Thanksgiving 2011

Little fashionista:

Watching the game:

I think Jeffrey must have been paying attention when the turkey was carved:

Burning the midnight oil:

November

Arabelle played in this tub for a while. She's got her Elmo, her juice, and her "night-night" (blanket).

Jeffrey's Preschool Halloween Party

I volunteered to help with Jeffrey's Halloween Party at school this year, so I got to bring Arabelle and enjoy watching the kids do all their activities.

First they went Trick-or-Treating at the Jr. High next door:

Then they painted some pumpkins:

Jeffrey's pumpkin had a promising beginning...

But it just wound up blue like all his other art projects.

Arabelle really enjoyed herself.

She stationed herself at the fish tank to eat her pumpkin cookie snack.

Too bad this pic is washed out by the flash, but I like how pleasantly she is sitting by this pumpkin.

A tiny super hero at work...

October Snow

We got about two feet of snow mid-October this year.  I took a few pics from inside where it was warm.  Jeffrey was really excited about it and stayed outside for a long time until I got worried about him and made him come back in.

I think Arabelle looks like a little Lego Man in her snowsuit.

I believe Jeffrey is throwing a snowball here.

Jeffrey's ignored his truck for a while, but he still didn't like it being covered with snow.

Jeffrey ran inside and was trying to tell me something about a bird.  I went outside to investigate, and this is what I found:

Jeffrey made several more "birds".  I don't remember ever teaching him about snow angels, so maybe he learned about them at school and the word "angel" was a little too religious for them.

Halloween 2011

Suspiciously reminiscent of one of those Mexican "Day of the Dead" Skeletons...

Before church the day before Halloween:

Arabelle's tights have tiny jack-o-lanterns on them.

Unfortunately there is something on Arabelle's face below her nose, and she is holding a large plastic car, but there always has to be something to keep a family pic from looking quite perfect!

Jeffrey stepped in front of Arabelle and said "Jeffrey say cheese, not Arabelle say cheese!"

Ward Trunk or Treat:

Immediately prior to Trick or Treating:

Arabelle insisted on bringing two buckets with her.  It turned out to be quite a smart tactic as she wound up getting about twice as much candy as Jeffrey.  I thought this was a strange phenomenon, but I did overhear one person saying, "Oh, looks like you're trick-or-treating for two, eh," and then put a piece of candy in each of her buckets.

Both kids really enjoyed this Halloween, and especially the trick-or-treating Halloween night.  It was interesting to see how each of them reacted to it differently.  Jeffrey was just super super excited, running around and yelling trick-or-treat.  Of course, it sounded like, "Crick or creak," but this time last year, he couldn't say it at all, so this is vast improvement!

 Arabelle on the other hand, was just very serious about the task at hand.  She refused to ride in the stroller even though we walked quite a ways and it was late, and and insisted on carrying both buckets herself the whole time.  She just kept on walking and muttering to herself over and over again, "Candy, candy, candy."

Slim Jims

The other day we were outside getting into the car and Jeffrey pointed at the ground by the curb and said, "What's that?"  

I wasn't really paying attention and I said, "I don't know, I think it's just dirt."  

Then Jeffrey said, "No, like this!"

I looked over at him and he had a cigarette stub in his mouth and was blowing onto it.

Not sure where he learned about cigarettes--whether he's just been observant of the people standing outside Wal-Mart smoking, or if he saw it on TV somewhere.

A few days later there was further evidence of his interest in cigarettes:

 Slim Jim Cigar, evidently.

Too bad you can see how messy our play room is in this picture, but I won't lie--it looks like this about 90% of the time.  Too bad all the best toys have tons of tiny parts.

Arabelle's slim jim cigar--not quite as convincing.

Elsie would like a slim jim cigar too.

Fall Festival

There is a family in our ward that owns a little farm/ non-profit organization and they had a really fun Fall Festival with a train, petting zoo, pumpkin painting, chili dinner, bonfire and live band.

Arabelle did not like this bow.

She remembered this dog from when Jeffrey had day camp here over the summer and she was really excited to see him. 

Arabelle got to feed the goats animal crackers.

I didn't get a good picture, but this was part of a cool train.  There were several cars made from barrels attached to a tractor, and they got to go for a ride through a field.

Jeffrey really enjoyed toasting the marshmallows, but was unwilling to try eating one.  Some of the other kids were confused because they couldn't decide if he was a vampire or a pirate.  Truth is both kids are wearing what technically are pajama tops, and Jeffrey added the cape himself.

Picking a pumpkin to take home.