Last Installment

Done! This is my last layout for the calendar. Now I just have to add dates to it! I am so excited! My parents better like this thing! I am sure they will, my mom has been asking for one for the past three years! When I get the printed version I will take pictures and post it on here. Without further ado....HALLOWEEN 2008!Credits:

Stolen Moments -- Fright-Nites
Digi Designs by Nicole -- Fright-Nites

Anxiously Awaiting, Gratitude, and Other Layouts

Amber over at Stolen Moments just released the papers for her Anxiously Awaiting Contemporary Kit. This a pregnancy kit, but it is more about the momma than the baby. Because this is meant more for YOU it has some great modern colors and designs. It was a blast to play with and she came up with some great elements as well. Now remember that you can go get the papers NOW, but you need to go back everyday to collect the rest of the kit. Also, keep in mind that Amber is wonderful and does this for FREE, so leave her some nice comments!

(Preview of EVERYTHING in the kit!)

My two page spread!

1st half

2nd half
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Nicole over at Digi Designs by Nicole also put out a kit today. This one was entitled Gratitude Kit. This was very earthy and fallish. She had some very different colors that I loved. I have been working on a calendar for my parents and this kit worked wonders for their wedding photo I did. Definitely pick this kit up! A reminder again that Nicole only released the papers today....you have to go back all week to pick up the full kit! She also does all her kits for FREE so leave some comments that will spur her on to more great kits!

Paper Preview

My layout! The colors in the kit matched my parent's 70's wedding perfectly! LOL!
(Template by Mandagirl)
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I have been working like a mad woman to get all of my calendar pages done by today. I got all of them but one done! Phew! I almost met my goal! Here are the layouts I did this week! Oh, and the boy in the photos is my nephew!

Credits:
Andreagold -- template 281
Digi Designs by Nicole -- That Jazz Kit

Credits:
Jennifer Leberenz @Scrap Outside the Box -- Daily Download Template 70
Andrea -- Feelin' Silly Kit

Credits:
JZ Designs -- Template 17
Sweet Blossom Designs -- A Touch of Class Kit

Credits:
Lori's Scraps -- 178 template
Digi Designs by Nicole -- All Boy
Freckles Scraps -- Gone Fishin'

Credits:
CSchneider_Cookie101_20081001
Digi Designs by Nicole -- Cherry Blossom Kit
Digi Designs by Nicole -- Chloe Kit

Credits:
Stolen Moments -- He's Late for Class
Faith True -- Rescue Vehicles and More

Try-It-Tuesday....or Thursday :)

Where has this week gone? Seriously! Is Thanksgiving really one week away and Christmas 30 days away?! Oh my! I have so much to do! Well, if you are like me you just might like this Try-It-Thursday recipe. Uhhh....yeah, Elena (The founder of Try-It-Tuesday) didn't post on Tuesday, so of course I forgot! But she posted today, so I followed suit! Thanks for the "reminder" Elena! Anyway, this recipe is very easy and guess what?! It uses some of your food storage! Well, that is if you have food storage! Hehehehe! If you want more GREAT food storage recipes check out this site! This lady is amazing with what she comes up with! Hope you enjoy this recipe of hers as much as we did!

Sour Cream Chili Bake

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground Beef
¼ C. Chopped Onion
1 can (16 oz.) Kidney Beans, Drained
1 can (15 oz.) Tomato Sauce
1 envelope Taco Seasoning mix 1/4 C. Dehydrated Onions 1 can of Corn, Drained
1 C. (4 oz.) Shredded Cheddar Cheese
3 ½ C. Fritos
1 ¼ C. Sour Cream

Directions:
Cook ground beef and onion until meat is browned and onion is tender; drain. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, taco seasoning, corn, onion and ¾ C. cheese. Sprinkle 2 ½ cups Fritos in bottom of 8x8 baking dish. Cover with Chili. Bake at 350 degree for 20-25 minutes. Spread sour cream of chili. Top with remaining corn chips and cheese. Bake 3-4 minutes longer.

