Halloween 2011

Halloween lasted what seemed like weeks at our house.  Here's some pictures of the many activities.

 

Here is Tod.  You may think that we was dressed as a vampire... but no.  That is frosting from a cupcake that he enjoyed at the trunk or treat.

 

Kimball wanted to be a white princess, (I don't know where she got the idea), and then was so happy to have her face painted by some of the young women in our ward.

 Jack was happy to show off his pirate skills and moustache.

Then, on Halloween,  I got brave and took all the kids to the closest rec center by myself.  I probably looked a little frazzled, but that's what happens when 2 kids run in opposite directions towards 2 different bouncy houses and leave me with 2 in a stroller.  But, we survived, and I daresay the kids had a great time.

 On Halloween night, we actually went out trick or treating.  Kimball and Jack had a great time, and didn't want to stop, especially Kimball. 

Tod went to a couple of doors, but decided that he was enjoying the stroller.  Then, when we got him in some light we understood why he didn't want to leave his stroller.  He just grabbed the candy from his bucket and started chowing down.  This is how we looked by the time we headed home.  It was a very successful Halloween. 

Just Videos

Here are a few videos that we've managed to catch of the kiddos lately.  They're always keeping us on our toes and making us smile - or making each other laugh.

 Kimball playing with Danny.  Who knew counting to 3 was so funny?

Dance party.  Really Kimball wanted to show off her new move the jump and spin.

Jack and his "Captain Hook" song. 

 

Danny starting some solids.  Yum, rice cereal.

 

Tod's attempts at talking.  We're getting there, slowly but surely.

Happy Birthday Jack!

 Jack had a birthday, shout hooray. HOORAY!!

  

  Here he is opening up his presents on his birthday morning.

 He's been all about pirates this year, so when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he said a pirate ship.  And when I asked what he wanted to name the boat, he said, "the bad guys." This is as good as I could get it for him.

Here he is blowing out the cannons (or candles) while we all sang to him at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

He came home with a whole backpack of presents from all of his cousins.  (Thanks aunts and uncles!)

And in honor of Jacks birthday... here's a video of him singing "Single Ladies."  And just to explain the song... my kids aren't watching Beyonce videos, they learned it from the 2nd Chipmunk movies.

 

Please disregard the last 10 seconds or so, I forgot to stop filming.

The Last Hoorah!

Jason and I bought Disneyland passes right before I found out I was prego with Danny. Which means that the passes were going to expire right before Danny turned 3 months old.  So, we did what any Disneyland loving (or obsessed) people would do.  We packed up our 4 kiddos, 2 double strollers, one porta-crib, and headed to the Happiest Place On Earth.  We had a great time!  People looked at us a little strange, as if to ask "can you really have fun with that many little kids?"  And we did.  Here's our proof.

 First day in, we managed to take a couple of pictures with some of our favorite character.

 I made it into this picture, but poor Danny didn't.

 This is where he was for that picture.

 So we made an attempt to get at least one picture with all of us in it.  And this is what it looks like trying to get us all together.

 Danny had more fun at the hotel.  I think he was just happy to be out of his stroller.

 If you follow this blog, you may realize there are never any pictures of me on the tea-cup ride.  That is for a very good reason, and Jason just knows that this one is all him.

 We just happened to run into a couple of the princesses, which made Kimball very happy.

Jack, on the other hand, decided he was happier seeing the princesses from a far.

And this is how hard we played for those 2 days. 

Some of the highlights of this trip was having some of friends there at the same time.  Jeremy and Rachel Gwin just happened to be going the same weekend, so we did play with them for a little bit.  Not as much as we wanted to, but it sure was fun to hang out with them and go on a couple of rides together.  

Jack was also our brave little boy who wanted to try out the Tower of Terror.  Kimball respectfully declined (she went on it last time).  So, I took Jack. He didn't scream, didn't cry, but man was that kid's leg shaking as the ride bounced us up and down.  When he got off the ride, he kind of sounded like the "rainman" and couldn't stop saying "ride, scary, yeah, ride, scary, yeah scary."  Poor kid, I hope he's not too traumatized.  But, both Kimball and Jack loved Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.  And Kimball loved Soarin' Over California.  

People ask why we take our kids to Disneyland so young, because they won't remember it, so why bother? That may be true.  But, I'll never forget watching them go on rides for the first time, or watching them chow down on a churro or Mickey Mouse pancakes, or be so excited to go talk to Mickey that they almost can't wait.  A teenager just doesn't show their excitement the same way. There's my response to that question.  I guess it's more about our memories as parents than it is for our kids.

So, that was the last trip for a little while. And now, time for the withdrawals.  If anyone here's me randomly whistling Disney tunes, just know that it's part of the withdrawal symptoms.

