Halloween Weekend

What could be cuter than a laughing monkey?!?

maybe a monkey eating a banana?!

Actually.... 3 monkeys is cutest of all!!! (Vic doesn't need a costume to be a monkey, tee hee :)

We drove to Seattle to visit my brother's family for Halloween weekend. It was really beautiful this time of year. It was funny to see Tommy & his 2 cousins at every door overwhelming the homeowner by squeezing into their door frame!

We had so much fun watching Tommy trick or treat for the first time. He was so happy that he would be walking down the street & every time he looked down at his bucket he'd start laughing right out loud... cutest thing ever. Every day I've let him pick out one treat out of the bucket after dinner and he gets so excited he does the happy dance.

I loved the houses where people made a little extra effort to make it fun for the kids, but I especially loved this house as they went all out!
Here is Kiersten, Kara, & Tommy making some spooky faces in front of the scary house!
Earlier in the weekend we wen to a Halloween party. Here is our family picture there. Tommy was actually supposed to be a cop & we were to jail birds, but his costume didn't fit!!
He had a ball at the party w/ cake pops, his own mini waterbottle, & treats, but his favorite part was the bounce house. He couldn't leave the thing alone!
One of the days we did some major crafting in the kitchen! We made a ginger halloween house, suckers, and treats. Here is the madness! (my sister-in-law, the brain behind all the fun crafts)

Tommy helped by taste testing all the treats as we went. :)

Here is a picture of our finished mini cakes:

Here is a picture of some of the clever treats we made:

and then we had a lovely Halloween tea party to eat all of our work! Girls are fun that way. Can't wait for Whitney to get older & get excited about making place cards, decorating, etc. You can sure bet I'll train her good!!! :)

We can't wait!

Hey Vic, just wanted to let you know that we can't wait to welcome you home!!! :) I was thinking that I took pictures in the last couple of weeks, but the only exciting thing we've been doing is going on lots of walks so here we are!

This one is a repeat of the other one, but Whitney just looks so cute in it so I had to post it!

...and for anyone else out there who might possibly still be reading my blog (besides my uplifting, faithful Shanshan reader of course!)... here is Whitney's first ponytail! Her hair is getting out of control these days so I figures I better cut it or start pulling it up!

September Update

September was SUNNY and gorgeous here in Twin Falls. After living here it has become my favorite month of the year! We started it off with a fun package from "2 proud grandparents". Tommy really loved it so it gets me excited for Christmas this year with him :)

Our peach tree made a million peaches this year and Vic is crazy gung-ho about food storage so we all learned to do our first "canning"/jaring project. Tommy loves to cook so he was in heaven.
Whitney has started to reach for everything and somehow wound up with this apple, yum.

She was even desperate enough to gnaw on this beet stem...

...so we decided to start her on rice cereal. She gave us quite the mean look when we tried to feed her & then gagged it all out. We gave up on that idea & tried again this week & she took it slightly better. Nothing like her brother that gobbled it all up at only 4 1/2 months!

Had to squeeze in one LAST pool party with the neighborhood kids.

Celebrated my birthday with my college buddies Heidi & Heather in Island Park

28 candles!

Tommy loved having little buddies around to chase around.

Vic was so excited to go fishing for his FIRST time ever that he didn't care that it was pouring freezing cold rain. He stayed out there until he caught a fish. Tommy was pretty excited to touch it when he brought it into the cabin to show us.... just a TINY little guy, haha!

The next day was a beautiful day so Tommy joined him. He pretty much just stuck his pole in the water & waved it around :)

Whitney is starting to grab at everything & be much more alert so Tommy is in hog heaven having a friend around all of the time. Every morning if he doesn't see her he searches the house for her.

They both think it is pretty great to lay in Whitney's crib and watch the mobile. I felt bad taking it away from Tommy because it has a projector for when they get older & he still really loves it so he plays in there often.

They are super cute when they have fun watching a movie & cuddling together.

Tommy always is too rough with Whitney & the tough little girl thinks it is fun!

Vic also started going back to Chicago again for more training, but this time to do paperwork at corporate. He wasn't real thrilled with that part, but he lucked out and met a bunch of district managers that all loved him and offered him jobs in Albuquerque, New Mexico; St.Louis, Missouri; or Lafayette, Indiana. They all paid about the same, but it was WAY cheaper to buy a house in Indiana so..... LAFAYETTE, INDIANA HERE WE COME!

House for SALE!

As of this morning our house is officially on the market! We still have no idea of where we might be moving to, but we know the time is getting close enough that we need to start trying to sell our house so we'll be prepared to move when Vic gets an offer for a promotion :) It has been super stressful trying to make sure every room looks just perfect so I'm excited to have that done & out of the way so I can worry about the fun stuff of life! (an update to come soon)

For more information & pictures click HERE

August Update

I finally have time to put a few things on here of what we've been so busy doing! We went with my brother's family up to the cabin & went on a little mini hike. Tommy looked so cute & tiny running down the trail.
Our destination: Kara, Ben, Evie

I LOVE this picture of 2 babies having a fruit picnic :)

Tommy usually loves the water & rides, but he just wanted to hang out on the dock.

Vic got done with training a little early & raced to join us for the last day & had to squeeze his annual waterskiing in. This is him trying to kick off one ski, he only likes it that way. I wish I had a picture of Ben, Katie, & I. We had a great time trying to kill each other on the tube the day before! I don't think the 3 of us have ever been out on the lake together so it was fun feeling like a kid again :)

Mom insisted we play in her half flat bouncy house & we told her it wasn't safe & we wouldn't let our kids play in it unless she crawled through it... we should have known how determined & stubborn she is & that she would find a way to SQUEEZE through it!

...so here is our kids happily playing in it.

We finally made it up to Roaring Springs in Boise & Tommy loved the kiddy park area. It was the perfect day because the fair was going on & some schools have already started so it wasn't busy at all & we saw some friends there that watched our kids while Vic & I got to run around & go on the big rides together :)

Whitney was so cute in her ladybug swimsuit & matching ladybug headband! Also, I LOVE this picture because my arms look really skinny when actually they are not!

Since Vic was finally home we finally lit off our 4th of July fireworks (at the END of August).

Probably still wouldn't have remembered to do them except these 2 cute little rascals found them & couldn't wait to light them off.

Here is Tommy with his little buddy Carter. It is the first & only name Tommy has said for the last 6 months! (besides mama & dada) I had a kiddie water party with 3 of my friends & it was fun to have so many little kids running around our yard. Tommy was so sad when he was too tired to finish playing. When he woke up from his nap he ran straight out there to continue playing & cried when he realized all his friends were gone. :*(

The next day we did another water party & I took this picture because Whitney & Vic's swimsuits matched, but then I forgot to get it in the picture and Whitney looks cute so I'm posting it anyway!

Here is Vic with all of his nieces & nephews going crazy on our new water slide our friend sold/gave us. We will have tons of fun to come, but it totally trashes the yard so we will have to be selective as to how often we use it!

AND HERE IS THE MOST EXCITING NEWS: This little monkey is already SITTING UP! I was really trying to keep her immobile for as long as possible, but now she is already beating Tommy on her little milestones so I am worried! My house will be complete chaos before I know it.

Tommy is so funny lately I can hardly ever get a picture of Whitney without him. Every time he sees me taking a picture of Whitney he races into the picture! Here he is knocking her over because he's trying to get close enough. Poor girl will be SO strong after Tommy constantly beating on her. He can hardly wait for her to get moving. He is constantly playing with her & wants her everywhere he is, but he is a bit rough by sitting on her, etc.