October 13 - Fire Truck Puzzle

Still loving the fire truck puzzle that Tony & Leslie gave to Hazey for his birthday a couple years ago!  We did it at least 3 times outside today!  (Yes, we are still in shorts & no jackets due to the 75 degree + weather on October 13.)

October 12 - Hats & Trucks

Nora demanded her hat from her shelves in her room.  AKA: "MOM!!!!  HAT!!!!!!"  And then Haze wanted his.  I have to say, they do look pretty cute in their hats during shopping time.  (Too bad they weren't "no crying" hats and we left the store with both of them in tears...Grocery shopping is hard.)

Before bed tonight, I had to snap a picture showing that Andlie & Hazey still love their Monster Jam shirts!  And of course, Nora is big like them (obviously) so she stood in the picture too.  And put her arms just like Haze who put his arms just like Andlie.  Cutest ever.

October 11 - Crafting

Nora had fun at Nursery today.....as long as she could see me.  That's okay.  My babies grow up so fast.  I don't mind staying with them if it makes them happy.  I think her favorite part is singing time.  She knows just what to do: wait for a carpet, sit on carpet, and follow along.  Sometimes at home, she'll find a towel or blankie, sit on it, and say, "Sing.  Song."  She is even starting to sing the songs!  In fact, she can fill in the blank quite well when we sing "Child of God" at home!

While Nora (and Daddy) were napping this afternoon, we did a Halloween finger painting craft!  (Haze is naked on top because...well...paint.  It's the only responsible thing to do.  And since he had paint on his ear and in his hair when we were done....I'd say I made the right call.)

Andlie's finished work is on the left.  Haze's on the right.  I think they turned out pretty cute!  At one point, Haze said, "Mom, I'm gonna draw a monster truck in the sky!"  Andlie promptly cut that idea down.  She is just like her Mother.

After craft time, we headed to the last (of the year) Ward Walk & Talk!  After asking if Dad could "lay the stroller down," Haze made himself quite cozy in the very, very back of the double stroller.

Andlie worked on her "Ninja Book" quite a bit today.  She added some more when we came home from the Walk & Talk.

The Ninja Book 

Illustrated by Andlie Allen

Written by Andlie Allen

Ninjas are good at finding and hiding, but they can't get seen.  They have swords and nunchucks.  They have protectors to protect them.  I am going to be a ninja for Halloween.  I don't like bad ninjas.  I like good ninjas.  I like ninjas.  They fight for us.

October 10 - Ninja & Zombie

Today Andlie wanted her hair like a ninja.  As everyone knows, a ninja hairdo is a ponytail in the back with a braid.  I told her that her hair might not be long enough.  She said, "Mom.  Just do like 3 braid loops.  Or as many as you can."  Turns out we can squeeze 7 "braid loops" in just fine.

I don't know if it was because she was dressed like a brave ninja or what, but the next thing I knew, she was wandering around the neighborhood carrying the neighbor's pet snake around.  I sure love Andlie.  She's smart, independent, tender, kind, soft, brave, fierce, happy, beautiful, and practically perfect in every way.  She's delicate & dainty, but she is also powerful and strong.  And I love that.

She finished her 2015 Reflections project last night.  We took the required pictures today so we could turn it in on Monday.  I forgot to take a picture of the entry form, but her artwork is titled, "Peaceful Rainbow."  This year's theme is "Let Your Imagination Fly!"  Andlie's artistic statement was: If everything was black and white, it would be boring.  I am glad that there is color in the world!  I imagine in color!"

While Nora was napping & Daddy & Hazey were "having a boy party," me & Andlie went to the party store to pick up some stuff for our Halloween costumes.  Andlie found this dress & said, "Ooo la la!  Take a picture of me!"

When we came home, I suggested that Haze draw some big ol' zombies on the art paper so he did.  And then he made a matching "spooky zombie face" for the picture.  Nora kept walking up to his artwork, pointing at it, and saying, "Sombie!  How-ween sombie!  Cuuuuuute."  Our kids are the best.

