Counting Pennies!

A few months ago Banana started begging me to do more chores around the house. I wasn't going to argue with that! She was already such a good little helper that Running Man and I decided it would be a good time to start a chore chart, and to start teaching her about working hard and paying tithing. She has been so diligent about helping and her piggy bank finally was completely full this past weekend. She learned a while ago how to distinguish the different coins so we let her count it all out and she had saved $10! Running Man helped her count out what she needed for tithing and it was so neat to see how excited she was about that part. She is such a smart girl, with such a sweet little spirit. I forget sometimes how impressionable little kids are, and how much they crave learning. I don't expect Banana to remember certain things she's read about, or things we've learned together (scholastic and gospel related) and then she surprises me by recalling it all! So...back to the story. We took her to her favorite place in the world (Toys 'R Us) and let her use her $9 to pick out a treat. She picked a Barbie. (Huge surprise I know) :)

This past weekend we also went back to IC to go to the Children's Museum, and this time it was open! They have added a new exhibit and it was pretty neat. It was all about aeronautics and physics. They had some awesome interactive displays, and some fun games for the kids. This was the first time Em has been able to really run around and play and she LOVED it! It was way past nap time by the time we got there but she was such a trooper and it was hard keeping up with her! I learned to never go to IC on a game day. The traffic on the way there was insane, and I felt out of place not being decked out in my black and yellow!



Banana was giving Running Man a proper adjustment! The jacket she has on is just like his clinic jacket so she was so excited to put it on. She told us she was a real chiropractor now!Had to throw this cute shot in here! The girls are always so excited when their dad gets home every night. I feel bad for him sometimes because he's so exhausted and they are bursting with energy because they're so happy to see him! He's such an awesome dad and I am so blessed!

I had just gotten Banana down for a nap today and I walk into the girls room and saw Em sitting so quietly on Banana's bed reading a book. (Banana takes a nap in our room because the two of them have different nap schedules). I love this little girl! She wants a "big girl bed" so badly but there's not a chance she'd ever stay in one. She's such a little monkey and so mischeivious I think it would be a constant battle with her! Maybe in ten years. ;)

Good-Bye October!

I think we've seen the last of the candy :) We had a fun Halloween and only got slightly frozen. The girls had a blast at the trunk or treat even though it was kind of freezing! Em thought it was the neatest thing she'd ever done and was a pro at saying "trick-or-treat" by the time we were done. Well it sounded more like tikotwee...(which I think is way cuter).

Banana and her cute friend Little K hanging out in her parents truck. Banana was convinced we needed to buy a truck by the time the night was over.Once Em got done trick or treating she spent the rest of the time hanging out in the car. She loved helping hand out the candy as kids would come by. (Actually, at first she was VERY protective of the candy and as a kid would grab something she would start yelling at the poor child and grab hold of as much candy as she could). She did warm up to it though and then couldn't get enough of it!
Banana also had her Halloween party at dancing class this week and I'm just glad I survived. It's hard enough trying to maintain some sort of order when you're teaching dance to a room full of toddlers. But add costumes and candy into the mix and it was slight chaos. All of the girls looked so adorable though, I couldn't help but embrace the chaos. :)

Hannah's happily pondering which piece of candy to eat first...
These are the only girls I could get to sit still long enough for a picture!Yesterday we decided to take a break from the cold weather and have a little luau! It was Banana's fun idea and it made the morning pass pretty quickly. I am still in love with these little girlies and my life would be so boring without them!

And The Candy Just Keeps Coming

We decided to brave the crowds last weekend and go trick or treating at the mall. Every year when it's over we tell ourselves we will never do that again, and by the time the next Halloween rolls around we've convinced ourselves it wasn't actually that bad. Ha! Banana and Em had a blast, but there were way too many people crowded into one little mall. (Mostly way too many quesitonable ppl). Gotta love D-port! We made away with two more buckets of candy and they are still sitting there mostly uneaten! Do you think food shelters take donations of candy? I've always wondered...

