baptism preview

My sister-in-law took some fun pictures of Rachel in her baptism dress last week. I can't believe she's turning 8 in a couple weeks. Where did the time go?

no more "ginky"

Last Saturday was Haley's final day with her binky.....
I let her suck on it for a minute then gave it to Nate and he cut it off! He says it was cruel to let her suck on it then take it away and destroy it. He's probably right, but I wanted one last picture. Priorities, Nate. Priorities. She didn't cry then, but sure had a look of what-the-heck-did-my-parents-just-do!!!
"Ginky, boken," is what she says every night when I rock her and sing her a song. Breaks my heart a little, but it was time to get rid of it. She's still trying to adjust to getting herself to sleep without it, but she's doing pretty well with a little extra TLC.

remember these?

So it turns out Tye and Haley DID NOT ingest as many Tums as I thought. I found these when we were moving furniture out of the way to get our carpets cleaned. Some have been licked and nibbled on, but for the most part they are intact. That would explain the lack of any overdose "symptoms". They must have discovered after 4 or 5 that they aren't that good!

halloween

Our ward does a trunk-or-treat on Halloween and the kids love it. It has taken me a couple years to warm up to the idea. I hated that it took away the traditional trick-or-treating experience, but since that's really all they remember ever doing it's not so bad. They did go out to a few house in our neighborhood afterward. I will admit it beats walking around all cold and tired for hours.

The Indecisive Fairy

The Clone Trooper....
not to be confused with a Storm Trooper! Two different things apparently.
I love how his mask squishes his nose. I'm pretty sure he didn't love it so much, though.

Spiderman

The Cowgirl

All done and trying to get warm waiting for dad to deliver the hot chocolate and donuts..... yum!

Swensen Halloween Party 2009

As you can see, Nate and I don't get "into"Halloween much to the dismay of our children.

Isn't she just the cutest cowgirl you ever did see?

We had lots of yummy soups for dinner and played lots of fun games.....
So the condensed story behind the "Stick the Nail in Grandpa's Thumb" game goes like this: My dad was recently remodeling a bathroom for my aunt and his nail gun double shot. One went into the lumber and one went into his knuckle! Ouch!! So that's how the game came about. The kids were trying to stick nails into grandpa's knuckle. My two year old niece, Brinley won!

The dads were gaming it up too..... on their iphones. What a bunch of losers!!

Cookie Walk

Donut Eating Contest

This is Tye with his cousin Ben. Ben is 8 years older than Tye to the day... they share a birthday and are great friends. Ben is in 7th grade and is one of the tallest kids in his grade. Then there's Tye who is one of the shortest kids his age. The comparison was just too cute!

Tye needed a drink break during the game. So much for winning!! :)

halloween parade

So every year the parents are invited to the school to watch all the classes march in a parade to show off their costumes. My camera must not have been on the right setting because all my pictures turned out really weird, but you can see how much care Kaden had for me and Nate standing there cheering him on.... Thanks, bud! Are we so embarrassing that you can't even look at us? At least we got a weak little wave.

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. Remember how she was going to be a black cat? Well, she wasn't. The night before the parade she was in tears again about not wanting to be a cat. Instead she wanted to be a fairy. So now we've gone from a cat to Dorothy to a fairy. Part of me wanted to tell her tough luck, but then I decided to be a nice mom and figure something out..... without having to spend any money. So I called her aunt Kerstin to see what she might have from previous years. We were able to come up with fairy wings and a pink tutu and it sufficed! Thank goodness! It wasn't the most spectacular costume, but if you know me that's about as good as it gets whether it's planned months ahead or the night before!

let the festivities begin

We had our first Halloween party of the year last night at Grandpa and Nana Bishop's house. They fed us yummy soups and rolls and supplied the whole family with homegrown pumpkins from their garden to carve. A fun time was had by all.... eventually anyway. When we arrived Rachel was in tears and not talking to anyone. We finally got it out of her that she didn't want to be a cat anymore, but Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. WHAT??? It was so out of the blue. I had no idea she was thinking of dressing up as something else. After clinging to either me or her dad for awhile she decided to go ahead and have some fun. I have to admit my patience with her were gone, so Nate did most of the consoling. I thought she was the cutest kitty ever, but my opinion didn't matter much to her last night. Hopefully we'll be able to make it through a few more parties without any more major melt downs. I didn't get pictures of everyone all dressed up, but there are still plenty of opportunities coming up....

This is Nate's masterpiece! It's a beaut, isn't it? It's like a wretched old witch.... I love it!

holy shmoly

I just freaked out a little. I just noticed on my pregnancy ticker I only have 67 more days (give or take a few) to get ready for our new little one. I remember when I was pregnant with Rachel I had the nursery all decked out and ready with about 5 months more to go. I know the more kids you have the less there is to get ready (and the less time you have). I already have most everything I need, but I'm lacking a plan. Haley is still in the crib..... I so don't want to deal with moving her to a real bed yet. I haven't even bought a single, that's right not even ONE little, teeny, tiny thing for her yet. Gasp!! Every baby deserves a few new things. I have got to get on the ball. I couldn't be having her at a more busy time either. Work has picked up for Nate a bit so he is traveling more again. Halloween is coming. Then Nate's birthday. Closely followed by Rachel's 8th birthday which entails a party, baptism shortly after, etc.. Thanksgiving. Oh and then CHRISTMAS. Oh, I need a plan big time! So maybe I should get off this computer and get started....

growing up

My baby girl is growing up.... (sob, sniff, sniff...) Haley loves to put on all the fluffy skirts we have in the dress up box and twirl around. So cute! I wanted to take her picture while she was twirling, but as soon as she'd see me put the camera up to my eye she would plop down, wait for me to take a picture, then say, "I wanna see."

{Here's a snap before she saw what I was doing.}

And she thinks she owns the computer. Here she is using the scrolling wheel on the mouse and clicking on pictures.... she's two! What is the world coming to?! (Please don't pay any attention to the mess of papers everywhere, her snotty nose (the screen reflects nicely off of it) or the fact that her hair isn't done... Thank you! It's a good thing this was taken on a cell phone and not with a high resolution camera.)