SO far behind...

I just realized I haven't posted the whole time Justin has been gone hunting!  I just didn't seem to have any extra time this go-round.  I made this whole list of things to get done while he was gone... why do I do that?  Like him not being here is going to actually afford me EXTRA time?  Right.  No - I am exhausted at the end of he day and crawl into bed wondering where the time went.  Not that that is any different than any other day.  Sheesh - Motherhood is hard!  

"That that"?  Can I say that?  I mean, is it acceptable?  Who knows.  Not me.  Again... tired... 

Anyway, six days ago the girls and I made turkey hats while Justin was at softball.  It was really fun, and they have gotten a lot of use out of them this week!  =)

This one makes me smile:

I love that huge grin!  Especially since she gives me such forced smiles these days.  

What's that?  The scratch on her neck?  Thanks for noticing.   How could you not?  Long story, but somehow she got a rope burn while playing on a play structure that had a rope going down the slide.  Still not sure about that one!  But it is nearly unnoticeable now.  Finally.  Not that anyone ever noticed, or gasped while asking what could have possibly happened to her.  Nope!  

Lauren didn't want to stop cutting the extra paper into teeny-tiny confetti to take a picture.

But then I asked her to act like a turkey while I videoed, and that worked like a charm.

I snuck a couple pictures in there too!

"gobble, gobble!"

Jaelyn having a look at Lauren's turkey.  Or turkey-Lauren.  Either way, she thought it was funny!

She really likes her Bumbo now:

And so do I.

Especially since that means I can get pictures of her sitting up!

Oh, she just has the best eyes!  And yes, they are turning more and more brown.  Love it!

We went to a park on Thursday morning and I snapped a few shots of almost-three Paige!

Her bangs need a trim!  Unfortunately, I didn't notice that before we left the house.  ;)

It has since been remedied. 

Lauren didn't want to have her picture taken.  

She didn't even want to play.

She wanted to eat lunch.

At 9:50 A.M.

I stuck to my guns and told her we were going to have fun until 11 A.M. at which point we would sit and eat our picnic by the pond.

And then, at 10:40 A.M. we ate lunch and watched the ducks.

I just couldn't take the sullen looks any longer.

Besides, I was hungry.

=)

The dress

Those of you who have been around for a while should remember this dress:

Justin bought it for Lauren when we were in Mexico while she was only three months old.  The salesperson told him it was baby-size, but our babies must be a lot larger than theirs because when we got home she could barely fit in it!  So each of our girls has worn it at this age, just long enough for a picture:

Wow - each of our girls really has their own look, and still so similar at the same time!  Weird!

But this one's sweet smile is melting my heart today!

Love her!!!

Halloween

This year, for trick-or-treating, we headed to the Howell's house again for a group trip.  It was a lot of fun, and the girls have more treats then they know what to do with!  

Colleen had this jar of giant suckers sitting out as a centerpiece, and it was driving all the kids bonkers!  =)

Harper was an adorable dinosaur!  Poor guy's equilibrium was thrown off with that huge tail though!  

Pretty lights.

The girls were both really into the Halloween decorations this year.

Lauren was in love with Tyler's Barbie house!

My littlest ballerina!

All the kids waiting sort-of-patiently.

Lauren looking so grown up!

Thanks for hosting, Pat & Colleen!  Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Pumpkins

On Friday night we headed out to our neighborhood shopping center for some store trick-or-treating, and then came home and carved our pumpkins!

First, I had our ballerinas do some modeling...

Don't ask Lauren to make her scary face unless you truly want to be scared!

*shudder*  I like Paige's version.

Then we got to work on our pumpkins!

Jaelyn was there, too!

Okay, and when I say "we" - I really mean they.

But I was there, somebody has to take pictures.  ;)

The finished product:

Justin did an awesome job this year!  I love that the owl is looking at the other pumpkin.

It's the little things.

=)