Pumpkins

Halloween is just around the corner and of course we all know that means the annual carving of pumpkins. We decided we would do it as a family home evening activity. Allison was especially excited because I found some templates of all her favorite tv characters. We had the pumpkins, the carving tools, and a lot of newspaper spread out on the table. We started out with high hopes of lots of family fun.





Unfortunately, it quickly turned into a chore as one by one we all became a little bored with the task at hand. Allison helped for as long as her short attention span would allow. TJ got a little upset after she left because we were doing this mainly for her. As you can see, McKenna was not happy from the get-go.




So what did we do with this catastrophe of a family activity? WE didn't do anything. Instead, I stuck with it and finished all 5 pumpkins by myself. I'll give credit to Allison for helping me scoop out some of the "goopies" on each one, but the rest of the work was done by me and only me.

I'm not a very good artist, but I think they turned out pretty good. Allison of course wanted her picture taken with the finished product.



Bonus points if you can name all the characters. (I won't be offended if you guess wrong because of my not so awesome art skills.) Oh and remember, Allison picked them out and she is 4. ;-)

So proud

McKenna is now 17 months old and she is starting to pick up little words here and there. She knows a lot of signs, but more and more she's starting to say things with her mouth, mostly just parroting what she hears others say. Well flashback to last week when we were sitting around the tv watching the Boise State football game. During one of the many long runs by a Bronco player, there were 3 of us yelling at the tv, "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" When all of a sudden I look over at little McKenna and she puts two little fist up in the air and with all the cuteness she could muster, she yelled "Go!" It was so stinkin' cute. But if that wasn't enough, later in the evening after hearing us talking and cheering throughout the game she again raised her little fists and said, "Go Bawcos" (go broncos). I'm glad she understands at a young age that we cheer for the Broncos in our house!

Cute little girl in her pink Bronco jersey

The blahs

Blah. Blah. Blah. This is how I feel and this is how exciting life is right now. Maybe I need to find a new hobby.

It's back!

That's right folks! College football season is back. And in case you didn't already know, we are HUGE Boise State fans at our house. TJ especially has been waiting for this season to start ever since the final whistle blew that ended the 2008 season. So I'm posting a picture of my cute family in their Bronco gear. Blue and orange never looked so good!

It's just a phase. Right???

This is what my little girl looked like when I got her ready this morning. So sweet!

About an hour later, I walked into the kitchen to find this:

And then I turned the corner into the living room to find this:

Last night I was filling up the tub so the girls could have a bath before bed. I started the water, left to get McKenna down from her high chair, and then went outside to take the trash out. When I came back inside I heard Allison laughing hysterically and trying to say something in between giggles. I couldn't understand anything she was saying, so I just followed her and found this.

Swimming

The girls and I just finished a 2 week session of swim lessons. I say the girls and I because I got to do Mommy and Me lessons with McKenna. (No pics of that though, sorry) Anybody who's lucky knows that we have the best swim instructor in town. My sister-in-law Lindsey does group lessons in her parents' pool every summer and she is awesome! She is so good with the kids and talks them through everything. Even when Allison was scared to try something new, Lindsey was gentle and calm, but she still made Allison try everything. She wouldn't go on to the next kid until everyone did what she was asking them. Allison learned a ton and progressed so far in just 2 weeks. McKenna learned to be really comfortable in the water too. Almost too comfortable by the end - she kept trying to get out of my arms to go do her own thing, and she didn't seem to care that we were in the middle of the pool.

The kiddos in the pool: Allison has her back turned to the camera

Working on her front float

Now doing her back float

Allison leading the train around the pool