Halloween Festivities!

Halloween was a crazy, crazy day! Hence, a lot of pictures, so please bear with me! Here are my pretty girls! Anna wanted to be Ariel again this year and she wanted Sara to be Tinkerbelle. Works for me! I didn't have to worry about purchasing new costumes!I can actually get Sara's hair into a little bun. It's so cute, but it makes her look so big!
All of the Cloward kids (minus Liz's kids) all dressed up! There are a lot of them which usually equals a lot of chaos and a lot of fun!
One of the traditions for our Halloween party is doughnuts on the string. This year Jana had the awesome idea of doing it outside. She tied a string to the flagpole and then to the porch and then tied doughnuts all along it. It was quite the sight!
Anna had quite the time trying to figure it out.
Sara had no problems at all. She knew what she wanted!
Anna finally got the right idea and just grabbed it!
Sara loved hanging out with all of the big kids. We had a couple of races and she joined right in. She is a crazy one!
Anna running like a crazy woman!
We also had a pinata. Thank goodness it was stocked with toys and not candy. Good thinking Fa! Sara loved giving it some good whacks. She didn't want to give up the stick!
Anna had her turn as well.
Trick or treating at Grandpa and Grandma Hadfield's. Sara had it down by the end of the night. She would knock on the door, say something like "trick or treat" and then grab a piece of candy. Thank goodness she did remember to say thank you!
They sure love their Aunt Kassi!
Snuggling Grandpa!

We went to visit Great Grandma Colledge as well. I love that my kids know and love her as much as I do. It was a little sad not going to Great Grandma Hadfield's house this year. We sure do miss her!
The girls with Grandma. Sara was a little tired of pictures by this point. Liam was greatly missed for this picture!
The girls did great trick or treating. I was only planning on taking Sara to a couple of homes, but she didn't get tired at all! So, she did the whole route. It was Anna that started complaining and wanting to go home. That really surprised me!
When we got home, Sara found the bulb syringe and I guess she thought she couldn't breathe! Silly girl! Hopefully she didn't do any damage by shoving it up there!

Devastated

As many of you know, we did a frozen embryo transfer about a month ago. Three weeks ago we went in for a pregnancy test and it came back positive, with a high number indicating a strong pregnancy. Today we went in for our first ultrasound to look at the heart and see how many there were. Unfortunately, there was no heartbeat. We have miscarried. We are devastated. There were so many miracles leading up to this that we thought for sure we were meant to bring this child into the world. I just want to know why. Why do we keep beating the odds when it is a bad thing! The odds of all three embryos surviving with the triplets were extremely high. Yet, all three survived. The odds of Grace having a chromosome error were high, but yet she did. The odds of her pushing the other two out and all three passing away, again, extremely high! There was only a 10% chance of us losing this baby, yet we fell into them. Why? I know that things will work out the way they are supposed to eventually, but I want answers now. I know that our family is not done yet, but I don't know what we are supposed to do. I would love to see the end of this trial and how it all works out, and I know it doesn't work that way, but I just want to see how I make it through this. Between this and job issue I feel like we can't get any more disappointment in our lives.
I know that I should now try to find the good in the situation, but right now I just want to feel sorry for myself. Just for a day.

Pumpkin Carving

This was the first year that Anna was actually interested in helping us carve the pumpkins. We taught her that the first lesson of carving pumpkins is that you have to scrape out the insides. She actually thought it was pretty cool!We let her draw her own face.
And then daddy helped her carve it. After all, who lets a four year old have a knife?
Rob really got into it this year. Instead of using a knife, he went and got his woodworking tools to carve his.
And here are the completed projects. Rob's is the closest to Sara. He was going for a more "abstract" look. Don't really understand it, but he had fun!

The Celebration Goes On

For Anna's birthday we took her out to dinner to "The Brick Oven" and over to "Build a Bear" for her present from mom and dad. Dinner was great. I regret that I didn't take a picture of her horrified face when the servers came over to sing "Happy Birthday" to her! Then the balloon guy came over, and he made some incredible things for the girls. Here is Anna showing off her Princess Ariel balloon.Sara is in love with puppies, as I have mentioned in a previous post, and so we had him do a pink and purple puppy. She was in love. She would rub her nose on its nose and made it bark. She loved it so much that, unfortunately, the puppy "died" the next day.

We then headed off to "Build a Bear". I had never done this before and it was so cute, inexpensive and very much worth it! After Anna picked out her bear, which is pink, of course, she was able to stuff it, put in its heart and then she went to the washing table. They give it a "bath" of air, where they get to brush it and fluff it .
Sara had to get into the action as well.

Then they get to pick out an outfit and they go to the dressing room and dress it. Anna picked out a ballerina outfit, ballet shoes and everything.

Sara is not one to be left out.
Anna had to show her bear what she looked like.
Then we head over to the computers to pick out a name and get a birth certificate. After she pondered for about 10 minutes, Anna named her bear Chloe. I thought it was pretty cute considering her best friend at dance is named Chloe.
Sara had a lot of fun with the computers as well. I'm pretty sure the staff got a little ticked off with us!
As we were leaving the mall, Sara saw these horses. She wouldn't move for about five minutes. She just sat at the base saying "Yee Haw! Yee Haw!". She doesn't know what they are called or what they say, but she does know what to do with them!
And here is Anna with her finished product. Meet Chloe!

Happy 4th Birthday Anna!

I can't believe that my sweet Anna turned four today. She has been looking forward to this day for so long, because we have promised a couple of things for when she turns four. When she got her bunk bed a couple of years ago, we were worried that she would have issues climbing up and down her ladder, so we told her when she turned four she could have the ladder. Funny thing is that when people asked her what she wanted for her birthday her answer would be "a ladder". People looked at as pretty strangely at that! Anyway, her other big thing that happened when she turned four was she got to sleep at her Grandpa and Grandma Hadfield's house. We have tried to do sleepovers before, but when it came time to go to bed, she would cry. My dad told her that four year olds don't cry, so when she turns four she could sleep over. She can do that now too! Such amazing things happen at such a great age!
When I went in this morning and told her "Happy Birthday" she got a huge grin on her face and said, "Mom! I'm 4 days old!". Guess she really hasn't figured out the time thing yet. She got to go to primary and be sung to and she got a chocolate bar as well.

I also found this amazing balloon bouquet for her. Can't tell me she isn't in to princesses!
And we had a fun birthday party tonight with all of the family. Anna got some great gifts, including games, puzzles, dolls, a beautician chair for her American Girl Doll and a sleepover kit (pajamas, a nightlight and slippers!).
When we first talked about what she wanted for her cake, she told me that she wanted a Prince Eric cake (from the Little Mermaid). I had no idea how I was going to do that, so I convinced her to just have some sort of princess cake. I really had no idea what I was going to do, and pretty much threw it together at the last minute. It was seriously the worst looking cake I have ever made, but it had a crown on it and she loved it. What more could I ask for?
And here she is posing in her new pajamas that my mom made. I wish I was as talented as her.
Happy Birthday Anna! We love you and are so excited to have you in our family forever!

Easter in October

I was cleaning out the cupboards, getting rid of all of the old candy so we can have room for the Halloween candy that is bound to overtake us next week, when I found these chocolate bunnies from Easter. Anna immediately wanted one, and started eating it, biting the ears off first (my kind of girl!).

Sara, on the other hand, didn't quite understand the concept of eating it. She thought it was a bunny for her to love. So she sat and snuggled it for a little bit, until it started melting all over her. Then she realized what is was and proceeded to eat it! This is right before she started to eat it...Gotta love the tongue hanging out ready to savor her chocolate!

Silly Girls!

We were all sitting in the family room the other night when Sara came running in looking like this



She is such a little ham, just like her daddy! She keeps me on my toes and keeps us laughing!

Of course when I pulled out the camera, Anna had to have her picture taken as well. Here they are pulling their "cheese" faces! Such silly little girls!

Sara and her puppies

Sara is obsessed with puppies. It was one of the first words that she learned. And it is also one of the first animal sounds that she learned. She constantly has to have one in her arms. I put her to bed tonight and she kept saying puppy until I had put every puppy in her arms. She's such a funny girl! I sure love my Sara!

Feeding the Cows

My dad called and said that the pumpkins were ready for picking, so we headed over. It was a pretty cold day, and the picking went too fast for me to take a picture. But I was able to snag this one. Right next to the garden are some cows, sheep and horses. My dad took the girls over to teach them how to feed the cows corn. They loved it! And they love their grandpa.

Anna's First Field Trip

Anna had her first field trip last week to Hee Haws. The kids had a blast and the adults got to laugh at them.
She played in a corn box (like a sand box but with dried corn...a lot less messy!).

Took a ride on the bucking tire bronco.
Pet some sheep.
Took cute pictures by corn.
Anna and her class. Now, just imagine all of these kids locked in a pen chasing about 30 chickens. It was hilarious!
Pet a goat. I was surprised she did it. She usually won't go near animals!
Went on a hayride. Anna said that this was her favorite part!
Posed as a farmer.
And ran through a short maze.
The best part about it...She was completely worn out and took a fabulously long afternoon nap!