Date Night Disguised

We do date nights with a couple of our friends - the Hartmans and the Williams'. One night it is our turn to watch all of the kids, and then the other two nights we get to go out on dates. It works out great - keeping in mind we have a combined total of 10 kids between the ages of 6 and 2 months - one night of chaos for two of peace.
Well I volunteered to have our babysitting turn the Friday before Halloween so that I could do double duty and make babysitting night also a little Hallween party for the kids. Fun idea right?! Well I was a little too eager and forgot to notice that PJ was on FPIS (awful month in other words) and he wouldn't be around, in fact he'd be long gone on a 30 hour shift. He was beyond thrilled to be missing out ;) And I figured I could handle it on my own, but thank goodness my mom decided to drive over to spend the holiday weekend with us!! I loved (and maybe needed) the help!!!

(Top Row: Matthew Williams, Brynn, Anya & Ally Hartman)

(Bottom Row: Dylan, Tyler, Wesley & Andrew Williams)

(Not pictured: the two babies Kate and David Williams)

So we ate our yummy Halloween dinner:

(Mummy hotdog, Apple mouth, Gummy Spider, Cheese finger, Ghost cupcake)
And we did several crafts:

And as we finished up watching Spookly the Square Pumpkin we had a little dance party:

And then we read Halloween books and gathered up some yummy treats and gift bags.

And then we all crashed.
Let the holidays begin!!...

2 Months!

Today Miss Kate is 2 months old. Over the last few weeks she has started to smile lots. She is even just barely starting to coo and make cute noises. She went to her audiologist appointment a little over 2 weeks ago and passed in both ears! Today she weighed 11.3lbs (86th%) and measured 55.5cm/21.9in (54th%). Her head was 39cm (75th%).
Immunizations turned into an unexpected family affair: Kate got 3 (or maybe 4) shots in her legs and one oral vaccine, Dylan got two shots (remembering we couldn't do his 2 year vaccines at his appt because their system was down) in his leg and a nasal flu mist, Tyler got the nasal flu mist, and I got the combined flu shot in my arm. Huh, guess I need to take Brynn in now to join the fun!... she'll be thrilled.

The boys were not exactly well behaved at the doctors office today. Too bad it also has to be daddy's place of work so I'm overly embarrassed. But notice the chart on the door?... Tyler studied it for a minute and then began to explain to me what the inside of his body looked like and where the head was and how the red things would be in his arms etc... I told you, he just loves to discover how things work.

My Fixer

If you ask Tyler what he wants to be when he grows up his answer comes quickly and assuredly... "a fixer". And that's been his answer for a long time now. He loves to discover how things work and always has a million questions when he sees something interesting. Its what excites him and gets him thinking. He just can't get enough.

So this past month, he was thrilled that he had a project to work on with daddy. They found a website (ana-white.com) that had instructions on how to build things. And they searched the site and found a bed that he wanted to make. So they went to the "wood store" (aka Lowes) and bought the wood and tools they needed. Then they spent every waking minute that they could in the garage working away.

Its a loft bed with playhouse underneath and stairs that lead up to the bed (and the stairs lift up for extra storage). And since it was a twin bed, Dylan needed one too of course! For now, the boys are just sleeping on matresses on the floor in the actual playhouse part. Obviously there are still a few finishing touches that need to be completed. But they love them!

Friendly weekend

We had visitors come this weekend! We love visitors. The Thomas drove over from Indiana since both Jeff and PJ had the weekend off. They got in late Friday night.

(Dylan, Brynn, Gracen, Summer, Tyler)

But Saturday morning I had a baby shower to throw. So while I went and did that, Jeff and Jaimi headed over to the Temple while PJ played with the kids all morning.

(Rebekah Williams, Brandi Hartman, ME, Ingrid Gray)

The shower was for my friend Brandi who is pregnant with twins. And since she is pregnant with one of each, PJ actually decided I should do the shower with the nursery rhymn theme of What are babies made of? And I think it turned out pretty cute.

The boy table... since they are made of snips and snails and puppy dog tails... had everything from gummy bugs to chocolate flies to dog bones (aka scooby snacks) to dirt and yes, even snails.

And the girls table... since they are made of sugar and spice and everything nice... had just that!

I also had fun with her present... of course making matchy matchy stuff like coordinating blankets/burp cloths, pacifier clips, toys, and most especially these adorable onsies that Katy helped me with (OK really she did all the work)...

And then once we all got home that afternoon and regrouped, it was such a lovely day, so we headed off to the zoo for some "fallsy" fun.

It was a fun, tiring weekend and the only thing that didn't survive was the house... well worth it though!