Hooray for Halloween!

This was actually last week at our ward Halloween party! (10-24-09)
I wanted to get a few pictures before they ripped their costumes. (Which they didn't! Hooray!)
Emma is a butterfly, Russell a spider, Hannah a ladybug, Elise a bumblebee. Yes, I really made the Tu Tu's! It was so fun! Jonathan made Russells spider legs. FUN times!

I love this spider ninja move;)

The kids were all bugs, and we were bug catchers. Quite appropriate as we ran around after them all night! But really - have you ever seen a cuter family of bugs?

I love the extra arms to help R climb!

Big Miss E! Can I help it that I think my girls are the most beautiful things ever!?!?

Our dear frimds holding lil E the bumblebee! (I think this picture is so precious!)

A "Back shot" of the girls wth their wings.

****SIGH****

Happy sugared up lil miss H!

What a great night! Fun games, a hayride and friends galore! We sure love our ward!

Halloween Party Pics!!!!

Thanks Becky! She took these pics of the kids at the ward party! Soooo gorgeous!

I love this one of Emma. She is so precious!
And Hannah with her cheesy lil smile!

Then the group shot... We were kinds running around crazy - I just kinda squated down - oops - bad idea....

I think I prefer my edited version - LOL! Thanks again Becky!!!

One more day...

Tomorrow is Halloween! Yay!!! So here are a few things going on around here!
Here are our little glowing pumpkins.

Emma's is a princess

Russells is "scary"

Here are the kids trying on some of Russels eyes for his Halloween costume. They had sooo much fun staring in the mirror. Hannah looks upset because we moved her away from the mirror!

Oh girly

I was so excited about how cute she looked....
But guess what - these are size 4T!!! She turns two in December....
Man is she a cutie, hu?

And then there is this one.... Oh my gosh - words can't describe how I love these precious children!

Parent night!

We had Emma's parent night on Thursday night and she wanted me to make cupcakes... so I did chocolate butterscotch with chocolate cream cheese frosting. I made a bunch of extra for Jonathan to take to work... aren't I a dork? Oh well, all hos co workers love me because I always send in treats!


And the kids love me because I give them spoonfuls of frosting to taste for me!

Oh - and the parent night went great! Lots of fun to see her in her "element"!

BUSY!

A couple weekends ago we decided to go to Lockett Meadow with friends and do chili and have a fun evening.... well, we apparently picked the one weekend everyone from Phoenix was going to be there too. It was a constant line of cars up and back (and if you have been on that road you know there is not enough room for two cars and it gets pretty scary at places even without other people trying to pass you). We thought maybe people were just driving up to look and going straight back down. But no - every campsite was overrun - there were cars everywhere - even in the meadow (a big no no). I have been up there more times than I can count and have NEVER seen it like that. It was crazy....
But soooo beautiful...

We headed right back down, called our friends, and headed to the Boulders instead (where of course I forgot to take pictures!!!

We had a great time though - good food and fun friends! Hopefully we will get to do it again before it gets too cold!

Pumpkin time!

Tuesday afternoon (10-20) we carved Pumpkins - so cute!

Then we had Dinner in a Pumpkin (<--- try it, tell me what you think).

On Sunday we had Pumpkin Pancakes and a Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Oh how I LOVE fall!

And after all this - we roasted the pumpkin seeds. What a great season!

:)

Abigale wanted to come and visit Hannah Tuesday so we had a great time playing!
Elise and Cody were so adorable! They are 6 weeks apart but Elise is just 12 lbs (Cody was born at over 10) so there is a big difference in sizes!

But Luckily Cody will be able to knock over all the little boys that try and pick on her in nursery!

And Russ can keep all the boys away from these two cuties!

Thanks for coming over to play today guys! Too fun!

Slow down!

Lil Miss H just runs sooo hard that if she sits down for 5 seconds she crashes!

Sign from heaven?

In 2009 on Jonathan's side of the family there have been 4 babies born. All the married girls were pregnant together - it was really great! And so far 3 of the 4 suck there fingers like this. (We will have to wait and see if the 4th does the same.)

None of our other children did this, yet all of these ones born so close together do. I don't know about you - but I think it is a sign from heaven.

That little "I love you" sign. Out of the mouths of babes. We love you too!

Way to go little guy

We planted trees the same day as we planted the garden last spring. Well, I had some Kale seeds left over so Russell went to plant them by the tree! Look at the awesome yeild we got! He was so proud!

