Thanksgiving

My whole family (minus my brother Derrick who is on a mission) was in Ohio for Thanksgiving. We spent the day buying things at CVS (Stephanie taught us all the art of getting free stuff), planning our next day shopping plans, playing Scrabble, and just being lazy while Grandpa Monte cooked most of the food. Grandma Melinda whipped up some cute place cards just before dinner to spice up the table.

My family let Jay play scrabble with them and make up his own words, there are some crazy words on there.

Believe It or Not...

...I'm actually posting on the blog. Seriously folks, I know you all think I'm a liar based on the last post saying there will be "tons of updates in the next few days", but I have good excuses, I promise.

I'm starting where I left off, with much more to come (no promises when it will come, but I'm trying hard, I promise), I know I seriously need more cute kid pictures up here, so here it goes:

Carly's Blessing:

We blessed Carly the Sunday after Halloween. Lots of Chad's family and my family were able to be there. It was great. Grandma Melinda strikes again and makes another adorable sewing creation. Take a look:

Super Jay and the Littlest Mermaid

Alright, we're back to the blogging world, look for tons of updates in the next few days!

Here's our favorite boy in the coolest Halloween costume ever, thanks to Grandma Melinda. She really is the coolest. Who else could whip out a costume this great in just a couple hours?

Here's Carly in her mermaid costume. Grandpa Monte was holding her at the ward party and people said he looked like King Triton with his beard and holding a wee mermaid. For some reason I don't have a picture of it, but I wish we would have thought of it earlier and Grandma Melinda could have whipped him up a fabulous costume!

Thanks mom!

No Costume Necessary

This handsome man was going to dress up as an attorney for Halloween, but, today he was informed by the Ohio Bar Association that he passed the Bar Exam, and he really IS an attorney! Thankfully, no costume is necessary.

We're so proud of him and all his hard work! Way to go Chad!

Family Pictures

Here's a peek at the family pictures we just had taken. These are just a few of my favorites, she took tons and I love them all! If you're in the area and need a great photographer at a great price, contact Jessica. She did a great job, even though Jay was being quite difficult (we may have to find a new location that doesn't have a huge playground in sight).

Fall Fabulousness

We get pretty excited about fall here in the Worthen house. We love pumpkin bread (the most fabulous recipe ever here), the weather, apples, leaves, and everything else that makes fall fabulous. Last Monday (the first day of fall), Jay and I were inspired by a bag of silk leaves in the one spot at Target (as well as this fabulous mother) and we decided to plan a fall party. It was supposed to be a surprise for Chad when he came home from work, but Jay chanted "fall party!" all the way home from picking Chad up from work, so I'm pretty sure Chad knew what was coming. We tried to go all out, but not only would Carly not do her share of the preparations, she insisted on being held and fed. The nerve! Although Martha could have done better, we had quite a lovely celebration. Here are the highlights:

The Decor: Jay and I taped the silk leaves onto some string

The Treats: Pumpkin Bread Muffins with cream cheese frosting. (also notice my favorite fall tablecloth)

We were going to do some fall activities, but the evening got away from us. We made a good attempt, and the party plans kept Jay and I busy and excited all day, which is really all I can ask for.

In the past week we've been enjoying everyday of fall. Here are some activities we've done so far:

Jay washing the pumpkin centerpiece

(I told him it just had dirt on it, but he insisted it was "poopy")

A lovely fall tree we saw on our walk around the neighborhood

The leaves Jay picked up from the tree to take home and make a project

(Jay gets really excited when you use the word project. He said "These will be perfect to make for daddy! It will be wonderful for him!")

We'd like to fully take advantage of the fall before it's gone, so let us know if you have any fabulous activity ideas for us, or fabulous recipe ideas for us to make!

Adjusting to Life as a Family of Four

Alright, here's the run down of the past month of our lives. We're adjusting quite well, with the exception of our lack of sleep, which should resolve itself eventually. Here's "baby sister":

(As a side note, we really shouldn't have stressed so much about a name and just named her "baby sister" as that is all she gets called anyway.)

This is how Carly spends most of her days

This is how she spends the rest of her time when she's not eating

On rare occasions, she does this (oh we are so blessed, she is quite a pleasant girl)

This is a really weird picture that makes it look like she's smiling with a ginormous flower on her head. She's not really smiling, and the flower isn't that huge.

Jay is taking his lack of attention better than expected. On occasion he insists that we "drop baby sister" while we're holding her, and often tells us "you not want hold baby sister". On the flip side, whenever she's awake and looking at him, he says "I think she like me...I like her too...I think she like you too mommy!".

He is watching too much TV these days, but the doctor says it doesn't make me a bad mom. He has also learned how to operate the computer mouse and loves playing games on pbskids.org all by himself. When Carly is sleeping and Jay and I get hang out time, we usually bake something, and then the whole family spends the next day eating way too many cookies. We seriously have got to make some friends that like cookies that could potentially contain slobber, or I am never going to lose this baby weight!

Jay and I try to keep busy inside the house most days as we're stuck here without a car. We invested in a fabulous "sit 'n stand" double stroller that we love so we can make the occasional trip to the playground and stroll around the neighborhood. He also enjoys painting and coloring these days and is working on being proficient with a glue stick. He borrows a small circle paper punch I have and LOVES to "clip" hundreds of circles out of paper. We are not combining skills and creating fabulous greeting cards with lots of circles glued on them...watch your mailbox and you might just get lucky and receive one of these cards!

This is a picture of Jay making cupcakes with Grandma Melinda (she's much more patient than I am. When Jay and I make muffins, putting the batter in the cups is a "mommy job".)

One last Jayism to end this post:
The other day I had to chase him down in the parking lot after he tried to run off. I informed him that he would be going to time-out as soon as we returned home. This conversation followed:
Jay: I not want to go time out!
Darbie: Well, then you should listen to what mommy says.
Jay: It's hard mommy, it's hard!