Haircut

Cole and I basically gave up on giving Cade successful haircuts. Oh we tried to cut it alright. But it usually ended up in a buzz because we did a horrific job. So we just let it grow. It was getting some adorable curls to it. Cade would proudly state that he had more hair than daddy.

But it was getting a little out of control. So we tried again. Don't click on the picture to make it bigger. Don't look too close. Don't judge. Isn't he handsome?!

Thanksgiving and 18 months for Rylee

We decided to stay in Kansas for Thanksgiving which was a first for us. It was pretty calm and we had a wonderful day. Cole and I made pies the night before. They turned out wonderful if we don't say so ourselves. It was my first try at homemade crust. Then Cole did the pecan and I did the apple. They were really yummy and we were a little proud of ourselves. The Knapps (our Stake President's family) invited us over to eat with their family along with an older couple and a couple of Cole's branch members who did not have a place to go. We had a wonderful dinner, had some down time, and played some games. It really was so much fun. (Although the perk to making your own is having leftovers! We sorely missed them the next day!) I took zero pictures on Thanksgiving Day. A real bummer. But....

Yesterday was Rylee's 18 month mark. You know what that means?! Finally time for her to enjoy nursery during church. Rylee was happy to go in after seeing some toys. I quickly escaped out the door before she could she me. I heard her whimper and get sad. So then I peeked through the little window on the door and she was being held by one of the nursery leaders. Rylee was clinking to him with her head on his shoulder. When I came to pick her up she then got all sad again like, "Where have you been?! I can't believe you left me." And then continued to give me the silent treatment and pouts after church. They said she was good and didn't even cry.  Cade never had a problem going. He wouldn't even look back to wave bye. So having a clinging whiny I-don't-want-you-to-go child is new for me. We will see how next week goes. But she is a very adorable clingy whiny child...

 

I know. I know. That flower is massive. I think the picture makes it look bigger than it actually is. But, nonetheless, yes it is a big flower. 

 Not very lady like but I guess you pretty much get away with anything at this age.

Rylee is quite the walker and is even trying to run now. She loves to be chased. She is very good at communicating. She can say a handful of words and does lots of signs. Also pointing and loudly yelling something seems to work too. She definitely has a good pair of lungs. She loves to be validated and to let you know when she is proud of herself (so like most females right?) She is a pretty good eater and sleeper. She continues to love books and she really likes to dance. That's good since I have her career in dance already planned out. ;) She continues to be fairly small for her age. She looked so tiny compared to everyone else in her nursery class.

Right now Rylee gets so excited when we let her walk to our door. She loves to walk up and knock as we are coming home from somewhere.

 I had to make this one big!! You can't beat that cheesy smile. Still working on that second front tooth. She looked like a vampire for a while before the first big tooth came in. Cade's did the same thing. I must just have vampire children.

Look at that mischievous face. I will update more on Cade soon. Hope everyone else has wonderful Thanksgivings!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was so fun this year! First Cole needed to attend his Branch halloween party so we turned it into a date. He had absolutely no plans for dressing up. I told him he could not go to a costume party not dressing up. He was a good sport and dressed up with me. My friend and neighbor was telling me about this dress she had so I asked if I could borrow it. It was beautiful and complete with a hoop skirt. Let me tell you-this dress was so fun to wear. Whose says who have to be in Elementary school to dress like a princess?! I am just a girly poofy dress kind of person-always have been and I guess I always will! I made Cole a coordinating costume and we had fun.

 Next was our ward Trunk or Treat-where Cole had to dress up again. I can't stress enough how much dressing up is not his thing. This just shows how much me loves me!! (Not that he had much of a choice...) I had asked Cade what he wanted to be for Halloween. He said a monkey. I told him that was what he was last year so to pick something else. He then automatically said a chameleon. A what? How does he even know what that is? I really like him deciding what he wants to be but was not thrilled with the answer. So I kept asking and he came up with a spider. Whew. I can do that. Then I found super clearanced wings for Rylee. Perfect-they can be bugs together. I made Rylee's antennas and leggings and thought she made a darling butterfly. (A little upgrade to the banana she was last year!)

