Mommy, where do babies come from?

Okay, so how many of you with young children prepare yourself to be asked "the question" when they are 4 years old? Well, I know that I didn't even think about the possibility that this question could be coming up yet. But yesterday it did! We were in the car on our way to the mall and Halie asked, "Mommy, how do you get babies in your belly?" I gave her the usual response that I've used when we've talked about it before and told her that Heavenly Father puts the baby in there. Yesterday she wasn't accepting that as an answer. She just kept saying, "Yeah, but how?" So I went a step further and added the "when daddy and mommy love each other" phrase at the beginning of my first explanation. She still wasn't satisfied. "Yeah, but how?" So, as I was giggling like a nervous child and trying to figure out what to say to her, I came up with the thought that I should tell her that mommy has a tiny egg in my belly and Heavenly Father makes the egg turn into a baby. So that's what I did. She seemed to accept that, or at least she thought about it for a few seconds, but then she said, "So an egg comes out of your belly and the baby hatches?" That started a whole new conversation! A word of advice...don't use my explanation!
So after this conversation, I thought to ask her why she asked me a question. I thought maybe some punk at her preschool had put ideas in her head. This was not the case. She explained that she just wants mommy to have another baby in my belly and wasn't sure how it would get in there. Then she started discussing what we would name her baby sister. (And in case you're wondering, NO, I am absolutely not pregnant! Apparently my daughter is just a planner!)

Visit to Santa

I took the kids to get a picture taken with Santa Claus today. Obviously I went at the perfect time because I waited no more than 2 minutes! I'll have to remember that next year...go end of November at 10 in the morning! I was actually really surprised that Cayden didn't cry when I handed him over to Santa. He was just a bit curious, but not scared. Overall, a great success!

Bath Time!

Bath time is usually a pretty enjoyable time in our house, except for when it comes time to get Cayden out of the tub. That's when the screaming starts, and Cayden is a LOUD boy! It's been fun to watch Cayden and Halie really start playing. They have a lot of fun together. On a good day, Cayden will even let Halie wash his hair. What a brother!

Decorating for Christmas

Our tradition has been to put out our Christmas decorations the weekend of Thanksgiving. We attempted to get it done this year, but had so much going on that it's still an ongoing project! But Halie really had a great time helping her daddy put up the Christmas tree. And Cayden and Halie both loved being outside while Jon got our Pooh and Tigger lawn decoration set up. She loves that thing! He didn't really care what was going on, so long as he got to walk around with those markers...who knows what that's about!? It was just a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are just some miscellaneous pictures of the kids the last few days. Halie got a box of Disney princess shoes for her birthday, and I think Cayden has been enjoying them more than she has. He will bring them to me, giggling all the way to me, so I can put them on him. Then he takes off in a pair of plastic high heels, still giggling, until one falls off and then he starts screaming and the whole process starts over.
Later that same day, Cayden and Halie spent some time outside in the playhouse. It was a riot to watch them "cooking" in the kitchen, though they wouldn't cooperate for a good picture. Of course neither one of them is fully dressed, but this is as real as it gets. Cayden runs around the house quite often in just his shirt and diaper and not a day passes by that Halie doesn't shed her regular clothes for some sort of ballerina or princess costume!
The last couple of pictures are just Cayden being a goofball with Halie's sunglasses. This is one of his favorite games, along with trying on Daddy's hats.

Haloween 2007

What a great Halloween! Halie and Cayden both dressed up as pirates and were cute as can be! Jon taught Halie how to trick-or-treat as a pirate (ARGH!! Trick or Treat!) and that seemed very effective! We started our Halloween a couple days early with a "Trunk or Treat" at our church. This is basically trick-or-treating, but everyone gets their cars parked and opens their trunks and the kids go car to car instead of house to house. Then on Halloween, we picked Halie up from preschool and we all went to the mall for a little Halloween lunch and some trick-or-treating. The kids were all dressed up and got some candy, but I'm pretty sure that Halie was more excited about just getting to go into the Disney Store and look around! Then on Halloween night we loaded Cayden up in the wagon and let Halie do some good old fashioned trick-or-treating! Her cousin Macie was there to show her the ropes and they had a great time. She's already talking about next Halloween, and thanks to a great post-Halloween sale at the Disney store, we already have her costume! Now I have a year to convince her that she should dress up as Cinderella, though when she's sees the costume, I don't think she'll need much convincing!

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

Jon and Halie have made an annual tradition of carving our pumpkin together while mommy takes pictures. This year was no different, and they had a blast.