Smoocho Besos

I can’t get over how adorable my kids are!

This Halloween I tried to experiment with some face painting. Avy was a purple fairy or as Shaeffer called her “purple tink” and Shaeffer was a Lion. After I finished Shaef’s face paint and was working on Avy, Shaef found a green marker and decided to paint is own face too. When I asked him if Lion’s have green on their face he said to me, “NO! Silly mom! It’s not green face, it’s green grass!” So, we made it work.

We went to the mall first for some trick or treating (let’s be honest, i mostly went for the coupons they handout) and grabbed some dinner at the eatery. Then we hit about 4 houses on our street and Shaeffer and Avy were exhausted. The rest of the night we handed out candy (to the 4 trick or treaters that stopped by) and watched movies.

Halloween is becoming one of my favorite holidays.

Shaeffer and Avy love when their California cousins come to visit

I just love watching the growing relationship between Shaeffer and Averyl. They really are becoming so close and it’s such a joy to watch the way they interact with one another.

For family night, we went to Cornbelly’s at Thanksgiving Point. It was pretty chilly, but SO much fun. There were so many fun activities for the kids there and lots of yummy treats. We rode on the hayride, Shaef spent about an hour in the bounce house playground, threw corn kernels at eachother, took a cow train ride, enjoyed some cotton candy and carmel popcorn, and so much more. One of my highlights of the evening was when Shaeffer saw a giant scary clown walking around.

Shaeffer: MOM! DAD! LOOK! It’s a clown!

Me: Yeah Shaeffer, he’s a spooky clown. He’s a little scary, huh?

Shaeffer: No way mom, clowns aren’t spooky…they are funny! That’s a funny clown!

Then as we got closer to him to take a picture Shaeffer (on clint’s shoulders) looks a little timidly at the clown and says:

Your aren’t so scary clown! You should be more happy!

As part of our Halloween tradition, every year we make monster cupcakes. This year Shaeffer was old enough to want to help make and decorate them. It was really fun and they turned out super cute.

This morning Shaeffer, Averyl and I went to the Maverick in Lindon to get our #32 BYU basketball jersey signed by none other than The Jimmer! This is how the conversation went:

Me: Shaeffer, we are going to go see Jimmer-he’s a BYU basketball player.

Shaeffer: Jimmer! I LOVE Jimmer! He shoots, he’s fast, he plays basketball!

Me: When you see him what will you say to him?

Shaeffer: BYU! BYU! BYU! Go Cougars!

So we stood in line for about 45 min, had him sign our jersey, I took a picture and then realized…no memory card in the camera. BUST! I left it in the truck. So I quickly ran to the truck, stuck the memory card in the camera and stood back in line. Here’s the conversation with Shaeffer and Jimmer.

Me: There he is Shaeffer, it’s…

Shaeffer: Hi Jimmer! Go BYU!

Jimmer: Go BYU! What’s your name?

Shaeffer: Foffers.

Me: His name is Shaeffer.

Jimmer: Awesome. You’re one cool looking kid Shaeffer.

Shaeffer: Uh huh.

While we were waiting in line, I gave Avy a chocolate donut to munch on and it probably wasn’t the best idea. She made a giant mess…but that kept her occupied while we stood around for an hour.

Just spent the past week at this amazing beach in Hanalei. More to come…

Anyone who knows Shaeffy knows his obsession with cars. Papa Nev gave him the race car magazine that he sifts through on a daily basis dividing out each race car to each member of the family.

Shaef: The blue car is for Papa Nev, you like the green car mama?

Me: Yea, but red is my favorite color, can i have a red one?

Shaef: No mama, red is for Papa Steve, like his red vroom vroom at the ranch.

(vroom vroom=four wheeler)

Me: Oh i see. Which one is for you?

Shaef: I like the yellow one, the black one, the green one, the purple one…

Me: So you get all those on that page?

Shaef: Um, no…you can have one too mama.

And then we turn the page, and the conversation starts all over again. So with this obsession comes his desire to drive at anytime possible. He will always jump in the driver seat and say “MY TURN”. So, Clint and I will sometimes let him sit on our lap while we pull out of the garage, and once we drove him down to UVU (we live about a half a mile from campus). He absolutely goes crazy for it!

Averyl turned one on September 15. I remember her so vividly poking me in my ribs, and having hiccups at least once a day in my belly… (i blame that on the constant craving for spicy food).

She is in no hurry to walk…doesn’t really like the feeling of anything touching her feet actually, so i think she will follow steps of her big brother and walk well after her first birthday.

She loves to sing, her favorites are “Rio” the theme song, and “If all the raindrops were made of lemon drops and gum drops.”

I love this little girl so much, she is my “big baby” and daddy’s “howey” Her nickname from Clint goes all the way back to the first night we brought her home…and every night since basically. She would poop so loudly it would not only wake her up, but Clint and me as well! So the term “she poops like a howitzer” was quickly adopted and Clint started calling her Howey. Don’t know what a howitzer is?? Go ahead and search some google images, you’ll get the idea!

The day was perfect…spent with close friends and family.  She absolutely LOVED eating her cupcake.

I made her actual birthday cake…it was a pretty big sloppy mess to cut into it, but it turned out so colorful and bright. I’ll be doing it every birthday for her…it’s just so girly and yummy.

She scored big time on her presents. Her cousins bought her the adorable purple tutu and the leopard print bag with puppy. Grama Julie got her a Little People airplane, that once it was opened disappeared into Shaeffer’s arms and wasn’t seen again until the next day, and then Clint and I got her the baby and baby stroller. She was beaming from ear to ear!

It’s amazing that my little baby has gone from tiny little Avy to such a beautiful little girl!