Happy Halloween

Max's birthday was before Ava's birthday but I posted it after posting about Ava's birthday, I now reserve the right to blog about any event during the year (or any subsequent years) in any order that I please. That's right, get ready for Christmas in April, Memorial Day on Labor Day, Labor Day on Memorial Day and Thanksgiving in November.

Today I have decided to post on Halloween.

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, we had to innovent (a word that I just innovented--ahem, or stole from a TV program I saw, either one) a new way for the kids to get enough cavity-causing candy to pay for our 26-year old dentist's student loan payment this month.

Our masterplan began by having each of the kids dress up as something cute and adorable. Alison chose Kobe Bryant zombie with a basketball card notebook with plastic bag inside (a candy-catching mechanism which she innovented). What's more cute and adorable than that?


Despite the fact that we had already anticipated Kaitlyn's costume choice and ordered a BYU cheerleader outfit well ahead of time, Kaitlyn opted for pink Batgirl. When asked why she chose that costume, she pointed out that Catwoman's outfit is black (and thus apparently not quite as fashionable), and completely snubbed our desire for a modest and alma-mater-loyal cheer female.


Max was a one-eyed pirate (or a chef--as some people thought when he took off the hat, bandana and eye patch), but the disturbing thing was that what he liked most about the outfit was the fake earring. Rest assurred, I have since downloaded football games and construction truck flash cards apps onto my phone so that he's getting enough testosterone into his daily diet.


Avery asked nicely if she could be dressed up as a pink cheetah-leopard-giraffe, which we reluctantly accepted. She also contributed her best blood-curdling screams to the night. What's more cute and adorable than that?


The ward helped our plan by providing a Trunk-or-Treat on Friday night in the parking lot of the church building. The kids literally did laps and likely hit up each car 3 or 4 times until they were completely milked dry of treats.

On Saturday, with a group of friends from church, we hit up various neighbors and nearby friends homes--some of which had prepared extra large goodies for the kids' baskets.


I'm sure it will be a few months, but I'll be on the lookout for that thank you note from our dentist.

Mr. Max's Third

Hello blogosphere. I'm sure you're shocked at the recency of this post given my recent trend of posting every other blue moon. I thought I'd go ahead and pull a shocker on you.

So, Max just turned 3. Goodbye "Terrible Twos"! Bienvenidos "I-punch-my-sisters-all-the-Time Threes"! For his birthday he received toy phones, old used cell phones, phone looking devices and electronics looking thingies from everyone he knew. The boy is obsessed with phones. Case in point, during family scripture study tonight I asked Max why he wasn't following along in his book. He held up one of his many phones and said, "I have them on my phone!" He came over to me and showed me the (blank black) screen and said, "Is this the verse that we're on?"

I can't believe the boy is 3. He looks huge when you see him after holding Ava for a while.

Megan went out to take Third Birthday pictures of him the other day and they weren't turning out so well.

Even when Megan said "Head up. Chin down!" trying to improve his pose, this is what she got:


It turns out you get much better pictures if the boy doesn't have a 100+ fever!

Happy Birthday buddy!

Ava's First Honkin' Bow

Megan was so excited when we found out we were having another girl so that she could dress her in these big ol' honkin' bows. We have several, but this is the only one that doesn't drown her head so far...