*Time Saving Tip* If you're running short on time, you can use 2 cans of chili and a can of corn, drained for the middle part of the casserole.

***This makes a lot even though it only goes into an 8x8 pan. Our family of three only ate MAYBE a third of it!***

Many Tags

Okay, I like doing tags, because gives you a peak into my life of things I normally probably wouldn't thin k to reveal to anyone. So I have a million tags building up that I haven't done. So bare with me as I do a few of these!
-------------------------------------------------
4-4-4 Tag

I was tagged by Jessica. I like this tag because it is simple! You go into your pictures, find your fourth folder, then the fourth picture in the folder and then post it. Here goes!This Lily in Feb of 2007. My brother took us out to eat while he was visiting. Can you believe how bald Lily was?! She was 18 months!

Now I tag four people!
Amber, Carolyn, Cori, and Dawnyel!
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One Word Tag
By Erinn

1. Where is your cell phone? desk

2. Where is your significant other? work

3. Your hair color? strawberry blonde

4. Your mother? giving

5. Your father? funny

6. Your favorite thing? computer

7. Your dream last night? none

8. Your dream/goal? house

9. The room you're in? family

10. Your hobby? scrapping

11. Your fear? dark

12. Where do you want to be in six years? settled

13. Where were you last night? home

14. What you're not? clean

15. One of your wish list items? laptop

16. Where you grew up? Midway

17. The last thing you did? sneezed

18. What are you wearing? blanket

19. Your TV? on

20. Your pet? none :(

21. Your computer? great!

22. Your mood? happy

23. Missing someone? Alan

24. Your car? Buick

25. Something you're not wearing? socks

26. Favorite Store? Target

27. Your summer? gone

28. Love someone? Russell

29. Your favorite color? periwinkle

30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday

31. Last time you cried? sunday

Okay... Now I tag:

Deanna, Elena, and Liz
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Eight's Tag

I was tagged by Mindy, so here it is.......


8 Things That Happened Today
1. Woke up sick
2. Power went out
3. Gave Lily a snack
4. Put Allie down for a nap
5. Got dressed
6. Blogged
7. Ate breakfast
8. Turned on George for Lily
Give me a break, it is only 11:00! Not much has happened yet!

8 Favorite Places to Eat
1. Olive Garden
2. Texas Roadhouse
3. Bajio/Cafe Rio
4. Jonney Carino's
5. Cold Stone Creamery
6. Sizzler
7. Pow Chow (Okay, some chinese restaurant in Heber)
8. Thai House



8 Adventurous Things I'm Looking Foreward to
1. Starting to make quickpages
2. Lily's surgery
3. My long battle of losing weight... Good answer Mindy!
4. Buying ahouse
5. Russ getting a job
6. My kids growing up
7. Going to Puerto Rico/St Croix/US Virgin Islands with Russ (That was his mission)
8. Finishing all my scrapbooking...someday.


8 Things on My Wish List
1. A job for Russ
2. A house
3. A laptop
4. DEBT FREE!!
5. Health
6. Vacation!
7. I wish for a spotless house that my kids don't mess up!
8. My own craft room


8 Things I'm Passionate About
1. My family
2. Music
3. My husband
4. My kids
5. Scrapbooking/Crafting
6. The Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints
7. Blogging :)
8. My Friends


8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Desperate Housewives (Naughty I know)
2. Lost
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4. Biggest Loser
5. CSI
6. Dancing with the Stars
7. Survivor
8. News


8 Favorite Movies
1. Sweet Home Alabama
2. Star WArs
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. Harry Potter
5. Phantom of the Opera
6. Italian Job
7. Sahara
8. Count of Monte Cristo


8 people I tag:
1. Erinn
2. Rebecca
3. Jenna
4. Jessica H
5.Manndi
6.Amy
7. Julie
8. Tarah
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Picture of Me
By Ashley

So you gotta take pictures of the following things without cleaning up first! Uhhh.. thanks Ash!

