HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!! So here are our many many Halloween event pictures. There are a ton sorry... at least I warned you. We've had such a busy week that I just told Adam that we are going to stay home for Halloween. BORING....I know I'm lame. Between parties, pumkin carving, trunk or treats, ward activities, play dates, making halloween goodies, and shopping, Gabe has had a busy first Halloween experience. We've had something going almost everyday, but it all was a lot of fun.  

So we went to a costume party and Adam and I needed costumes. We went to Walmart and bought whatever was on sale, making me a vampire (my first Halloween as something scary I might add) and Adam a pirate. You can get good deals a few days before Halloween, but not much of a selection we found out. For some reason Gabe was confused by me, but freaked out by Adam. His was scarier to her than I was.  That was the last time we both dressed up. We felt bad. 

She went as a fairy ballerina/princess to show off the cute tutu Nana fluke made her. Everyone loved her outfit, including Gabe who just played with her tutu all night. 

She could hear Daddy, but couldn't see him

Our pumpkin carving adventure was really fun. I'm kinda a sentimental sap and wanted to do one for Gabe and get her picture with it. Maybe it was a cop out from doing a hard one this year who knows? Even though I still think I got done last. HA.  Adam went with the pirate theme, and his ship turned out way cool. Our friends did the other talented ones.  The kids didn't make it far into the night. 

Our ward Trunk or Treat was a lot of fun. We had a great turn out. We put Gabe in her warm costume so she wouldn't  freeze. Her skull Vans went well with it. Our trunk was decorated a lot cuter than it looks. We got a picture as Adam had cleaned it up and was shutting the trunk. People kept telling me how great Adam looked. As I walked down the cars all the kids were talking about Brother Fluke and his teeth. It was fun to see all the primary kids excited to show me their costumes. We had to take some pictures with our friend Owen the bat. Afterwards they had a Halloween carnival inside with a bunch of games for the kids. We didn't stay too long, cause Gabe was ready for bed. 

By the time I got around to taking her picture, her pumpkin was not in top shape, but oh well. She wasn't sure what to think of it. You can see her surprised, thinking about it, then of course trying to eat it. She makes me laugh, I love her tongue.

Halloween day we made some fun treats, and Gabe was right there with me helping cook. Then we had to take pictures with her red onesie and tutu. The last two pictures sum up the end of our crazy week. WE HOPE EVERYONE'S HALLOWEEN IS/WAS AS GREAT AS OURS!      

This is how Greta spent the evening... waiting for the next Trick or Treater to come along. She loved it. She really was at the window almost the whole night. We had to put her lease on so we could step on it to keep her in the house when we opened the door. She wanted to lick and play with all the kids. 

Vicks Vapor Rub

Okay so for those of you who don't know I've had a killer chest cough for seriously a month. I've been desperate to try anything. So I received this email about Vicks vapor rub and how it can help you. Here's a little insert from the email to explain it better. 

The soles of your feet can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.
Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent,
heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many,many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. 

Interesting Right? Well he goes on to explain how his wife used it and it worked like a charm . SO I DECIDED I WOULD TRY THIS THEORY. So the first two nights that I tried this I noticed I did sleep a little better, but still hacked my guts out. My cough didn't stop in 5 minutes for a few hours. My cough didn't stop for 5 minutes. 100% of the time huh? The next two nights I put it on my feet and chest. I noticed that I slept better, but figured it was either because of the Vicks on my chest or that my cough was probably getting better. So last night I went to bed with it just on my chest throwing the feet idea out the window. I hacked and hacked more than I did the two nights before. So I got up and put in generously on the bottom of my feet. I stop coughing and was able to sleep. SO my results: I have no idea if this really works, but until my cough goes away I'm generously applying the goo to my feet so I can sleep. Maybe it just works on light to medium coughs? Not full on persistent in the chest coughs? So if any of you  get a chance to try this, let me know your results. Luckily Gabe didn't get my cough, so I won't be testing it out on her just yet. 

Side note: I have been using the generic brand, so maybe that makes a difference?

