9-15-09 to 9-26-09

Happy Halloween! Alyssa turned 3 yesterday! I can't believe it! I have about 3 million pictures to post before I'm caught up and you get to see birthday and Halloween stuff but here are a bunch from September! 9-15-09 Here are the girls playing with Zach. He and his brother (Evan-he's soo cute!) live next door. If you are wondering what's in the cups...it's their pets...that they MUST keep outside. I call them "potato bugs", Karah calls them "rolly pollies" and Alyssa calls them "a little polley"! We are always loving a good rainbow! I told Alyssa to smile so she grabbed her cheeks to make a smile My girls! Soo silly!

9-16-09 I had planned to make the three braids go to the ponytail but they didn't reach so they had to meet in the middle.

She was just excited because I actually braided her hair!

This scares me to death! My girls are friends with the girls across the street. They are really good about stopping and looking both ways but it still makes my stomach drop when I see them dart across the street! At least she's looking while she's running!

I love how she runs so carefree with her arms wherever they fall!

9-16-09 lots of water fun!

This picture reminds me of my little sister when she was little. Not sure why. When I see this though, I see Ashlee (at least what I remember of her when she was this little!)

Karah's turn. I found out that the front porch is an awesome place to take pictures! It has plenty of indirect natural light and we aren't out in the elements! Love it!

The gals across the street-they asked for their pictures to be taken too!

Cheese!

This has been my little throw-together project. I made a bunch of flowers and they were laying around all over. I found two small frames that I was going to throw out, spray painted them (first time using spray paint and I fell in love!) I realized I was going to need more space...so I found an old frame at the DI and painted it too. It's so functional. I was going to add thicker ribbons once I decided if I liked them or not but I don't know if I'll get around to it...shocker!

9-17-09

9-18-09 Today is school picture day (They sent a note home the night before to tell us-thank goodness I got it before I sent her to school-I had no clue!) I thought I'd take some shots of my own before school because I wouldn't be around to see what she does for her actual pictures and I wanted to get some in my new special spot (on the front porch!)

I can't believe how grown up she's getting!

I think this is one of my favorite shots of her-I love it!

9-19-09 Utah State Fair

checking out the piglets

happy

I can't believe that one of those hands is Karah's and one is Alyssa's! They look about the same size! Who told my baby she could grow up?! (I know she's almost 3 in these pictures...)

I love it when my girls hold hands

Now they are pouting...

Let's see if they smile if they go on a pony ride...

Alyssa's not!

Karah is! Yay!

Alyssa's horse

We love the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit and look forward to it every year!

A little bit of background. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, Kaitlyn, all kinds of things were happening to my body and I always blamed it on the baby (because it was her fault right?!) If I tooted, I'd say Katy did it! If I burped, I'd say Katy did it! Whatever I did and my belly was in the way or my belly moved funky-Katy did it! In fact she even got nicknamed Katydid because I used that excuse so often. I found this book at the library and HAD to check it out!

It was soo cute! A little girl Katydid (kinda like a grasshopper) wanted to go jumping so she went out in the garden, she jumped on a tomato plant and the aphids scattered. The Ladybug said who did that and Katy's little brother said "Katy did it!" It went on like that and she was blamed for a bunch of stuff. Then some ants needed help and she jumped and saved them so in the end the little brother proudly said "Katy did it!" and the mommy said she was so proud of her! I'm so proud of my little Katydid (and her wonderful sisters!)

9-20-09 Alyssa came and got me. She wanted to show me something "special" in her room. She wanted me to take pictures, of course I didn't have a problem with that!

She had wrapped up all her stuffed animals in their own blankets on her bed, her bench and the ground. They were sleeping. She was so excited that she got them all to sleep at the same time! lol (just for the sake of chronological order, this is when we had our "final" we-should-get-divorced talk. I started out the same as always, no, please...blah blah blah, cried a lot and then started to feel the Holy Ghost comfort me and help me to know this is the right thing to do and I deserve better! I've felt at peace with this decision we've made and I am glad I won't have to worry about Shawn anymore-it's not my problem any more! Such relief! Just to answer any questions, no this was not on a whim, yes, we have been to counseling, yes, I have tried and tried and tried. I think we have been together this long because several things had to fall into place before we could split. Like having all four of our kids, like moving and helping me see that I am a good wife and I am a good mom and I have tried soo super hard and it's just not me. I can see that now and I am so grateful! I have learned a lot by moving out here. I have learned that I can keep a house clean, I can be organized, I can exercise, I am of worth, and I can do it all alone-I've been prepared-I've been doing it alone for years! It sucks and I don't like being alone. I'm not though because I have my girls and my Heavenly Father! I am so blessed and I am trying oh so hard to stay positive! Even with all the crap coming my way in the next few months...I just need to look at the good parts and work through the bad. Are ya with me?!)

