Halloween Post

We had a fun Halloween Party with Bryce's family ... unfortunately his brother's family had the flu so ours were the only kids there old enough to have fun and be scared. They still had fun though. We ate dinner ... including skeleton jello with flies on it and drank red skeleton drink.

{Colts Cheerleader, Princess Leia, Robin, Luke Skywalker and Zombie Skeleton}

{Princess Peach (Aunt Julie), Link (Elijiah), Harley Riders (Uncle Nick and Aunt Nat) and our boys}

After dinner Uncle Jamie told the kids a scary story about a ghost who is looking for her bones and is always saying, "my bones ... my bones." Ty was funny because he was obviously a little nervous about the story but just kept saying ... "Its just pretend. Its just pretend." He has this ear piercing scream though and was doing a good job at scaring everyone else and himself a little bit. He would scream whenever he could tell Uncle Jamie was trying to be scary.

The story ended and we headed down to Grandma's basement where there were bones on the floor leading us to the garage. Pax was now a little scared as he headed down the stairs since Ty had let out his ear piercing scream at the bottom of the stairs and Pax couldn't see what was down there. In the garage we saw more bones, stepped on cockroaches (crumbled chips) and found a table full of grotesque things ... brains (jello), intestines (noodles), eyeballs (glow in the dark sticky eyes) and dried skin (dried apples). It was fun and the kids were scared though they'll never admit it. Nobody wanted to touch anything since it was dark and they weren't sure what would be there. But they all ended up touching something.

Zoe's Halloween

I know it has been AGES since I posted anything. Life just seems to get crazy busy and I need to make time to keep track of what we are up to!

{Zoe was a cheerleader for her tea party and trick or treating and Grandma's party}

Zoe had so much fun dressing up this year. She dressed up 5 times! Her Halloween started with a Tea Party with 3 of her frieznds. What a fun time she had. She wouldn't let me stay because it was only for "little girls." Tyler wasn't allowed to come in when she got dropped off since he is a boy .... much to his relief since he didn't want anything to do with tea party anyway. She had a fabulous time with her friends!

She had a school party and dressed up as Cinderella. She was so excited to see 2 of her friends come as princesses as well ... Taycie (Sleeping Beauty) and Haylie (Belle). What could be more fun!

On Friday, Zoe and I went to help in Paxton's class. Since the boys both had Halloween parties that day she wanted to dress up as well. So for this day ... yes, the entire day she was Pinkalicious! She looked adorable.

Fancy Nancy

Zoe love, love, loves Fancy Nancy. She loves to read the books and I think Frenchy is her favorite since she looks for him throughout the book. So she had a Fancy Nancy party and I had got her a Fancy Nancy outfit but she wasn't having it that night. So the next morning she got dressed and wanted to wear it. She was really loving getting her picture taken ... she kept posing and then running over to look at it in my camera. What a silly girl.

{Showing off the red shoes}

{Zoe's silly face}

Zoe Turns 2

First of all I cannot even believe my baby is so big now! She has definitely taught us that girls are just different than boys ... just becuase that is how its supposed to be. Our little Zoe can be so sweet and cuddly and also the completely opposite ... she'll have the boys in tears because what she wants she is determined to get!

Zoe just learned how to say her name and it is now her favorite word. She says it before nearly everything ... Zoe's turn, Zoe's blankie, Zoe's drink, etc. She has started talking more lately but still doesn't say as much as I remember the boys saying at her age ... guess she doesn't have to since her brothers are always helping her out. She does love to read though ... she picks out a book, climbs in her rocking chair and jabbers away.

What a girly girl she is. She loves clothes, shoes, hair bows, babies, etc. She also loves to ride bikes, jump on the tramp and play cars with the boys. She was delighted to open up her new outfit first thing in the morning.

Zoe spent most of her birthday right by my side or in my arms since I had just got back from being gone at Girls Camp the week before. So she helped me and the boys get everything ready for her Fancy Nancy Party.

What is a Castillon party without a pinata! Zoe had so much fun putting the candy in and even more fun hitting the pinata to get it out.
Zoe was very overwhelmed with all the attention and pretty much wanted nothing to do with the present opening. Its always hard to keep their attention but she was getting mad because she just wanted to play with the presents and not see what was in the next present. So we recruited some cousins to help us speed things along.

Zoe got a pink kitchen for her birthday and has been in love ever since. Once she saw the kitchen I finally got to put her down for the day. She was ... and still is ... in heaven. (notice the full house we have! Thank you everyone for coming to share Zoe's special day with her ... we have a lot of family here and it is wonderful!)

Our Champion

Pax tried a wrestling camp last year and liked it so this year we signed him up for the Green River Grapplers. There are tournaments all over and nearly every weekend. We just decided to have Pax do three tournaments this year. His first was in Lyman where he won two and lost two. This weekend was the Green River tournament and he did awesome! He took 1st and pinned all four guys! He was so excited and still is. I'm so proud of him.

This last match was the toughest. Neither of them had lost and he was definitely the most skilled of the kids he had wrestled. I get so nervous for him! This kid kept putting Pax in a head lock but Pax wouldn't give up. Then he figured out the way he was trying to take the kid down just wasn't working. In warm ups he had practiced with Clay, a friend of his that is in the age group above him and is really good ... he had thrown Pax down and Pax was not happy about it ... lucky for Pax he had practiced with Clay because he remembered that move and used it to pin his last kid. In all honesty, I don't think the kid knew what hit him. I love how happy Pax is when he gets up!

