Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Brielle went as Rapunzel to her school's "Fall Festival" (no celebrating during school...which makes me a little sad.)  I made her wig and hat, which wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected.  Her costume was quite a hit for all that she passed.

 Claire was Snow White...she is just the cutest Snow White EVER!

 Addison was a skeleton...she looks kind of creepy in this picture, I swear she smiles!  But she won't hold still and smile at the same time.

 Three cute girls all ready to go to a party!

(Love how Claire pulls off the Snow White face perfectly!)

Brielle was then Princess Fiona (from Shrek) for the ward trunk-or-treat and for trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.   There is an explanation though.  Originally we had ordered the Fiona costume, but were told it wasn't going to get to us until November 5th.  So, we bagged that idea and she chose her second choice and I threw together the Rapunzel getup.  Of course, the store lied and the Fiona costume showed up a couple days later.  Brielle couldn't decide which she wanted to wear, plus I had already made the wig...so she got to have two costumes this year.

At the trunk-or-treat.

Carving/Painting Pumpkins.

Addison...after taking out her piggy tails (see post below)...fit perfectly for the scary Halloween festivities.

We ended trick-or-treating by coming home and having some nice warm scones (pretty sure that will be a new tradition!)

Now excuse me while I raid my children's candy bags while they're sleeping...

Happy Halloween!

Piggies on the head and on the ground

This is a post for history...because there will be a day when my kids will ask, "Mom, when did I first ______" and I will go, "Uh...now, which child are you?"

So to avoid that, I want to record two milestones Addison has reached.  Tomorrow she will be 11 months old, but she decided to squeak these in first.

The first milestone is her first set of piggy tails!  Neither of our other girls had enough hair to do this until they were closer to 2...it's fun to have a baby with hair.

And the second milestone (that I don't actually have a picture of) is she took a step today without holding on to anything!  I don't think it will be long now before she is a walker!

This is a picture of her standing - which closely resembles how she looks when she walks...amazing, huh? 

(This was last night in her costume for a party...official Halloween post to come in a few days.)

Hard to believe just one more month until she's a year old!

What the future holds

Remember our cute little puppy Louie?

Well, Louie is no longer a member of our family.

Now, before you go thinking something sad and terrible happened to him, don't worry.  He is alive, happy and doing well with his new, incredibly loving and perfect family (seriously, they are!). 

We are sad about him having to go, and sometimes the kids still ask if he's outside or something, but it's okay.  We know it's for the best.

What happened, you ask?  Allow me to explain...carefully, as to not break any rules.

The facts are these:  Marty - you know, my hunky husband who is a super awesome Army soldier - will be deploying sometime in the next year...when exactly, I'm not at liberty to divulge on the blog, since it's public, but it will be sometime in the year 2011.  (As a quick side note, I will probably make my blog private as the time gets closer for his safety and ours...as much as I love having it public, I don't want to risk anything.)

I have gone back and forth a billion times between staying in Washington while he goes and moving back to Utah to be with family.  I realized I was doing all I could to CONVINCE myself to stay in Washington, trying to talk myself in to it "We're trying to get settled here, Brielle is in school, we have our own space, moving AGAIN is stressful." 
But when I'm honest with myself, I just don't want to stay here when he goes.
Period.

Mostly because there's a huge difference between having friends (which I'm starting to make...for those who wondered how that project was going) and having family support.

Because as good as a friend is, you can't call them at 7:30 at night and say "I'm going CRAZY and am so tired, can you come bathe my kids and put them to bed?"

So, Utah won.

Because of living accommodations in Utah, stress levels, upheaval etc. taking the puppy with us to Utah just wasn't an option.  So, rather than keep him until Marty leaves and then try to sell him when we were even more attached, we chose to sell him now. It was a hard choice, but I honestly feel a weight lifted off my shoulders.  Not because Louie is gone, because he was the sweetest little guy and we do miss him (although I don't miss the barking/whining/chewing on socks), but because I have made this one big choice and don't have to keep hashing it out in my mind.  I know what the plan is, and I can just move forward with it.  It feels good to have one thing checked off my mile long check list of things to decide/do.

So there you have it.  

I guess I could have summed up the post in two sentences:  

The dog has been sold.  

Me and the girls will be moving to Utah at some point in the year 2011.

Now, aren't we glad we got that out of the way and it's all out there in the open, and that I had to make it such a long and boring post?  

You're welcome.

Workout Buddy

I've heard people say that having someone to work out with makes all the difference. 

Funny...I feel like it's more of a distraction than a help.

Schilter Family Farms

For a break from the norm, we took advantage of the GREAT 4 day weekend we just had and decided to go out and make some memories (I sound like a Hallmark card, don't I?).  We found this cute farm/pumpkin patch just a few miles from our house called Schilter Family Farms.  The girls had a GREAT time (well...at least Brielle and Claire did) and we did too...minus the part where Addison dropped my cell phone in the pumpkin patch and I didn't realize until we had gone to the barn to pay.  I had Marty call the phone, hoping she had just dropped it right around where we were standing.  Luckily someone heard the phone ringing out amongst the pumpkins and answered it.  Marty told them where we were and I went and met them...SO grateful they found the phone.  Otherwise we would have had to wander around the pumpkin patch listening for a cell phone. :)  

Anyway, I am so glad we found this place!

I don't have a whole lot more to say, so prepare yourself for picture overload (much to the grandmas delight.)

Hey, girls, look at the camera for a picture! 

Finishing the Hay Maze.

Petting Zoo (Look at Marty cuddling a kitten...such a softy).

Three Little Flowers

How Tall This Fall?

Pumpkin Bowling

What...you don't like being strapped in a stroller while your sisters have all the fun?

Little Scarecrows

Choosing the perfect pumpkin...if you can lift it, you can have it.

 

Watch out for falling pumpkins Addison!!

(Just a funny angle....she wasn't actually in danger.)

Addison perusing the pumpkins.

The only disappointment of the day was Brielle wanted to milk a cow and ride a horse...which weren't options at the farm.  She hasn't ever milked a cow, so I'm not so sure where the request came from.



I wish we could ALWAYS have 4 day weekends!

Dream Big/Comedienne

The other day Brielle was very interested in what grade of school she will be in at each age ("what grade will I be in when I'm 7?  What about when I'm 15?" etc.)  The topic of college came up and I had the following conversation with the girls:

Me:  "So, what do you want to go to college to be?"

 

Claire:  "Hannah Montana."

 

Brielle:  "Ugh…you can't go to college to be Hannah Montana.  I want to be a hair styler person who does other people's hair for them."

Me:  "That sounds really cool!"

Claire:  "Okay, I want to be an evil witch! Or an evil queen.  Or an evil queen witch!"

These types of conversations are pretty common around here with Claire.  You never know what is going to come out of her mouth..but you better not laugh at what she does say or you will get the evil eye and a stern "That's not funny!"

The other day she made a "meggery round" (merry-go-round) out of pillows on the family room floor.  The following fun ensued.

It was quite a wild ride.  

"Mom, come on the meggery round with me!" 

"Woo hoo!  We're going so fast!  I'm getting so dizzy...are you getting dizzy mommy?"  

Of course I was.  Sitting on a pillow while Claire does acrobats around me will do that to a person. 

Thank goodness for our little comedienne.