Trick-or-Treat

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. We went trick-or-treating with some friends from Will's school and some friends from the ward, in a neighborhood famous for it's trick-or-treating.

Here is everyone minutes before going trick-or-treating. Since we weren't going in our neighborhood and I didn't want to take candy from others without giving any, we left a bowl on the doorstep with a little note. My writer/husband came up with a little poem. It read "Please take only one, thank you. We'd hate to hunt you down and spank you."

William was a scary pirate. He wanted Captain Jack Sparrow, but that specific costume can be kind of pricey. So we went with a generic pirate who happened to be named Captain Jack Sparrow.

Hallie was a mermaid. She started out wanting to be Ariel. But then some friends had a mermaid costume of Nori from Barbie Mermaidia. But then Hallie didn't want to wear the blue wig so we ended up as a plain ole mermaid.

Gracie was the most beautiful Snow White ever. All three kids are in this picture (which was taken by our friends whose house we parked at). William is coming up to get some candy and Hallie is running back to the car to get her and Gracie's candy bags.

For Clara's first Halloween we used the costume I bought 5 years ago for Hallie's first Halloween. She was an ice cream cone with cherry on top! We took her out of the costume to put her in her car seat to drive to the other neighborhood. Then she fell asleep and we never put it back on her, so she wore the costume for a total of 5 minutes. But they were the cutest 5 minutes in history!

Fall Fun

It's a little late, but here are some pictures of our pumpkin carving experience 2 weeks ago.

First we went to a local church to pick our pumpkins. It was about to storm so we had to hurry!

Then we cleaned out and drew our design on each pumpkin. Will's was a lion.

Gracie chose a small pumpkin because "I'm small". She drew her inspiration from the "daddy jack-o-lantern" as seen below.

Hallie's was an original design, just like Hallie. Her's was the biggest pumpkin which gives a little hint into her personality.

We all had a great time. Unfortunately, southern living isn't designed for putting your pumpkins on the porch. After 1 week Hallie's pumpkin looked like Santa Claus because it was covered in fluffy, white mold. Next year we'll wait until just before Halloween.

Blessing Day

Clara Mae Ricks was blessed on September 6, 2009. Tony's parents flew in from Idaho for the weekend to be with us. My parents weren't able to be there, but my mom did contribute by making Clara's beautiful blessing dress. Here are a few pictures.

The Story

Now that I'm home from the hospital I thought I'd tell you the whole story of Clara Mae Ricks. As with most stories, the best part is at the end so I'll try to move this along.


Saturday morning I woke up and was having contractions, but I had been having contractions all week so this was nothing new. We decided to go walking all day and see if that would get something done since my due date had come and gone. So we took the kids to Florida History Museum downtown and to Sam's Club. We walked and walked and still I was having contractions but the only thing hurting was my legs. But by Saturday evening the contractions were somewhat closer together and a little painful. So we got the kids stuff ready, made plans for Sunday in case we were gone, and put the kids to bed. By 10:30 my contractions were still really irregular, but averaged about 4 minutes apart so we called Jen Vanderhoof. I told her I wasn't sure if they would let me stay, but I didn't want to wait too long, so she came over and slept with the kids while we were gone.


We got to the hospital about midnight and luckily they let me stay. By 1:30 we were in our room and by 3:00 I had my epidural. We were both exhausted (and the hardest part was still to come) so we tried to get some sleep. The midwife came and broke my water at 4:00 and soon after I started to feel the contractions again. At little after 5:00 the nurse checked me and said, "well, your gonna have a baby!" So she got the midwife and by 5:30 I was pushing.


Now, here's where our story takes an interesting turn. I'll let Tony tell this part!


Nicole is apparently getting better and better at these things, but I'm getting worse and worse. Right before the baby was actually born I passed out in a nearby chair. I woke up to the baby crying, with two nurses taking care of me, while the midwife and other nurses were taking care of Nicole and Clara. I had a cold wash cloth on my neck and forehead and they wouldn't let me get up. I could hear Clara, but couldn't see her. Finally after I had some food and drink in my system I could get up and see Clara. I may not have seen the birth, but I was right by Nicole's side the whole time. However if by some strange sequence of events they switched Clara at birth, I would never know.


Alright, Nicole's back. Wasn't that fun! Poor Tony had been up for 20 straight hours and had nothing to eat since for almost 12. If we hadn't been surrounded by nurses I probably would have been worried, but I had a lot of other things on my mind and knew he was taken care of.


So other than that, everything went wonderfully. She was actually born at 5:39am on August 16, 2009 and was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. She was been a great baby so far. I just hope she keeps it up!

Clara Mae Ricks

Clara Mae Ricks was born today at around 5:20 a.m. She has been quite calm and peaceful. She weighs 8 pounds, 12 ounces. I (Tony) brought Will, Hallie, and Gracie to the hospital in the morning and again in the evening to see and hold Clara. They all love their new baby sister. Hallie even drew a picture of her today while she stayed at the Vanderhoof's house. Here are some more pictures that we shot with our digital camera today. Unfortunately, we haven't got a picture of her with her eyes open yet, although she has had them open quite a bit. By the way, notice how Hallie carefully posed herself in the background of the picture with William, Nicole, and the baby! Totally Hallie!

Even the tooth fairy makes mistakes

The tooth fairy did remembered to takes Will's note/tooth last night. But what she didn't remember was that there was a $5 bill inside the folded up $1 bill she left him. So imagine Will's surprise when he woke up in the morning and found she had left him $6! Now I have to explain that I don't think the tooth fairy meant to leave that much and he should not expect $6 each time he looses a tooth. Since he has 3 other loose teeth it shouldn't be too long before he learns that the tooth fairy usually only leaves $1.

Has anyone seen this tooth?

Will has had 4 loose teeth for quite a while now. His top front teeth are just barely loose and the the bottom 2 teeth next to his middle teeth (does that make sense) have also been loose. He lost his bottom front teeth last summer and not much has happened since...until today! The tooth on the left has been getting more loose every day. This morning it was there at breakfast; then he went to wash his hands a few hours later and it noticed it was gone! We haven't been able to find it so he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy saying he lost a tooth and he drew a picture of it so the tooth fairy knows that he really did lose a tooth. Hopefully she remembers tonight to leave him a little present under his pillow. She had a hard time remembering last summer!

Anyway, I think he looks pretty cute with the missing tooth. But you can judge for yourself!

P.S. As a side note for those who are wondering--I have 9 days left to D-day. Other than feeling humongous and hot all the time, I feel fine. There's not really anything to report. But once there is, believe me, you'll know!