Halloween times

Ok folks. I want you to take a moment to prepare yourself for a lot of cuteness.

Ready? Here we go.

I love Halloween!! I love costumes, trick-or-treating, eating candy, the whole shebang! And since I am a bit old for dressing up and going door to door, I get to live vicariously through my kids! Hooray!!

This year, we attended several Halloween parties! First, we went to a Halloween play group. It was so fun! Portia was a cowgirl, complete with boots and hat. Margot didn't dress up, she actually slept through the entire activity. The kids played games, listened to stories, ate treats (of course), and decorated pumpkins:

Portia is pretty creative. She did the whole thing by herself, I just helped with the glue.

Next, we visited the Tulsa area, and went to the Claremore ward's trunk-or-treat. This time Portia was a princess.

And Grammy was a spooky vampire:

Margot still didn't dress up, and still slept through a large chunk of the evening.

They had the trunk-or-treat inside the church, and decorated lots of different rooms to hand out candy from. There was a little room filled with lit-up pumpkins. It was Portia's favorite, mostly because there were purple ribbon streamers hanging from the door.



Tonight, we went to a trunk-or-treat in Norman. Portia was a cowgirl again, and Margot dressed up as well.

Cutest kitten ever:

This time, the trunk-or-treat was outdoors, and Daddy helped Portia go around to all the cars while Mommy and Margot handed out candy.

Checking out her loot.

beautiful girl

Margot slept through the whole thing. (I'm beginning to see a pattern here)

After the trunk-or-treat ended, we drove to a nearby neighborhood and went door to door for some more action.
Portia was a bit scared because it was so dark, but she said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at every door!

Now we are home. Portia is in bed dreaming of dum-dums and snickers and skittles, and Daddy and Margot are snoozing on the couch. And I am sitting here drinking some homeade warm apple cider. It was a great night.

Happy Halloween!

partake in the partay

My wonderful Daisy-sister had a birthday today. Yeah, on Halloween. Cool huh?

She decided that what she wanted to do to celebrate was have a sleepover with her sisters and mom. So, we had a party! It was awesome.

We arrived in Joplin on Friday night, to Daisy's beautiful historic house. Seriously, it's the coolest house ever. Its over 100 years old, and huge, and she and her hubby have been renovating it. The kitchen makes me drool. Heated tile floors. Need I say more?

Anyways, Daisy opened presents; she got scarves, nail polish, cool halloweeny candle holder/candles, a skull pillow, and a mug and hot chocolate. You can kinda see a few of the gifts in the photo, along with Daisy and Jeannine.

By the time the presents were opened, we were all famished. None of us had eaten much all day, because we knew the food would be incredible. You see, Daisy's husband, Tim, is a superb cook. Superb. Superb. We knew that he would make something to die for. We weren't wrong.

He made Tai food: cilantro lime rice, noodles in a limey peanuty sauce with peppers and more cilantro, and breaded shrimp that was literally the best thing I have ever eaten ever. There was also red curry soup that I didn't take a picture of, because by that point I was lost in delicious-land.

If your eyes had taste buds, you would be crying with joy right now.

Yes, Carrie. Yes.

The beautiful birthday gal:

After we died and went to heaven, we came back to life and decided to run and get ice cream. We had a little trouble getting Mom's car out of the driveway, but after we called Dad and learned the inner-most secrets of Volkswagens, we were on our way.

We came home and did what all girls do at sleepovers: nails!! Carrie gave Daisy a mani with her new polish, and we proceeded to laugh and giggle like we always do when we're together. We told ghost stories; guess whose 100-year-old mansion is a little bit haunted? Daisy's!! I got legitimately freaked out; it was awesome!

After giggling and talking till 2 am, we finally headed to bed, where I did not sleep on account of imagining basement ghosts standing over my air-mattress.

The next morning, Tim made eggs, bacon, and pancakes (again, delish!) and I cut and colored some hair.

