Happy Halloweeeeeen!

I grew up with the Halloween Scrooge as my mother (no offense mother, I love you dearly). No, we tease her but she did great for having 7 kids :) So I inherited a little bit of that same attitude. But this year we tried to get into it a little more and we had so much fun! My sister-in-law Julie found Anna's costume at a consignment shop and got it for her and of course Jack had to be a Jack-o-Lantern! We have a list of 20 things that have "Jack" in them so he's pretty much set for life.. unless he has other plans and then we'll discuss it :) They were so cute and did really well playing along their first real halloween. Anna calls ladybugs "bug bugs" and she LOVED being in her costume. She even let me paint her nails and face which was really surprising. Jack wasn't thrilled with the costume at first but he warmed up to it as the events rolled on. We had our ward Trunk or Treat last Wednesday, then Friday we went to the Legacy Center in Lehi for their event, which is halloween games and trick or treating. We went with lots of cousins and several of Kirk's siblings. It was really fun.

Anna with her cousin, Ellie. Ellie loves Anna to pieces and always takes watching her very seriously. She even didn't paint her face and dye her hair because she didn't want Jack and Anna to be afraid of her.. what a sweetheart.

the whole gang

Jack and Anna on Halloween night. We went trick 0r treating down our street, which is quite a workout if you know where we live. They LOVED it. They totally understood that the candy they were getting were THEIR treasures. They took handfuls when allowed and carefully put them in their pumpkin buckets. Their buckets got so heavy their little arms were dragging but they would NOT let them go. I think Anna said "MINE" for the first time... look out.. don't mess with that girl's candy! They worked hard for their treats and really got into it. So darling.

Jack doesn't believe in unwrapping his candy before he eats it.

Yummy chocolate.. I have to agree! They're not old enough to realize that Mom and Dad are skimming off the top!

And I had to throw this in for good measure... I'm pretty sure the "terrible two's" have arrived.. this is a regular occurrence here these days. He's got it down. look out Mama!

Family Torture.. er Pictures!!

We had our family photos taken at the end of May! I know you're totally surprised it took me this long to post them :) It was raining on and off throughout our session, so that made it interesting! It's pretty tricky to get these two to look at a camera at all, let alone at the same time.. But I think we have some fun ones!

Thanks to our good friend Niki Ekberg for taking such beautiful pictures. To see more of her work please visit her blog here

I've always loved the couch in the orchard look.. I think it turned out pretty cool! This orchard is in Provo by the state hospital.

Anna was super cranky and hardly smiled all night.. she was cold and hungry and tired! But still beautiful.

My cute family.. I love them so much.

She's totally chewing on a goldfish cracker here :) haha!

I love this one of the two of them!

And this is my FAVORITE of Jack!! talking to his monkey. It is so HIM! he is such a sweet boy oh we just love him.

This is classic.. She's had it.. teary eyed and her flower is hanging on by a thread!

Am I really lucky enough to be these cuties' mom??

It's Moments Like These....

That make it all worth it.

They are starting to play so cute together and it makes me so happy! I hope they will be such great friends forever. My cuties!

A little of this and that

Like big brother, like little sister! Troublemakers!

(but so darling)

Were you Jimmered? We sure were. We had some friends over for dinner the other day and they confessed that they were NOT. We were stunned. Come on guys! It was a fun year for BYU Basketball. Kirk went with my dad and brothers to Vegas to the MW conference and had a blast. So glad he got to go. It was a well needed and deserved break.

Grandma Perrins stayed with me while Kirk was in Vegas for 4 days. We loved every minute. I love this picture of her and Anna. Anna is so beautiful and so is my mom!

Oh Jack.. must you eat everything? He's thinking at least there's an upside to being locked out of this cabinet. Tasty rubber band!

Anna and Dad in front of her awesome billboard. It's all blownout in this pic but we were lucky to get it, it only came around every 10 minutes. So fun!

Jack LOVES Kiki. She loves to hate him. He loves to snuggle with her and she puts up with it for as long as she can stand, bless her heart. He is so sweet and loving.

OK.. That's it! :)

Walk This Way... Scoot This Way

Every time I want to upload a video to blogger I can never remember how to get it out of iphoto in a compatible version.. ugh! But I finally figured it out.

