Happy Halloween!

When the day is done Kendall will have attended 7 costume parties in October (6 for Hayden). I think that is a new record for us! This is also the first year we let the kids pick out their costumes all on their own.

Batman and Batgirl

Ready for some action Waiting patiently for the costume judging to end.

Kendall was awarded "cutest" costume at my parent's ward Halloween party. Celebrating with a cookie! Playgroup costume party!
And more photo opportunities await us today!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday we went to the Pumpkin Patch for Kendall's first preschool field trip. We enjoyed a wagon ride around the farm, pumpkin pickin', and a corn maze.

We got to the patch early and she requested this picture on the cow.

Picking out the perfect pumpkin.
Leading me through the corn maze (for the third time!)Enormous spiders!

The preschool tradition is a dad's night to paint or decorate the choice pumpkin. Since Tadj was out of town on business Papa filled-in. Kendall loved it!

School pictures

Hayden brought home his school pictures the other day and they are terrible. His eyes are slightly crossed and he has this awful fake smile I've never seen before. After considering the option of retakes which I doubt will be much better we decided to take the kids out for a photo shoot and take advantage of the beautiful fall colors. I think Tadj got some great pics.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

This rhyme for making a decision is very popular in our house right now. It all started a few weeks ago when I used the rhyme to decide whose book should be read first before bed, Hayden's or Kendall's. The kids loved it and ever since then this rhyme is requested for everything, which brings me to my latest bad parenting moment.

Kendall did something naughty and she was warned beforehand that if she did this certain thing she was going to temporarily lose one of her dolls (her most precious possessions). So I went to her room to take away a doll and she requested that I use "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" to choose the doll. So I lined up her dolls and recited the rhyme. The "winner" was her minnie mouse doll so I hid it in my secret hiding spot and Kendall cried. It wasn't too much later that she did this naughty thing again and was so excited to get to play Eeny, meeny, miny, moe with her dolls. At that point I realized that what I thought was a punishment was actually turning into a game. Fortunately, she missed her dolls enough that she decided to change her ways. Hayden, on the other hand, set a goal to keep his room clean for 2 weeks all by himself and he did it! This earned him a trip to Toys R Us yesterday to pick out a new toy. He couldn't decide between a batman helicopter and a batman car so we used Eeny, meeny, miny, moe to make the decision. Hayden is now the proud owner of a batman helicopter. Ah, to be a kid again. If only all of our decisions could be made this way!