Better Late Than Never

Halloween was a long time ago.  Yes, I know.  We've had a few things keeping us busy lately.  Three things to be exact.  Anna.  Andrew. Daniel!  Daniel gets the exclamation point.  So, for your enjoyment, here are a few pictures of my kiddos during the Halloween season.  They ended up being able to wear their costumes to 4 or 5 different events.  They loved it every time.  Andrew was a little lion who would NOT wear the head piece if his life depended on it.  He was so cute though.  He kept roaring at people and saying int the sweetest voice, "I'm a lion!".  He loved being a lion and really embraced the role.  Anna was Ariel.  She wore it well, from the sparkling pink ring to the high heel princess shoes.  She was dressed to a "T" and loved feeling pretty.  These first pictures are from our last night in costume.  We took the kids trick-or-treating around the apartment complex.  They LOVED every second!

Daniel stayed nice and cozy, all covered up in his little car seat, while the kids went from house to house. 

 Not too happy for this picture, are we princess?

 Ah, that's better. ;-)

The kids love to paint their pumpkins before we carve them.  We may or may not have an obsession with painting. 

Oh, and for your information, Anna painted her pumpkin ORANGE!  Oh yea.  It was pretty awesome.  She even painted her stem green. 

 Then Daddy got in on the action.

When we were first married, Josh told me that he loved eating pumpkin seeds.  I thought he was joking.  I had never heard of anyone eating the seeds.  All I could picture in my mind was pulling the slimy seeds out of the pumpkin and eating them like popcorn.  Yuck.  Once I learned that you wash and bake them with salt, I began to warm up to the idea.  Then, I tried them, and I was hooked.  We do it every year now and love it! 

 These pics are from our ward Halloween party.  

 This is Brinley.  She and Anna are the best of friends.  They play at each others houses every day and love one another to pieces.  I love that she has such a good little friend who is so sweet.  

 Oh yea, she got her face painted!

 There was a fire truck at the party.  Now, every time we tell Andrew that we're going to a party, his response is, "Let's go see the fire truck".  Cute!

 These pics are from Anna's school Halloween party.  It was SO darling!  Seriously.  I loved being there with her.  They made these big boxes into little houses that the kids would knock on and go trick or treating at.  Hello?  That is so cute!

 Playing some fun Halloween games. 

 Andrew had to get in on the action, of course.  He rocked it!

 There was even a fortune teller!  It just went right over her head.  She didn't get it at all.  ;-)

 Then there was a snack.  She got that! 

Look at Andrew's eyes.  Priceless!

 So proud of his cheek!  LOVE that kid.

 We even got to do a little cookie decorating. 

Happy Birthday Andrew

 It's amazing to me that this little guy....

 ....has turned into this big boy!  Andrew turned TWO a few weeks ago.  His birthday was on the 25th of October.  We loved celebrating him, in all his craziness.  It's hard to really capture Andrew's personality in words.  Once you meet this little dude, your heart just melts for him.  Saying that he is a crazy two year old is the understatement of the century.  There is no one quite like him. 

 A few things you may or may not know about my Andrew....

When you tell Andrew he is going to time out, he replies in his angry voice by saying, "DO NOT SAY THAT TO MEEEE!!!".
Andrew doesn't walk anywhere, he jumps.
Andrew is often referred to as Dream Boy or Anj.
He knows the whole alphabet and all of the sounds for each letter.
He can count to twenty.  (1-10 is great...then it goes 11, 12, 14, 16, 19, 20).
He has memorized tons of primary songs and sings them proudly every day.
He also knows some of his Articles of Faith.
Andrew is quite the comedian.  He will definitely keep you laughing!
He is still obsessed with balloons of fire, (hot air balloons).
When Andrew is in trouble, he always says, "Mommy, I love youuuuu!"  He really tries to suck up.
Anna is his hero.  
He is a great big brother to Daniel.  He is actually quite gentle with him.
He gives the BEST hugs you can imagine.  It's great for us, not so great for Daniel.  He just squeezes so hard!
He is the happiest little guy you'll ever meet.  
His prayers are the cutest thing you've ever heard.  Seriously.  I'll post a video soon. 

Basically, he is the best little guy you can imagine, even though the terrible twos are in full force.  We love him to pieces!

Here are some pics from his actual birthday.  This picture below really captures Andrew's personality.  He's always trying to make things more thrilling.

 One of his favorite questions, "Do you think that's funny?"

He kept telling us that he was three.  I think he thought he was because Anna tells us every five minutes how old she is.  At least he got the fingers right. 

Daniel was just too tired to enjoy any of the fun. 

We were super blessed to get some old toys from someone in our ward.  So, we saved them and gave them to Andrew for his birthday.  We didn't end up spending any money on his gifts this year.  Talk about a blessing.  Being poor is hard.  Having generous people in our lives really helps and makes us feel super blessed. 

Check out that car!  So cute.  I had one just like this when I was a kid.  Anna and Andrew are getting tons of use out of it.  It's their new favorite toy. 

And here is the cutest little rocking horse you've ever seen.  We were going to save these big toys for Christmas but there's no way we could take these with us when we drive to GA.  It worked out perfectly for his birthday!

Tradition!

Here's my dinosaur cake.  This is about as professional as it gets around here.  Having a two week old baby on Andrew's birthday made it a little challenging.  So, anything that I accomplished that day, felt like a big deal. 

This is Andrew playing outside on his big day.  He's just so cute!

This is our neighbor, Julianne.  Isn't she darling?  You can't beat that smile. 

They're buds, most of the time.

Love this picture.

Singing him Happy Birthday.  He LOVED the attention.

"Who wants cake?"

That's some good cake.  Mmm!

This was the extent of my decorations.  It wasn't much but Andrew loved it. 

At the end of the day, we all were feeling super grateful to have such a great little boy in our lives.  He really brings so much to our family.  Happy Birthday Andrew!