Fall & Halloween Activities

I love all the fall and Halloween activities there are to do around here, I look forward to them every year. This year we went to Cornbelly's, the Scarecrow Festival which I recommend more than Cornbelly's if you have younger kids, it was a lot of fun and the kids could have stayed there all day plus you can go in to farm country with your admission to it. We also went to Hee Haw Farms for the first time and It was only $5 and they just loved their different activities. We are trying to establish Halloween traditions for our family and a new one we discovered this year was getting a large real pumpkin, hollow it out and freeze it over night. Take it out and make homemade rootbeer in it with dry ice. Then keep adding the dry ice so the whole time there is smoke coming out of your pumpkin, the kids loved it along with our Pappa Murphy Jack o lantern shaped pizza. So far those are our traditions along with getting our pumpkins in Santaquin on the tractor ride. Now I will say I'm really not looking forward to the long winter with 3 little kids and one teenager who whines as much as the little ones. I definately need some creative ideas to keep them all entertained because you can only go to McDonald's so many times!

UPDATES!

A lot has been going on in the last month, Everyone is finally getting adjusted to having a new baby in the family and I'm starting to get used to the fact that I just don't have enough hands to meet everyone's needs at the same time, I'm just going to accept the fact that my house will never be perfectly clean and with this many kids I am still getting used to having absolutely no spare time, ever! But the baby has been a lot of fun and she is the sweetest, best baby I have had, I'm so glad that I can really enjoy her since this is our last one. We just blessed her last Sunday and I'm so thankful that I've had my dad to bless all my babies. Malorie has started preschool and loves going. She has also started dance and has been playing soccer. Jake has had a hard time accepting the new baby but he's getting better. He is very in to his t-ball set we bought him and is pretty darn good at baseball for a 2 year old. For the most part he just wanders around all day playing with his tools and banging on stuff, he is such a boy! Chelsey has loved being a cheerleader and this week is homecoming so we have this giant sign on our house announcing she lives here, so if anyone wants an autograph feel free to stop on by! We have enjoyed going to all the football games and watching her its been a lot of fun for her.

Morgan Elizabeth Stika

Morgan finally arrived on August 6 at 8:21 am. She weighed 8lb 15oz and was 20.5 in. long. She is definately one of ours just look at her cheeks! The only thing we were surprised about is she has really long black hair and her skin is on the darker side. Knock on wood she has been an amazing baby and sleeps a ton and only gets up once during the night. She seems like a really layed back content baby so we hope that continues. The kids love her but I think Jake already misses not being my only baby anymore. Thanks to everyone who has helped us and brought us dinner and thanks to Krissa for coming over so early so everyone could be at the hospital.

I finally took the kids to get some updated pictures taken. This was my mothers day present, one trip to Kiddie Kandids without Jason complaining about the price. What more could I ask for! I couldn't pick just one for the blog so I had to post them all because I think they turned out really good this time. Now I'll just have to work on Jason for the new baby pictures.

4TH OF JULY!

The 4th started out with a trip to Grandma & Grandpa Casper's in Heber. We got to eat at McDonalds and try out their new playland. Followed by lawnmower rides with Grandpa, that's something Jake definately can't live without. When we got home the Anderson's were having another big swim party we couldn't resist attending. When Jason got home we had dinner with Grandma & Grandpa Stika and then had a fantastic fireworks display with the neighbors. It turned out to be lots of fun for the kids and I know the big boys seemed to enjoy lighting the fireworks. Sorry for all the pics but I couldn't narrow it down.

I stopped in Provo canyon and took some pics of the kids

Who wouldn't love a nice lawnmower ride with Grandpa

Were the fireworks for the kids or the Dad's?

This is what Jake thought of every loud firework!

ART CITY DAYS

Malorie did the mini cheer clinic this year so she got to ride in the parade for the first time!


Chelsey's first time in the parade as a cheerleader

Malorie loved the children's art festival

Jake didn't want to leave the carnival

I thought this crown really cool that she got painted at the booths

Malorie's new cowgirl hat for the rodeo

Art City Days was actually pretty fun this year despite the constant rain. Jason's sister was in charge of the rodeo this year so Malorie had to have this cute pink hat to wear, she wanted the boots also but holy cow! cowboy gear is expensive, so maybe next year. Then we went to the cheer spectacular and then to the carnival and of course we had to get the famous scones. A treat for all of us was Jason's family got him to ride the mechanical bull and I'm sure we can all imagine how hilarious that was! Jake loved the carnival and could have gone everyday, I was surprised he was that excited about it. Then it was our first time at the Children's art festival which Malorie loved, but it got so crowded that the lines were crazy and Jake wasn't so fond of just sitting in the stroller. So next year we will know what to expect. Then the parade of course was fun because it was Chelsey's first time in the parade as a cheerleader and Malorie's first time in any parade and Jake loved everything about the parade so it was actually a fun time.

JAKE'S 2ND B-DAY!

Jake turned 2 today, we have actually survived two years with him. He started his day with his favorite breakfast of pancakes. Then church and after that his party. The weather turned out good so we got to have it outside after all. He has been obsessed with tractors so of course that was his party theme. He was so tired he had to eat his hot dog laying down, and as you can see he had lots of help opening presents. We bought him a new sandbox and he has graduated to a big boy bed, of course, with A tractor bed spread. Amazingly he has been in his bed 4 days and only gotten out the first day, so thank goodness for small favors. He loves his new bed. He got some tools, a Thomas the Train scooter so now he doesn't have to ride the pink daisy scooter, trucks, sand toys and some clothes. Jake's a lot of fun and definately adds a whole new set of adventures for our family, you just never know what he's going to do next or whats going to happen to him next. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

TODDLERS ARE TROUBLE

So just when I think I'm getting our upstairs Jake proof, he proves me wrong! In a matter of seconds just long enough for me to wash Malorie's hair Jake comes in the bathroom saying OUGHT OH MOMMY! and I'm immediately scared of what I'm going to find. He had managed to somehow get the what I thought was a kid proof lid off my craft paints and had unscrewed the lids off of blue and pink and dumped the whole pink bottle on our carpet. It looks like he was trying it on as makeup, who knows. Then yesterday he just grosed me out I was fixing Malorie's hair downstairs and looked out the bathroom door for a second to see him with a chair up to the fish tank scooping water out with a little cup and drinking fish pooh and disgusting fish water, I keep waiting for him to poop out a fish! And I won't even go into the details about his recent obsession with the cat litter. This age is so cute but man they are into everything and just absolutely disgusting little things! Its a good thing we love the little guy.