... When No One Else is Watching

Not so bad...

Yesterday wasn't a stellar day for a "look at the camera and smile!" photography session. In fact, I left my mom's house pretty certain that the number of great photos I got was a whopping zero! But, I'm happy to report that they didn't turn out all that bad. Here are a few shots for your viewing pleasure. Oh! And on another note, my baby started walking yesterday. I haven't been able to catch a picture of her walking yet because when she realizes she is walking by herself she freaks out and plants her butt on the ground. Her rear end plants itself just when I get to my camera. Soon, very soon!

 

 
 
 

Unwilling Subjects

I went to my mom's house today because she wanted some photos of her and the girls to send out with her Christmas cards. How did it go? Well, let's just say that I used to think Avery was starting to become difficult to photograph but I obviously had no idea what it was like to try and take photos with two unwilling children. I had such cute outfits picked out for them and great locations close to my mom's house but all my planning pretty much went to waste. I don't think I have ever yelled my children's names so much in the matter of a couple hours.

And now I understand why professional photographers have assistants. I need to get me one of those!

*I'm uploading all the photos that I think turned out okay tomorrow morning and will update the last few blog posts with some photos. See, I'm no dummy, I know that the people who visit this blog usually only stop by for the pictures. That's the stuff I like too!*

Who thought up his name?!

The other night, when we were watching my friends little girls and her niece, I decided that I needed some activities and maybe a couple of new movies to keep the girls entertained. Avery definitely likes many Disney movies but she prefers ones without a scary character in it. This seems to be a difficult task sometimes because think about it, virtually every cartoon has a bad guy... a scary bad guy. There's the Little Mermaid which has Ursula... scary. There's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with the evil queen... scary. And let's not forget Sleeping Beauty with mean dark fairy, Maleficent.... scary. See my problem?

Thank goodness for the fairytales that are sweet, even if they do have some mean characters, you know the ones I am talking about... Cinderella, Cars and Beauty and the Beast. I was on the hunt to find a couple more of these types of cartoons because I really wanted an evening where the girls could just relax and calm down a bit in front of a movie once all the playing had subsided. I made the decision to buy Pinocchio and 101 Dalmations.

I can't even tell you how much these two new movies are loved in this household. Avery loves any show with animals so the fact that she gets to watch cartoon dogs for a full 80 minutes is her own personal version of heaven! And Pinocchio! Who doesn't love that movie?! Avery is now Pinocchio's biggest fan and so happy he's had his wish fulfilled of becoming a real, live boy. Now if she could only say his name correctly... but I'm not rushing her on it because it's so cute. How does she pronounce his name? I'm glad you asked because it really is the cutest pronunciation ever!!!! Pinocchi-yoki. For some reason she's having a hard time getting that last "o" on the end of his name and adds a couple more syllables to it instead. And now I'm having a hard time not saying Pinnochi-yoki.

So cute it hurts!

It's Official!

The holiday season has now, officially, begun! How can I be so sure? Well, I made the Christmas Puddings today. Yes, plural. After our traditional Christmas pudding went over so well with the family last year (even Rob is now in love with Christmas pudding!) I decided I should probably make two so that if anyone is desiring more than their portion on Christmas day they will be able to take some home to enjoy with their Christmas dinner leftovers. That's how nice I am.... thinking of everyone elses "day after" meal.... stop it, I know, I know, too kind. Ack.

Now that the puddings have been steamed and are parchment paper-tied and sitting in our cool basement I have the distinct urge to light up some apple cider scented candles and put up a Christmas tree. I'll see how long I can hold out but don't be surprised if you come to my home and Christmas tunes are playing.

Birth Control

I have told Rob many times that I would probably be open to having three children. He is very adament that two is good for us and that he likes our family the way it is. Since I came into this marriage saying I always thought I would have two or three children I figure it's probably fair to just say, "okay, I did say I would be happy with two so we are done." But for some reason "number three" has always nagged at me a bit.... until today. Why? Tonight I ended up watching my friend's two little girls and her niece and I can officially say having five little girls all under the age of four in my home was pure chaos. Yes, it was fun chaos but chaos none the less. Holy moly! Once my friend made it out the door with all her girls in tow I closed the door, turned around and uttered the words Rob has been waiting a long time to hear, "You're right sweetheart, I think we're done with two." You've never seen a man smirk so much in your life.

I hate it when he's right.

Success!

H1N1 Vaccine for the kiddies.... check!

We got to the clinic early this morning and were number seventeen in line. May seem dumb to some folks to stand in line for a vaccine but I can't tell you how relieved I am. I'm happy to know that the kids and my mom (who has a compromised immune system due to some health problems) have had the vaccine and it will hopefully, help them to either not get the virus or, if they do, at least it will not be as potent on their little systems. So the status as of right now? Hadleigh is taken care of with all flu vaccinations and Avery has only the seasonal flu vaccine that she needs to get, which we will try to get on Sunday at another immunization clinic.

Mommy can breathe now!

