The Latest from Emily

Late one afternoon, I asked Emily if she needed to use the bathroom. She replied, "No, I already did last night." Another time, I reminded her to wash her hands as she headed out of the bathroom. Again, she looked at me and innocently said, "I don't need to, I already washed my hands last night." The same has been the case with most things I've recently asked her to do that she'd rather not--she already did it last night so there's no need to bother doing it again.

Last night must mean the other day, because it was only yesterday that she told me about all the fun she'd had at Disneyland with Grandpa and Dani last night. . . .

Emily Decorates the Tree

Emily has been looking forward to putting the tree up this year. She was so sad to say goodbye to her cousins after having spent a fun Thanksgiving weekend with them, but when I told her that we needed to go home to put up the Christmas tree, she said, "Okay!" and was ready to leave without even giving any goodbye hugs. When we did put the tree up, we didn't yet have many ornaments to decorate it, so Emily (and Michael) got a little creative. Can you see some of the odd decor?

Michael added this tree. Other odd items from Emily: headband, children's books, sippy cup lid, notebook, candy wrapper, store receipts...but she has since redecorated.

Moss Man

On a recent hike through the woods, we found the moss man by the river. Can you see him too? I think he's doing the yoga warrior pose . . .

Halloween Mishaps

Adam said that this was his favorite, most fun Halloween ever. I agree, though it wasn't without some mishaps, but those make it all the more memorable.

We carved the Adam and Kari pumpkin while Emily and Michael colored their pumpkins with permanent red and black markers. In one of those moments where I thought Adam was watching the kids and he thought I was watching the kids, we were surprised to find that noone was watching Emily as she expressed her artistic ability on the walls of our living room--a little permanent red marker here, a little there, and we still have some left to wash off.

Emily loved wearing her costume to the ward trunk-or-treat, but Michael was horrified to put his Robin Hood hat on; he just wouldn't do it. After the ordeal of getting him into his costume and trying to take a few pictures, Michael threw up his dinner all over his outfit and all over his dad. Ah well! And after all the hard work to make the costume and get him in it! He looked cute and I wanted all of us to go out together, but after that, he and Adam stayed home while Emily and I went.

I finally realized that the only way I might get Michael to wear his hat on Halloween night was by pinning into to his hoodie, and hoping he didn't notice it was up there. That worked after all, and we had fun trick-or-treating with a group of friends. Now, I just don't know what to do with all this candy! That's the real nightmare...I'm thinking of selling it by the pound and buying the kids each a toy with the money.