It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Grinchmas . . .

So, my mom basically threw an amazing ward Christmas party this year. She and my sister Alli and a few other women from their ward put together all the decorations and it turned out so beautiful! The theme was "Grinch-mas" and everything was decorated to look like Who-Ville from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

 The table decor. So fancy and "Who-Ville-y"

 April loved the "Ginormous Snowman!!!"

 Jamie by the inviting fireplace. She dressed up as Cindy Lou-Who for the party.

 Santa's corner.

 Doesn't that Christmas tree look like it's right out of the book?

 Eating all the pancakes, sausage, and fruit we could!

 Mom dressed up as a "Who" too. Holding Ryan. What a chub!

 Dad before he revealed his true self.

 And here he is! The Grinchiest Grinch!!!

 The girls thought it was awesome that the Grinch was actually Grampi.

 Meeting Santa. Jamie told him she wanted "Figurines" for Christmas.

 April did not want to sit on Santa's lap, so she just stood. Haha. I love her "Finding Dory" shoes that Mom bought her.

 I think this shot is really magical.

Mom, Me, and Alli. Don't we look so festive?

The coolest thing about going to your parents' Ward party, is that then a week later, you get to go to your own ward party and do the same thing all over again! Hahaha. Our ward re-used the decorations from the Buda ward and the kids dressed up as angels, sheep, and shepherds. Jamie was an angel and April was a shepherd. They sang a few cute songs. Can't believe Christmas is only 13 days away!

Thanksgiving Trip to Arizona!!!

We had such an awesome trip to Arizona! Our Thanksgiving was so wonderful spent with Ben's Aunt and Uncle and lots of lots of cousins! 

 Day before our trip. This is pretty much the best shot I have of all 3 kids together!

 Ryan looking so chunky and squeezable.

 The girls playing in the hammock in Aunt Janet's backyard.

 Ryan loved the perfect weather!

 Jamie enjoyed some cousin trampoline fun.

 After Ben's cousin Grace took our family photos, Ben and the girls decorated a gingerbread house!

 Everyone at the table decorating their gingerbread houses.

 The girls may or may not have eaten lots of frosting and gingerbread cookies. Hey, it's Thanksgiving, right? It's ok!

 April cheesing it up.

 At the Mesa Temple light display. They were beautiful! It looks cold, but it was a cool 70 degrees.

 Matching skeleton PJS with cousin Charlotte.

 Jamie with the Gordon cousins and Charlotte.

Ben and April flew home on Sunday and I stayed an extra day with Jamie and Ryan. I was shocked Ben got April to nap on the plane! He's so good with her. We all had a blast and loved every minute of our Thanksgiving!

More Halloween Pics and Such

I realized I forgot to add the other Halloween pictures I had to my last blog post. Ryan wore his banana costume for about 5 seconds, but i did manage to get a picture of him in it.

April loved being Anna from Frozen. She even let me French braid her hair because I told her that she would really look like Anna if I did. She looked so cute!

 Jamie was Cinderella from the Live Action Cinderella film that came out not too long ago. She had a lot of people say, "Are you a butterfly princess?" I was like, C'mon people, she looks exactly like Cinderella from the movie! I guess not as many people have seen the movie as I thought. Anyway, she looked beautiful and she loved twirling around in it.

 We went Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood for about an hour while my mom watched Ryan at home. It's amazing how much candy you can get in an hour! Here are the girls organizing the candy.

 Jamie and April sure love their lollipops.

 I caught this picture a few days ago and it was so precious. Jamie has been reading to April a lot more and being such a good big sister to her. She is still having a hard time with snatching toys, but we are working on it.

My friend Heidi recently had her first baby, and I went to the hospital to take her dinner and visit with her. I am so happy for her!

Ben's Birthday and Halloween Happenings

Ben and I both had our birthdays this month! Ben turned 30 this year, which is kind of crazy to believe. I told him he looks the same as he did when we got married. He says he thinks he looks a little more tired. Haha! Well we do have 3 kids . . .

 

Mom made Ben a birthday dinner, which consisted of delicious Szechuan Beef, fried rice, Bacon bread, and a mint pie. It was kind of a weird combination, but no one complained! It was super tasty.

 

Here is the birthday banner that me and the girls made for Ben. It's so fun to have our birthdays in October. We love getting to celebrate Halloween and have so many fun traditions! For Family Home Evening the other night we carved our pumpkin. We asked April what she wanted us to carve and she said, "A vampire!!" so we carved a Vampire pumpkin.  

Pulling all the seeds and gunk out.

The finished product! He turned out pretty cool.

Here's our Halloween door. The girls helped me pick out the decorations.
 There is a really fun pumpkin patch around the corner from our house. We went there for a play group one week. They had a miniature horse and donkey that the girls loved petting and "feeding" hay to.

The girls with some pumpkins they picked out.

Jamie has been super helpful lately with Ryan and April. She really enjoyed giving Ryan his bottle the other day. She is such a great big sister! Last week my friend Kristen hosted a Halloween party/Girls' Night Out so I got dressed up as a witch. Jamie really enjoyed me chasing her around the house saying I was going to get her.

Me and Laura had the same idea to be witches.

There is another cute pumpkin patch in Buda, which is about 15 minutes from us. They had all kinds of inflatables and the girls loved posing for pictures next to them. Ryan loved napping in his stroller.

Last weekend our neighborhood put together a Halloween Fall Festival for all the people and kiddos in the neighborhood. It was a huge success and we all had a great time! April dressed up as Anna from Frozen, and Jamie was Jasmine from Aladdin. Ryan didn't want to wear his banana costume, so he just chilled in his onesie. April loved the pig at the petting zoo and gave him a lot of love.

Free train rides!

April's prize that she won for putting a ring on the witch's hat. She calls it her "Skelly Ball".

Jamie with the miniature horse at the petting zoo. I was so impressed with how well behaved the animals were. They loved the kids.

Here's Ryan with his "Baby's First Halloween" bib on. He is getting better at lifting his head up and enjoying tummy time a little more. We all love this time of year so much. We can't wait for our Ward Trunk or Treat on Friday, and then actual Halloween night!