Lights

Riverwoods has so many fun family activities. Yesterday they had the "Lighting of Riverwoods" They have something like 4 million lights. They also have a Santa house, carriage rides, face painting, gingerbread competition and shopping. It was SO crowded yesterday. We really just walked around and looked at the lights. We will go back another day to do the other things.

Sisters

Kate and Alyssa are exactly 3 years apart. It is nice that Alyssa's old clothes are the right season for Kate to wear. Although Kate is so small that I had to buy her some fall/.winter clothes because Alyssa's were too big. It is interesting to compare the two girls. They are so different and perfect in their own ways. Alyssa is just like Russ. She is a socialite. Loves to go to parties, make new friends etc. Kate I think will be more like me, more reserved. She is more mellow than Alyssa was at her age. Alyssa was a fast developer. She crawled at 6 months old. Kate hasn't "crawled" yet and she is almost 9 months. She is moving by rolling and she can scoot buy using her toes to push her forward. Kate is a much better sleeper than Alyssa (this is probably my fault though). They don't look a like at all. Kate's hair is still brown but it is much lighter than when she was born. They are so cute together. Only now is Alyssa starting to say "Kate stop that!" Mostly when Kate is grabbing her hair or her face. I don't blame her, Kate has a hard, hurtful pinch (I am not a fan of it!) I am so happy they have each other, I love having a sister, I am really close to her. I hope my girl grow up to be very close as well!

Gymnastics

Alyssa is in Gymnastics at my old gym (where I was a gymnast and where I coached) All American Gymnastics. She is in a 3-4 year old class. Her coach wanted her moved to a 4 year old class because the class she was in was too slow for her. Of course this made me happy. I think she will move to a developmental class with my old coach when she turns 4. I want her to be good. I try and not pressure her to practice or anything at home. But if she wants to I am all game for that. I miss being part of gymnastics, I was my life for so long. I loved coaching and miss it.
Here is little video's of Alyssa's class,She is in the back with the teacher.
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There is a park near my house that is so pretty. In the spring there is a stream that runs through it that kids can play in. Today I ran by it during my run and there were leaves everywhere. I thought it looks so beautiful that I wanted to bring my girls to and take some pictures. They have a rope swing as well. I really wanted to get a picture of Alyssa doing it. At first she was too afraid to try alone but when I started taking pictures of Kate alone, low and behold she was brave enough to try by herself so I could get a picture =).

All she wanted to do was eat the leaves, she has no interest in smiling for me

She will smile at her sister though

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Getting ready to go!

At both of our works people dress up, so this is what we wore to work today.

Kate wouldn't go to my mom with her wig on, she was so scared of her!

Alyssa was Rapunzel again this year. 2 years worth of a costume, so I'm not complaining. She wanted to be a pumpkin because Annie from Little Einsteins was a pumpkin for Halloween. They don't sell kids costumes for pumpkins only for babies, so she decided she would be Rapunzel again. She got a hair piece from the Disney store to go with her costume. She also had a crown but she didn't want to wear it. Alyssa was so excited to go trick or treating. It was everything the she imagined it would be. She ran from house to house. She loved all the decorations. She would say every so often "This is so much fun, I love Halloween!" It is so fun to relive the holidays with my kids. I love to see how excited she gets over everything. There were a few dogs that came running out of the house and barked at her, which terrified her. Our neighborhood has TONS of kids and everyone was out. It was fun to see all the kids running around. We ran out of candy at our house sooner than I expected. This was the nicest weather that Utah has ever had on Halloween. It was 72 today. When we got home from trick or treating Alyssa wanted to use her candy she got to give out to people. She is so funny. We sorted through her candy and put the used the ones she didn't like to "re give" out to the few trick or treaters that came by.  Over all it was a successful, fun Halloween.

8 months

Kate is now 8 months old. She is so cute and fun. She is rolling all over the place. She is trying to crawl, she will get her knee's under her but then end up rolling over. She can sit up really well and loves to play with things sitting up. Her favorite "toys" are my phone, any paper that I am holding, or basically anything I have. She is happy and loves to smile and laugh especially at her sister. When Kate wakes up from her naps she looks around, like she is looking for Alyssa. It melts my heart watching them interact. I keep saying "Kate stop getting bigger". Alyssa responds "I want her to get bigger so I can play with her." My mom starting calling her Kate the Great, so now Alyssa calls her Kate the Great. If some one calls Kate some other nickname Alyssa says "Her name is Kate the Great." She grew another inch this month. She is now approximately 25 inches. (This is an average height for a 4 month old) At least she is growing. I take her in next month for her 9 month check up, we will see where she falls on the charts. She have gained weight, she now has some chub.  She eats well and isn't spitting up near as much. She is a good sleeper except when she is sick. (I wish her sister would learn this from her!) I can't get enough of her. She babbles a lot, she even says MAMA, DADA but not intentionally just babbles.

We went to Riverwoods Halloween party this weekend. Everything was free. They had kids games, face painting and bounce houses. Alyssa had a lot of fun. 

She did pretty good!