Fall leaves

I got really lucky to get with these pictures. Later that same day the lawn mower came and munched up all the leaves. The kids were pretty sad to see their nest blown away, but it is just as well since it has been kind of rainy. Wet leaves are not very much fun to play in.

We had the primary program this last Sunday. It was kind of a family affair. Ryan played the piano. I got to sit by the microphone and help prompt kids and direct traffic. And Kaitlynn was ready for her close up. She had her part memorized and said it with full confidence. She also sang I feel my Saviors Love in a trio of girls. I know I am biased, but she was by far the cutest sunbeam up there, and the best behaved (might have had something to do with the fact that I was sitting right in front of her.)

Olivia is acting like she wants to crawl now. She really tries, its just hard for her to get that big belly of hers off the ground. Maybe by Christmas time she will be moving around. Just in time to pull off ornaments from the tree.

Gathering leaves to build a nest.

They were build a nest for this guy. I am pretty sure he didn't make it back in the house. He was too small and the wrong color to stand a chance.

Good night little Ninja.

Where did he go?

Ssssss

Olivia has been talking a lot lately. This is her copying me. Of course she doesn't do it for long before she tries to get the camera. She is growing up too fast.

Park

I haven't taken many pictures lately so all I have to post is a small outing to a park. Ryan had to study late so instead of making dinner we went to the park and played because I am just that cool of a mom! On the down side we had to go to the doctors office today and get flu shots, because I am just that mean of a mom. Way not fun. A little side note, Olivia is 22 pounds! What the?! Kaitlynn didn't weigh that much until she went into nursery!

From a distance it looks like they enjoy playing with each other. Really he is mad that she got on there with him.

Here he is trying to tell her to move on. While she sticks on her perma-cheese face for the camera.

I was surprised though, he did let her push him.

This is her first attempt at an under-dog.

Amazingly she never did get hit.

Just have to get down low enough.

Cute.

Super cute.

They would have stayed and played all night if I would have let them.

This is how Olivia enjoyed herself. Nothing like a yummy bracelet to pass the time.

After the park we found our friends playing outside. This is both of the Olivia's playing together. They are already best friends, can't you tell?

This is Halloween

(this is a Ryan post - just keep that in mind)

Earlier this week we did a community sponsored trunk-or-treat. Olivia was a bunny or something white and fluffy. Jack was mostly Darth Vader (minus the helmet), and Kaitlynn was the White Witch of Narnia.

They really did have fun. Jack liked the candy. And Kaitlynn liked the attention her crazy crown and dress got her.

Bet you didn't know that Darth Vader picked his nose sometimes?

What could be cuter than this bunny thing?

This is about as cute as these 3 can be for a posed picture. Jack at least held his light saber so I didn't have to drag it around with me any more.

The spoils of war! Kaitlynn managed to not get her dress too sticky. We still needed it for Halloween.

I was pretty excited about the whole thing. I waited at least 2 seconds before checking my email on my phone when we got home.

This is the kids today for Halloween. The neighborhood decided as a group that we would all trick-or-treat on Saturday, so the kids sat on the porch for a while today and hoped someone would come. About 5 kids did.

Olivia got pretty tired of the whole Trick-or-Treat thing real quick. She ended up sitting on the porch with me rummaging through the candy dish looking for possible vanilla tootsie rolls that were missed by little hands. There was zero - dang you kids!

Jack was all about the houses where you didn't have to interact with a human being to get the candy. Halloween was super stressful for him. I couldn't convince him that Darth Vader wears black shoes, or that his mask was cool, or that his light saber might come in handy while battling ghosts and goblins for a "fun" size Snickers.

Kaitlynn on the other hand, was all about flashing a princess quality smile for a little extra chocolate. She told me that this was the funnest day ever. (She dressed up as the White witch of Narnia in case you didn't catch that - Rebekah made the costume and it was pretty awesome, including the icicle crown and fake dread-lock style hair)

Shot of us working our way through the townhouses.

This one just looked cool with all the blurry stuff behind us. You can't really tell from the picture, but there were about 150 to 200 kids out getting free stuff in our neighborhood. I think this really might be little Provo.

I dressed up as the 'wardrobe' so the 3 of us were the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. My handwriting was really awesome on this shirt. Yes, I am aware that I am awesome. Thank you for noticing.

Here is our happy family (and Jack). Note that we are wearing short sleeve shirts and flip flops. Missouri isn't all that bad after all. I guess one downside is that the pumpkins we just caved a few days ago are already rotting on the porch. Yeah for Halloween.

How did we do?

Carving pumpkins

For family night this week we carved pumpkins. Oh what fun. Ryan really gets into carving. This is a family tradition that will stick. Since we can't really let the kids play with knives we had them frosting sugar cookies. In end I threw out all the cookies and frosting. The kids are pretty sick with snotty noses and I saw a lot of double dipping. Even though we didn't get to enjoy the cookies later it was the best distraction/activity to make them feel involved with the night. Another perfect moment in the Bartholomew home.

Kaitlynn wanted a princess pumpkin.

Because she is such a beautiful princess!

Everyone working hard.

Yes I let her sample a cookie.

I quickly took the cookie out... after I snapped a picture of this chipmunk face!

He wasn't very good at spreading the frosting around. He was very good at sucking it off the cookie though.

Sampling the goods.

Our spooky pumpkins.

Our spooky kids. Olivia didn't get to see the finished products, seven thirty is just too late for her.

Cheese!

Gutting Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins with little kids is kind of tricky what with all the knives a such. Someday they will totally love this tradition, but for now they just have to watch. Which was more than fine with Jack. He was totally disgusted by the whole thing. He wouldn't even look inside once ryan cut off the top. Ryan had some meeting to get to so we broke it up into two night. Gutting one night and carving the next.

With that round face she should be a pumpkin for halloween. But she's not.

Eww Yuck!

This rag got pumpkin guts on it. He really didn't want it near him. He even tried to throw away the rag.

How many safety hazards can you see?

She was the only one who didn't seem to have a problem with the pumpkins.