Four Years Ago . . .

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Brooklyn's Birthday

Brooklyn had her first birthday on Thursday, Nov. 12. We had a small family party on that day, but had a larger party on Saturday for her since we would be in Logan for the weekend anyway. She really loved her balloons. She went crazy around them, tugging on them, laughing, trying to eat them, etc. They made her so happy. She was a happy birthday girl and handled all the attention much better than Ethan did on his first birthday. She even liked tearing the wrapping paper on her presents, but really seemed to appreciate all of Ethan's help.

I kept her cake pretty simple since we were out of town. It was made out of cupcakes placed close together and frosted. This was my first time doing a cupcake-cake and I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Ethan helped blow out the candle as well.

It all began with a small taste of frosting . . .

Happy Birthday, darling Brooklyn! We're so blessed to have you in our family!

Happy Birthday Jen!

Last Monday was Jen's Birthday. Kyle took the day off from work and we took the kids to Salt Lake where we got a free Burger and fries from Red Robin and a free ice cream cone from Baskin-Robbins. Jen got to go shopping at some stores she likes (Tai Pan Trading, Rod Works, a fabric store, etc.) and Kyle looked after the kids and was very good about not complaining that we had been at a particular store for too long.
That night, we ate a delicious Boston Cream Pie. After she blew out her candles, Ethan exclaimed, "Mommy, you blowed your cupcake!"

Brooklyn is very cute with her hair done up in a vertical pony tail, as has been shown in previous blog posts. However, once the elastic comes out of her hair she turns punk-rocker.

We've been meaning to post this video of Brooklyn for the last few weeks, and now we're finally doing it. She started standing up without holding on to anything about two weeks ago, but we haven't managed to get her to do it on camera. We're so proud of her and expect that it won't be too long until she walking by herself. (Oh yeah, she also started crawling up the stairs this week!)

Here is a list of the latest Ethan-isms:

• Just after Jen finished blow-drying her hair, he proclaimed, "Mommy's hair is like a cloud!"
• While Jen was working on the vest for Kyle's Woody costume, she explained that Dad was going to be Woody for Halloween, Ethan got a little concerned and said, "Daddy has not got boots . . . maybe for his birthday!"
• After a delicious meal made by Jen, "Thanks for the yummy dinner, mommy." Jen smiled a this, and Ethan said, "Made Mommy happy!"
• "I want to go to Disneyland with my two grandma's, and Mommy and Daddy can go to Hawaii!" Sounds like a plan to us!
• "Oh, man!"
• After doing something wrong, Ethan says, "Make Mommy/Daddy happy! Oh Mommy, I love you. . . muh (blows a kiss) ." In his mind, this makes peeing on the bathroom floor (or whatever else he's done wrong) all better.
• After giving him a choice between going to the bathroom or going back to bed one night, he complained, "That's not a choice!"
  

Trick Or Treat!

The kids had so much fun on Halloween, and the parent's did too. It was fun to finally have a holiday that Ethan actually anticipated, and really got in to.
The festivities started with the annual Primary Halloween parade at the park near our home. Ethan was a little shy at first, but eventually warmed up and had a good time. He wanted to fly on the swings like Buzz Lightyear. Brooklyn had fun swinging in her ballerina costume.

Since Ethan had to go as Buzz Lightyear, he thought it would be cool if Dad dressed up as Woody. We think the Woody vest that Jen sewed looks pretty good. Kyle was showing his costume off to Jen, and laughed when she saw that he had attached canning lids to as the large buttons on the shirt. She didn't think they would add too much to the costume. When Ethan saw them, he got excited and promptly added Woody Buttons to his Christmas List. Kyle felt justified.
Jen is dressed up as Andy's mom. If we had more time to prepare, we wish Jen could have been Bo Peep and had Brooklyn dressed up as her sheep to complete the Toy Story theme.
After all the kids were gathered at the park, we had our (very short) parade.

Halloween night, we took the kids Trick-or-Treating. Ethan had a BLAST. Brooklyn had fun too, but was pretty tired and indifferent. The ENTIRE time, Ethan ran and chanted, "To infinity and beyond! To infinity and beyond! . . ."
Here's the video to prove it:

Ethan and his loot.

(By the way, Jen and I were wondering: Can you still consider yourself to be "honest with your fellow men" if you sneak a few pieces of your two-year-old's Halloween stash?)

