Abby's 3rd and Thanksgiving

I am determined to catch up! And in this busy season, that means, little words and many pictures. So here's the first picture. Isn't she adorable? I've been trying (and succeeding, so far) to take a picture of her, her blanket and her rabbit stuffed animal on each of her monthly birthdays so I can make... something entirely cute out of her first twelve months worth of pictures. I was startled with how much she has changed from her second to her third. And now it's almost time for her forth, sheesh, she's growing gangbusters. Love her cheeky grin. And those chubby legs!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I did eat a lot of pie. My family didn't perform as usual, however, we only had 17 (if I remember right) pies. We usually have much more. We spent Wednesday night in Burley with some of Farris' family, and then after dinner (so funny...Judy used to raise chickens, so we always have chicken instead of turkey. Joseph's kindergarten just had their Thanksgiving Feast and very loudly kept saying things like "What's Thanksgiving without a turkey?" Kindergartners think they know everything, and they usually voice that opinion emphatically.) we headed to Richfield for Pie Day. Pie Day is closely related to Thanksgiving Day, and tends to run into breakfast the day after. And sometimes later. We brought four pies this year: Peach, Apple, Chocolate Egg Nog Swirl Pie, and Cream Cheese Pumpkin Cake (basically a rectangle pie). Yummy. My favorite pie for this year though was: Rob's Raspberry Cheesecake with Oreo Crust. Wow. And there were too many second place contenders to mention. Anyway, there is more to Thanksgiving than pie (although my nephews would argue that point), and we had much visiting and laughing and a great after-too-much-food walk around the farm. On Friday when many people are being pushed and pepper-sprayed (what was that about, anyway?) at stores, we went up to the Sawtooth's and cut down trees. Farris picked out a bigger tree than usual and it's beautiful. More about that in the next post.

Here's Joseph enjoying the snow. We walked through about two feet of it, and were finishing loading the trees when another storm rolled in.

Caleb all bundled up. I'm not really sure when those teeth of his are going to grow in, but he does love to sing "All I want for Christmas is my THREE front teeth."

Sethy is too cute. He loved the snow...until he got to where it hadn't been plowed and then an adult had to carry him the rest of the way.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for two wonderful families that we have to spend time with every holiday.

And obviously, I can't do a post without many words.

Happy Halloween...err, Thanksgiving...err, Christmas ALREADY?

I realize that's a long title. But it's very true! Maybe it's because there isn't any snow outside my window (at the moment. We have had two storms that melted quickly), it just doesn't seem like Christmas time. The smell of our freshly cut Christmas tree that we traipsed through two feet of snow in the Sawtooth's is definitely helping, though. Anyways, here is a quick trip back to Halloween because it didn't get done before!
Here's our family of pumpkins! The picture doesn't show it that great, but we each picked out a pumpkin when they were still ripening and scratched a face in it. Well, I did Seth's, Abby's and Farris', too. The pumpkins scabbed over in a couple of weeks and there you have a quick, easy and a lot less messy pumpkin carving (we did some carving and painting, too, though). Joseph carved his upside down, that's why his vine is coming out the bottom. It's kind of his personality though. You know, a little off kilter?

Sweet Abigail's first Halloween! My cousin gave us this bee costume for Seth, so it's a hand me down, but she looked awful cute in it. Babys dressed as bugs...strange as it sounds, it just works.

This is Seth dressed as a dinosaur. Oh, wait, that's right. He refused to wear the dinosaur costume because he said it belonged to Caleb. This of course happened on Halloween morning five minutes before we had to be at the school for the costume parade. More on that later.

Joseph wanted to be a ghost. He actually had that idea for weeks before and stuck with it until the night before Halloween, but at that point there's no going back. I found a bunch of fabric at the DI and spent about an hour cutting and sewing and then he added his own facial expressions to finish it off. That boy is too funny in front of a camera.

Caleb wanted to be a soccer player. And not just any soccer player, he wanted to be himself playing soccer. I just had to make sure his soccer uniform was washed. Who am I to deny that kid of his dearest wish? Especially when it didn't involve me sewing, gluing, or even duct taping anything together.

