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Friday, 29 January 2010

Every night as I lay in bed I try to recall of all the cute things that the girls did that day. I mentally write them down & vow that in the morning I'll write them down for real. The book is blank. My mind is blank. My girlies are so funny, so creative, & so busy but yet, as I sit here ready to write it down, nothing comes to mind.

There isn't any real news on the job front. Jared has applied for multiple jobs & we are still unemployed so that's self explanatory. We are anxious to get our taxes done so we can live a bit longer on the tax return. Really we are doing fine financially. We just are really super careful. We're going on 7 months unemployed. It's a good thing Jared & I both weren't raised super wealthy becuase are pretty good at living frugally.

I've been spending as many of my spare minutes as possible updating my web site (www.simplyouphoto.com), redoing pricing, & researching actions for photoshop. I've had a great time playing with my photos & am excited for the new year. I am proud to offer photoshop work & quality printing to everyone, whether or not I took the photos. I'm really trying to push that end of my business.

Lilly starting sitting up a couple of months ago & is now crawling. She isn't a master yet but she gets where she wants to go. We've starting the baby proofing (i.e. no jems, crystals, & pennies allowed on the floor anymore.) That's hard for the older girls to remember. We continue to work on teaching Lilly to sleep at night & have had a bit of success with it. Here is her wacky schedule:

She goes to sleep around 8:00pm

Wakes up a few times up until 11:00: eats a full feeding

Sleeps until 1:00 or 3:00 if I'm lucky: eats a FULL feeding

Wakes at 5:30am & nurses while I am passed out cold for 1 hour

Awake for good by 7:00

Nap at 10:30

Nap at 3:00.

I think she's going to ween herself from daytime nursing. She's never really been into it. She can take it or leave it. It's a bit dissapointing. She is so hard to nurse with her legs & arms going all waggly like the whole time. Whatever. She's cute & is quick to smile. She is saying "dada" & "mama" & knows that her name is Lilly Jane or Janer Bug, as Evelyn calls her. She loves hair just like Liv did so I cut 8" off to help with the pain level of her wripping my hair out of my head every second.

this is Lilly's favorite position...just chillin' on her elbow!

I neglected Lilly too long & she fell asleep in her bouncer. I hate it when that happens. It makes me feel like a bad mom.

Liv has grown up so much since she started kindergarten. She is learning to read. The other day, she was saying, "Pep-sul" over & over again. She was reading a "Pepsi" sign & the I looked like an L. I go to her classroom to volunteer about once a week & am always to proud of her. She is a polite student; raises her hand, & is quick to obey. She's learning in leaps & bounds. She understands that Evy is young & winey & is so patient with her most of the time. She is a huge help with Lilly. Liv is my cuddler. She is a lovey dovey lamb. She is super princessy too which frightens me. We used our crystal goblets one sunday for the first time & she about had a coronary! It was like we were real royalty. She is planning on being an artist when she grows up.

Evy, oh my sweet little Evelyn. Her face is so tiny. She has the cutest little body. I like to pinch her bum & tickle her belly. She loves to bake. She'll ask me every day if we can bake something & usually we do. When is't time to cook dinner, she's usually on the counter asking questions. She has to taste, touch, & feel everything. She has such a hard time communicating what she wants since she can't really pronounce half the alphabet & her vocabulary is limited. This leads to a lot of whining & jumping up & down in frustration. It tests my patience but then she laughs & it's so contageous & all is forgotten. The girl is stinky too. How can such a small, sweet, angel stink so bad! At least she is regular! She just started Sunbeams at church & each week Olivia starts out Primary with a big hug to Evelyn to make sure she is okay. They are best friends.

I'm so anxious for winter to be over. I need sunshine. I need warmth. I need my kids to PLAY OUTSIDE!

Photos:

Jared's b-day was on January 4th. He is 36 years old. I made cheesecake & forgot the sugar. You can guess how good it was.

We took the girls to the Merlin Olsen park outdoor ice-skating rink for family home evening. Liv & Jared skated for real & Evelyn, Lilly & I followed them around on our shoes. Liv did pretty good & is anxious to try it again. I love that we have an outdoor rink. It makes me feel like we live in a Christmas village.

