October in Pictures...

Aside from our adventures with luaus and Halloween, October held a lot of other fun surprises and adventures for us this year:

We got to watch our neighbor (who Brooklyn may or may not have a crush on) play football at his Senior year Homecoming game! And his team WON!

We spent some time Geo-caching in nearby parks.

Kevin finally finished the trebuchet that he started building with the young men in our ward last October.

Brooklyn and Lily practiced their biking, scooter, and pump giving skills.

Kevin practiced being creepy.

We had a blast playing in the parks with all the wonderful weather we were having.

We got to hike through Waterfall Glenn again...

which was helpful in getting all 3 of my kids wiggles out :)

We babysat and played with baby Mason (Brooklyn's biggest obsession in life.)

I sewed lots of crafts for the Helping Hallie Bazaar and 5K that our ward helped to throw. (P.S. Kevin won the 5K by a landslide!

We celebrated Kevin's birthday...which we somehow forgot to take ANY pictures of except this one of our friend Robert building an iPhone microscope for Kevin as a present. (Kevin also received a pretty dope bike to help with his commute to work, and an awesome Bishopric survival kit from my sister and her family!)

And Kevin spent a week in Alaska hiking, running, eating, and of course, working!

More to come about our Halloween...Next!

Shriner's Luau and Brooklyn's 1st Show!

On October 19th, Brooklyn got to join Kevin and I in her very first luau as an entertainer for the halau I dance for! It was amazing for me to finally have one of my children sharing in something that I love so much, especially because it was her choice to do so!

Brooklyn was adorable in her costumes and spent weeks practicing hard for the big show (that took place in an airport hangar...much to Kevin's delight!)

I took Brooklyn around before the show and explained to her how all the stage entrances would work, and where she would stand. She really just soaked it all in.

In the meantime, Lily was being a fantastic support in her little mu'u mu'u. She sat quietly where we had asked her to stay and cheered loudly after each performance. People seemed to be just as impressed with her after the show as they were with Brooklyn :)

Brooklyn had one little friend who danced with her, which was good because she still needed to peek over her shoulder quite a bit to remember her moves!

She did great on all her dances and was a major star during her Tahitian performance and her solo during the poi ball number with Kevin and I.

 I was so proud of her when we finished, I felt like my face would burst from smiling so big! Unfortunately, I can not get the video to post to YouTube for your viewing pleasure, so this picture of her in her Maori costume before we left for the show will have to do :(

We had a blast dancing for the Shriners and were so glad to share such a neat experience with our kiddos. Can't wait for next season and many more shows with my sweet little family!

Perfect Timing!

On September 17th, my beautiful mother flew out to Chicago to pay me and my sister Becca a visit! She started out the first week staying at Becca's house, although I was able to go up for a girls night out one night and my whole family drove out to Geneva to spend the first Sunday she was here together.

The 24th marked the day that my mom would travel down to Westmont to spend a week with my little family! Unfortunately, on the 23rd, our sewers backed up! This is the most mild of the pictures (to spare you the gore). Short story is this: The landlord wouldn't answer the phone messages, texts, or emails that we sent him, so we called a plumber, who wouldn't fix it without permission from the landlord! We ho-hummed around a little until finally I told him that my mom would be arriving the next day to spend a week SLEEPING in the very basement that was covered in POO! The plumber took mercy on me at that point and rotor rooted our drains (for $500!) unscrewed our toilet and dumped it out on the floor, and splashed poo slime all over my basement! I spent the next 10 hours squeegeeing floors, wiping down walls, and bleaching every surface under the sun! And I finished, 30 minutes before my mom arrived! Just in the nick of time :)

While grandma was here, we tried to take advantage of every second we got to be together. We spent lots of time snuggling...

and having great adventures...

walking on beautiful paths through incredible parks...

playing in some pretty fun parks and zoos...

taking leaps of faith...

hanging out with cousins...

and enjoying every moment we could bask in Grandma's wonderful presence!

