Look at my little Halloween kitty! Even though Hallie is really Tinkerbell for halloween, I couldn't resist turning her into a cute little kitty. Her whiskers aren't very straight because she was a TAD wiggly while I was trying to put them on. But the overall effect is so cute! Happy Halloween to all our dear friends and family! I hope you enjoy your evening.
Love, Michelle, Chris, and Hallie Kitty
Hallie received some crayons in her treat bag on Saturday night so this afternoon I gave her crisp white paper and four vibrant-colored crayons and let her create...
She is partial to blue which is interesting because she always grabs her blue blocks first too. My brother Mark and great-grandpa Hinkson will be proud to know she tends to do things with her left hand-- both with her spoon and her crayons. It might be too soon to tell though.
Talia and Hallie
Some of our favorite girlfriends: Shanda, Talia, Emily, Michelle, and Hallie
We had a pleasant weekend. We did lots of cleaning and baking and partying. Chris had the day off Friday because he worked late hours on Wednesday and Thursday for parent-teacher conference. So, on Friday we straightened the house and Chris watched Hallie for me when I went to my singing group. Friday evening, after Hallie went to bed we rented Evan Almighty. It was a cute movie. On Saturday morning we baked pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, brownies, and made caramel apples together! Chris was so sweet to help out even though I know he hates being in the kitchen. On Saturday night we went to a fun "Fall Festival." We all got to dress up. Hallie, of course, was Tinkerbell. Chris and I were Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books. It was funny because the adults especially liked our costumes. It was like they were excited to boast their secret Harry Potter knowledge; they kept passing me and saying "Hi Hermione." It was fun. And Chris and I are so excited that our costumes collectively cost 51 cents! That's right-- two quarters and a penny. Since Chris and I both received our bachelor's degrees in 2005 and 2006, we both had black graduation robes. We found some great patches and had them color copied to make the robes look like they were standard-issued from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then, I chopped some wands off the tree in the backyard and we were good to go. Chris already had a regal-looking tie. And I wore one of my Grandpa Skaggs' cool ties that really polished off the look. We get to wear our costumes one more time for a party at the Hickman's on Halloween night. We are so excited for one more excuse to celebrate one of our favorite holidays. Finally, on Sunday Chris' mom and brother Michael came over for a visit and a fun Halloween dinner. I made "feets of meat" (meat loaf), mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic, onion, and mushroooms sautee, and finally cheesy crescent ghosts. It was festive (and I'll admit-- a tad bit creepy to eat something that looked like a bloody foot stump). Here is Hallie snacking on one of the pumpkin muffins. She loves them!
Earlier in the week I mentioned how Hallie plays Hide-n-Seek. A funny development-- lately whenever Hallie feels like she can't crawl fast enough she rolls over and plays dead. I kid you not we have an opossum on our hands. Which reminds me of how much of an animal she has been today-- she didn't even take a nap! No, not one. She talked to herself in her crib for at least an hour everytime we put her down. When Chris and I finally put her to bed for the night she proceeded to scream. Poor thing. There are apparently not enough hours to play in the day.
Hallie sucked from a straw for the first time today. It happened by accident. She tried to blow bubbles with a straw and when water came back up she decided to keep sucking. We were proud parents. Also at dinner, I blew on her refried beans that were hot. She thought it was a funny custom and insisted on blowing on each bite herself even long after the plate cooled to room temperature. She tries to talk to us all the time now and we have no idea what she is saying.
Hallie's favorite song as of late is "The Wheels on the Bus." Her absolute favorite verse is "The mommies on the bus go shh-shh-shh." She will even initiate the song by sticking her finger next to her mouth and bouncing up and down while she says "shh-shh-shh. shh-shhh-shhh. shh-shh-shhh." Then while I go through all the verses she tries to sing "shh" at all the wrong places. She is so excited when we reach the right verse. But most times she doesn't "shh" along by that point. She just smiles and listens in amazement.
Reading is an adventure now-- literally. When she was younger I could read her anything because she wasn't fully cognizant. Well, now her toddler attention span is in full force. If a book has more than two sentences per page she is trying to dive off my lap. It was nice when we read Goodnight Gorilla last night because there are only about ten sentences the entire book, i.e. "Goodnight gorilla," and "Goodnight giraffe." The rest was colorful pictures.
Chris and I laugh with her more than ever recently. She does so many cute faces. A new favorite is her duck face. This is where she purses her lips and scrunches her eyebrows. We crack up every time. This makes her perform for us again and again.
By the way, you'll notice Hallie has a new booster seat. She kept doing suicide dives off of her gorgeous wood high chair so we had to get something with a seatbelt before she cracked her head.