Felicity, for the second year in a row, wanted to be horse. And I, for the second year in a row, vetoed that idea. The only horse costume I can think of is from that Cinderella movie with Drew Barrymore (I can't think of the name...drat. Here comes 2:00 in the morning with me shouting it out...) where the step sister and the guy she likes both dress up as horses. Anyway, I can't think of how to do it without it looking dorky. So, this year she came as a cowgirl. Farris' mom years ago made him a cowboy outfit and we still have the chaps and vest. So I used them as a pattern on fabric that wouldn't need to be hemmed and hot glued the fringe on the edges. I do love my glue gun! We also painted my old dress boots pink. I was going to spray paint them...and never got around to buying spray paint, so we took what we had and I used acrylic paint. I don't really recommend it, it scratched off too easily, but in a pinch for an outfit she'll wear twice, it worked.

Here's the three on their way to school. Joseph is sooo scary ;)

So why was the day busy? Ha, let me tell you. After getting the kids out the door for school (costumes and picture taking done, too) we had a quick breakfast and then went over to the school for the Costume Parade at 9:00. It was actually more like 9:10 by the time I had thrown us all together, at least enough that everyone was fully clothed. This was the time that Seth declared he could not wear Caleb's dinosaur costume, so we just grabbed his Superhero cape. I figured I'd have enough time later in the day to find some kind of clothes that would go under the cape so it wouldn't be so... lame. My sister and parents had actually spent the night before at our house and they were gathering things together so they could leave right after the parade. Very cute parade, I love how this school still does things like this. When we left the school we came right back to the house and I started blowing up a couple packages of balloons and then decorated them like ghosts for Caleb's class party (the whole time I'm thinking, how come I didn't volunteer to just read a story?!?). We were going to play Ghostbusters. I taped a white napkin (until I ran out of white and then the rest of the ghosts were blue. Oops) on each balloon, and then drew a ghosty kind of face on it. We had just enough time to make some PB and J for the kids before we ran to the school. Still hadn't found any clothes to go with Seth's cape. For the game, we had a relay race where each of the kids got to "bust" a ghost by sitting on it. It got pretty loud and I was afraid the Principal would think we were under attack, but the kids loved it. Balloons and noise: always a winner. Abby wasn't real impressed with the party, she even slept through all the popping.
The older two kids came home pretty soon after we got home and we actually had our first trick or treater. It was 3:00 in the afternoon. I hadn't even found the candy/toys that we bought to hand out, so she left emptyhanded. I know, I'm the Scrooge of Halloween. I put some stuff in the crock pot for dinner and got everything ready for the Trunk or Treat at the church--including finding the little toys to give out, but I didn't find the candy until about two weeks later. Our ward had it early this year so it wouldn't interfere with FHE. Halloween on Monday is just weird. I still hadn't found anything for Seth to wear, so he happily went in his everyday clothes with his cape. But hey, he was happy, he got candy, I was happy, I took a mommy tax from his candy. Next year when he cares more I'll make a real costume for him. After the Trunk or Treat, it was our family's turn to clean the church. We just had to vacuum and wash windows and our little ghost, soccer player, cowgirl, and half way superhero jumped in to help, mostly because we told them if we got done fast enough we could still fit in some trick or treating. When we were finished we did a quick run around the neighborhood to those we didn't see at the Trunk or Treat and then the day was done. Whew. That was one of those days powered by snickers and peanut butter cups!

Abigail's blessing

Life has been moving fast again (always?) so I'm a little behind on my blogging. In playing catch-up I thought I'd start with Abby's blessing day.

Here's the little star herself!

I made her blessing dress out of leftover material from Felicity's baptism dress and with kind of the same idea, but I'll (hopefully!) do a post on that later.

It was a gorgeous day thankfully. With the crazy weather we've had this last year, I wasn't sure if it would sunny or snowing, but the weather was beautiful and everyone was able to be outside. Which was good, we had each of our brothers and sisters and their families, plus my Uncle Darryl, Aunt Ellen, and cousin Denece with her kids. The total was over 50 extra people, we had a packed house!

She was so good for the pictures, even though the petticoat with her

dress had been bugging her all day.

Sweet little thing!

At this point, our kids were feeling a little rowdy. They were surrounded by cousins and having a blast! They were pretty good for the pictures, but you have to expect a little peace sign action. Better than bunny ears!

Trying to get everything just right.

