Kelli gets her cast off!

Kelli finally got her cast removed, & was quite excited to have everyone she could find sign it before it happened. She went straight from the Dr.'s office to show & tell at school & was quite excited to show it off. :o) Since she still had some soccer games to play (she also tends to just play rough anyway), she got a black brace to wear when being active. She should have to wear that for another 3 weeks, then she should be all healed! Hurrah! Let's try to be a little more careful, Kelli!

Having a removable brace has been a bit hectic for me--Kelli keeps forgetting to wear it when she really needs to! I've had to run home from soccer games, search all over the house, make phone calls to other's homes to locate it & make extra trips to pick it up...

Mom--sorry if I EVER put you into a position to run & pick up after me! (I'm sure I did, too!)

I have no reason to share this picture other than I loved her hair & expression---they seemed to go together well. :o)

I love my little girls!

Fall Photo Shoot

There were a lot of pictures & some of them so funny that I couldn't pass up posting a bunch. :o) Not much to say, but boy was this a fun afternoon activity! They are all such posers & goofballs! :o)

The Kiddo Crew

Taylor & Mikey

I loved this squishy-face!!!
Mikey's a handsome guy...


The Girls
Addie wanted to hold Taylor, too!
I loved this series with Kelli & Taylor! Their personalities seem a bit similar, don't they? :o)
Yep. Definitely similar personalities!!!

Taylor Noel

Addie jumped in there for a quick pic. She loves her little sis! :o)



Hope you enjoyed these pics as much as I did!

Joy

Making Cookies at Auntie Sarah's & the End of the Soccer Season

It's been a while since I last blogged, & we've had a bit happen & have a ton of pictures to post...here's part of my attempt to play catch-up!

Just like last year, the kiddos got together with Grandma Harker to make Halloween treats for her piano students--this year we gathered together at Sarah's home. Here's some pics of the kids decorating their pumpkin cookies.

Ok--so this one of Mikey doesn't show him decorating a cookie--but it does show the tiniest speck of orange frosting on his chin! Mikey was into making faces. :o)

Brooke & her cookie

Addie & her cookie

Kelli & her cookie

This video has all of my little 'cookie monsters' with their pumpkins :o)

... & here's my little pumpkin-- :o)

The Soccer Season ended a bit on the chilly side....Taylor got all dressed up for the occasion. :o)
Here's Mikey out on the field--he's the one with blonde hair in red socks/white jersey. Even though it's been windy and chilly, the views are still beautiful!
Here's Kelli in ready to play with her brace & smiling face!

The treats after the game are always a good reason to come...at least the kids think so. :o) Not exactly the most healthy snack, is it?

Since it was the last game, all the kids took home a "Valuable Player Award."

Addie has also been having fun...she copied Kelli's idea of putting on play make-up, but used a purple ink stamp pad instead. Let's just say she looked a little rosy for a while. :o)

More posts to come! Joy

A Few "Firsts"

Addie had her first day of preschool! Boy, is that girl pleased to be going (so is mommy!).... This is going to be good! She has a very keen mind, but has trouble feeling motivated to work on things--like her letter recognition & writing. Hopefully she'll be more motivated at school than she is at home! As long as we keep encouraging what she IS doing... :o) I'm excited for you, Addie! Love you, kiddo!

Mikey & Kelli had their first 'rainout' for soccer this last Saturday. We're hoping the games will be rescheduled soon, but so far there's no word on that. It sure made Saturday easier with General Conference! We were planning on watching it for an hour, pause, then watch the rest when we came back. It made for a much quieter afternoon!

I'm assuming this is a first, too: Taylor is rolling ALL over now (we definitely need gates up)! She'll spot something she wants on the far side of the room & it's a matter of minutes & she's rolled herself all the way over there & has the object in her mouth! She's especially fond of paper--if she's been in a 'paper-famine' (thanks to mommy who doesn't want news print showing up in her diapers) she gets a little crazy (shaking all over) when I hand her a board book--it's that exciting. :o)

I had put her in the middle of the quilt & went to grab the camera. When I came back, she had rolled off--about four feet away from where I put her in a matter of seconds! She also has this thing with her tongue lately--she sticks it out when she's happy. :o)

Taylor had her first piggy tails! I'd have to say they are the cutest I have seen yet! :o) (that was a completely non-biased statement). The pictures up above show her piggy tails the next day--and after a couple naps, too. A bit messy--but who has time to fix everyone's hair everyday?!

