Pumpkins

I just wanted to share one of my favorite things about fall...Pumpkins!! There is nothing I love better than to look at them, carve them, and cook them! There's nothing quite like that freshly cut pumpkin smell. A while ago, I started trying to be really industrious and now everytime we carve the pumpkin, I save the seeds and bake them, and make pumpkin pie with the innards. It's a lot of fun to do and especially to eat, even though I haven't quite mastered not burning my seeds, and getting all of the strings out of the pulp for the pie. Minor details, right? :D I would say poor Bryce, but the guy is used to eating food that would be "almost" perfect except for....you name the ailment. :) I'm sure it's happened! At any rate, I got the recipes for homemade pumpkin pie and baked pumpkin seeds off of www.allrecipes.com. If you're looking for any, check them out. Have a wonderful fall day!

Fall Fun

We went outside today and started raking the massive amounts of leaves that have gathered in our back yard. I haven't raked leaves in over 7 years! It was actually a lot more fun than I remember it being. :) The girls enjoyed it too. Perhaps that was why it was more fun for me. After piling it up, we jumped in the piles, buried Cady, and threw leaves. I took pictures throughout, and all 76 were so cute that I just couldn't decide which were my favorites. Lucky you, you now get to see them all! :) Enjoy. Oh, and believe it or not, I did do their hair this morning, the wind just blows something fierce up here, so their hair was all over their face. Hope you all are having a beautiful fall!

Fall fun pictures

Jean's Makeover! (Thanks Tara!!)

Before...

Before...

After---New and improved Jean!!



Taralee asked for this! I wasn't going to bug her about cutting my hair while she was visiting, but she totally volunteered, and who am I to turn down something she so obviously wanted to do? :D Just kidding, I wanted to do this more than her, she offered to give me a trim and I suggested just chopping it all off. :) We saw Natalie's blog page makeover and what can I say, it was just inspiring! Anyway, I'm really enjoying the new look, I love short hair!

Leavitt Vacation

What a wonderful week!

We had an absolutely wonderful week. Bryce's parents and grandparents came up and spent 6 days with us, and then Tara (his sister) came up and visited us for 3 days. We started out opening up Claire's birthday presents. As you can see, lots of fun. We then went and saw the mayo clinic, visited cute shops, Harmony MN to see the Amish, went to the apple orchard, Mall of America, Ikea down in Minneapolis, and hung out around the house. It is so nice to be with family, and I love seeing the girls with their grandparents (and great grandparents and aunt). :) It's music to my ears to hear Cady and Claire say, "Grandpa" and "Grandma." We are really looking forward to the day when we can hear this on a regular basis with both sets of grandparents! This was all a great experience and I loved every minute of it. Some of the most outstanding moments to me were of Cady saying, "again!!" to grandpa Duke to get him to flash his dentures at her, the trip to Harmony, and when Tara and I got a babysitter and went out on the town (in particular the used children's store where we stocked up on great Disney Princess books!):D Yes, that's where I go when I'm out on the town.

Update

Well, Bryce had no real reaction to his new name. :) I called him it and I got nothing, not even raised eyebrows. I think I'll resort back to calling him Bryce now. At any rate, today is Claire's birthday! She's three years old now. I bought her a little Cinderella Tea set and a Disney Princess cell phone. We're going to let her open it tonight, I think she'll love it! Now that she's three, we are telling her that she has got to start wearing clothes during the day. She's gotten into the bad habit of stripping down to her underwear whenever she feels hot. Taking after her father, she gets hot a lot! I didn't used to have a problem with her running around in her underwear at home, not until she announced that she was hot during sacrament meeting and then proceded to lift her dress above her head and try to take it off! We seriously had a battle of wills in the chapel, it was not pretty! So, this is my new big girl goal for her. :) Wish us luck!

Bryce's new name

How funny! I think he'll really like this one....Just kidding! But I'm going to call him it tonight...I'll let you know how he responds tomorrow. :)

Bryce Leavitt is my heavenly teddy bear Get your sweetheart's pet name @ Quiz Me

Color Personality

So, I found this website off of Wade & Annies page. Pretty neat. I don't know if this is truly accurate, but I'll take it! :)

BLUE

You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

Independent Cady

Cady wearing my eyeliner...self applied.


Cady wearing shoes...self dressed.

Sweet Music

I love it when Bryce plays the piano. The girls do too. They actually make it quite difficult for him to play because they always rush to join him on the piano bench whenever he starts. I was impressed with him last night, he was still able to play with both of the girls sitting on his lap! When there's a will, there's a way. :)

Ruby's Princess Party

 

Claire and Cady went to their friend Ruby's Princess birthday party this past weekend. As you can see, it was a lot of fun. They made crowns, played a few games, painted treasure boxes, and ate a really cool princess cake. I was a bit worried at first because Claire's birthday is in a few days and I want to give her a princess birthday party too, with all of the same kids. :) It's not going to be a problem anymore becuase we're going to have the party in two weeks, so it'll be a nice space of time and everyone will be ready for more Princess stuff. From this party, I learned that if I have a cool cake, it'll be a smash regardless of what else happens. Now, if I could only learn how to make a cool cake....