November

This little girl started showing some serious personality and we love it!

 Clara became infatuated with the toilet and toilet paper. She will patiently watch Mackenzie go to the bathroom, rip off some tp, hand it to her and say  "dank do" (thank you) then rush to try to flush the toilet before Kenz can.

 Clara really mastered the use of a spoon. She's always been one to want to feed herself.

Still lots of dress up around here

Yogurt is always a mess

The weather was beautiful and we took lots of walks and enjoyed the fall leaves

Here's my belly a little past 18 weeks. Right about the time I started feeling more normal and before my belly really popped.

We usually get our tree the day after Thanksgiving but because we were in Cleveland, we got it the week after. We bought our tree at Costco and they were all bundled so we had no idea how big they would be.We picked one that seemed to stand straight and were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful (and huge) it was when we got home.

We found out that Clara loves candy canes and she took advantage of every opportunity to pilfer one from the tree

Mackenzie Turns 4

Mackenzie was so excited for her birthday this year. She started planning it in June. I started planning a few days before:) I let her pick who she wanted again this year and she had a little longer list 

but we didn't think 6 was too much to handle.

If you're throwing a party, Keith is the man to have. He makes everything more fun and plays so well with kids. I had picked up wands for the girls to decorate and made swords out of cardboard for the boys to decorate. Keith thought it would be fun for the kids to go on a treasure hunt for them and it was.

Kenzie is in love with Parker. She always talks about him. They wanted to make silly faces for this picture.

 A few of the others wanted to join in

 

She wanted a picture with all of her presents

She had such a blast opening presents.

Dog pile on the birthday girl. I can't remember who started it

She requested a snow white birthday. I'm not really into big parties with all the cute details. I love when other people do it but I don't want to do it myself. Also we have a really small birthday budget. The one thing I can do on the cheap is make a birthday cake but being so tired and pregnant I couldn't bring myself to do it this year. We went with a red velvet cake from Costco and I put a dollar store figure of snow white on top. Forgive me Kenz! I'll make up for it next year maybe.

Winding down the party with some duck, duck, goose

 After the party she had to try on her new digs

Cute fact about Mackenzie, she's really not a materialistic child. She's very happy with what she has and doesn't demand or beg for things when we go to the store. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday about a week before the big event, she said very thoughtfully,

 "Let's see...I have my tangled barbie, We just got food, what else do I need?" 

 Happy Birthday Mackenzie! We love you and are so grateful we could celebrate another year of your life!

Other October Happenings

 We listened to "Call me Maybe" 1,000+ times. It gave us a little break from "Baby" but I now know the every word to two songs I definitely could live without.

 Clara honed her climbing and stair skills on our outdoor playground and proved she's a daredevil by going headfirst down the slide over and over.

 

And at almost 14 months, Clara learned how to walk! Here's a lousy picture of the day she decided to take more than a few steps in a row. She still didn't walk consistently until November.

Halloween: The holiday that lasts all month...

I love Halloween and I'm glad Kentucky has so much to offer during the month of October. 

We picked just one pumpkin at Huber Farms to carve this year and Kenz picked the Tinkerbell design.

 The Saturday before Halloween, Kenzie went to an awesome Sunbeam Halloween party. After picking her up we went trick-or-treating at a local rest home which Keith and I really enjoyed. There weren't many rooms to go to but we were able to chat with several residents who were so kind and interesting. From there, we went to our apartment complex's party. They had pizza, a bounce house, a face painter and an awesome balloon artist. Kenzie asked for a horse:

I really only decorate for Halloween and Christmas. I liked how this years turned out.

 

 One weekend, I dragged Keith to Creasey Mahan which is a local nature preserve. Everything was supposed to be free which included hay rides and a haunted maze but it ended up just being free to trick-or-treat at some sponsored booths. We didn't stay long.

 

 We also went to our ward Halloween party and actually dressed up. Needless to say, we already had a basket of candy before Halloween arrived.

 Halloween Night:

 We met up with some friends to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood next door. It's a great spot and the kids had a blast running to every door together.

 Kenzie really got into it and was usually the first to the door and sprinting on to the next. She could have lasted hours even though it was a cold night.

 The local firefighters were handing out candy as well.

Clara all bundled up. If you're wondering about their costumes, Mackenzie decided in June she wanted to be a butterfly and Clara could be a caterpillar. Kenzie wanted to also wear a princess dress so she ended up looking more like a fairy. When people asked what she was she would say "A fairy princess butterfly"

When the parents came to town...

 Belated b-day gifts were opened and enjoyed

 We hit some fun restaurants including Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Possibly the best french toast I have ever had

 Made our annual trip to Bernheim Forest

 Sad attempt at a family photo

 Kenz complained so much about walking she earned a ride on dad's shoulders

We also went to Indiana to Huber Farms to pick our pumpkins and to Schimpff's  for chocolates but I somehow managed to not take any photos of that day. Maybe the batteries were dead? Anyways, we had a blast with Randy and Joan and it was great having family come to us.