Jack is walking!!! finally :) He took his first steps about a week and 1/2 ago and he's getting pretty good at it. I have never seen a kid so excited to take their first steps in my life. He was just bouncing off the walls. His cheeks were rosy pink from the workout and he was so hot that we had to strip him down! Oh he is so cute. And of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut so you have to hear me in the background... how embarrassing.

Anna is doing the most hilarious scoot! She is army crawling too and getting ready to crawl on hands and knees.. but when she's on her bum this is how she gets around and it kills me EVERY time. So funny!! She isn't brave enough to get herself down from the sitting position on her own yet, but she's learning fast.

Our Little Cover Girl

Anna has this cute little claim to fame! She is on the cover of this year's Chocolate Extravaganza invitation and will also be featured on their billboard! Fun huh??? I used to be involved in the planning of this special event (charity gala) when I worked at the Foundation at the hospital. But since Kirk's design agency still donates the graphic design work when they needed a little one for the cover of this year's stuff we were all kind of excited to volunteer Anna! She doesn't look too thrilled necessarily in this photo but I think it's the perfect face :) We think it's all pretty exciting!

The billboard she will appear on is just west of the freeway before the University Parkway exit in Orem. It is an electronic billboard that rotates 4 or so different ads so you have to catch it at the right time. It should start showing this week! (this photo is a rendering)

My Babies Aren't Babies Anymore!

Well since I'm tired of starting every post with a comment about how I can't believe how long it's been.. I won't this time.. hehehe.

I was talking to my sister today and she reminded me that I really needed to post pictures of the kids, she couldn't even picture what they looked like! How sad.

Jack & Anna are AWESOME! We spend all day playing together. We have a lot of fun. They are both growing and learning so quickly. They are so smart and beautiful.

Jack is 13 1/2 months. He is crawling at lightning fast speeds and getting into EVERYTHING! He walks with support from his shopping cart toy, or walks along the couch or anything as long as he has something to hold on to. He is so happy and loving. He knows the word "kiss" and loves getting and giving them. He loves his family so much. His favorite things to do are steal Anna's binkeys, toys and bottles and get chased, get into drawers and cupboards, drink milk, give hugs and kisses, read books, give high fives and torture the cat. He loves to do anything that will get him in trouble and have me after him.. getting the remotes controls are the TOP prize. He is so proud when he gets them in his little hands. He loves to play with Anna, but often just ends up beating on her.. She is getting much better at taking it and is getting good at fighting back :) He is our boy and we love LOVE him!

Anna is 9 months old and getting SO chubby. Her head is in the 90% :) Very big brains. She is SO fun and funny. She cried for the first 5 months and she is making up for it now by being a pretty much perfect angel. She has the cutest laugh and smile but she makes you work for it. She is very independent and likes her space. She sits on the floor and entertains herself SO well, it's amazing. She is smart and loves to read books and turn the pages. She is a very good eater and loves to try new foods. She loves her big brother. She gets so excited when he crawls over to her. If she's tired though she'll sound the alarm when he gets too close because she knows he's coming to steal her toys. She hates to be fidgeted with (rolling up her sleeves, wiping her face, etc). She can turn that cry on and off I tell ya. She's our little girl and both she and her brother pretty much rule the roost. But we don't mind.

Jack has really struggled with his asthma this winter. We have been so homebound. He's had cold after cold after cold. They are really hard on him and he has to have steroids and lots of medicine to treat him because he gets very wheezy. He seems to be tolerating all the meds better with each cold and we hope things will let up soon. I have a hard time being in the house so much and not being able to go anywhere. I'm trying to keep my spirits up but it's hard sometimes. I'm doing alright though and we have really good days more than bad. I have lots of help still from family and it saves me!

Well I didn't want to make this long so I'll quit! But it does feel good to check in with the world, although I'm sure the world has stopped checking in on me by now :) Don't give up on me.. I'm trying! I think I won't even know how to act if I ever go in public again! So sad.

Here are some of my favorite pics of late:

Anna is so pretty in pink with her big blue eyes.

Have you ever seen a more handsome boy? I mean really... have you?

Dumping out the toy bin is a daily ritual.

Anna Banana in December

Jack offering to help get her out of her seat :)

just playing on the floor.. also a daily ritual.

Good night!