Kitchen Sink -- Lovely color of tile eh? NEVER put tile as your kitchen counter. It is impossible to clean!

Laundry room
Fridge
Bathroom -- blue and pink tile can you believe these colors?
Favorite room -- Okay this isn't a room, but it is MY space. Of course it gets invaded by little kid stuff too!
Closet -- Front closet. This thing is amazing! We have so much crap stuffed in there...and it is all organized!
Favorite shoes -- Any type of flip-flop
Self portrait
Kids
Dream Vacation -- The Buccaneer in St. Coix
Hope you learned a little about me!

Awesome Mom Tag

I got this in an e-mail from my wonderful sister-in-law Leslie. I just couldn't resist putting it on my blog and starting it as a TAG!

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Awesome Mom
Once you have been hit,
you have to hit 5 awesome Moms.

Including the one who thought of
YOU today and sent it to YOU...

If you get hit again,
You will know you are Really awesome!

So hit 5 awesome moms on your friends list
to let them know they are awesome!
I hit: Jess G., Ashley, Carolyn, Deanna, and Stevie!

Thank You!

I just wanted to to tell everyone that left a comment about Lily's tonsils THANK YOU! Your sweet comments helped me to realize that things are going to be okay. They eased my anxiety and helped me know that my little girl will truly benefit from this! Thank you for caring!

Love and Joy Kit -- More Layouts Too

Amber and Nicole have done another collab called Love and Joy. I love when they do collabs together! They come up with the best stuff! They also totally spoil us with TONS of cool things. There was so many cool things that I didn't even get to use on my layout. These are kits that I will reuse over and over! So remember to go pick the pieces of kit all week and both Amber's and Nicole's websites!

Credits:
Purple Tulip Designs -- TEMF005 Digi Designs by Nicole -- Love and Joy
Paper 2
Circle Stitch2
Ribbon 1
Stolen Moments -- Love and Joy
gem 1
gem 2
page border 2
snowflake 1
star
tag 1
paper 5a
word art 6
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Here are my layouts for last week as well! Hope you enjoy them!


Credits:
Lorri's Scraps -- 181 Template
Fonts for Peas -- PeaNoodles
Grafx 4 All -- Floral Swirl
Stolen Moments -- Floral Reminiscance

• Alphabet
• Paper 2a, 2d, 3, 5d, 4a
• Frame 2a

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I got this quote off of my grandma's fridge. It has been there since I can remember. We all get a good chuckle out of it. I know there were times my mom wished she could kill me. I was such a naughty child! Anyway, onto the layout!
Credits:
Designs by Lorie -- Sketch Template 02
Faith True -- Lovey Dovey Freebie

• Plain ribbon
• Large heart brad
• Solid2

Audra's Little Scraps -- Sisterly Love Collab

• Paper 4

Designs by Michelle Batton -- Sisterly Love

• Flower

Julie Marie -- Sisterly Love

• Button2

Meredith Cardall -- Sisterly Love Blog Train

• ribbon01
• paper01

Boyerville Scraps -- Sisterly Love

• Paper-03

Artsy Fartsy Stuff by Jewelle -- Wordart

Blogging

I love blogging, don't get me wrong. But we all should be very careful! I saw this on a friend's website and decided to watch the video. It was insightful. I am going to think about some of the things it said NOT to do. Check this out and see if you are being unsafe with your blogging!

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4699330

Also, upon watching this video I have one request. Go ahead and link us on your blog but PLEASE do not put our last name on there. I know, I know. It is at the top of our blog, but that is going to change....soon! I just got to figure out a good title. Any suggestions?

