The night shift

Last week Mike got his first taste of working nights. And he didn't like it. As it turns out, it's really hard to sleep during the day, every day, because of your bodies' natural rhythms. Consequently, Mike did not get a lot of sleep. The rotation was also stressful because of an unusually high number of patients. It was a vreally long week.

Bailey however, had a totally different perspective. Here is the conversation we had one night:

Bailey: "Is Dad working nights again?"
Me: "Not this week."
Bailey: "Does Calvin's daddy work nights?"
Me: "No, Calvin's daddy isn't a doctor. He's an engineer. He never has to work nights."
Bailey: "I'm so glad my daddy's not an engineer!"
Me: "Why?"
Bailey: "Because then Dad would never work nights!"

I think Bailey loved the night shift because at least Mike was at home. Even if he was just sleeping, I think she liked having him close by.

Avery's Spike

With my recent running class, I've been sporting a lot of pony tails lately. (It's hard to fit in a run every day). This had led Bailey to wearing a lot of pony tails too. Poor Avery didn't want to be left out. One morning, she came up to me with a brush and a hair band, and asked for a pony tail. Well, at two, she still doesn't have a lot of hair, so this is what we came up with:

I absolutely love it! And Avery does too. She calls it her "spikey pony tail." She has gotten a lot compliments on her spike, and I think it's here to stay.

Trunk or Treat

This year, the "big" night of Halloween was the ward Trick of Trunk. Our little Pocohantas' (?) had a blast. Here are a few of my favorite moments from the night:

Avery playing the donut eating game! I think this is too hilarious. Bailey would not even try- she did take a donut off a string to eat, but wasn't up to eating it without hands. Avery didn't even end up eating it after we took it off for her, but it was too funny to see her try. (I tried to convince Mike to join in, but he would only do it if I would do it. I just wanted to laugh at him, not be laughed at, so I declined. Oh well.)

Bailey and Avery both loved the face painting. Can't you see that it her smile?? I am realized surprised that Avery even went for it, being the shy girl that she is. By the end of the night, both girl had butterflies on their faces, and Avery even went back for a bat.

Here is my beautiful family! And here is Avery's new past time:

I love October, and all the fun fall and Halloween activities it brings. I'm sad to see it go!

Carving Pumpkins

One of our favorite traditions is carving our Halloween pumpkins for family home evening. This year was no exception, except that a squirrel or skunk got to our pumpkins before we did.

We didn't let that stop us, and the girls had a great time digging out the pumpkin seeds. Bailey wanted to save a few for her to plant. 

Unfortunately, Bailey remembered that she got to take her shirt off during pumpkin carving last year, so there aren't really that many appropriate pumpkin carving pictures of her. That's a tradition that needs to end... (:

 

The girls picked out what kind of faces they wanted, and for some reason, I got to be the mouth designer. They wanted scary, but I'm not quite sure that's how they turned out. 

However, my favorite, and scariest, moment of the night was when Avery was reaching for a little knife we had on the table (little relative to another knife we had out). Mike immediately jumped on it, and told Avery that knifes were dangerous, and were for mommy and daddy only. Ever the comedian, Avery replied, "But Daddy, that is a baby knife." Oh, the perspective of a two year old. 

In the end, the wildlife won, and the pumpkins ended up a smashed mess, but they were cute while they lasted. Even bitten and smashed, the girls were sad when we put them in the trash. Good thing we'll do it again next year.

Dress Rehearsal

I figured it was finally time to update the blog... so here goes. 

This year, since we decided not to go trick or treating on Sunday, I tried to cram as much Halloween into October as we could. Here are some pictures of my twin Pocahontas princesses at the Disney Store Halloween dress rehearsal:

They were too enthralled with the pile of stuffed animals to actually turn around and let me take a picture.

Avery, once again, wouldn't actually look at the camera... It's amazing we walked out the store without actually buying anything.

And this is Bailey doing the wave so graciously taught her by the Disney Store employee who was leading the parade. She looks just like a princess. (: