Carving Pumpkins with Nana

Okay so this is where I admit to my lame momness. For halloween I did not want to deal with the hassle of carving a pumpkin so Zoe and I painted pumpkins. My mom however thought that was totally lame (which I can certainly agree with) so she bought two pumpkins and carved them with Zoe. Of course Zoe had a blast and it turned out really cute! Isa as you can see just sat and munched on a lemon and watched the progress made!

Hogle Zoo

When we were in Utah in October (Yes thats right I said October) we went to the Hogle Zoo for the first time with Nana and Aunt Allee! The girls had a blast. I am pretty sure the Carousel ride was their favorite part of the trip but they also enjoyed riding on the train! Zoe had so much fun I couldn't even get her to stop and take a picture!

I Call This The One Way Conversation

The other day I made one of Zoe's favorites for lunch, grilled cheese and tomato soup. I got everyone situated (Zoe, Isa and I) and sat down with mine and a Christmas letter to read. A Few seconds later this is the conversation that took place:

Zoe: "Mommy eat your soup"

I took a bite of my soup

Zoe: "mommy eat your sandwich"

I took a bite of my sandwich

Zoe: "Read mommy read"
Zoe: "Eat your soup mommy eat"
Zoe: "Read mom you have to read"

Me: "Zoe chill out chica I am eating and reading as fast as I can"

Zoe: "Mom you just have to read and eat"

Birthday Girls!!!

Both of the girls had their birthdays in December and It was one party filled month! I had so much fun getting everything ready for the girls birthdays.

Isa's was the 7th and we just had three babies her same age over and let them crawl around and play with her new toys. They also had a blast tearing into the cake.

There are very few things that Isa is completely obssessed with so far one of them is the caterpillar on the Baby Einstein videos. That is how we decided on her cake.

Isa was not to thrilled at the idea of diving into her cupcake. She just picked at the frosting for a while and then finally pushed it aside. I must say I was quite surprised! She did however have a lot of fun opening her presents and with a little help from Aunt Allee it was a complete success!

We had a lot of fun at Zoe's party as well. Her parties are getting to be a lot of fun. She has two really good friends here, Parker and Maddy, so we had them over for a princess and pirate party (We threw in the pirate part just for Parker because had he shown up with out a costume he gladly would have put on a princess dress for Zoe).

We got Zoe a Snow White dress to wear and I made her a Snow White cake. It was a learning experience to say the least.

I also turned our kitchen table into a castle for the kids and that is where there treasure hunt ended, treasure chest and all.

She got lots of toys from friends and family and has had a blast playing with them all!

All and all Zoe had a blast and ever since her birthday everytime she sees a fun toy at a store she says "I want that for my birthday!"

I love these two girls so much I can't imagine life without them. Zoe never ceases to make me laugh with her fun loving personality. She is such a sweet sister to Isa and always tries to help her learn new things. I posted some of her new funny sayings so be sure to check those out. Isa is a doll as always. This kid is going to be even funnier as she gets older. She loves her momma and can't ever seem to get enough of her big sister Zoe. She is learning new things all the time and is sooooo close to walking I can't even believe it!

A is for Allee

This is for those of you who have been wondering what Allee has been doing since she moved up here with us! As you can see she has been very busy!

Family Photos .......... You Be the Judge!?!

So while we were on vacation to Utah in October and November we had our family picures taken. I was really excited to do it and had this vision of what they would look like in my head.......I am obviously not a true artist with the ability to turn my "visions" into reality because they looked nothing like I had imagined!

My first mistake: I thought because we had scheduled an appointment that we would actually be taking pictures at that time, our photographer would be prepared, and stay for the time she had scheduled once there. My bad! (I will say this though she tried very very hard to get my kids to smile and for that I thank her)

My second mistake: White does not look good on just anybody, especially when you yourself are the color swatch they used to make the fabric you are wearing

My third mistake: I assumed the "chin down method" removed all noticeable double chins

My fourth mistake: I believed I looked like Jennifer Aniston when in reality I looked like .... well this...

My fifth mistake: Because my children would laugh and play all day if they were outside than obviously outside would be the best place to get happy pictures. This became a mistake when I confused picture taking with playing

Honestly this list could go on for days but I will let our pictures do the talking. I need everyone to vote for which picture they like best so I can figure out which one to frame and put in our house. Here ya go...

PS Kelsie I cannot find that disc you put the pictures that you fixed on. If you by any chance happened to save them let me know, if not I will keep looking.

Do you ever feel like you are having an out of body experience!

I still have no camera :(. Hopefully though I will soon. I am getting one for Christmas with a lot of help from my mom but I have been waiting for Mike to have some free time to go with me to find one we will like. Hopefully I will get one either today or tomorrow. I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted a real post but here is my attempt to brief everyone on teh last two months!

1.) We went to Utah and saw all the family and had a blast.

2.) Trick or treating was a great success we finished just as the rain hit so we were pretty proud of our timing.

3.)We went to the Hogle Zoo and the Dinosaur museum and the girls had a blast.

4.)We had a get together with all Mikes Clogging friends and can I just say its a wonder that all those guys married so well. just kidding We laughed the whole night! (Thanks Michele)

5.)Mike has worked like crazy since he has been back. I have just been plain crazy.

6.)We had a babysitting swap with a friend of ours and Zoe hurt her arm while playing with their little boy. (Jumping off little kid chairs into ball pits on a cement floor has now become a big fat no thank you in our house)

7.)Four doctor visits via the ER, the base clinic, and the orthopedic clinc, 6 doctors, 8 x-rays, and six days later it was finally discovered that Zoe had a nursemaids elbow (dislocated elbow) and was reset. I don't know what we would have done without the help of our Bishop!!!

8.)Zoe has been in a slpint for 4 weeks and has had about ten more x-rays since but has become quite the pro of out patient care.

9.)If there is a family that needed a babysitter in minot lets just say that baysitter was me and it was sometime in the last two weeks.

10.)Isa turned one and cut 6 teeth within 2 months!!

11.)Isa stands on her own!

12.)Isa says momma, dadda, silly, this, ta da, bye and (while mimicking Zoe) I mad.

13.)We have put new meaning to the Griswald family Christmas ..... AGAIN!

14.)Some crazy person backed into Mikes car while it was parked in our driveway..... Oh wait that was me in the Mini van. (This should be on confessions of a taxi cab driver)

15.)We hosted Thanksgiving here with three other families and a single guy. (props go out to cameron for an excellent Turkey and stuffing)

16.)Our computer completely quit working for a few days until we could buy a new one.

17.)And last but certainly not least I have finally convinced a family member of mine (besides my awesome mom who comes when I need her most) to come visit. I came in the form of torture I think ..... just kidding Allee moved up here to stay with us for a while and it has been a blast for us I hope she can soon say the same!

So there you all have it the update on why I have not been blogging! My life is crazy and certainly blog worthy but sheesh with out a camera or a computer how do you blog! I will not torture you all with a long post with all the pics you have missed but I will put up a slide show of the pictures we have not been able to post! Now I can finally catch up on all of you! By the way I think quite a few of you went to private over the past few months if you did and I missed the opportunity to be included please leave a comment with your email so I can send mine on to you! Heather I got yours today but Jeff and Tenille I know for sure I missed! Thanks guys!