Beautiful picture of Crystal :) and emma's B-day!!!

Well Emma turned 5 only about a month ago...oh well. We had just a family party this year with a you guessed it, fairy theme. The girls dressed up as fairies and we played pictionary with a fairy theme and then watched Tinkerbell. SUCH a darling movie! Earlier in the day Emma got to choose what we did and since Dave got the day off we went to see Madagascar 2 as a family. We don't do that often - in fact when asked what Emma wanted to do on her birthday her only request was a movie with the family and then McDonalds. Shows how much we do either of those things! It was a great day though and I actually got through it without too many tears...

Ahhh, and a beautiful pic of my friend that I promised her...

Public apology to Crystal

I hereby apologize for the oh so attractive picture of my friend (hopefully!) Crystal at my Halloween party. It was Halloween! You're supposed to look silly!!! Love ya my friend!

More ghostly pics!

Those darn missing Halloween pics!!!

Here are those stinkin' Halloween pics that I never posted!!!

I forgot to put in the Halloween pictures!

Sorry, really stinking here with the blogging thing. The two pictures of Emma and Claire with chocolate mustaches are from when we made Frankenstein's monster pops. We were goofing off...obviously. I'll put in the Halloween pictures in a bit - I hear Hallie upstairs crying!

Wow I'm behind...here's a late Halloween update!!!

We had such a fun Halloween this year! The girls decided to be Disney princesses. I really wanted them to be something more baby but my mom bought Snow White for Claire (very appropriate - she looked just like her!) and there was no going back. So then Hallie became Tinker Bell and Emma was Cinderella. I had a Halloween party with friends from the ward so that entire week was spent cleaning. Good grief what a pain in the booty it was but it turned out really nice! I think everyone had a good time (except poor Dave who ate something at lunch that made his stomach upset the whole night!)
Emma had her Harvest Party at Preschool and then I took all the girls to Dave's office for trick-or-treating. Laura came down with Crystal and bless their hearts took the girls to the Trunk-or Treat at church and then back to help me set up the playroom for the kids. The party was fun although the only adults that dressed up were me, mom, Laura and Crystal. What a bunch of party poopers adults can be!!! :)

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden...

Growing up, my mom did really cute things with us such as memorizing poems. We'd lay in bed (she had an awesome water bed) and read poem after poem. One of these poems is called "There are fairies at the bottom of our garden." It talks about a little girl who one night steals away into her garden and sees fairies and animals about. To this day I love fairies! Emma's room has a fairy theme and she's also in love with them. Well last week I was trying to find something for them to do when I thought up fairy houses. We searched for sticks and grasses and leaves and built the fairies in our garden their very own home. The girls picked tomatoes and berries and left them for the fairies to eat. I snuck out the next morning and got rid of the food and left a "fairy" note. You should have seen Emma's face! the next few days we repeated the gathering of food and note the following morning. I finally was tired so I left a note that the fairies were visiting their grandma's house and would be back in 9 days.

I love this time in their lives. I love that they believe in magic. Not once did Emma ask if I had anything to do with the notes - the belief that fairies actually exist is real for now. Who knows how much longer she'll believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and that her dollies really do come to life when she leaves the room, but I'm enjoying this time as much as I can. I understand fully why Christ said we should be like little children - they are a joy and a wonder to have in my life.

FINALLY potty trained!!!

I know I haven't been the best lately at keeping up with things and I've heard many complaints. Sorry! I am happy to announce however, that Claire is FINALLY potty trained! Completely! No more waking up wet, having oops through out the day...nothing! Yay! The only hang up is that she refuses to wear underwear so she either goes commando (yes I know, yuck) or wants to still wear diapers. She won't go potty in them but she claims that when she wears undies she wets in them. Go figure.

Ahhhh How time flies.....