Picture Fun

Today was the first Saturday I've had Adam home in a few weeks. So I took advantage of it, and took a bunch of pictures. I think they're fun so I decided to post them. He's the sweetest husband anyone could ask for. I've had this KILLER CHEST COUGH this week and haven't slept at all. (Seriously I have never been so sleep deprived in my life) So he got up with Gabe this morning and let me sleep in. He also cleaned up the house so I wouldn't have to get up and do it. I love him, he's the best. Gabe loved playing with him all day.

We also got a lot of fun pics from a Halloween party we went to tonight, but I want to post all my Halloween ones at once. We have a few events this week, so instead of doing a ton of small halloween posts, I'll do one big one. I guess you'll have to wait in crazy suspense, cause I know you all are dying to see them. 

Here are my fun family pics......

5 months have come and gone...

Here we are again, it's the 22nd and Gabe is another month older. It's getting to the point where the hospital does feel like a bit ago, but it doesn't seem like she should be as old as she is. This month has been filled with so many changes. 

-First off, her nap time is wonderful, if we're at home. She goes down great for her naps and they feel more scheduled out. They are also longer than a half hour. :) You give her her blanket (thanks aunt Michele), her binky, and her doll (thanks Nana fluke) and she's oh so content to fall right to sleep.  Night time is starting to get a little less hectic, but still some drama there. 

She's into this new phase where she feels like she has taken another nap and wakes up 3 hours into bedtime ready to party. Ha. Silly girl. We're working on it. 

-She is eating all sorts of Veggies. She loves them all. She is getting so good at eating them with less than a mess. She is practically a pro, which is WAY nice. The funny thing is I still think plain rice cereal is her favorite. You would think after eating all the fun flavors, the plain stuff would be no fun....nope she loves it. Is she gonna be an eater like her daddy? 

-She is rolling over, but not on purpose yet. She does is if she is desperate enough, but hasn't figured out it can be fun. She is getting stronger at sitting up on her own. She wants to be mobil but hasn't figured out has she can be. She just stretches out her body and reaches for what she wants. 

-She is now ticklish EVERYWHERE. So that means tons of laughter from her. She dives for Greta any chance she gets, and loves to torment her. She has this new look where she tucks in her lips, we call it the Sarah Grace look, cause it's the look we remember SG doing a lot. It's way cute. She also does that shy look, and tucks her head into our shoulder when you smile at her. 

- She can hold a bottle, which I'm transitioning into a sippy cup already. She is already good at drinking out of it. She loves being outdoors, I think she could stay out there all day. Her personality is shining through, she is way easy going and just loves to hang out. She's getting sneaky at getting what she wants, and has officially figured out how to wrap her Daddy around her pinky finger. LOOK OUT :) She feels so much heavier, and longer of course. Right after her appointment she hit a huge growth spurt. She's getting too big too fast.  We love her in our home and feel so blessed she is here. Happy 5 month Gabe!

Gabe loves to read

Hanging out with Daddy

The "SG" look

Wait a minute...who are you?

Sleeping with her blanky, binky, and baby. 

Quirky Things

 I saw this post on a few blogs actually and thought it was fun, so I decided to do it myself. I figured I'd do it about Adam and myself so I can show we're both odd. So here are 5 quirky things about us....

Mandy...

1- I have to sleep on the side of the bed that is furthest from the door. It makes me feel safe. Maybe I'm subconsciously afraid of the dark or something? I guess I figure if someone comes into attack us, Adam or Greta can sick em. If we rearrange our room or move,  we switch sides to accommodate my odd sense of safety. Now that I'm a mom it's not very logical if my kids come in searching for me I realized. I got a few years to get over it I guess. 

2- I HATE pumping gas. It's the worst chore for me. Don't ask me why, it's not hard. I think it feels to me like when you go to a store just for one thing. Kinda going out of your way I guess. 

3- I hate shoes and socks. I have what my family calls, "Weiss feet" they are wide and ugly. Shoes don't fit me and never have been comfortable. So therefore I hate them. I live life in flip flops, or bare feet if I can get away with it. You'll only see me in socks if my feet are freezing. 

