8 months old

8 months old and this little guy is on the fast track to walking (yikes!) I'm not ready. I want him to be an infant forever!!

Right now he is pulling himself up to anything he can. Yesterday he started letting go of things and balancing on his own for up to three seconds at a time. He totally knows what he's doing because he'll concentrate really hard to stay balanced and not sink to the floor.
This pic was mid laughing :) I love it!!
Here he was being such a show-off for his adoring sibs by pulling himself up to the ottoman and dancing and shaking once he got up. He was laughing his head off at them laughing at him! Fun times around here at night :)
My beautiful boy. We love him so much!

It's over, thank goodness!!

It was the usual: pumpkin carving, multiple parties, parades and let's not forget the trick-or-treating. The kids had so much fun and got way too much candy and goodies! They were freezing cold and a little damp when they got home but I think they accomplished their mission well. We love Halloween and now, let's move on....My darling, costumed bunch :))
Beautiful Cleopatra (at school anyway). The next day she went trick-or-treating as a Bingham Miners fan? I think it was less work and way warmer to be in jeans and a hoodie than a thin dress, go figure...
He thoroughly relished being The Joker! No one says "why so serious?"creepier or better than Alex! He collected the biggest bag of candy out of all of them and he came home worn out and soaked. He enjoyed a nice hot bath for an hour :)
Gorgeous Princess Tianna and her frog prince. She lasted about 15 houses and she was soooo ready to come home. She still finds Halloween to be a bit too freaky, especially the darker it got. She had more fun handing out candy at the door.
T-man was either Batman or Robin (or "Ramen" if you ask him). It was just dependent on his mood at the moment. I love his expression in this pic! He is cooking up some trouble in that mind of his! He only made it to three houses and he wanted to get home, he was way too cold! (he might be my brightest child)
Kai was utterly confused (and maybe a bit disgusted by our bizarre behavior?) I think he was ready for sanity to be restored at our house, if our house was ever sane to begin with!

Hope you all enjoyed a spooky, fun, festive Halloween. It's going to be Turkey time before we know it!!!

Fall fun :)

Fall has been fun so far and I love that all the holiday activities of the next couple of months are under way. And I admit, it is nice to wear hoodies, jeans and my Uggs again, but after Christmas I turn back into a winter Scrooge!! So, first up we had to visit the witches at Gardner village....

My beautiful girls xoxoxox!
And then an afternoon at the pumpkin patch.....
..on the hunt...Teagan picked about 12. As he would add it to the wheel barrow we would take it back out and leave it. He didn't seem to notice..
Some of my handsome men :)))

My Favorite five!

And some pumpkin carving at Grandma Susan's.....The three babies. Aren't they the cutest?? Kai, Ella, and Oliver. Oliver is 6 months older than Kai and Kai is a about 3 weeks older than Ella. Fun times ahead for these three cousins!
Teagan put Josh in charge of designing and painting a Batman pumpkin for him. It turned out pretty cool!
Handsome Alex made a creepy monster out of his.
Madeleine did the cute ghost above.
Silly Maddy and cute Hanna :)
Sadie loves to pose for pics and insisted that I get a shot of her "lighting" The pumpkin. Good thing you're so darn cute :)

Up next, Halloween ;)

He did it!!

Alright, Teagan decided to make me the happiest gal around and figured out this whole potty training thing. We have been trying on and off for a few months but finally after placing toys' r us on the shelves in the garage he decided it was time. I started with a bag of toys from the dollar section at Wal-mart and that proved to be a no-go. Then we placed a Mr. Potato Head set up there and that peaked his interest mildly, then I added some Iron Man action figures which really got him anxious. Finally, Buzz Lightyear showed up and that was the last straw! T-man stepped it up and showed me that maybe it was time to cut the crap (no pun intended) and finally do what we all knew he was capable of doing months ago and, voila! Success! Now Woody has a buddy and all is right in the Universe.
Teagan generously shared his Potato Head with his baby bro.

Halleluiah! another daunting parenting task conquered! Now on with the approaching teenage years that are right around the corner, speaking of crap!!

Piano recitals

It was recital time and these kids of mine did great considering neither one of them hardly touched a piano all summer! This was the only pic I got of Alex because I was fussing with my camera trying to get it to focus!
Good job Mads!

Receiving those hard earned trophies from their amazing teacher Marcy. We love her!

Kai enjoyed himself too! I had to throw this one in :)))

I love my talented kiddos!

Labor Day weekend '10

I have been wanting to take the kids downtown and be tourists for years now but Josh is never up for it so this year I talked him into letting us go on Labor Day. We always go at Christmas time but it is so cold, dark and crowded that the kids never even see the beautiful city in and around Temple square. Alex thought our city was so cool! The flowers were in full bloom and all the beautiful fountains were running. I love it down there!We started at the Joseph Smith building but we decided not to see the film because of the little boys. But just walking through was fun and we showed the kids which room we had our wedding breakfast in and how we felt when we walked in to see our families and friends after just being sealed to each other and what a beautiful day for us it was.
My beautiful girls in front of some beautiful flower beds.
We did a tour of the Beehive house which is just so cool! I couldn't believe that Josh had never been there. The kids loved it! The above pic is Sadie drooling over the cute pioneer toys in the "playroom".
My family listening to the sister missionary tour guide as she explains some fun facts about the house. Don't my kids look so quiet and attentive? :) I was shocked!
I love these five treasures!
It was such a perfect day!
Josh and I have a pic of us sitting in that tree behind us on our wedding day 12 years ago. The tornado of 2000 ripped it out of the ground but they were able to replant it.
We then went to the visitors center on Temple square and let the kids see and watch all the great exhibits about our ancient prophets.
Then we went to the church Geneology museum and the little ones had fun playing in the children's area.
Maddy was captivated while reading about other people all over the world who came to Christ and how their conversion happened.
We finished up at the Lionhouse Pantry with some delish rolls with honey butter and some pie, old fashioned bottled soda and a few bags of old fashioned lemon drops. Yum!!
Holding up their treats! Hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day as much as we did :)

6 months old!

Wow, time is really flying by quickly! This darling chunky monkey of ours turned the big 6 months yesterday. This little ham weighs 18 pounds! making him, officially, our chubbiest baby!
Things he is good at (or "tricks" as Gpa Ron would say) are..

-Rolling from belly to back with lightning speed (not so much the other way though)

-sitting up with 95% success, we still keep those pillows around him .

-Eating solids once a day-- Baby rice and recently baby rice with dehydrated fruit in it (Now the diapers are getting a bit more "interesting")

-Reaching for things and managing to hang on to them once he gets it. Still clocks himself in the face with toys though (Depth perception still not 100% accurate yet :)

-Smiles a ton! He loves faces and he doesn't care if you are looking or talking to him he will still think you are giving him all the attention and he'll cheese it up for ya :))

-Laughs at his dads morning face. Even though Josh is still asleep Kai will laugh at him. SOOO cute!

The only thing that makes me sad about him at this age is that I don't get those looooong, multiple power naps every day from him anymore, bummer!! He's too busy to sleep his little life away so, hello catnaps, you wicked teases! Now I'm really getting nothing done!
Love you Kai!!!!! (kissy, kissy, kiss, kiss!!!) You can't resist him can you???