Happy Halloween!

All day Kenzie has been saying, "Is it Halloween? It's not dark yet!" I tried to trick her, since she already has a good-sized bag of candy from preschool and Daddy's work. I asked, "Should we go trick-or-treating or do we already have enough candy?" She thought long and hard, and then carefully said, "We still should go trick-or-treating." Smart kid.

This year we had one very excited Sleeping Beauty and one happy tiger. Tiger mostly just liked his pumpkin bucket.

I loved the sly look Parker had. Too bad Kenzie has a hard time holding a smile while we wait for Parker to look the right direction.

I don't care to dress up for Halloween, but it sure is fun to dress my kids up!

A tail shot!

"It's My Blog, I'll Do What I Want"

That's what I was muttering to myself a minute ago as I started posting even more random pictures of Parker. I just got a kick out of him today.Welcome to Halloween - Time of the Eternal Candy Pile. That was one enjoyed sucker, though.

He dropped it on the floor, so I felt bad and gave him mine. Then he lost interest and stuck it to his pants. (I really must say, if he wasn't my kid I'd probably think this was gross with how dirty he is. But as his Mommy I think it's cute!)

He really loves his birthday gift from Uncle Mike. He went up and down the hall wreaking havoc.

Why is it that little boys show their love by tackling?

My favorite picture of the evening: Little Parker and his panda friend, marching off down the hall together. Yup, there you have it. This blog will never get an award, but I sure am proud of it!

Parker at 17 Months

Little Parker, a man-on-the-go. In his own words, "Go go go go go!"

"Ta-da!" He still loves peek-a-boo.

This is as close as I could get to a posed smile. Kenzie was making as many faces as she could!

Zombie Attack

Tonight I had a little Halloween party for Achievement Days, and Kenzie was so excited! She had her Sleeping Beauty costume on an hour before and was really a good helper for me.

She even got to be a mummy. "A princess mummy," she corrected me.

Once the "big girls" left, Parker and Kenzie got a chance to play Zombie Attack. (Essentially just bowling with a pumpkin, trying to keep the zombies at bay by knocking them over. )

Parker set the game back up again and again for Kenzie.

He was also the cheering section. Hooray for zombies!

Worth It for the Seeds

Mmm, as I'm typing this I'm also finishing off some roasted pumpkin seeds. Chris makes them every year and they're worth touching all that pumpkin goo and smelling that weird pumpkin smell! (Oh, and the kids were happy, too.)

Kenzie wanted circle eyes and nose, and a happy mouth. She then dictated that Parker wanted all ovals.

Parker didn't care, but the pumpkin was fun to play with. Ready...

...ta-da!

What a cute little man!

And what a little stinker!

Kenzie was jumping up and down and running around with excitement. There really wasn't much she could do, since she wasn't about to touch the insides of the pumpkins and she can't use the knife. She was still thrilled that she got to pick 3 of the 4 pumpkin designs. I wanted to make a cat after seeing it in a magazine awhile back. I thought it turned out kind of cute, actually.

Happy Halloween!

From Scribbles to Faces in 2 Months

This morning I caught Kenzie poised with a green marker, ready to doodle all over her pumpkin. I told her we were going to carve them later, but she could practice what face she liked on some paper. She has been drawing all day! Always the same face for her pumpkins, though: "Circle eyes, circle nose, happy face with no teeth!"

I loved that this one had eyelashes. "Kenzie, wow! You made eyelashes!" I told her. "Yeah," she said, nonchalantly. "They're just like Ones." All that drawing sure tuckered her out!

Pickin' Pumpkins

Meet one happy little girl, Kenzie, about to pick out her very own pumpkin. And one for Parker. And then run around like crazy while Mommy and Daddy fend for themselves.

Meet one happy little boy, Parker, about to try and heft a pumpkin. He grunts. He laughs. He falls in the dirt. He runs off.

Happy Kenzie, still running around, still with one pant leg stuck in her boot.

Happy Kenzie, not really pushing one full wheelbarrow of 54 pounds worth of pumpkins. Eagerly plotting shapes for her jack-o-lantern. Trying to convince Mommy that a good night-time snack for the way home would be Happy Donald Meals.

