oakgrove ward fall festival

Our ward had a great party this year for Halloween.

It was suppossed to be a trunk or treat kinda deal

but we had some crazy, humid weather come in, so we opted for the gym.

They had all kinds of booths set up for the children.

Layla only participated in 2.

The booth with all the balls

and the booth with the cupcakes.

They had costume contests, chili contests, and dessert contests.

Layla won first place for best costume (in the children)

I won first place with my dessert!

Italian Creme' Cake never lets me down.



While I snapped this shot a huge thunderstorm rolled through.

She. Does. Not. Like. Thunder.

Thank goodness he was home.

He's always the first she runs too.

 

Sweetest kisses I'd ever had from a Bumble Bee.

This is Starling and Wendi's Family.

Recognize the Wilma and Pebbles costumes?!

She won this cupcake all on her own.

I was quite proud.

 

And she ate everything but the cake.

Us with our 1st place prizes.

the swing

and no, not her swing that hangs from Grandma and Grandpa Spiers' oak tree.

it's the blanket swing.

ugh!

Greg and Amanda came to visit a couple weekends ago and started this!

Now, she'll ask me to swing her in the middle of the day,

when it's just me and her,

and when I tell her I can't

do it alone,

she crys and crys and crys!

So I'll say, "We'll do it when Daddy get's home!"

First thing she asks when he walks in the door is,

"swing?"

So we'll do it, for a while.

until my hands ache and i can't hold the blanket anymore.

We'll stop.

And she'll cry and cry and cry and cry.

So far, the only thing that soothes the crying is ice cream!

Thanks Greg and Amanda!

if you like pumpkin, cinnamon, and chocolate chips...

..then you must make these muffins!
they are divine and you'll thank me later.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
4 eggs
2 c. white sugar
1-16oz. can pumpkin
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 c. flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips (i use milk chocolate)

Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl and whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture slowly and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 16 min. or until muffins test done. Cool for 10 min. before moving to wire rack. Makes 24-36 muffins.

I know pictures usually sale a recipe, but they were to good to stop and take a pic!
Enjoy!

lazy comfy days...

..are the best!

and to be quite honest, we've had alot the past month.

with the pregnancy, it's always been a good excuse to stay home all day and wear our pj's.

but the past week or so, it's been so so gloomy and overcast.

so we also took that into consideration, and stayed in our jammies all day!

i made some hot wassil and wore my slippers most of this day,

until Layla had to wear them.

not her own, but mine!

{her pink pillow, her baby, a blanket, and my slippers were her comfort}

12 Weeks

Yesterday I had my first Dr. Apt.

Everything went great!

I loved my new Dr.

Such a nice guy.

He found the heart beat, it was very strong and very fast :)

They also were able to squeeze us in for our first ultrasound.

{as soon as I hook up my printer/scanner I'll add the pics}

It was so nice seeing 5 little fingers and 5 little toes.

Makes me excited to kiss and nibble on them.

It measured 11 wks 5 days, so we're right on track.

As for me:

I'm feeling to big already.

But the doc assured me that I will show sooner with #2 than I did with #1.

Which made me feel a lot better since I didn't start showing with Layla till I was about 20 weeks.

I'm only 12 weeks and have to unbutton my pants.

Which means I may need to actually break down and by maturnity pants :(

I've also been taking Zofran which is a miracle drug.

I now only loose my food maybe once or twice a day as opposed to 4-6 times a day.

I feel like a total whimp this time around.

I'm tired.tired.tired!

I guess having an almost 2 year old doesn't make things any easier!

Just had to add one of this little cutie..

She now insists on taking her picture once a day!

Takes after her mama!

the oven box

A couple weekends ago, we went down to Picayune.

Lance was on call, so we just spent the whole weekend there.

It was nice to have a little break, while Layla played with Grandpa, Grandma, and her Aunts and Uncles.

Preston had bought Sue a new oven, and she insisted on keeping the box for Layla to play house in.

It was a hit!

Uncle Brad cut out all the windows and the door, and that's all that needed to be done to entertain her for a whole weekend.

She'd pull anyone in there at any chance she could get to read books with her.

Thanks Grandma! Great idea!

 {grandma also bought her markers, as you can see by looking at that mark on her face}

her pumpkin, my candy corn wreath

I absolutely love the Oak Grove Library.

They have the funnest activities for all the kids in our community.

They also do storytime every Wednesday and Thursday along with a craft, and Layla loves it.

Last week they did pumpkin painting.

Layla painted her pumpkin all by herself.

She even glued the feather on top of it.

It's amazing how creative her little 1 1/2 year old mind is.



 For my craft this month:

Candy Corn Wreath.

I got this adorable idea from my friend Sheridan Miller's blog and I just couldn't pass it up.