Carson Smart gave Olivia a starfish that grows in water. It went from a couple inches to about a foot in diameter. It was a source of excitement for the 1 week it took to grow.

the hair before I chopped it

Olivia, Evelyn, & neighbors Bennett & Owen (Harry Potter). Olivia still claims that Owen is her best friend even though they don't play much together. I not so secretly hope that one of my daughters hooks up with one of the Lambert boys in 30 years. Owen is turning 6 on the 30th & Brooke made the most creative, amazing, & awesome party invite EVEr so I had to take a photo of them.

Olivia is giving a talk in Primary on Sunday. Since she can't completely read yet, we drew pictures. She has the talk memorized. I'll return & report on how it goes "Live" on sunday.

Sunday, 24 January 2010

I just ordered the print as a sample for my home gallery. I ordered it as a float wrap. I'm pretty excited about it. It'll be 15x30. I finally have a temple photo in my home (or will by the end of the week.)

Monday, 28 December 2009

Christmas. I love Christmastime. Come to think of it, I love mid October all the way to January 1st. I love Halloween. I love Thanksgiving. And I really love Christmas. It's all about mass amounts of family time & we have excellent families.

We have been incredibly blessed this season. I was a bit nervous coming into the holidays knowing that we have such limited funds. I started purchasing items way back in August & stashing them away: $5 striped sneakers, $.25 crayons & pencils, $.50 kid scissors, $1 glitter construction paper...you know, the kid Christmas necessities. But the kids were asking "Santa" for items a little bit more expensive...computers. Of course, we spent quite a bit of time explaining to the kids the real meaning of Christmas, but reality is, a 3 & 5 year old want some gifts on Christmas morning. Christmas really is for kids. Anyway, Jared's parents decided to simplify their Christmas & gave us the money they were going to spend on us & said to buy our own gifts this year. With cousins, siblings, the girls, parents, Jared & I, it went very quickly. The kids kept expressing how sad they were that the tree only had a couple gifts under it: along came Tracy's Cianflones package & wallah, the tree & the stockings were filled. On Christmas eve eve, Lynn & Margo dropped off some stuff including a date night for Jared & I (Olive Garden gift certificates & movie passes), & socks for the girls. I ended up writing a note from our "elf" & placing the socks & the notes at the bottom of the stairs to greet the girls Christmas eve morning. They also left a large back of Reisens & the girls discovered that the day after Christmas & exclaimed that the elf left them one last gift. It's like every last little thing that I needed for Christmas was taken care of. Oh & we were gifted $50 to Smith's for everyday household items. I've learned a valuable lesson in giving to others this holiday season. Many people have been an answer to our prayers this month. I hate being so needy, but it's sure been nice to be blessed so greatly. Anyway...photos.

My darling Lilly Jane. She's quite the sitter now & not even 6 months old yet!

Christmas Eve Jammies (they opened these jammies Christmas Eve morning.) Such cuties.

Christmas Eve dinner at mom & dad's did not disappoint, of course.

Sweet Charlie

Jane can finally keep up with Landon working her new walking skills.

The girlie cousins are getting along famously.

The "princess" table

singing carols to Jeff on the phone. He was alone Christmas eve while Maren worked.

Waiting to pray over the food. Landon isn't afraid of the "big daddy" Brian.

Our Cmas Eve Family home evening. Liv is Mary, Landon is Joseph, Jane & SerraV are angels, Rosie is a princess or wise girl.

We sang a lot of carols & had a jolly good time.

Mom's new shoes aren't so cute.

Christmas morning. Santa left a sled & a huge frisbee. Also handheld computers for the girls.

The computers were a big hit

Lilly Jane got her own silky blanky. Horray! Now Evelyn doesn't have to share anymore!

So were the multitudes of gifts from Tracy Cianflone.

A new helmet for Evelyn!

A sweater for Lilly Jane

Weston got the coolest dino ever! Lilly enjoyed making out with it.

Landon loves the suckers!

Gotta love the dress up box at Grandma's house. How old is this costume? 35 years?

Sunday night dinner. Don't cook with a kid in your arm. I burned poor Lilly's foot. So incredibly sad!

Monday, 21 December 2009

Ode to Tracy Cianflone, my guardian angel

How do you know exactly what I need when I need it? How is it that you seem to call to "check in" every time something is going array in my life? How is it that on my particularly bad days without fail, a package is delivered to my porch with thoughtful gifts inside that mend me? I don't get it? What have I done to deserve someone like you in my life? Today was no different. Last week you called to tell me you'd had a great time shopping for my girls. Of course it was on that very day that I was at my wits end because Jared was suffering from a incurable migraine & the kids were being little rascals. I'd had minimal sleep, felt helpless, stressed out of my mind, & worried about Melinda who, at the time, wasn't doing so well & at the hospital. You boosted my spirits & gave me something to look forward to in the mail.