Hallie is eating better, talking better, and cruising around all the furniture. She now has two top teeth to accompany her bottom teeth. This means that she has had many sleepless nights; this also means we have had many sleepless nights too! And, she has her requisite runny nose to accompany teething. She is getting better at saying "hi" over the phone. She is very observant too. When Chris and I are hustling to get out the door she anticipates what is coming before we even open it. As we are putting on shoes and coats she excitedly whispers "Bye-bye?" Once she sees us grab keys she squeals "Bye bye!!" Hallie is getting particularly good at hide-and-seek. Or rather, as long as she can't see me she thinks I can't see her. So, I will turn the corner and her head will be buried into the side of the couch but her diaperd bottom is up in the air. She gets super excited when I growl at her and say "I'm gonna get you!" My knees are bruised from crawling around after her when we play. Here are some pictures of our little thirteen-month-old last week.
cutie-pie face
halloween scary face
bed head! ha ha!
For our family outing today we started at a local pumpkin patch. Hallie loved the owner's two dogs, Colby (a chocolate lab) and Marley (a golden retriever). Hallie did not love sitting in dirt or on a hay bale (as you can see). Annual pictures at the pumpkin patch are a tradition in our family. We have been doing it since our second Halloween in 2002. Last year we weren't able to go because it was much colder in Colorado by now and Hallie was only weeks old. We really missed going. So, this year we have already been to two patches! What can we say? We love pumpkins.
My Dad is in Bolivia right now. He served his mission there from 1976-1978. This is his third time going back since his mission. He loves the humble people and their culture. He just emailed us from La Paz with some beautiful photos he took.
Halloween is upon us. To get in the spirit we have been renting festive movies and making spooky treats. When I say halloween movies, I don't mean Nightmare on Elm Street. We are both totally whimps when it comes to scary movies. Our style is much more Casper the Friendly Ghost than Saw IV.
As far as meals go, we had jack-o-lantern cheesburgers the other night. Just cut fun faces out of cheese slices and it turns a fattening meal into a frighteningly fun fattening meal!
Two years ago Chris and I had so much fun decorating a graveyard cake. Today I went and bought the supplies to do all our favorites again: caramel apples, graveyard cake, and haunted houses.
Haunted Houses you ask? We had a date night with friends in 2005 where we made haunted houses out of graham crackers. It was so much fun that we absolutely have to do it again! So we will!
You should do some fun Halloween activities too! I love doing exciting things for holidays because even though Hallie is only one, she will get to grow up with fun traditions.
Here is a list of fun family movies you can see for the sake of Halloween:
Adams Family
Adams Family Values
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Hocus Pocus
Monsters Inc.
Ghostbusters I & II
The Haunted Mansion
Cartoon Halloween compilations(i.e. SpongeBob, Peanuts, Garfield,etc.)
Disney’s House of Villains
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Harry Potter
The Dark Crystal
Beatlejuice
For older kids and adults, here are some other favorites:
Sixth Sense
Signs
The Others
Van Helsing
A League of Extraordinary Gentleman
The Brothers Grimm
Edward Scissorhands
What are your favorite Halloween movies and traditions?
My first nephew was born yesterday to his wonderful parents, Mark (my brother) and Karen (the best sister-in-law ever). Welcome to the world little Joseph Allen. Joseph was born on 10/12/07 at 10:16 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and is 18.5 inches. He is baby brother to our little Amanda Leigh. She will be a great big sister. We love you already Joseph!
Hallie had her one-year-old check-up on September 25. That meant shots! It was almost worse now than when she was younger because she is so much more aware of what is going on. She was obviously devestated and cried strong for about a minute until I remembered to sing to her. Then she stopped crying immediately. She was good the rest of the day and didn't show any side effects.
Here are some pictures from Dr. Reich's office. Isn't it adorable? The waiting rooms and patient rooms are brilliant. And I love our pediatrician, I feel so happy that we chose her. I have also posted some cute pictures of Hallie's band-aids. And by the way, Hallie is in the fiftieth percentile for height, weight, and head circumferance.
Remember when we went to the apple orchard? Well, less than a week later I made my best apple pie to date! I have to say I am getting rather good at my pie crusts and my apple filling was splendid this time. The last time I made an apple pie I was totally disheartened because even though I followed the recipe there was way too much nutmeg and it was too sweet. I think the difference this time can be attributed to several things: the apples-- I used Jonathon this time and Granny Smith last time. The natural sweetness of this apple made me cut the sugar in half! But my instincts worked-- it was the perfect amount of sweetness. Also, I cut the nutmeg in half-- much better! My crust recipe is from Taste of Home. I modified the filling recipe from The Lion House Classic Recipes.
I am so pleased to finally have my apple pie. I also have a very good bumbleberry pie that I make for my Dad and brother Mark. These pie accomplishments are really one of my dreams come to fruition because I have always wanted to make good pies! That is what happens when your Grandma is phenomenal at it; Grandma Skaggs is the queen of pies.