Miss you so

Again I am stealing pictures from my fabulous talented wonderful friend Denisha Sproul who by now has to be getting mad that I keep using her pictures on my blog, but if you want to see more of her amazing work click here.

Earlier tonight Brianna was reading Hallie a book when Brandon yelled to let her know that it was time to go. Bri reluctantly said ok and left the room, and seconds later Hallie ran after her with a puckered lip and teary eyes saying "No, You can't leave!" It broke our hearts that she misses her sisters and brother so bad when they leave, that I think we were all close to tears. I was able to distract her and she sent them on their way with happy hugs and kisses. I wanted to ask her about it later, but didn't want to upset her again so I said, "Hallie, did you get a little bit sad when your sisters and brother left?" She said, "No" very matter of factly and I thought that was the end of conversation, and then she looked up with the most serious expression and said, "I was a lot-a-bit sad." I love our family and especially the strong bond our kids have. My little girls would be lost without their older siblings.  We love you three, xoxoxo

This is right as Bri walked in our door for the weekend.  The girls rush to her to fight over who she will play with first.  They don't even let her take her coat off first.

Merry Christmas. . .a month later

I wanted to share a few snapshots of moving day and our best Christmas ever. We moved into our new home FIVE days before Christmas. . . to say the least that was not my idea but it turned out great and now we have fond memories of the first Christmas in our first real home.

Moving day. . . my thoughts exactly

That's right, we moved all our presents and put up the Christmas tree twice.  I was especially grateful for our older kids that day.

Thankfully Grandma Allen was there to help along with my parents.

Some boxes were heavier to move than others

On to Christmas- the kiddos made Santa milk & egg free cookies this year.  Poor Santa may have been suffering from allergies all this time and never spoke up. 

My sweethearts

This year for our annual Nativity production Harper scored the role of baby Jesus, and you can tell how excited she was.

A recent realization of mine is that when you have five kids sometimes you just got to be happy with the shots you get.  Believe it or not this was the best one out of about twenty, and yes Hallie does have some of Santa's cookies on her chin.



Christmas morning was wonderful.  We were all healthy, happy, and together.  I have to share that Santa found this trampoline at a yard sale for $8 and the family through in Harper's present (a bouncing zebra) for free.  Santa scored big this year:)



Happy Birthday Dear Harper

My baby. . . she melts my heart everyday

We celebrated Harper's first birthday last Saturday, and I am just dumbfounded by how fast this year went with my sweet princess. She came into this world mellow and good natured and I am so thrilled that she is the same today. I love so many things about this girl but I will only list a few.

..I love her big blue eyes
..I love her two front teeth with the silly gap in the middle
..I love her blonde hair that refuses to lay down
..I love that she has a special bear that she named tata
..I love that she sucks her thumb when she's tired
..I love that she adores her sister, and only wants a toy if Sis is playing with it first
..I love that she will eat anything at anytime
..I love that she has a low chuckle that I would recognize anywhere
..I love that she is so nurturing and love to hug and kiss all the time

Love this face, and thanks goes to Nana for finding someone who can make a yummy vegan cake that we all could enjoy.

She needed a little sprucing up after the cake

Loved, loved, loved her new baby dolls and Hallie loved her wagon.



The girls were excited that even great grandma go to come for a visit



Some Random Pics of my Sweetheart

I wasn't kidding about the gap, how could that not make you smile?



She loves finding new hiding spots



TaTa and thumb. . this girl's ready to sleep

Almost always a good sport

 

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She began walking a couple of days before Christmas and is getting hard to keep up with.  This is the cutest stage to me when she is walking with her arms stretched in front of her ready to fall. . . . love it



Ho Ho Ho

We just did our annual visit with Santa Claus and the reaction from the girls was anything but disappointing. Hallie has been practicing for literally months what to tell Santa she wants for Christmas. So when the big moment came she sat on his lap and went more than blank, she went silly. She started talking like Harper (baba dada googoo gaga), Santa was laughing graciously, but I'm pretty sure everyone that was watching was assuming that she was not all there. Meanwhile I am kneeling beside her trying to coax her to relax and speak English, at the same time I'm getting fussed at by the camera guy who HAD to take the picture right then (even though there were no other kids waiting to see Santa). It's a good thing he did or otherwise I wouldn't have captured this Kodak moment.

Heaven forbid he give me a second to try to make my child smile. Next was Harpers turn and like most others her age, she screamed the second she got near him leading to yet another Kodak moment.

 Last was Grandma's sweet dog Presly, who tried to jump off his lap immediately, which is surprising because she loves everyone. If nothing else this visit made for a good memory and I will cherish the pictures forever.

Good Job Korbin!!!!



picture taken by the amazing Denisha Sproul. . . to see more click here

 HUGE shout out to the best son ever, Korbin, for earning his eagle scout!!! We are so proud of what an awesome person you are growing up to be!

10 months

This picture was taken by my fabulous friend/photographer Denisha Sproul.  To see more of the whole family click here.

I can't believe that 10 months has flown by with my sweet Harper.  She is such a precious girl and so easy to take care of.  She loves to sleep with her doo doo, eat anything that's in front of her, and play with anything that Hallie has first.  I love this stage of life where she's beginning to understand language, respond, and be playful back. 

Happy Halloween

This Halloween was a fun and busy one. I was lucky enough to borrow the girls costumes this year from one of my most stylish friends, and got to enjoy all the compliments guilt free knowing that I didn't pay a penny:) So thanks Denisha for dressing your kids in these adorable costumes years ago!



Confession time. . . Since Halloween was on a Sunday we had mixed thoughts about trick or treating, but in the end decided to just go down our street and stop at the few houses that would actually be handing out candy.  We literally took about 5 steps past our garage and looked right into the camera that was filming trick or treaters for our local news.  We laughed and joked about being on the news for a few minutes then forgot about it until we turned on the news at night and there our cute little family was walking down a sidewalk with our peacock leading the way.  Oh well, I guess our decisions good or bad don't have to be shouted from the rooftops when they are featured on the news:)

Just a little something to make you smile!!!