Yesterday evening was particularly stressful as Jared & I reviewed our finances & realized that we had a lot less money than I thought. I had nightmares all night & wasn't rested when I awoke. I sat on hold with work force services for 2 1/2 hours trying to reapply for unemployment. During my wait time I wrapped the few presents we were able to get this year for the girls. I was lamenting that their stockings would be relatively empty & Christmas would be mildly exciting. It was then that I opened the box from you. To my surprise it was loaded with stocking stuffers & gifts to wrap for my girls & even a few for me, one I still haven't seen because I told Jared to wrap it. Thank you for the beautiful kitchen towels & Hershey kisses for my empty Christmas treat plate on the buffet table. Thank you for turning our almost disappointing Christmas day into a mighty merry one! I don't get. I don't deserve it. I don't know how to thank you. How do you know what I need?

Thank you Tracy.

Saturday was the Kirby Christmas party. Margo can't have a family gathering without multitudes of crafty things for the kidlets to do. This year we had Santa hat decorating, large gingerbread men cookie decorating, Santa sticker men, Santa head plate men, huge coloring pages, candy cane gifts, & gift swap where all the gifts were supplied by Margo. We also did a nativity, Liv was the angel & Evelyn refused to participate. We ate lots of food & the kids exchanged gifts with each other & played with each others toys. It was a good day.

Friday, 18 December 2009

I missed a couple of photos for the last entry. the kid in the wig is Michael Mathews daughter.

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Happy anniversary mom & dad! Hopefully they had a good day together. Tomorrow won't be so good for momela since she'll be having surgery on her feet. Hopefully she'll have a quick & painless recovery.

This week sure has been annoyingly eventful. Saturday night Jared started feeling a headache coming on. By sunday evening it was a full blown migraine & was in the ER by 11:30pm. They didn't do much for him because they thought he was a drug seeker. They did help his nausea a bit & gave him something that made him crazy in the head. We were greatful for Jared's dad who came to our aid. Lynn sat with Jared at the hospital & drove him home, then took me back to the hospital at 2:30am to retrieve our car so that I could take Liv to school in the morning. The next several days, the headache didn't subside. Finally on Tuesday night, Lynn & my dad gave Jared a blessing & by the next morning the headache had subsided a bit. Now it's Thursday & he's still fatiqued, has no appetite, dizzy, short tempered, tired, & his joints are super achy. I'm a bit worried but we're doing what we need to do in order to get him fixed. Right now he's going to the chiropractor every other day & it seems to be helping a bit.

Also, last night I went to Irish dance class. It ended up we didn't have class but my teacher was there. I had to tell her that I couldn't take class anymore. I balled my eyes out. The conversation was super charged with so much emotion behind it, I wasn't able to control myself. It's the last thing I do for myself & I'm giving it up. We can't afford it anymore. And lastly, the class is too big & young. The worst part about it all is we are doing the BEST dances this year. They are SO MUCH FUN! I'm going to miss it so much. The biggest reason was the stress involved with getting there each week. It caused me so much anxiety each week getting the kids taken care of in order to go. Perhaps I'll start it up again in the Fall.

Last Saturday night was our Arnell cousin party. Santa dropped by & Liv quickly figured out he was actually Rich's dad but was confused at how he became on of Santa's helpers. It was really cute. Mom & dad hosted another successful party. The night was complet with a lot of new snow to trudge around in. Our car nearly didn't make it!

And lastly, Margo & Lynn gave us an "Elf on the Shelf" story & Elf to use this holiday season. The Elf watches the kids during the day, reports to Santa at night, & returns to a new location the next day. Last night the elf brought us our annual Christmas ornaments. Liv & Evy were so excited! What a tricky little elf.

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Blustery Saturday, December 5, 2009

I'm supposed to have a two photo shoots today but we are getting are first really good snowstorm. I'm grateful for the snow. It covers up all the dead.

We have no real news to report. Life is moving along rapidly & we do stuff & document it with photos, so here you go.

