socializing never tasted so good.
So all we ended up doing to celebrate was attend our ward party, and watch some spooky movies. Our ward party started out with a bang - one of the haunted rooms had a smoke machine... ended up setting off the smoke detectors and the fire department came and crashed the party for a while.
Ashlyn had a wonderful time. She enjoyed the corn bread and chili dinner (without the chili), the children's parade, and the trick or treating... except for the scary dark rooms... we avoided those...
I think my little miss schmutz has already forgotten about the little bag of candy she has collected, since she hasn't asked for any of it so far today. I am just as glad that we didn't go out trick-or-treating... it has been nice and warm celebrating all indoors this year!
We hope everyone is having a wonderful halloween holiday! Jake's midterms are next week... so that has cut down on our festivities; and since halloween is on sunday, the only thing we are doing to celebrate is going to our ward's halloween party tonight.
But, to help get us into the halloween spirit, the Little Miss and I made pumpkin cookies today. Ashlyn is becoming such a good little cook. She would much rather eat the dough than eat the cookies after they've been cooked... I wonder where she gets that from?
And, while I am not watching, my dear little miss will try to come up with her own recipes.
But, hopefully the party will be fun tonight, and Ashlyn will have a memorable halloween experience.. mom will have a relaxful night.. and dad will get enough studying in (since, there is no thing as too much studying)
Not when you have the sweet set up these ducks have! No worry for food.. there are always a half dozen little tots running around throwing bread.
This is a fun little pond to go to. There are always lots of hungry ducks to feed. My little miss schmutz had a lot of fun throwing the bread into the water and watching the ducks fight over it.
We brought a lot of bread, but Ashlyn was very content to stand there, break the bread up, and throw it to the ducks for over an hour. It was a great morning to just relax and soak up the sun.
Here she is singing the ABC song to her babydoll after her bath. She was so gentle and kind to her baby. Even after we were all done getting ready, Ashlyn still remembered to put her baby to bed. She is such a sweet little girl, and loves to be kind and nurturing to anyone, or thing, smaller than she is.
We definately can tell we are back in Washington! It has been off and on again rain, clouds and sunshine ever since we have gotten back. So, on the sunshiny days (usually afternoons) we try to head out doors as much as possible, and have already visited our favorite park quite a few times.
These pictures were taken after a fun (and successful) mall shopping trip with Amber! We headed over to the park for a little while before the girls had to leave. I was hoping to get some cute pictures of the three girls together, but they decided to play "the game".. in which.. you run away, and scream, every time you see a "mom" with a camera out of the bag.
Its so funny to watch, but does make getting a picture difficult.
We are so happy to be back! Things are going a little more smooth this time around, and it does help that we know a little bit better how things are suppose to be going.
...I can't believe that you're two...
Our dear, sweet, little miss schmutz actually isn't two until next week, but we decided to celebrate a little bit early with all of our friends.
First, I made these invitations and handed them out to all of Ashlyn's little nursery buddies at church. Some of the invitees were so excited that they talked about it all week. Its so sweet to see such little children get so excited about going to a party.
And, the party was perfect! There were so many things that could, and almost, went wrong - but in the end everything worked out wonderfully!
The one thing I have to mention, that very well could have gone wrong, was the weather. We, unknowingly, planned to have little miss schmutz' birthday party on the only clear sunny day we have had for weeks! Many of my friends at the party commented that I must have "prayed" the sun into shinning.. and I think they might have been right.
Having a two-year-old's birthday party in the morning, at a park, was a wonderful and relaxing way to do it. The tire swing was a huge hit, I do not think it was empty for a minute. And even though there were a lot of other kids at the park, we were still able to have our space since it is quite a large park.
Gathering for cupcakes, cookies, juice and grapes under the shade of a beautiful tree was a perfect setting for a song... the happy birthday song that is.
I don't think Ashlyn quite realized what was going on, or that the whole party was for her, but she did enjoy the company, treats, and playing at the park.
The best part of the treats was finally being able to pick the sprinkles off the cookies. Ashlyn had been wanted to take those cookies apart all morning while I was making them. She finally got her wish.
We were so happy that almost all of our friends were able to join us for our little celebration! It isn't every day that you turn two... So we were very glad that all of our friends helped make it such a special day!
The whole morning was more fun than I ever thought!
happy birthday dear!
Little miss schmutz loves her baby. This little baby still usually finds itself to Ashlyn's bed every nighttime. It is very sweet to see her play with her toys in such a motherly fashion.
won't she make a great older sibling someday?
...and goodbye to summer as it briefly came for a visit. But while it was here, we were able to spend a good amount of time outdoors.
Little miss schmutz will hardly ever sit very long in a stroller anymore. Usually, she wants to be the one pushing the stroller. So this is our solution. I just wish she was tall enough to push the big stroller, because I would be perfectly happy having her push me around all day.
Ashlyn is becoming more and more independent every day. We have almost gotten to the point where she will not let me help her put her shoes on. So, they always end up on the wrong feet. You would think that she has a 50% chance every time? nope.. she has never put them on the right feet when doing it by herself. And her flip flops usually cozy themselves in-between her 2nd and 3rd toe.. sometimes her 3rd and 4th.
Well we are definitely hoping that utah has a little more sunshine than what we've seen so far this year. If not, we will be popping vitamin D like there is no tomorrow.