Banana and her CUTE friend Keann. He is such a great kid, and we love hanging out with him!
Running Man is supposed to be on break right now, but you wouldn't know it. Most of the ppl in in his pod at the clinic left so he kindly volunteered to pick up the slack...Which is great because it helps him get more adjustments. But mostly stinks because we don't get to spend any time with him on his break. He does get next monday off so we are thinking of leaving somewhere sunday night and doing something fun. Any suggestions of what we could do (on a budget), that wouldnt require driving too far? We really need a vacation!
We finally got around to carving a pumpkin and doing some more of our usual Halloween traditions. We made homemade suckers today and had Banana's favorite "jaggety lantern" pizza for dinner. I am hoping to make sugar cookies this week to take to our trick or treat party at the studio, and we are going to the trunk or treating at the church this weekend, followed by the parade! We have never braved the cold to go to the Halloween parade and figured we better take advantage of our last Halloween out here and go.


Banana LOVES getting the guts out of the pumpkin. I never would have thought that because she hates having her hands dirty...She was super proud of herself.
The girls and our jaggety lantern pizza!
I have also started kicking it in gear and getting myself in better shape. I don't think I'm out of shape, but I've reached the point where I wake up most days and struggle to find anything to wear that I feel great in, and don't want to get stuck with the winter blues. I'm grateful I am married to someone who is so motivated about exercise and nutrition because I think I would be in serious trouble! I used to have that same motivation but I think it kind of disappeared when the kids came along :) But no more!! Anyone who wants to join me please call because I love having work out buddies!
Banana always says she wants to be a chirorpactor like her dad, and today her and Em spent a good half an hour adjusting him! Here they are doing some leg checks! I love how much they pick up from being with me at my appts, and from hearing their dad talk about it. Throughout it all Banana kept telling him to take some deep breaths and relax. So stinking cute!

Have a very Happy Halloween weekend!!

Eight Down...Two To Go!

Finals are over!! Running Man did fantastic, and now we are just waiting to find out boards scores that will be posted in the next week. I don't think it's right for them to make you wait for almost wto months to find out the results of some tests that determine whether you can actually become a chirorpactor... I can't believe that he is done with 8th tri, and we are almost ready to graduate. Time has flown, and I am already feeling bittersweet about graduating and moving on. But that's another post, for another time. :)
We celebrated by going to the pumpkin patch and I was kind of underwhelmed. It's the same one we usually go to, but for some reason this year it seemed to be lacking. We are hopefully going to go to a different one this weekend that all of our friends have said great things about it. I'm hoping the rain holds off, or passes quickly so our plans aren't foiled! Banana is also gearing up to go trick or treating at the mall. I'm taking names of anyone who wants some more candy :) It's not allowed in my house anymore because I can't handle the temptation!
Running Man will be busy in clinic over most of the break, so we aren't headed anywhere exciting, but have a couple of fun things planned. I'm hoping we can take a quick trip to Chicago and let the girls run around there before winter sets in.
That's about all I have for today! I promise I'll have more exciting things to talk about next time. :)

The sorgum maze. The girls loved it, and I liked it because I was taller than it was, so I could tell where we were going!


They held hands like this for a lot of the maze. Banana is such an amazing big sister, and rarely loses patience with Em. I hope it stays this way for this next 18 years :)Their pick! Banana claimed it was just the "most perfect pumpkin there ever was!"

Here is the painted pumpkin...She originally wanted to paint it like a ghost, but once she realized that ghosts are usually only white she changed her mind. So it quickly turned into a clown pumpkin. It was her idea to add the googly eyes and puff balls for added effect! She carries it around the house now and calls it clownie. I'm just waiting for it to get dropped on the floor and break into a hundred pieces!

A Little Bit Of This

I think Fall decided to come back and visit again for a little bit! It is pretty gorgeous today, and the forecast is looking good for at least a few days...It's finals time around our house, so good weather means the girls and I can spend some time outside while Running Man studies, and studies, and studies. This past week Palmer had their Halloween party that Banana looks forward to ALL year. They get to go trick or treating all around campus, and then have a little party after. We all had a blast stocking up on the candy, and hanging out with some of our closest friends. (Now I am desperately trying to get rid of said candy). The girls looked adorable and had such a fun time running around in their costumes. Em used Banana's Nemo costume from a two years ago, and unlike Banana LOVED wearing it. She wouldn't let us take it off even though it was 110 degrees inside. She was a sweaty mess when we got home. Banana was a fairy (not to be confused with a princess), and made sure everybody was aware of that fact. :) She didn't want to cooperate so this is the best shot I could get of her. Good thing I have three more chances to get a good shot! We are going trick or treating at the mall, our ward is having their trunk or treat, and she gets to dress up for dancing class. That's A LOT of candy.