Jared took the girls to the Treehouse in Ogden a couple weeks back. I used the "free" time (with only 1 child home, the most occupying one) to finish up a LOT of photo shoots that I was really behind on. Fall was super busy for me with photos; some paid but a lot of family & friends needing to get their yearly Christmas photos out of the way. Jared didn't take a camera with him, but he did have his cell phone. A lot of our photos are taken with the cell phone, hence the intensely high quality of the photos. I guess it's better than none at all, right?

I used to run outside until it got cold & snowy. My favorite part of the course I ran was seeing these heart shaped leaves. I've seen another tree drop leaves like these. It just so happens that the tree that drops these is on the section of road that leads to the temple & the portion where I do my morning prayers.

A day at Ryan's Park back when we used to be able to go outside & it was warm.

Liv & her two friends Tia & Clavey made a tunnel of leaves. So cool.

Liv had a crazy dress & hair day at school. Pretty much she wore what she usually would wear but put it all on backwards & we did her hair in lots of ponies down the middle of her head to try to create a Mohawk but it didn't really end up that way. She was so nervous to go to school that way so I had to walk her into her classroom bra-less & stenchy breath. Mrs. Roghaar greeted us & showed Liv that she was wearing her sweater inside out & from then on, Liv was no longer nervous. Words cannot express how much I LOVE Mrs. Roghaar. She is an extraordinary teacher.

Random photos of the love between us girlies.

Liv had her friend Sadie Murray over for an afternoon. She's a cutie & we made a fun lunch in honor of her visit. Back when I was prego with Liv, Rachel, Sadie's mom was prego with Sadie. Not long after our deliveries, they moved to Hawaii, but now they are back! And our girls are friends & in the same Kindergarten class.

Evelyn asked Santa for one of these Mickey Mouses for Christmas. They are $80. Do you think these photos will suffice?

Another blustery day, Sunday, December 13th...man these updates take me a long time to do. Too much to do this time of year.

Lillian is starting to sit up but falls over easily. When she is on her tummy she can hold her head very high, you know the straight arms thing that kids her age do? She can do that really well. She is the easiest kid in the world to make smile but the hardest to get to sleep. She isn't a good napper or a good sleeper at night. I let her cry last night for 45 minutes & even though she screamed through yawns, she never fell asleep. I will let her cry longer when she gets a little bit older, like maybe 6 months old. She is following the exact pattern Liv did & I'm not prepared to go through with Lillian what we did with Liv. I'm afraid I don't have a choice though. Meanwhile, our nights are wakeful...very wakeful. I'm constantly fatigued, as is Jared, & we are also having harder time staying healthy because of it.

Do you love her chapped lips?

This picture will forever make me laugh because she totally farted LOUD while in this position.

Thanksgiving this year was at the Simmons home in Payson. Jared's sister Stacy lives there. They have a large home with plenty of room for all. We stayed for Wednesday-Friday. Lillian decided she'd sleep through the night each night. It was glorious. I didn't see Liv or Evelyn the entire we were there. They loved playing with their cousins on the tramp & in the tree house. It was SO WARM! We could be outside barefooted which was awesome. It felt like California weather. Unfortunately, Lynn had the stomach flu & it got passed along to the rest of our family over the next 2 weeks. Not fun.

We took photos of the Kirby clan at Petitneet park or something like that.

Todd & Stacy Simmons with kids: Tanner, Eli, Paige, Thacker, & Logan

Rob & Jen Hougaard with kids: Dylan, Tyler, Porter, & Kaitlyn

Blake & Bailey Kirby

Lynn & Margo Kirby

Angela &....his name has left me, her boyfriend

On our drive home, Jared surprised us with a stay at the Grand America for their holiday season opener thingy & the temple square lighting ceremony. There were photos with Santa & Mrs Claus, food in the court, huge, elaborate gingerbread houses, cookie decorating, & all amongst a very fancy setting. Unfortunately, upon checking in Evelyn informed us that her stomach hurt. Moments after we bounced into our glamorous room, Evelyn puked hot chocolate & chicken nuggets all over. Housekeeping please? It sure was nice to have someone else clean up the mess. Lillian filled her drawers for the first time in about a week (s-t-i-n-k-y!) & we didn't want the diaper in our room so I headed out looking for a garbage. Apparently 5 star hotels don't have garbage cans anywhere because they are ugly. Instead I handed the potent package to the front desk. We are such white trash! Mostly Liv, Lillian & I celebrated & Jared hung back in the room with Evy. When he thought she was ready to go out, he brought her down. It wasn't long before she was puking in the bushes. I don't think Blake & Bailey were too impressed with that! Even though our whole night was filled with a puking kid, it sure was nice to have someone else do all the wash & leave the mess behind. The kids had a great time in the soaking tub & Lillian slept through the night! She hasn't done that since!

