pickup fairy.

at our house we have someone special who comes and picks up toys when they are left out.  she is called the pickup fairy.  she picks up the toys and takes them away for an unknown amount of time.  one never knows when the pickup fairy will come.  but sometimes, when you're lucky the pickup fairy will give the mama and daddy a heads up that she will be coming that night.

and so it was a few weeks ago, the pickup fairy let us know that she would be coming.  so we hurried and picked up the best we could.  mabel was very concerned that she would still come, even though all the toys were picked up.  so she decided she needed a sign on her door.  

let's just say that we need to add the pickup fairy

to the list of things mabel is afraid of.

one tooth down.

connor lost his very first tooth last night!  he was super excited and couldn't believe that it didn't hurt.  we've been working on getting this tooth out for about 3 weeks now.  yeah for connor!

{waiting for the bus the next morning.  

couldn't wait to go show all his friends!}

on hallows eve.

a 'go utes' football player +

a fairy princess +

another fairy, just not as cooperative =

one awesome holiday!

we had fun halloween this year.  we had several parties to go to, lots of opportunities to wear the costumes, and we still have lots of candy!  it was awesome!

{just ready to head out trick-or-treating} 

{elsie refused to wear her costume after putting it on for 3 days straight!} 

{cory did the trick-or-treat duty this year, yeah for me!} 

{at punky's halloween party} 

{a happier halloween moment for elsie} 

{cory's flynn rider pumpkin and my lantern} 

 {mabel's hello kitty}

{connor's frankenstein...that's "not so scary"...

sorry bud, it was the best i could do!}

sweet els.

{her favorite position these days.}

elsie had her 15 month {really 16 month} checkup this am.  she is growing very well and is thinning out now that she's a walker.  here's how she's lookin.

21 lbs 13 oz {25%}

32 1/2" {90%}

18 1/2" head {70%}

oh how we love this girl.  she is still our mellow child. though she loves to follow the other two around and play, her favorite is to roam free around the house when they are at school, napping or playing with friends.  

she's a very quiet, independent player.  i even lose her throughout the house if i'm not careful.  once i could not find her after going through the upstairs calling her name and looking in all the bedrooms.  then i thought to look in the bathroom, which i didn't think she'd be in there because the door was shut and the light was off...but sure enough...there she was just quietly playing in the dark!!  

she's has also found her voice. she has a low, boomin' voice so we like to call her "boomer" when she really gets going.

she is precious in every way and we love her so much!

pumpkins for sale.

after the pumpkin hunt, all the pumpkins in the patch were gathered and split up between the grandkids.  they could then take these pumpkins home and have a pumpkin sale.  it's been a great experience for the kids to talk with people, sell things and be able to earn some money.  thanks grandpa!!

connor has been pretty shy talking with everyone.  mabel is super cute and makes it pretty hard to resist not buying a pumpkin with her standing outside with her sign upside down!

gpa stopped by to see how the selling was going.

thanks again, grandpa!!

grandpa's pumpkin patch.

we went pumpkin hunting at gpa's pumpkin patch last monday for fhe.  the kids pretty much loved it!   it's always so exciting to find the perfect one!  connor and mabel wanted to wear part of their costumes. we'll have more on that later.  here are some of the highlights from the hunt.

the lower patch. 

mabel found a good one.

all the grandkids minus baby ryan 

{he was in the paparazzi section.}

this pic gave me flashbacks from the last hunt.

if i knew how to link it to last year's i would...but i don't.

flashback.

we were busy tubby-ing the kids a few nights ago.  elsie was the first one done, so i lolo-ed her up {lotion} and put her jammies on.  then i set her free to get mabel soaped up.  after a while cory says i need to come look at something and this is what we found.  elsie had climbed into the tub with connor.  funny girl.

it was pretty funny.  flashback 2 years and mabel did the same thing...only she didn't like it so much!

fishing with grandpa.

connor and mabel got to fishing with gpa packer yesterday {and anna, thanks for all the cute pics!! ;)}.  needless to say, the kids had the best. time. ever.  it was a very good day for fishing.

one of mabel's fish.

connor's huge fish. 

connor: "grandpa, how much do you think it weighs?  probably like 30 pounds."

connor:  "anna, how many people could that feed?  i bet 100."

{thanks to anna for sharing all the sweet moments!}

the videos are the cutest thing ever!!  

they show how excited connor was for sure!

date night with my boy.

it was our turn to use the tickets because of priesthood session, so connor and i had a fun date night.  despite the loss, we had a great time!  thanks for the fun date connor!

connor had the camera most of the time and took pictures for us.  he's a pretty precious boy!  oh, how i love him!

soccer kids.

well we've finished up our fall soccer season.  have to admit, we're kind of excited about it!  soccer every tues, wed, and thurs night wore us out!  it was sure fun though!  the kids had fun and loved having cory for both of their coaches.  he did a great job.  i have a new found respect for coaches.  i had to sub for cory one night for mabel's game while he and connor headed down to the utah game and i've got to hand it to him...coaching is not an easy job!  i was hoarse and worn out by the end of the game.  lucky for me and probably the players i only had to sub once.  i took my job very seriously and even wore the coach's jersey.  i also was lucky enough to sub on the pictures night so mabel and i were in team pictures together!  

here are some of the highlights from the season.  

thanks to all those who came to support the kids.  they always loved having their own personal cheering section!

had to put those last two pics in.  cute boy always has his tongue going somewhere!

cute elsie was their #1 fan.

mabel showing her excitement at the 15 practice before the game.  i was sad that the goal is in focus and not her, but still you get the idea.  the practice before the game is when she usually brought her game.  during the actual game she was not interested at all in playing.

everyone's favorite: trying to give jumping high-5's.

elsie loved to wonder around during the games.  she usually made it onto the field at least every game.

cute brigham taking pictures of connor's corner kick.

just chillin during the game.  she did finally go in.

this is the usual stance.  mabel holding cory's hand.

cute abbs came to one of mabel's game.