Outrageous October

So Jayda turned two in September but it wasn't until October that I remembered she was probably due for a doctor check up. She's been scared of the doc for the past few checkups and nothing changed when the nurse called us back to measure her height/weight/temp, etc. Jayda screamed as per usual. But when the doc came in, he asked Kallie if she wanted to show Jayda how everything was done first. He checked Kallie's heartbeat and then turned to Jayda and she was totally fine with it. It was awesome.

Jayda's 2 year well check

When I lost my Galaxy S5 I used my old S2 for about a month and man, that camera was bad, as you tell from these first few pictures. I ended up buying an Lg G2 from Craiglist and I'm pleasantly surprised that most androids are pretty similar nowadays. Before I bought it I almost couldn't imagine having anything but a Samsung Galaxy but really, there's not that much difference.

Bo On The Go!

Brad accidentally left his tablet on the stage at church this month. After calling around for a week without success I was like, "This is a horrible, tragic month for this family and electronics!" Eventually someone from another ward told our bishop they had a missing tablet and hallelujah! It was Brad's. We were so happy to have it back because Brad has a lot ideas/inventions/brain on that thing. However a couple days later Brad said, "I think it's time I upgrade my tablet." I asked how much he can get for this one and he said, "Not much." Hmph.

I decided to get our carpets professionally cleaned for the first time. I can't emphasize enough how much I hate the people that decided to put white carpet in a dining room. Even if I knew no one would come over the rest of the time we live here I still had to get it cleaned just for myself. I can't live in a place that looks dirty after I've vacuumed and cleaned everything else inside. I got the cheapest, most basic package they offered so it cost the same as renting a carpet cleaner from the store but they did all the work and it only took 10 minutes! It was great and I'm a happy mama.

Our family had a neat experience recently. I was feeling like I needed to really practice patience with my kids. I had gotten into a bad habit of getting annoyed every time they did something that was inconvenient for me but totally normal for kids their age. I was expecting too much of them and I found myself feeling constantly aggravated and unhappy. Some of this was probably because I'm pregnant, tired and achy all the time while chasing two littles around, but I was yelling at them more than I should and even defaulting to spanking Kallie more than I should. I decided to try not yelling or spanking at all so I could learn to be more creative in disciplining them. I wanted to teach with love and build up their confidence more than I had been. After about a week of making this effort I noticed a huge difference in Kallie and myself. I was happier, more fun and Kallie was more obedient, helpful, and confident. I was a little horrified when I noticed this change in her but for months she had been biting her nails and I didn't think she'd ever stop. After a week of trying to be a better mom I looked at her nails and they were actually LONG. I hadn't needed to clip them in forever but now they needed a trim. I still don't know for sure but the possibility that Kallie was biting her nails because I was tearing down her confidence breaks my heart. The weird thing is that Brad had apparently been feeling the exact same way and was making the same changes at the same time as me but we didn't really talk about it until after we noticed the results. We've since tried to build up Kallie's confidence more by expressing to her often her good qualities and traits. Instead of saying she's being a bad girl we try to say she's a really good girl but she made a bad choice and that (particular thing) is not something good girls do. She has definitely reacted differently (in a really good way) to that change. I can't believe how easy it was for me to fall into bad parenting habits when I wasn't paying attention or putting my whole heart into raising my children like Jesus Christ would. I'm so glad I learned this while they're young because the older they get the more detrimental it would be. 

Haircut! About 8 inches went in the trash.

Family date night. Tried a restaurant with an Edgar Allen Poe theme. Go in the bathroom and you'll hear a creepy voice reading his poems.

She often dreams of being a superhero.

The lopsided belly. My right side is bigger during every pregnancy.

Awesome pumpkin patch we found while garage saling.

If you think Jayda's gonna spill that snow cone all over her white shirt...you're right. I thought it was ruined but even though I didn't wash it until 4 days later it all came out!

One of their favorite activities is playing in our ottoman filled with blankets.

Went in the bedroom because Kallie was crying and the door bumped into this...

I don't make crafts or sewing projects nearly as often as I'd like to, mainly because I'm lazy and don't wanna put all the work into it. So when I do actually get around to making something I'm very proud and want to show everyone. Here's a car seat canopy I made for this next babe! I love it and can't wait to use it.

PC, Steph, me, Molly, Kipin (Britton should be last but we couldn't find her)
That makes 5 preggos in Hendricks Ave ward! Which is pretty rare as this ward is fairly...established ;)

Lots of things happening in our family.

Jayda and Caroline. Check out THAT photo bomb.

Ever since we've lived in Florida we've gone Trick-or-Treating with our friends The Hills in their neighborhood. It's all townhouses so it's perfect for toddlers because the houses are close together so there's not too much walking. This year we wanted to try Trick-or-Treating in a real neighborhood with houses so we went to our friend Savin's, along with my brother's family. It was so fun! It's a new neighborhood with lots of young families and it was exciting to see tons of trick-or-treaters up and down the streets. There were lots of people to talk to and the houses are pretty close together so it wasn't a marathon for the kids.

The only picture we have from Trick-or-Treating

 I'm not sure why but our kids are still really naive about holidays and traditions. For example, most kids beg their parents to wear a particular Halloween costume but Kallie doesn't seem to realize yet she can dress up as anything she wants and ask for that. We just tell our kids what their costumes are gonna be and they're like "Ok!" and even more odd is by the morning of November 1st our kids had completely forgotten they had bags of candy from the night before. Sometimes I think we need to talk to our kids more throughout the month of these holidays and teach them all about what happens but then I realize we should really drag out their clueless-ness as long as we can. Sounds a lot easier not having to fight over costumes and deny candy for days on end.

Kid Quotes:

While watching General Conference Kallie says about Elder Oaks: He's grumpy!

And then she says about Elder Hales: He doesn't have hair.

Jayda doesn't say the "k" sound yet so her words sound like this:

Boot (book)
Fote (fork)
Aye-ee (Kallie)
Iss (kiss)
Nat (snack)