Bailey & Blake joined us for the celebration. So did the Jazz bear. I think he's creepy.

Those last ones are of the view from our room. So pretty!

We got our tree up the first of the month but I just realized I didn't take any photos. Shame on me. BUT we did put lights up outside. They've worked for 2 nights & now are broken. All that work for nothing!

Did you know I got glasses!

Every week we take the girls to one or two storytimes at the Library. They LOVE it! I'm not sure why Evy is so into the kid next to her. Maybe it's because he kept hacking up a lung & acting ill.

I have more photos from recent activities but this will do for now.

Thursday, 05 November 2009

Illness is on its way out the door, finally. We've spent the last couple of weeks fighting illness. Lillian was the worst. She was so congested from the chest up, coughing fits, running nose, eyes, drool. I'm glad we are on the climb out of it instead of in.

Halloween was fun this year. Friday night Brooke Lambert, Natalie Mohr & I planned a Halloween party. Of course the weather didn't cooperate so we moved it indoors. We had face painting, donut frying, lots of finger foods, fish pond, photo booth, cake walk, mask making, movie, & lots of mingling, crowds, & good times. We have Brooke to thank for most of it because she did the majority of the work since it was at her house. It was so great to see friends & visit. I ran a photo booth but not too many wanted their picture taken...fine by me!

Olivia, Evelyn, & Lil' Janie...Tiger, Monkey, & Pumpkin

Jane White...ladybug.

Mom & Dad...Raggedy Ann & Andy

Ethan & Landon...skeletons

Saturday I wanted to make extra special for the kids. Jared wasn't feeling great, Lilli Jane not at all well & so we layed low instead. The girls didn't miss all the extra parties. I made some pumpkin bread bowls, wassail, & chili for dinner. I ended up taking it to the church for the ward gathering where mom & David/Barbara & girls joined us. Ally, Jessica, Evy, Liv & I headed trick-or-treating together & the night was warmish & fantastic.

Our porch, treaters & pumpkins...

sister larson served her candy on a silver platter

The griffins, our backyard neighbors, gave out apples

Our kids LOVE Grandma Ed.

Jadie Salazar carved really cool pumpkins. The Lamberts were done trick-or treating in time to give us candy. Bennett was a Wolverine, Jakey a tiger, & Finn a giraffe.

Oh the candy pile! Olivia looks so drunken in these photos I had to post both.

I did a ton of yard work one day getting the yard set up for next spring. I thinned out a weedy ground cover that was taking over. I'm allergic to it so I suffered for a few days following. Jared helped with the clean up, Evy with the yanking.

I'm not ready for winter, but the date is, so bring on the snow, I guess.

Saturday, 31 October 2009

Olivia shoved her hand into a bowl full of raising dough & said, "Ugh, it feels like...it feels like..." then ran over to me, lifted up my shirt, grabbed my flabby stomach skin & said, "...like this, mom." Thanks Liv. I love you too.

Thanks Brooke Lambert for the latest version of our Articles of Faith:

1. We believe in SUVs and minivans, as the form of transportation, and in knee length shorts, which are always nice, and in the multilevel marketing.

2. We believe that church ball players should be punished for their own fouls, and not for unsportsmanlike aggression.

3. We believe that through bread crumbs, cheese, creamy soups, and rice all casseroles can be saved through obedience to ward cookbooks and creativity in the mixing bowl.

4. We believe that the first layers and ingredients of the Dip are: first, beans; second, cheese; third, chopped
tomatoes; fourth, the gift of sour cream; fifth, olives; sixth, salsa; seventh, guacamole, that is, if you have it.

5. We believe that a Mormon should have a distinguished or a cute name, that it is appropriate to name a child after a church leader or a historical figure including an ancestor, that alternative spellings and French prefixes only add to a name, and that when referring to the names of General Authorities, middle initials should be a part thereof.

6. We believe in the same wall decor that exists in many Mormon homes, namely, framed family proclamations, vinyl lettering, inspirational word signs, family photos, pictures of temples and Jesus, and so forth.

