Back in the Saddle

This past Saturday morning, I ran in the Monster Dash held at (you guessed it!), Vala's! (It's a popular place, I tell you!) This was my first race since Kari's been born and, despite the air being a tad chilly!, was a lot of fun and very fulfilling for me. I was supposed to have done a run waaaayyyy back in April, but my milk supply went way down and I had to back off until around September when she started eating more baby food and nursing less.

Jessica was very festive and was such a cute bee! I didn't think about a costume until 6:30 that morning and so I guess I'll dress up next year :-). One guy out there even painted himself completely blue and was only wearing his blue shorts! (He looked a bit cold, but he was also one of the super-fast runners and so he wasn't out there for too long!) Thankfully, it wasn't as cold as it could have been--it turned out to be such a gorgeous day!

Since the air was so chilly (and will only get chillier!) Jessica and I will wait to do another race until spring. Maybe this winter I'll try putting the treadmill on an incline so those hills won't be so killer!

Halloween Parties

Emily and Christian had their Halloween parties in school this week. Here are a couple of highlights...

First up, Christian! Doing an eye-ball relay race...
All of the little kiddos in Christian's class

Christian's favorite part--eating a sugar cookie full of frosting!

Glueing in his "What Do I See on Halloween" book

And finally, frosting a bat cookie--GOBS of green frosting!

Now it's Emily's turn!

The "final five" in musical chairs... D'oh! She's out!Eating her "old chips" (aka Pringles) rather than the Chex Mix that was provided. ("Chex Mix has cereal in it, Mom!")Showing off her spider craftJust in case you were wondering, the spider is a Happy Halloween Spider!

More Halloween festivities to come!

Pumpkin Muffins

You have GOT to try this recipe. A gal from my church ward brought these to an activity last weekend and they are so yummy! And you want to hear the best part? It couldn't be easier! Here is the recipe she came up with:

Pumpkin Muffins

You'll need:

1 yellow cake mix

1 can of pumpkin

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1/2 c. of milk

Mix these four ingredients together (I used a hand mixer), pour into greased muffin tin (for cupcakes) and then bake according to the instructions for cupcakes on the cake mix box.

These muffins come out incredibly creamy and delicious--my kids even like them! (I didn't tell them they were eating pumpkin, just "cupcakes"!) That's how good they taste! So, give them a try and see for yourself!

Field Trip with Daddy

Christian's preschool class took their first field trip to, where else? Vala's. Cubby was able to take the morning off of work to go with him--and Christian was so excited that he was pushing Cubby out the door 20 minutes before school started. The weather finally decided to become chilly (sigh) but it still wasn't as freezing as when Cubby went with Emily's class last year!

They had a lot of fun seeing the sights and riding the train out to the patch and yes, this time a pumpkin was brought home! (It's the cutest little pumpkin too--Christian picked one out with a long stem b/c he knew that Mommy would like it! Isn't he sweet?)

It was so great to see Christian's big smile when they got home; he really enjoyed the one-on-one time w/Daddy.

Christian and his buddy, Luke. Aren't these boys darling?

Trunk-or-Treat, #1

This past Friday was the YMCA's trunk-or-treat. It was pretty low-key and the kids really had a good time. The kids had a great time dressing up, of course, and we got quite a few compliments on them! Here they are...Emily, the Butterfly (really, did you expect anything else from Emily?)Christian, the "Claw Robot" (he was sooo excited to wear this!)

And, Kari, the Cow (all three kids have worn this on their first Halloween!)

Yes, you'll probably see more pictures of the kids in their costumes in the coming week...we have one more trunk-or-treat and the kids' class parties coming up!

Very Very

This post is for my Grandma Carolyn--she'll appreciate Kari's bib. :-)

Also, I would usually add "Very Messy" to the list on her bib, but, we were just having a little snack rather than our usual messy baby food. Most times, you can't even tell that the bib contains words.

Vala's

This past Monday we went to Vala's Fall Festival (formerly known as Vala's Pumpkin Patch). I guess it's a good thing that they renamed it, b/c it is oh-so-much more than your typical pumpkin patch. (And, for the price that they charge, you'd think it was Disneyland!--NOT JOKING here!) Thankfully, we scored two free passes from my mom and since we went on a non-weekend day, it was "cheaper".

But, it was a lot of fun. This year, Emily and Christian are big enough to really enjoy a lot of what Vala's has to offer....well, not the scary stuff. But, at least this year "Storybook village" wasn't part of the scary stuff! (In years past, ANYthing that moved absolutely terrified Emily. We didn't even go last year--well, it was already freezing last year at this time so we didn't feel too badly.)

This year we had fun watching the "Dragon feeding" show--Christian really thought it was cool. Emily liked it, even though it got loud and well, Kari wasn't too happy that I had Daddy hold her while I snapped a picture!

Kari did enjoy, however, the goats! No surprise there, though, fresh off her zoo experience!

