October

October was a really busy month for us.  These cute girls had a lot of fun things to do!

On October 7th, which happened to be my birthday, Ellie had a field-trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was a crazy, busy time having the three kids there, but the kids had fun, which was all that really mattered.  Here is Ellie's preschool teacher Miss Michelle with all of the kids who came to the field-trip.

Ellie and a few of her friends and some of their siblings.

MG enjoyed being part of the festivities, especially the cookies and juice.

Then we headed out on a tractor ride and the girls picked out their pumpkins.  Ellie insisted she pick one out for Kassidy as well.

Later that day I had to go in and teach lessons at work, but when I got home Steve and the girls surprised me with fun presents.  The girls made me hand-made cards and picked out a cute glass frog for me.  Steve and a friendly neighborhood lady, Mishawn, got me delicious chocolates.

This little one kept getting bigger on us, but just keeps getting cuter.  It's hard to believe she was already 6 months old!

She even came around finally to solid foods at 6.5 months old.  Baby food and rice cereal had always gone very poorly as she gagged and was obviously not ready for solids as soon as her sisters were.

In the beginning of the month we also went and picked apples at our favorite orchard here.  We ended up with lots of apples so we could can for my sister Jennifer and for ourselves.  Each year I am more and more grateful that Reva passed this knowledge on to Steve and I so we can provide for our family and others.

Of course the girls did some science with Daddy.  In this case they sucked a hard-boiled egg into a flask.

Ellie even had her first dry night, but it was because she had a bad fever episode and was up constantly in the night and dehydrated.  She was such a trooper though when she got a prize in the morning and picked this octopus.  Ellie also started trying to read with me and we worked through the first couple of "Bob books" on October 12th.  Eventually she decided she didn't want to do it and I didn't want to press her till she didn't want to read, so we took a break from it.

Mckayla had a rough month of crying profusely at church, which we eventually learned was because her shoes were far too small.  Score one for awesome parents...

However, MG's month did improve since we went to ice cream for her 2nd birthday on the 22nd.

Then on the 25th most of my side of the family came into town for Mckayla's birthday party.  MG chose a Daniel Tiger cake for her birthday.

I made the point to Steve that I needed to keep the face low on the cake to make sure it looked right when I made the practice face, and then didn't...  But other than that, I felt pretty good about how it turned out.

This girl was so cute and happy about her party.  She loved having all the attention and presents!

Of course she had to sing for everyone.  This girl loves to sing.

Poor Steve always gets stuck with the kids table.  He is such a champ, and so good with the kids.

After lunch and naps we loaded all the cousins up and we headed to our ward trunk-or-treat.  The girls had decided to be Thing 1, Thing 2 (Ellie insisted she had to be Thing 2), and we decided to make Kassidy Fish to match them.  My friend Kelly had this fish costume and was nice enough to let us borrow it.

After trunk-or-treat we came back to have cake and ice cream with the family.

The next day Steve had to leave from the 26th to the 29th to go to a conference in Las Vegas.  As a result Julie stayed with me so I would have help on the 26th which was Ellie's Primary program at church.  This is when all the kids get up and speak and sing for the first hour of church on Gospel principles.  Ellie had been rather adventurous during rehearsals, so I was nervous how she would do, but instead she spoke her line really well and was so animated that we had a lot of fun watching her sing - and in some cases not sing.

After the program was done we headed to Spokane with Julie and spent a few days with Grandma and Papa while Daddy was out of town.  We played with Grandma Moom one day and then visited Great Grandpa Moon with Grandma, Jennifer, and her kids.

Steve also had lots of fun in Vegas exploring the strip and eating amazing food.  Yeah, I may have been a little jealous...

 Steve went to Gordon Ramsay's burger restaurant one night while he was there.

We were all excited when Daddy came home on the 29th and we all got to see him again.  The next few days we enjoyed getting ready for Halloween.  Early in the day Mckayla had her 2 year check up and continues to be our big girl.  She was 33 lbs 1 oz, 36.5 inches tall, and her head had a 51 cm circumference.  Later in the day the girls had lots of fun trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.

 Kassidy was happy to hang out in the stroller the whole time.

And again, Thing 1, Fish, and Thing 2.

After the girls were done collecting candy we headed to Applebee's for dinner.  It's become somewhat of an accidental tradition to go out to dinner with the kids on Halloween.

Other quick things to mention.  My parents decided to get rid of an old bedroom set they had in a guest room and create a grandkids' room at their house.  Not only is this SO nice when we visit, but it meant that Steve and I got to inherit our first ever bedroom furniture!  (Other than our dresser)  We also inherited the guest mattress and got rid of our first bed.  It was a sad but welcome upgrade to get rid of one of our first big purchases as a couple.  We are so appreciative once again, of all that both our parents do to help us out.  Like I said, we had a busy, but fun month.  But, when you have our three funny girls around, every month is fun!

 These are from a visit to Daddy at work - of course he had to pull out science toys to show the girls.