7. We believe in the gift of the re-gift, church books, crafts, family photos, baked goods, emergency supply kits, and so forth.

8. We believe in sparkling grape juice so long as it is nonalcoholic; we also believe in bringing root beer and sprite to ward parties.

9. We believe in all that we have scrapbooked, all that we will now scrapbook, and we believe that we will yet scrapbook many great and important things pertaining to our family, friends, pets, and vacations.

10. We believe in the literal mixing of ketchup and mayo and in the generous application of ranch dressing; that CBAs (church-based acronyms) will be used to describe YM/YW, PEC, the Y, NCMO, and CTR; that Mitt Romney will get Mormons to vote for him any time he runs; and, that the Mormons will enjoy reading Twilight and The Work and the Glory.

11. We claim the privilege of trying to identify common acquaintances with any visitor at church, and allow all other people at church the same privilege, and let them name drop the names of Famous and general authorities how, where, or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to scoutmasters, pampered chef hostesses, and the writers of the U.S. News and World Report Rankings for professional schools, and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining Glenn Beck.

13. We believe in being above average, good at crafts, optimistic, and being fifteen minutes late everywhere we go. Indeed, we may say that we follow BYU football. We believe rumors about famous people joining the church, we hope to meet the three Nephites, we have endured many pyramid schemes, and hope to be able to endure all pyramid schemes. If there is anything cheap, free, sold in bulk, or given away when somebody is moving, we seek after these things.

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Jared left early Saturday morning for his yearly motorcycle weekend in Wendover with his boyfriends. I'd hoped we would have had to motorcycle sold by now so this trip wouldn't happen but perhaps that's why it's not sold! Jared maybe sabatoshed it.

Just a quick update...

Having 3 kids is pretty overwhelming. If Jared weren't home I don't know what I would do. Seriously. It's hard enough as it is. Lillian still refuses to nurse during the day so I pump & she takes a bottle. This has its advantages & disadvantages. Mostly she won't take a bottle from anyone but me & she has recently has started to cry whenever I'm not around. It's rather disheartening on my future prospects with freedom. So pretty much she goes everywhere with me which isn't so bad as long as no other little people are tagging along. Have you ever tried to buckle 3 kids into carseats in the back of a Honda Accord? It is not easy. I how I miss our minivan! Lilly Janey also continues to not sleep well. She really won't go to bed all that great & then is up once around 1:00 & up again at 4:00 & every 15 minutes thereafter unless of course she's sleeping with me & then I don't sleep either. It's pretty awesome. So, I'm tired & have dark circles. Isn't that expected with newborns?

The girls absolutely adore their little sister, usually a little too much. Right now they are reading her a book, making her dance, & punch at things. Lil' Janey is voicing her disapproval.

We have really enjoyed the fall colors & the falling leaves so far. I have gone on a couple of hikes & I run nearly every day. I've watched the valley daily as it turns into a valleywide rainbow. I don't know if there is a more beauitful season except maybe spring. Spring is beautiful too. Neither last long enough. The cold, dreary winter is on its way.

With the fall colors comes photo shoots. I have been quite busy which is very nice for our lack of income these days. This brings me to another topic...our unempoyment. Nothing to really talk about on that subject either. Jared is looking into purchasing a couple of different companies but nothing is for sure yet. I hate being unemployed & being so financially restricted. BUT I LOVE having Jared home. Maybe we can have both someday.

Like I mentioned before I've started running for exercise. It makes me feel good & I've reached a little over 6 miles for my furthest distance. Usually I stick to around 4. I've noticed my belly getting a bit smaller which is nice but I still have a long way to go. I want to lose around 20 pounds. 6 down so far...

Liv got to be in the Homecoming Parade in the end of September. I think the anticipation of the event was way better than the actual event. She didn't love riding on the trailer all that much & I think maybe next year she'll decide to catch candy instead. At the time, Evelyn was going to be Batman for Halloween, so the highlight of her day was meeting the real Batman at the parade. (Since then she has changed to being a Monkey for Halloween.)

Can't type anymore since the kid wants me to hold her. Here are some photos

Family photos taken a few weeks ago...

Serra took ours, I took hers. A fine trade. oh & yes I made the hats.

My cute girlies..

Some freaky carrots from the neighbors yard.

Liv played with the camera again & photographed her favorite things.

Guess who started rolling over recently.

FHE picking out the pumpkins & ice-cream

Evelyn squared

Leaf joy