It's not easy being green.

Mikayla woke up Halloween morning in a great debate.  She couldn't decide whether she really wanted to be a witch or if instead she wanted to be this:

A housewife?  Not really sure about where she was going with that one.  All I know is she was sure proud of her Halloween cookies in the oven!

Mom and Dad vetoed that ensemble and went with the original plan.

Our little green witch!

She was mortified of being green.  She looked in the mirror at herself and couldn't figure out who it was.  It was all she could do to keep from crying.  Talk about a hilarious face!  In the car every time I would look back she was shaking her head "no" or saying "uh-oh" because she hated the paint.  It was awesome.

Most of the time her face looked like this:

It was kind of sad because our ward didn't have a party or anything this year so we took Mikayla around to  family and friend's houses instead.  It didn't take her long to figure out that all she had to do was stand there and people would dump candy in her "purse".  She pretty much pigged on candy.

Mikayla doesn't talk a whole lot, but she picked up "trick or treat" (at least the sing-songy part of it) pretty fast yesterday!  My Dad is the proud owner of the best video of her saying it in her costume so I'll have to just post the one I have until I steal his-so look back soon! :)

Here's the one in the car from my Dad.  I love how she is so proud of herself at the end where she's getting ready to start clapping away. :)

And, for comparison's sake here's me and Mikayla in the same witch costume...

I love my family!

Another blast from the past...

I put Mikayla in another one of my old outfits and we took pictures.  Cuz that's what we do.  Dustin said it was cute in a terrible sort of way.  I don't think he fully appreciated how much I loved this outfit when I was little.

Showing off her dancing moves...Dustin taught her to dance by waving her pointer fingers up and down in the air.  She thinks she's pretty darn cool when she dances. 

And for memory's sake...this is how she folds her arms for prayers.  I had a little proud moment the other day when she and I grabbed lunch at the Sam's club food court and as soon as the guy gave us our food Mikayla followed me around while I got drinks and things with her arms folded like this...because getting food means saying a prayer for it!  I love the way she says amen, too-"MAY-MEN!"  She gets really frustrated in church, especially fast Sundays when after a gazillion "MAY-MENS" it still isn't time to go.

Note: The above pictures were taken before her nap and this one after.  Naps are terrible on hot hair dos.  You  know when she wakes up yelling "uh oh" it's because she's ripped out her hair and thrown the bow on the floor.  Maybe someday she'll catch on to the fact that "uh oh" is for accidents.

Another story for the scrapbook...the other night Mikayla went and got her Book of Mormon reader for scripture study and we asked her to read the scriptures to us.  Usually we all take turns, but this time Mikayla opened the book, jabbered for a couple of seconds (complete with lip smacking, as is usually done for important conversations), said "ah yun" (all done), slammed the book closed, and put her arms under her chin for prayers.  The whole process took maybe 20 seconds.  I guess she's catching on to the routine!

A couple of random side notes...

Mikayla's kidney ultrasound came back normal so that is a huge relief.  

10 days until Uncle Seth comes home and meets Mikayla!

It's Halloween.  That means at the Hancock house the holidays are officially here and tomorrow we can decorate for Christmas.  I cannot even believe how excited I am!  Don't worry, we'll still play the Halloween game today and fully enjoy it. ;)  Traditional Halloween pictures to come, I'm sure.

I hate your stinkin' guts!!!

{Pumpkin guts that is.}

Dustin was all excited to carve a pumpkin with Mikayla since we didn't do one last year.

She was all for it through the drawing stage.  She was even willing to help draw the face on with sidewalk chalk.

That's where the fun ended.  Dustin pulled off the top of the pumpkin and Mikayla flipped out.  Her initial reaction was the funniest disgusted face I have ever seen.  I wish I had been on the other side of her to catch the face head on in the picture, but I think you can imagine the full picture from the side view.

From there it was pretty much full on screaming and bawling and begging for me to take her off the table.  She was mortified by the pumpkin guts!  It was so hilarious that all I could do was laugh and laugh.  I am such a mean mom!

Dustin and his valiant pumpkin carving-ness pressed forward.  I'm glad he loves to carve pumpkins because I am just not a fan.  Neither is Mikayla apparently.

Mikayla supervised from a far distance.

Our great Dad with his handy work.  Dustin made sure the jack-o-lantern was complete with flowers just for Mikayla.

Our  happy flowery pumpkin. :)

P.S. If you missed it, you have to check out the pictures from our Halloween party in the last post. :)

HOLY MULLET! 1980's PROM!

WARNING: This post contains lots of pictures - open it up, grab some popcorn while your waiting for it to load, and enjoy the show - we promise, it'll be worth it. :) 

(If a picture says a thousand words, these say a lot more than that)

 Yup the theme for this year's annual sibling Halloween party was a 1980's prom.  This was the invite that everybody received. (special thanks to anonymous couple for use of their prom picture! We apologize if this is anyone's relative) 

Here's a little preview of the good times to come:

To start off we had to get ready for the party.  Mikayla was Daddy's big helper. (If you think I'm having a bad hair day in this picture, you should wait and see...)

And now for the big reveal...

drum roll please.....

....It's our party....

...you can cry if you want to...

