Halloween 2010

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year we celebrated on Saturday. We started the day off by running errands, shopping, and having lunch together in Longview. All that shopping really wore Grace out (or maybe it bored her to sleep).

That evening we headed to the church for the tri-ward Trunk-or-Treat. Grace had a great time playing games and winning candy. She really nailed the "trick or treat" phrase this year, and continues to refer to her Halloween candy as "trick or treats." There was a really great turnout at the church this year, and some really creative "trunks." (I feel like I'm using "quotations" way too much in this post.) My favorites were Sister Muse's and the Missionaries. Sister Muse had hers set up like Lehi's dream and the kids had to hold to the iron rod and avoid obstacles to get to their treats. One of the missionaries was dressed as Samuel the Lamanite and stood in the bed of a pick-up preaching to the people. The kids got to throw marshmallows at him. I had to coax Grace into throwing the marshmallow... she was only interested in eating it. Our hands were full with the kids, so we didn't get too many pictures this year. Here are some of our favorites:

Grace the cupcake and Claire the duck. Claire's costume is the one Grace wore for her first Halloween. I made Grace's costume... thanks to my friend Bonnie for finding the instructions. I had told Bonnie I wanted Grace to be a cupcake for Halloween and she found this one on a website. I LOVED how it turned out!


Claire was pretty worn out by the time the night was over. Poor girl lost one of her little webbed feet and couldn't keep her duck bill on straight!

The whole family. Justin and I really aren't into dressing up, but maybe next year we'll come up with a theme for our family... any ideas?!

East Texas Yamboree 2010

Last month (I know, I'm way behind!) was the annual East Texas Yamboree. It's a big deal around these parts. I'm still not quite sure why. I don't get it, but then again, I'm not from these parts. We enjoy one night of good deep fried carni food and rides. Every year is a little more fun than the previous because Grace gets into it more and more. The Yamboree runs Wednesday through Saturday. We decided to head up to the Square on Thursday night to get some dinner and let Grace have some fun on the rides. When we got there we ran into our Stake President and his wife VA. VA is our surrogate grandma. She's so good to our kids (someday I'll have to dedicate a post just to her!). Grace absolutely adores her. She took a few pictures of the kids while our hubby's were chatting.

This was the best shot she could get of Grace. She's staring down the carousel, begging us with her eyes to take her on it.

Claire was pretty content to just hang out in the stroller and people watch.

Grace on the spaceship ride. I only brought my camcorder, so the still photos aren't of the best quality. As always, Grace loved the carnival rides. I was disappointed that they didn't have the little car ride like last year. She rode the carousel (twice), a school bus, the motorcycles, and the spaceship. She really wanted to go on the ferris wheel, but her cheap parents didn't want to fork over the money for all of us to go on it... maybe next year ;).

This is basically how Claire spent the evening. She even took a nap in the stroller!

On Saturday morning we parked ourselves downtown to watch the Queen's Parade. We had to rename it the "Princess Parade" for Grace since the only queen she knows of is the one from Snow White (and she's a scary queen!). Grace wasn't into the parade much this year because we didn't have front row seats on the street. She really couldn't see anything so she kept herself occupied by picking the grass and playing in the dirt.

Miss Claire enjoying the nice weather and all the attention

Justin was helping the boy scouts raise money by parking cars, so he got to the parade in time to watch the last two floats.

We had fun at the Yamboree again this year. I was so exhausted the morning of the parade because Claire was up a lot the night before and Justin wasn't there to help with the girls so we didn't head over to see the livestock like we usually do. We decided to grab some lunch and go home for naps!

We look forward to next year's Yamboree. Really, all I care about is the food!

Just so I don't Forget...

My mom and I were out shopping the other day with the girls when Grace said the funniest thing. I just have to write it down so I don't forget. I love the things she comes up with these days. We were standing in line at Joann's to have some fabric cut and Grace was whining to get out of the cart. I told her she couldn't get down because there were too many people around. She looked at me (very seriously and with a straight face) and said "No, mommy. There are three many people around." Silly girl.