halloween!

halloween started with a party on my bed... exclusive for those wearing footie pajamas.

brothers

I'm trying to win over my new visiting teaching companion.

reading happy haunting Amelia bedelia, Brady was all "mom, is it REALLY blood?!"  that kid is so dang literal.  the whole book was mostly completely over his head, despite me trying to explain it to him.  plus side: now he knows about things like putting a leaf in the table and cracking the window.

second year in a row being a baseball player.  he might be following in his uncle Wally's footsteps.

all ready for school and waiting for the Quentin bus (as we lovingly call it... bless my dear friend Danielle for picking Brady up for school all the time)... swinging his perfectly matching rockies backpack.

does this kid look pumped or what?!  ps- I didn't have any suitable baseball socks for him so I cut up some little girl tights that had been stretched out after having been used so much.  we used rubber bands to hold up the tops of his baseball "socks" which maaaay have little Mary Janes on the toes.

Elizabeth doesn't know what it's called, but she is excelling at photobombing these days.

this is 100% natural and I can't even handle how much I love it.

I knew I was on to something. 

while the two were napping and the other two were at school, I used my precious kid-free time to finally tackle Abigail's horrible junk drawer and I turned it back into. craft drawer.  no true before picture because you couldn't even see anything really because it was so full.  I found a number of old papers from church and this photo of her and Elle from the primary missionary activity a month or two ago.

part way through.  this is once I got out all the stuff from the drawer and there was just this under layer left that had to all be sorted through individually.

Danielle sent me this picture from Brady's school halloween party.  throwing the cotton balls on the spider web.  Brady explained it to me after school but was all "and when you got it to stick it was kind of like you got a goal."

the treasures from the drawer.  I reimplimented a "special drawer" for each kid.  Brady has a drawer in his dresser and Abigail has a drawer in her desk.  I'm interested to see what will happen when they start running out of space. so far, everything is special enough for the special drawer.

eventually this,

turned back to this.  it's a craft drawer again!

we started Abigail on medication at the end of fall break.  one of the most significant side effects is a decreased appetite.  even knowing that, I am truly shocked at how Abigail's appetite has nearly disappeared.  she used to eat an entire peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, a whole apple (or equivalent in a fruit or vegetable... about a cup... I always use the same size containers), a yogurt, and at least a little handful of pistachios (or other equivalent nut/trailmix).  lately, she eats her yogurt, maybe 3-4 bites of sandwich, a bite or two of apple, and a taste or two of nuts.  at first she would just tell me that she didn't have enough time at lunch but now she's finally started telling me that she's not very hungry and I need to start packing her less food.  she has no idea that this is a side effect of the medication but never asks questions so I haven't had to explain anything to her.  I mean, even giving her just part of a sandwich instead of a whole one, I can see how she's only taken a few bites.  it just blows my mind.  I weighed her before I started her on medication so I would have a baseline... mom fail though because I guess I never wrote it down... I can only guess.  I weighed her again though and she's down to 42lbs.  it is possible that she's lost three pounds in 2.5 weeks?!

Elizabeth was Minnie Mouse for the library party, a lady bug for the ward party, and chose Elmo for halloween night.  she was the most adorable Elmo ever.  pictures don't really do it justice, but she looked HILARIOUS walking around all night. I got SO many comments from people we passed.  even teenagers and older kids were all "ummm, I just have to tell you that that is the best Elmo."  I wish I had gotten a decent picture but that just didn't occur to me so I just had some blurry snapshots.

it was cold but we all survived.  thank goodness for no wind, rain, or snow!  Andrew stayed toasty warm in some fleece footies with his fleece footie costume on top.  I was actually even a little worried about him overheating in his carseat/stroller.

Brady started sorting his candy (he's just methodical like that) and Abigail jumped over to help him.  it kind of made me nervous though because I don't want him to be aware of how much of his candy I'm going to eat.  ; )

another year in the books!  I can't believe little Andrew will be toddling around with them next year!