Halloweekend

Ben's Mom and his sister Nancy and her husband and kids came to visit us for halloween. They arrived thursday evening. On friday after the girls got out of school, we got started on making treats for a halloween tea party.
the girls set the table and made place cards for everyone.




Evie suddenly loves her animal train again now that her cousin Tommy came and likes playing with it.

Kara did really well at her soccer game saturday morning. It was really muddy and cold, so she and some of the other kids were upset by the end of the game. Later that afternoon, we went to a halloween party hosted by Ben's boss. It was really fun, and decorated super cute.

I made costumes for the first time this year. We were cavemen with a cave baby. You can't see the picture very well, but Evie had a cute little bone on top of her head. I loved her costume the most.

Vicky forgot to bring a costume, so luckily we have this cow costume she was able to wear. Here she is indulging in a little snack.


and...planking?...
my lovely princess peach and Halloween princess. I'll have better pictures of their costumes when they go trick or treating.

all the kids at the party. It was sure a lively group of kids, and hard to get a picture with all of them looking.

Evie fell asleep about 5 minutes into painting pumpkins.

Kara and Kiersten both worked really hard on their creations.

Nancy and I decorated a halloween gingerbread house with the girls. it was fun, though there were a few mishaps. We also made halloween suckers for the kiddos to take to their class party the next morning. It was a projecty day.Be on the lookout for cute trick-or-treating pics in the next day or two!

puppy party and playing at the park

This morning Kara and Kiersten hosted a birthday party for one of kara's stuffed animals. It's a puppy that they both love to play with. Kara did ask permission to make some decorations, but when I said okay, I didn't realize she was gonna be taping stuff all over the wall. The little purple dot near the center is what Kiersten made and GLUED to the wall. Good thing glue sticks are washable. the long, skinny things are tails for "pin the tail on the puppy". Kara said this was the party photo. Then she said, "this is the funnest party I've ever been to!" So I guess next year we can do this exact thing for her birthday and save a couple hundred dollars.

and the guest of honor with his birthday cake. I suspect that they just used their leftovers from snack time to make it though...

The party was going fine, until I saw Kiersten laying on the stairs with her eyes squeezed shut. I asked what she was doing, and Kara said, "I'm being her mom, but I wasn't keeping an eye on her at the party, and a man came and took her in the woods and shot her." I usually let them play what and how they want, and use their imaginations, but that one was too much for me. i told them I don't like them playing games about killing or guns, and that they had to play something happy instead. Kiersten jumped up and said, "a big dinosaur came and got the bad guy, and I came back alive!"

Last week I took the girls to the park to play. It was the first nice sunny day in a while. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

Kara was a little disappointed to have to sit in a baby swing. Sometimes there is a normal swing there instead, but not this time.

Kiersten is so proud to be able to pedal her bike on her own. The other day she pedalled all the way around the block twice by herself when we went on a walk. usually she gives up and walks or rides in the stroller. I was glad not to have to push or carry the bike home for once.

Evie got to swing for the first time. She kind of liked it.

She also got to slide for the first time too.

in with the new.

I really missed my family in utah on new year's eve. For some reason, I just really missed them all this year, and couldn't help wondering when I'll be spending a holiday with them again. I know, pity party, but if you know my family, you'll understand why I miss them so much. We had a fun new year's with the girls, despite my missing being in Utah. Here are a few pictures of the festivities. we had a few confetti poppers and things, but since it was pretty cold out, we set them off in the kitchen. Ben was nice enough to clean up the mess, but I did find a few of the caps in the livingroom the next day. Those things really flew!

Kara wanted her picture taken with the mess, silly girl.

Kiersten got to drink out of the glass with no straw too this time. She talked about it all night, how she did such a good job.

toasting the new year. sorry about the mess in the background, we were packing away Christmas decor earlier in the day.

We spent a good amount of the evening playing wii party, which is Kara's new favorite thing to do. Even Kiersten could play some of the games. But at midnight, we went downstairs for the countdown, and to play some party games Kara planned for us. She made us do a freeze dance, and the limbo, and karate. I don't know why karate is a party game, but I guess it is, so we had a competition. I was out in the first round. I think Kiersten won the championship. Ben and Kara were better at limbo than Kiersten and me. Evie was already in bed, and had to miss Kara's party.

Kara is back in school this week. She wanted me to take a picture of this snowman she made today. She was the class helper today, and also took her birthday party invitations, so she was pretty happy to be the center of attention so much at school in one day.

I got this popcorn popper from Vicky for Christmas. We have never had one since we've been married. The girls didn't know there was any way to make it, other than in the microwave. So they have thought this is pretty cool. We've already used it 8 or 9 times. I think I took this picture the first time we used it. Don't they look impressed?