Already????

Look who is eating rice cereal!

She is loving it! She truly is so much happier since we started her on it!

Elise is 4 months!!!!

We just got back from Elise's 4 month appointment! It is so hard to believe that she is that old already. She is rolling all over, laughing at everything, and is the joy of our home. Everyone wants to be near her, she is just so sweet.
She is now 25.8" long - (93%). She is the shortest kid so far - at least right now.
She weighs 12 lbs 4 oz - (20%) A chunk too!!! Whoooo hoooo!
Her little head - 39.8 cm - (18%) She has such a pretty little head!
Oh my goodness we love her so much! She is such a joy and I can't imagine what we did before she was here. It has been a lot of work - I am not gonna lie. There have been times I have questioned having her and Hannah so close together - but I know there was a reason for it, and watching all the kids together is such a joy!

Hey look - It's ME! Thanks Alisa for the heads up - I LOVE this!!

hugs?

Yesterday Emma kept kissing me on my cheeks and I said, "Do I get a hug?" She said, "I am hugging you with my lips".

Can you hear?

Tonight after he said his prayers Russell and I talked about the importance of listening after you pray. He covered my mouth and closed his eyes. After a minute he looked at me and said, "I heard Him, He said, " I love this kid as much as he loves his Mom." "

When the flu is preferable to the shot

We took the kids to get flu shots today! The Dr's office is out of vaccine so we headed to the county to do the deed. Emma faked asleep on the way there (as if I would leave her in the car and not make her get the shot...). Emma cried the whole way walking in. When they called our name Emma began sobbing. When we got to the room Emma hid in the corner behind the stroller sobbing (as if we would forget she was there and leave without doing her shot. Hannah jumped up on Daddy's lap and got a shot in her leg. She whimpered about 3 seconds stuck her Dum Dum in her mouth and grabbed a sticker. Russell jumped up on Dads lap, took off his shirt, got his shot with a smile and grabbed his sucker and sticker. Then Emma.... Emma put a death grip on the stroller and as Daddy tried to pry her off she almost knocked Elise out of it. She screamed at the top of her lungs (and let me tell you... the girl has some lungs) kicked her legs and arms and threw the biggest fit I have EVER seen. The Dr finally just pulled her sleeve down to try to get a shot in and the needle barely pricked her when she did another huge twist in her struggle to free herself from Daddy. He finally got the shot in and gave her a band aid and she jumped up and ran to the other end of the room. She insists still that hers just hurts worse than the other kids and that Hannah cried too.
Oh. My. Word.
I was shocked.
Horrified.
Embarrassed.
What are you supposed to do in a situation like that? I feel like if is a metaphor for our life with that child. When she gets something in her mind there is no way to distract her or change her mind in any way. We can only hope that that single mindedness will continue along the right course!
Especially after seeing the other kids get theirs done I thought she would stop freaking out. But no, it was terrible. I am grateful she went last though because if Hannah had seen her big sister act like that I can't imagine how she would have acted for her own shot.
Any advice for future visits where shots are involved? I didn't tell her until we were there because she would have been freaking out from the time I told her - that way she had less time to worry over it. And I brought treats. Beyond that I just don't know what else I could do! Any advice you might have would be grately appreciated!
I really do think that for Emma, the flu would be preferable to what we just went through.

The best part of having little girls

Ok - there are a lot of great parts but I do love dressing them up! LOVE it!
It has been really fun the past few days as Hannah has gotten into 3T and I loved all these lil outfits on Em so I feel like I am revisiting the past!

One of Elises very own outfits!!! From Gma!

This little one is a rolling champ. She cracks us up!

And another blast from the past on H-girl! LOVE this one! Girls are just too fun! I hope I remember that when they are 13!

Sorry... I have been away....

I was sick last week.... very sick. This is what I did from mid Wednesday to Sunday.

And this is what this poor lil lady did....

And a lot of this....

And a whole lot of this.... She kept rolling over into the corners! I felt bad that I did not get to snuggle her as much as I like to, she spent a LOT of time on the floor and in the swing and such. But, I didn't want to get her sick with the flu so... we did what we had to!

Need a binky??

If you ever are in need of a binky H is happy to bring one to you...

And then shove it in your face until you take it - whether you want it or not...

Poor 'lil E! She is surrounded by "Mommy's helper's".