Guns, Guac, Ghouls, and Ghosties!

Who can believe it's already Halloween?? October just flew by!! We had so many fun things happening, plus all of our normal (CRAZY) amount of activities, that before we knew it-- November is just right around the corner.

This almost-four-year-old (her birthday is exactly one week after Halloween) is loving preschool. She really missed it over Fall Break, and I'm so thankful it gives her something productive to do, and to have something to look forward to during the week. Now it just makes the other days of the week feel really long and boring to her, but she loves her teachers, her friends, and learning her letters. She's been having fun picking out Halloween-y outfits all month long.

They made these cute poems one day, and I loved Leah's responses. She definitely has two sides to her-- the nickname Mt. Leah still fits!! 

They took a class photo recently and here she is with her cute new friends and Miss Ashley.

Speaking of school, here's Mr. Cardon giving his classmates their spelling test a few Fridays ago. He saved up all of his Class Dojo reward points (he gets awarded points whenever he does something good) and cashed them in for the prize of being "Teacher For a Day." How fun is that? His teacher said he did great-- and even got to experience "real life teacher fatigue," as he was so busy collecting papers he forgot to eat his snack during snack time.

Jon and I were long overdue for a date night, so last Saturday we hired a babysitter and tried a new taco place called "Torchy's Tacos." Whitney had raved about their tacos and guac, so I already had high expectations due to that, but we had actually tried to go the Friday night before and the line was literally out the door with at least 40-50 people waiting to order!! Now if that alone didn't recommend it, we'd be dumb not to try again...

So that Saturday around 4 p.m. (we figured we'd try it during an off-time) we ordered the green chile queso, and five amazing different tacos to share. So good!! The "Trailer Park" with fried chicken and chorizo was my favorite-- but Jon liked the shrimp and fried avocado. They were all definitely a hit and I can't wait to go back and try some more.

After our tacos and guac, we headed over to the shooting range to turn me into a gun-toting mama. Ha ha-- just kidding, but let's be honest, in this day and age it's a skill I'd rather have than not have. We started with the rifle (which I hated), then switched to the shotgun (which was fun), and finished with Jon's handgun which was great. This was my target after firing the handgun-- and let's just say, with how loud and disorienting it is I'm thankful I even hit the target! No bullseyes, but Jon says I shoot pretty much up and down the middle, as opposed to veering off left or right, so now I just need to get it dead center and I'll be a regular ol' Annie Oakley. 

Here's my super sexy "mans" getting tons of bullseyes and hitting everything right on target. With a new foodie place under my belt, and lots of explosions for Jon, it was what you could call a perfect date night for both of us.

That Sunday night we made out traditional Halloween sugar cookies-- as well as a huge mess frosting and sprinkling them. The kids had fun later on doorbell ditching plates of them to all of our neighbors. 

Here's beautiful Lizzie in her Sunday best. I keep reminding myself to take her picture every Sunday in her little dresses before she outgrows them all and there's not another new baby to pass them on to!

Leah had her preschool Halloween party this week and she was SO excited to wear her Belle costume that Grandma Cardon made for her. She had all the accessories and even a Belle wig, so she totally looked the part! She ended up wearing the dress all day long and had a great time at her party.

This little tiny peanut just keeps growing up. Now whenever we brush teeth, she wants her own toothbrush to be just like the big kids. She turned 9 months on the 25th, and had her 9 month check-up a few days later. 

She is just the sweetest baby and is SO friendly! I don't want to jinx her, but she doesn't have any sense of stranger danger yet, and I can't even count how many people she got passed around to during church today. At least 4 families consistently send a daughter to come get her during Sacrament, and if ever I have to take her to my 12-13 year old Sunday School class I can't even teach the lesson because all those kids want to do is play with her.  She just seems to know she's cute and loves being showered with any extra attention. How can you not love that little mug??

Here are her 9 month doctor's office stats:

Height: 26 3/4 in. (25th %)

Weight: 15 lbs. 14 oz. (15th%)

Head Circumfrence: 43 cm. (30th%)

Compared to Lucy's 97th percentiles at this age, she is sooo tiny for our family, but that's just fine by me because it makes her seem like our little baby for longer!