Fall time Fun

Fall is such a fun time, but you have to watch out for the monsters that pop up every where.




Amy trying on some animal hats, and making Esther laugh.

Halloween costume

Amy went as a butterfly for Halloween to our ward's Trunk or Treat... it was a really fun party, and they played games and had a Chili cook-off.

Amy would tell everyone, "I'm a butterfly, because butterflies have big eyes!" :)

Esther taking a smidgen of Daddy's sandwich... poor Ryan sometimes has all his food stolen by the girls -- if he makes a sandwich, or gets a pancake all prepped to eat, then Amy and Esther zone in on him and use their begging eyes to eat his food up.

Thankfully he's such a great Daddy he doesn't mind too much. He made Esther giggle so much when he popped out of the leaves after burying himself. I love seeing him play with the girls -- they just adore him (and SO DO I!)

Here's Amy playing with the other nursery kids. It took a while for the kids to get the concept of walking in a circle on the pictures and stopping when the music stopped... Amy got a prize too (a yo-yo, which she was thrilled about because Opa showed her one last time he came to visit).

Autumn

These are all the different leaves we found on a walk up and around the neighborhood. I love autumn and all the pretty colors, and the sound of leaves crunching underfoot.

Here we are after having a little picnic, watching leaves float down the gutter.

Esther found this fascinating...

She didn't really know what to make of sitting in a pile of leaves... Amy loves being buried in it, but after this half-smile, the only pictures I got were ones saying "Mom, get me out of these leaves already!"

STEW

This is a shout out to the Ballifs -- my sisters in-laws, who have been family to Ryan and me since we were married in 2007, inviting us to Christmas, helping us learn what to look for in a house, teaching us gardening tips, sharing recipes and Lynn taught me how to can salsa this summer. In a word, awesome! And we love them. Today was Sunday, and I was craving beef stew more than anything, but since it was Sunday I wasn't going to go buy stuff. I had carrots and celery in the fridge, but nothing else. I called the Ballifs, and Lynn was willing to help me by giving me several pints of home canned meat, stew, and an onion, to which I added more chopped carrots, and 2 potatoes, 3 beef boullion cubes, and a can of stewed tomatoes lent from our upstairs neighbors the Carsons.

Result: Deliciousness beyond my wildest craving hopes! Thank you thank you thank you, dear Ballifs, and Carsons. I loved it so much, I ate three heaping bowl fulls!

Pumpkin walk and May

We went to the pumpkin walk and had a great time. My Mom came and afterwards we had donuts and pizza. Yum. (Ryan will attest, I normally don't eat like this and am very frugal, but when I'm pregnant, I just gotta eat what sounds good, otherwise nothing goes in).

They had all sorts of displays made out of painted or carved pumpkins. We especially liked the Calvin and Hobbes display.

Esther's head was a bit small to fit as pooh bear, but it's cute anyhow. She's a doll!

Amy had fun sticking her head in all the holes.

And if you didn't register it from the first of the post, this is what we'll be looking like in May.

Amy quotes

We went out to dinner for my birthday, and they gave us a gratis ice-cream pie slice for desert. Amy, who's been talking in aggrandized ways (I love this... that's my favorite) said of this desert which she'd never before seen or tasted:

"OOOOooohh! That's my favorite. I love it. I always eat it."

Amy quotes

Amy was trying to help explain to Esther that they're getting shots tomorrow:

"Baby, you know shots? Shots help us to cry."