Mr & Mrs Smith

Mom will always want a good pre-trick or treating photoshoot. It's a circus at this age, but at least Dallin was willing to play his part for a short time. I love the costumes that live on. Gammi made Lexi a Mouna outfit this year. We forgot the necklace in the shoot, but we somehow managed all other moving parts. She has the best real smile, but it's impossible to get it at the same time as Dallin. So see the below individual shots thanks to Dad's participation.  Lexi was beyond excited and on the way home said this was the "best day ever". However, we were a little disappointed she would forget to say trick or treat and follow up it up with thank you. We told her we wouldn't go to anymore houses if she couldn't remember. I think the big bowl of candy just took over her mind. Dallin did better than expected and was pretty territorial over his bag most of the time. He wouldn't speak (public speaking makes him nervous), but he walked up there once ...

Every year it gets a little more and more exciting...for her...and more tiresome for us, ha! But we do what we can and Gammi makes it easier with her fabulous home-sewn costumes. I love that Dallin got to re-wear R2D2. Lexi likes Star Wars due to brainwashing? and although mermaid got into her head, she thought Princess Leia was pretty cool. She even let me do sock buns without complaint. No hairspray on hand so I was surprised they lasted as long as they did.  Her favorite part of Halloween? Candy. She thought she got a ton. Dad came home just in time to go to the ward's trunk or treat for 30 min and she got a few handfuls. Then we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Smith, Lance & then Grandma Jane. I was wiped. But apparently not as much as Dallin who slept 15 min after leaving the house, right in dads arms as we passed out candy. Lexi only visited a couple of actual doors and was ready to take it all so maybe next year we'll learn how to be more polite... I've...

I never thought I'd get this distracted from my blog, but it's getting harder and harder to stay motivated. But I must. Or all of these days will be left behind and I just can't have that. Today we went to the pumpkin patch! The weather has been nicer this week so I'm glad we got the chance to go with cousins no less. Dallin slept on me the majority of the time and Lexi & Maren played & played. I think the slide was this year's favorite, but everything is an adventure for a 3 year old. All three of us came down with colds the last week or so, which means we've been hiding out more than normal. It was nice to feel fall for a bit. Dallin has showed some promise of sleeping better and I think would be doing so in his own room where Lexi's cough didn't wake him or if he we cleared of sickness himself. He has put himself to sleep well the last few nights. Naps are still torture. I also see imprints of 4 top teeth as well. So we shall see. I still...

"ARGHHHH" How many times last night did you hear parents telling their young children "what do you say?" "Trick or Treat!" - Did you say thank you? "Thank you!" She was so cute. This was her first time going out to trick or treat. And although going house to house was a slow moving process (probably an hour for 2 streets moving past most homes), she loved being a pirate and asking for candy.  We aren't big Halloween people so it works out when grandma mails a costume that she loves. We talked about what to be and she seemed most excited about the pirate and loves putting things over her eye and acting as such so we figured that was fitting for this year. I think grandma's combination is "princess pirate". We did the trunk or treat the night before and got some practice with a few cars before freezing and heading home.  She loved that so we thought we would head to grandma's street for some house to house pr...

Lexi did turn 18 months last week. We see the doctor in the morning so I will talk more about her in the days ahead. She is the best thing to talk about. I will mention that she has been in nursery the last 3 Sundays and has done incredibly well. It makes my heart happy to see her play well with a group of children her age (especially after the issues mentioned in the last post when it comes to playing one-on-one with her cousins & the fact that she still takes a morning nap). It was surprisingly hard to leave her, and still is; I want to watch her play, but it's nice knowing she behaves great without us. She doesn't show much contempt when we drop her off, but at least she gets excited when we pick her up. We are definitely getting more out of church thanks to wonderful nursery leaders. I'm just so surprised at the strong & independent girl we are raising. She is extremely helpful (in the way 18 month olds can be helpful) and loving. Yes, she might be grabby and p...

The Fall leaves finally made it to Hickory. Our street is just beautiful. L O V E L Y. But we're back to weather in the mid-60s to mid-70s. Apparently Mr Smith goes to bed with a sweatshirt but takes it off every night never remembering actually doing it. He's a weird kid. I know I have been blogging so much lately! But I feel it's because I can't figure out how to be better productive during nap time, well, the second one. So any way, three cheers to having Halloween over. I'm sorry, I really don't care for the holiday. This year we did more than we have ever done for Halloween in our adults lives (remember Mr Smith is old), we dressed Lexi up in the R2-D2 costume my wonderful mother made & we handed out some candy out of pure obligation . Thankfully, not too many kids come down a dead end street. But here goes Mr Smith... "Are those parents really driving their kids door to door?!" He liked to point out the cute kids with parents that do...