Halloween

Eric promised me a foot rub if I post this tonight so obviously I am. I don't know why he cares, I think it has something to do with how much he likes to show off his kids.

Halloween was almost a week long event here. It started with music time on Friday. Lily and I compromised and she got to be a princess for music time and her preschool party if she wore her Goldilocks costume for the ward party and for Trick or Treating. Luckily we have a pretty good supply of princess dresses lying around and the Goldilocks costume was mine from when I was her age, so we only had to buy Finn his bear suit. I sewed all the bear stuff for Eric and I, so it was a pretty stress free Halloween.

Finn loved wearing his bear costume. He would just giggle when he saw me get out his costume.

She couldn't be the same princess twice of course.

Finn eating his trunk or treats stash on the way home. Wrapper and all.

We went trick or treating at my parents. They have some fun neighbors that really get into it. Lily had to reach into a coffin for candy that had a posing dead person inside it, bet on which pumpkin had candy in it risking not getting any and perform a song in front of 15 people to earn her candy.

The best part. The candy feast.

 

Disney On Ice

Lily, like many girls her age, loves anything Disney princess. So when my friends found $10 tickets to Disney on Ice, I was really excited to take Lily. She was in heaven. She was so in to it, standing up and dancing. I loved watching her watch it.

She wanted to wear her snow white costume. She put it on and everything. Then after some thought she asked me, "Mom do we sit or stand?"
"We'll be sitting in chairs most of the time, you can stand if you want though."
"Well I better not wear this, it might be uncomfortable to sit in." Were her exact words. She is all about comfort this girl. That is why jeans rarely make an appearance on her. So she nixed the dress, but kept the snow white head band. She also packed a back up tiara in my purse in case she ever wanted to switch.

( We're just missing Beckett and Lily's boy entourage would be complete. )

New York

(Kayli, Me, Natalie, Paige, Nicole, Danielle, Jessica, Emily)

I have been dreading posting this because, well, I am lazy, but I feel my blog can't move on until I post on bigger life events like trips. Trips seem to be a rarity lately, so they are pretty major life events. Especially when I take a trip without my family. I think this is the first time I have ever left Finn and definitely the first time I've left Eric alone with the kids for a whole weekend. Luckily he is a better parent than me so I was carefree all weekend.

We started our carefree weekend by driving to the depths of Brooklyn at 1 am for a sleepover. Do I need to expand on this? I think so, it is a good one. So we were graciously given free reign over my friend Nicole's friend's apartment (can I grammatically do that?). Anyway, we were told it was in a very safe area, near central park on the upper east side. So we (by we I mean me, so yes, this was my fault) put her address in the gps. xx street New York City, New York. So after driving the estimate 4.5 but realistically 9 hours to get to New York we pick up the key and were then supposed to drive a few blocks to the actual apartment. It took 45 minutes to get there, but the gps' predictability had already been failing us, so we weren't surprised. We drive through a neighborhood with cops on every corner and end up getting an awesome parking spot right in front of the apartment. Now it is about 12:30 am and there are kids out running around and tons of people out sitting on their front steps chatting, which seemed out of the ordinary to us, but I think a bunch of white mormon girls pulling up in a big ol' mini van wheeling their little carry-ons and carrying their pillows up the stairs to their neighbor seemed even stranger to them. We're all standing on this step with every eye on the street watching us trying to get this key to work. Clue #1. Key doesn't work. Actually let's go through all the clues that all 8 of us seemed to miss. Clue #2. We drive over a bridge to get there. Clue #3. We pass the Brooklyn Art Museum (which we actually clarified out-loud by saying "Oh look, there is the Brooklyn Art Museum").  Clue #4. This friend's apartment is on the third floor. This row house is two stories. Clue #5. This friend said her apartment was on a one-way street, we are not. So the evidence is piling up. Yet we still take ten minutes to try the key, call the friend and run the heck out of there once we realize we are not in the promised safe neighborhood. Luckily we all escaped with our purses and purity.

So we finally found the apartment. Note: When finding an address in New York, clarify Manhattan on your gps when the location is on the island.

We were staying in New York for just 2 days, so we really had to pack it all in. First we went to Time Square to secure tickets for later and then headed to Greenwich for a food tour. If you know me then you have to know this was what I was most excited for. 

