Halloween etc

This started out as a reasonable post and then I remembered I forgot to get pictures off my phone from this time frame. And now it's out of control. I feel like this time around I am acutely aware of how quickly it all goes and I feel a desperate need to capture it all. Even if it is just in crappy quality phone photos.

A nearby apple orchard had a Halloween hunt. The morning didn't exactly go as planned and it was a bit breezy and chilly so I wasn't sure about taking Emry anyway so Brennan took the older two. Sounds like it was basically an Easter egg hunt. Halloween style. And they came home with way too much candy.

Donuts!

Too much sweetness.

I had this crazy idea to try to take some newborn pictures of Emry ourselves. Unfortunately, life was (and always seems to be) busy and crazy and the days were getting much shorter. Long story short it never happened. But back when I still had this crazy idea we tested the natural light in the dining room with these two goons. The results are priceless. And the lighting is horrible so that's awesome.

I am so glad I took this next picture. Brennan couldn't believe I was taking time to take a picture before helping him. But man I'm glad I have this. :) Yes, that is poop all over his jeans. And yes it was hilarious.

 We took the kids to HyVee, a local grocery store, for some pre-Halloween trick-or-treating and activities. They decorate pumpkins.

 And cookies.

 Tatum is such a sweetheart. Sometimes I worry we ask too much of her and maybe eventually she will resent it. She is just always so willing to help I find I have to be careful not to overuse that willingness.

 Ready for church! With just enough time to snap a picture. Only we were late so I guess there really wasn't time for a picture but I took the time anyway. :)

 Painting pumpkins.

 This is a picture that was hanging outside Tatum's classroom. It's always fun to get a glimpse into her life at school. I so wish I could be a fly on the wall to see how she interacts with teachers and peers.

 Emry's first bottle! Declan took a bottle without a problem at the beginning and then we never had a need to give him one so we didn't until he was 4 or 5 months old. Then we left him with my parents for about 12 hours and he refused to drink a bottle the entire time! Anyway, I'm determined not to make that mistake again so we are trying to give Emry bottles at least once or twice a week.

 We love the children's museum. It is a bit of drive to get there but it is always worth it.

 Declan is a big fan of wooden train sets these days.

 Our ward combined with the other ward that meets in our building for a Halloween party. They had face painting and fun little games for the kids. Including the classic donut on a string. You can see Declan crying in the background of this picture. Remember that.

 Brennan raced them.

 And Declan's tears led to him just pulling the donut off and stuffing his face. None of this no hand nonsense for this boy.

 Emry's belly buttong suddenly started bleeding through her onesie one day. That was a bit startling to see. Luckily it has healed up nicely since then.

 We headed to Grandma's house for some fun. And some Halloween cookie making.

 Declan was quite proud of the way he decorated cookies without supervision. There are two cookies underneath those heaps of sprinkles.

 Sometimes my bedroom gets a little crowded by morning. Emry is in there all the time, obviously but sometimes these two hooligans climb in sometime in the night.

 Could she be cuter? I'm pretty sure she couldn't.

 Out for a walk with the kids and this tree was such an amazing color and shape. It was just this explosion of cheeriness.

 Admiring their little sister. Watching Tatum and Declan grow into best friends has made me so darn excited to watch these relationships continue to grow.

 Brennan has had a lot of weekend activities for his calling as Young Men's president. I should have a better attitude than I do, but sometimes it sure is hard knowing Saturday and Sunday morning are going to be exactly like every other morning of the week. One weekend he was at a camp out and his friend Jeremy went too. So on Saturday my friend Krystal (Jeremy's wife) and I met up at a park to enjoy the beautiful weather. Krystal even treated us all to drumsticks when she had to take Carly to go potty at the grocery store. How amazing that it was warm enough to be outside having ice cream just a few days before November!

 So. Many. Leaves.

 Another Sunday. Sunday morning is kind of a big deal around here. Brennan leaves early for meetings before Church every week now. And every week, no matter how much preparation I do Saturday night, it is a stressful couple of hours trying to get us all ready and out the door. Every week is seems to get a bit easier, I guess I'm getting the hang of it (or Emry is getting older and easier to predict).

 I had to take a picture of the car clock because we were actually on time. This is huge. We are late for preschool almost every morning and always late for church.

 But why? Sometimes the three hours are over and I have to wonder why I just voluntarily tortured myself. This particular Sunday was the second one in a row where Emry cried screamed through the entire third hour. No matter what I did she would just wail. While I'm bouncing her in an empty classroom I see Declan and his nursery teacher pass by. He took a spill in nursery and cut his lip open. He usually gets over injuries pretty quickly so the fact that he was still crying about it was evidence in and of itself that it was worse than his usual spills. So I snapped this lovely photo of what life at church can sometimes be. Wailing baby, crying and bleeding toddler. Oh the joys. :)

 Tatum's preschool Halloween party was the morning of Halloween. They won't allow younger siblings at class parties and field trips unless they are being carried in a baby carrier. Super annoying to me. Luckily my friend Krystal was kind enough to watch Declan for the morning so I could go. Not that I had to go, but I really wanted a chance to go to something at her preschool so I could have a better idea of how everything goes.

 Emry was very cooperative and slept in her car seat for most of it and then I put her in the wrap for the last hour or so.

 Tatum and her friend Bowe in the photo booth.

 Courtney is probably one of her best friends at preschool.

 The whole group.

 Another trip to the apple orchard. This time to redeem our free donut coupons.

Pumpkin carving time!

Tatum has always been grossed out by the guts and Declan just follows her lead. So getting them to touch the guts took some work. But it was hilarious and totally worth it.

Tatum drew the face on paper and Brennan did the carving.

Halloween night! A witch and Darth Ren 😂 (Trying out the new emoji that blogger has. That is supposed to be happy/laughing and crying haha. Not the best emoji.) It's kind of a long story but we ended up with a Kylo Ren mask and a Darth Vader towel/poncho. I'm very ignorant when it comes to Star Wars so I didn't realize how obvious this would be to the general population. But oh well, Declan didn't have a clue. It was an easy costume kind of year for us.

October ended with heaps and heaps of candy. Too much candy! But it also ended with such mild weather. We have been so lucky this year but it looks like today is the last day of that. :(