My baby at preschool! I cried (just a little) after dropping her off her first day. I know I know, she's only in preschool - I'm just thinking of her as still my little Emma Lemma Lou Who! She LOVES it though and claims she's learning something even though when I ask her she says "I forgot what we did today." Ummm, didn't I JUST pick you up 10 minutes ago?!
Claire of course wanted in on the pictures.
Little poser...
Hallie looks very serious about her picture taking. :)

Last Vacation of the Summer...:(

We celebrated the last days of summer on a trip to the Oregon coast. If any of you have a chance - visit the Priceline site. It's awesome! You input a price you're willing to pay for a hotel and it lets you know if the hotel will accept it. We stayed in Astoria and the going rate was around $165-180 a night. I put in $125 and it was accepted (makes me wonder if I'd put a lower amount in would it have accepted it?). Pretty neat! We went to the Astoria Farmer's Market, Seaside and Cannon Beach. The weather was perfect!

Emmie and Claire playing in the gunky water, not the beautiful ocean.

Hallie contemplating life.....

Here they're throwing rocks - a favorite pass time in our family...

So I'm new to this blogging thing...

You all will laugh - I've completely done this wrong. It was supposed to start with her birth and work her way up to the present and it's doing the opposite. Makes sense I guess!!!! Stupid stupid stupid! (You've gotta love Chris Farley.) I'll try to fix this and finish it later - or maybe just keep it like this, either way I have a screaming baby downstairs right now!

Ahhhh, the joys of the holiday season

You've got to love posing your kids for pictures, right?

Me and my little chickie!

Halloween '07

Last Halloween the girls were all chickies. They're here with my sister Laura.

With Daddy - doesn't look like she's having all that much fun huh?

First time at the beach!

This is her Uncle Ben holding her - I think we were at the Tillamook Cheese factory - YUM!!! If you haven't tried the white licorice ice cream, you are missing out!!!!

Her first Father's Day

I'm sure Dave will love me posting this picture, but Hallie looks cute in it!

With her loving sisters!!!

18 months old!!!!!

I cannot believe my little Hallie Berry is 18 months on Sunday! I feel like I just had her - maybe because she won't give up nursing?! She was sure a cranky mama's girl as an infant but she has turned into my little ray of sunshine. I don't know what I'd do without hearing "what you doing mama?" or when she puts up her finger and says "be yight back!" She is hilarious! So this post is a little tribute to the last 18 months with my little snuggle bunny.

Proof that Dave enjoyed Disneyland!

I thought I'd include pictures of our vacation in July. Disneyland! The HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH! I think that I have been there at least 12 times. Do I tire of it? When asked "where should we go on vacation next year?" My response is always "Disneyland!". Emma and Claire had already been to Disneyland AND Disneyworld in their short lives, that's how much my family loves Disneyland. I have to state however, that both those times Dave was absent. So when the opportunity came up to go this year with my parents and sisters you'd better believe I

jumped on it .. and told my dear hubby he had to go this time. Even though I tried to convince Dave that the ride lines really weren't THAT long and that yes, he would enjoy his vacation with the girls at Disneyland, he still doubted me. I saw rolling of the eyes at the mention of the Fast Pass. I heard grumbling about spending 3 whole days there too. Let me tell you it was a shocker when I caught a picture of his SMILING face in a LINE at DISNEYLAND! A miracle? Oh yeah!

Jane Austen Quiz

I love this quiz! Apparently I'm Elizabeth - I can handle that. She ends up with a cutie and a lot of money! ;)

Diapers and wet floors!

So the last couple of months have been interesting as far as the potty training has gone with Claire my 3 year-old. She does a fantastic job of going #2 in the potty but number #1? Nope. Instead of on the potty, she takes off her pull-up and hides in a corner and wets. Or stands in a corner and lets it just run down her pant leg with a sheepish look on her face when I catch her doing it. The kicker is that Hallie, my almost 18 month-old just went potty on the toilet yesterday! She actually took off her diaper and told Dave she wanted to go potty and proceeded to sit down and tinkle in the potty! Now what am I doing differently with her?! Here's the picture to prove it!
(Edited to add: Sorry! The diaper pic is still on the camera and like a dork I can't figure out how to get it on the computer...shameful I know!)

Final attempt!!!

This is it! If I can't keep up with the blog I'm giving up!

9 months later...

Okay, this was getting ridiculous! I could have had a baby in the time it's taken me to add a new post! Good grief! It's not like my life is getting less complicated!