October In Disneyland

We had a great trip to Disneyland in October.  It was a lot different than our spring trip because Zoe was so much more aware of what was going on.  She is in love with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so she was really excited to go see Mickey.  She would get all excited every time she saw Mickey on someone's shirt or bag.  There are a lot of Mickeys in Disneyland.

We don't usually aren't the kind of people that spend time getting pictures with characters, but we thought it would be fun to let Zoe meet the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters.  The first character she saw was Goofy.  She was so excited, when she was far away from him.  As we got closer to him, she become fascinated, but apprehensive.  Then he touched her and she decided it wasn't really fun anymore.

We repeated the same procedure with Minnie and Mickey.  She thought it was the greatest thing in the world to seem them from a distance, but wanted nothing to do with them up close.  Not that I can blame her, they are a little bit scarey.

Every time we go to Disneyland, we have to take pictures in the letters outside of California Adventure.  It is tradition, and a fun way to see how much the kids have grown.

We had so much fun in Disneyland.  When we got our season passes and decided we were going to go quite a few times this year, I wasn't sure if we were making the right decision, or if we would get burned out.  It ended up being a great decision.  We are having so much fun together as a family and building some great memories.

A Day at the Beach

In October, (yes, I really am that behind) when we went to Disneyland, we decided to spend a day at the beach.  Robby was really excited to go and Zoe is such a water bug that we knew she would love it.  As soon as we got to the beach, Robby was gone.  He was fearless.  He had a blast playing in the ocean, even though it was pretty cold, and digging in the sand.  He looked for shells with Kirk and really had a great time.

Zoe on the other hand, was miserable.  She was terrified of the whole experience.  Every time a wave would crash, no matter how far away from the water she was, she would cry.  She actually liked to play in the water, until she heard a wave.  She liked to play in the sand, until she heard a wave.  She really liked chasing the birds, until she heard a wave.  Unfortunately, it being the ocean and all, there were a lot of waves.  Needless to say, Kirk and I spent most of our beach trip holding Zoe, trying to comfort her.

It wasn't quite the day at the beach I had planned.  We ended up only staying for about an hour.  We couldn't put Zoe through much more than that.  Robby had a blast though, so it was all worth it.  And I did manage to get some cute pictures.

Gingerbread Houses

Last year, we started the tradition of decorating a Gingerbread House for Christmas.  This year, the tradition continued.  We cheat a little, and buy a prebaked, boxed house, but this year, we at least bought some extra candy so we could decorate it our own way.  Next year, we may even be brave enough to bake our own.  We'll see.

Robby is the official house decorator, although next year he will probably have a helper.  He really looks forward to decorating the house, and does a great job.

Zoe's contribution to the house mainly involved walking around, pulling on our legs, and waiting for any stray candy to fall to the floor, so that she could help clean up by putting it in her mouth.

There it is, our cute finished house, and even cuter house decorators.

At school, the 2nd graders also made gingerbread houses.  They were made out of graham crackers.  (Maybe that is what we will do next year).  It was so fun because the kids got to make all the decisions about how they were made.  I loved to see how creative they were.

Here is Rob's house.

I thought Santa's sleigh, complete with a reindeer and presents, was awesome.  He did a great job.

Merry Christmas (a little late)

So I am a little behind in the whole blog thing.  I am going to try to catch up, so there will hopefully be quite a few posts in the next week or so.  I decided to start with Christmas and then post some other random things we missed.

We had a great Christmas season.  The kids were a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed ourselves.  I love that time of year, when we really focus on being together as a family.

We saw Santa at the Ward Christmas Party.  Zoe was so excited.  She was jumping up and down yelling "Santa, Santa!"  Until, it was her turn to set on his lap.  Then she wanted nothing to do with him.

I love the expression on her face.

The kids were way too spoiled this year, but they had a lot of fun opening their presents.  I didn't take any pictures.  I was too busy enjoying the moment.  I did get some before they woke up though.

Our tree with all the presents.

I made the kids sock monkeys and set them in the tree.  They loved them.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

So far, we have had a great one.  I am not sure when Halloween became a season, but it seems like we have been celebrating all week.  Thursday, Robby had his Halloween party at school so we all got dressed up for that.  Yesterday, was Kirk's Trick-or-Treat party at work and our ward Trunk-or-Treat.  Today, is Kirk's dad's birthday so we are heading to their house, and he will most likely take the kids trick or treating.  Three days of dressing up is way too much for me, but the kid's are loving it, so all is well.

Zoe thinks this whole Halloween thing is amazing.  She loves dressing up and looking pretty, so she loves her costume.  It helps that she is dressed up as Minnie Mouse so anytime she sees her reflection she starts yelling "icky, icky."  She loves that everyone tells her she is pretty and gives her candy.  She also is fascinated by everyone else's halloween costumes.  She saw someone dressed as a banana at Robby's school and thought it was the greatest thing ever.  She was yelling after him as he walked down hall, "hi nanana."  It was really cute!

Robby has never been a big fan of dressing up.  He decided to be a vampire this year and it worked out really well.  I was planning on painting his face white, but he wouldn't let me.  The kid is so pale this time of year though, that he really didn't need it.  He did let me paint his hair black and use makeup to give him a widdow's peak, which is far more than he has ever let me do before.  I must say, he makes one very cute vampire (and also has quite a resemblance to Eddie Munster.)

I took some pictures yesterday, outside Kirk's office.  Here are some of my favorites.

My two very adorable kids.

She makes such a sweet little Minnie Mouse.

Her hair works perfect for this costume.  It makes her ear headband just blend right in.  So cute!

This picture just makes me laugh.  She looks like evil minnie.  Really though, she was just happy and giving me a funny smile.

Robby with his vampire teeth in.  He didn't wear them very much, but since he is missing his two front teeth, he kind of looks like a vampire anyway.

Move over Edward, that is one good looking vampire.  Looking at this picture makes me wonder where my little boy went.

Pretending to be a vampire.

They were having so much fun playing around.  This is probably my favorite picture even though it is blurry.

First Day of School

I am a little late on this one, since school started 3 weeks ago, but I guess better late than never.

Robby started second grade this year.  He loves school and was so ready to get back.  He is really enjoying it.  He has a great teacher and everything seems to be going well.  I am so proud of him for being such a good kid and for always trying his hardest.

He is at a really fun stage.  He is starting to understand the world and we have some great discussions. His most recent fascination is with license plates.  Who knew that you could have full conversations revolving around license plates?  We have had many.  His vocabulary is increasing.  It seems like almost everyday he uses a word that I have never heard him use before.  He is just a lot of fun to be around.  I am very glad he is my son.

Robby is happy and excited to go to school each day.  Zoe, on the other hand, does not think it is such a great idea.  She hates that he leaves her every day.  She loves to walk him to school.  She will talk and smile the whole way, but then, every time, she cries the whole way home.  Poor kid.  Luckily, they are usually both happy at the end of the day when he comes home again.

After the Braids and Before the Bath

Last week, I put 25 braids in Zoe's hair; by far the most we have ever done.  Yesterday, I took them out and wow, did she have some crazy hair.  You can really see how long it is getting and how much she actually has.  I love it.  I actually procrastinated her bath until later in the day because I loved watching her run around with her wild hair.