Halloween is a Dirty Job!

The face says it all, doesn't it? We had been planning to go to this Halloween party at the Purles's barn and Seth wasn't too enthusiastic about going. We brainstormed a few costume ideas and decided we would just use Kira's suggestion for costumes. "Mom, why don't you be a flower and dad you be the dirt!" Why didn't I think of that? Seth was still whining about having to go and said he would just wear a brown shirt so he looked like dirt. The next thing I knew he was outside with a bucket making mud, which he continued to wipe all over his face and shirt. What a sport, eh?

Here we are as the flower and dirt. I don't know why no one knew that our costumes went together at the party!

Heather, the "goddess", Brandalyn"Aunt Jamaima", Lawni "cute witch" and me "the flower"

Us and our spookie babies

Seth:dirt, Gordon: Tall Zombie?, Scott:Captain Jack and Jeremy:cowboy
They gave out awards and Brandalyn and Gordon got one for "most original" costume. Everybody goes all out with their costumes, so it really is a fun party to go to.

Hangin' around with our cousins

When the dads are away the kids will play! Adam, Seth, Anthony and my dad went to Colorado in Oct. for a Utah game, so the girls and I went to Cori's to hang out. Cori and Adam have such a fun basement for the kids to pretend in!

Tyler is so handsome!

Brynn and Ava

Kira and Ava cuddling

Ty holding the baby. It makes me realize how old Brynn and Tyler are now when I see them holding a tiny baby!

Playing a little catch up...

One of Alayna's very first smiles captured on camera by one of my big girl photographers.

Hold on tight! Kira spent a long time teaching her little sister how to hold this toy. She was so excited when she was able to keep her little fingers around for a couple seconds.

All dressed up with no place to go! Some days girls just have to dress up even if there's no occasion. Alayna is 2 months old here.

"I surrender!" Alayna loves her changing table. I took her out of her car seat and got ready to change her diaper and she never moved a muscle. If she gets fussy I always try to lay her here first to she if she will calm down.

"Don't go without me dad!" Alayna holding onto Seth before he goes to a U of U game. She is definitely getting chubby, but I still think she looks pretty tiny next to Seth's hands.

The Witches

Here we are again at Gardner village. The witches are so fun to see, but as you can see here the ducks are an equally good attraction.

Brynn getting a bird's eye view.

Kira imitating her favorite witch

Brynn and Taeya strike a pose

5 little munchkins squeezed onto a bench. It seemed every time we stopped the strollers there was another photo op. Next year we won't be able to fit all our kids on a bench like that!

Kira thought this one was the best. " Look at that green slime mom, it is sooo gross!"

The whole gang. Coco 2, Taeya 3, Brielle 3, Livvi 4, Kira5, Brynn 9. Youngest to oldest! Brynn sure is a good sport. She's like a little hen with her little chicks. Especially when we went to the petting zoo and we didn't want to pay to go in with our kids. "It'll be ok, Brynn will be with them," we all said. It's nice to have a mini adult around.

Sweet, sweet baby

There's nothing like a sleeping baby

Our little sleeping ballerina!
Alayna's very first photo shoot at 6 weeks. We prettied up all three girls for picture time at "Pretty Pictures" in American Fork. Alayna was wide awake for the whole time, except for this 5 minute window when her tummy was full. The photographer warmed up the top of this little stool to keep her warm and comfy.

There's only a small window of time when your baby will fit into little baskets like this. I think that window of time was closing on us because each basket she posed her in she was almost to big and chubby for. Apparently it is best to take infant photos at 2 weeks, but since I've been terrible at getting infant pictures of my other girls, I didn't know the timeline. Atleast we caught her before her first birthday!

I was glad to see that we got a bird mouth shot. All of my girls have that cute, big upper lip. This was the only shot where she was looking straight at the camera. She kept turning her head to the side to look at the light coming through the window.

How did I get so lucky to get three girls in a row!

Too much fun!

Kira the Kitty Cat!
Kira has made a new friend at school.
Her name is Taiya.
"Mom not Taeya next door, but Taiya that sits across from me on the yellow table"
Taiya is the youngest in her family and is always following her older siblings around looking for something to do. So on Saturday they invited Kira over and I didn't see her for the rest of the day! She went to a craft show wit their family and got her face painted like a cat.
We're so glad Kira has made a new friend!

Anything to stay busy before school starts!
Brynn had to make salt dough for a project at school, so Kira needed some too, so she could make her project. It kept her busy for a whole hour! I was thrilled.

After school fun!
Kira and her friends Lexi and Lizzie came to play and they found my stash of craft foam.
They stayed very busy making princess crowns.

Grandma Julie and Kono (my mom's mom) came over for the afternoon.
Grandma is leaving on vacation for a week so she wanted another look
at her grandaughter before she goes to play on the beaches of Aruba for a week.
She said Alayna looked so much bigger! There is something special about having four generations of women in the same room.

Kira sees Brynn holding the baby alot like this.
" mom I want to hold Alayna on my chest like Brynn does! "

Yesterday we were on our way to pick up Brynn from dance and we saw a beautiful sunset lighting up some billowy clouds. "Don't you think that looks like heaven Kira?"
"No mom. There aren't clouds in heaven." So I asked her what heaven looked like and she told me heaven has lots of green grass and pretty fountains. Sounds like a place I want to be as long as my cute little Kira is there with me!

School Daze!

Kira sporting her Little Mermaid backpack. The backpack is an important conversation piece in the coatroom before class! Thanks Brandalyn for picking up the backpack at the Disney store.

Brynn, on her first day of 4th grade. I'm a little biased, but isn't she beautiful? Brynn thought the summer was way too short and was dreading going back to school. Now she's back into the swing of things and has decided school isn't so bad.

There is a chorus of chatter on the way home. Kira: "Mom I sit on the yellow table and I made a snake with yellow playdough and I learned a new song, wanna hear it?" Brynn: "I want to say something Kira! Mom, I found all my friends at recess today and I took off my shoes and showed them that I can do my splits and we are reading a book called The 4th Grade Nothing and the main character's name is Fudge and..." This is how they recall the events of the day. One run on sentence without taking time to breath. Girls can easily move from one subject to the next without skipping a beat. This kind of conversation completely confuses their dad!

Kira has afternoon kindergarten. Which is fine, except that waiting until 12:30 to go to school can seem like an eternity to a very eager 5 year old! We play lots of board games and
Play House Disney on the computer. We have daily debates over going on walks with mom. Kira says: "I don't want to go on a walk mom, my legs get too tired!" So we settle for a little shuffle down the sidewalk in her rollerskates on knee pads!

Two happy ladies that just got their dad back from his salmon fishing trip to Alaska. When he walked through the door he was inundated with questions like, " Did you see any bears, and did you have to run away really fast from them? Did you eat the fish you caught? Did you get wet? Did you see any other people? etc. etc. Seth brought the girls these stuffed black bears. It only took them about 5 minutes to dress them up in doll clothes.

Kira, sporting Seth's cool hat from Alaska. He came through the door wearing this hat and a very thick beard. His lips had disappeared under his overgrowth. I kept calling him a cowboy. "I'm not a cowboy" he kept saying, "I'm just awesome." We all do think he's pretty awesome and are very glad he's home safe and sound.
In this last photo Kira was doing the dishes and decided she neede a little music break. She picked up the bottle cleaning brush, which became an instant microphone! When Kira's home there is always music in the air :)