These next three pictures are Abigail with her grandparents. I love that my parents and mother in law are such great grandparents and are very supportive of their many grandkids. We love having all of them come visit and spend time spoiling the kids. Grandma Child getting a little love in.

Abigail is Grandpa Newey's 14th grandchild. He's always loved the grandkids but been a little cautious around the newborns, preferring to look instead of hold. We're slowly breaking him in and the last time we were visiting in Idaho he spent two mornings holding her while Farris and I slept in. And he loves it! Abby already has him wrapped around her finger.

Grandma Newey getting a chat in.

Abigail is growing so fast now, she's almost 3 months old and quickly outgrowing clothes (which makes me kind of sad, all those cute clothes!). She's getting chubbed out more (her cheeks delight everyone!) and her cooing makes me laugh everyday. She tries so hard to get in on the conversations with the kids. She loves her baths and getting her diaper changed, I think because my face is close to hers and I talk to her while I'm getting her cleaned up. She LOVES it when people talk to her. Felicity thinks that if Abby had been a boy, we could have named her Kickly because Abby is always exercising those chubby legs of hers. In church on Sunday we were sitting toward the front and our High Councilman noticed Joseph giving Abigail kiss after kiss after kiss and commented to Farris about it after Sacrament meeting. He sure does love his baby sister!

I bet your kids never...

Let's play a fun game called "I bet your kids never..."
Let me go first:

I bet your kids never: run naked through the house. Or, for that matter, through your front yard.

I bet your kids never: poke a fork at your lovingly prepared dinner and dubiously say "Have we ever had this before?"

I bet your kids never: come up to you at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday night and say "Oh, my teacher said we need to bring five of {insert any random object} to school on Friday."

I bet your kids never: put a finger on your lips and say "Don't sing" when you feel moved to join in on your favorite song on the radio.

I bet your kids never: play ninja sword with the toy train tracks. Or random sticks. Or socks.

I bet your kids never: walk across entire rooms without putting a single foot on the floor (ok, I admit it, I did this when I was a kid, too)

I bet your kids never: brake windows by throwing a measuring tape at one, all because they are trying to get their younger brother out of the window well on the other side of the glass (Oh, that might just be my kid. It'a a long story).

And I bet your kids never, ever: go through a whole box of Raisin Bran and eat all the raisins, leaving behind all the bran.

'Cause my kids never do any of these things. Yeah.
Now that I've had my sarcasm fix, I can move on.

And by the way, I love these kids even with their hair-raising or sometimes just eyebrow-raising antics.

He's THREE!!

Our sweet, crazy, tricky, sugar lovin', sometimes mean, but with the best I'm sorry hugs ever, and the longest eyelashes in the world little boy (whew) just turned three!

This year he's grown and changed so much. Some of my favorite things about him are:
--He still likes to stay up later than the other kids but now he tells all kinds of stories to us while he doesn't have any competition. His favorite stories involve spiders, bad guys, cars, and dinosaurs.
--He loves his brothers and sisters and is still a huge snuggler.
--His favorite toys are (surprise) balls, cars (any kind of vehicle, actually, especially tractors) and dinosaurs. And every dinosaur is a T-Rex. Don't argue, he's always right!
--His favorite routine is grabbing me and saying "I've got you!" and then I have to grab him back and say "No, I've got you!" and then we go back and forth for awhile. I know, sugary sweet, but it makes my day.
--When he gives kisses, it's a major thing, he kisses forehead, chin, both cheeks and nose. Then he gives one of his huge grins, what a cutie.
--He can dazzle anyone with that big grin and blinking those long dark eyelashes up and down.
--He says "When I grow up, I want to be like Daddy." I think that's wonderful...but not too soon, ok, little boy? Let me get in a few more kisses and snuggles before you get too big for it.

Here's some pictures from this last year:

Helping Daddy hang our new magnet board.

Seth wasn't too sure about this squiggling little bundle Dad put on his lap. He sure loves his sister now, and is always pouncing on her to say hi. Or goodbye. Or just to yell "baby Abigail!"

Posing in front of the Idaho Falls Temple (for Sam and Kolleen's wedding) in a slightly un-temple like way. I really like this picture though!

His "do not disturb me, I'm reading" look.

Another shot at the I.F. Temple. He rocks the bow tie look.