Cole has been out of town on Halloween day for the last 2 years for different things. We were excited to have him here this year. Then unexpectedly his great grandma passed away. She was 102!! She was a charming lady and died in her sleep. Kind of sweet. So Cole left this morning for the funeral. AND HE TOOK MY BABY!! Cole suggested he take Rylee with him since she can fly free. At first I was like no way. But I slowly consented. Cade and I can have some good one on one and I know Cole's family would love the time with Rylee. So he took her. It has been so weird! Anyway, so Cade and I enjoyed Halloween by ourselves. This morning we went trick or treating at the library.

Then tonight we went out trick or treating. This was a first for me!! To take a child out at night trick or treating in a real neighborhood. And can I just say it really was picture perfect. He went with our friends the Maughans. Carly and Cade are in Sunbeams together. We live in a complex that we really didn't want to trick or treat at so he headed to another neighborhood. So many houses were decorated, there were lots of families out and about, and lots of houses had people on the porch waiting for you. Everyone was so friendly. To say Cade had fun was an understatement. He would sing from house to house about candy. He was so fun to watch and to be with.

I just have to add some of my other family members costumes!
Shanna and Matthew were Greek Gods with Austin being Hercules! And Shan made all their costumes. So cute!

And here is Alyssa as a gypsy. A very cute gypsy at that!

And then here is my mom as Cinderella! As many of you know she collects Cinderella books so this is perfect! What is so funny about this is that she is wearing my prom dress! She said she had some difficulty breathing!

Small Town Manhattan

There are lots of perks to living in a small town. Here are a few:

One of my friends set up a little preschool where we rotate houses and we all take turns giving a lesson on a particular theme every other week. In between those weeks we go on a field trip. We wanted to tour the air port since kids love planes. The closest big airport is over 2 hours away but Manhattan does have a teeny tiny airport. My friend called them up and just asked if we could have a tour. Not only did they say yes but it was free, the director of the airport did the tour, we got up close to some of the planes, they got to watch one take off, and they got a little wooden plane at the end. How awesome is that? You could never do that at a normal airport.

 Cade and his friends flying their wooden airplanes. 

Also there are weekly farmers markets. I love the idea of supporting local farmers. And there are plenty around here!  This particular week there were some extra fun things to enjoy.

 Rylee, of course, loving the pig. 

Cade is loving being inside the fire truck. We walked up to it to go inside and they all of a sudden shut the doors and jumped inside and took off.  They got a call. Kind of cool to see then do their thing. But then they came back.

Walters Pumpkin Patch

We had such a fun day today! We were able to squeeze in a family outing to Walters Pumkin Patch in Burns, KS. I don't think I can stress to you enough how in-the-middle-of-nowhere this was. It was about an hour and a half away. There were so many fun things to do. This place had so many creative ideas. There were even more things to do that were closed since it was a weekday but, nonetheless we had a blast. The weather was perfect, the kids had fun, the parents had fun, and we brought home a pumpkin.  I know I may have posted too many pictures so maybe at least enjoy the beautiful scenery.

 Cade loved the boat. The whole time he was on the boat he kept saying, "I've never been on a boat before! I've never been on a boat before!"

 Way awesome slides!

 A big blob to jump on. What could be more fun than a big blob to jump on?! Cade is in the air on the second picture.

 Rylee and her animals. She just loves them. She is doing the cow sign in the second picture. She also just recently learned to say moo. It is so adorable.

 Fun bikes. Love that they also had child seats. (I think Rylee's hair resembles Doc from Back To The Future)

Super fun teeter toter. It was fun having the whole family on it. 

This was so hilarious to us. We tried to teach Cade to take a picture and he didn't do too bad! Cade was ecstatic to take this picture.

 On the way home, Cade was falling asleep as he was eating. It was so funny. Needless to say he had an exhaustingly good time.