Month of October!

Halloween night we went out with my mom and dad!

I didn't get pics of the kids trick or treating but they loved it. OUr street didn't have many trick or treaters so we went to another street where there were more. Carter quickly learned and wanted to walk up to every door. He'd quickly knock and then turn around and run. He loved holding his bucket and loved his lolly pops!

During the day Jocie had some friends over!

We had a spooky dinner the night before! Ghost mashed potatoes, cresent eyeballs, and witch chicken fingers!

The past couple of weeks its been raining a lot! My kids love mud and dirt and I don't mind that they play in it! It's good for them to feel different textures . . . right? :)

Carter loves to lie on Grandpa and watch Tangled!

We made pumpkin cookies and walked over to our neighbors and brought them some! I love Halloween, October is a fun month!

Super Family

Ward Trunk or treat with Jocelynn's friend, John

Loved this costume, big cupcake

Sper great grandma, so cute!

Loved this! Jack Sparrow

Super family!

Jocelynn with her friend, Gwen walking the parade

Grandma and Great Grandma

Jocelynn eating chili. Our ward is amazing. An email was sent out that day that there wasn't enough chili and there ended up being 31 crock pots of chili!!

We also went to the Jergensons Halloween party.

Jocie's haunted house!

Love this picture!

SUPER girl! She is into super heroes these days!

Pumpkin Patch with Preschool

Jocie loved feeding the goats!

Busy Bee Acadmey went to the pumpkin patch. They got to ride some rides, feed the animals and even got a pumpkin! She had a great time having fun with her friends from class!

Her cousin, Preston got to join us!

Carter really wanted to join his sister and was not very happy!

First Half Marathon

I've been wanting to do a half marathon for awhile now. When I had Jocelynn my goal was to do a Sprint Triathlon. It got me back in shape and was so fun! My goal after my 2nd child is to do a half marathon! It's gotten me back in shape and I've learned a lot through running. Running is a lot like life! At times it feels good, and can be easy, other times you feel as if you can't do it and you want to give up but if you take one step at a time and mentally tell yourself that you can do it and get through it, you do!! I was running at the gym on a treadmill and when you are running 6 miles with no music, you have a lot of time to think. I think that is why I enjoy running also, you have so much time to think about life. I prefer not to have music, I like to think and reflect on my life and the things I need to do to become better. I signed up for my first half marathon. It's Nov 12th in Santa Barbara! I'm excited! James and I will go there for the weekend and my parents will watch the kids! I think anyone can run so if it's been awhile since you've ran start slow and short and gradually increase it! You will feel so good, I promise! It's hard at first but as you continue to do it you'll love it! Running makes me feel like I can do and accomplish anything!

Jessica's Baby shower

My mom and I threw Jessica a baby shower. You can obviously tell I'm not a photography. After the party I realized I got no close ups of the food. We had a good time planning the party. We had different shades of purple and the theme was "Sprinkled with Love." The picture above is Oreo truffles, So good. The picture below is pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate.

My mom made these amazing cupcakes! They looked professional!! Homemade frosting and everything. My sis in law took more pics at the shower.

I had a great time making these baby shoes filled with candy for the favors. Jess loves baby shoes and thought they'd be perfect.

Jess and her friends.

Jess with my grandma and her friend Jenny

All the yummy treats that are sprinkled with love!! Cake pops, truffles, cupcakes, pretzels dipped

It's a Girl!

Zealynn~

Jocie loved helping. She was filling the shoes with purple chocolate kisses. It was a nice shower. We had chicken salad sandwiches, fruit kabobs, and salad. We went inside for a couple games and we showed the video of Zealynn sucking her thumb. It's so cute!

Discipline

So my Jocie is so sweet but like all children she can test the boundaries at times. I know that some children test the boundaries more then others. I haven't had the easiest time with her. As parents we want our children to listen and respect authority. Well what if they don't? I have tried all kinds. Time out, spanking, taking toys away, etc. Someone in our ward speaks at conferences for Moms. Go to powerofmoms.com to check out her site. She gave a class on discipline and I learned so much. She has a clip chart she uses for her children. I asked how old the kids were when she started using that. She said 5. I was thinking man, I've got to figure something out. Time out would not work for Jocelynn. She would be in hysterics and I'd finally hug her. She hates to get in trouble. I went to my friend Melinda's house and she showed me something she did. I loved it!!!! Perfect for this age and let me tell you, it has worked wonders for the past 6 months. Jocie still tests boundaries but she quickly changes her behavior when I mention I will move her clip. Here's how it works, I think it's perfect for ages beginning 3! -

• Jocie and I made the faces together so she was involved
• I usually give her a warning and if she does not stop the behavior, I simply tell her I will move her clip and she will not get a sticker for the day.
• If she moves her clip again to the sad face with the tears, then we will not read her a book before bed and no sticker.
• If she gets 5 stickers on her chart, she picks from the toy box.

When I started this we were very consistent with it! She hates when I say I will move her clip. She's a pleaser and does not like that Daddy will see that she got her clip moved. She has been really good so we haven't had to use it. Some days she brings it up and I tell her to put 2 stickers on her chart because we've gone 2 weeks without using it. The other day though I had to use it and it worked great. I don't have to yell or get upset. I know every child is different. She loves reading books before bed so this really upsets her. I know giving our children rules is important. I know the feeling of when you feel like things are out of control or you don't feel like you have a handle on your own child. I posted this because I thought it may help someone and you could try it with your own child!