Happy Halloween 2011

I guess better late than never.
This year we didn't do a theme Halloween. I was a little bummed I didn't do it - I'll have to really make up for it next year - all I did this year was make Clare's dress. It did turn out adorable and she's worn it at least 4 or 5 days a week since Halloween. Here's pics of my cute Harry Potter, my darling Rapunzel and our sweetest cheeky monkey.

Carving Pumpkins
(How they really feel about gross pumpkin guts)
(And when I made them smile)


His first pumpkin!
Annual Halloween stew
Annual Halloween jammies
Our Vampire Pumpkins! How cute are these??!!
Harry Potter, Rapunzel, Cheeky Monkey!

My favorite thing Shea said today:

Shea: "That play they made us watch at school today was so boring. Seriously! So boring!"
Dad: "What was it?"
Shea: "It was like A Muppet Christmas Carol but with people."

11 months!

My sweetness

Hospital Trip 2011

We haven't been to the hospital yet this year. And here I was thinking we'd make it through this year without a trip!! Alas...

It's cold here and my kids are bored, so I promised them yesterday we'd go to this awesome indoor play place this afternoon. They have tons of trampolines and foam pits. A huge rock wall, etc. etc. We were having a great time when Shea fell off a platform while climbing up to trapeze into one of the pits.
He didn't loose consciousness, but I knew he was really hurt. I mean he's a pretty big wimp, but he was being even wimpier than normal and thankfully mom's know when things just aren't right! I was pretty sure he had a concussion so we headed up to the doctor's. So glad we did, he threw up right when we got there and a few more times after that - definite sign of a concussion. The Dr. confirmed it and sent us to the ER for a CT scan. (Anybody know how much one of those is going to cost?? - Yikes!!!) Thankfully the scan came out good. Concussion, but no serious brain injury.

Things Shea learned today: A liquid diet for 12 hrs rocks - milkshakes, milkshakes, milkshakes! A concussion is called a brain shake in German and Dutch (this is now his preferred term) and a concussion gets you out of school the next day (awesome) and out of PE for 2 weeks (not awesome).

Poor kid at home afterward clutching his hospital vomit bag and waiting for the Tylenol to kick in:

Three!!!

I can't get enough of pictures of all three of them. I love them so much and am so grateful they're mine.
(In no particular order -because it'll take me too long to order them.

Family Bowling

Bowling was the clear choice for us when we wanted to celebrate the end of the first week of school. We love to bowl.

We're perfecting three different styles -
Roll it:

Throw it:

And bowl it!


Thanks for coming to play Aunt Courtney!

Trampoline Time

Fairy Tale Ballet

We signed Clare up for Fairy Tale Ballet when we moved here. Whoever thought of this is genius and I mean genius! The girls spend the first 15 minutes learning real ballet stuff (can you tell I'm not a dancer - like that technical term?) and then they all put on the dress of the day. The first day was an Aurora costume. All those little girls in matching Aurora dresses. So cute!!! Then the teacher read them the story and then they got to dance it out. Clare is in LOVE!! Look at these pictures - she's never had so much fun in her entire life. We're waiting with baited breath for Cinderella day. :-)

Oh coconuts!

My idea of what to do with a fresh coconut:
Shea's idea of what to do with a fresh coconut:
(Disclaimer - since he'll hate me for these pictures when he's older. Shea DID NOT know that only the girls wear these. He thought all Hawaiians walked around in a coconut bra. When Chris enlightened him he abandoned his efforts to glue them to his skin. Phew! :-)

Vacation!!!!!

My mom and dad rule! They flew us out to St. Louis a few days after we moved so we could get a break and have some fun and boy did we!!!!

We went to the Arch. So fun!!
I took this picture from the top of the arch of it's reflection in the Mississippi.
You had to ride these little "cars" up to the top. Shea dubbed it the "escape pod" and was convinced if something happened, it would release and we'd float away to safety. :-) It was soo claustrophobic, I was just trying not to hyperventilate the 6 minutes it took to get to the top.

Us with Grandma and Grandpa at the Arch:
We went to a Cardinal's game. We're making a habit of going to baseball games in every city that we live in or visit and this was one of the best! We had a BLAST!!

All except my cute niece Makell, who was NOT a fan of the fireworks and noise. :-)


We took a weekend trip to Nauvoo and Carthage. It was a really special trip. My little sister and Chris and I were able to go through a session at the gorgeous Nauvoo temple. It was so beautiful and so great to be there with Chris and my sis. Nauvoo was super fun, the carriage ride, the blacksmith shop, the family barn, we had a really good time. Carthage was especially touching and I'm so glad we were able to go and take the kids. I don't know if it made an impression on Clare, but I think Shea will always remember it.


We went to the St. Louis zoo:
Holding a giraffe vertebrae and a Zebra tail!




We had so much fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, going shopping, eating out at their favorite restaurants and just enjoying each other!!

One day we did bubbles in Grandma and Grandpa's yard. Shea tripped over one of the little kids and ended up with 4 big wounds. Poor guy.
Reading stories with Grandpa:


Love you guys! Thanks for such a fun two weeks!!!!