Halloween Pics

Halloween was fun this year but not as well-planned-out as I'd have liked. I wanted to make a fun spooky dinner like last year, but I just ran out of time! Here's a few pictures from Halloween night.

The boys in their costumes. Caleb was batman and Matthew was a monkey. Alex was a penguin.

Caleb took this next picture of me. It's kind of dark. I was a witch. I added the orange triangles at the bottom of the dress because it was a little short.

Our ward did a trunk-or-treat that night. It was pretty fun. Matthew doesn't remember trick-or-treating last year, so it was fun to watch him figure it out this year. All he knew was that he was getting dressed up in a monkey costume, then we went to the parking lot at the park and he walked around and people gave him candy. You could just see the wheels turning in his head as he was getting the hang of it. It was pretty cute because after he'd get his candy he would tell the people "thank you," but if they didn't hear him because of his soft voice he would stand there and say it over and over again until they'd say "you're welcome," and then he'd move on to the next trunk. Such a sweetie! All my pictures from this point on are of Matt because Caleb found his friend there and they went around together and had a great time, and Alex was asleep.Can you tell his basket is heavy from his load of candy?Digging into the goods.Cute little monkey eating his candy!

Abe Lincoln slept here last night...

and here's the proof!

Carving Pumpkins

Wednesday night we had a blast carving pumpkins with cousins. First all the kids drew their designs on a piece of paper, then with the help of the adults we cleaned out the pumpkins and carved out their jack-o-lanterns. Caleb just about lost his dinner when he smelled the inside of the pumpkin. He has such a sensitive nose and the smell was just a little too much for him. He observed from a distance until it was time for the carving.



The next two pictures are the kids with their jack-o-lanterns. In the second picture the kids tried to make the same face as their pumpkins.


Caleb and his pumpkin.

After we were all done we frosted Halloween cupcakes and ate them. Yum! Lindsey said that it was just like a school party. I think that means she had fun!

Commence Phase I

Well, okay, it's phase 1 out of who knows how many. When we bought our house there was not a green thing anywhere. No grass, no trees, no bushes...nothing! We won't be doing the rest of the stuff for a while, but we finally got some things planted right in the front of our house. It's not much, but it looks so much better to have something growing!

We Love the Zoo!

Last Saturday we had a blast as all of us siblings and our kids gathered together for a great day at the zoo. We missed Carolyn and Henry, but they were catching up on much needed sleep! Here are some pictures from the day.

Taking a break in the shade

We thought this snake looked pretty cozy all wrapped up like this!

What? I don't know where the oreo cookies went...


What does a tiger say?

Who's the real monkey?

Aah... He's so cute!

Two buddies. Matt couldn't see the rhinos without a big boost from his Uncle Russ.

The baby elephant was so cute. She even acted like a little baby. She just kind of toddled around and was really curious.

Matt was a little nervous by this big metal elephant. Eli had to hold him there to keep him from running away.

Alex enjoyed his train ride :) Look at his sweet smile! What a cutie.

The whole group. The kids outnumbered us by a lot...it's no wonder we lost a couple of them! Luckily, with so many pairs of eyes, we found them quickly.

What a great day! Families are the best!

Alex's Blessing

This last weekend we had Alex's baby blessing. We were able to have a lot of family in town for the event. Alex also started smiling this last week, and we were able to capture it in a picture.

Here's a picture of the cousins that came to the blessing. Madilyn and Norah came also, but they're not in the picture. Thanks everyone for coming!

Welcoming Alexander

July 27, 2009 we welcomed the newest little addition to our family. Alexander Clark Winfree was born at 13:13:13 (military time) and weighed a whopping 5 lbs. 14 oz. He was 18 1/2 inches long and just plain cute. The doctor had estimated his due date to be August 23, so according to that estimate he was born 4 weeks early. It all began Sunday, July 26 when Chris and I had to give talks in church. It was so terrifying it caused me to go into labor....no, it didn't really, but we did have to speak the day before. I was feeling fine, maybe a little tired, but I was totally not expecting to go into labor the next day. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. with the first of my intense contractions. I had a scheduled dr. appt. that day for 9:00, so I figured I would just wait it out until then and see what he thought. When I showed up to the appointment, I mentioned to the doctor that I'd been having contractions all morning long so he hooked me up to the monitor to check out the frequency and the intensity. At that point I was dialated to a 2 1/2 and I was about 80% effaced. The contractions were coming every five minutes. He told me it could be false labor, but from the look on my face during each contraction he said he figured he'd probably see me later that day. I went home and had Chris drive my neice home (she'd been babysitting my kids) and I mentioned that maybe he should take the boys to my sisters house, just in case. He hadn't been gone a minute when all of a sudden my contractions hit full force. I was SO glad that the boys were gone. Chris couldn't get home soon enough. By the time he got back, I was to the point that I couldn't even walk. He had to carry me out to the van because it felt like I was having one long continuous contraction that wouldn't ever end. At the hospital they checked me in and told me I was 100% effaced and dialated to a 6. Keep in mind this all happened within an hour of the doctor's visit. They gave me an epidural (thank goodness!) and not too much later, we had a beautiful, healthy, baby boy. Enjoy the pictures!

This is post-epidural and pre-baby :) See how relaxed I look? That was not the same face a couple minutes earlier.

Day 1

First bath--You might notice that he's being bathed in a regular sink, instead of how they usually do it. This is because he was born early, they put me in a room close to the NICU, just in case. So they don't have the same amenities as normal maternity rooms.

The happy parents!

Day 2

Day 3-Ready to go home

First bath at home. You can see how much he loved it! He immediately stopped crying as soon as we wrapped him up in a towel. He was just freezing.

1 week old.

We've had a lot of fun having this new little guy around!