She's really starting to like me taking pictures of her. Usually her face is a mess but I still love it!

9-21-09 Rice Time!

For those of you who don't know, my girls like to play in rice. I blow up this swimming pool and put it on top of a big tablecloth. I pull out both #10 cans of rice (expired food storage) and let them play. It's cleaner than sand, it's okay if they ingest it, and it's not going to get stuck in a nose or choke anyone. Also, it's super easy to vacuum up if there are any stray pieces!

Alyssa's not obeying the rules! She's coming off the tablecloth to show me her rice. I see it, now go back please!

In the last house I wanted to make the rice a little funner so I took ziplock baggies full of rice and added a different color of food coloring to each bag. After mixing and letting them dry, I added them back into the white rice and now it's colorful rice!

9-22-09 Remember how they like rolly pollies?! I don't think I'd like to have that many on my hands but Boo did!

They were crawling all over

Back in the cup they go. I keep trying to get them to put the bugs back in the grass so they can go "home" but they like to play (I do see Karah taking them back "home" after they are done though! She's such a sweetheart! She doesn't want them to get scared!)

9-25-09 Karah actually let me curl her hair with a curling iron!

9-26-09 We went to my cousin Paige's wedding shower and tried to help...kinda hard with screaming kids.

Doesn't the food look good!

FYI, Paige's real name is Alyssa Paige and when we were coming up with baby names for our little girl born in Oklahoma, we decided on Alyssa Taylor. I called my cousin and asked if she minded that we used her first name since she wasn't really using it (she goes by her middle name.) I'm so glad she said yes because my little Rooney makes a cute Alyssa! Not that we wouldn't have named her that if she said no...

Karah has been throwing these fits lately...it's exhausting and I just try to ignore her. Sometimes though I feel like I need to help straighten things out in her mind with her and help her understand things. It's hard to get kids to use their words instead of just acting out. She's been through so much I just hope she'll be okay. She's so tenderhearted. Any ideas on how to toughen up her skin just a little bit?

Lys and Grandma T

After her pouting match was over, the girls were rolling all over the ground being silly!

I forgot to mention, I got to make their invites for the shower. I love photoshop-have I mentioned that lately?! I should probably use it more often before I post pictures to my blog but usually I do it as I scrapbook... Sorry in advance for the dark pictures seen below...like I said, I shoulda photoshopped them. Oh well! Pretend I did!

9-26-09 Mormon Oktoberfest (What that means is we partied harty but we drank Rootbeer and Creme Soda instead of alcohol!)

Aaron (one of the "babies") Poor things! The "babies" are over one now and I fear they will always be called the "babies" because they were all born around the same time (there were like 7 of them born within a few months!)

Here's Anela carrying her plate to sit by Karah

Nice big party-we have so much fun with these guys!

They had hats with feathers for each of us and a plastic stein for our choice of rootbeer. We were led in a toast song and we'd sing something with our glasses raised and then say Oy! Oy! Oy! it was funny!

Here's Wyatt, Angela and Justin

Drink up! Looks kinda real, doesn't it!

Lys liked her hat

The kids loved the polka music!

I'm sure they all slept well that night!

Here's the toasting song-cheers!

Anela and Joseph dancing

Lucy and Karah dancing

Abbey and Hannah

Joseph and Karah

It was so funny to see the little ones pairing up-we weren't doing that but somehow they knew it's funner to dance with someone.

They all like to give hugs! Karah won't do kisses though because they were taught in school that kisses should only be shared with your family. Candy kisses you can share with your friends! She's really funny about "rules" she learns in school! She gets upset if she sees little kids not obeying the rules she knows!

I think I'll join in now!

Lucy with a chocolate mouth

Wyatt has a chocolate mouth too! He's eating with Angela and Jen.

Karah's "costume" (What do kids wear to this kind of thing? I didn't want to go for the bar maiden thing for my 5 & 3 year old!)

Aaron and Karah dancing

We got our pictures taken in this-I love how they are just peeking out!

Me and Alyssa

Once Alyssa could reach to poke her head out, she wanted to stay there.

We also got a family picture by the welcome sign

Lucy and Aaron hugging

Here, let me fix your necklace!

Thanks so much! You're my hero!

Alyssa finally went over and boogied for awhile to the music!

Notice what Rooney is doing in the background? That sure doesn't look safe to me! Don't climb up there!

Mom, we even got balloons!

Why exactly is she licking the balloon?

Cute little Elijah! He's my special little friend (he just doesn't know it yet!) He did crawl over to me and climb into my lap last night-it made my day!

Welcome fall! Stay tuned for more, lots more, pictures...