Trick-or-Treat 2011

Happy Halloween!
  We had our 2nd annual trick-or-treating party at the Weida's house.  Since Abby loves her sweets, I was nervous that she was going to be a total candy monster and want to eat it all in one sitting but she barely had any!  Zack, on the other hand, sat quietly in the wagon.  We kept commenting on how chill he was and then we realized he was snaking all of the candy and chowing down.  That little monkey figured out how to open the chocolate and loved every last bite!

Our little mermaid, Princess Ariel.  We opted for red hair dye since we figured a wig would be a pain.   After a test strip that came out easily we went all red!  It added so much to her costume.  The problem now is that she has pink highlights!  We are hoping it will come out in the next few days... 

 

Zack reminds me so much of Curious George.  Our little monkey is so sweet and gets in to everything! He talks and climbs around and is "so helpful".  This costume lasted about 15 minutes until he was ready to take it "off, off, off!"

 All the kiddos- Alex, Dylan, Mia, Gavin, Zack, Baby Weida to be, Makenzie, Makaela, Abby, Brooke -Jackson was MIA:(

Lots of tricker treating fun!

Another successful evening.  Fun for everyone!

Getting Crafty

I saw a cute (easy) footprint ghost activity that I fugured the kids could do.  Instead of having our toddlers drenched in white paint that I didn't even have like the original craft called for, my more sensible side (Matt) decided that tracing and coloring would be a great alternative.

We traced their adorable little feet and got to work cutting, coloring and gluing.

 Love those tiny little footprints

 If he looks guilt it is because he was busy eating the crayons instead of coloring so I helped:).

 Some serious focusing while she was gluing the googly eyes on the ghosts.

Almost PhinisheD

I was the last of the three to defend last Tuesday and after all the anticipation and prep it was my turn on the hot seat.  Jenn and Steph were awesome examples and I appreciate them going before me so I could see what was expected.  Although I am convinced you can never be prepared enough for your own defense since you have no way of knowing which questions the committee is going to throw at you.

Matt was so helpful and made me practice the night before and gave me some great feedback.  I woke up to flowers and a little note form Matt and I got ready while Matt took the kids to daycare.  He came back to get me and we headed down to UH early since traffic is so unpredictable.  We got there with plenty of time.  To kill time and divert my attention, we walked over to the bookstore and bought my cap and gown for a little extra pressure to perform!  It was a perfect start to the day.

Jenn and Steph met us down there and we set up Skype for my parents to join in.  It was so awesome to have them part of the day!  In addition to my committee, Kezia and Shelia, two of my colleagues from the Master's program came along with Cherilyn, and old Illimian and doctoral student.


I'll spare you the details but it all went pretty good.  I got great reviews from the committee and left with some minor revisions that are already done and submitted (yay!!!).

Unofficially, Dr Hoffman, Dr. Martin & Dr. Buelow

We were all in celebration mode and headed to Indigo's for martinis and lunch... and more martinis.
Matt took care of us all:).

Cheers!!!

 By the end of lunch we had mapped out our dreams of our future consulting firm :)

It is hard to belief that we started this craziness 5 years ago (Matt and I had just gotten married) and since there have been 6 babies born between the 3 of us: Makaela 4, Gavin 4, Abby 3, Zack 18 mo., Dylan 13 mo., Mia 11mo.  What an adventure!  Of course, this would not have been nearly possible without Matt's support and help and such awesome kiddos!

18 Months

 Zack had his 18 month check-up last week and he is following in his sisters footsteps.  At 21lbs he is at about the 5th percentile for weight and about 50th percentile for height at 33 inches.  He doesn't seem that small to me though.  Like most little ones he is very active and constantly on the move so I guess he just burns off all the food he eats! 

He is beginning to talk much more and learning new words every day.  Some of the cutest expressions are "elp me", which is help me or I want to help you and loves "ice".   He also likes to throw in a WOW! when something is exciting or "ow" when he gets hurt (often).  He is our little comedian and loves to be tickled and giggle. 

Abby and Zack have such a sweet bond.  If one gets a snack or drink they also have to make sure they get something for the other.  Zack begs to wake her up if he gets up first.  It is so fun to see them together (except when they want the same toy).

Pumpkin Patch 2011

It is the holiday season and the we are ready to celebrate!  We headed over to the pumpkin patch today early before it got way too hot.  The kids were very excited to pick out their pumpkins and we even went on a hayride.   They found the ONLY green pumpkins.  Way to be rebels kids:).

 Zack worked very hard to get his own pumpkin and wanted to carry it.

Love my handsome boys!

 A little dirty from wrestling with the pumpkin in the dirt.

 Of course we had to go on some rides...

Cookie Time

Last week, Abby and I went to run errands (shop), and we  found a pumpkin cookie cutter and came home to make cookies.

The kids are such great helpers but we need a bigger kitchen!

Cutting out their cookies

 

Masterpieces.  I made some pink icing so Abby could have 1 pinkalicious pumpkin (just like her new book)

She was in heaven.

Yummy!

More Camping Fun

I took tons of pictures during our weekend of camping.  These are a few of my favorites.

21st century camping includes iPads:(  We don't even know what they were playing but hey were LOVING it.

 Endless hours of beach fun!

 Campfire- roasting marshmallows, snuggling and scary stories:)

 The guys set up the tents for the kids to play in. 

Kayaking...Check out the series.  They capsized just to keep it interesting.  Everyone was just fine but a little excited!

The relaxation station made it out for an afternoon before it started losing air.  Always a good time!

So cute!  Love this little guy:)