Thomas and Tawowine

These two. They are fast becoming best friends. It was a bit of a rocky start, but they each really like each other now! It is so cute to watch them play and laugh at each other. 

I know I'm a little biased, but I think they are both beautiful.

Okay….so its not always peaches and roses! They definitely have their moments :)

But I love watching them play side by side

And I love the smiles they give each other.

These boxes provided a few weeks of entertainment.

Thomas is always doing acrobatics.

Someday, probably not too long from now, I will look back and really miss this stage of my life. These two children are pure innocence and joy. And yes, its exhausting! But I already miss hearing Thomas call her Tawowine. He just started calling her Caroline in the last week or so. They are growing up right before my eyes. Last night while the kids were in the tub Caroline started washing Thomas with a was cloth. Thomas thought that was the funniest thing in the world! Caroline is a little mini mom in training. I love it. They are both such little sweeties.

And a little update on Thomas too

Oh Thomas! There are no words! He is just so much fun and so cute. I really wish I could freeze the ages of both of my kids right now. 

 This little boy has a BIG personality. He is so funny, so charming and so sweet. You just can't get enough of him.

 Here he is pretending the street sign is a fire pole.

 Shortly after Papa Allred installed Thomas' new sandbox, I turned for a minute and found Thomas had stripped down to his undies and was diving in the sand. What a crazy kid!

 He loves to help his Papa. Clint had been doing lots of yard projects this fall and there wasn't much I could do to lure Thomas away from helping him. He'd tell me, "I can't play with you mama, Papa needs my help."

 He also loves watching "baseball" with Clint. Thomas refers to all sports as baseball, even though most of the time they are watching football.

 Some other funny tidbits and Thomasims:

• One day we were at the pharmacy standing in line and another mother was discipling her kids nearby. The mother said, " Who do you thinks in charge here?" Thomas yelled out, "Mama!"
• One day while entering a very messy room I said to Thomas, " Your room is looking very Junky." Thomas said, "Junky? That is a good name for a monkey!"
• Sometimes before bed will will say the Wee willy winkie nursery rhyme, to reinforce that past 8 children need to be sleeping. Thomas calls him Inkie the Winkie. We drove past the Salt Lake City County building, which is a very old build with clock towers. He said, "Hey! Isn't that Inkie the Winkie's house?" now whenever we drive downtown he looks for it. One night When clint was working I told him that nursery rhyme and went upstairs. A few minutes later Thomas runs up the stairs and said, "mom? Inkie the Winkie isn't real, right?" He was getting a little nervous about him!
• Thomas is really into telling Jokes. It is pretty funny. He will make up jokes, and re tell one he learns. His timing is sometimes really off and sometimes he tells the punchline before the jokes. Its hilarious. He is a little class clown, he tells me that he tells all his preschool friends his jokes. 
• Some of my favorite Thomas phrases, "Bye Bye! See you next time!" "Hello There" Hi-ya Pop" "Its a very nice day" 
• Thomas is still a pretty terrible eater- although now I can occasionally make him eat carrots by bribing him with dessert. And he recently started eating Mac and Cheese, which is huge! I swore before I had kids I wouldn't let them eat mac and cheese, and now I'm over the moon that he will eat it! 
• We love our little Mr. Man. My very favorite time of the day is early in the morning when he comes in the bed to snuggle with me. I am a big softy when it comes to my little man. 

My beautiful daughter at 15 month

 Isn't this little girl beautiful? I just love her so much. She is growing good and fast. I love this stage. She just started walking. She is very cautious and deliberate with her steps. It is the cutest thing. She is starting to get a little sassy at times, but it makes her all the more lovable, and a girl has to have a little sass to survive with Thomas as her brother.

I just love having a daughter. It is so special to have a little girl. She's got me wrapped around her little finger.

A few things about Miss C at 15 months:

• She loves babies- Like she is obsessed with them! She asks about her baby all the time and she gets very frantic when she can't find it. "Baby? Baby?! BABY!!!???"
• She loves cheese and is a very good eater. Dinner is her favorite meal because she loves savory food. 
• She has started biting Thomas when she gets mad! He totally provokes her and tries to get her to bite him so that she will have to go to time out!
• She loves Peppa Pig and Bunny shows. She doesn't have much of an attention span for shows, but she will watch these for a few minutes. 
• She is quite a little tease. She likes to pretend to run away to the stairs so that I will come and stop her. And she laughs and laughs. 
• She loves to snuggle. She will just sit on your lap for a good chunk of time. I love it! 
• She sing along to old macdonald in the car
• She has a vocabulary of over 30 words. 
• She has everyone's hearts stolen- She is just so darn precious. 

This is Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! What do you do when your little boy asks you for months to make him a backhoe loader costume for halloween? You stay up until 2 am and make it for him! Hopefully next year Thomas asks to be something a little more simple…. :) but he was pretty excited about it, and he looks pretty darn cute. So it was worth it. He said, "Wow, Mom! Its so Cwool!" 

Showing off some of the cwool features. 

 And the little lady? We borrowed this lion costume from my sister after my friend, Anna suggested Caroline being a caro-lion. We thought it sounded like a good fit :)

This picture isn't the greatest, but it shows their loot after the fun night of trick or treating. The kids absolutely loved it! It was so much fun to take them out. Thomas kept saying over and over, "It sure is a spooky night" He looked so cute in his little digger- it was totally worth it. And Caroline looked as darling as can be holding her little bucket and taking candy from the neighbors. When we came home Thomas played "trick or treat" for about half an hour before we made him get ready for bed. So cute. Such a fun age for these two.

 These pictures seriously make me laugh just looking at them. Thomas wanted to try on the costumes, Caroline is wearing Thomas' old zebra suit from his first Halloween. He said that the Lion was grumpy and the Zebra was happy.

 Looks like he is right! Maybe lions are just grouchy? (Thomas's face kills me)

 A nice Zebra kissing the lion to cheer her up. You don't see that everyday!

 Here are the neighbor girls, Averi and Lilly posing with the kids. Thomas and Caroline really love these girls. It has been fun for them to have some friends in the neighborhood.

 Thomas was a bit nervous during his preschool costume parade! I had him wear his space man suit from last year, because his loader would be too bulky to wear at school. So the spaceman suit has finally gotten some wear.

 Caroline wanted to follow all the children after the parade passed us by.

Here are some other Halloween randoms

 I took the kids with my sister, Emily to the Pumpkin patch in taylorsville to pick out their pumpkins.

this tiny girl picked out this tiny pumpkin and wouldn't put it down. 

She was very curious about carving it. 

 As was Thomas.

And another costume change for Caroline. She is the cutest little Ruby snap waitress alive. In a failed attempt at free cookies, Emily and I dressed up the lady in this get-up. Even though they didn't give us free cookies, I still think she looks pretty adorable!

The Allreds take on Bryce Canyon

 Clint had his first vacate time and while we spent the majority of the week working on the house and the yard we decided to take a short little overnight trip to Bryce Canyon. It was truly exquisite. We had a great time with the kids, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We have made a goal to see all of the National parks in the state in our next 3 years of fellowship. So one down, 4 to go! The kids of course loved staying in a hotel, and they also enjoyed the hike, although Thomas did get tired a lot, and was in and out of the carrier the whole time.

 Me and my cuties

 Some beautiful views! Bryce Canyon is truly a unique place.

 The best picture we got of all us!

 Aren;t they adorable little hikers?

And we even got to see a rainbow!