Halloween Costumes 2 and 3!

It's no secret we love Halloween at our house. But I haven't enjoyed having double the candy hanging around this year though. Gracie had to be a fairy princess for school. I can't get over how cute her hair is! Katie of course had to dress up too if Gracie was so we were late to school that day. Katie loves to put on makeup and she even let me do her hair without crying. If only we could look this cute every day!

 

 We invited some new friends from church over to trick or treat with us. As you can see Gracie dressed up in an Asian Mulan dress and Katie was a barbie princess in white.

It was a fun night and we were glad that the girls had enough after about an hour and we could go home and hand out our necklaces. Oh that's right I haven't told you what we did. We got oodles and oodles of mardigras beads at a pirate parade we went to and didn't know what to do with them, so we handed them out at the Trunk or Treat and for Halloween instead of candy. People really liked it. At the party, Luke hid behind hanging black garbage sacks in our trunk with the necklaces and said, "Give me your neck!" to kids when they came by our van. They had to lean their head forward into the dark trunk and then Luke put a necklace on them. They kept coming back because it was so fun to be scared. On Halloween, Luke sat in the driver's seat of our van with a goblin mask on with the window rolled down but in the dark of our driveway. People would come up and get their necklaces from me and then turn around and start walking back... right past the open window and Luke would get them every time. A lot of times, it was the unsuspecting parent that waited just at the driveway while their kid went up to the door and when they turned around they scream or jump at Luke's scare! Luke had blast. He even got one girl twice who came to our house a second time and forgot! 
 

It was a Happy Halloween!

Halloween Super Heroes!

 Gracie wanted to be spiderman for Halloween the whole year because she had this suit that our friend gave us. So I said she could be spider girl and make a skirt and mask for it. She didn't want the skirt in the end. Katie became supergirl from another friend's costume. And I made Hulk and WonderWoman costumes starting with just under 3 hours before our ward trunk or treat. We had the hardest time finding pants at Goodwill for Luke to cut up. I love how his green paint turned out. And I wanted to work on mine just a little more but ran out of time.  The crown, cuffs, belt, and W on my shirt are all out of a gold pleather, while the boots I made from red pleather and copied how they do it in professional costumes and just wore them over my heels. I had planned to add the authentic white stripe down the boots too but ran out of time. I practically murdered the stars on my skirt because I had to sew them on so fast but it turned out well. Probably sturdier than most costumes you buy in a store. I can't believe how shoddily they are made.  Gracie wore a different costume for every Halloween thing we did this year so stay tuned for what she was for school, and for Halloween night. ;)

 

 Luke had to show me how he could rip his shirt off when we got home! And then he got my nice clean bathtub all covered in green paint. Oh well, it was my idea. You never knew that Wonder Woman and Hulk were a couple did you? 

 I made the props for the "fake" photo booth at the ward trunk or treat, like they do at weddings right now. I think it is such a cute idea to encourage people to have fun taking photos. Hopefully I can use them for other purposes too and my work for the one night won't go to waste.

 

22 wks gender? 28 wks running? 30 wks walking! 33 weeks big...

 Not sure how many pounds I gained at this point on Sept 9 but I know I finally went to the doctor for my first appointment at 20 weeks and got my ultrasound scheduled. I had only gained 10 pounds at 18 weeks - and I was still wearing my normal pants which is unreal for me but most likely due to working 40+ hours as server during that time. Luke "facetimed" me with the ipod at my appointment and he was at work with his ipad. It was the first time the sonographer had ever given the gender results over the internet. And it's a... GIRL!!! Luke and I bet and he won.

  This pic is at 22 weeks, taken for my friend Kristen but I never posted it. :)

Now this is 28 weeks and I started running/walking with my friend Carrie. My sister Nancy totally runs all the way up till the end but after running 1.5 miles and walking 1.5 a few times and getting bigger. Now I am walking! It feels good to exercise.

  And this is 30 weeks, still another photo for Kristen. I miss you my friend!

 I don't know if there will be any more pictures of me because I now have a double chin coming on. RRRR. And I have 2 small spots on my right leg of spider veins. I think that is what they are called. 33 weeks and I am starting to slow down a little and get uncomfortable. The girls remind me everyday how big my belly is. I don't enjoy being pregnant and can't wait to meet this new baby. Although I am not ready for another change. We are thinking of naming her Lexie or Noel right now. Gracie wants to name her Sunshine. We will see. 

Gracie learned how to swim in September!!

I've worked with her all summer and she never wanted to trust me and do what I say to learn to swim. Then I taught her how to shoot like an arrow off the side and she loved her new confidence. Then one day another girl her age was swimming and she tried to keep up with her and she learned to float. Then each time we went back, it just got better and better. Here are some pics and a video for proof. And Katie, believe it or not, goes all over the pool with those arm floaties by herself. She is not scared!

 

 

While Gracie is away, Mom and Katie will play!

We  like our alone time and for the first little while we didn't know what to do with ourselves while Gracie was at school. Kate and I like to sneak chocolate when no one else knows. It's our thing. It's still hard to get her to eat some things, but if we promise a treat as a reward for eating good then she will do it. And the bug? Well we started doing preschool/babysitting my friend's little girl who is Katie's age, Skye, twice/week. They have fun playing and learning together but sometimes, as with all 2 yr olds, they fight. I have to intervene all the time! Our favorite thing to do is go to the park and swing and then go see the fishies in the pond nearby. All the while I try to teach them early concepts and preschool songs. It's been pretty fun to earn a little extra money too. Oh and the bug... I found this sicko on my towel at the pool one day, flicked it off, or so I thought. He hitched a ride home and crawled onto my bathroom wall. Thought I got him again. Next day, during preschool, I scared the kids when I screamed while cleaning up the kitchen and he was crawling on my counter once again. I had to trap him in the pot, but no matter amount of smashing outside would kill him. Finally twisting and stomping in the grass got the bugger. It was a preschool highlight!

Gracie's First Day of Preschool at Primary Prep

Gracie goes to preschool from 8-11am every weekday. Which means I have to get up at a certain time. That hasn't been required of me for a few years and it is early in my book since we are usually night people. With Luke's job he gets up at 5am to drive 1hr 15min over a time zone to make it in time for school to start. So it all works better this way so we go to bed earlier. My girls are good sleepers and I feel bad waking them up every morning but Gracie loves school. And she is so sad if she misses it. She loves the social part of making new friends and I am glad it has taught her to play outside and not worry about getting sand in her shoes. She likes to dress fancy for school but she has to leave her necklaces and bracelets at home. She is getting better at getting her hair combed without crying. She is also learning to respect adults more and not talk back or argue with what they want her to do. Initially, she always wanted to do things her way and would pout and not participate if she didn't get to. She just got the "Whoo's Terrific" award for standing out as a good friend and showing respect. Way to go Gracie. She is also beginning to read! We really like Gracie's school but I don't like having to be somewhere.