October Blurbs

October has been fun and full of colorful leaves. I never thought I'd live in a place that could give Utah autumn a run for its money. But Germany has done it! Standing ovation, man. Lyla has become a much happier baby the second half of this month which has made our whole home a happier place :) I listened to the Mom Conference this month too and it was a definite highlight. I learned a lot, and it was a good "cup-filler". Jane's new favorite phrase as of late, when I tell her she can't do something, or that she cant have candy for breakfast, or some other things that are, in my mind, completely reasonable, she quickly retorts back with "JUST LET ME!" I don't know why she says it every time, without fail, because never once has that phrase changed my mind. She is persistent though, I'll give her that!

 Pumpkin Painting: for FHE we painted pumpkins. The less messy, kid friendly version of pumpkin carving. We put this art smock on Jane before we started painting and she gasped and said "OH! It's my birthday!" (Uhm no, but if wearing a green plastic apron makes you feel like a birthday girl, more power to ya!)

The Final Product: a vomit colored pumpkin, in all of its glory, which is now making itself a home on our front doorstep.

 Evidence of a crazy night: Looking back now, I could've had her be BEDHEAD for Halloween because I'm not sure I've ever seen a more impressive bed head in all my days.

Apple Nachos:  a little post-pumpkin painting dessert. not shown: the first batch of burnt to crisp marshmallow goo. Thanks for cleaning the pan out, jeff. 

 Jane, the photographer. Part 1: her angles are so artsy ;) She yells "Mommy say CHEEEEESE!!", takes the picture, looks at the picture and says "Ohhhh cute!!!" Then takes 100 more.

 A BLUR: running through the leaves. Watching my kid run wild, free, and happy through the autumn leaves is a life experience I'm so grateful I don't have to miss out on.

 Sunday Best: These sunday Pre-church pictures are quickly becoming my favorite tradition, and Jeff's least favorite.

 Introducing: Jane's new camera smile: Which also happens to be the cutest thing ever.

 Her prayers: The other day her prayer went like this. "Dear Heavenly Father, Please bless daddy's shoulder, in the name of Jesus Christ amen" (nothing is wrong with his shoulder....but she is obviously quite concerned.)

 The breadstick date: I didn't take a picture on our date, so this mommy and jane picture one will do. Jane was having a rough day and I knew she needed some special mommy time. I took her to the PX where we ate pizza hut breadsticks for dinner and she thought it was the greatest thing ever. I then let her pick out a piece of candy from the store- and that just put her over the edge in the happy department.

 The aftermath: of doing my hair one day. Not uncommon. Post-partum hair loss is real. #raiseawareness #thisiswhyjeffhatesme

 Jane, the photographer, part 2: and uhm....look how big my baby is?

 Jane, the fish: despite her quiet utterance of "trick or treat" being nearly unintelligible, she was dumb-founded, in a good way, at how people were just plopping candy in her bag. Over, and over again! Oh my gosh holidays are fun with kids (especially when they actually start to understand them.)

"If you want candy then....": Basically what every sentence has started with lately. This particular instance: "if you want candy then SMILE!" 

 Classic: dump out all the candy and bask in utter and complete childhood joy. Pretty sure this moment captures the climax of her entire life.

 MOOSE: The newest nickname for this little squirt. She would live in this little pink suit if it didn't need to be washed occassionally. She LOVES it.

 Leaves: throwing them, jumping in them, and laughing and laughing. I love that she is old enough to have fun jumping in piles of leaves- she's like a legitimate kid now! A happy simple moment I'll always remember. I remember this day, I had SO MANY things to do but I decided I should pause to play outside with her for 30 minutes. So glad I did. I love when I can stop and soak in a moment instead of trying to hurry to the next. I'm working on doing that as often as possible!

Jane-ism: "Mom! Daddy gave me gum!"
"Wow he did? You lucky duck!"
"I'm not a duck, I'm a missionary!"

 Digging in dirt for gummy worms: FHE dessert was quite the hit. Chocolate cake dirt is MY kind of dirt ;) Hers too. Although she didn't eat the cake, she was only interested in the 3 gummy worms hidden inside :)

 The creeper baby: who sleeps with her eyes open....

 AT WORK WITH DADDY: She went to work with daddy while I went to an *FRG class all morning. I asked her that morning if she wanted to go to work with daddy and she said "Yes, I want to go to work with daddy! AND I want to wear whiskers like daddy!" Jeff also told me she impressed the pants off of some of the soldiers there when she sang the "50 Nifty United States" song. One of the soldiers said "Wow...I've never heard of Maine before!"

* My new role as an FRG leader. Which is quite the big role. I'm the volunteer in charge of planning events, fundraisers, FRG meetings, and informing everyone in the troop of everything going on. I probably spent 20+ hours this week calling people, emailing people, meeting with people, manning the booth for the fundraiser, and going to classes all revolving around FRG! I've felt quite overwhelmed at times because leadership has never been my strong suit. But ALSO grateful because I know it will be a good growing experience (it already has pushed me far past any previously distinguished comfort zones) and service opportunity.

The smile that could melt the hardest criminal: YEP and I get to see it all day long.

"Should we do school?" - Just about Jane's favorite sentence to use. "School" is a highlight for both of us everyday. It's kind of fun to teach an infinitely curious toddler who also remembers just about EVERYTHING you teach her. This day we did the letter R, did a lot of rainbow crafts, did a page in her sticker book, and played in rain puddles. (total coincidence, thanks mother nature!). I want to remember how Jane wakes up from her nap, and I have lunch on the table for her, waiting. (if I don't- at least 7 different meltdowns occur.) She sees her lunch and says "Oh thank you mommy! That's nice!" And then she is highly motivated to gobble it all up because after she eats, it's school time. It's a good little system.

Life is too good right now. Thanks October, for being awesome this year.