Happy Halloween

 Tori and James getting into character before going out on Halloween night.  Tori is a very scary mummy and James is a pilot that loves to do whatever the mummy is doing. :)  I was just thrilled that James loved his costume, since for awhile there he kept saying he didn't want to wear it.

It was great to have Grandma Katie with us for Halloween.  Family always makes holidays more fun.  (It's especially nice to have one adult for each kid while trick or treating :)). 

 Two cute kids anxiously awaiting candy.  Halloween turned out to be a beautiful night (no rain, hooray!).  Tori and James had a blast.  James caught on to what was going on really quick and was a pro in no time.  He started leading the show and making sure we didn't miss any houses.

From left to right: Tori's pumpkin, John's pumpkin, Alisha & James's pumpkin and the tiny one in front is Ellie's. 

We can't have Halloween without a baby lobster.  So far each kid has been a lobster for their first Halloween - I love the costume it always gets a lot of cute comments and keeps them nice and warm. 

 James trying to get the candy in as fast as he can above and Tori's nicely organized candy below. :)

Pumpkins

 Carving pumpkins was lots of fun.  It always takes a few minutes for them to get daring enough to actually stick their hands in the pumpkins, but once we got going they were having a great time.  It's fun to see them get more independent.  Tori used a pattern and did most of her pumpkin all by herself.  I thought it turned out great.  James and I worked on a ghost pumpkin together - he had fun coloring it and helping me pick out seeds. 

 

Ellie played a bit and then it was time for bed.

 Above John's traditional jack-o-lantern and Ellie's little pumpkin the kids picked out for her, and John helped carve. 

 It wouldn't be Halloween without roasted pumpkin seeds.  It's so nice to have a bunch of little hands to help sort them out.

I have a pretty good life :)

Boise Trip

John had a job interview in Boise so we had the whole family go and make of trip of it and visit Danielle, Dan, Olivia and Miles.  It was a pretty quick trip, but we loved getting to see everyone and have some fun.  It was a nice day so we took all the kids to a really fun park by their house.  I like the picture above where we caught a bit of Ellie's scowl.  She likes to furrow her brow and make an angry face - especially when someone unfamiliar talks to her.  Miles is a cute constant little smiler.

James, Tori and Olivia had a blast running around.

We also took the kids swimming in the hotel pool.  It was actually a really cute pool and the kids had lots of fun (they slept great that night:)).

James loves playing with any kind of cup or watering can and Tori showed off all her new swim moves from swim lessons.

Lee's Farms

It was a perfect fall day and we had a blast at a local farm picking our pumpkins and going on a hayride.  The kids loved it!  James and Tori were just running from place to place with a permanent smile on their faces.

Even Ellie had fun on the hayride. :)

They had a big potato sack slide that both the kids loved.  It was pretty fast and high so I was wondering if James would want to do it.  He loved it - that boy is fearless.

Getting ready for Halloween

 I love Ellie's little face in this picture - she's so cute in her little Halloween shirt.

I wanted to get more pictures of the three of them together, but I can't get them to all smile at the same time.  At least I got them all looking at the camera this time. :) 

Tori decided this year that she was done being princesses for Halloween and wanted to be something more scary.  She said she wanted to be a mummy for Halloween.  After looking around online I decided that we should make our own costume.  This was my first try at a homemade Halloween costume and it was pretty fun.  Below we're pinning an old ripped up sheet on some white clothes of Tori's.  Tori and James had a blast ripping up the sheet - John would cut a little rip and then let them pull it apart.

Below we bribed the kids to actually try on their costumes.  We told them we would practice and give them candy if they put on their costumes for a picture (Tori would put her costume on anytime.  James, however, was saying that he didn't want to wear his ever, so I was getting worried that he would be really upset on Halloween.).  No worries, once they got the candy they were both thrilled to be in their costumes and James's pilot costume has become his favorite thing to dress up in.

6 months old

Weight: 15 lbs

Height: 27 inches

 Our sweet little Ellie loves to smile and play with toys.  It's fun seeing her be able to create some of her own entertainment.  She's pretty good at rolling to find things that she can explore.  Ellie is great at rolling over and sitting up.  She loves to be tickled and I love her laugh.  She makes a lot of cute noises: mainly "da da da" and she does this funny little growl when she's concentrating or happy.  When we're feeling silly we like to call her "Ellie belly", but James likes to lengthen it to "Ellie belly, belly belly belly, belly", getting louder on each belly. :) 

 

 These are just a couple of random pictures John took of us getting ready for bed (with three it takes quite awhile to get everyone settled and ready for bed nowadays).  James has to have his milk and granky (his blanket) and Tori has to brush her own hair just how she likes it. :)