Always Changing

Our dear Chet is almost 14 months! He isn't my little baby anymore and I'm kind of sad about that.

He's got the walking thing down now. He stays pretty busy; it is rare for him to sit down for much longer than a couple minutes. The poor kid has a pretty big noggin so it takes a lot of hits. But it doesn't seem to slow him down.

He is talking more and more. He now says "got got" (hot hot), "ickle" (tickle), "foo" (food), "na, na, na" (no no no), "a ga" (all done/gone), "yeergo" (here you go) "yiya" (Mariah) and bye. He also signs please and every once in a while he will sign thank you. I think he is going to be a quick talker like his sister.

He loves to give out big wet kisses and I love to receive them. He thinks he likes books, but he can only sit on my lap for two or three pages and then he has to go get another book. He is a big big fan of balls, thats another fairly new word, "ba!"

And Mariah...she is two going on sixteen. The other day Tanner was teasing me and I hit him with a shirt. Big mistake. Mariah then lectured me for a good fifteen minutes. "We don't hit! Mommy, you're in trouble. Do you need to go in a time-out? Thats not nice. That makes daddy sad." And then she would walk over to Tanner, "Are you ok daddy? Let me kiss it better." And then she would start back in on me again. My wish came true, I have an official assistant mommy.

Tonight she asked me to read her a book and I said just a second. She then said to me in her best mom voice, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" If you couldn't tell, we use that phrase quite often in this household.

For FHE this week we made a thankful turkey. Each night we write something we're thankful for on a feather to put on our turkey. So far Mariah has said she was thankful for Jesus and temples without us prompting her at all. It was pretty impressive.

We have a little girl living next door. She is eight and Mariah adores her. She was on the sidewalk tonight and Mariah kept banging on the window and saying "Booklyn! (Brooklyn) Come inside! Come play with me!". So Brooklyn did, and it made Mariah very happy.

And some days she reminds me that she actually is just two years old. Thankfully that was washable marker. 

I just wish those two would slow down just a little! They make me the happiest I ever could be.

Halloween Festivities

I've never been a huge fan of Halloween, I know, I'm a big-time party pooper. But celebrating it this year with a two-year-old made it a lot more enjoyable. Our October was full of fun outings and activities.

For the whole month of October I would check out Halloween books at the library. Mariah loved all the Ghost, Monster and Jack-o-lantern books and I even enjoyed them (probably because they are children's books so they were cute...not creepy).

Our local Farmer's Market has one Saturday that is like a halloween carnival. Kids could come dressed up and trick or treat at all the different stands. One lady gave out little gourds; Mariah was the most excited about that. The great thing about a toddler is that they don't feel the need to get loads of candy, Mariah was happy with a handful of pieces.

Mariah was really hesitant about me drawing on her face, but once she saw her face she was so excited. She asked me for many days after for a "nose and whiskers".

That same day was the Boo at the Zoo. The zoo is across the street from the Farmer's Market so we meandered on over there. Mariah had fun looking at the animals and trick or treating. But we learned that she is terrified of people in masks. Didn't matter if it was a Monster or Power Ranger, all were equally terrifying. She wouldn't make a big scene, she just got really quite and would put her head down and run to Tanner and I. It broke my heart a little each time. Maybe thats one reason why I'm not a fan of Halloween, masks...too creepy.

The next weekend my parents and sisters came to visit. My mom's Birthday was that Friday and Mariah had fun eating Grandma and Grandpa's special breakfast with them. And blowing out the candle on Grandma's pancake. We went to the Farmers Market the next day and Grandma paid for Mariah to get a butterfly painted on her face. We also went for a walk/bike ride up Logan canyon. It was so great to spend some time with the family.

 The two Divas of the family...sorry mom, it's true. 

 A surprise apple, and my dad was happy...he just doesn't smile for pictures. 

The next weekend we went to the Pumpkin Walk. It's a free event where different businesses and families create scenes made out of pumpkins and gourds. It was neat to see how creative some people got.

 They had a bunch of these set up and Mariah had to stick her head in every one. I wasn't paying attention and then I heard some people chuckling. I looked over to see Mariah shoving her head in a hole that a little boy already had his head through. He felt a little uncomfortable to say the least. I don't think she was aware of him. That girl had a mission. 

 They also had an incredibly cheesy puppet show called "Pumpernella" that Mariah loved. She never looked away. Chet on the other hand was done within minutes. 

Snow White. This one was awesome. Snow White's dress was made of cornstalks dyed yellow. Pretty cool. 

Mariah had just watched Sword in the Stone a few days earlier so she was excited about this display. It was a huge one, this is just part of it. 

The next weekend was our ward social. Mariah and Chet dressed up but Tanner and I were lame-os and didn't. I decided to make Mariah's costume and learned a very important lesson. If you are wanting to save money on costumes, homemade isn't always the best answer. But she was adorable so...no regrets. 

 Oh my heart...

Snow White and a very grumpy Jack-o-Lantern

She loved telling everyone, "I'm Snow White!".

We carved our pumpkin for FHE. We asked Mariah what she wanted the pumpkin to be and she said she wanted it to be a dog with droopy eyes and ears. I had checked out Charlie the Ranch Dog from the library so she had Basset Hound on the mind. So we carved a Basset Hound. Tanner thought it looked more like a goat than a dog, but Mariah was happy. 

 Chet in the background...oh my. That boy should have constant supervision. 

Mariah with her basset hound/goat

Mariah woke up with a fever on Halloween and was pretty miserable the whole day. But she kept talking about Trick or Treating so I gave her some Tylenol and she felt a little better. Aunt Boo came with us and we just went on our street but Mariah had so much fun. 

Chet went to our neighbors with us and then he helped Dad hand out candy the rest of the night. 

Everyone fell in love with Mariah...and I'm not surprised at all. 

So yes, I am just a little fonder of Halloween. Maybe part of the reason is that Tanner was able to do something with us every single weekend in the month of October...it was blissful. Now I can't wait for Thanksgiving, a Holiday that I adore!