The other day Banana's BFF came over for one last play date before she moves away. Her dad is graduating, and they are moving on to bigger and better things. Banana was pretty devastated when I broke the news to her that Eden was leaving. Running Man and I are pretty sad too. They are an incredible family, and we are lucky to have had them in our lives the last three years.
Last night our friend Chris came over for dinner. He was Running Man's first friend when we moved out here, and Banana's first "boyfriend." The girls smothered him with love and attention. He is a great guy and loves the girls right back so we had a great night. We only had one slightly awkward moment when Banana told Chris that if he stayed a really long time he could be in our family. But he would have to sleep between mom & dad in their bed because she didn't have room in hers. Oh, the innocence of little children.
This picture is pretty horrible because it was dark and Banana wouldn't let me turn the light on, but insisted on me taking a picture. And yes I am fully aware of the fact that Em is drinking a bottle still. I have to choose my battles very carefully with her and I have been on the losing end of this one for a long time. She only has it right before bed, and drinks from a normal cup the rest of the day... so I'm not too terrible of a mom right?!
I hope you have a fantastic weekend and get out and enjoy the beautiful weather!!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!
Found this thanks to my SIL! So gorgeous!

Fall Came...And Left

Slacking on my blogging yet again. Everything at our house is going great, and we loved fall for the three days it was here! It is currently thirty-something degrees outside, and it snowed yesterday. That's right...SNOWED. Grrr. I love snow, really. But not in October. We are freezing. It's supposedly supposed to warm up some this week, but I'm not too trusting of our weathermen out here.
We've been busy, busy with a lot of fun things lately. Banana is still loving pre-school, and begs to go every day. Her teachers told me she is doing fantastic, and is such a character! I didn't ask what exactly they meant by character because I'm not sure I want to know :) This past week they had a mini-unit on the farm, and on one of the days they got to dress up as a farm animal, or a farmer. Banana chose a cow. Well, she technically chose a pig first, but I had most of the stuff to make a cow costume, so I used my powers of persuasion to convince her she wanted to be a cow. I was nervous to see if she would keep it on and she did! In fact she wouldn't take it off all day. I had an appt. at the clinic with Running Man right after preschool, so she wanted to show his supervising Dr. her costume. Then she wanted to keep it on while we went to Target, then took a nap in it. She tried to convince me to let her wear it to dancing class, but I think it might be against the dress code :)
You can kind of see the tail in the back, it was her favorite part! And the pink princess necklace it standing in for the cow bell. I didn't think her teachers would appreciate that added effect! She also wanted udders, but I'm not sure how that would have gone over either!

We spent a lot of time over at an awesome friends house this week crafting, and sewing! She was a HUGE help with everything I wanted to get done. She taught me how to make these super cute pumpkins!
She also helped me come up with ideas for Bananas cow costume, and helped me finish sewing Banana's Halloween costume! She is super talented, and so patient! I already have a list of all of the other projects I want to get done. I just need to get my sewing machine fixed...I'm afraid to find out how much $ that will be :)

Banana is getting pretty good at riding her bike, and we took full advantage of those nice days we had and spent them outside. I finally got some semi-decent shots of her so I can post them!

That looks like a kinda happy/slightly terrified look on her face. Walking back to the house...I thought this was a cute shot!
I had to post this pic of Em because of her expression. You can just catch a glimpse of how mischievous she is if you glance at her face. Makes me wonder what's going on in that tiny head! She keeps me on my toes every day. I never know what to expect from her and I absolutely LOVE it!

Yesterday we got to go to one of our friends' weddings. The bride goes to school with Running Man, and asked him to sing at her wedding! It started out as one song, but it ended up being four. He sounded amazing, and watching him up there gave me butterflies! Love it! I wanted to get some shots of him while he was singing, but I didn't think it would be appropriate to be snapping away during the ceremony. And I had two very tired chickas to wrangle and keep quiet. We had to drive almost 2.5 hours to get to the church. It was literally the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. It was this tiny little church, in a town of about 12 people. The church was pretty neat, but I wonder how they found it? Banana loved seeing Trisha in her princess dress! But, she was quite confused as to why she wasn't getting married in the temple. Thank goodness Running Man had the right words to explain. He's a fast thinker. Me...not so much!

This is where we spent the majority of the ceremony. In this quiet room outside the chapel. It had a giant window so you could still see and hear what was going on. But they couldn't hear the girls screaming. At least I hope so!
Now, we're back to Sunday and ready to start another fun week!