Introducing: Hello, OOooOO, & HahaHAhaHA!

This is a Halloween craft we made this year. Geoffrey is old enough this year to like Halloween a little more than just the candy. So we did a few decorations. We didn't do a ton, but these ghostly lanterns were the children's favorites. This is a bit silly, but we called them Hello, oooooo, and HahaHahaHA respective to their faces. They light up at night, and the kids loved to look at them and say their different names together.

I love this craft because the kids do, but also because we can throw it away and make new and different one's next year if we please. Good ol' milk jugs! You just draw the faces on the front, cut out the label on the back, and put in the lights! White wired lights would be better, but I didn't have any. Easy, fun and cute!

Here are the children's interpretation of the Ghost faces:

Hello!

OOoOoOo

HahaHAhaHA!

Here is another craft we made copied from a friend's idea on her blog. These would be fun to do with different faces and poses too!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Mind Spinning Pumpkin Carving!

We found two great pumpkins at our local grocer of Choice, Broulim's, last Saturday, and decided to carve them for Family Home Evening on Monday. Here is the faithful narrative of all our dealings with the two pumpkins . . . hahaha. *Sigh*

Nathan changed in to a scrub top for the job and then thought he was a brain surgeon in the making!

We even persuaded Grandmother to help us out.
Here is Geoffrey scooping out seeds.

Gwen finally decided she would try too.

Geoffrey helped make sure all the seeds made it into this strainer so that we could roast them for a tasty treat.

A SpoOkY thing happened while we were boiling the seeds in salt water . . . this face!

It disappeared before I could take a picture so I stirred it up, and it came back a second time. Funny!

Then, Nathan went a little wild and thought he would eat the pumpkin strings, but . . .

thank goodness he came back his senses! ;).

It took me until Thursday to get my pumpkin carved. However, here is the finished product!

The second still awaits a artist's touch!

A Girl's Beauty Shop Night

Two of the Most BEAUTIFUL girls EVER!

We had the privilege of watching Jessica, Geoffrey and Gwen's Cousin, the other evening and we had a lot of fun. After dinner, the kids were a little messy. Consequently, they all took a bath. Then, I thought we, or I, would have a little fun and do the girls' hair. I am so glad that the let me; it was a lot of fun!

Here is Jessie's Do!

And here is the back of Gwen's! (See first pic of post for the frontal view please)
Her head always turns pink for a few minutes after I put it up! I swear it's not too tight. I think her scalp is just sensitive.

Geoffrey sure loves the girls in his life!

And he thinks he is big and bad no matter what he is doing!:)

Crazy FALL

This fall has truly been CrAzY around the Asbell home. First of all, guess what, we moved AGAIN at the end of August to a new place outside of town, and we love it. We thought we would stay in our last place awhile longer, but life happens and you just have to go with it :)!

We have a nice yard now which has been a lot of fun for the kids and for Nathan and I. The first few pictures below I took yesterday in our yard. We will have a great place for a garden next spring and cherry trees and everything. Now we just need to stay put for that long! ;), ;)!



Well, we moved and then I started canning with my Sister-in-law and life if just now settling down. We canned salsa, peaches, peach jam, and applesauce. It was quite fun really. Over all we had a mixture of over 85 quarts and pints each. We had a great opportunity to pick a bunch of apples and thought we had maybe 100lbs. However, it turned out we must have had at least 200lbs. because we made over 60 quarts of applesauce alone!!! With young children in the house you can never have enough applesauce, plus it goes great in recipes for oil and on pork. We feel greatly blessed by this.



Even though we have been really busy this Harvest season, we have greatly enjoyed our family and hope you are enjoying yours too!

He looks way too . . . . something in this pic.

Awwww . . . sleeping with daddy. Gwen has been cutting her 18 month molars and has been more of a sleeping cuddle bug than ever. So Sweet.

Theresa, Kim and I decided to go to the General Women's Broadcast together last month. It just so happened we all wore matching outfits! How funny.

We had an activity for church where we were able to ride horses at a ward family's home. Geoffrey had a blast!

Gwen had fun too, but she liked this horse much better! She loves to pet horses, but she wouldn't ride it for the world!

It was a fun experience for all of us!

Gwen's First Birthday!

It is amazing how much a little gal can grow in one year. It is also amazing how fast if flies by!

I cannot believe that Gwen is a year old! She is such a sweet girl and we absolutely love having her in our Home. Happy 1st Birthday Gwen!

One Day Old

One Year Old

Gwen is now 28inches tall and weighs 19.4lbs. She is petite for her age, but still growing way too fast. She walks and practicaly runs. Says: Momma, Dada, dat(that), shoes(here we go!), Bubba, pawpaw, ball, bye bye, thank you, night night and more. Of course she doesn't say all of these just how we might, but she says them in her own way and we understand them just fine . . . She also signs: all done, more, thank you, food, and please pretty well. She likes to play with balls and toys that she can carry and take things in and out of. She is fairly independent and quiet which often times equals sneaky. She loves to laugh, give hugs a blow kisses. We are very blessed to have her sweet spirit around us daily.

Gwen's Party







Elizabeth and Miles came by to help us blow up the balloons for the party ;), ;). Elizabeth did such a great job. I think she was pretty pleased with herself!

Jessie had fun with all the balloons too. She also started her own trend of shoe wearing!


Here is Reesa and Geoffrey having a great time.


Then, the balloon fight started! Watch out everyone!




These guys were too cool for a balloon fight. :)

Time for Cake!

Gwen got some last minute cake-eating tips from Jessie.

And the Dug right in and topped it all off with some Juicy Juice.

Here was the damage.

After a bath, it was time for presents.

I think Gwen had a pretty good birthday. She recieved a fun summer dress from Bethany, Miles, and Elizabeth; a lamb, net with fish for the pool/tub, and a cup from Grandmother; way cute church shoes from Aunt Kim, Uncle Frank, and Jessie; some great books and CDs with readings of the books and additional songs from Aunt Dolores; and a baby pool with some more water toys from Grandma and Pawpaw Jones. Thank you all for your great gifts!

Here are some pictures with her and some of her new things. We haven't been able to use the pool, or the water toys outside because of all the rain, but we've still been having fun with them inside!

She loves to go in and out of the pool over and over again.

Well, you can't turn one with out have to get those blasted shots at the Doctor. So on Tuesday we dropped Geoffrey off at Aunt Kims for a bit and went on over. Everything went really well, she was a great trooper and was back playing with her buddies in no time!





Sometimes life and all this running around sure wears you out!

I hope you enjoyed your Birthday Gwen and I can't wait to see what's in store for you in the future!