Tonsils

Last week our dentist looked at Lily's teeth. At the end of the appointment he began to ask me some questions that weren't dental related. Finally, he told me that he thought I should get Lily's tonsils looked at. He said they were very enlarged. In fact they were the largest he had seen in a child. Since we were headed to the pediatrician to get a flu shot any I figured we would get her checked out.

I wasn't able to get into my normal doctor, but I did get in to see another one. The doctor asked basically the same questions the dentist asked. Did Lily well at night, did she snore, did she ever stop breathing at night, was she tired during the day, etc. After examining her he concluded that her tonsils were very enlarged and needed to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor to see if she had sleep apnea.

Today we went in to see the ear, nose, throat doctor. He asked the exact same questions the doctor and dentist had asked. Geesh you'ld think they could come up with something new. Anyway at the end of his assessment he said he would suggest that Lily gets her tonsils taken out. He said it should help with her sleeping, tiredness, pee-pee accidents (Who knew that was related to tiredness?), her sleep apnea (Yes he confirmed that she does have it), and other some other things that I just chalked up to her being a three year old. After a brief discussion with Russ we decided to go ahead with the surgery. As of now it is scheduled to be December 3rd at EIRMC. We should get more details as it gets closer. When we find out more I will post it.

***Sorry this was a little factual. I am just struggling with the fact that my three year old has to go in for surgery!***

New Blog

Awhile ago I made a new blog. I mainly made this so that people who are looking at my CT stuff aren't directed to my family blog. I just wanted to let all of you that read this blog know about it. Right now I haven't posted anything on it that I haven't posted on here. However, I am starting to look into making quickpages with my layouts. Those I will exclusively post on that blog. Also I am going to add more of my crafts on that one. I just don't want this blog to get loaded down with my projects. This is my journal...a place to write about kids, me, and husband. Our ups, our downs, and our in betweens. If you want to check it out my artsy fartsy stuff check it out here: http://jewelleslayouts.blogspot.com/

Try-It-Tuesday

This week is actually a tried and true recipe from the Rail household. I was too lazy to find a new recipe this week, and I had soup bone in my freezer taking up precious room. So I decided to make my mom's famous vegetable soup for the first time. Yup, I am 25 almost 26 and have never made soup from a soup bone before.

It wouldn't be a Try-it-Tuesday without learning somethings would it?! Here are a few things I learned.
Lesson 1: Don't ask your mom ANYTHING about a recipe when she is stressed out and/or tired. She told me that I only need to cook my soup bone for about two hours....ummm try like 6 or seven! Needless to say we didn't have soup on Sunday like I had planned.
Lesson 2: Always check your water every 1/2 hour or so, even if you think it is fine. Yep, mine all boiled off and my meat almost burned because of it.
Lesson 3: Don't stick your fingers in a boiling pot of soup to grab out the soup bone. Don't even ask why I did this because I don't know. It was a very stupid moment for me. Thank goodness my fingers weren't in there long enough to get burned.

There were more lesson learned, but I won't bore you with my stupidity. You know people who read this probably think I am a horrible cook, which isn't true. I know I am a good cook, I just do really stupid things the first time I try recipes. Oh well, I figure I give you guys a good laugh at least once a week with my stupidity! :) this recipe is great for those chilly days we are starting to experience. It also great with a fresh loaf of homemade bread...that's what mom used to serve it with. Mmmmmm!

Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

• soup bone (I assume you can get these at the store. I don't know though, my Uncle John has always given us ours.)
• 5 0r 6 potatoes, chopped into chunks
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 onion chopped
• 1/2 cup of celery(add more if you like celery, I don't!)
• one handful of egg noodles (That is what my mom told me but I added three handfuls because I like noodles)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 cans of beef broth
  
• Lots of water
• Peas (optional, grandma likes to add these)
• Anything YOU like in vegetable soup

Directions:

1. Put soup bone, bouillon cubes, and water in top a tall stock pot. The water should completely cover the bone. Cover with lid. Boil on high until meat is done. This will take approximately 5 - 7 hours. As it is boiling add water to keep bone covered. Also, as meat turns tender, start to shred if from the bone. This will allow the meat to cook faster.
2. Once your meat is done add the beef broth, onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for about 15 minutes still on high.
3. Add potatoes. Cook another 15 minutes.
4. Serve and enjoy!

