Happy Thanksgiving!

(Except, Luke's bubble might say 'What will happen if I throw the remote in the bathtub?' -- that was his experiment of choice last night!)

Shutterfly Christmas/Holiday Cards

I've been procrastinating a bit, but I'm about ready to start working on my Christmas cards this year! I usually look at Shutterfly.com for ideas on my Christmas cards, even if I end up making them myself. This year, I had a promo code for 6 free cards, and made up some Christmas ones with our new family photos. They turned out so cute! I think Shutterfly has lots of great options and cute layouts. This year, Shutterfly is giving out 50 free holiday cards to bloggers. That is an awesome deal! Especially if you are planning on getting cards, why not get them free? & it's super easy - you just have to upload your own photo. I've done books and cards with Shutterfly and have been really happy with the results. Plus, once you are on their email list, they send you promo codes for free things throughout the year, I get at least 3-4 deals a year this way-- more free cards, and even free books sometimes!

This card is one of my favorites....

but I love these flat stationary cards too...
& there's tons more. Hundreds, in fact! If you go HERE you can see what other Christmas cards they have. If you're want more HOLIDAY CARDS, they have those too.

They also have lots of other cute ideas, like Christmas labels. Go HERE to check them out. Check their website out, there's tons of fun Christmas gift ideas.

If you too want to get in on Shutterfly's craze & get 50 free holiday/christmas cards go HERE to sign up!

Job Description

Little Laundry Helper Luke

Mickey's Magical Journey

Violet is totally, utterly taken by Mickey Mouse. It's pretty much the only show she ever wants to watch. She'll sing the theme song around the house too. Cora absolutely loved Disney's Princesses on Ice last year, and whenever we drive downtown, she'll ask if we can drive by the building where she saw it. So it was pretty much a given that we needed to go to this year's presentation. Kissie came with us and we had a great girls afternoon out!
Violet sat enthralled the whole time with a fairly blank look on her face. No smiles, no clapping, just concentration. She lasted the whole show, which was so nice.

The "Under the Sea" dance

Cora wished there were a few more princesses, but had a good time as well. She was less mesmerized than last year and a bit more able to participate in the show.
It was a fun show. My favorite part was the Peter Pan part, where Peter, Wendy, and Tinkerbell
flew over the ice. Oh and the huge Ursula and huge crocodile that ate Captain Hook were pretty amazing too. I think we've now established a tradition, and we'll have to go next year!

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures taken this morning at Fotofly. I don't think I'll ever go anywhere else for family photos again! I LOVE the pictures, I LOVE the studio, I LOVE the fact that we came home right after the session with full copyrights and a cd of our edited pictures for only $69!! (I had a coupon, it's normally $79, still totally worth it!). If you go, tell them I sent you-- there's a referral program too!

Luke at 10 months

Luke is 10 months old!
Luke now has 4 teeth, and 2 more top ones are about to pop through... hopefully soon! We can see them, but they still have to get through his gums. I can also feel two more bottom teeth coming in too.
Luke loves to watch out the window. This is the only one he can access by himself. There's always a lot going on outside with the new house being built across the street from us.
Luke is interested in the stairs-- aggh! He can only climb up one step... so far. I don't take him upstairs too much anymore, because I have to shut him in a room and watch to make sure the girls don't leave the door open accidentally. I've already had to make one dive and grab his foot as he was about to go down. Never again!
Luke can pull to standing now and we're back to childproofing again, we've found it a necessary preventative to limit Luke's intake of crayons and puzzle pieces. He seems delighted to be able to see more of what is going on around him.
Luke is a sleeper! He takes two naps a day, about 1-2 hours each, and then sleeps from about 7pm-6:30am, waking up to eat once (usually, hopefully, just once!) around 10:00pm.

Luke loves bathtime and his favorite bath toy is a black and white striped ring. But he also loves chewing on foam princesses.
I finally bought a baby food grinder, and Luke is eating all kinds of things now, lots of baby food fruits and veggies, but also trying whatever we're eating, just the cut up or ground version.

Luke is a super fast crawler now, that's his primary mode of transportation.
Luke enjoys reading board books, especially turning the pages. We usually read a book before bed. He also thinks it's hilarious to kick the blanket off after I've tucked him he. As soon as I start tucking the blanket into the sides of the crib, he gets a huge grin on his face and start to kick. I know he's REALLY sleepy when he doesn't even try.
Luke is clapping now, we don't see it too often, but he sometimes claps when he sees other people clapping. And he usually claps when we feed him pears. They must taste delightful to him!
Luke is still a finger sucker. If he gets bonked, he starts to quiver and his face begins to melt and the fingers zoom into him mouth.

Luke is an inquisitive, fast-moving, still cuddly baby... quickly turning into a little boy. He gives huge smiles, loves his sisters, and is interested in exploring all the world around him. He's usually very patient and an easy-going baby, even pretty flexible with his naps.
We sure love him!

Afternoon at Temple Square

What a beautiful week it has been! A whole week of sunny blue skies and temperatures in the high 60s and even a couple of low 70s. Just perfect. We've been trying to be outside as much as possible and go to the park every day. Today we went to Temple Square, and it was so beautiful. We ate lunch, saw Pata for a bit, played in the leaves, and saw the Tabernacle and Assembly Hall with Kissie. And then we went to the top of the Church Office Building, saw the temple diorama, and Brigham Young Memorial Park with Amber, Jaxon and Dylan. The kids did well, we enjoyed the sunshine, and it really was just a perfect afternoon. Luckily Amber took her camera along and shared some of her great pictures with me!

Luke and Dylan

Looking at the seeds and spiky hard seedpods

Cora, Violet, and Jaxon. We saw 4 brides at the temple-- what lucky weather for pictures for a November wedding!

It was fun to see the Salt Lake landmarks from the top of the COB. The hospital where Cora was born, the airport, Welfare Square granary, the temple, the conference center, Kissie and Pata's building, Ensign Peak, the Capitol.... it was a really clear day!

Cora's latest trick

Our little girls is growing up! She was even going down the taller pole at the other playground no problem!

Little Miss Polka-Dot

Halloween Week

Finding witches and picture posing at Gardner Village

(and eating the most delicious Red Pepper Gouda soup that I managed to replicate at home --yum!)Carving pumpkins... and decorating some smaller ones with glitter pens

Dressing up for a Halloween storytime at the library. And going to a musical Halloween presentation at the new library.

Halloween program and party at preschool

Performing Witches Brew, an extremely catchy song that our whole family managed to learn!

Trick-or-treating at Daddy's work-- they got some great candy there!
And, Belle and Snow White off for some cold and sprinkly trick-or-treating. Violet lasted about a hour, Cora lasted about an hour and a half. They had a great time! Luke and I stayed back to man the door, we got about 100 trick-or-treaters.