Joy the Pioneer

Joy was in a much better mood today, so she let me dress her up in her Pioneer costume. She didn't smile very much in the pictures, but she's a cutie anyway. We had fun trick-or-treating at Mark's work and Grandma's work and now we're almost all tuckered out. Mark will take the kids to a few houses in the neighborhood this evening and then we'll be done! Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Preview!

We had our Ward Halloween Party last night, so we took some pictures. (They may be all the Halloween pictures I take, but we'll see).

 

There was a pumpkin carving contest at the party (you decorated them at home and brought them). BethAnne and Grace drew the design they wanted on paper, then Mark taped the paper on the pumpkin and carved away. I love both of their designs, but BethAnne's doggy pumpkin is especially awesome! They are so creative and Mark is so talented, the designs look exactly like the pictures.

 

Grace was a princess this year and BethAnne was a cute witch. The fake hair looks better in person, but you get the general idea.

 

Joy dressed up this year as the 2-year-old who absolutely refused to wear a costume. We tried the non-itchy pioneer costume and she wouldn't have it. But she was adorable for a few minutes even though she was screaming and pulling at her bonnet the whole time. I didn't dare try the fancy/itchy Cinderella costume. Maybe it's because she's been sick. She had another high fever this week for a few days. Then she was grumpy for a couple days and then she came down with a cold yesterday. Maybe she'll let me dress her up for Halloween tomorrow, but I'm not going to push it.

Joy has an appointment with the infectious disease specialist on Tuesday because she has had several episodes since July where she has a medium to high fever (lasting 3 or 4 days) with no apparent cause. She may have a recurring fever disorder. Hopefully whatever it is, isn't serious. The pediatrician feels like he's already ruled out most things, we'll see if the specialist has some ideas. It's getting to be pretty disruptive because she doesn't sleep well when she has a fever (so Mark and I don't sleep well) and then this last time she just seemed really uncomfortable for a couple days. Hopefully we can figure it out and hopefully there's a cure.

 

This year, Mark got into the Halloween spirit and he dressed up as a pirate. Very fun, aaaargh!

 

And one last picture taken this evening. Apparently, Lily the puppy is a budding pianist! I hope you all have a great week and a fun Halloween. Make sure you post pictures of your cute kiddies in their costumes!

Love,
Aubrey

Xander Loves Ice Cream!

The pictures say it all...

Pumpkin Festival!

Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Festival at a local (well, sort of - it was in Maryland) orchard. We had so much fun!!! We started off the day at the farm store where we got apple cider donuts for breakfast and fresh pies to take home. We also sampled ice cream and all sorts of apples. My favorite apple is Honey Crisp and Jeff's is Shizuka (yeah, I know, I'd never heard of them before either). Then we went on to the festival, which was full of all sorts of great activities including pony rides, big slides, a bounce house, hayrides, mazes, and all sorts of good stuff. The kids loved it. Then we ended the day picking raspberries off the orchard's u-pick bushes. There aren't a ton of raspberries left this time of year, but we got almost a pound in about 20 minutes. It was a great day.