Taylor's Army Crawl & Addie's Halloween Program

This little girl is figuring out how to get around. I'm figuring out how to best mount the baby gate at the top of the stairs. :o)

Funny...this reminds me of those dreams you get of running & running but never quite getting anywhere. :o) I'm sure Taylor feels like she's flying across the carpet.

Keep going, Baby!

Addie had her first Preschool program ever--it was so cute to watch! All the little preschoolers sang/recited a slew of Halloween songs & poems. So cute to see their little beaming faces when they finished each piece! I wanted to clap hard, but with the camcorder, you know.... Sadly, I realized once I got home that I had not recorded what I thought I had recorded & had recorded what I thought was not. Hmmm...rephrase....there was a bunch of the bottom of the camera case recorded, & nothing of Addie's program. Grrrr! I still feel all achy inside when I think of it!!! I had Addie redo a bunch of the songs for me, which was quite sweet... but it's not the same!!!!

She was SO pleased to be in her first program & yet just a tad bit shy of it all. She was beaming by the end of the program, so if I can just get her to sing the right words to the songs (she has her own versions, of course), we could have her star in her own number at the next ward talent show. :o) She doesn't seem have as much stage fright as I expected her to have.

Taylor got all dressed up for Addie's program, too. (She just wouldn't let me take her out of the house before she had whiskers & a cute little nose drawn on her face! ha, ha!) Sweet baby bunny!

Taylor was enjoying the morning....and her toy, too.

Addie thinks she's pretty funny.... Looking at this picture, I'd have to agree! Yes, those are her tights on her head...she figured it was easier to put them on her head than back onto her legs this afternoon. Life is never boring!

Love you, Addie!

Ambree & Drew's Trunk or Treat Party

We had a blast at the Trunk or Treat Ambree & Drew's company put on....I have to say, it was a lot of work getting there (getting ready was most of the work), and we had a full night, but it was so much fun! Thanks, Ambree & Drew!!!!

Here's us getting ready to go....

Addie's the little bunny with the wiggly nose! :o) She had it going so cute until I grabbed the camera...then it was as if she were trying to figure the whole nose thing all over again!

Cute little Vampire & Bunnies!

This picture was a little fuzzy, but you get the idea of his costume from it...maybe I'll get some not-so-fuzzy ones on Halloween.

Mikey's trying his best to be scary....nice work, kiddo!Kelli spent a lot of time hopping around with her arms up like that. :o) She likes being a bunny!Addie....say, "Carrots!"

Showing off her bunny tail...

Taylor's not quite ready yet--she still needs a nose & whiskers! I wanted to feed her before we drew them on, but that didn't happen...lucky this girl is so easy-going! (She didn't get fed for another couple of hours! Yet, she was still happy--until we put her back in the carseat to go home! --but I'm getting ahead of myself. :o)
Here's Taylor's little bunny nose!I love this one.... Cute to see them smiling at eachother. :o)
She loved eating the ears. Should have just made her ponytails pink & made them into ears!

The Trunk or Treat fun begins!!!

Grandma (the witch), William (the Lion), & Sarah (herself)William is such a cute little Cowardly Lion!

Addie's being brave--those are awfully big teeth on that car's trunk!

"Wow! That was so scary! It almost ate me!"

Kelli likes getting candy!This car has a lot of teeth, too.

Show me all the candy you have! This is when the "Mommy/Daddy tax" comes into play. :o)

Brooke is "Glenda," from The Wizard of Oz. She likes getting candy, too!

So, Griffin, how did you like Trick or Treating? Not sure?

Both Lily & Griffin were quite adorable dressed up as pirates.

All the little cousins... & Mark. :o)

After filling our bags with candy, we all went inside for some more professional pictures & some refreshments (like the kids needed more sugar!). Those were some awesome pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies! (There were brownies, too, but those cookies were calling to me!)

We met up with Poh (the red Teletubby) along the way---wait, that's Drew!!!

This feels like going to a Theme Park! :o) It's not everyday you meet a big Public Television Star like Poh!

Here's Ambree (a stunning Vampress) & Drew together! I think I know why Ambree is so attracted to Drew--Vampires tend to like red, right? :o)

Thanks for all the fun, Ambree & Drew! Can we come again next year? :o)

Two New Talents

Here's Mikey's new talent. He's quite pleased with himself, and surprisingly, so am I!

Here's Taylor's new talent--no question as to the reason why I am so pleased!

Thanks, Heidi W. for the cute outfit...it's Taylor's first time wearing it & she was so soft & cuddly! I absolutely had to take pictures! I thought I'd try getting her to sit on her own--she ususally tends to be a bit more 'tippy' than she was today, but I actually felt comfortable leaving her a few feet away instead of holding on to her the whole time.

This is exciting stuff--Taylor thinks so, too! Mom...even though you haven't combed my hair, I'm still full of cuteness!Though Taylor was a bit wobbly, she still managed to "biff it" gracefully. :o) Way to go, baby!

"There's a camera?.......Maybe I should smile!"

Oh, how I love these Baby Days!

Bad Mommy Day ~ Kelli's Award ~ Taylor's Tooth!

OK--so this day (so far--it's only 2:30) has left me feeling like a "Bad Mommy"--why? I'll start from the beginning! I sent the kids off to school, with super-busy/overworked Mark dropping them off (when he had hoped to leave about 20 minutes earlier--let's add 'bad wife' to the list).

No sooner had I sent them off & had pulled Taylor out of bed (we had to get ready for Addie's preschool starting in an hour), I realized that I was having a 'bad mommy' moment--why?