Child's Play

When I was a kid my favorite activites were playing hopscotch and jumping rope. I was pretty standard that way,I'm sure, since most kids love to do these types of things. Either way, you can imagine my happiness when Avery asked me to draw a hopscotch on our sidewalk today. One of Avery's favorite episodes of Curious George is when George wins a big hopscotch competition so I know this is where she got the idea for me to draw her one. Once it was drawn up, Avery and I played hopscotch for at least an hour and then we jumped rope.... it was a pure childlike day for me and it hit me how much I missed the simple pleasures of my childhood. When did I decided that it took so much more than a game of hopscotch to bring me happiness. My adult self is dumb.... I'm going back to my childhood, it's much more fun!

*Pictures of Avery to follow when I upload them!*

Frustration has set in...

As most of my friends know, I'm quite the immunization advocate. I'm one of those people that are completely on schedule with all my children's immunizations and make sure they get in for there scheduled well child checkups. So you can imagine my frustration at not being able to find the standard annual flu vaccine for Avery. Hadleigh had her flu shot during her one year exam and I had Avery set up to get one the following week but then she got sick and by the time she recovered my doctor said he would like to see her clear of any sickness for one more week after that. So we do everything by the book and reschedule, only for Avery to get sick AGAIN. Can't say the girl doesn't have a pattern down. Finally, we are free of any sickness and now that she is fine and well to get it.... I can't find the damn vaccine anywhere!!! I, literally, called at least 25 different locations today only to be told that they don't have any vaccine and have had it on order for a month but there's still no sign of it. It seems that due to the government's desire to produce more H1N1 vaccine they have slowed production on the seasonal flu vaccine, making it very difficult to find (at least that's what a nurse told me.)

I can't believe with how well prepared I am, I'm still unable to get these immunizations. And then I have friends who are able to go to their clinics and they miraculously have vaccine. Grrrrrrrrrr! The kicker is that I've been wanting to switch my pediatrician for quite a while now because I don't like that he operates out of an Emergi-Care Office and we're always pushed to the back when we have an appointment and now, obviously, we're pushed to the back for vaccine as well. I should have established us at a sole pediatrics office. Where was tha crystal ball when I needed it?

Okay, rant over. I'm hoping to have Avery vaccinized by the time we go on vacation this month but it looks like that is going to be a miracle if it happens. But miracles happen.... right?

Gardner Village in the Fall

Our family likes to go and take photos at Gardner Village each fall because it is always such a beautiful spot here in Utah to get some great pictures. Now I mostly enjoy this because it is a great way to gauge how much the girls grow from year to year. We went and did the annual photo shoot a couple of weeks ago... here are some of my favorites. Happy Fall!!!

 

 

 
 

 

A Challenge? I LOVE a Challenge!

My friend, Lisa has decided to try to post something on her blog everyday of November so I am going to join her in this quest... well, at least for the time I am actually home... I am vacationing this month so if I'm in my house I will post something that day. There are plenty of things that have happened this summer that I would like to document so this shouldn't be too difficult for me. But, since we just celebrated Halloween, it seems easy to start off with this rather than rack my brain remembering all the details of our summer. So let's show you our Halloween in pictures.

Avery was very firm on what she wanted to be for Halloween this year... Tinkerbell! The girl is a bit obsessed with this particular fairy and since she has a mother who can't sew, yet is more than happy to go to the local store and purchase her a Disney costume, the fulfillment of her wish was as easy as if she just sprinkled Tinkerbell's fairydust herself!

Hadleigh isn't that much of a talker yet so she got stuck with what her mommy chose for her. I really wanted her to be Thumbelina because really, what would be cuter to accompany Tinkerbell than Thumbelina? Obviously, Disney didn't get my request in time because it seems the only Thumbelina costume they make is for kids older than four. Oh, what to do? Simple, let Avery chose Hadleigh's costume. Avery wanted Hadleigh to dress up as Snow White and the costume was quite cute so I concurred. The only thing Hadleigh's costume was missing were the Seven Dwarfs, which I was really quite annoyed with because mommy could really use the help around here... but I digress. Either way, Hadleigh was the cutest Snow White you ever did see!

Avery was beyond excited to put on her costume and get going but since it was still broad daylight outside we had to hold her back from going to the neighbors' homes and begging for candy. What better way to kill time than taking more pictures? Avery is getting to that age where she gets annoyed being asked to smile for the camera but sometimes... especially if you bribe her with the hope of trick or treating, she'll amuse you and behave herself. Luckily, we were able to get these shots before her patience got the best of her... and before her sister fell asleep!

Okay, so that last shot wasn't exactly from Halloween but it was a cute "trial run" picture where the girls weren't fighting with me or eachother so it has to be included... for posterity and all.

After all the picture taking was said and done, we decided to get a move on and head out into the neighborhood. Avery was thrilled! Hadleigh? Well, she was asleep, at 6:45! Yeah, our girl can hang!

Oh! And we carved pumpkins! Usually, we wouldn't be so excited about this but Rob and I were very impressed with our carving skills this year. We'll let the picture of our pumpkins end this post. Bring on Thanksgiving!!!