....

....

Ta-Da!

Deja & Josh

DD & Jeremy

Maren & her step in date, David

DawnSheree & Steven

Oh, yeah. And the Party Hosts, Meagan & I...

The girls and their amazing hair...

The boys and their amazing hair...

A close-up of my amazing hair...

Oh, and a special mention for

The Little Debbies!

And now on to the festivities!

We started out with a killer game of dart toss (no one actually died but the balloons)

Then we did a great game of pumpkin bowling...

Of course that was followed by the Donut Eating Contest!

Please notice the game winning gold star that Josh is proudly displaying on his chest!

On a string!

I tried to get a good picture of all the girls, but somebody's hair was ALWAYS in the way!

And last but not least, the game of the night was...

Pin the Tail on the Mullet!

Some people found the mark...

And some people really didn't...

And as the grand finale, here is Steven being a little emotional over winning the Grand Champion GOLD STAR!

5

5.  That's the number of days since I've taken a picture.  I'm pretty sure that's a record for me.  It's been a long 5 days around these parts, but I wanted to let our grandmas who read this blog faithfully know that we are still alive!  Our little gal has been pretty darn sick and it's been nasty.  After 5 days of fevers (a couple of days in the 103-104 degree range), the chills, throwing up, crying, lethargy, and frustration we've hopefully pinpointed the problem.  A urinary tract infection.  *(Edited)The doctor just called and she has pyelonephritis (a kidney infection)...hopefully the worst is over the antibiotics do the trick!*  It's been horrible to watch our little Missy Mae hurt so bad and not know what to do about it.

After a couple of doses of antibiotics she is a new person today.  She's been playing some, talking a lot and has started being naughty again.  I didn't realize how happy all the little things she does all the time made me until they started coming back again...things such as her saying "thank-you" by blowing a kiss, saying "bleechh" to all things nasty and as a greeting, talking on the phone, smacking her lips when she talks, giving hugs and kisses, saying "please" by rubbing her belly, and how she thinks she hot stuff when she steals my body spray and puts it on herself or fluffs one of my flowers up to her hair just to have a reason to say "woo-u-woo-u".  I think our little princess is on her way back to life again and I am so excited.

I'm appreciating her taking a real nap today so I have a chance to update our blog!  I'll have to say that the absolute ONLY benefit of her being sick was that I got lots of snuggle time.  I'm already missing that, but I'll take a healthy kid over snuggles any day.

Here are some pictures from last week until we have some new ones to post. :)

Thank you for all your prayers.  I know they helped a ton!

A Funny

We decided to have a picnic tonight and after a crazy day it was just the perfect thing for us to unwind.  Mikayla was out exploring her little world thinking she was pretty cool because she was a whole 20 feet away from us exploring the world when all of a sudden we hear a grunting noise.  Trouble, right?  So I run (literally run) to the car and grab a diaper because I'm afraid that in her already too full diaper an added addition will only end in tears.

I just about reach her with a diaper in hand when I told her we needed to go change her diaper.  She stopped everything and did her little roll/somersault-like move (that she does at home when you say lets change your diaper) and without blinking laid on the ground right where she was.  In the middle of the asphalt walking and biking path.  Not only did she comply with laying down she put her legs up in the air and held them there with her hands.  I laughed so hard.  Maybe the story just can't be done justice without seeing it, but it was hilarious.  Nothing like a diaper change in the middle of traffic.  I wasn't about to argue with a kid who was ready to have her soiled britches changed so like any great mother would, I changed her diaper right there in the middle of everything...on the asphalt.  While busting up laughing.

I was almost, but definitely not all the way done changing her when I hear walkers coming.  I quickly sent her on her way with her pants 3/4 of the way up and one shoe missing hoping that no one would see my perfect mothering skills.  I ran the diaper to the trash and hid the wipes to dispose of the evidence of what we were doing on the ground in the middle of the path (as if they really didn't know...).

The best part?  After we ditched the diaper we were walking along our infamous walking path to go play on the playground and not 20 feet from where we changed her diaper there was a little rattlesnake on the path.  Scary!  We ditched the playground.

I laugh and joke about all these random moments, but really I am truly grateful for Mikayla.  She always pulls through for us.  You would think it is she is the one that needs us, but a lot of the time I am convinced it really is the other way around.  She can be a little stinker a lot of the time, but she knows when we need her to be good and she is almost always up to the task.  She makes us laugh at hard moments and gives us a reason to plaster a smile on our faces when a smile is the furthest thing from our minds.  

When you are a superhero accessories are a must.

Does this cape make my thighs look fat?  Does it really matter when I'm this cool?  I didn't think so.

Checkin' out the construction workers building the house next door proved to be anti-climatic.  Maybe my superhero-ness makes me invsible to them.

You mean not everyone takes 2 purses on a walk?  They're missing out.

I'll have to admit, they do get heavy after a while, but it's a good excuse to stop and rest.

Speaking of resting...

Laying down while talking on the phone is the only way to go.

You're so vain...

Come on guys, cut me some slack.  Being a superhero is hard work.  Someone's gotta look good ALL.THE.TIME.

Oh the life of Mikayla...what it must be like to have everything be all about you, all the time!