Kyle had fun carving pumpkins this year. He entered the winking smiley at his work pumpkin carving contest, and did the "pumpkin pi" for the trick-or-treaters.

Halloween Preview

We took lots of pictures, more of which we will post tomorrow. Here is a sneak peek of our day. Stay tuned!

Freebies

We love freebies! Last Saturday we got out and had some fun in Salt Lake redeeming several coupons we collected over the last few weeks for free things.

We started by dining at Pei Wei (if you haven't tried it you must!). Many weeks ago there was a promo for a free meal if you signed up as a fan of Pei Wei on Facebook. Both Kyle and I had our own noodle bowls and shared with the kids, though they prefered the all you can eat fortune cookies they have out.

Brooklyn loved to throw the noodles I gave her on the floor.

(Oh yeah, and I got a new hair cut--not free).

Next, we picked up our sample boxes that we signed up for from Edible Arrangements. We each got a free box of 3 chocolate dipped strawberries and 3 dipped apple slices. They were easily devoured by the end of the day.

We stopped in at Barnes and Noble (which happened to be next to Edible Arrangements) to browse since Kyle had a gift card he won, and to redeem a coupon for free hot chocolates and cookies with no purchase necessary.

Those are all the freebies from this week. FYI, I found out about all of these freebies from an awsome blog that I encourage you to check out called utahdealdiva.com

Now we are looking forward to redeeming the freebies coming into my hotmail inbox since my birthday is next week. I've already received coupons for a free burger from Red Robin, ice cream from Baskin Robins, and Cold Stone Creamery, and a shake from Del Taco. I think I know what we will be doing this weekend. I better not slack on my cardio for a while. ;)

We got some great video footage of Brooklyn walking with her walker last week, but haven't had time to edit it yet. So, as a consulation prize here is a picture from a few weeks ago that Kyle had on his cell phone. This is their favorite freebie from Maceys.

Brooklyn Berry

This week Kyle had to work a lot of overtime at work, so Jen was happy to have the Relief Society "Fabulous Friday" activity so she could have some time away from the kids. One of the projects she worked on was this pillow-case dress for Brooklyn (this picture doesn't quite do it justice). She had a lot of fun, especially since she hasn't done a lot of sewing for the last couple of years. It's so fun to have a little girl to dress up! When Ethan saw Brooklyn wearing this dress he laughed and said she was a tomato. Jen corrected him and said she was a cherry. Ethan later told Kyle that she was a berry, and Kyle said she was a Brooklyn Berry. This cracked him up!

Ethan continues to be obsessed with Toy Story. He even knows how to spell toy. "T-O-Y says toy!" When asked how to spell "story," he'll say "Y-O-R..." He knows the letters, but has yet to grasp the concept of order.

Yesterday a neighbor gave us some old clothes for the kids. Jen saw this vest and told Ethan it was like Woody's vest. He was soooo excited! He even had to wear the vest to bed last night, and put up quite the stink when we told him he couldn't wear the hat and vest to church.

It's amazing how fast his vocabulary has increased over the last few months. He's picking up phrases from us (and who knows where else...). Some of our favorites lately include:

• "Wait a minute..."
• "You're kidding me!"
• "I've got an idea..." (then he explains what his idea is. For example, "I've got an idea! Let's go to the park")
• He's still running around the house yelling "To infinity and beyond!"

He's been adding things to his Christmas/Birthday list every day. Today he informed us that he wants "a big Ferrari." He also wants Sir Topham Hatt, James, Gordon (each from Thomas), a big Buzz Lightyear with wings that light up, Rex, a real R/C (each from Toy Story), a pair of Cowboy Boots like Woody, and the list goes on.

He's also decided what we're all going to be for Halloween. After debating between a Tootsie Roll, a guitar, and Buzz Lightyear, he finally decided on Buzz (big surprize) so we bought him a really cute Buzz costume. According to him Dad will be Woody, Mom will be Andy's Mom (for those of you who don't watch Toy Story at least two times a day, Andy is the kid that owns Buzz and Woody), and Brooklyn is going to be Jessie (the Yodeling Cowgirl that is part of Woody's Posse). We don't have the heart to tell him that Brooklyn is going to be some sort of fairy princess with a fluffy tu-tu instead.