Halloween 2012

I know I'm biased...but I think I have such cute kids.  :)

On the actual day of Halloween we dressed the kids up again and took them to Magic Moments for the traditional Halloween photo.

Then we went to the Pugh's and the Malatesta's (they live up the road and are sort of like family) to do some trick or treating and to show off some fun costumes.

The kids just thought it was fun to dress up again and get more candy.  :)

Trunk or Treat

Superman is OFF!!

Love this pic of my Shordy boy!

Grammy Jo sent their Halloween bags this year...a ghost and a pumpkin.  I loved them!

The missionaries dressed as the FBI.  Too funny.  :)

Pretty sure our Bishop gave her this sucker.  :)

On the Saturday before Halloween the Kenai Wildlife Refuge had their little Halloween bash, and our ward had its Trunk or Treat.

We went earlier to the Refuge and saw some cool stuff about bats, insects, owls, and other night time creatures.

Then there is the Trunk or Treat...which is always fun.  It was nice to have it earlier in the day so it was still light, and actually warm enough to enjoy the activity.

Shordy was Superman.  I cut out and appliqued the superman logo onto his t-shirt, made his cape, and cut a pair of pajama pants (Thank you Annie) into shorts.

Tiny was a Ladybug.  I got the costume from Kaye...Malia was a ladybug when she was Tiny's age.

Easy but fun costumes...and super fun trunk or treating.  Nothing like a little candy to make your day...or your Halloween.  :)

Our Silly Tiny Girl

Love this little pic...makes me laugh out loud.  :)

Nana Price sent a Halloween box with some funny little things.

Tiny immediately found these funny glasses and wanted to wear them around.  If her head had been a little larger they would have stayed on her head...but it kinda made it even funnier when it was falling off her face.  She thought she was so funny and I have to agree.

This silly girl makes me laugh every day!

Random Shordy

Shordy, for whatever reason, asked me to take a pic of him with his cars in that red box.  Pretty sure he was pretty proud of his cars...in a box.  :)  Not sure why...but I obliged him b/c I love to take pics of my silly boy.

Notice he has his cape on once again.  :)  At least he doesn't have his raven mask.  ;)

Readin' Books

It's taken her a little longer to be interested in books like Shordy, but here she is.  She loves to go to the bookshelf...pull all the books out until she finds the one she wants...and then takes it to her rocking chair to curl up and look at the book.  She doesn't necessarily want me to read them to her, she's content just looking at them which is ok with me.  I just love that she's loving her books.  :)

October Steelhead

This is wear Shayne goes for therapy...this river.  And the Kasilof River for fall Steelhead is one of his favorite.

I was just glad he caught something...though just being on the river is enough for him to unwind and de-stress.  I love the pics he got of the sun setting on the river as well, pretty incredible.

Yeah for Chrome...in October!

Raven Mask - PEEPS

The Kenai Wildlife Refuge puts on a pre-school educational program once a month that I love...and so does Shordy.

This particular month we learned about ravens and crows and for the craft they made a raven mask based off one of the books about Raven they read.

Shordy LOVED this activity!  He totally got into it and then we went and had lunch with dad at the hospital...and wore it there too.  How funny huh?!  Should have seen the looks he got from the people as he was running down the hall...in his raven mask.  :)

As soon as we got home he proceeded to put on his new batman/superman cape to go with it, b/c you know...batman wears a mask.  :)

This kid cracks me up!!

Our last FET...

Yes, we thawed our last 2 frozen embryos in an attempt to have another baby.  These embryos are from the same cycle that Tiny came from, a June 2010 IVF cycle.

We felt really good about it all, and Shayne was sure there was another spirit that we needed to add to our family.  Although I felt good about it, I also wasn't sure how it was all going to turn out.  I didn't feel strongly one way or the other about what would happen.

So, we went forward with the FET.  We thawed them and did a transfer, which didn't go quite as smoothly as the one with Tiny, but wasn't as bad as the June 2010 fresh cycle transfer.  The embryos thawed satisfactorily.  They weren't as amazing as with Tiny, but they didn't collapse and look terrible like the FET we attempted in Nov. 2009.   I have a pic of the 2 embryos we thawed I will add later. So, we were cautiously optimistic.

Things felt like they were going in the right direction for the first 2 days, but then all the normal symptoms I had had with my other successful transfers just kinda stopped.

And 2 weeks later the HPT's came back negative.

We were very sad and discouraged and very much questioning why it didn't work.  We still don't have the answers to all of this and we aren't sure what our next step is.

We were so sure this was going to work that now it hasn't we are wondering if there really is another spirit for our family.

Thankfully, I'm not nearly as devastated as I was with the failed June 2010 IVF attempt before we got pregnant with Tiny.  I've been able to keep myself from falling into a depression, which is a huge blessing.  I think this is because I'm able to keep myself busy and thankful for the 2 amazing miracles we already have in our family.

It's hard to be angry and upset for very long when we have been so blessed to have the miracle babies that we have.

So, while we are sad and would very much love to have another baby...we are very grateful for the 2 beautiful wonderful children we have been blessed with.

And who knows...maybe in time we'll feel like the Lord still does want us to add to our family.

Big Snow

Um...not sure when our other first big snow storm of the winter season have been, but I feel like this one came WAY early this year!

But, the kids loved it!  They thought it was awesome to get in their snow suits and gloves and hats.  Mom wasn't such a huge fan...it takes forever to get everyone in snow gear.  But after watching them play it was worth it.

Shordy made his snow angels, and Tiny ate and ate and ate the snow.  And of course, Shordy tried to make snowballs and throw them at his momma...he never wins that game.  :)

The first snowstorm is always fun...but I always cringe just a little that the snow has arrived.

Oh well.

Trip to Walmart

We made a random late trip out to Walmart one evening and while Shayne was checking out the kids decided it would be fun to plop down on the bench and wait.  So, I plopped down with them, and when Shayne came by he thought it was kinda funny and took a pic of us.

Once again...I just love having a pic with my kids.  Even if I don't look great.  :)

Goin' for Drive

How cute is that little girl?

I thought the perfect reflection in the little late was pretty cool

I love it when Shayne takes the camera from me and take pics of me with my kiddos...doesn't happen very often, but I love to see me with my kids.

Pretty cool view

We were feeling a little stir crazy and decided to go for a drive.  So we drove up Snug Harbor Road and went on this little walk to this lake, can't remember the name.  We've been here before when Shordy was a baby but hadn't been back in awhile.

Other than walking in a small snowstorm, it wasn't snowing at home, it was a nice walk.  Shordy kinda complained about it but Tiny was all about running down the trail.

The cool reflection in the lake was pretty awesome.  So even though it was a little cold the walk was nice and it was just nice to get out of the house.

And...Shayne took some nice pics of me with my kids, which I always love, b/c I don't have very many pics with me and my kids.