{Halloween 2009!}

Introducing Harry Potter and Hermoine Granger:

And our little bald eagle too:

Carson wore the bald eagle costume for his first Halloween. He was 10 months old here (below). Can't get over how those two brothers look alike!

And, I don't know why I even try to get all three together, but they were good sports.

Trev carried Ry around at the ward party like this for almost an hour...later we thought we should have dressed him up as a tree or a nest with Ry sitting on top. Wouldn't that have been cute? Why do these ideas come just a tad late?

Bryce & Beck surprised me by calling and coming over to join Reese and I for Halloween at our house. We sure missed cousin Graham in Chicago...but the rest of the cousins all together had a blast! And, yeah, Ry is always the difficult one in the group shot as you can tell.

And notice he has a sucker in his mouth in almost every picture? It was keeping him distracted enough to keep his bald eagle hat on...It was the only thing that worked. Here is his best buddy, Brynn. These two are so cute together!

All the guys with all the kids (babies in tow in the wagon) off to Trick or Treat!

Thanks Bryce and Beck & Reese and Chris for joining us! Halloween was great!

{Pumpkin Carving}

The birthday festivities always throw me for a loop on Halloween week...but we managed to fit in the school party and pumpkin carving on October 30th. ...Turns out waiting that long to carve your pumpkins is a good thing because they looked fantastic on Halloween night!
Just couldn't resist Ry with his pumpkin...he was so fascinated with it and really wanted to be up at the table working on his pumpkins with his brother and sister.

{Addy Birthday Party #2}

We finished up Addy's two day birthday with rice krispy treats at preschool and a family party later that night. We are can't believe she is 5...she is thrilled! Things we love about our Miss Addy:

• All-around girly-ness.
• Singer and dancer extraordinaire
• Helping mom cook and clean...(seriously, give the girl a bottle of windex and she'll be happy for hours).
• Homework happy (she LOVES when her preschool teacher sends home homework)
• Dress-up Queen
• Big helper with little brother, Ry
• Plain happy most of the time (which makes the tantrums, girly drama, attitude, and meltdowns a little easier to swallow).

Happy Birthday Addy!

{Little Miss Tea Party}

Addy turns 5 tomorrow! I can't believe it...seriously...can't. believe. it. We partied tea-party style today because of preschool tomorrow. She had her mind made up about a tea party ever since this summer when we came across an adorable tea set at a gift shop. She never wavered from the idea either...even after several months. This girl is a girly girl through and through.

I took pictures of each girl as they arrived. They each tried on Addy's fancy tea hat (made especially for her by Grandma Dalley...thanks mom!..she loves it!).

Here she is waiting, waiting for the girls to arrive...


The cake! Really not difficult and turned out great!

Doesn't take long to 'fancy-up' the place. Just checked out the wedding section at Michael's.

Plus we had been gathering tea cups and saucers from the Goodwill over the last month. There is something so cool about using glass cups and pouring tea (aka...pink lemonade) from a glass tea pot. So fun!

Addy and Paige...Best friends and cousins!


We played a game with sugar cubes....'who can build the tallest tower?' ...the girls did fantastic!

We made tissue paper flowers...oh so fun. And then decorated picture frames. I'll get some photos from the party for each girl to have in her own frame.

4 cute girls...plus Paige, not pictured. Thanks so much for making Addy's birthday party so much fun!

I had so much fun planning it! Kid birthday parties are the best! Maybe I am feeling old or just terribly sentimental, but I really enjoy these times with my kiddos. Is it just me or do birthdays seem to come around so often now??! So, I don't stress too much about the party-planning process...because all too soon she won't want a tea party birthday party.

{Soccer & Mud}

'Tis the season when the soccer fields become less like a field and more like a mud pit. Feel the joy.

And, couldn't resist this bundled up baby.

{Some Days You Just Need a Little Guitar Hero}

Don't you think?

And, please excuse the hair...we are practicing our Hermione Granger hair for Halloween...and yeah, we are still working on it.

{Falling Leaves}

Another reason to love autumn: playing with leaves in the front yard (in between rain storms, of course)....thank you front-yard-tree; my kids love your free entertainment.

Pumpkin Patchin' it!

Love the fall colors, the beautiful weather, and our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! We have been traveling to this cute farm for about 5 years. Each year the owners seem to add something new. We even braved the corn maze this year. Luckily, Trev is an excellent maze navigator and got us to all the 'check-points' with very few wrong turns (lets just say if I was in charge, we would have been there for hours). I was surprised to find out the entire maze was 2.1 miles long...kind of a long trek with 3 little kids, but they loved it. Between the pony rides, rubber ducky races, animals, corn maze, and (of course!) picking out 109 pounds of pumpkins...we stayed about 3 hours (and spent $$$....well, it's all about the experience, right?!!). If the weather has to turn cool, at least we have fun holidays to enjoy with our kiddos! Here are some fun pics from our day...and yeah, I have no filter...I must post a zillion pictures. Sorry.

School Pictures 2009

Finally getting around to posting the pictures I took before school started. My babies are growing up! Okay, he looks so much older than he really is in this picture! I love how the sun has bleached out his hair this year.

Such a beauty. Love this natural smile (above) and those dimples (below).

I took about 10 or 12 pictures of the older two kids before I felt like I got a couple good shots...but Rylan...it took about 100 to come up with these two. One-year-olds are tough!

Season Openers

Gotta love soccer. I love this time of year in the Northwest. It is THE best season to enjoy an outside sport. And what a gorgeous day today! Addy is finally old enough to play after watching Carson on the sidelines for 3 years (dang October birthday). But, with 2 kids in soccer this year, our Saturdays just got a bit crazier. Luckily, only 2 Saturdays during the season end in a conflict with both kids playing at the same time in different locations. So, we'll have to divide and conquer on those days (what will we do when we have 3 kids in soccer?).

But for today...10:30 for Addison and 2:00 for Carson left just enough time for a Costco run and lunch in between.

Carson has a pretty intense coach this year. No shirts untucked ("boys, we're going to look like real soccer players"), sitting with the team on the sidelines when you are out of play (no chit chatting with mom or dad), focusing on your actual position on the field ("where are you supposed to be? and who is your guy?"), showing up for games 30 minutes early (30 minutes!), and my favorite: running laps at practice if you aren't paying attention. Which, come to think of it, I might start implementing as my own form of discipline at home. His favorite teammate is on the team again this year (Carson M.)...so these two are constantly called by their last names or by first names and last intials..."Carson P: go this way!"; "Carson M: great job". It's funny, but they like it.

Carson P (#4) and Carson M (#6)

We had high hopes that Addy would be really aggressive and tough on the field. But, her girly charm came through (I should have known when she was the only member on both teams with pink shorts, socks, and shoes) and she mostly enjoyed posing for the camera, running over to the sidelines to give us the 'thumbs up' after she touched the ball, and constantly showing us her 'moves' which included walking sideways on the field (wowzers!). She played the whole game with a smile on her face. She really wants to score a goal so we are going to work on getting some actual contact with the ball next week.

Cheering squad in full force! Go Dinos (Carson) and Eagles (Addy)!!