Our Halloween

Halloween was really, honestly fun this year! It's so different when your kid is old enough to know what's going on and gets excited!

First, we went to our Mom's Group Halloween party on Thursday

Caroline was a ballerina for this one because I didn't want her Snow White dress to get dirty or ripped or something!

Caroline wrapped up in toilet paper like a mummy!

Towards the end of the party the kids decided it would be more fun to play in the hallway on the chairs and giant roll of carpet. They're playing "train" in this picture!

This is probably my new all-time favorite picture of her!

Again, Mom. we LOVE this dress! People at our ward party were impressed! Especially with her detachable collar and cape!

Caroline had so much fun this Halloween! She LOVED trick-or-treating and was a model example: she had a smile plastered on the whole time, said "trick-or-treat", "thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!" every time. She was LOVIN' life!

As per our family tradition we painted our pumpkins. We're not big fans of carving - the mess, the sharp objects, the mold after a few days, etc. So we found that this kept us in the spirit and gave us a creative outlet.

Happy Halloween!

Hallelujah!

Retraction

Or rather, a clarification:

Ok, so I had some people comment on how they were surprised we paid $1200 for Stewy. Let me clarify. While I now believe that our little Stewy is priceless :), we did NOT pay $1200 (or any where near that much!) for him!

When we were orginally looking for a puppy we really wanted an English Bulldog, and those were running $1200-$3000. Sorry I wasn't clear on that. We didn't win the lottery, or inherit a lot of dough, or go crazy and take out a loan to get a dog! However, Stewy is the cutiest, wootiest little prince in the whole wide wowld and if I were rich, he'd totally be worth it!

PS, I love my puppy.

Prepare to say, "Awwww!"

Meet Stewart Lewis Martin:

"Stewy" is our new Yorkshire Terrier/Poodle (aka Yorkipoo) puppy! He's 8 weeks old and soooo tiny!

We've been looking into getting a puppy for a few weeks now and saw Stewy yesterday and fell in love! We've been doing research online about what kind of dog would be right for our home. Unfortunately, the breeds that kept coming up were SO expensive!!! We found someone selling the breed of puppy we really wanted here in Southaven for $1200! And they were the cheapest ones!!! We saw some advertised for $3000! How can people feel good about that?! So we decided to go with our gut. Dave is great with animals (he even helped deliver my Mom's dog, Molly) And he said Stewy was the one. Even full grown he won't be very big. He's expected to be about 5-7 lbs as an adult. Sohpie Cat has just decided to keep her distance and according to Dave, "gives him the stink-eye!"

So far, he's very quiet and sleepy and cries when you leave him alone... much like a new baby!

Caroline, of course, LOVES Stewy. We're hoping that by getting him so young, he'll just kind of get used to her "love" and love her back! Already he follows her and climbs in her lap when she's sitting on the floor! She talks baby-talk to him and it's so cute!

I'm really looking forward to having a dog right now. Caroline's getting older and doesn't seem to need Mommy's help as much, so I'm ok with taking on a new responsibility!

Last night he cried a little bit and Dave, the softie that he is, brought him into bed! So Dave is very happy to have him too!

TAG O RAMA!

I got tagged twice recently so here we go!

From my sister Karen:

Open your 5th picture folder and select the 5th picture in it. Explain.

This is about 2 summers ago I think. We were trying out Thatcher's brand new playground on a visit to Nana's house. It's a pretty cool one, but what made me sad was how filthy it was! This was a much needed new piece of equipment and It had already been written on, trash all over the ground, melted abandoned popsicle inside one of tunnels, etc. I've often thought that someday I would like to do a service project involving cleaning (and disenfecting!) a park's playground equipment. Anyone interested?

Ok, TAG #2:

Savannah tagged me with a little get-to-know you!

8 TV Shows I Like to Watch:

-The Office

-Ace of Cakes

-What Not to Wear

-Property Virgins

-Family Feud

-The OC (reruns. a recent guilty pleasure!)

-Planet Earth

-Seinfeld

8 Restaurants I Love to Eat at:

-On the Border

-Taco Bell (is that a restaurant? I dunno, yummy, fast, and CHEAP!)

-Texas Roadhouse

-Olive Garden

-Chili's

- Eegee's (Oh how I miss you!!!)

- Chalo's (in Safford. I miss you too!)

- R & R Pizza (also in Safford. Best buffet ever.)

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

What was yesterday?

-Oh yeah, Cleaned a house for Dave and Ryan

-Tried to apply for WIC (waited 1/2 an hour only to find out you need an appt. It's different everywhere!)

-Went to a really cool park in Hernando with Courtney and the girls

- Ate bean burritos for dinner

-Played "doggy" with Caroline. I'm usually the doggy.

- Met the neigbors across the street with the really cool toys.

- Ate rainbow sherbet. mmmm.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

-Halloween. Caroline is going to be a great Snow White.

-Modbe party this weekend! My first since we've moved!

- Girl's Night Out in Germantown. Oh yeah. I need this one!

- Going to see High School Musical 3 with Joleen and her girls and Caroline on Saturday!!!! (wow, I've got a fun weekend planned!)

-Birthday Weekend (Dave is Nov. 14, Caroline is Nov 15 !)

-Being done with the house: paint, windows, upstairs bath

-Dave making sweet-n-sour chicken on Sunday for the missionaries

-the next Zumba class

8 Things On My Wish List:

Why was it hard to think of 8 things in every catagory EXCEPT this one?!

- A puppy

- A deck in the back yard

- A swingset in the back yard

- Another car

- A vacation, maybe to AZ? :)

- Like Savannah, always new clothes!

- A sibling for Caroline

- A piano

Are you bored? Do this Tag, it was a fun one!

Horn Lake Festival

We had a really fun Saturday this week! We went to the Horn Lake Festival. We really didn't know what it was, we just saw signs on the sides of the road. So we went and checked it out and really, it was just like a small fair. Ryan and Courtney and their girls met us there and the girls had a blast together!

First up was the kiddie roller coaster - which was bad to start with because I'm sure everything after that seemed boring by comparison! This was a first for Caroline, and her mom was pretty nervous (I even scolded Dave for not riding with her) but she did great and she LOVED it!

They had a small petting zoo. These rabbits totally made me want one!

This goat was lovin' them! Caroline wasn't so sure at first, but Dave helped, and then she loved it.

Caroline patiently (HA!) waited in line for quite a while to get her face painted. She wanted a unicorn. Here's the end result:

All in all, it was nice to have a fun family day. Fairs are quite expensive though. But I think one of my favorite parts about being a parent is watching her enjoying herself. Hearing her laugh, seeing her jump up and down in anticipation, and gazing at her bright smile. I can see how easy it would be to spoil your kid rotten! It's so fun watching them open presents and giving you a great big hug of thanks. That's the best. It's a good thing we can't afford to spoil her too much!