October 9 - IKEA, Suckers, Toilet

Me, Nora, and Haze took our BFFs: Katie & Roman (or as Nora calls them, "Kaaay-tee" and "Yo-man) to one of my favorite stores today: IKEA!  I needed to get a frame for our family pedigree chart that I made and LOVE.

I had a very successful trip to IKEA!  And Haze & Nora did pretty well.  (Thank you 15 Dum-Dum suckers I put in my purse.)  Nora found my purse after we got home & dug out & ate the suckers one by one.  I kept telling her no and then I'd leave the room for something and I'd come back and she'd be hiding in a different spot with a few more suckers in her mouth.  At one point, she had three suckers in her mouth and one in her tiny hands that she was working on opening as well.  She's smart.  And she's fast.  And she's quiet.  And she knows how to get what she wants.

This afternoon, me & Hazey were reading a Halloween book.  I asked him, "What are these kids dressed up as?"  He said, "An alien, a princess king, a football guy, a pirate, a witch, a vampire,.....and a toilet."  He definitely thought the ghost was a toilet.  Bravo, Haze.  Bravo!

 

October 8 - The Little Things

This morning we heard the garbabe truck & Haze went flying out the door to make sure he could see him dump a few cans.  When the garbage man saw us, he rolled his window down & asked Haze, "Do you want a coloring book, Buddy?"  To which Haze replied (with a big ol' grin), "Yeah!!"  And then the garbage man said, "Do this with your arm, Bud," while pumping his arm up & down to signal the horn.  So Haze did just that & got a honk from the garbage truck!  And then a few more waves!  He was in heaven!  What a nice garbage man!

When we went to drop Haze off at school, I let Nora sit on the seat by him.  (Preschool is less than a mile away.)  They both thought it was the neatest thing in the world.  They are cute little happy friends.

After Haze went to school, me & Nora came back home and played.  I didn't clean or run errands or bustle around.  I just played.  Me & Nora sang "Child of God," I watched her play with her babies, we visited each other, we put necklaces on.  But mostly I just watched her be.  I watched her little hands grip the bars on the trampoline.  I watched her hair bounce wildly up & down as she jumped.  I watched her eyes figure out how to get the baby through the doll house door.  I listened to her say, "Pay-rent ky an deer" ("parents kind and dear") over and over.  I listened to her get frustrated and giggle and even breathe.  I just soaked it all in.  I wish she was this little forever and ever.  I love my babies so much.

October 7 - Perfect Little Babies

Morning snuggles in bed with my Hazey are one of my favorite times of the entire day.  By the time he comes upstairs, Andlie & Daddy are usually gone for the day, but the house is still dark & quiet.  I can always hear him coming.  The crunch of his pull-ups and his heavy breaths give him away.  I always catch myself smiling by the time he makes it to our bedroom doorway, but I always wait for him to come to my side of the bed.  When he does, he looks at me (usually with his cute finger in his cute nose) and grins a cute little puffy-eyed, "good morning" grin.  It's the best way in the world to be woken up.  And then he climbs in to bed on Daddy's side and pulls the covers up over his legs and we just sit there in silence waking up together for a while.  And then we visit.  And then the day begins.

This morning while I was getting my makeup on, Nora & Hazey played outside.  I looked out the window & saw them sitting close and visiting and just being.  I am so blessed.  Beyond measure.  What pure, happy, innocent, perfect babies I have. I wish they'd stay little forever.

Today I picked Andlie up from school with a witch nose.  All of the mom stares were totally worth it when Andlie got in the car & stared and giggled.  Totally worth it.  Plus I thought I was pretty darn hilarious.

I don't know how I missed posting this!  I saw it on the fridge tonight & knew I needed to publish it.  She wrote it in the back seat on the way home from Cedar a few weeks ago.  It reads:

Mom, Andlie, Dad

I can help others and be kind and sometimes [it] can be hard when you are having fun but always go help others.  Always.  It will be hard sometimes and I can be a good example.

I like church.  I like school.

