Happy Halloween!

It was fun getting ready for Halloween this year because the kids, especially Max, actually understood what was going on and there were no tears when it came to wearing a costume, like previous years. :)

Batman and a Princess




We had a great ward Halloween Party and trunk or treat. Sadie was obsessed with this girl in our ward that dressed up as Barbie. Sadie thought she was a real Barbie and the girl was so sweet and hugged Sadie and talked to her for a while. Sadie was in heaven!
Max had fun with some games and Sadie cheered him on.
Trunk or treating. They were so good and polite. As always Max was cautious about going car to car, which I love about him, and Sadie just dropped her bucket in front of each person waiting for candy, running from car to car, and seriously going crazy from all the candy...which I love about her too!
Sampling some of their loot.
This year I opted to paint pumpkins with the kids rather than carve. I thought it would be more fun for them, rather than watching me do most of the work. They loved it. It was the first time we had finger painted and I think I would actually do it again, because they loved it and actually stayed really clean and didn't paint any furniture or walls. :)

Although as I washed Max's hands, Sadie took some liberties with her paint. :)

Fall Festivities

Last week we visited a really cool pumpkin patch with Max's old preschool class. It was so much fun, complete with corn to walk through, hay rides, a forrest, bridge and castle with a tunnel to climb in. The kids had so much fun!!

Checking things out together before we went into the cornfields.
Sadie was so excited to be in a princess castle. I literally had to pull her out kicking and screaming.
Max was in a playhouse next to the castle and just think this pic turned out cute of him. :)
Fun tunnel.
Max was a little curious about this pumpkin guy. Sadie just kicked him.
Sadie and I on the hayride.
Max was pretty curious about everything on the hayride.
It was so gorgeous all around the property.


Not happy that all the pumpkins were medium size. He was hoping for a really, really big one!
Sadie was too tired to care.

A couple days later I decided to do something I had vowed never to do with kids....decorate sugar cookies!
What I love about Sadie's cookies above are all the finger marks you can see in her frosting where she wiped the frosting off and then ate it. :)
And what I love about Max's were the monster's he made with the pretzels I was snacking on to combat my ongoing morning sickness and that several cookies have bites already taken out of them.



Max is really excited about Halloween! Everyday he asks Aaron and I what we are dressing up as. I told him mommies don't have to dress up but daddy will. :)

Civil War Commemoration

Yesterday we attended the annual Civil War Revisited event at Kearney Park. I loved attending this when I was younger with my Grandma and Grandpa McLelland, so it was fun to go again this year. It was an unseasonably , miserable, humid and hot weekend, but we still managed to have fun and survive the heat!

This year, the event commemorated Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

The kids next to one of several huge, and loud cannons.
A solider's tent.
Some of the campgrounds.
A tent full of explosives. At first I thought it was just trying to portray a tent full of explosives, without actually explosives inside, but then I noticed the fire extinguisher so I'm thinking there possibly could have been explosives inside.
All Megan wanted was kettle corn, so we made sure to get the biggest bag possible. :)
Who couldn't love this face?! Although she is in desperate need of a bang trim.
And this face too! So excited to see army guys fight!
Sadie kept wanting to go see some horses nearby the spot we were saving to watch the battle, and after no adult would take her, she convinced Max to hold her hand and make a run for it together. And yes, I took several pictures before actually stopping them. :)
But really, it was so sweet.
Unfortunately as soon as the first cannon went off, all Max's excitement left and the tears came. Poor little man, he was genuinely terrified. I even shed a few tears because I felt so bad for him.
Sadie was pretty tough, although every time a cannon went off she panicked and wanted her ears covered, but then bounced back quick. She was mostly just in love with this little horse we bought her. She was really sweet towards Max trying to comfort him, although he made sure everyone knew both he and Sadie were scared of the cannons. :) Here Sadie is with Grandpa McLelland, showing off her horse.
It was really a cool battle to watch. The horses were always really close to where we sat which made it more interesting.


This is when they were both scared at one point and both had to be on Dad's lap....just to prove Max right that they were both afraid. :)
Towards the end Sadie got really tired and just wanted to be held with her ears covered. I didn't mind, since it's rare a toddler wants to sit still and let you hold them!
I love that my brothers love learning about battles, wars, and history. They watch a lot of History Channel specials and I think it's so great that they have this love for history...although it's mostly fueled by a love for war histories.
I think Megan was the happiest about Sadie wanting to be held. They had a nice little rest together. :)

It was a fun day and a great way to remember the history of our great nation!!

