Pumpkin Carving

Spaghetti in the Family Room

"It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" on TV

4 Excited Girls

4 Perfect Pumpkins

Leftover Candy Corn

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

1 Fun Family Night

Why We Have Clean Sheets Today

What I found Tuesday when Bayli woke up from her nap...

Her face totally cracks me up - "Can I help you? I'm kind of in the middle of something here..."

Maybe I shouldn't have left that jar of Eucerin on the bed.

So proud of herself!

Anniversary

Saturday was my parents' 40th anniversary.

Aren't they gorgeous? My Momma is model-beautiful and my Dad looks like a movie star.

Beautiful from the inside out.

I Love You Guys! Happy Anniversary!

Weekend

We had a busy weekend...

Ryann & BFF Claire went on a 7th grade Hayride...

Bayli slept at the theater & let me watch (almost!) a whole movie...

Skye collected Fall Leaves....

Bayli discovered Barney on TV...

and danced naked...

my hot hubby & awesome brother-in-law poured a concrete sidewalk...

Mad & BFF Ellie were matching penguins...

Bayli loved on her Uncle

(and got loved on back)

and we had our annual Halloween party...

Whew.

Thank goodness it's Monday!

HSM3

Madi & Skye had a half-day at school today, so I took them & their friends to see High School Musical 3. It was so much fun! I think I loved it as much as they did.

Eleven Months Old!!

Today is a big day - the First Snow, my little brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Eric!) and my baby is eleven months old!!

I really can't believe how fast the time has gone!! Why does she have to grow up so fast?? This month she got her fifth tooth, first ear infection, first antibiotic and started walking!! She loves music and loves to dance and for the first time today, I found her sitting on the floor looking at a book!!

Here's my almost-one-year-old today in all her chubby, chubby cuteness...

Happy 11-month birthday my Sweet Sweet Baby!

my newest little reader!

Madi's New Room

After years of anticipation (on Madi's part), two weekends of shed-building (for Mike & Jeff) and a super-crazy couple of weeks (for me), Madi finally has her own room!

I think it came out really cute and am so happy that we were able to give this to her. She's the kind of girl that really needs her own space.

I had so much fun doing it for her.

She picked the cute bedding & I created the rest of the room around it. I love, love, love the pink & brown and had fun with all the polka dots. I did lots of shopping, painted the walls, repainted the same dresser & bookshelf that we refinished for her nursery 10 years ago just before she was born and did stencilling on the bookshelf, dresser, door & walls (something I discovered out of neccesity that I can do while nursing...).

Happy New Room Baby!! I Love You!

Round Two

We really are lucky to have such awesome family close by! Last weekend, Jeff came up again and he & Mike finished building our shed! Hooray! It took the whole weekend and the boys did such a great job! The only thing left to do is paint it. My sweet hubby loaded it up already and emptied out the storage room - now I can start working on my new scrapbooking room!

Since the boys clearly had the shed under control, and the cousins were playing happily, Corey & I got a few more games played and ate some amazing Thai food from a new restaurant I discovered. Bayli got some love from her most favorite person - Uncle Jeff. It was another super fun weekend!!

Thanks Criswells! We love you guys!

Shed-Building, Cousins & Games

I've spent the past week on a big, highly-anticipated & long-awaited project - Madi's room. I've been crazy busy - painting (a dresser, bookshelf & walls), stenciling, shopping and lots of cleaning & rearranging. Madi is beyond thrilled to have her own space and it's turning out so cute! I'm still doing the finishing touches, but I'll definitely post some pictures soon.

I've always felt like we really didn't have space in this house for Madi to have her own room, until Mike had the brilliant idea to build a storage shed - now everything in our basement storage room will move to the shed, everything in my scrapbook room moves to the storage room, and my scrapbook room becomes Madi's room.

