Happy 6th Birthday!

Wasn't it only yesterday that she was 2? I'm sure that it was. She loved her blankie and loved to go on walks. She sucked her little thumb until it was raw and we had to tape gloves on her hands to heal the infection. She couldn't wait until Daddy got home. . still can't! Her favorite thing to do was play the keyboard and swing. . . oh the swings. If you put her on the swings it could be more than an hour pushing and pushing. She would still kick and scream when it was time to go home. She was not afraid to talk to anybody. . and she still isn't. Her favorite food in the world was fruit snacks. She couldn't wait to go to school like Ty Ty. Now, she's in Kindergarten and loving every minute of it! I can't believe how she's grown!

Her favorite color is PINK

She LOVES her music class

Her best friend in Kindergarten is Sean

When she grows up, she wants to be a VET

She is the entertainment of our household with her wit and silliness.

She reads like a pro

She loves swimming, kitties and playing with Tyler and Mo.

She always brings Mo to us first thing in the morning. . .and I do mean FIRST thing in the AM. . I'm talkin' before the sunrise . . . joy of our life.

She learned to tie her shoes

She learned to ride her bike without training wheels. . . only in the grass MOM!

We love you Paige! Happy Birthday!
now, stop growing!

trick or treat!

We Love Halloween! The weather was absolutely perfect and we got through 2 nights of tricks and treats without any crying. . . amazing! Here are the little spooks. Tyler was a "reaper" (a.k.a. mythological creature from the depths of the underworld who doesn't talk or smile. HELLO preteen.) Paige was a black cat. . . and Morgan was the mouse. Shane and I were the King and Queen of hearts. Now, this is the first year that Shane and I have ever dressed up together. This is big folks! Next year we'll go for something a little more moveable, bendable. . . sittable.

the end

Happy Halloween!

pictures

I love having a free afternoon to take the kids out on a photo shoot. I try not to do it a lot, because I don't want them to hate the camera. We found a nice little cotton field just down the street from our house and Thursday night I dressed them up and took them out into the field. They had never seen cotton growing before.

Paige: Where are we going
Me: To this cotton field just up the road
Paige: Cotton?
Me: Yup
Paige: Can we eat it?
Me: It's not cotton CANDY. Well, you could eat it if you want to, but I don't think it would taste very good. . . I mean, don't try to eat it.
Tyler: Paige, you make clothes out of it!
Tyler: Mom, how come we don't wear clothes made out of sheep's fur.
Me: Sheep's fur! HEE HEE!
Me: 'Cause it's itchy, and it's too hot in arizona
Tyler: oh
Paige: is there a playground in the cotton?
Me: um. . . no.
Paige: dang

thinking

Hey, sometimes you do what you gotta do to think more clearly. . . to really keep the focus.

The award goes to . . .

Some days your kids are just over-the-top cute. Sometimes on those days, other people's kids are really cute too. It just so happened that day was today. Double whammy, two birds with one stone. . . that sort of thing.

Cute display #1 :

We'll call him Mr. "L" (which may or may not stand for Mr. La La La La Love)

He was my photoshoot today, what a cutie, right!

Cute display # 2:
"Mr. La La La La Love" puttin' the moves on Morgan.

(cute only until Morgan knows the word 'boy')

Cute display # 3:

Poutiest lips that you ever did see.

Seriously insane lips plumpness going on here.

Cute display #4:

the "Low Squat"

There is only ONE "Low Squat" and she's doing it. Don't try this at home. You may injure yourself. Believe me. Her little diaper is about 2 millimeters from the tile. Connie says she squats like a Russian. (Quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to see any Russians squatting.)

Cute Display # 5:

This is what Paige was holding when she came off of the bus today. . . ummm, "can Mom borrow that for a little few pictures?" I'm such a nerd. Check out the little nest. It's made out of garbage, probably from the school grounds. The bird is a cotton ball with feathers glued on it. She played with "her" all afternoon. I think we've found the perfect family pet. 100% recycled and we wouldn't have to bury it at the end of the summer.