Midway and Swiss Days and Temple Square

As tradition follows, we headed up to my parents house in Midway for the annual Swiss Days.  Once a year, this little town of 2000 residents manages to host over 80,000 craft fair goers for a weekend.  It's quite crazy, but I love being there.  I've been going to this fair for as long as I can remember.  Then, the kids and I sent Jason home to work, and we stayed where it wasn't quite so hot.  Thanks for having us Mom and Dad!

Things about Swiss Days... portapotties and good treats, particularly snow cones.  Tod came home with a purple mouth, thank goodness for a dark shirt.

I walked around with Danny strapped to me, and by the time I made it back to my parents booth, he was officially passed out.

Jack's attempt at the rockwall.

Kimball's attempt at the rock wall.

Me and the kiddos playing in a little creek that ran right behind my parents drink booth, which became our hideout from the crowds.

Jason decided he wanted to cool his toes too.

After the fair, Jack disappeared, and this is where we found him (yes, he has no pants on).  We managed to put a pull-up on him just in case (I didn't want all my clean clothes to get peed on).

Nana is helping Kimball sew a little baby blanket for one of her new dolls that Nana got her.

Self portrait of Danny. Love those cheeks.

A trip to Nana and Papas isn't complete without a ride on the scooters. Here's my dad and Jack.

Kimball and Nana.

When Jason got back, we took the kids to Temple Square.  This little bench is where Jason officially proposed with my wedding ring.

It was too fun taking them around the temple and trying to get them to pose.  Danny was strapped to me the whole time, and didn't get any of the pictures.

Kimball kept asking why it was locked.  Good teaching moment trying to explain how to be worthy to be go the temple.

Okay, then it just became a climbing contest.

I love this picture, Tod wanted desperately to climb up to touch Jesus toes.

We met up with Jason's cousin Jesse and her kids.  Our kids had way too much fun playing in this fountain across the street from Temple Square.

And finally, we headed home, back to Las Vegas, after a fantastic road trip.  We were all exhausted. It was an awesome week of Swiss Days, swimming, playing the backyard, Temple Square, hangin' out with family and fun conversations.

It's Too Hot

Here are some of the things we've been up to, while we're waiting for it to cool down here in Las Vegas.  A week of excessive heat warnings led us to these crazy pictures.

One of the benefits of having a 3-letter name. If you want to know what happened to the other "d" you'll have to ask Jason's dad. 

Kimball loved the idea, but this is the only word I could think of.  The expression on her face just emphasizes this, don't ya think?

 Tod is really pretty good with his little brother, and doesn't try to hurt him too much.  Which is probably a good thing, because Danny is going to outweigh him very soon.  They'll be in the same size diaper in a week or two.

 The kids love to fight over the computer.  Kimball has mastered the Disney Princess website, and even the princess videos on youtube.

 Other skills mastered by Kimball.

Jack the photographer, at it again.  I think he just wants to have something to blackmail Tod with when he gets older.

To beat the heat, a couple of families from our ward decided to head up to Mt. Charleston.  It was a beautiful 75 degrees, and we all had a blast relaxing and watching our kids climb up the mountain and get extremely dirty.  Okay, my kids may have been the only dirty ones.

Kimball and Jack seeing how high they could climb.

 Jack showing off his dirty fish face w/ Jason.

 Tod decided to go for a raccoon look.

 Jason wanted to accept the challenge of holding all 3 of his sons at the same time.  What a proud dad!

Hafen Father and Sons Camp-out

Finally, it was the boys turn for their camp-out.  Jack has had to be so patient waiting for his turn to go camping with dad. Finally, the weekend of Aug. 12-13 arrived.  Tod, he didn't know he was waiting for anything, but was very happy to be included.

 Just some of the Hafen cousins that made it on this trip.

 Tod was really happy to be included and ready to get as dirty as possible.

 Chips and sippy cups can make any day in the "jungle," as Jack calls it, a good time.

Tod guarding one of the coolers.

Trying to skip rocks in the lake.

The only picture of Jason's face.  Jack was the photographer.

 A short stop at the park on the way home.  Nothing like a few pushes on the swing with Grandpa.

 

And a quiet car ride home.

This is one of these posts where I am going to brag about my husband.  I tried to convince him to leave Tod home because I was a little worried about Tod and how little he was to be camping.  But Jason wouldn't hear of it, and said it would be no problem.  And it wasn't.  Jason happily packed the boys up and off they went to their adventure, while I tried not to worry about little boys wandering in the wilderness.  As usual, my worries are for nothing and my 3 boys had a great time. I'm so glad our boys have an adventurous dad like Jason who is willing to make these memories happen.  Maybe next year Danny will get to go?  We'll see.