Halloween

Aubree changed her mind (she does that a lot) about what she wanted to be for Halloween. As you can see from the picture to the left, she decided to be a ballerina for the ward Trunk-or-Treat party Halloween night. Of course she met no resistance from me in that decision, but I want to make it clear that I didn't suggest or otherwise try to influence her choice! We have a book about a little girl who is a ballerina called "The Silver Slippers." As we were getting ready to go to the ward party Aubree brought the book to me and said, "Mom, I need to show you something." She turned to a page where the little girl is preparing for her big show and said, "See Mom, ballerinas wear make-up. I'm a ballerina and I should wear make-up too." I thought she made a good case, so for Halloween only, I put on a little make-up. She loved it! Aubree has amazingly long, beautiful eyelashes and I've always secretly wanted to put mascara her on just to see the effect and I figured this was my chance! I didn't think she'd allow me to put the wand that close to her eyes, but she kept very still and Wow, just Wow! I'm very jealous - I wish my eyelashes were even half as amazing as hers! Aubree took the book with her to the Halloween party and showed anyone who stopped to talk to her the page where the little girl put on make-up.

At the last minute I found a lion costume in Aubree's old clothes for Bryce to wear to the party (I'd been looking unsuccessfully for the silly thing for weeks; it wasn't until I gave up and started looking for something else that I found it.). Of course, Bryce slept in the wrap the entire party, so although I have no witnesses, I can assure you he looked really cute. Aubree had a wonderful time playing the games and walking around to all the cars getting a bag full of candy (her favorite treats were the lollipops, which is great because I like the chocolate best!). The Young Men in the ward set up a Haunted House, but Aubree wouldn't go through because it was "too dark." Now that I have kids I don't like the scary side of Halloween at all!
Aside from the Halloween festivities, I'm happy to report that Aubree has completely recovered from her illness and Bryce seems to have escaped unscathed. I was not quite so fortunate, but at least I had a more mild version than Aubree. I was only sick one day and it happened to be on a Sunday, so Mark took care of everything! I think I ended up sleeping off and on the whole day, which is an unheard of luxury (too bad I was sick and couldn't totally enjoy it). I definitely think being able to rest made it possible to recover very quickly. A million thanks to Mark!
* The other morning I found Aubree wearing Bryce's sweatshirt (see the picture on the left). The amazing thing is that, except for the arms being too short, it fits her pretty well (and yes, it fits Bryce perfectly!). Since the sweatshirt fit so well, I had her try on a pair of Bryce's pants. See the cute capris she's wearing in the picture? Yep - Bryce's pants.
* Speaking of Bryce, one of his favorite things to do it it rock himself back and forth in his high chair. I think he likes the squeaking noise that it makes (Bryce is a huge fan of making loud noises), and I finally managed to get it on video.