From Fall to Christmas... in one day

    This is what we were doing........ having fun, stuffing our shirts with leaves, having great leaf fights and making huge leaf piles......

 (This picture will not stop going on here sideways and I can't figure out how to change it!)



... getting stuffed in the garbage can by Dad....

... when suddenly and without warning we were decorating for Christmas!! (This is where we sometimes had to put Emme so she was in the least amount of trouble!)

Alex could hardly wait, so I had him and Tristan help me carry things up from the storage room. When I came upstairs, I saw that Alex wasn't just bringing things up, he was decorating with them! So these are pictures of where he thought everything should go. I love how he just put it right over all the fall decorations.

Notice the ribbon carefully placed across the fireplace, as well as the Christmas tree picks put in the wreath above.

I always thought that a large alpine tree placed in the middle of this table would do it wonders!!

Ms. Underwear herself couldn't be left out of the decorating.

Once the kids were done helping, 90% of the tree's ornaments were in this small spot, right at their eye level.

I probably took 30 artificial berries out of Emme's mouth that day, all in various stages of decomposition. But she never minded when I took them away. She just happily filled her mouth with another one she had stashed away in her hand.  She has trouble written all over that face!

We're trying the tree in this corner instead of in front of the window this year for two reasons. One, then it doesn't block the sunlight, which was always a little depressing. And two, just because I like a change now and then.

This was more the look that I had in mind. (See if you can find the kitty in this picture.)

This isn't a very good picture, because the chandelier looks really pretty in real life. In some ways you can make things look way better in a picture, and in some ways it never looks as good.

I told Megan that I would take a picture of what it looks like here. Not so lovely, is it? Do you see our snowman that is falling over? And yes, that is our driveway covered in snow. We won't see it again until May.

I think I will stay inside, curled up with a mug of hot chocolate and watch winter pass by from my window. Hmmm.. That's going to be a lot of cups of hot chocolate.

For Haley's Benefit

We had little Bambino head for the night this weekend!! It was his first time away from his Mommy for that long (yeah for weaning!) and so in honor of the occasion, and to soothe Haley's worried brow, I told her that I would take a whole bunch of pictures of what he did while she was gone and put them on here. So, here is a picture journal of Hunter's stay with us!

The kids were super-duper excited for Hunter to be here and all wanted turns holding him. This is right after Haley left. I thought maybe Hunter would cry a little or occasionally seem sad, but either he didn't notice at all or he didn't care! He was so happy the whole time. Maybe my kids kept him so busy he didn't have time to register other emotions.

 Alex just looves Hunter, and can actually remember his name now. When he was a few months old and Haley came over to visit, Alex called him "Winter" and "Sweater."

Hunter ate pizza with us for dinner and really liked it, along with his mandarin oranges and cinnamon wheel. He doesn't look as happy here, but he was.

I tried to feed Hunter, but he pushed my hand away and then pointed to Danny! He mostly ate on his own, but the only person he would take bites from was Danny. I think Danny was secretly pleased.

Then it was bath time! Emme thought it was just so fun to have someone else with her in the bath! They kept putting their toys in each other's mouths and laughing.
Also notice how their roundy bellies create their own natural "fig leaves." Hehehe..

Ahh.. aren't they cute?!

Yes, Hunter is palying with his medicine. See what a good babysitter I am?

Sucking his thumb before I put him in bed. And proof that I was there!

He went to sleep without a peep and slept until 8:30, when we went in to wake him up. This was the greeting he got in the  morning!

Just chillin' after a good morning nap.

I forgot to take pictures, but after breakfast he went to Ben and Linda's and played with Josh while Alex and I had piano lessons.
He seemed to think that was mildly interesting, as was his expression about quite a lot of things.

This is in the car on our way to Sam's Club to buy stuff and get samples! He really liked the samples, but by the end he was super tired and sucking his thumb.

Hunter loved Kittle-Litty and I thought she was very patient. Do you see Lainey's face behind Hunter in this picture? It think it's funny.

He liked all the different toys and really thought he was big stuff because he could push this cart around and not fall down. He's probably not used to having so much room to push things around!

At about 4pm his Grandma Jolley and Aunt Kailey picked him up to put him in bed at their house, since that was where Haley and Dallin would be staying that night. Doesn't he look sad to leave?

Actually, I think he really did have a lot of fun and the only time he cried the whole time was at Sam's Club when Alaina had a fit and stepped on his fingers in the cart. Then he cried very loud. In my ear. For a long time. Until I held him, and then as long as I held him and pushed the cart he was happy. Luckily, at that point we were ready to go anyway!

