Winter

Did you see that? This post is "winter." We made it to at least the appropriate season. Never mind the fact that in Utah winter lasts like a year and it's given me plenty of time to catch up.
Here's another long 'un. Beware: more pictures, more babbling... :)


For Halloween my sister and her family came for the day. It was a blast. We made mummy dogs and Jack Skellington cupcakes for dinner then went to our ward Halloween party and then out for some trick or treating.

Matt had decided that he didn't want to dress up for Haloween this year. I know, sad. He figured he's in middle school now and all, so he didn't want to do it. At the last minute he decided to wear something simple and subtle. We threw this costume together and in the end I think he was happy he dressed up -- even a little.
Rachel changed her mind about 37 times in the months before the big day. She had finally settled on Rapunzel or some kind of princess. I found the blue dress and thought we could make it into a Rapunzel dress quite easily. Rachey tried it on and exclaimed, "It's perfect! I'm the queen of the world!" Yep, so Rachel went as the queen of the world. Aim high, Little Girl!
We explained to Bailey about Halloween and dressing up a few months before and listed off some possible costume ideas; one of which was Minnie Mouse. She immediately decided to be Minnie and never wavered.



The kids and their cousins ready to head out.



We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with my family in Ogden. I'm not really sure what happened that I hardly got any pictures of that day, but I guess I'll just blame it on food hangover. Dinner was wonderful and the kids all went out to play in the snow afterward. So fun.

Rachel and I kicked off the Christmas celebrations by attending Cache Valley Civic Ballet's Nutcracker. Steve, Matt, and Bailey hung out together so Rach and I could go.



We attended the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea before where she got to get a pic with the Sugar Plum Fairy and meet a lot of the dancers in the show. She was in heaven! We then went to the Blue Bird Cafe for lunch and sat at the old fashioned soda bar to eat. Then, it was off to the show and she loved it! She did get a little weary near the end, but seemed to really enjoy it.



The girls took their task of writing letters to Santa very seriously this year. We heard that the Old Jolly Man himself would be at Macey's one Saturday and they decided it would be the perfect opportunity to hand deliver their masterpieces.



They were so excited to see Santa and give him their letters. We got there and Bailey made it completely clear that she would happily look at him from a distance...
See those poor little teary, red eyes? I guess Matt got too close. She was trying so hard to smile, Little Sweetie.



Rachel graciously offered to hand both letters to Santa. Okay, so take a look at that cute little Santa. I swear he was probably 21 years old at most, and weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. He was so awkward and didn't quite know what to do. Sweet kid. Rachel confided to me on the way out that he was "super nice," but she was pretty certain that he was one of Santa's helpers and not the "real guy."



Another fun way we got into the Christmas spirit was attending Matt's band concert at the middle school. Rachel wore this lovely pink tiara -- because you should wear a tiara to a band concert.



The kids did a great job. Sure, it was the typical Christmas band concert and there were some kind of painful parts, but overall I was impressed. Considering that a large majority of those kids hadn't even picked up an instrument until 4 months before, I'd say they did a super job.



The next picture of Rachel was taken the day of her preschool Christmas party. I had to include it because the kid makes me giggle. I had picked out a cute little outfit for her to wear that day. Apparently she had another plan -- and had had that plan for at least a week. She wanted to wear her Santa dress, thank you very much. She, of course, chose to accessorize that not-so-subtle dress with her sparkly red shoes and a big ol' Santa had that said "Naughty" on one side and "Nice" on the other. (She did make extra sure to wear it with the "Nice" side in front. The child was obsessed with being on the "Nice List" and even prayed for it in her opening prayer in Primary one Sunday.) Okay, so it was a Christmas party and she should be able to gussy up a little for it. The part that killed me was that when she walked into preschool, not another child in the class was wearing even a Christmas shirt. Seriously, folks. There was not a stitch of festive fabric on a one of them. Now an adult would feel so incredibly over-dressed or obvious and out of place. Not our girl. She just strutted her little furry red and white self into the class and probably felt even more pleased with herself. Love that Rachel.



The kids in their Christmas church duds the Sunday before Christmas.



On Christmas Eve, my sister and her family came for our annual Christmas Eve Mexican Fiesta. So Yum! Steve's family has the tradition to celebrate Christmas Eve with a giant spread of Mexican food. He seriously gets so excited about it that he plans the menu weeks in advance. It was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.
We exchanged little gifts with the cousins, played, and made cookies for Santa. The PJ Elf also made a sneaky visit and the kids got all decked out in their new pj's for a picture.



Here we all are in our matching pj's. (I don't remember why Bailey was so distraught.)



Rachel and Bailey leaving Santa's treat.




The next morning Christmas blew up in our house. It was wonderful, exciting, so fun, and soooo messy! Steve's dad was here from Arizona and the kids loved having their Grandpa here.
Bailey's presents mostly consisted of baby dolls and baby doll paraphenelia. She also got a little princess folding table and chairs which ended up being one of her favorite gifts. She was so funny on Christmas morning because she was just old enough to understand Christmas and the excitement. Our Bailey doesn't have the best verbal skills yet and couldn't say "Merry Christmas" so she just kept hugging everyone and saying, "Happy to you!"