After the hair was all done and the car all packed, we headed home. It was the most fun I've had in a while. I love when my sisters and mom and I all get together, we have a blast every time. We are seriously some of the funniest people on the planet when we're together. I got a little ab workout from laughing that night.

I lobby that we do this every year for Daisy's birthday.

little monkeys

Get it? Monkeys? Cause we went to the zoo!

Look at my beautiful babies!

Maybe I'm biased, but seriously, they are so cute.

Check out Margot's concerned face, and Portia's cheeser grin.

Look how big she is. She looks like a kid, not a baby!

Snugging her mama

The zoo was super crowded because there are new tiger cubs.

That's right, I said tiger cubs.

Cute much?

Portia was a little afraid of the tigers, but she still got as close as she could. Looks like she inherited her mother's love of being scared.

Aaaaand for your viewing pleasure:

Only in Oklahoma do you see a wagon of kids attached to a power chair at the zoo.

Classic.

it's the little things

A few nights ago, Portia fell asleep on my lap, snugging her mama. She doesn't do that very often anymore, since she's getting so big. I just looked down at her and remembered her as a tiny baby. I was amazed at how fast she has grown and I was filled with pride. She is so wonderful and tries so hard to be good.

Margot has grown so much in the last month. She now looks for me when I talk to her. It's so wonderful to know that your baby girl recognizes your voice. She is such a sweet baby, and I am so blessed to have her!

I love being a mom; it's the best job on the planet. Don't get me wrong, it's hard every day, but I've never gone to bed at the end of the day wishing I could change any part of my life. It's totally worth it.

Tyra, you may be crazy, but thanks.

I know we've talked about America's Next Top Model before. And we've also talked about Michael Jackson. Well, the two have been combined.

Last week on Top Model, the models got to team up with Michael Jackson's personal stylist, Rushka Bergman, and dressed in some of the King of Pop's most iconic looks. And then La Toya Jackson showed up, and helped the girls in the photoshoot. It was awesome!

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot:

for more pictures, go here.

Pretty cool huh?

Sing it, Tina!

The woman's got soul.

our little orator

Portia is funny. Today was testimony meeting at church, and she put on a show.

She had been bugging Brandon to take her to change her diaper, which in reality means that she wanted him to take her out in the hall to run around the church; her diaper was fine. So when he stood up to go bear his testimony, I think she thought he was going to go out in the hall. Naturally, she started yelling for him to take her with him. He did.

At first, Portia just sat in Daddy's arms, watching. But about halfway through his testimony, she got a sneaky little smirk on her face, leaned forward, grabbed the microphone and started talking. She didn't say anything in particular, just babbled.

Brandon pulled her away, and she might have been done after that, but everyone laughed. She realized that she was being cute and funny. So she did it again. And again.

Finally, Brandon turned to her and asked if she had something to say. He then whispered to her to say "Thank you for Jesus," and clear as an adorable little bell, she leaned forward again and said "keenku Jesus!"

It was pretty cute.

beautiful babies

I ran across this picture today:

This is Portia when she was just a few weeks old.

And this is Margot:

My babies look so much alike!!

Margot's eyes are going to be brown though, and her hair is a lot thicker and darker than Portia's ever was.

something that makes my life awesome

Ok ok, there are a lot of things that make my life awesome right now. I have the best husband ever, 2 beautiful girls to kiss all day, and I am not pregnant anymore (you have no idea how happy that makes me)!

But I'm talking about popsicles, folks. And not just any popsicles, Edy's Fruit Bars.

I love popsicles. Really. A lot. I kinda like popsicles more than ice cream or custard or gelato. I can seriously go through an entire box in a day. And these are the best ones out there.

Every flavor is delish, and they are made with real fruit, so I can rationalize that fact that I just consumed 13 popsicles in one sitting! They're healthy, right?

My Carrie-sister and I just tried the antioxidant ones, and the Goji White Grape flavor is literally the best thing I've ever eaten. I don't know what Goji is, but I will eat that, man.

best friends

These two are already BFFs.

Sweet girls.