So we got started last weekend. We're so lucky to have an awesome brother-in-law who spent all day helping my hubby build the shed. The girls were excited to play with their cute cousins and Corey & I were happy to catch up on some board games. We had the best Game Day. In 9 hours, between keeping track of 6 kids, we played a record 11 games - 1 Pecking Order, 4 St. Petersburg (our favorite), 3 Princes of Florence, 1 Parthanon, 1 Pueblo and 1 Thurn and Taxis. That's our most productive day ever! (We play so similarly that we often tie, but for those who want to keep track - that's 6 wins for me and 5 for my Squeester...)

So fun! Thanks Jeffy & Squeester!! The shed's not finished yet, so I can't wait for Round Two this weekend! :)

This is all for you Mad - are you feeling the love?

Walking!

Here's my baby girl walking this morning!

Sick Baby :(

Me and my big mouth.If I've learned one thing in my 12+ years of motherhood, it's that you never, ever mention out loud that your child is healthy. It's the surest way for them to immediately get sick. Call me crazy - it happens. So I've been silently amazed for these 10.5 months that Bayli has never been sick! Silent, at least until last week - so stupid!

Here's the story...

My happy happy girl is happy & busy yesterday - laughing, walking, playing... I put her down for her nap, but after just an hour, she wakes up screaming. She won't settle down, she won't nurse, which is pretty much unheard of. Ten minutes later, she's still inconsolable and I am pretty freaked out - this is so not like her. Twenty minutes later and I'm on the phone with the Dr. Thirty minutes later, the Dr. calls back. Forty minutes later, we're in the car. Bayli doesn't stop crying until an hour later when she falls asleep exhausted in the waiting room. Long and stressful story short - she has a bad ear infection in both ears! No fever, no pulling at her ears, no clues for me whatsoever. Still, I was so relieved to know what was going on with her. So scary!

After her nap in the carseat & a 2nd nap in my arms, she woke up & immediately started crawling around & laughing at Ryann. She doesn't like her medicine, but had a great night and seems to be doing better already.

Still, I know it's all my fault. Me & my big mouth.

My sweet, sweet exhausted baby finally fell asleep in the car on the way home...

20

Pictures to follow...

In the midst of a super crazy week, my sweet baby is breaking free.

It started with three steps one day, six steps the next, twelve, sixteen on Sunday, twenty last night. At 10.5 months old, Bayli is walking.

Baby, you're growing up so fast!!

Watch out world, here she comes...

More Fishy Faces

Bayli loves to make faces - this picture of her & Madi just makes me laugh...

Fishy Face

Bay has a new face that totally cracks us up - her fishy face. I don't know where it came from, but she does it all the time!!

silly girl

Toby

Exactly 14 years ago today, my hubby & I got our first baby.

I remember the date because it was a funny coincidence - we got Toby 9 months to the day after we were married. :) A little furry for a baby but we loved him just as much. I loved him so much that I actually missed a few college classes - how could you go to a boring class when you had such a cute puppy at home?? :) He was the biggest love, and was so eager to please us that he was super easy to train. I read all the puppy books and exposed him to all different kinds of people - that's when we discovered the fact that he didn't like kids. So he bit kids as a puppy and bit kids as an adult. That was his only flaw (that, and eating an entire pan of brownies which cost me $700 and a night of tears...). It's so funny because he was the perfect dog in every other way - so sweet, so loyal, so loving, so obedient... He loved bananas and reminded me of a little black bear. He had the softest, thickest fur I've ever felt.

Last January, at 13.5 years old, he just collapsed in my kitchen. I had a brand-new baby and an injured husband and so much going on that I was barely able to process losing Toby. So I'm thinking of you today my friend and wishing that I could scrub my hands through your super-soft black fur and see your precious little doggie face.

I love you and I miss you and I'll never forget you.

Prego Me & Toby - November 19, 2007

For Grandma

Momma, this one's for you. Look what my baby can do! :)

We're so excited that you & Dad will be living here soon and you can see all these fun things for yourself!! We can't wait!

Start Spreading the News...