Sadie's 2nd Birthday!

Well, our baby girl turned 2 this week (2 going on 12, but hey, it's ok!).

She has slept this way since she was born. I love that she still does it! This girl loves her beauty rest.
I made my 2nd attempt at sewing her a dress. I was much happier this time with how it turned out, but I'm realizing that she is such a petite things and patterns always need to be more narrow in the shoulders for her....so this dress falls off her a lot. Oh well!
She's a very wiggly model so it was hard to capture a good photo. oh, and I couldn't find my camera so all these photos were taken from my phone, so they are a little grainy. Sorry!
We had a little extended family birthday party for her two nights before her actual birthday because I was going out of town for a family wedding on her birthday. This was the cake I made....an ice cream potted flower cake (oreos used to make it look like potting soil on top). Anyone that knows Sadie knows she LOVES to eat dirt (even today at nursery they took the kids on a walk and I saw Sadie come in with a mouth full of dirt). There's no stopping her...she'll hopefully grow out of it...right???? For now I'm not too concerned.

Checking out her presents. This was when she started to realize she was the star of the evening.

Trying to convince great grandma mclelland to open a gift for her early. :)

She then realized that wasn't working so later she started giving out hugs (something she does every so often, when she feels like it)...hoping to find someone that will start helping her open gifts!

Ahh, finally time for gifts! She was a happy and spoiled (in a good way) little girl! Thanks to all our family for the great gifts!

No joke, for 2 months I did occasional research to find a great doll for her-one that was soft and cuddly, easy to clean, durable and had long play time based on other parents online reviews. I'm a little crazy, I know. But I love this doll and so it was so fun to see her love it too!

Once I found the doll I had to get the matching diaper bag as well! She loves bags/purses! Preparing to be a mom on the go!

Real men (in Toy Story underwear) carry diaper bags too!

So, since Christmas I have also been in love with this wooden doll care center at Target. It was a bit more than I wanted to pay so I was so excited when I found it for sell on craigslist from a really nice family who's daughter had hardly used it. Sadie LOVES it....and so did all the kids, even the older boys! They were all playing with it! And the best thing is it was in great condition and SO cheap!

This picture is especially for Megan. She was complaining that night that I am never in any of the photos (and the few she took of me against my wishes that night I deleted) so here is my earring and arm. Enjoy!!

Sadie was a little freaked out by the fire on the candle..totally out of character for her. So Max, her eternal protector, blew it out for her.

On her birthday morning before I left for out of town, I picked up some sprinkled doughnuts for her.

Sometimes she looks like Mowgli from Jungle Book to me. I love that about her!

Pop (Aaron's grandpa) called her and sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she had a huge smile on her face the whole time!

Although this was her a few minutes earlier right after she woke up with her typical "mom, it's 8 am and you are seriously already getting on my nerves" look. I get it every morning...and I love it!

This Max helping(fighting?) her open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Keough, and Aunt Emma. The princess wrapping paper was a huge hit!! She loved everything in the box!! I tried to get more pics, of her trying on the shoes and dresses, but I was also having to play referee between her and Max so all the pics were blury! Thank you though for everything!!

I love my little girl! I think the thing I love most about her is that she makes it clear that I am seriously bugging her most of the time. :) Is that bad? She does have a lot of sweet bones in her body and can be so loving most of the time, but when she's not in the mood, you'll know! She rolls her eyes already so far into the back of her head, you think they will be lost. Probably shouldn't be proud of that, I know, but it's hard not to laugh. We are in the full blown terrible two's, so numerous timeouts are apart of her daily ritual, but we also spend a lot of time playing dolls, doing princess dances, giving her manicures and pedicures (my absolute favorite thing to do for her!), watching Caillou and Dora, playing outside, watching her swim with no fear whatsoever of the water, or concern if someone is even there to catch her if she jumps in, playing monster trucks and doggies with her brother, and more! She talks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we love her little voice. She is a joy and a challenge to raise and I wouldn't have it any other way!! We love you Sadie Rose!!!!