Halloween and other things

For Halloween this year, Josh wanted to be a "scary ghost". I kept asking what he wanted to be and that was his response every time, except for the day he came home from Lexi's birthday party with pirate garb...that time he wanted to be a pirate. I have to proudly admit, I made his little costume, as homely as it may be. I'm not one of the crafty, decorate the nursery, make artistic dinners kind of mom, so with Catlin's help, I made a ghost costume. Josh was a pretty cute ghost, even with the costume. :) The week before Halloween, we went to the ward trunk or treat. I used to think those were lame, but now with little kids, I love them. Carter was Winnie the Pooh (I got the costume from his baby shower), but he didn't love it. Most babies don't seem to like the idea of uncomfortable costumes...hmm. Josh seemed to enjoy it, but he really enjoyed the actual day of Halloween.
Poor thing, Josh came down with the croup Thursday night. It was pretty scary. I woke him up around 10:30pm to take him to the bathroom, and he was wheezing and had a barking cough. We took turns sleeping with him that night (Ryan was so nice and held him on the couch for hours) to make sure he didn't die on us, and luckily the next day was a bit better. On Halloween, though, we didn't do much and had to miss a fun birthday party; but we decided to let him go trick or treating to a few houses. He loved it! He held my hand the whole time, went up and knocked on the doors, and said "trick or treat" even repeating himself if needed, and then said "thank you" at each door. For my quiet little Josh, that's quite a big deal! We went with Catlin (the Gedge's live beneath us) and her son Matthew while our hubbies stayed home with the babies. Matthew was hilarious, bouncing around, not wanting to wear his costume, etc. It's fun to see the different personalities of little kids. I tell you what, they come as they are and there's not much you can do to change it! After trick or treating, we went back home and had chili and watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin. It was a good night for us.
On a different note, I just finished a personal progress value project. For those who don't know, personal progress is kind of like boy scouts but for young women in the LDS church. You complete different "experiences" and value projects (projects are 10 hrs long) designed to help you progress in different values. The values are: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue. Okay, enough of the introduction. I decided for my one of my projects, I was going to exercise at least 1/2 hr every day, except for Sunday, and record my food intake for two weeks. I couldn't have snacks unless my blood sugar went low (gotta love diabetes!) and I ended up counting calories as well. I am really surprised how it went. I've always felt like I've had a good grasp on eating healthy, since I'm always counting carbs, but I was surprised at the amount, or lack of, calories in certain foods. I also couldn't believe how many calories I add on from my mindless snacking. No wonder I was having trouble losing the last few pounds of baby weight! I'm relieved to be done with the project, because it was a lot of accountability (guess the value), but I really think it opened my eyes a lot.

Along with that project, I've come up with a few more I want to do: run a marathon, memorize a song to sing and play on the piano, memorize the world countries, and make some church folder games for my boys. Surprisingly (I've used that word quite a bit), I've been really excited to do these things. Every once in a while I think, "man, I'd like to do that" or "I'd like to know those things", but that's as far as I'd go. I'd think about marathon runners and about how I'd never be able to do that, but to think I'll actually train and run a marathon myself, or work to learn all the countries in the world is really invigorating. I'm really glad that I've been able to get the motivation, and excuses (ever feel like there's not enough time), to do some personal growing from Personal Progress. It really is an inspired program.Here Carter's pretending to be in the spirit of Halloween and Ryan's not even pretending. Last year he was Napolean Dynamite...I vote for a redo, Ry! Josh found his old bee costume and had to wear it.

I don't think Carter liked the prunes....

Josh wanted to wear Carter's hat. In fact, he wore it to the park the other day. Better get him a hat of his own.

Just a cute picture of my sweet baby.