We also had fun honing our lassoing skills and playing on the slides. Daddy had a good time trying to drive this family bike!

Also among the highlights were the inflatable Pumpkin bouncer and swimming in the corn. Yes, I said swimming in the corn. See below.

Even Kari had a good time watching the "swimming"!The big kids could've stayed there all day, but, alas, after lunch and a bit more play, Miss K had had enough and was ready for a rest. It was certainly a fun morning--even if we didn't end up getting an actual pumpkin from the patch! (Daddy said that we'd already given enough to the Vala's kids' college funds and that we could share the pumpkin wealth with Home Depot or Target :-).) Happy Fall!

Beautiful Day

This past week, the weather has been FANTASTIC. Cool enough to open the windows, but warm enough to still wear short sleeves. Sunny, light winds, blue skies. The whole nine yards. We have been to the park, on bike rides, and playing outside as much as we can...before winter hits! Today, with Emily having no school today (or Monday), we were further able to take advantage of the great outdoors with a trip to the zoo with Grandma Karen.

The trip was especially fun for a few reasons. The first being that we got to ride the train! Emily and Christian really enjoyed it--Kari wasn't incredibly impressed, but, the loud whistle didn't phase her so that was a plus. We were able to make it over to a couple areas of the zoo that we don't usually get to b/c they're a bit further out there.

Another special treat was the ice cream! I don't know why, but it tasted extra yummy today. Maybe it was b/c it was so fun watching Kari try a little. Or maybe it was b/c Christian totally devoured his HUGE twist cone...and went through about a dozen napkins in the process!

Finally, the zoo was great this time b/c this was the first time that Kari was really aware of everything around her...and she LOVED it! It was like a whole new world was opened up to her! We first noticed this phenomenon at the petting zoo. Kari got very excited about the goats, the ducks, and the peacocks. She was very brave and pet a goat--he liked that she had "puffs" residue on her fingers. Kari then really got a kick out of the aquarium--the wonder that was in her face was just precious. Finally, she enjoyed looking at the turtles in the Wild Kingdom pavillion.

(Kari has some mild eczema and has some medicine on her face--hence, the messy-face look. But, she's 9 months old today! Isn't she a happy baby?!)

I think that's why the zoo stays fresh for me--b/c I get such a kick out of watching my kiddos enjoying themselves. (And, watching the penguins never gets old!)

Kari's First Friend

This is Natalie. She is officially Kari's first friend. Natalie is a family friend of ours who has been so wonderful to come over each Tuesday and Thursday morning and play with Kari (and hang out when she's sleeping) so that I can go for a quick run at the Y after dropping Christian off at preschool....at least until she has her baby in just 5 short weeks! (Not so short to her, but really, does she look 35 weeks pregnant?? I didn't think so.)

Natalie is just so super sweet--we love her! Especially Kari--she gets very excited; her little face just lights up and she gets the giggles whenever Natalie comes over. If Kari's nursing, she immediatly stops and decides that it's time to play! And, Natalie is just so great with her--so calm and knowing all of the fun little games that babies like to play--a real natural. I really appreciate her help and I know Kari loves the playtime with her first friend.

My, How Times Have Changed

Cubby emailed me this link--it's of a bunch of old advertisements and I couldn't be-lieve some of the stuff that was advertised (and how they went about selling it!) Maybe living in a totally "PC" world isn't all that bad! "The harder you work, the cuter you get!" REALLY??

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/entertainment/2010/06/10/vintage-ads-thinking

SA-WEET POTATOES!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's finally happened! Kari has finally eaten an entire container of baby food!!! (Well, she ate half of the jar yesterday, and finished the rest today, but hey, this is still a first for her!)

Kari is 8 1/2 months old. She loves to nurse and loves to eat biter biscuits, arrowroot cookies, wagon wheels, sucking on apples, and any "real" food that I put in her mesh strainer. She even likes bits of chicken, dinner rolls, and apple crisp :-). Basically, anything that she can feed herself. Ever since we started trying various baby foods and cereals at 6 months, she has either grabbed the spoon or just buttoned up and refused to eat more than one or two bites. I didn't want to act like it was a big deal or cause any food aversions so I didn't push it. But, I did try and stay persistant with the little efforts. It may just be starting to pay off! To see her open-wide for her sweet potatoes was big stuff for this little one!

From Tuesday at midnight through yesterday evening, Kari has been a BEAR. She came down with a really awful cold/mild croup and even got some steriod medicine at the doctor's office on Wednesday. Well, it must've jump-started her appetite b/c ever since then, she's wanted to eat food instead of just nursing! (A blessing in disguise perhaps??) She's doing much better today and, apparently, is still wanting to eat!

This is my happy girl, amidst her finished sweet potatoes and half of the waffle that she destroyed. (The other half is in her lap.) I'm not sure how much of the waffle got into her tummy, but she sure had fun with it!