A witch's tea party

 I received an invitation I couldn't refuse today. I attended a witch's tea party.

 my sweet little one is a decorator at heart: she even had the haunted house and spooky trees we made early this week as the "center piece"

 Beetle tea

 Spider Stew as the main course

The dessert was "Frog eye Snake Skin Lizard body pudding cake." it was delicious, let me tell you.

It's Autumn Time

I realized that I haven't taken a single picture of the fun fall things we have been doing! rats. I will need to do some photo catching up. 

Not much is different for us in Oregon except my belly is double in size and if something is on the floor, you can bet I am not going to be the one to pick it up.

Getting Ready for COnference

A list of conference activities that we're going to attempt this year:

Prophet puzzle
Reverence Tents (maybe, I am thinking y kids aren't old enough for this, but love the idea.)
Conference Wall
Color ties or dresses to match the speaker.
Block temple
Topic Block Tower
Conference collages
Conference picnic (we eat outside on a blanket to get out of the house for a little while in between sessions. SOmetimes we go for a walk too.)
Conference train
Gospel Matching cards

Fun Times

I can't believe how FAST summer went by. What? THe leaves are changing colors and it's getting cooler? I LOVE fall, but man it came up fast.

Gracie had a tape measure the other day and was measuring me.
 Me: How big am I?
Gracie: THis big (showing me the tape measure)
Me: ARe you big?
Gracie: I little.
Me: Oh, and I am big.
Gracie: No. Mommy little. Daddy big.

I guess even our kids notice the ginormous height difference between Justin and me.

Chores

Awhile back I made some chore charts for the girls. Each girl has three chores in the morning. \
Katie:
make her bed
help with laundry
pick up toys and books

Grace:
help with laundry
pick up toys and books
help unload the dishwasher

They also have to do things like get dressed, brush their teeth, etc. But I don't consider those chores. That's getting ready. After breakfast every morning, we start in on chores. At first they complain and try to get out of it, but secretly they love it. I can tell. Katie has a lot of pride for her made bed every morning, especially when she makes it by herself.

I love this new system. Not only do I get laundry done every day, but the toy and book mess are kept under control. Also, I don't feel like a slave or have to come up with activities to keep them busy while I clean. Much happier momma. Much happier family.

 Gracie's first pig tails. She's not very happy about me taking a picture.

smoothie mustaches...and Katie's tonsils

Birthday Pictures

I asked Gracie if she wanted monkeys or turtles for her cake this year, and she said monkeys. (she loves both). SO monkeys it was. Katie helped decorate them which was so fun. We ended up with a few Picasso type monkeys. It was a fun, low-key day. Katie can hardly wait until her own birthday.

Inspiration for Bedtime

"As you tuck them into bed at night, please be kind to them. Let them hear a kind voice amid all the angry, vile voices that they will hear throughout life."

-Harold B. Lee

Happy Birthday Sweet Gracie

My little Gracie sure cracked me up today as she enjoyed her birthday festivities. Whenever anyone said Happy Birthday to her, she would get this really cheesy grin on her face and say "thank you" in her tiny voice. She thought it was quite funny when we sang to her. What a ham.

My favorite things about Gracie.

Her pretend grumpy face.
When she stamps her foot and says "I WON'T!"
The kisses from her tiny lips
"I need you."
How she walks around with a wand saying "Poof! Princesss" which means whatever she poofed just turned into a princes (maybe she got it from Cinderella, but I'm not sure she's ever seen much of the movie.)
Her very serious play time
How she quietly does her own thing for long periods of time (I don't know if Katie will ever get to this point)
The little songs she sings
Her dance moves
The way she says "yes"
how she practically lives in the pink tutu
when she feeds the neighbors cat with her play food set and how the cat mildly tolerates it
her attachment to her baby doll "Iris" (she named it herself, and I have no idea where she came up with that name)