Trick or treat, smell my feet!

Aww, the Halloween festivities are over. Time to move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!! Yipee!! Halloween was jam-packed and very fun this year. We went to a fun playgroup at the Wi's (thanks again Kristina!), went to our ward party, gave some blood to the "vampires," (just Erik and myself), had a fun pre-trick-or-treating dinner with friends, then headed out for some goodies! Brooklyn and Troy were EXHAUSTED from all the activities. Short naps + late nights + early mornings= grumpy, tired children!! Needless to say, Brooklyn had fun trick-or-treating, but certainly didn't last as long as she did last year. Troy rode in the stroller up to each house, then would get out, and proceed to try and enter their houses. The dogs in people's doorways were of course huge hits with both kids. All in all it was a great Halloween. Brooklyn has asked me every day since if we are going to a party to get candy again today. Who knows B...maybe Grandma and Grandpa Hill and Paternoster will let you trick-or-treat at their homes next week.

Some of my pictures won't upload, so you're missing our sweet playgroup party costumes. The kids wore their BSU football uniforms and I wore my jersey.

"Umm Brother Mortenson, WHAT are you doing?!" He's the 2nd counselor in the Bishopbric. And he's awesome. The cute nurse is his wife. Erik went as the Yankee's bat boy. We kind of put our costumes together at the last minute...like always. Don't want to break tradition!!

The kids before trick-or-treating

Aww, the fam. Don't the kids look thrilled?

Let your light shine

We installed a new front window...no more single pane's for us! Yea!! Thanks to our friend Hyrum, we saved a TON of money buying the window from an outlet and installing it ourselves. Plus, we all learned a lot! We still need to put up some molding on the inside to make it look pretty, but the window already looks so much better. And super plus, we aren't terrified of the glass breaking on our kids anymore. AND, there isn't a huge cold draft from the window.

Goodbye old window...

Hello new window!

Where did my babies go?!

Troy turned 14 months yesterday. He is totally acting like a toddler lately, and not so much like a baby. So sad! He has grown leaps and bounds these past couple months. He has conquered walking (and almost running-he started walking consistently around 12 1/2 months), tackling his older sister, playing catch with whomever will play with him, climbing onto chairs, folding his arms for prayer and so many other things. His favorite words and phrases are: I love you (Ay wuv you), I want some more (Ay dum mo), Hi, Buh-bye, ball, dog-dog, Dada, Mama, outside (oodide), and so many more! He is such a sweet happy boy. He loves playing with Brooklyn and enjoys teasing her even more. Little stinker! Oh, and he pretty much always has bloody lip. And right now he's sporting a black eye that he's had for almost 2 weeks now! He's a rough and tumble kind of guy.

Brooklyn is now 27 months and has also grown leaps and bounds. She gibber-gabs with me ALL DAY LONG...and I love it! She often talks about her Grandma's and Grandpa's, playing outside on the slide and swings, painting and coloring, and going bye-bye. She LOVES going anywhere, but especially Lowe's (she loves the car carts there), and the grocery store where she always gets a free cookie. If I even go in the direction of Lowe's she asks if that is where we're going. Silly girl. She is a very sweet big sister and plays so well with Troy. She doesn't really like to "share" her toys, but she will take turns. Whatever works right? One of my favorite things about Brooklyn right now is her singing. She loves to sing, and has started busting out songs out of nowhere lately. Especially "Little Mermaid" songs, "Happy Birthday," "Twinkle, Twinkle," "ABC's," and "The Wise Man Built His House on the Rock." But she does NOT enjoy my singing and usually tells me to "STOP SINGING!" Ouch, Grandma and Grandpa paid a lot of money for me to be a good singer you little stinker! lol She is my little joy!!

Happy, happy Birthday Erik dear!!!

