Daredevil

I've called Hallie monkey before, but now she is living up to the nickname. This week she learned how to climb up the dining room chairs so she can play on the computer while I'm not looking. The first time I found her I shrieked, "Hallie!" and ran to get her, and her response was to look at me sweetly and say "Good girl." She was so proud of herself, as you can tell from the look on her face.

The Greatest Show on Earth

This weekend we took the kids to the Ringling Bro. Circus, and for the first time in a long time we got our moneys worth at an event. I laughed so hard that I cried as my child was jumping up and down in my arms, blowing kisses, roaring like a lion, and clapping; and this was just during the national anthem. It was 2 1/2 hours of fun and excitement and even our older kids had a great time (I'll admit that they are pretty easy to please anyways). I'm just glad they didn't mind passing their little sis around, since she loved to jump from lap to lap and make sure everyone was loving it as much as she was. So here are a few shots from the circus and the weekend.



This was her expression. . . .





When she saw the elephants!!

This picture obviously has nothing to do with the circus; it was just something cute I wanted to share.

Always makes me laugh

This is Hallie on Sunday running at top speed half dressed and trying to hide so I don't put her down for a nap. Something about seeing my baby run so fast in too big colorful bloomers brightens my day and makes me thankful for my life. Even the overflowing basket of dirty laundry behind her can't dampen the mood.

Date Night

Although there is no pictures to prove it, Brandon and I had a great date night on Friday. We ate fondue, shopped, and watched a sappy chick flick. This was all of course thanks to Nana and Papaw who are willing to come and babysit. It's so nice to be able to get away for 5 hours without the smallest concern that Hallie even misses us. I don't think she even notices we're gone. I wish they lived much closer (like next door), but then I might have 5 more kids so maybe it is for the best.
Yeah, she's not loved at all.

$30 Wasted!

So most everyone knows by now that we are expecting, but I will make it official. We are having another beautiful girl in mid January. I was so excited because another girl was what I wanted, but about 8 weeks ago we heard about an at gender test and decided to buy one. Well, it was 100% dark green which meant boy. So basically for the last 2 months we have put all of our focus into boys names, clothes, bedding, etc. Ha what a surprise we got today! I almost was afraid we weren't going to find out what it was because she wouldn't quit moving and was staying tightly in a ball. If that were the case I am almost sure we would have begun to buy boy stuff anyways. So now we are starting from scratch with a girl but thankfully we have a lot less to buy.

I apologize for my pitiful excuse for art work. I tried to get her to hold it and pose for the camera, but really she is only 14 months what did I expect.

Summer Happennings

This has been such a short summer, and it's so sad that it's coming to an end. One of the people who went out their way to get me through a summer where I was consistently sick for 10 weeks straight was my mom (nana). She drove 2 hrs+ to stay with me for a few days almost every week. It was wonderful because I got to sleep in, and take naps, and avoid baby food and stinky diapers when needed. She's the greatest nana ever and Hallie is way spoiled now thanks to her. I also have to thank my dad because he made quite a few trips himself to visit, and he was without mom more this summer than ever in their 31? years of marriage.

We have had a lot of good belly laughs, and seen a lot of cute poses. She loves to make us laugh more than anything else. She's getting really fun to be around. She discovered a few weeks ago that if she makes funny faces that everyone will laugh and sometimes she will even stall getting in trouble or taking a nap until we can gain our composure. So to say the least, we see this face below alot.

As for our older kids, this summer has really flown by. I'm pretty mad that I just realized that Mikayla has escaped taking pictures lately so I can't show you what she has been up to, but I can tell you that she was gone most of the summer doing camps, EFY, etc. She also has been competing alot with her beautiful singing voice. If I can get some pictures of that, I will post them soon. When Korbin is with us he is such a hard worker. The last week he was here he mowed, helped dad paint the entire interior of the office, cleaned out the car, and did basically any handy man jobs I asked. He's such a good kid.
As for this girl, I would dare say that she was the busiest of them all at least while she stayed with us. Hallie is in heaven when Bri is around and I can lay back and take a break from entertaining her for once. Besides being a great big sis, she also played the piano lots, swam, and took lots of bike rides with me.

cheap ride

Ladies, start your engines

One thing that Brandon and I disagree on is the value of yard sales. I love to see what cheap toys, clothes, and books I can find on Saturday morning for Hallie, but he thinks most of the time it's gross since you don't know how clean their kids may or may not be. I definitely see his point but I got this car for $5 and it has provided a lot of entertainment so far.

My mom being the natural daredevil that she is thought it would be a brilliant idea to let her ride downhill from the top of the driveway to bottom where I was crossing my fingers that Brianna was going to catch her. We only had minor crashes into the van, and only one face plant in the steering wheel. To say the least, the kid had fun and the adults were exhausted.