She also had her first green beans. Loved them! :o) Do I dare try peas?

She also had her first "loves" from a kitty. It was one of those 'fur real' pets--it purrs & moves its paws when you stroke its back. Of course, the paws tickled & made her laugh with delight! :o) Not to mention all the high-pitched meows.... She was in kitty heaven!

I loved this video of our little hungry Taylor:

It was like 'baby sign language' for 'feed me!' "Watch my mouth--this is what I want to be doing, Mommy!"

And who can resist a sweet video of Mark & Taylor playing before bed? I can't! So you have to endure. :o)

Mark & I had another first as well--it was our first time PAINTING OUR BEDROOM!!! Yes, Bonnie, we have finally painted!!!!! Yeah! We're not done. Our bedroom has the chair rail deal going all around the room (what's the deal with that? We don't have any chairs in our bedroom?! :o) It is a nice touch, though!), so we've only painted away the deep navy paint that was on the top half. Well--most of it. There's still plenty of dark blue spots to cover on the ceiling & framework. When we're finished with painting the bottom half (in 'golden crust') then I'll do the touch up. We're painting the bathroom, too...it needed it so badly! The biggest wall has the dark color you see in the picture (caraway seed) & then the rest will be painted with the lighter color. We decided to keep the paint pretty neutral in case we chose to change up our colors with a few different towels & new bedding. You'll notice, Mom, that I finally finished a certain project started long ago.... I'm very pleased! I'm also glad I didn't finish it sooner, since I ended up changing the color of the "Happily Ever After" lettering to match the rest of the room! (yes, I know it's not quite centered in this picture--I just fixed that!) I've been so excited about this transformation, that I've been painting all of our mirror frames, shelves & the bathroom clock to match--even the hardware in the bathroom got a coat of paint! I used an outdoor acrylic paint that is supposed to work on metal, etc. & then gave it a nice glossy finish. (yes, that was a silver cheap-o!) I'm hoping they last for a while--I'm assuming they should put up with a lot since they are supposed to be permanent, but if they don't, I'm only out the time for the experiment & less than $3 in paint! Cheaper than having to pay $10-$15 for a towel holder & still have to get all the other hardware to match! I'm itching to work on the silver hardware in the "Garden Valley" bathroom!

My birthday present is coming together! Thanks to everyone who gave $$ to make this birthday-bedroom-transformation happen!

We had another first this Sunday with a fun crockpot recipe--that I had to put into the oven & bake it on low since my crockpot has enough 'juice' in it to only heat up juice. :0( Christmas is coming, though! Cheer up, Joy! We all really liked the recipe & there weren't many leftovers--it tasted just like a Thanksgiving preview! Here it is:

Chicken & Stuffing

2 cans cream soup (one chicken, one celery)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. dried & rubbed sage

1/2 tsp. salt

Black pepper to taste

Mix well & set aside. Grease the bottom of your 5qt crock pot & add:

1/2 of a 6oz package of cornbread stuffing, drizzle with 1-2 Tbsp of melted butter, place 3 or 4 chicken breast halves over the stuffing, then top with 1/2 of the cream soup sauce. Sprinkle the other half of the stuffing over the sauce, drizzle with 1-2 Tbsp melted butter, place 3 or 4 more chicken breast halves on top of that, then spread the rest of the cream soup sauce over the top. Cover & cook on low for 5 to 7 hours. I baked it on 250 for about 3 hours (covered with foil).