Erik celebrated his 31st birthday this past Friday (the 9Th). We met him for lunch, and went to his favorite place, Extreme Pizza. I brought banana bread for the office (it was supposed to be cupcakes, but I didn't have enough eggs and I wasn't about to go to the store at 7:30 in the morning, so I improvised). That night all Erik wanted to do for his birthday was to sit at home and watch the Yankees play (even though I had a willing and free babysitter!!). So I cooked up some ribs and made him his favorite ice-cream cake (lemonade). He opened presents (actually the kids opened them for him), and we enjoyed a nice quiet evening at home.

The day after (Saturday) we took the kids to a little pumpkin patch/farm. Troy thought all the pumpkins were balls and would pick up the little ones and throw them. Brooklyn sat on all the pumpkins like they were her own little personal chairs. We enjoyed a short little hayride, and Brooklyn jumped in the bouncy house and took a couple turns down the big bouncy slide.

After the farm, we headed over to see the salmon. This is the time of year when all the old, grungy salmon go back up stream to spawn and die. They are huge, and there are TONS of them! Troy kept calling them all "dog-dog's." I didn't get any pictures of the kids with the salmon, maybe next year. They always come back! :)

Oh, and Sunday, Brooklyn had her first time in a full head of sponge rollers. Too cute. I just put them in with dry hair the morning of. Next week I'll attempt the night before with damp hair.

Troy helping open presents.

Notice all the BSU stuff? Ya, I'm finally learning that that is all he wants. :)

First time in a full head of curlers!

The end result (more wavy than curly). But still cute I think.

That's the good stuff

Tonight we were trying to get Brooklyn settled down and ready for prayers and asking her to fold her arms. This is how the conversation went:

Erik: "Brooklyn, Jesus wants you to fold your arms for prayers."
Marcie (pointing to a big Christus): "Look there's Jesus, he wants you to fold your arms."
Brooklyn (while holding a soccer ball): "Jesus catch!"
Erik: "No Brooklyn, Jesus doesn't want to catch the ball (chuckle, chuckle). Just fold your arms."
Brooklyn (looking up at Jesus with his arms out-stretched): "Hey, fold your arms!"

Oh man. We got a good laugh. Gotta love kids! :)

Do the Puyallup!

Aww, the fair. Nothin' beats the fair right? Yummy greasy food, mullets galore, creepy carnies, and parents who put their kids on leashes... Fun times for everyone!

Getting ready to enter the petting zoo, and all I can think is, "We're going to have to pour hand sanitizer on the kids after this. And they had better not pet that bird!! NASTY!"
Troy wanted to give all the animals kisses. Yuck.

He's not quite as soft as Brooklyn was at this age. He LOVES animals!

He seriously just wanted to maul the poor goats.

Getting ready to watch the mutton bustin'. Erik is determined to get Brooklyn on a sheep next year, and Troy in 2 years. Ummm, I don't think so! But it sure is fun to watch other people's little kids fall off and get run over by the sheep.

Brooklyn's 1st ever pony ride!!! She was in HEAVEN! I stood close by...just in case. Yes, I'm THAT kind of mom.

Bangin' the drums with Daddy.

Hey Brooklyn, you've got a monkey on your back! Yes, we put OUR kids on leashes too. Guilty.

"I wanna be Pop-u-lar!!"

Last week I was able to have a girls night out and we all went to "Wicked!" Oh man, was it AWESOME!!! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. We started of with dinner at Buca de Bepo's (yumm!!), then RACED to the theater and made it just in the knick of time (literally, we were all running in our high heels trying to make it in time, very funny). They shut the doors pretty much right after we were seated. Anyway, the show was incredible, and the company was a blast! I can't wait to do it again! I really wish I could go see it again. If it comes to your town, I HIGHLY recommend it! Another cool thing about the show was the gal who played Glinda (one of the leads), went to my alma mater, AMDA!! It was fun to see someone actually putting their expensive education to use. :)

Before the dinner and show in our "lovely" front yard. :)

After the show with Stephanie, Alexis, and Kelly.Stephanie, me, and Codi...we miss you Codi!!!! Come back! :)