Building snowmen. We put food coloring in spray bottles and colored the snowmen ( I got the idea from "I am momma, hear me roar") He loves playing outside, rain, shine or snow.

We love our little Seth!

Abigail pictures

Here's some shots from Abigail's photo shoot--so cute! Thanks a ton, Christy!

Seth points to this picture "that's Angel Abigail." Then he points to Abigail sleeping peacefully in my arms, "That's not Angel Abigail." He does truly adore her, I guess the clothes make the man...err..baby...err...angel.

What is cuter than baby toes?

This is her fashionista picture!

Our sweet Abigail.

Love, love, love this black and white, completely adorable.

Flu shots and baby shoot (and other stuff)

Life was busy again this week, but I'm learning that that's life with five kids, whew. Monday and Tuesday was filled with finishing Abigail's blessing dress, and then Wednesday we took off running for the rest of the week! Here's only some pieces of what went on:

Part of Wednesday was getting Abby's baby pictures from our wonderful friend Christy at Cheapshots! Photography. Despite being around 28 weeks pregnant and recovering from a bike accident (fractured sternum among other things, ouch) Christy did an amazing job. I'll share more of the pictures later, but here's her baby announcement (I blurred out our last name, it doesn't really look so goofy down there):

How adorable is that!?! And Abigail did so great during the shoot. We had her in three different outfits (including those angel wings) and even changed her diaper once and she slept the entire time. Maybe I'll do a photo shoot the next time she decides to stay awake until 2:00.

In other baby news, she has started smiling this week. Big beautiful grins! I haven't caught one on camera yet, but it's only a matter of time. This week she turned six weeks old, enjoyed her first trip to the Farmer's Market (we were asked which booth was selling babies), and is growing like those weeds I haven't gotten to since she was born.

After the photos I picked up the older kids from school with only vague answers to where we were going and met Farris at his work...where they were giving flu shots. Caleb and Felicity took theirs stoically, but after Joseph saw the nurse dart that needle into Farris' arm, it was a battle to get him done. That poor nursing student got a real life medical experience. He only stopped crying (about ten minutes after the shot) when we told him he would only get the promised ice cream if he stopped his howling. Seth's crying lasted until they gave him a sucker, he's easy to distract. I nursed my woes into a Wendy's frosty ;).

Friday was busy with Caleb and Joseph going on field trips: Caleb to Kennicot Copper Mine (you can see it from space, but Caleb was most impressed about the huge tires on the trucks that work down there) and Joseph to an apple orchard. Seth, Abby, and I tagged along with Joseph. It was his first ride on a school bus, monumental! He did say it was loud. Yes, sixty five year olds on one bus? I would assume so. As we were turning on to main street, we saw a sheep patiently waiting at the crosswalk. Yup. That's how our city rolls sometimes. A police officer was watching closely, but didn't seem too impressed. The sheep ran out of patience before the light turned and crossed in front of us, luckily not onto main street, which was busy. After we pulled out, the sheep was apprehended but was not harmed. I wouldn't have been so sure about that on the Rez, it would've been mutton stew ;) The orchard was beautiful and so fall-ish I was happy, it was the perfect way to start the fall season.

(Love Joseph's posing. Turn a camera on, and all the world's his stage.)

When we were done I checked Joseph out of school and we went to visit Tarilynn. She needs her baby fix and we're happy to provide. So glad they're down here now!

Saturday was slower. We did move furniture around in our bedroom so Abby Stuff fits in better. We were going to do that before she was born, but two weeks early caught us off guard. Saturday was also the Relief Society broadcast. I love to listen to those incredible women and their testimonies and this year President Uchtdorf spoke, too. His talks are always wonderful, filled with the Spirit and with love beaming out to where ever you're listening, and an airplane story usually thrown in, too. This talk was right up my horticulture lovin' alley, he used flowers: five-petaled forget-me-nots to tell us to never forget these five things:

(this graphic is from A Feathered Nest, right here:
http://projectsforyournest.blogspot.com/2011/09/forget-me-not.html )

I think nurseries, around here especially, better stock up on forget-me-nots this next spring, I know I want to plant some as a sweet reminder. After chatting around some chocolate cream pie with some lovely ladies, I went home refreshed. Maybe I can remember these things? With plans for spring planting, I'll try!