***You can add in your own vegetables as stated before. Just be sure that you put veggies that take longer to cook in first. The faster cooking veggies can go in with the potatoes!***

*** It should also be noted that this makes A LOT of soup. Take some to a neighbor or realize that you are going to be having some leftovers.***

***I know this sounds complicated, but it really isn't. You just have to know that you aren't going anywhere during the day. I guess you could try cooking your meat in a crockpot, but I don't know if that would turn out as good as doing it on the stove top. Someone try it and let me know!***

Operation fluffy marshmallow!

Yep I lost .5 lb. I guess a teeny something is better than a nothing. I really gotta start doing the bunny hop! That is what my mom calls exercising. This operation fluffy marshmallow because that is what a feel like.

Rolling over

Allie rolled over from her back to her front today! She did without any ehlp. She didn't even mind staying on her tummy for awhile.

Wonderland Kit aka Layouts for the week!

BRRRRR! Yeah, I was shivering just looking at these awesome colors that came in Nicole's latest kit. She did a great job of capturing the mood of winter. Her embellishments were so cool. Make sure you check out the buckles, they are awesome! You can see one on my layout. Don't forget to go grab all the great pieces to this kit. Remember that they come out in the following order: Mondays/Papers, Tuesday/Embellishments, Wednesday/Alphas, Thursday/Insta-Scraps, Friday/Add-on. Oh don't forget the add-on! It is soooooooooooo cute for this kit!

Credits:
Pickleberrypop -- Template Challenge_09023-30
Digi Designs by Nicole -- Wonderland Kit

Try-It-Tuesday

Oops! I totally forgot that yesterday was Try-It-Tuesday. I have an awesome recipe for you to try. I got this from the Picky Palate website. She has some good things, go look for yourself!

Ranchero Mexi-Chicken Crostada

Ingredients:
1 roll Pillsbury Pie crust, thawed
1 can chunk chicken (from Costco), or about 1 ½ Cups cooked shredded chicken
1 drained can Mild Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies
½ Cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves
1 Teaspoon Ranch dressing seasoning, from packet that makes the dip
1 teaspoon cumin (I would cut this in half unless you like the taste of cumin.)
Pinch of salt and pepper
½ Cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon Lawry’s garlic salt with parsley

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll pie crust and place onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray.
2. Place chicken, tomatoes, cilantro, ranch seasoning, cumin, salt and pepper into a large bowl. With a fork, stir and cut up chicken pieces until well combined. Pour chicken mixture into the center of pie crust and top with cheddar cheese, leaving about 1 ½ inch border around edges. Fold crust up over chicken forming little pleats every 2 inches or so pressing gently. Brush edges with olive oil and sprinkle crust with garlic salt.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown on edges. Let cool for 5 minutes then cut into wedges to serve.

4 Servings (These are smaller than I was expecting.)

****If you have a tried and true recipe you'd be willing to share, leave a comment with the recipe title and post the recipe on your blog so we can all come and check it out. Thanks for playing; the more the merrier! ****

Creative Team, Kit, and Layouts

Guess what?! I made another creative team! I am really excited about this one, because it is my friend Amber that I knew in High School. She is such a fun person. I have decided that this will be my last Creative Team that I am on though. I am just too busy to do any more. I don't know how some people do like 10 teams. They must not have a life!

Amber of Stolen Moments designed these REALLY fun kits. They are school kits. One is for a boy and one is for a girl. They are called HE IS LATE FOR CLASS and SHE IS LATE FOR CLASS. I know that you can still pick up the boy part for free, not so sure about the girl part. If not check out her scrapbook store. She sales at Tagger's Scraps. Amber's kits are priced VERY reasonably for how much stuff you get. Well, here are the previews and the layouts I made with them.