4- I eat my dinner one item at a time. Very rarely do I skip around and take bites of the chicken, then veggies, then roll, then back to chicken. I eat the veggies till they're gone, then chicken, then roll, but in no particular order. One at a time. Weird I know but that's how I work. Adam teases me.

5- I hate it if my sheets are put on inside out on the bed. The pretty side should be up, and seam down. 

So for those of you who are thinking I'm a freak, I decided to share some of Adam's to prove we're both messed up

Adam....

1- Is opposite than me. He never takes off his shoes. He puts them on in the morning and keeps them on until he goes to bed. He doesn't take them off to relax, they stay on. I think he'd sleep in them if I'd let him. 

2- When Adam barely falls asleep he bites at the air. HA. He just opens and shuts his mouth so his teeth clack together. I have had some close encounters with him snuggling me and being afraid he'd bite my ear off. HA. He doesn't do it the rest of the night, just in the beginning. 

3- Most of the time it never seems like Adam is listening to you, probably cause he's always on the move, but he can repeat back every word I said even better than I could. 

4- When Adam shifts his car to another gear, he turns his head to the left. Not sure why, he just does.

5- Adam has to shower every morning. Even if he takes a shower the night before, he still takes one in the morning. It drives him crazy not to.

Anyway there you have it. Hope you all still love us after revealing our freakish natures.  

What we've been up to...

So yesterday we went up to play in our mountains. We thought we'd get in what we could before there is a ton of snow up there. We also wanted to see if any leaves had changed colors. There were some, but not a lot. (Most of it's pine anyway) It was a lot of fun just hanging out. We haven't put Gabe in her carrier for a while, so it was crazy to see how big she has gotten. When we last put her in she couldn't see over the flap, she's good now. It's been a while since Greta has been up in the mountains, so she went nuts and was doing circles around us the whole time. Here are some of our fun pics...

Gabe loves the mountains

Been a while with one all together

Trying to contain Greta long enough for a picture

Adam and Gabe peeking from behind a tree

Gabe was too distracted by Greta to look at the camera

WHAT THE SNOW?!!

It's not too far into October and it is already snowing. Kinda one thing I don't like about Reno, you get two seasons here, Winter and Summer. It transitions too fast. That means our house is freezing, and we are already paying to heat it this early into the "cooler" weather. As much as I hate the snow I am trying to be positive. Here are some things I like about cold weather; MINT hot chocolate, hoodies, warm beds, the holidays, snowmen, sledding, cuddling, fires in the fireplace, snow angles, throwing snowballs at Adam and Greta, seeing a blanket of snow outside and being warm indoors, my daughter looks adorable in warm clothes, and the silence of a snow fall. (I think my negative list is a lot longer, but let's focus on the positive) I do have to say it was funny to see Greta run outside not expecting it. She had to remember that she loves the snow. Gabe was fascinated to watch it come down. We ran outside for a sec to get a picture with her first snow. Also we did start her on Veggies, and she loves her squash. She dives for the spoon, we can't shovel it in fast enough. As you can see. The other pics are Gabe bundled up in her warm clothes. We had to take pictures of her hat, it was the cutest. Thanks Brit. She's ready for the cold. 

Fall!

I love everything about fall. The weather cools down, the leaves change, holiday festivities, and being with family. I love decorating for the holidays too. I realized now that we are renting a house, I don't have as much fall/Halloween decor as I thought I did. It was enough for an apartment, but not a house. I'm gonna have to start stocking up each year. Anyway here are some fun pics of the season. 

 

See what's cookin at our house...

My porch, even though half the stuff blew away.

(I picked these pumpkins on our trip... see below. I love them!)

The other day Gabe and I traveled to Fallon, NV with friends to Lattin farms. It has this huge pumpkin patch where you can choose your own pumpkins. They have a corn maze, hay rides, baked goods and fresh veggies, a little petting zoo, and tons of other fun stuff. It's about an hour away and well worth the drive. 

Picking a pumpkin, Gabe didn't know what to think. 

Attempting the pumpkin picture...

She was too fascinated by everything around her I couldn't even get her to look up at me.

The hay ride..I'm sure I was saying something good here.

Parks hanging out

Charly pouring dirt in her hair

We had a blast. Thanks for the invite guys!