Boy, did the house smell good! This recipe was easy & quick--I will be making it again! We served this up with some mashed potatoes--I learned how to make them a day ahead & have them still taste great & have great texture. The secret is in adding too much milk (make them soupy) when you are whipping them, then add in a few eggs. Pour them into a greased casserole dish & bake them up for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven when you're ready for them! They come out light & fluffy, as if you had just made them & had put them through a ricer to mash. :o)

Sorry--that was a lot of writing. I'm done! :o) Have a great day! Joy

Addie says, "Eew!"

Addie decided to help me feed Taylor some rice cereal. Honestly, Taylor does seem to like it, but from all the cereal you can see on her bib, it may look otherwise....

I can tell Addie didn't enjoy that as much as she thought she was going to. :o)

Thanks for being a really good helper, Addie! You're a sweet girl!

This is what we've been up to lately:

Taylor's been rolling around to get where she wants...She'll be facing one direction (on her back) one second, then the next second she'll be facing 180 in the other direction, and on her tummy! She's quite pleased that she can turn circles & chase down her toys. She hasn't figured out how to get up on her hands & knees--just her hands or just her knees--but it's only a matter of time! Next step: baby gates!

Mikey's been reading lots & lots & lots....he has Pokemon cards to work for! His 3rd grade teacher started the whole thing by rewarding his students with Pokemon cards for every 340 pages read. This sure fired Mikey up--he's always enjoyed his reading time, but for Pokemon Cards!!!!! It was a dream come true! Needless to say, Mikey started earning his own collection quickly. Too quickly. His teacher finally said that Mikey couldn't earn Pokemon cards anymore. It was too expensive! Let me clarify--Mikey couldn't, but the other kids in his class are still earning cards. Hmm.... Mikey does love a fun book! I decided to pick up the slack by purchasing a deck of the cards & raising the bar from 340 pages/2 Pokemon to 1,000 pages/3 Pokemon. Mikey's doing great keeping track, & I just keep picking up new books for him at the Library.

Mikey and Kelli had Crazy Hair Day at school to show their school spirit. (I also think it was a part of green ribbon month--the program promoting pedestrian safety, etc.) Mikey got the 'flock of seagulls' hairstyle, but he came home telling me that everyone liked his "birthday cake hair"---can you see the candles on his head? :o) Addie had to be a little crazy, too, hence the peanut butter toast hanging out of her mouth. :o)

Kelli & Addie have kept wonderfully entertained with their imaginations....everywhere we go (whether they have toys or not) I'll overhear them saying, "Pretend I'm doing.... and then this happened..." It goes on and on.

Addie & Kelli have continued to make me nervous about their well-being.

Kelli's arm is doing a bit better, but yesterday, Kelli was racing Mikey to the crosswalk, tripped over his foot, & went sprawling onto the pavement--she's got a nice battle wound on her hip for that one....luckily missed her face! She scraped up the knuckles on her broken arm, but her arm wasn't hurting more. Whew!

Addie decided to swallow a chain bracelet of Kelli's today, and we are anxiously awaiting the resurfacing of that item. (Yes, that warrants another, "Eew!")

Sunday evening, we all got together for some silly time...Here's a few of the silly pictures we took--most of them looked awful of me, so this is what I'd allow to be 'published'--everything else is in desperate need of photo-shopping! We also had another funny moment--which ended up costing us a pretty penny. Mark came up to me on Friday evening saying, "You know how you've been wanting to replace the sink hardware in our bathrooms?" "Yes..." "Well, we're going to have to replace them a little sooner than we thought." He handed me the handle to our bathroom sink, which had just broken off. You can see from the picture that it wasn't about to go back on without a nice welding job. I'd rather have a nice new faucet! There weren't even any replacement handles readily available--that would have been a lot cheaper!Here's the new one. All of the nice "oil-rubbed" ones were about $50 more than we wanted to spend...oh well. They were a little on the dark side anyway. :o) Mark got the faucet installed Saturday night (after a full day of activities), so the sink stopper hasn't been repaced to match the new faucet yet...that's still coming, but I have promises that it will happen! Thanks, Mark! You are becoming a pretty good "Handy Manny." :o)

That's all for now! Happy Days! Joy