Last night Mike & I gave Ryann her Christmas present a few months early... I am a little freaked out about it, but we are sending her to New York next summer with her dance studio!! She will be going to 4 Broadway shows, taking 3 dance workshops and performing in front of the Statue of Liberty! She was super excited, but then a little bummed when I said I wasn't going too. :( (We really can't afford for both of us to go.) The compromise is that I will fly out with Bayli just for a couple of days. I can't wait!! That will be a hard-earned reward for surviving the first few days with my Baby so far away! I'm so thankful for cell phones & text messaging!!

Madi

I just loved this picture of Madi - taken Saturday after a birthday party for her BFF Ellie. She made the cute bead necklace that she's wearing.

(Wedding) Date

A rare treat - my awesome sister-in-law took all four girls yesterday & my hubby & I had a mini-date at Haibo & Kathryn's beautiful wedding. I loved sitting outside in the cool, overcast afternoon - just me & my hubby and the most beautiful view. It actually started raining - they provided black umbrellas for all the guests - I loved it! I also loved that some of Haibo's Chinese culture was represented - with the Tea Ceremony and the Origami Tree. Corey brought Bayli back to me for the reception - she loved it and made lots of new friends. Everything was beautiful - the ceremony, the food, the location, the company...

Congratulations & thanks for sharing your beautiful day with us!

Fall Adventure

I think one of the most miraculous gifts of motherhood is the ability to see the world anew through the eyes of your child.

So my sweet, sweet baby has just discovered a whole new world outside the front door. She's desperate to get there. The weather was perfect yesterday, so I took her on a little fall adventure. She loves being outside. She was so quiet in the stroller that I thought she'd fallen asleep, but she was just single-mindedly taking it all in.

Everything is new. I get to discover the world's beauties all over again.

Thanks Baby Girl for sharing your adventures with me.

Exploring small pieces of splintery wood - by taste...

I absolutely, totally love, love the fall...

8 things...

8 things I am passionate about...

1. my kids
2. my hubby
3. cleaning
4. natural childbirth & breastfeeding
5. books
6. my Blackberry
7. Christmas
8. scrapbooking & blogging

8 words or phrases I use often...

1. Where's Bayli??
2. Get in the car
3. Baby (applies to everyone in my house)
4. holy crap
5. That's what she said.
6. How's my girl?
7. You've got to be kidding me
8. Oh Baby, don't put that in your mouth!

8 things I have learned from my past...

1. If you have to write a sentence in German 100 times in 8th grade, you'll always remember it. (Meine Mutter sagt dass Ich meinen Regenmantel nicht vergessen soll.)
2. Everything else you'll forget and then feel like a complete moron when your 7th grader asks you something you know you should know.
3. Just because it's a special occasion doesn't mean everything will be perfect.
4. Sometimes it's better to go to bed angry.
5. If the only thing you don't eat is meat, people will still think you are picky.
6. You can't expect other people to do things the way you would.
7. Happiness is a choice.
8. Nothing is more important than family.

8 places I would love to go see or visit...

1. Greece
2. Australia (& Australia Zoo)
3. Tahiti
4. Egypt
5. Hawaii
6. Chichen Itza ruins
7. New York
8. Disneyland with my kids (in March!)

8 things I currently need or want...

1. more time with my hubby
2. new carpet
3. a shed in the backyard (for storage, so Madi can have her own bedroom)
4. my pre-Bayli body
5. a new episode of The Office (c'mon, it's Thursday!)
6. a new job for my awesome favorite brother-in-law
7. a bigger house with 6 bedrooms
8. $$ to send Ryann to New York next summer

8 people I tag...

1. Corey
2. Erika
3. Kareena
4. Maelynn
5. Mindi
6. Alisa
7. Mom
8. Vidula

Spirit Week

Now that Ryann's in Jr. High, she gets to participate in fun stuff like this week's Homecoming festivities. So this week is Spirit Week. I didn't get pictures of Ryann & BFF Claire in their matching homemade "Save the Whales" t-shirts for Twin Day, but I did catch them both today on Crazy Day. :) Mike & I were so impressed by Ryann's creative, silly, yet still stylish & color-coordinated craziness. It was so fun to be at school today and see the jr. high & high school kids all crazied out. How fun that my girl gets to experience all the excitement.

Go Titans!!