I also wish that I could have had a video camera today when Morgan learned how to nod 'yes'. All I said was, Mo, do you want a cracker and her head started bobbing up and down. Of course I had to put it to the test to see if she really knew what it meant. Sure enough!

At dinner:

"Mo, do you want a cookie?" ------ head bob yes

"Mo, do you want a punch to the face?" ----- pause. . . . scowly eyes. . . punching her own face. . . all of us cracking up

"Mo, do you want some juice?" ------ head bob yes

I would have also liked to have a video of Paige singing Mo a little lullaby in the car on the way to dinner. . . so sweet.

Like I said. . .some days you want to string them up by their toenails, and other days it's just one "cute" display after another. I love these kids. I love watching them grow and learn. They're oh-so-sweet and sometimes sour, but always always always my babies, no matter how big they get.

Time Out for Women

I had the chance to go to Time Out for Women in Pleasanton this last weekend with Barb, Summer and Sarah. We missed Amy and Diana. What a great weekend! We flew in on Thursday night. We shopped 'till we dropped in San Francisco on Friday. I'm talking all 3 floors of Forever 21, Old Navy, and both floors of H&M and Anthropologie, and that's not even counting the gigantic mall and the yummiest lunch in between. I've walked all of San Fransisco in years past. We've seen Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. We've eaten at Bubba Gumps and stuffed ourselves with goodies at Ghiradelli Square. But never have I shopped for 9 hours straight on Market Street.

We learned that:

1. San Fran is a whole different city after dark
2. You are only allowed to bring 6 articles of clothing into the Forever 21 dressing room at a time. That makes for a long stay in the dressing room.
3. 1 pound of chocolate should not cost more than the clothes on your back
4. the food court at the mall CAN be a pleasant dining experience
5. They DO NOT have shopping carts at Old Navy in SanFrancisco. . . I repeat they DO NOT have shopping carts at Old Navy in SanFrancisco
6. If you sit down after 8pm in Old Navy, you may not want to get up again. . . right, Sarah?
7. Last, but not least. . . TCBY is the only way to cure aching feet and tired eyes.

(Yeah, that's right Summ, I stole this from your blog. . . who did you steal it from?)

Saturday was a day spent at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds at the conference. We laughed, and laughed, and ate truffles and laughed some more. The speakers were so great, and the music by Hillary Weeks was amazing. Kris Belcher was by far my favorite speaker. Come to find out, Diana is good friends with her. See what happens when some of the family is missing? We could have introduced ourselves with Diana by our side. Lunch was in downtown Pleasanton with some of the Pleasanton crowd. After the conference we headed to Elephant Bar for dinner with the same crew. Then, we headed home, changed into our comfy sweats and dozed all the way through Bride Wars.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Sunday we went to church with Sarah and Josh, and then Sarah whipped up a fantastic dinner for us all. Smothered chicken, artichokes, mashed potatoes and banana cream pie. Yummy! Summer and I headed to the airport straight after dinner.


Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . . . Shane packed up the kiddos for funfilled night at the ward campout. As the temperature dropped, the girls began to whine. I can just hear it now. Shane gave me a little taste of the conversation. It went something like this:

Paige: I'm really cold Dad
Shane: O.k. come get in the bed with me
Mo: WAAAAAAA! (translates to: What the heck are we doing here!)
Paige: It's really really cold here, like colder than freezing!
Shane: Just try to go to sleep
Paige: Why is it so cold here?
Shane: it's 3:00 in the morning, could you just try to go to sleep?
Mo: WAAAAAAA! (translates to: NO, REALLY! WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING HERE!)

Shane said he packed up first thing in the morning to come straight home. Shortly after that, the rain and hail storm started. goody

They spent the rest of the weekend at home trying to sleep off their hangovers.

Paige is still recovering.



Hopefully last night was the last of the meltdowns for a while.

Shane has openly admitted that parenting is definitely a 2 parent job, and that it can be lonely sometimes without the help of your significant other.

I did find two cute little pictures that Paige drew. I'm glad she was able to forget the not-so-great parts of the trip.

Apparantly there was a "ded moose" or elk up there somewhere. I'm SO sorry that I missed seeing that one. Shucks. Maybe next time. At least she's not poking it with a stick in the picture.