A Creepy Photo. . .

. . . for a creepy day.
Happy Halloween!

(Yes, this is as creepy as I get. ;))

The Trunk-or-Treat Post

Halloween isn't my favorite holiday. I don't like most Halloween decorations (unless they're more "harvest" than "creepy"), and part of my humbug attitude is because of the lack of meaning it has. It's ultimately about scary things, dressing up weird, and eating a bunch of candy. Three things that I don't particularly like. (Unless Reese's peanut butter cups are involved, I'd much rather scarf a dozen cookies.) I like having the excuse of not wanting to scare my kids so I don't have to do anything scary. I hate being scared and my tolerance for scary places/people/movies is 0. (Sixth Sense scared the bejeebies out of me.)

Having little ones to dress up makes it a bit more fun, though. This year it was all about finding costume ideas that were cheap, easy, and didn't require any sewing. After a trip to the thrift store and some hot glue, we became Mr. and Mrs. Perry-farmers with our little crops, tomato and peas.

(Side note: Dressing my kids up as food wasn't a reflection of my obsession with cooking. I promise.)

So like everyone in Mormon blogland, after going to the pumpkin patch, we went to the trunk-or-treat at the church.

Commentary on the overalls: I used to have a pair of khaki overalls I wore when I was at Ricks College (I don't think they were off limits then. Neither were flip flops. And it was still called Ricks. I'm sorta old.) I got rid of them a couple of years ago because I didn't think I'd have any use for them. Unfortunately I did. (That always happens, doesn't it?) The only pair of overalls that wasn't a dress or reeking of acid wash at the thrift store were these babies. They were a big too snug for me, so Steve did the honors. (code for: no way am I wearing these, YOU wear them, honey!)

Like last year they had games for the kids and a coloring table. Check out Miss Ivy. . .

That's right, she colors now. More on that later.

And because I'm in a comparison-with-last-year mood, here we have Sophie and best bud, Asher during last year's party:

This year they were Mario and a tomato:

Then it was candy time.

Ivy Shakes It

Yes, she's little. I'm surprised her (barely) size 2 feet can support her wicked moves. She hasn't fallen yet!

Pumpkin Patches + Ivy's Encounter With a Goat

Off we went again to the pumpkin "patch". This time we went even further away from an actual pumpkin patch. See the chain-link fence? We were right in the city. The haystacks are supposed to convince you otherwise.

This pumpkin patch had some farm animals, though, which was cool for the kids. Especially Ivy. I don't think she'd been that close to an animal that wasn't a cat.

Our little family has grown since last year, so I thought it would be fun to compare.

Pumpkin Patch 2008 - Somewhat resembles a patch. Look, there's even a cornfield right next door. And Ivy's still in the oven. (Oh, my favorite purse! Unfortunately I had to toss it several months ago due to an infestation of MOLD from a leaky sippy cup. Gross, I know.)

Pumpkin Patch 2009 #1 - No corn fields, posed under the butt of a giant inflatable black cat. Oh, and there's Ivy, fresh from a nap. Sophie just woke up, too, and her hair is looking extra fuzzy in the sun.

Pumpkin Patch 2009 #2 - No cat butt or glare, but add a chain link fence, actual pumpkins, and the sun in our faces.

Where ever we are next year, I'd like to find an actual pumpkin patch where you can pick them off the vines. Is there such a thing?

Oh yeah, it's called planting a garden. :)

According to Sophie

This is a "birthday cake candle". . .

A bug catcher doubles as a crayon container. And it looks a lot like a gallon of milk. I've found it in the fridge on several occasions . . .

By the way, those containers sitting under the crayons are the coolest things ever. They're called Glasslock storage containers. They're glass on the bottom, but have plastic lids with a silicone seal that snap on and off, so they're spill-proof. They can go in the microwave and the dishwasher. I got a set at Costco, which is the cheapest I've seen them.

And this is a "cupcake moon" . . .

So is this one . . .

Basically any moon is a "cupcake moon". We have no idea where she came up with that. I don't even make cupcakes very often.

A few more of her latest things. . .

"It's too fit!!!" - When something is too tight or hard to get on, usually a shoe.

"What's that noisy?" - for "What's that noise?"

"Flamangoes" - Her new word for mangoes, after a couple of trips to the zoo.

Every time we leave to go somewhere, she has to pick a leaf off of either my basil or mint plant sitting by the door. Makes the car smell nice.

Oh, and one morning while we were eating breakfast she goes, "Daddy upstairs takin' shower." "Yep, he is," I said back to her. Then she goes, "Daddy put hairs in chin."

Yep, he does. And I really wish he'd stop doing that. :)

Sophie also lives and breathes for the little yogurt popsicles I make her. Even in October. I'll probably end up making them year-round. She loves smoothies, too . . .

Don't Watch Me Sing

I was trying to get Sophie to sing the "Move It" song from Madagascar, but she wouldn't do it when I was looking at her. Or when the camera ("cam-ah") was, either.

