The last few months have just been SO crazy! The kids and I moved home from Alabama at the first of September, and Cody came home 3 weeks later. And let me tell you, I've done the single mom thing plenty, but being alone and being pregnant and taking care of two little kids = complete and utter exhaustion. I thought I knew absolute tiredness from my last two pregnancies, but this third one has been another story all together. After Cody got home from Alabama, we went to Lake Powell which was heaven. Then Cody left on another work trip two days after Powell. Then he came back for a week. Then he left on a hunting trip the next week. Then it was Halloween time, which was fun and busy. And then after Halloween, I caught a cough and cold, which has lasted WAY longer than my normal colds.. I'm finally getting over that loveliness. Needless to say, I spent the months of September and October really busy and tired, and the beginning of November under the weather. I know I sound like I'm complaining. I'm just telling it as it was, and trying to justify my lack of blogging ;) This fall really has been filled with a lot of good as well, but I'm glad things have slowed back down to normal life.

So now that I feel sane again.. and at the persistent insistence of my dear sister in Hawaii.. I am going to resume blogging!

Nature Walk

This blog is in need of a new post, but there's nothing new to report on in Alabama. We are just counting down until we go home..

T minus 13 days!

It's been good minimizing for a summer, you know, being humble and all, in a little apartment with the bare essentials. It reminds me to keep things simple, and that you really don't need a lot to get by and be happy.

BUT, I am looking forward to returning to a few of the luxuries of life that I am beginning to miss...

Such as a vacuum. And a television. And a mop. And carpet that is NOT white. And an eating area that is NOT on white carpet. And kitchen counter space. And having more than one towel per person. And a king size bed. Living on ground level. A garage. Dry desert air. Evenings that cool down. Lying in the grass. A reduced bug population. Mountains.

My home.

You know, just to name a few..

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But enough of that. Where's some pictures??

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I was going though my pics of the summer and came across these of a little nature walk I took with my kids a few months ago while we were still in Georgia. Our apartments were in a really pretty place, very woody with lots of ponds, trails, and landscaping.

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We started by feeding the ducks that lived in the pond behind our building...

Then took off down the trails..

We threw rocks into the green water..
Admired the beautiful scenery..
Walked through the forest, as Ava would refer to it..

Unwillingly posed for pictures...


And willingly posed for pictures.

They got to touch a fish that a darling young southern boy who said Ma'am when he talked to me had just caught...

(can i teach my kids to say ma'am if i live in utah?? It's so sweet :)

Ava is my little plant lover buddie.

It was a fun few hours, well spent in nature.

Cohen Turns Two!

A couple weeks ago Cohen had his second birthday! Ava had been counting down until his birthday the whole month of July.. she LOVES a party. We invited all his 'Bama friends over for pizza and cake, and we had a GOOD time! Cohen was so darling and enthusiastic.. understanding that everyone was there for him. He felt so special; it made his (and my) made my day! I made him an Excavator cake because he is obsessed with tractors and trucks right now, and excavators are his favorite. The look on his face when he first saw his cake was absolutely priceless, worth every minute of late night work on that cake.

Cohen and Jeff admiring the cake and presents! Jeff is one of Cohen's new-found favorite buddies out here.

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you! It was fun having so many people singing to Cohen! Everyone in the office who was in town came to celebrate with us..(half the office was in another city in hotels for the week). Cohen LOVED being sang to. It's hard to hear in this video, but he sang right along with the whole birthday song.. so cute.

Next came present time..

Ava was right along with him to help speed up the opening process ;)

Cohen got a new soccer and basketball. He's got some pretty good soccer skills.. makes his daddy proud :)

One of Cohen's other obsessions right now besides tractors, is Toy Story. He and Ava are both way into it, and watch the movies all the time. They play "to infinity and beyond!" all the time too, jumping off the couch onto a pile of pillow. So we decided to get him Toy Story stuff for his birthday. Ava got to do the shopping with us and she had been SO anxious for his birthday to come so Cohen could "share all his presents with her." :)

He got his very own real Woody, Bullseye, Jessie, Buzz, and Zurgh. It was fun seeing how excited he got about every single gift.

Ava enjoyed Cohen's gifts too...

This is some video of Cohen opening his new Buzz Lightyear!

He loves his Buzz! He and Ava play Toy Story all the time now, and I think it's so cute. I'm so glad they have each other. They have become such good buddies this summer, and even though we are stuck inside a lot because of the extreme heat, they never complain and have fun every day playing with each other. It makes me so happy :)