Leaves are Falling Down

Every time Kenzie sees a leaf flutter by, she yells, "Mom, look! It's Fall!" It's getting to be quite the common occurrence.

Parker didn't want to sit in the grass - he wanted to sit in this chair.

Anyways, I took some pictures because Kenzie got her hair trimmed today. She decided to let her hair get longer (when did she get old enough to decide??). Also, I can tell I'm going to have a hard time getting a picture for a Christmas card this year. Parker is not interested in looking towards the camera, despite the amazing range of silly noises I can make. I'm going to have to stoop to bribery already!

Getting Comfy

Nothing like being cozy in your dino jammies with the panda bear.

Nothing, that is, except being cozy in your Pooh Bear chair with your special blanket while you watch cartoons. What a rough life this kid leads!

A-maze-ing Corn

I have always wanted to go through a corn maze, but with little kids I didn't want to be lost for hours in the huge one at Thanksgiving Point, so we just went to a smaller one out in West Jordan. Kenzie and "Hoppy" led the way. She thought it was great to be the leader and pick which direction we went. Every once in awhile Daddy, who held the map, would suggest an alternate route, but mostly we just followed Kenzie.

The sunset was pretty in the corn field.

This picture says "fall" to me. Jackets and corn fields.

At first Parker would only let me hold him, and my arms were getting tired. When he decided to get down and walk with Daddy, it was great for many reasons!

Coming out of the maze. It looks like it took forever with us leaving in the dark! Kenzie jabbered the whole way home about finding the exit and making it through the maze. She was very proud of herself.

Where the Wild Things Are

If you've ever wondered where my odd sense of humor comes from, now's my chance to blame a part of that on my Grandma Hubbard. She sent McKenzie pajamas from Where the Wild Things Are. Kenzie hasn't read the book yet (note to self: get from library), so she held it up and said, "Is it a polar bear?" My grandma just laughed and said it was soft, so she couldn't resist.

It is very soft, making our little girl extra snuggly. She thought the "thorns" (horns) were hilarious and wanted her picture taken.

Little Hockey Fan

It's funny how "hockey" was one of the first words Kenzie learned, too. Here's Parker saying, "Hockey," and his new phrase of choice: "Oh, man!" (Isn't it amazing how I can keep finding mundane things to gush over!?)

The Most Terrifying Thing in the World!

Yes, peanut butter and jelly is terrifying. At least, according to my kids. I was running low on groceries so for lunch I made a pb&j sandwich, cut it into fourths, and put two pieces on Parker's tray and two pieces on a Barbie plate. What ensued was almost comical. Parker screamed and twisted in his chair, trying desperately to get as far as possible from the offending object. Kenzie sobbed and sobbed, begging for Daddy to come home and feed her something decent, like the grilled cheese she eats the other 364 days of the year. I just stood there with my eyebrows raised, amazed at the magical powers of fear I was able to unleash with a mere butter knife and spoon. And now Daddy has a nicely quartered sandwich to take for lunch.

Jammie Buddies

If you've looked at this blog more than twice, you've noticed the pattern: I don't need any reason to post something trivial. So here it is - new pajamas tonight!

Plus this was too sweet not to post. Parker giving a "hug" to his sister by snuggling up to her. (Almost makes me forget all the yelling they did this afternoon. Almost.)

"Oh, No!"

I don't have much to post about right now. We spent all weekend quarantined in case Kenzie had the flu. I think she just ate something bad, but better safe than sorry. So, for my own amusement I made a video of Parker saying my favorite phrase: "Oh, no!" It's one of those things I don't want to forget when he gets bigger. (Although I have a feeling "Oh, no!" will describe a lot of things this little guy will get into in the future. He's a typical boy!)

Keeping Up with Kenzie

"Look, Mom, I'm Daddy!" Kenzie's imagination is always going full tilt lately.

For example: "tracks" in powdered sugar across the floor. Apparently the bag of powdered sugar made a good pillow for the glass slipper. When it ripped open, it was even more fun. (This was awhile ago - Chris took a picture, thinking it was funny. It took me a few weeks to agree!)

Can't get mad at such a sweet girl, though. She is a good big sister, and Parker sure loves "Kindee."