Me, Andlie, 6

4, Haze

During story time tonight, me & Nora read "Treats."  She saw the cupcake page & went for it.  She was "tasting" the treats.  And by tasting I mean licking the book.  And not just a little one-time lick.  It was like a "several times to make sure I get the taste" lick.  And I did nothing but laugh & encourage her.  (Look at those fat little adorable hands!)  Also note: The shirt she is wearing is from a bag of hand-me-downs from a friend.  I haven't gone through the bag yet, but Nora does.  Every night.  She pulls out what she wants to try on, brings it to me, and demands I put it on her.

October 6 - Cute Siblings

This week in preschool, Haze's class is learning about the letter F.  Which means that today he needed to pick something that started with F to bring for sharing time.  His first idea was, "Hey!  I'll take my feet off and use them for sharing time!"

...After we talked through that one, he said, "How about a firefighter!  How about Grampa!?"  Since he is 220 miles away, we opted for taking some pictures of Haze at the fire station with Grampa instead.  He said his class thought it was so cool!  And he was sure to remember to take the little fireman that Grampa gave him one time when we visited his fire station.

Since Haze was carrying some pictures around all morning, Nora wanted to as well.  She kept pointing at pictures of Liam on the computer & saying, "Eeee-um!!"  So I printed her a picture of Liam & Nora and she carried it around/hugged it/spoke to it all day long.

Nora wore a new outfit today!  She is growing so big!  I love this picture because: Nora is wearing her necklace.  She chose it and put it on and wore it for most of the morning like a boss.  This picture is confusing because: It is October 6th and still warm enough to not wear jackets and eat popsicles outside...

Mommy & Nora sure have fun when the big kids are at school.  We love to giggle and visit with each other.  It's one of our favorite things to do together.

Since Andlie has early out schedule this week (because of parent/teacher conferences), she gets to be home before Haze!  So there's about half hour with just the girls at home.  Today, Nora brought a book to Andlie and made herself comfy on the couch right next to her and Andlie read to her.  Sisters are just the very best.

Siblings by chance.  Friends by choice.

Cute Andlie did some "doodling" today.  Cute girl.

This afternoon, me & Haze played transformers outside at his request.  He likes to pull them out of the box one by one & demonstrate their transformations to me and tell me their names.  It's pretty cute.

 

We had Andlie's parent/teacher conference tonight!  The first thing out of Miss Carter's mouth was, "I wish all of my students could be like Andlie."  She said Andlie is very sweet and has wonderful behavior and is a great student!  We're so proud of her!  After the conference, the kids got out of the car & had a small rest on the driveway...  I'm sure because of its pure comfort.  Or maybe because they're silly.

Speaking of silly...during bath time tonight, Haze & Nora made themselves some chairs out of the bath toy bins.  Nora sat on hers nicely like a chair.  Meanwhile, Haze was trying to aim & stick body parts in to the holes...  Boys.

October 5 - Squaw's Peak

Andlie's eye looked MUCH better this morning.  She didn't go to school today.  I went down & tried to wake her up at 7:00 and she could barely roll over.  I figured that Pink Eye isn't fun for everyone around her to see or worry about.  Plus she didn't go to sleep until 10:30 last night.  She finally strolled up the stairs around 10:00.  I guess she needed some sleep.

Also worth mentioning: We gave her Benadryl last night at midnight.  It was the hardest thing in the world to accomplish.  She was responding with her voice, but not her actions.  At all.  After about 10 minutes, we finally got some in her gullet.

We had a fun day at home and spent most of the morning/lunchtime surprising Daddy with balloons & thank you notes & cookies in his car.  We sure appreciate him around our house and we wanted to make sure he knew it.

Aaaaaanyway, glad Andlie's eye is still in it's socket.  Glad she's not blind.  Glad the swelling is almost gone.  Glad to have my girl home with me for the day.

This evening, we went for a leaf ride up the canyon!  We didn't see much color change, but we did have a wonderful time!  It was breathtaking to see the valley from above.  What a beautiful place of the world we live in!

We did some hiking too!  The kids were in heaven!  It made me wish we would have taken better advantage of the mountains around us during the Summertime.  Next year.

 

Nora loved hiking!  She would scream at us if we tried to help her/hold her hand and she kept saying (with a voice full of glee), "Kime, kime, kime!"  (Climb, climb, climb.)