Zoe

Zoe is growing so fast! I just can't believe it. She is wild, girly, determined and silly. She definitely keeps us on our toes. She is Tyler's copycat ... something he is not always sure he likes. She SO wants to be just as big as her brothers and her independent side has arrived. She doesn't like to get in her car seat ... she'd like to ride in Tyler's ... she will get in though if she can walk herself to the car and try to climb into the Yukon by herself.
She is still SO girly. On this day I thought she was being awfully quiet and then here she comes around the corner with two purses, a baby and sunglasses. She was so proud of herself for finding such wonderful treasures.
She is busy, busy, busy. It was an hour before her regular nap time and I was just vacuuming before I started some lunch. I turned around and she had zonked out!


She is adored by Paxton! Today on the way to school he said he wished Zoe was in Kindergarten with him so they could play at every recess together. So glad he loves her so much! Ty loves her too but they are either the best of friends or worst enemies ... depends on whether they want each other's toy. :)

Silly Swimmers

These boys can be so hilarious! Their bath water was started and usually Pax will turn it off when it gets high enough. Apparently on this day high enough was so they could dive under
and go swimming. I came in to check on them and couldn't believe the water was still going and found my laughing boys ready to show me some tricks!

Tiny O'Reily

What a fun St. Patrick's Day we had. This morning the kids had green eggs and green shamrock pancakes for breakfast. They were funny because they beg for green eggs all the time ... probably because they know I'll say no. So today I make them and they only took a few bites. Oh well, it was fun.

Paxton had a wonderful day at school. Yesterday his teacher chose him to help set a leprechan trap. He said he made a little slide with a box at the end to catch him. This morning the class checked and he had gone down the slide and ate through the box to get out! He said Tiny had walked through green paint and his little footsteps were across the chalkboard, on the tables, the walls, he had played on their leprechan ladders they made, etc. What a fun teacher he has! Then Tiny left them a note that said:

Dear Boys and Girls,
Please look on the other side of the paper. I left a magic recipe.
Tiny O'Reilly

He had also left some magic powder that they had to mix with milk and they got a magic green drink! He told me he could still feel the magic in his belly. :)

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight and Ty wanted something green for dinner too ... he actually thought we should only be eating green things today and got mad at lunch when he had orange Spagetti-Os ... so we had brownies and mint chip ice cream.

The other fun thing about today is that its my mom's birthday and this year Pax was all about it. We've been talking about it for a week and he told his teacher his grandma has a special birthday. This morning he said, "If its Grandma's birthday and St. Patrick's Day then does she get pinched twice?" I laughed and said, "Grandma always says since its her birthday nobody can pinch her even if she doesn't wear green and if you do pinch her she'll get to pinch you back!" He thought about it for a minute and said, "huh ... well she'll still have to get birthday spankings! ... and I forgot to give them to Uncle Leavitt for his birthday!" So watch out when we come to visit! Pax has plans!

Big Girl Bed

My most wonderful, wonderful sleeper had disappeared. I kept thinking she was getting up because she had a cold, then Bryce was gone so maybe she can't sleep so well but then he got home and she kept waking up. She used to be my one kid that I knew once she was down for the night I wouldn't hear a peep out of her until morning. So this was frustrating that at 18 months she is going to start waking up a couple of times a night.

I noticed when Bryce was gone that she was liking any other bed besides her own. She wanted to sleep with me ... weird since she has NEVER wanted to before. Then she wanted to lay in "Aunt Nat's" bed in the basement and was always trying to climb up on Ty's bed. Anyway, when she'd wake up she just wanted held and then would be up for while. I kept wondering if I should just get her a big bed and see if she would do better if she wasn't locked up in a crib but was scared that her nights would get even worse if she could actually get out of bed at her own will.

Finally, a couple of nights ago, she woke up at 5 a.m. and wanted me to hold her. I was rocking her and she was squirming all around and I was exhausted. So I just let her wiggle to the floor and figured if she wanted to play or something fine but I was done fighting her. So she got to the floor and just laid down and went to sleep. She slept on her floor for 3 hours. Pax and I went upstairs to brush his teeth before school and I thought I heard something in her room so I went to peek in and she was smiling and playing in her room. So I figured I'd better just switch things around.

{Zoe's cheese face}

So here's our big girl! She LOVES her toddler bed and doesn't even try to crawl out. She lays down and goes to sleep just like she used to and when she wakes up she just stays put until someone comes to get her! Hooray! We are sleeping again!

Tyler Turns 3

What kid wouldn't love having 4 different birthday celebrations? We started celebrating the Saturday before his birthday with a family birthday party. We had everyone over for pizza, cake, ice cream and of course a pinata. Ty had tons of fun but wasn't sure about all the attention. He is shy in big groups and didn't like that everyone kept directing questions at him. He couldn't complain though because he LOVES all the new toys.

Then on Tuesday, his actual birthday, we woke him up before Bryce left for work so he could open his crane/dump truck. He was SO excited. Ty, Zoe and I met Aunt Crystal, Carson and Cooper at McDonalds to play. For once we actually had snow accummulate and not just blow away. So after Pax got out of school Uncle Travis, Aunt Crystal and the boys came to play in the snow. It was really cold and windy but the boys didn't mind ... especially since Trav was pulling their sled with the 4-wheeler. For dinner we had "Pasghetti and meatballs" (Ty's favorite) and had yet another cake.

Wednesday we had a friend party at playgroup, which was at our house. It was just what Ty wanted and I think the party he enjoyed most. The kids decorated cookies, played duck duck goose and ran around. Once Ty opened his presents they were all having a blast playing with the new toys and Ty had no problem sharing.

The final party was this weekend at my parents house. Grandma made a cake for Ty which he didn't even eat until the following day since he just wanted to play with his new crane and cars blocks.

Whew!!! What a week of celebrating his 3rd birthday. I don't know if we can top that next year but it was fun while it lasted.