Beauty and...The Stink

This Halloween Rachel had her heart set on being Belle...again. I made this costume for her last Halloween and I honestly couldn't be more pleased that she wanted to wear it again.
Rachel also had something in mind for her brother. She thought it would be great if she were Belle and Toby was the Beast. I did attempt to find a lion costume that I thought we might be able to pass for the Beast, but unfortunately it was way too big. It should fit him next year though. So who knows, maybe the Belle dress will fit Rachel one more year and she could have all of her fairy tale dreams come true. As for this year we had to settle for a little stinker!
You have to say that as far as skunks go, Toby makes a very cute one!
This next picture of Toby was taken at the moment that someone smiled at him. He does this a lot! When someone smiles at him he pretends to be bashful and ducks his head, with a big grin on his face. He thinks he's pretty charming!

Finally I thought it would be fun to post a picture of Rachel from last year...

And compare it to this year. I can't believe how much she has grown up.

Rachel's Princess Party

Rachel got a bike for her birthday this year. She was thrilled!

She got it right before her friends arrived for her princess party so she was already in her Cinderella costume from Halloween 2 years ago (which is surprising because other than the length it still fits her). I love that she is riding her bike in her dress. Here she is talking to Emily who called to wish her a happy birthday. She didn't want to get off the bike for a second!

The princess party was lots of fun. Rachel decided months ago that she wanted a princess party. So I went to work trying to make this princess party come together. First we played a few games. This game is called Pass the Poison Apple. It's played like Hot Potato, but when the music stops the person with the apple falls asleep. And how do you wake up a sleeping princess? With a Hershey's Kiss of course!

We also played a game called Crown the Princess. It is similar to musical chairs but instead of taking a chair away each round, there is one chair that is designated as the throne. When the music stopped the girl who sat in the thone got her crown.

Then we decorated our crowns.

I found a picture of this cake online and had no intention of making it. Sure it's cute, but it looked like more work than I was interested in. However, I made one critical mistake. I left the picture of the cake pulled up on the computer. Before I got back to it, Rachel saw it. She came running to find me saying "Mom! That's the cake I want!"

The party was a success and we all had a great time.

9 Months Equals Blurry Photos

As you can tell, Toby started moving since the last time we tried this. He is always on the go!
This is the only photo I got when Toby wasn't trying to make a get away.

The Fair

I am finally getting around to posting a few pictures we took at the fair a few weeks ago.

Rachel loved the petting zoo, especially when she got to hold the baby chicks.

Toby enjoyed eating the straps in his stroller while Rachel looked at the tractors.

Question and Answer

This list of questions was posted on Chelle's blog and I thought it would be fun to ask Rachel to answer these questions. Here is what she had to say.

1. What is something that Mommy always says to you? “To obey.”
2. What makes Mommy happy? "When I obey.”
3. What makes Mommy sad? "When I chew on something.”
4. How does your Mommy make you laugh? “Scare me.”
5. How old is your Mommy? “30.”
6. How tall is your Mommy? “30.”
7. What is her favorite thing to do? “Play.”
8. What does your Mommy do when you're not around? “Stay with Toby at home.”
9. If your Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? “Playing.”
10. What is your Mommy really good at? “Playing.”
11. What is your Mommy not so good at? “Not playing.”
12. What does your Mommy do for her job? “To make sure that I do very good and that’s all.” (Meaning – that’s all the questions she wanted to answer!)
13. What is your Mommy's favorite food? “Granola.”
14. What makes your Mommy proud? “That’s all I said.”
15. What do you and your Mommy do together? “Play together.”
16. How are you and your Mommy the same? “We do what’s right.”
17. How are you and your Mommy different? “Your old, I’m big.”
18. How do you know your Mommy loves you? “When I do what’s right and follow the commandments.”

Toby and Teddy

I have neglected to post these pictures recently. This is Toby at 5 months.

This is at 6 months. We missed taking his picture with his teddy at 7 months because we were in Oregon.

And this is Toby at 8 months. Toby has had a busy week. Friday, he finally started crawling -army style, and also learned to stand up in his crib. Today cut he first tooth. As a result of the teething, Toby has been grumpy for maybe the first time in his life!

Things that are too small

While we were going through some boxes and reorganizing a bit, Rachel found some fun things to try on. This is the duck costume that Rachel wore when she was a year old.


Rachel decided to try on Toby's pants.


Tigger costume...size 12 months! How did she get that on?


So, if Rachel was going to play dress up, she wanted Toby to join in the fun and try on this winter suit that he grew out of months ago. Poor kid.

Home away from home

Last month we took a trip to Oregon. We had the best time visiting our friends. It was great to be back and see all the people and places we love so much.

Hiking

These pictures are from one of the days that we went to a park and hiked around as much as 4 kids would allow.

Saturday Market

This post it dedicated to tye dye. We love all the different booths that sell tye dye at the Saturday Market in Eugene. Look closely at the sign in the third picture. It says: Tye Dye. It's the new black.

Sweet kids