I love the colors.

It just goes perfect on our front door.

Thanks Sheridan.

If you'd like to make one all you need is:

*1 styrofoam (sp?) wreath

*black spray paint

*2 bags of candy corn

*hot glue gun

*and black ribbon

Happy Crafting!

need to vent and maybe gather some advise...

I love my daughter.
Any mother knows the love I have for her, because they feel that love for their own children.
Everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for her, and for entrusting me to care for her, to love her, to teach her.
She brings both Lance and I so much joy.
Joy that can't be replaced with any one item or material thing.
She spent her first nights away from us the weekend of our anniversary last month, and it almost killed both of us.
She's the reason for me waking up, making breakfast, getting ready for the day, taking care of our home.
Everything.
But lately,
She's been a terror!
Please, someone, tell me this is a phase.
She throws tantrums, she's bit me a couple times, and in return I bit her and left a mark.
i felt this small and like a horrible mother
She points her finger at me and tells me "No, no mama," when I tell her to do something, or to not do something.
She's ALWAYS running away from me.
She corner's other kids and makes them cry.
Then, I want to cry because every other mother is thinking my child is mean.
But then she'll say, "I sawry Mama," and look at me with her blueish-grayish eyes.
She'll hug my neck so tight, I don't want her to let go.
She'll cuddle me when I don't feel well.
She'll give me the best most juciest kisses ever!
And the first thing she says in the morning, in her little soft voice is..
"Mama, mama, mama..." until I go and get her out of her crib.
And once again, she hugs me, wants me to hold her, kisses me with that dragon breath of hers, and I don't even care cause she's my baby.

Someone please tell me how to handle her little attitude!
I hate spanking her.
She's only 21 months old.
Does she fully understand why she's getting spanked?
Or does she think:
"When I get upset, I can hit too."
She doesn't understand time out.
Although, she hates when I make her sit in her crib.
So maybe I'm doing something by doing that.

Any advise?
This is a phase right?
She'll grow out of it and be my little angel again until her teens, right?

{sigh}

Motherhood...
it's a wonderful thing.

it's creeped up..

I can't believe Halloween is in practically 3 weeks.
I have no costume for Layla.
What kind of mother am I?
I haven't baked one Halloween treat.
Haven't bought any pumpkins.
Or pumpkin to bake with.
Thank goodness for Uncle Greg and Aunt Amanda.
They got Layla her cute skeleton jammies, or she wouldn't have those either.
And they also bought us some candy corn!
My absolute favorite.
A N D
Can you believe how much she's changed in one years time?!

Layla with her friends...

  One of the best things about our new hometown of Hattiesburg, MS is that we have so many friends to play with! Not only Layla, but Lance and I also!

Picayune was a great place for us to start our lives together and to start our family, but both of us just feel so at home here in Hattiesburg. We have such a wonderful, welcoming ward and the funnest friends.

Layla really enjoys little Miss Brooklyn.

She is such a doll.

Her father was actually our realtor and was the one who found us our new home.

Thanks Starling!

Her mother, Wendi, is hilarious. There is never a dull moment with her.

And one thing we have in common is we're both expecting in the Spring of 2011.

So, we get to complain to eachother about how awful and tired we feel, as Layla and Brook-Brook play.

It's great!

Layla's only 5 months older, but Brooklyn is so tiny, she looks a year older.

A fun new place to play...

Diddy Bops!

 Of course, Layla was NOT a fan of the fun slides,

but she did love the balls.

She'd get so frustrated when she couldn't pick them all up at once.

Brooklyn on the other hand was climbing up the huge slides all by herself

and tumbling down them.

It was the funniest thing.

 It was so funny watching them wobble on all the jumpers.

Half the time they were toppling over.

 Layla learned:

It's much easier to just crawl.

 Running from one jumper to the next...

 brooklyn. layla. alayna.

Alayna is Wendi's adorable niece.

I don't ever do these kind of posts..

..but Happy October!

I think everyone in the blog world loves fall. As do I! For now, it's because it's actually been in the high 70's in the south this past week! With NO humidity. Hallelujah.

What I do miss... is the changing colors. You don't really see much of it here because of all the evergreen trees. It's so beautiful this time of the year in my home state of Utah. So if you live there, soak it up for me, PLeaSE!

October is a good month-

::First Dr.'s Apt. on the 14th

::I'll start trimester #2, and hopefully start feeling better

::It's my parents 31 year anniversary

::My mother's birthday

::and my father's birthday

::And of course Halloween, which means it's the start of the Holidays!

So this means I can bake.bake.Bake! Specially with pumpkin! Mmmm
{like i said, i hope i start feeling myself again. this time of the year just can't go without baking}

Happy Fall Yall!