During her visit, Brooklyn even got to sleep over in Geneva with grandma so she could see her cousins perform in their ward primary program. She felt very special having grandma semi "to herself"

But the highlight of the trip for my girls was when grandma Uda taught them how to make her famous peanut butter fudge, and she even let them lick the pot! Just like old times :)

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

One beautiful, sunny afternoon...

Me and the girls sat down for a tea party with our brand new, FREE, set of china...

When suddenly, we looked out the window, and saw a lovely spider basking in the sunlight!

Well, we couldn't let the spider have all the fun, so we stepped outside into his incredible domain...

where we finished our lunch. And then, out of nowhere, an idea came!

We would not waste such a marvelous day! No! Instead, we would fill it with color and happiness!

So we pulled out the sidewalk chalk...

and we started to color!

And the art work just flowed through our little fingers, and before we knew it...

Our ginormous driveway was awash with mystical creatures and magical sights from the best imaginations this world has to offer!

And it was the best gift we could think of to give to the hero of this story... who had been stuck at work, at his boring old desk... ALL DAY, making money so that WE... could enjoy such a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

A Special day for a Special Girl...

By September 12th, Brooklyn being in full day Kindergarten was REALLY taking its toll on Lily. She was very lonely without her big sister. So lonely in fact, that about an hour after Brooklyn left each day, Lily would start asking if it was time to go outside and wait for Brooklyn to come home yet! My heart was breaking for the poor girl anyway, but when she started crying at her sister's departure on the 12th,  I decided to have a special day just for her. I asked her where she wanted to spend the day, and without hesitation, she shouted "THE ZOO!" So... to the zoo we went!

It took her all of 2 seconds to realize that she had me ALL to herself, and that made her VERY happy! Especially after I told her that she was the boss and I would take her wherever she wanted to go!

She dragged me around to see the dolphins and seals, then over to see the naked mole rats and the porcupine (who was very angry at me for taking his picture). After that we saw the alligators in the swamp, and even got to see the snakes eat their morning RATS! (Something that deeply disturbed Lily since she owns a pet rat... but after explaining the circle of life, she seemed to be OK with it!) After the rat encounter, we headed over to see the wild cats. We were lucky that they were all awake and quite active! I even got a picture of Lily mimicking the yawning tiger we saw!

After seeing so many fun animals, Lily asked for some macaroni and cheese. Lucky for me, there happened to be a place at the zoo that sold macaroni and cheese! We grabbed some lunch and then sat down to eat. But it wasn't long before...

This guy came around and started stalking us! He ended up eating over half of our fries and would get right up in our faces and bob his head until we fed him. It was a little creepy, but fun at the same time!

When lunch was over, Lily asked if we could ride the tram that does tours around the zoo. I agreed, and 2 hours later, after we had heard the whole tour and seen the whole zoo TWICE, she finally decided she was ready to get off and head home :)

We had so much fun together at the zoo and I am SO glad that I paused on all the things that I usually feel are important, to spend some quality time with my little Lily!

Lily's 1st Day of Preschool!

On September 9th, Lily started her very first day of PRESCHOOL! As many of you know, I teach preschool from my home. Last year I alternated teaching days with my friend Arielle, but sadly, she moved after the end of the year :( Lucky for me though, another dear friend of mine offered to co teach with me, and her little boy, Aiden, joined the class and has been an excellent little school friend for Lily!

Just like her big sister, I made sure to interview Lily at the beginning of her big day. It was fun to see the influence of her big sister on her answers.

After Lily was interviewed and both girls were dressed and ready to go to school, they said their goodbyes and Brooklyn hopped on the bus while we headed to the backyard for a few pictures.

Lily usually doesn't cooperate during photo shoots, but she seemed to know she was THE very special person of the day, and I was lucky enough to get this great shot of her before class started.

After taking pictures we waited for Aiden to arrive...and when he did, the party REALLY got started!

We learned about the letter A and about our 5 senses on day one, but really, most of the day was spent teaching them how to sit still, follow instructions, and hold a pencil :) They both did great though and are now super preschool pros!

When class was over, we waived goodbye to Aiden and then had a celebratory dance before we sat back to wait for Brooklyn to return home. It was a fun day and so amazing to be able to see my little one's progress and grow, right in my very own home!