Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we actually hosted our first Thanksgiving! Over all it turned out really well. My pie crusts, not so good, but edible and the pumpkin pie from scratch made up for it, I think! Bobby's dad and sister, Bridgette and her husband Nick, were able to come for about 4 days. It was great. 

Mostly we just hung out and watched a little football. A nice recharge time for everyone. We did go to the train park in Scottsdale one afternoon, but the camera was MIA, so no good pictures. But it was lots of fun and we plan to go back in the next few weeks to check out the light in the dark!

Jackson  loved all the extra attention and the different people to play with.  I'm not sure what he will do next week after a whole weeks of extra attention. 

Chitwoods Visit!!

Cora loved playing with Brooklyn's toys and Jackson loved playing with Cora. Brooklyn wasn't sure how she felt about it all. She was jealous anytime someone was holding Cora, but she didn't hurt her, so that's good. 

Cora held her own though. She was not to be bullied by her older cousins!

Cora isn't sitting on her own yet, so we had to find places to prop her up . Good thing she liked the ball pool for a few pictures!

Here are the three little monsters. Trying to get a picture of just three of them was next to impossible. But it's pretty good all the same.
It was a fun few days, just relaxing and spending time with family.

Days

Since the weather has been so great, we have been taking full advantage of it by going for walks everyday. Jackson of course prefers his bike, so we let him get some practice in too. He is getting really good, but it still takes about 30 minutes to go around the block! We are trying to get him use to the idea of wearing a helmet, but that doesn't go over too well every time!

Brooklyn has decided she wants to work in construction, so we are putting her to work all over the house! Poor girl is destined to be a tomboy with all the boy toys we have around the house. At least Jackson is mostly good about sharing.

Brooklyn has also decided if Jackson gets suckers, so does she. And she loves them, although the stick is almost as good as the sucker itself apparently!!

And this face, we like to call her crazy face. She just started playing with Grandma Halterman one day while Grandma was feeding her. Not sure where it came from, but it is hilarious! And if you do it back, she will start all over again. Plus, she loves that we are laughing with her, so then she does it some more. This girl loves attention.

Desert Botanical Garden

Jackson loves to get Cultural Passes from the library to check out fun "cultural" spots around Phoenix. And it's a great break from playing with mom all the time! This time Jackson chose the Botanical Garden, and the kids really enjoyed it. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to be outside for a bit, but not at the zoo, again!
Jackson just loves being a big helper. He made sure we went into the "hut" to be in the shade and have a drink.

Love this picture of our happy kids. It was such a great day to go. The weather in Phoenix this time of year is great. 

This picture cracks me up. I wanted a picture of Jackson and a butterfly in the butterfly  pavilion, and he gives me the thinker pose! Not the best picture to see the butterfly, but cute all the same. 

A sweet lady took our picture in the butterfly pavilion. She said  she knew how moms never got to be in pictures and almost grabbed the camera from me. 

Jackson loved anytime he could sit down. I think it was more walking than he was prepared for, but at least he was a trooper and keeps asking when we can go back!

Brooklyn's Duck Birthday!

For Brooklyn's birthday we were going to have it at the park, but it was too windy and cold, so we just went and played a little then came back to our house.  Jackson's favorite part was beating up Uncle Barry!!

Brooklyn loved the swings, and Tessa yelled, "Best day ever" while swinging. Swings really are the best.

Brooklyn was being a little fussy, so grandma tried to help her find her happy face,. She did a little dance, make some silly noises, and Brooklyn put her hand to her face, like she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. It was soo funny. 

The kids also loved playing with bubbles, especially Alec.

The side-walk chalk was also a big hit, although Jackson thought it was fun to mess everyone's pictures up. He even put dirt on Aunt Kendra's picture.

Brooklyn's cake.

Grandma and Papa helped with the decorations.

And there was lots of yummy duck food to eat. Duck shaped pizza, blue jello with ducks on top, quackers and "duck food" (trail mix).

Brooklyn loved her duck cake.

She thought it tasted good too! But she also thought the plate tasted good, so ... (It was pretty good though).

She loved all her fun gifts, but the bow tasted the best! Oh to be little and amazed by all the little things. It was a great party, although we missed the rest of the family who weren't there. Maybe next year!!

1 Year Old!!

Our little princess in one, already! And keeping with tradition we had to take Brooklyn's picture with daddy and writing on their tummies. Lucky for us she didn't mind getting her picture taken. She is walking all over the place. Still a tad unsteady, but holding her own.

She is slimming down a bit, only 24 pounds 2 ounces,  90% and 31 1/4 inches, 100%.

Overall still very happy, but is trying to cut some top teeth so she can eat like a big kid! Which will be nice since she eats a ton. We gotta keep up her thighs!

She is getting into all sorts of trouble. She loves to climb, on anything, and loves to climb into baskets. And she is a total Drama Queen. She's going to give us a run for our money! But still a blessing to our family.

Halloween

So this year we broke out of our mold, no superheroes for Halloween. Jackson wanted to be Scooby-Doo, so  we all got on board. Brooklyn was our bee monster, although Jackson said she was a sweet honey bee! Either way, she is too cute!

No introduction needed here! He loved the costume, but the head made his head sweaty, so didn't like to wear it all the time. Scooby never looked so good!

Bobby was Shaggy and Mikelle was Velma. Too bad we were missing Fred and Daphne, but we still looked awesome! Bobby was so sick of his gotee, though it was perfect. It is already gone as of this morning. The kids loved trick-or-treating. We went with Barry and his kids and had a lot of fun.

Our ward did a trunk-or-treat Saturday night. It was great, and Jackson couldn't wait to do the donut game. He was so excited he won a donut!!

Brooklyn sat in the stroller for the whole party, only getting a little fussy at the end. Jackson, as always, was such a good helper and big brother, singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to help he find her happy face!

Brooklyn wasn't too interested in helping with the jack-o-lanterns. She hated the insides, just like her daddy and brother. 

She did think the pumpkin and the seeds tasted good though! It was hard to keep them out of her mouth. 

Grandma Halterman found this Spiderman to make into a pumpkin. Jackson and Bobby love it!  Perfect for Halloween.

Jackson and Bobby made a very happy jack-o-lantern. Jackson got to choose the shapes for the details, and Bobby carved it out.

Random Days

One of Brooklyn's favorite moves. She thinks it's so funny. She will just keep doing it over and over and laugh. She's even got Jackson doing it!

Bobby taught Brooklyn to ride in the dump truck. She loves it, but now is constantly trying to climb in it. The dump truck might have mysteriously disappeared! We don't want to see the inside of the hospital anytime soon.

Brooklyn loves care bears. So funny how things come full circle. 

Yee-haw!!

Brooklyn loves Jackson's horse and he is so great with sharing. 

Jackson's prince costume for Tessa's Tangled party. He had so much fun, especially on the train!! Such a boy.

Loving "real" food, although we're not loving cleaning  her up!!

Brooklyn loves to put hats on and wear them, although she doesn't like to keep them on too long. She looks so cute in them though!!

AZ Museum of Natural History

Jackson has been wanting to go see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, so today we finally went. He loved the museum, and Brooklyn liked it for the first hour! 

He had lots of fun finding dinosaur bones in the Paleo Dig Pit! Brooklyn helped a little too, but mostly wanted to eat  the rubber that was covering the bones. 

Jackson is just like all boys, loving dirt and dinosaurs. Perfect since this was relatively clean, but still seemed like he was playing in the dirt.

Panning for gold was a little lost on him though. He liked playing in the water, and floating the bowls down the stream, but we didn't pan very much! We did find a few pieces though, so at least he had the experience.