He was such a good, happy little boy while he was here and we hope he comes to visit again! Emme needs a bath buddy and someone to fight her for toys. And all the kids need visits from their little "Sweater."  :)

A couple of other random pictures. I thought this was so cute. It was Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church, and Alaina curled up in her little chair with her books and tucked her legs under her and just read away.  Doesn't she look intent on her reading and all cozy?

And just some cutey pictures with Tristan. I think maybe she has outgrown that skirt. It was funny, because that day in nursery, it seemed like all the little girls had on way short skirts. I guess I will have to buy her some new skirts, darn it!!

Tricks or Treats

Well, here go lots of pictures and a quick rundown of our holiday. The only thing missing are pictures of our huge leaf fight and of Tristan and Alex at school. Alex marched in the little Dora Erickson parade over to Good Sam where they sang Halloween songs, and Tristan's class had a Halloween program. Tristan did great and remembered his part really well. If you ask him, he will recite it for you. I helped in his class with their party and wore that light blue poofy, costume dress we got at D.I. like 10 years ago. I curled my hair all up and put on lots of makeup and all the kids were in awe. I love kids. They're so easy to impress! Anyhoo, I don't have any pictures because of our ever silly camera, and I was soooo very tired of it not working, that we went the next day to Sam's Club and bought a new camera!! Woo-hoo! It was only $94, but it seems great for our needs. I would love to buy a better one, but I am just so happy to have a camera that will actually work. And, Justy very kindly bought us a new memory card with like 800 times as much storage as our old one. So now we can take around 2,300 pictures before it wil be full!

So, here are pictures of some of what we have been doing!

The Tuesday before Halloween we carved pumpkins, which is one of Alex's favorite things to do! I helped him empty his out a little, but he did all the drawing and cutting and everything after that! Do you see the ever-present jar of barbecue sauce? Alex puts it on everything we have for dinner, so it seems like it is always on the table. I should just make a special spot for it!  

Alex's pumpkin is on the left, then Tristan's, which obviously I helped with (he wanted one with "fire"), and then Alaina's cat, which I pretty much did by myself. I shouldn't let them pick out patterns to do. In real life it was pretty funny, because Alex picked out the biggest pumpkin, and then the face on it was all squooshed in one spot!

Proud of their masterpieces, which they picked out the design for!

After carving we made a fire and had smores! I think it was the first time my kids have had them!

Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating! They were all super excited. In case you can't tell, Alex is Santa, Tristan is a knight, Alaina a fairy princess, Emme is a sunflower and Danny is wearing a pig helmet cover, just for good measure.

Justin went with us, which was really nice. He helped carry Emme and kept the kids from getting run over and kept Alex from taking all the candy from people's houses!

It was such unbelievably nice weather, I loved it!! We just stayed in our neighborhood, as those three blocks seem like just the right amount. And then we get to show off our kids to the neighbors!

It was pretty funny when other kids out for treats would see Alex from a distance. We would hear one of them shout, "Hey! You guys look, it's Santa!!!" And they would all look and get all excited. I'm not sure if their depth perception was off from a distance or from excitement, but they did not seem to be able to tell that it was just a kid in a costume. They were very excited. Tthis happened several times. The funny part is to imagine what a horrible Santa Alex would be, seeing as how he alternately completely ignores people, and then is obsessed at other times and won't leave people alone. Wouldn't that make a great Santa?

This is Alaina falling over at the Wheatley's yard. It was fitting that I got a picture of this, as she probably fell over ten times. But her bag was cloth and flexible, so usually none of her candy fell out, so she didn't mind. She would stand up and say, "It's okay. I'm alright."

This year Alex was a lot better and didn't try to go in people's houses or refuse candy that wasn't chocolate with a "No, thank you," like he did last year. They were all great and Tristan only asked once if he could have two pieces.

Afterwards we went to the Campbells and dumped out bags and saw what they had gotten. They all got tons! So we let them eat what they wanted for a little bit, then that night took all the candy out of their bags except for like 5 or 6 pieces. They never said a word, and I think were just excited that they still got more in the morning! We put all the rest in a huge tupperware bowl and eat from it regularly. I love Halloween! :)

And here are just some other random pictures.

Proof that I do exist, and that I do read to my children. But it must be rarely enough that it is deemed picture worthy! (I don't think so.)

Emme is making lots of noises, seeing this picture of such a cute baby on here!

Now that I have a new camera, hopefully there will be many more pictures to come!