i heart halloween

i think i like halloween more and more as steele gets older.
dressing up is the best part of halloween and seeing steele light up
when he puts his costume on is just the cutest thing ever!

since the day steele's wolverine costume arrived in the mail he has been ob.sessed.
in fact i ordered the wrong size and couldn't send it back because
he bawled for a half hour straight when i put it back in the package.
if he doesn't mind having a wedgie then why should i. haha. it really is too small.
he even changes his voice when he wears the costume.
he all of a sudden hits puberty and sinks his voice as low as he can.
he'll say"i'm wolverine. i'm dangerous."
then he'll cut the voice and tell you "i not a scary guy though. i'm a nice guy."

you could say i'm a fan of a good costume.
when i was younger me and my best friend kelli would dress up for every holiday!
we were positively awesome in every way.


and then there is brett.
he is not such a fan of dressing up but somehow
every year i ,coax him into an awesome costume with me.
this year i think is one of my favorites.
brett looks totally awesome.
he was SUCH a baby about painting his face!!
he kept saying "i could never be a girl. i hate this. oh i hate this."
wimp.

brett always has fun with it once he gives in.
he kept sneaking into peoples pictures and would just stick his head out.
it was a good laugh but definitely a little creepy.

my little purring perry.
i thought she needed a sweet costume so this little kitty was purrfect :)

we truly have the best family.
i love that everyone gets into the fun of halloween.

the birthday girl.
hallie turned 6 so we had a halloween dress-up party for her.
brittany always knows how to throw a party!
everything looked great!
and her girls were adorable.
strawberry short cake and audrey hepburn.

 a few other fun fall activities we've been up to...

picking our very own pumpkins at the farnworth's.
it was raining and windy which just added to the fun of it.
funny that steele chose the smallest pumpkin he could find.
and can i just say that i love that steele is closing his eyes in this picture.
he used to smile like this all the time but now he only give a stiff half smirk.
my little boy is growing up.

hee haw farms...

steele and bentley have recently become good little buddies. 

they are inseparable, running around everywhere together.

i love that steele is finally to the age where they can play and entertain each other.

today was a beautiful day at the farm. 

a bunch of us from my neighborhood went over. 

carrie, bentley and esther came too. 

and now the whole skousen gang is headed off to a cabin up in sundance for the weekend!
we love little get-a-ways like this, especially when the weather is supposed to be nice.
fingers crossed.

happy halloween everyone.
i encourage all of you to dress up!!

this is us fall 2011

last weekend we jumped at the chance to take
family pictures while the leaves where still beautiful.
my friend nikki is amazing!
go visit her at sweet lilac photography.
she has an unbeatable fall special going on.

i love how our fall pictures turned out.
little perry did so good and steele did too...for the most part.
aren't perry's eyes so blue?! she is such a precious baby.
and look at the smile in the first pic...seriously she is adorable.

steele would not smile in the beginning so we kept bribing him by
saying do you want a REALLY big sucker?
then he would do this weird under-bite smile. haha.
something seemed to click by the end of the shoot.

risky business wearing red lips but i like how it looks in a picture.
brett doesn't like any kind of lipstick. at. all. so it was very brave of me to do so.
i even got a comment from my brother in law saying, "wow, you look like a hooker."
i've been asked were i get my kids outfits, so here is run down of what we're wearing.

steele... vest: thrifted; sweater: jcrew; shirt: target; pants: gap; shoes: children's place
perry... cardigan: gap (from karly); romper: gap thrifted; boots: robeez (from michelle); bow: handmade

brett... sweater: banana republic; jeans: banana republic; shoes: lacoste
emily... scarf: f21.com (this tutorial); shirt: downeast; belt: thrifted; jeans: no boudries; shoes: f21; earings and ring: banana

i can't wait for halloween.
steele's costume has stains all over it already
because he is so obsessed with it!
in fact he is wearing it now.
more to come.

heart ache

my sweet little perry has had the stomach flu the past 24 hrs.
there is nothing that breaks my heart more.
her body is so little and it just made her lethargic and lifeless.
she would muster a half smile for me in between. which just made me more sad.

i took her to the dr yesterday morning after her throwing up every 30 minutes all night
and immediately throwing up every time i nursed her.
we were worried about dehydration..

after rotating half oz bottles of watered down gaterade and breast milk every 15 minutes,
she's worked her way up to two oz bottles every hour.
she slept almost all day yesterday.
she would suck her thumb to sooth herself, which she's never done.
it was honestly the hardest thing i've gone through as a parent.
brett and i both felt so helpless which is the worst feeling.

this morning she seems to be doing much better.
it is going around big time right now so just a warning to all of  you mothers with new babies.
braxton had it on saturday night and esther and perry had it the same night.
steele also threw up twice last night.
we braced ourselves for as horrible of a night as the previous.
i went to wal-mart at 4am to get 7up, crackers and popsicles.
but now he seems to be himself and just fine. weird.

brett and i are bracing ourselves, praying we don't get it.
my sweet pear pear is almost herself again....
but by this picture i took this morning you would think nothing ever happened.

perry, month by month {4}

this month perry came alive with personality. 

she is always so talkative and will have a conversation with you.

her favorite sound to make is "ngee ngee". 

.................

she starting cuddling more, which i can't get enough of.

she is still sleeping through the night. 9:30-8:30. best thing ever.

i started swaddling her in "the straight jacket". it velcros her arms in so she can't get out. 

.................

she loves her exersaucer even though her legs don't touch the ground.

she also loves the bumbo. she just loves looking around. 

.................

we finally broke her of her two finger sucking. i was persistent with this child.

.................

she met grandma brady for the first time and was all smiles for her.

.................

perry's four month check up is this week so i will update with her stats. 

from baggy to skinny

on a rainy gloomy day, what do we do?
anything that will keep mom sane.
the harsh weather change has got me feeling really cooped up.

so we headed over to grandmas house
and i brought along a little project.
i've always wanted to try this tutorial that i have in my project basket on pintrest.

i figured steele's calvin klein black cords would be a good first attempt at making over pants.
my mom has a surger which i wanted to use to make the inside seams more finished.
the tutorial that i used said you don't need to but i did anyway.
it really was very simple and took me only maybe 30 min total and i'm no seamstress.

i am pleased with how they turned out.
they are not too skinny, because well....steele is a boy and brett would disapprove.
as you can see they still have a slouchy feel because they are still long on him
but in a few months they will be perfect.
   

an indian summer

it is now october and you would never know it.
this past week we spent four days at the pool.
two days at grandmas white's and two days at our clubhouse pool.

steele has become quite the little fish.
he can dive for pennies with his eyes open under water.
i love every second at the pool, and if it is warm you can find us there.

as for my pictures, i have been having fun taking different shots lately.
i also have had a lot of fun editing the pictures.
steele has learned to be my little model.

{at our clubhouse}

 {at grandmas white's}

perry is learning to really love the water too. 

especially at grandma's because the water is so warm. 

it is a saltwater pool so i don't have to worry about the chlorine. 

tea also loves being in the sunshine. 

she was worried we were going to put her in like we usually do,

so she decided to take cover by grandma. 

she figured she'd be safe there. 

 {daddy-daughter love}

come back soon summer.
we'll be longing for your warmth come march....
but for now we'll welcome fall and the beauty that comes with the change.