The BIG Bathtub

Allie graduated to the BIG bathtub this past weekend. Her baby tub was just too small. She could actually kick hard enough to throw herself out of it. I was worried that she would get too cold in the big tub because our electric heating doesn't do so well. But of course I worried over nothing. She was perfectly fine. She had a grand old time splashing around. I had a really cute video of it, but her "loincloth" came off so opted not to share it. I was also excited because she actually let me take picture of her AFTER her bath. She was happy, can you tell she loved the bath?! :D

Halloween!

Halloween was a little bit more relaxed than the rest of the week. We didn't have anywhere to go during the day so we stayed home and just relaxed. Allie spent much of the day sporting her Halloween Spirit. Isn't she ghoulish?

I was mad at Lily for not taking a decent picture with me the night before, so we tried again. I guess it turned out a little better.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two together. Lily was thrilled that Allie was sitting on her lap and that she got to hold her all by herself. Can you tell?!

A friend took this picture of us at her house when we went trick or treating. Thanks Stacey!

At 5:00 that night we headed over to the mall for trick or treating. It was really fun, and Lily loaded up on candy. The stores were very generous because we were one of the first ones through!

Lily did what I would call "drive by trick or treating". She wouldn't really slow down to get the candy. She would hold out her bucket and walk by. I think she was just too excited to slow down.
Lily was scared out of her mind to go trick or treat to this guy. I had to walk up there with her. What is so scary about people dressed up in big costumes? Who knows?

After trick or treating at the mall, we went to a few peoples houses in the ward. Mainly just people we hadn't seen the night before. We came home and gorged ourselves on treats. It was a really fun Halloween this year, especially since Lily understood it.

Ward Party

October 30th was our ward party as well. Geesh! Was everything back to back or what? Anyway it was a TON of fun. That morning when I broke down and Russ suggested he come home, he helped me make some chili for the party. Every year our ward has a chili cookoff. I wasn't looking to win a prize. I was just trying to help out the lady who was in charge of it. She had just been put in as activities chairperson three weeks before! Anyway, there was NO WAY I could have made that chili without Russ!

That night we all dressed up. We had been planning our Halloween costumes since August. Lily and I dressed up as Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin. No one got that I was Blueberry Muffin. That's okay though, Lily knew and it made her happy. It was probably because the hair dye we got was not even enough to color 1/4 of my hair blue. Russell and Allie dressed up as The Man in the Yellow Hat and Curious George. Our sister-in-law made the costume a few years back for her husband and they let us borrow it! Score!

After some yummy chili, the ward did a small carnival for the kids. The sad part was that Lily didn't get to do the fishing pond. They ran out of candy before we got to it. I think they only brought like 30 bags of candy. Oops! After 30 minutes of this everyone headed outside for the real fun! Trunk-or-treating!

Our friends Jess and Dan and their kids came over to ours. They went around to the cars with Russ, Lily, and Allie while I took care of passing out candy. I decided I am a little mean. I turned away some older kids who were on their FOURTH time through. I told them I wouldn't give them any more candy until everyone else had been through at least once. They grumbled and complained but I stood my ground. I was not going to run out of candy before some of the little kids had a chance to go through. All in all it was a very fun night.

Oh did I mention I went and got medicine that night for my infection? Pure bliss when it started working! :D

Painting her pumpkin

After Russ came home on the 30th of October he helped Lily paint her pumpkin. Aunt Becky gave Lily and Allie each a pumpkin. They were supposed to carve them, but I didn't have the energy to carve six pumpkins. So we let Lily paint hers. I never got around to letting Allie paint hers. Oh well! Lily really enjoyed doing hers. Every day after she has been asking if she can paint her pumpkin again. Little does she know that it got chucked the day after Halloween! :D