A Day of Rest

I look at this picture and think, "why did I not get in on that?" Mostly because I'm not a napper. I can't keep the chores running through my head still enough to sleep.

And I wouldn't have this picture if I was asleep, too.

Getting Along

The girls have been getting along better lately. Sophie's learning (sort of) to share better and acting as my little policegirl, I often hear, "No, Ivy! We don't eat keh-ree-nans!" (crayons) and she's always trying to feed her stuff, "Here, Ivy - want bite? Es good? You like it?" That one gets tricky because Ivy still doesn't have any teeth. Luckily she gums like a champ.

Here are a couple pics of them in Sophie's chair. The light was behind them, so I edited them to death trying to get them lighter. I love their faces in these.

Tricky

We've decided that Ivy is our fearless, adventurous one. I've mentioned before how she throws herself over the edge of the couch/bed/stairs, being saved by mom or dad grabbing her foot and pulling her back up. She always finds herself stuck in awkward places and positions, too. Lately she loves exploring underneath the kitchen table. Lots of things down there to munch on, I'm sure.

Even keeping her clothes on straight is a struggle. (These were taken on two different days.)

I'm Pretty Sure Our Pens Walk Around

. . . because we try really hard to keep them out of reach. Sophie scribbled on the wall a few weeks ago, and the other day she stood next to it and said,

"You color on wall -- Mommy's pen. Are you crazy?"

(pointing to the scribbles) "That's crazy!"

Sidenote: She meant to say, "I color on wall . . ." She's still sorting out first person. What a confusing thing for a toddler.

Unrelated photo, I know. Check out those Daisy Duke's. They're actually Ivy's shorts. She got soaked at the park last month, so I put them on her and they fit her little bum. They're 3-month shorts. And they fit both girls. They definitely didn't get that from me. (Thanks for the idea, Heather!)

Santa Cruz

We went to Santa Cruz, um. . . two weeks ago. (I'm in the middle of reorganizing my photos, and also trying to decide what I want to use as a photo editor. iPhoto doesn't do collages like Picasa, so you get full-size pics of everything this time. Lucky you!)

It was the first trip to the beach for us this summer (actually I think it was the first day of autumn), and the weather was perfect. Eighty degrees or so with lots of sunshine and a slight breeze. We'd also never been to this particular beach before. It's only an hour or so away -- I'm sad we didn't discover it sooner!

View of the boardwalk.

Sorry, Ivy.

Steve's attempts at building a sand castle were futile.

No, I wasn't posing. Steve stood there and kept taking pics of stuff, so I started to ignore him. Oh, and Ivy refuses to keep anything on her head. She ended up falling asleep like that on my lap -- even when a few waves soaked us with ice-cold water. Not a peep out of her.

I'm leaning toward iPhoto because of the zit it let me erase in this photo. It was right between my eyes, but you'd never know.

Settling In

Here we are at the beginning of October. It seems like fall came suddenly overnight (Thankfully. I hate 90-degree weather in September. What IS that?!), and Steve just started his last year of chiro school. After a week out of school, we're all back to the grind.

There have been a few things that I've needed to do lately that have finally gotten done because of certain other events happening.

For example, my kitchen floor desperately needed a mop job, the sheets needed to be changed on our bed, and the bathroom wanted to be scrubbed. Thanks to someone (um, me) dropping a mug on the floor, shattering it to bits, the floor got mopped. Thanks to little Ivy, Miss "have to relieve myself as soon as my diaper comes off", who piddled on my bed and the bathroom rug (twice in about three days), the sheets got changed and the bathroom finally sparkled. Just in time for Ivy to leave more deposits during bathtime that same night, much to Sophie's dismay.

Another catalyst happened on Saturday. My poor laptop started making funny noises, and because I had had two hard drives crash in the last two years (one of those times I lost everything on it), I frantically began updating my back up hard drive.

I'd just received the check in the mail from the contest that I won, and had pretty much decided I was going to get a digital SLR camera with some of the money. As I was transferring files over, fed up with my "frankenstein" laptop (although simultaneously grateful for a husband who knows enough to replace pieces of a laptop instead of chucking it and buying new ones all the time), my plans suddenly change.

"That's it. I'm getting a new laptop."

I mentally mull over options for a new laptop, feeling frustrated at all of the grief I've had with my old ones, and decide that I'd been burned too many times using a Microsoft OS. (Windows 7 is supposed to be decent, but that may be due to the embarrassment of Vista. "Luckily" we've been running XP this whole time.) I'd just received a big chunk of cash, and my laptop was perhaps hours from its last breath.

"What if I got a Mac?" I said to Steve.

"A Mac?" He thought it over for a few seconds and said with a curious glimmer in his eyes, "If you got a Mac, I would support you."

So I got an iMac. Tuesday morning. The transition has been great, for the most part. The biggest project will be transferring all of my recipes from OneNote to MacGourmet, but otherwise I'm a happy camper.

Ok, that's an understatement. (And absurd because I hate camping.) I'm totally, completely in love. I want to give her a name.

Welcome to our family, Ingrid.