Kelli had earned an award at school, and was going to be recognized for it that morning--in 15 minutes! I had forgotten! Eeep! Make-up was rushed on, baby's hair got done (but she wasn't fed--got the most important part done, didn't I?), and the three of us ran out the door, shoving a camera in my purse. We got there on time (Whew!), but after taking a couple of pictures, the batteries died. Hmm. As you can see from the picture, Kelli received the "Climbing Higher Award" along with some other children in the school...she received the award for excellence in reading her sight words & in completing schoolwork. Way to go, Kelli! You sure are doing well & I'm pleased with your hard work!!!

This picture shows a cropped/close-up of Kelli & her friend Ashlee. Notice how Kelli isn't holding her certificate? It's because of a 'typo' with her last name...how many ways can our last name be misspelled??? Well, apparently one more way! "Harkness?" Hmm....You are a cutie, Kelli-belly!

After all the hurrah was done, we raced home to feed Taylor--but only had enough time to give her a half-feeding.... bad mommy! We were off to Addie's preschool. On time! Feeling better.

Taylor & I worked on feeding her again & ran a few errands...While we were out, Taylor gave me something to hip-hip-hurrah! about...she just had her first tooth pop through! That would explain the rough time trying to go to sleep last night---she was awake/asleep off & on until about 2:30am--with ME being asleep more than she was, I'm sure! I was SOOO excited to tell Mark about it (but of course, my phone wasn't in my purse, for some reason!). Here's the best picture I can get for now--not a very clear one!

Hopefully the arrow helps a bit! :o) Time flew by, and I suddenly realized (as we were checking out at the store), that I was already 5 minutes late picking up Addie! AAACK! Bad Mommy! It was 12:15--almost 12:20--by the time we got to Addie, and had to pay the $5 late fee. :o( I can't stand to be late! Addie seemed fine with it...she had gone into the daycare room next door and was happily gluing on 12 black accordion legs onto her paper-plate spider, and was asking if she could stay for lunch!

My next 'bad mommy' moment came after I fed Taylor again & went to put her down for a nap a few minutes ago--Her diaper STILL hadn't been changed for the day! She was asleep, & I had to change her diaper & hope she would go back to sleep! Taylor doesn't seem to complain much, but still....Poor girl! Please tell me I can go to sleep now!!! A fresh start would be nice! I'm hoping the rest of the day will be better. I've already started out on a better foot by having some chocolate--not a reward--out of necessity! :o)

Catching Snow, Playing Rough, & Building Bears

We had our first snow of the season--it fell off & on from the 10th to the 12th--wonderful weekend! (I know--OCTOBER??!!!) It felt sooo good to see some snow again! (although it kept on melting! Oh well....)Kelli was loving the snow, too! She had just seen a show where a black piece of paper was used to look at the snowflakes a little more closely--she decided it was a wonderful idea!
Too bad that by the time she got bundled up (notice how she's still wearing capri's), the snow had died off & was just a flurry of little bits--she was a bit disappointed. I'm going to have to buy more black paper so she can have more chances at making this idea work!
Here's Addie's first piece of artwork from preschool. They read the book, "Rainbow Fish"--or something like that--and had some other fishy activities. Making this picture was her favorite part. She just couldn't get enough colors on there... :o)
This shows how mobile Taylor is getting. I had been in the bathroom putting on my make-up, with Taylor on the floor next to me. When I looked down to see how she was doing, I realized I couldn't see her anymore! This is where she had rolled to:


Yep! She was under the bed! What a cutie! I had better check under the beds for any dust bunnies.... Who would have thought you'd need to baby-proof underneath the bed?!!

With all the icy cold & snow falls outside, Mark had the kids keeping active inside. :o) Here are a couple of pictures & videos to show what we were up to:
Oh, yes! It was time to play rough! Mark was a bit sore from football the day before--apparently he hadn't "punished" himself enough!! They were running all over the house--boy was it noisy! They were all over the floor, up the stairs, down the stairs, hiding in the pantry.... Taylor sat in her high chair & squealed, she was so happy! My tummy got a really nice workout from laughing--never a bad thing! ;o)
Here is Taylor absolutely loving all the excitement! You might want to turn the sound down on your computer. We didn't have that luxury when recording the video clips--still working on volume buttons on each kid. :o)

Whew! Everyone calm down! It's time for a trip to the Chair of Tranquility!

Addie went to the Build-A-Bear Workshop with Grandma Harker the other day--it was a part of her birthday gift that needed to be redeemed still. :o) Oh, Addie had fun! Here's a few pictures that Grandma gave to me so I could see the fun.

Here's the checklist of the steps Addie took to build her bear.

First, Addie had to choose her bear. Did anyone else think, "Pink?" If you look closely, you'll see the white spots are actually hearts.

Next, came stuffing the bear. The bear was placed on that silver tube at the bottom of the machine. The machine was turned on, the stuffing flew, & as Addie pushed on a foot pump to "help," the bear filled up with stuff & fluff!

Right after stuffing the bear, Addie got to place a heart in her bear--Addie says, "It makes her know that she loves me." She also got to choose a voice mechanism that was placed inside the left paw--her bear says, "I love you. I love you."

This is the station where Addie gave her bear an air-bath...she used a brush & the shower heads blew air--Addie said all the fuzzies blew everywhere!

Addie got to choose the clothes--pink, again! Here's the bear, all dressed up and ready to love!

This is the station where Addie named her bear (Sarah) & made a birth certificate for her.

She got all boxed up in a little house to play in!

Addie absolutely LOVES her Sarah-Bear!

Addie says, "Thank you, Grandma, for going to the Build-a-Bear Workshop to get my favorite bear! I love you a hundred and a google and five & seven & eight & nine & four....is that a lot?!!"