Tag from AJ

Here's a fun little tag where you can answer with one word only:

1.Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair color? highlights
4. Your mother? sweet
5. Your father? inspiring
6. Your favorite thing? kyle
7. Your dream last night? spicy
8. Your dream/goal? prepared
9. The room you're in? big
10. Your hobby? mommy
11. Your fear? evil
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Colorado
13. Where were you last night? walking
14. What you're not? sedentary
15. One of your wish-list items? paint
16. Where you grew up? GJ
17. The last thing you did? eat
18. What are you wearing? vintage
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet(s)? BIG
21. Your computer? lifeline
22. Your mood? content
23. Missing someone? friends
24. Your car? temporary
25. Something you're not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? anthropologie
27. Last thing you read? informative
28. The last thing you ate? noodles
29. Last time you cried? forgot
30. What you are looking forward to? Mom

Now I tag Clint, Katie or Rachel!

Merry Christmas!

Our big baby Jesus. Hard to believe it is this kids first Christmas.


Mary and an angel joins in.


Sweet Mary.


Traditional egg nog from the pottery cups. Must drink every last drop.

Christmas eve PJ's.

Christmas lights

Kyle here, this is in our hometown. We know some of you will really enjoy this.
Merry Christmas!

Need to blog...

something to get that picture of me off the top. (thanks babe.) But I don't really have anything amazing to say. So here is what I am thinking about today.

1) Happily, I've discovered the nearest one of these:

Unfortunately for my health, it isn't very far away.

2)I have been looking for this

ever since we moved here. It is in all the regular grocery stores in little Iowa but I had to search high and low here. I am so glad I finally found it, it is so yummy.


3) I've changed my mind about the girls' bedding. They will have time to be all teeny bopperish later. I'm going for something completely different now. How about the Shabby Chic line at Target?

At least until I change my mind again.


4) I'm about ready to watch E.T. everyday with Breckyn until she gets used to it. It this wise? Lately she barricades Ryder around her with blankets because he makes her feel safe.



5)Edward Scissorhands is a Christmas flick we always have to watch sometime in December. Is Breckyn too much of a scaredy cat for this? I'm pretty sure I already know that answer, but I wish it wasn't so.




6) Breckyn is obsessed with the "real" Grinch movie and keeps saying she has a baby Grinch in her tummy. ???




7) Does anyone Rollerblade anymore? I dusted mine off to go with Breckyn while she rode her Big Wheels. (Which by the way, I think Big Wheels are amazing.) So much fun!



8) I finally had to see what I would look like. Awesome.


9) Look at my sweet boys. I am so lucky!!!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Dana Lee!

Thanks & Giving

This is a fun Thanksgiving activity to do with your kids. We've been adding leaves each night for several days now and it is so sweet to see the things they think up to be thankful for and then watch them try to do something nice for somebody else. Check it out.

E.T. phone home

Kyle was at a veterinarian convention in Kansas last week. I was a little lonely. Kids were being loud and chaotic. I needed a peaceful moment. Breckyn brought me an old movie she had found in the closet.

My kids don't watch a lot of TV so this was a special treat. I thought this would work out nicely, giving me a little break. I popped in the video and they were enthralled with it. I worried a little that maybe it was too mature for them, but they ate it up happily so I let them continue to watch it.

Big mistake. Ever since watching it Breckyn won't go ANYWHERE by herself. And by anywhere I mean, around the corner of where I am at just two feet away. She is terrified E.T. is going to pop up and get her. "Scared of E.T." has become her favorite excuse to not retrieve anything for me or go to the bathroom by herself. Kyra on the other hand is brave and aloof and helps Breckyn when she needs a companion to venture to the other side of the house with.

I just remembered E.T. being kind of sweet, even if he is a little gross looking. Well that is NOT how Breckyn saw him. I will be more selective with our television viewing in the future.

Turns out, Kyle was appalled I let them watch that movie. He was very afraid of E.T. as a child. Maybe that is why he has so many guns. Father like daughter.

Halloween

Okay these are a bit late. We had a last minute trip to San Diego for the weekend. Kyle had a vet conference. I stayed with they kids and we swam at the hotel, went to the mall and of course Sea World. Must take advantage of those year passes. In the evening we went to a fresh fish market restaurant where Kyle was in heaven. I had chicken. We also went to IKEA. Fun! So then we come home and go to bed. I went to check on Breckyn before I went to bed and she was burning up. We took her temp, it was 105. She proceeded to vomit 3 times in 15 minutes. Kyle took her to the ER. They got her temp down and discovered she had a bladder infection. She is recovering nicely. So that was our first time in the ER. Not too bad for parents of 3 small children. Although, there was that time I had to call the ambulance... Anyway! Here are the photos.

Breckyn was totally into it! She gave me shot after shot of super scary witch poses. That girl really got into character.

Kyra was adorable. She guarded her little Toto very carefully from the wicked witch.

This was a very serious and squirmy scarecrow. He wasn't thrilled about sitting still for face paint - or wearing his hat. No smiles from him. Maybe because he doesn't have a brain.

This one made me laugh.

Another great scary witch pose.

If looks could kill! Now I am getting scared. :)

The 13 Days of Halloween - Part 2

More Halloween Adventures:

-Trip to the pumpkin patch. Which turned out to be more like a pumpkin extravaganza with a petting zoo, bounce houses, huge slides, carnival games, hay rides, pony rides and much more. It was fun. I'm not gonna lie though, I missed the simplicity of our sweet little Iowa patch.





-Carving pumpkins.



Making these ridiculously easy and adorable witch hat cookies.

Other activities included:

-watching the skeleton dance on youtube 10,000,000 times

- Awesome new Halloween book

-A spooky drive through the mountains (okay not really spooky - more like beautiful - but we did see a creepy guy and I got car sick)

- We took a day off to celebrate the 3 years of kYrA

Tomorrow I will post pics of the kiddos on Halloween night (past and present), the crowning event of our 13 days of Halloween celebration!

3 Years Ago Today

A miracle happened. I gave birth to a gorgeous 9 lb. 1 oz. baby girl. 18 hours of labor (3.5 hours just pushing). This is how I know I could run a marathon. Piece a cake. A miracle because just 2 years later I was unable to do the same thing with an 8 lb. 13 oz. baby boy. A miracle because she has made me smile every single day since she has been alive. A miracle because she makes the world a better place with her happy sweet self.

Kyra (after a Panamanian friend) Indianne (after my great great grandmother)

dreamer daring emotional wishful affectionate dancer silly motherly smart graceful free-spirited nurturing playful stubborn spunky sneaky happy bashful passionate

always quick to smile

to show off her dimple (she got it from me)

the big day

content to spend her special day lounging on the front lawn with mom

favorite color: purple

favorite animal: lion

favorite food: pizza

favorite treat: popcicles

favorite place: Sea World

favorite toy: Magnadoodle

favorite book: Princess stories

favorite princess: Belle

favorite show: superwhy

favorite movie: tinkerbelle

favorite person: mommy

28 pounds, 35 inches