There is a company called "Free Tours by Foot," they do tours in a handful of large cities and they are free. On this tour she took us to four restaurants to experience some of Greenwich villages finest cheap eats. We started out with falafel, then had my favorite of all four, the artichoke pizza at Artichoke Pizza. Try it! Then we had a classic New York slice at Bleecker Street Pizza and ended with a cookie at Cookies and Milk. It was awesome and I highly recommend it. 

By the time we finished this tour it was pretty much time to go to the show. We bought tickets to Jersey Boys. It was so much fun and the music was great. 

The next day we went on another free tour of Central Park and it was so interesting. Last time we went to New York, Central Park was my favorite place we went to, so I was excited to go on a tour and learn more about it. 

We headed down to the 9/11 memorial after that and then a few of us attempted to get tickets to another Broadway show until we realized all the shows started a half hour before we even left downtown. So instead we of course ate. 

We went to Sprinkles cupcakes, walked around a little while.

Went to F.A.O. Schwartz.

And ate some more at Serendipity. 

We didn't get to go to another show, but it was a fun night just window shopping and eating. Oh and if you are wondering why I look so fat in all the pictures, it is not just all the cupcakes, frozen hot chocolate and pizza, there is a baby in there too. Thanks for sticking it out to the end of this super long post.

Mr. Mom

So the universe aligned and Eric happened to have a free couple of days to watch the kids while I skipped town with some friends to New York City. I think he used his time with them to prove he is a better mom and way more fun. Which we all knew was always true.

So I left Friday afternoon...let the party begin.

First they went to the obvious place, Chuck E. Cheese.

Then they went to a family favorite, Costco. Lily got the Cinderella dress she had been eyeing for the past month.

                          

                         

Then they hit Nordstroms for a huge sale and all children came out with a new pair of shoes.

Saturday, he took them up to the National Zoo in D.C. They had fun, but I think he regretted not taking the double stroller and that it was 90+ degrees outside.

Sunday they went to the park. It rained, but dad's don't care about getting soaked and ruining shoes, so they had the park to themselves.

 Monday they went to the children's museum, and mom came home to a home made chicken nuggets and broccoli dinner and then got to crash their party to Sweet Frog. Isn't life grand when Mom's gone?

Alphabet Match-Up

I have made so much stuff, whether it be for Lily, joy school lessons, or F.H.E. group, and I just have it sitting on my computer. I decided I might as well put it on my blog so anyone can download it for themselves. So every now and then when I'll try and post them on here for all of you. This first one is the most requested one.

Instructions:

1. Download the alphabet match-up wheels by clicking here and then go to 'file' in the pdf menu, not your browsers menu and then hit 'download'.

2. Print them out, cut out each wheel, and laminate if desired.

3. Buy a pack of small clothes pins. Make sure they are small enough to fit on the wheel, but large enough to write the alphabet letters on each one. I bought alphabet stickers for each instead, just because I thought it would look nicer.

I've never put a download on my blog so let me know if you have any problems.

Lily instructed me to take this photo. She'll be a great boss one day.

Mountain Mama

All weekend we have been singing John Denver. All weekend. When you are driving to West Virginia, Country Roads is the first and only song that you will hear in your head. It really is a mountain mama and oh how we miss the mountains. My brother Brett and sister Sarah have been visiting for the summer so before they left, they wanted to take the family to a cabin in Hico, West Virginia. They pulled out all the stops and found a cabin that had running water and electricity! We were living the hillbilly high life.

Lily's favorite W.V. past time was picking wild flowers. I had several bouquets brought to me each day. Sometimes a handful of rocks, but the bouquets were my favorite.

Finn was in stick heaven.

It was really fun spending quality time with Brett and Sarah...said the cell phone.

             

There was a really fun pool that the kids loved. Unfortunately, I only brought the 'tank' to my tankini. It really was only fun for those outfitted in the proper attire.

While everyone went rafting, my mom and I did something we never get to do--take the kids to a park. The kids loved it. The next day the rafters paid us back by babysitting while my mom, sarah, and I went horseback riding. I don't know how fair of a trade that is, but it was still pretty fun.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun trip!