Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight was the annual "Trunk-or-Treat" at the church. Months ago Bryn decided to be a monkey and she was so excited to dress up tonight! I bought the brown leggings and shirt, then made the monkey ear headband, hair bow, banana necklace, and the tutu with the tail. (She got called a mouse and a puppy tonight, so I guess it wasn't obvious what she was...Ha!)

Before we went to the activity at the church Bryn wanted to "climb a tree like a monkey", so we went to the park and let her climb her heart out.

This is our little friend Colton who was also a monkey tonight. We used to watch Colton a couple days a week, so Bryn loves him and was excited that he was a monkey, too!

Doing the Candy-Corn Ring Toss

Bryn had lots of fun going from trunk to trunk and getting CANDY!

But as much as Bryn loves candy, she was actually more interested in putting rocks and leaves in her candy bucket. Sometimes she couldn't grab a piece of candy because she had two fists full of rocks! (She collects rocks every day, everywhere we go!)

Hooray for a fun night!

Afterwards, she got in her monkey pajamas, found her stuffed monkey, and picked "Curious George" and "Eight Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" as her bedtime stories. Can you tell she's kind of going through a monkey stage?

Family Fun Day

I kept telling Bryn when Josh was done with the GMAT and other projects that we would have a really fun day with all three of us. She's been so excited for our "Family Fun Day", as she has called it, and today was the day!

One of the things on Bryn's list for "Family Fun Day" was frosting Halloween cookies. We don't make sugar cookies often, so this was a fun, new activity for her!

This cookie is my favorite. I can't even tell what shape it is...(ghost?) and this is after Bryn mixed all the colors together into a lovely grayish color.

Fun day :)

Datey Datey Date

Every weekend for the past what-seems-like-forever Josh has been studying for one certification test or another. And when he had a little break from studying this summer I was crazy with Girls Camp and Youth Conference stuff. But........Josh is done studying until January, so we have a few months break!!!! It's been so nice for him to be able to come home from work and just play with Bryn or relax.

Besides quick temple trips, we haven't had a date in way too long, so tonight was such a blast! Hooray for dating! Hooray for playing mini-golf with pre-teens and ruffians at Boomers! Hooray for treats from Corner Bakery!

Stickers

How to keep a two-and-a-half-year-old happy at a two-and-a-half-hour volleyball game...

A little game called "Cover every Polka Dot with a Sticker"

(Not pictured: my sticker-covered back. Courtesy of Bryn)

Hooray Hooray

Today is going to be a good day! Lots of things to be happy about!

-I'm going to Disneyland with Bryn after breakfast

-Josh and I just finished a huge project with deadlines and stress, and I'm so relieved to have it behind us!

-I'm going to a volleyball game tonight with the young women. Fun fun fun.

-After a random week of HEAT we are back to cool fall temperatures. Hooray!

-Bryn has been especially cute/funny/wonderful lately.

-I discovered Ghiradelli dark chocolate brownies. So good. (Too good).

-In exactly two months and one day I'll be at my sister's wedding! Can't wait!!! (Aren't her engagement pictures gorgeous?)

Bryn

So many things make me laugh about Bryn. Motherhood is wonderfully entertaining, especially as Bryn gets older and sillier. Today I've found myself laughing every few minutes at something funny she's said or done....silly little things that are probably only laughable to me!

One of my very favorite times of the day is right now (1 pm). Bryn is just going down for her nap, and I love listening to her talk and sing herself to sleep. She started off with a dramatic monologue on how badly her finger hurts from pulling off a hang nail ("...I pulled my broken nail off and now I am dying. My finger is sore and hurt and my band-aid might fall off in bed...")

Then she started in on a wonderful medley of The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow/Do Re Mi/I see the Light (Tangled).

Her medley was cut off abruptly, however, when she exclaimed "I've got it! I know the mystery! It's...... INGREDIENTS! That's what we need! OF COURSE!!!!" (??)

Now excuse me as I park myself outside her door to hear even more :)

Today

I started off the day with this...

And ended the day with this...

With lots of laughing with Bryn in between.

It's been a good one.

H Day

Yesterday was H day for play group. I was planning on talking about HOUSES, but Bryn was insistent on doing HATS (no surprise there!), so we went with it.

Bryn was eager to wear different hats throughout the day, but the other girls didn't think it was such a good idea!

We practiced writing their names and coloring H's

I made a little hat matching sheet and the girls did so good with it

We read a couple of Bryn's favorite books on hats. First, "Hat" by Paul Hoppe

It's a cute story and I like the simple illustrations

Then, "Do you have a Hat?" by Eileen Spinelli

It's a cute book with lots of different hats and "famous" hats like Abe Lincoln, Carmen Miranda, etc.

I made simple felt faces and the girls had fun trying on different felt hats

Bryn

Ivy

Aubrey

And one more of Bryn because it's rare that she looks at the camera and does a normal smile!

G Day

I've hosted the play group this week and Tuesday was G day.

I made little GARDEN "books" and the girls worked so hard coloring the pages.

The finished product

They also colored VERY fancy G worksheets

One of my VERY favorite authors is Lois Ehlert and she has two really great book on GARDENS. The first is "Planting a Rainbow"

This book shows how flowers begin as seeds and the whole process it takes to become flowers. Beautiful illustrations!

And the second one is "Growing Vegetable Soup"

It shows the whole process of growing vegetables and then harvesting them and making soup! I love the clean, colorful illustrations!

We also went on a hunt around our apartment looking for GREEN things.

And we snacked on GARDEN vegetables!

I was actually babysitting two other kids on Tuesday, so it was a full house with 5 little kids running around! But it was a fun, busy day!

Making Bread

Lately, things have been busier than ever (yikes!), but tonight my to-do list was put on hold and my apartment was filled with these beautiful, smiling ladies! I taught the young women how to make yummy wheat bread and it was a blast....at least to me! (We used my Mom's Bread Recipe, which can be found HERE).

Of course, today was the HOTTEST day in weeks, so my apartment got so warm with all the added bodies and the oven heat! The "ocean breeze" wasn't cutting it :)

Renee prepping the pans

Sarah, Elizabeth, and Morgan mixing the 2nd batch of dough

Suzy and Elizabeth hard at work

Morgan getting all her frustrations out with the kneading

Our eight finished loaves! The loaf on the bottom left is my favorite! :)

We ate the first batch, and then the second batch will be used for the Sacrament bread at church on Sunday. While the bread was baking we worked on Personal Progress Faith experience #4 that talks about the Sacrament.

I love these girls! Fun night!

Nests

If ever I don't see or hear Bryn for 5 minutes, this is what she'll be doing. Just as soon as we've finished putting away the last "Blankie Nest", she slips back into her room and pulls out all the blankets to make a new one. It's kind of a messy game, but it's super cute to see how silly and chatty she gets as she hangs out in her nest with stuffed animals. I love to just lay next to Bryn and listen to her conversations with Polar Bear or Teddy. She always mimics phrases she hears me say, so it's awesome and hilarious to listen to what she's picking up from me. I could go on (I mean, we really love nests over here), but I think I've said too much already.

Three cheers for Blankie Nests!

Happy Happy Birthday

The birthday boy is home the ice cream cake is half-way gone.

Hip hip hooray!