Matthew asked for mainly electronic things this year. I know, it's normal, but I had a little bit of a hard time with it. One reason was because his "stash" looked so much smaller than the others' because the dollar value was higher. (He, of course, didn't think anything of that and was totally excited and grateful for his gifts.) The other reason I struggled a little was because I just plain had to accept the fact that he's old enough to not want toys anymore. I know, I just need to get over it. I did, however, buy him a big Nerf gun, so he could have just one toy...for my sake. :)



Rachel had asked for a Baby Alive doll and Barbie stuff. She was so excited to get the Barbie "Hospital Girl." She decided about a year ago that she wants to do that for one of her jobs when she grows up -- be a "hospital girl" and take care of the babies in the hospital.



Happy to you, Matt!



Happy to you, Ray Ray!



Happy to you, Ray Ray! (Again.)



Happy to you, Papa!



I wasn't kidding. She just kept hugging on everyone and Happy to you-ing. It was so sweet!

It was such a perfect day. My mom, my older sister, and her husband came to see us and spent a few hours visiting. It just turned out to be such a great day.

The week after Christmas was wonderful! Steve took some time off so he could spend it with his dad. We drove to Huntsville one day to visit the monastery which ended up being a beautiful drive and a cool visit.







The best part of the week was just being together and hanging out. We had no busy schedule or agenda just enjoyed the break from everything.



Taking Grandpa to the airport to head home was sad. He, in truth, was probably ready to get back to the warm weather in Arizona and the quiet of a house not packed with three kids on Christmas holiday high. It was a wonderful visit and went too quickly.



In our family we don't ever have the post holiday blues because Matt's birthday is in January, so we have that to look forward to as we pack away the Christmas decorations. He decided not to have a party with friends this year, but to go to dinner and bowling with the family instead. (The very unfortunate part of the story is that we still owe him his bowling trip because we nearly all got sick about that time and spent much of the month fighting it.)
The day of his b-day was a little different in that he had scouts that night and they had planned a little party for him. We did his family b-day dinner the following night, but still had cake and ice cream after scouts. (And nope, the party hats were NOT his idea.)



It was a fun day for him full of phone and visits from family and friends.



This was his last gift of the night - Monopoly for the Wii. For those who may not know, Matthew was LOVED Monopoly since he was about 4 years old. Seriously. We don't know where he got that from because neither Steve nor I really enjoy it too much. Through the years he has collected so many versions of the game that I lost track a long time ago; Monopoly Junior, the Disney version, the Sponge Bob version, the version with electronic bank cards, versions for the pc, handheld games... you get the idea. We saw this one on sale and figured it would be the perfect gift to end his day.



The next weekend he continued the celebration with our extended family in Ogden. Again, my amazingly talented sister made the cake. (Her son's b-day was this month, too.) The kids' new love is "Dispicable Me," so she made a Gru cake and Minion Twinkies. It was awesome!

Cute boy! I can't believe he's 12!

This was pretty funny. The kids sat down to eat their cake and they wouldn't open their Twinkie minions. They just carried them around and played with them. Bailey and her cousin Ollie were making them talk to each other in high, squeeky voices.

I'm not really certain where the last 12 years went, but I can tell you how much we love this kid! We, quite often, have people tell us what a great kid he is and how impressed they are with him. Truly, this boy just came good. He is an amazing person and I am so, so blessed to be his mom.

This picture of him is one of my favorites. He had just turned five and was in preschool. Shortly after Matt's 5th b-day he was diagnosed with a fairly rare blood disorder that affected his spleen and his platelet numbers. It was really frightening, especially since at first we didn't know if it was some sort of hemophelia or even possibly leukemia. Thankfully, after a very long night filled with tears and constant prayer, he was diagnosed with ITP. We spent the next year and a half watching him closely, monitoring his blood, and hoping that he would slip into the little window of children whose disorder corrects itself. Long story short, after the year and a half his platelets had gone back to normal. We consider it nothing short of a miracle. :)

So, back to preschool and the drippy clown pictured below. For school the theme was "Circus." The kids took a stuffed animal to train (hence, the monkey hanging on his arm) and worked on a little circus act. It was very cute. The day of the performance, the teacher painted their little clown faces and they made big bowties of paper and clown noses from egg cartons to complete the look. Well, we walked home from preschool in the pouring rain and I took this photo when we got home. I adore this picture because it so typifies my Matthew during that time. He was wearing one of his favorite shirts which was from Primary Childrens' Hospital -- he got it on one of his many visits to the hospital. I love that his clown makeup is all runny and drippy from the rain and his hair is matted to his head. The part that melts my heart is his giant, ear-to-ear smile. Even though his little life had been turned upside down, his little boy activities had been severely limited, he was constantly being subjected to uncomfortable blood tests, and he often didn't feel well; the sweet boy had a huge, genuine grin pasted on his face. I love this boy!

Even though I'm still kind of struggling that my baby just turned 12, I sure am proud of the kid he is and the person he's becoming. I am so grateful for him and his incredible spirit. Happy 12th Birthday, Matthew. We love you!!

This last picture was Valentines Day. We gave each of the girls a new dress (which, by the way, are fabulous, spinny dancing dresses) and Matt got some new headphones. Rachel had a little Valentines party at preschool and the girls delivered Valentines to some of their little neighbor friends. We made a really great dinner -- and that was about the extent of our celebration. I sure love this crazy little family of mine!!

Fall

Reading the title of this post, one may think that it's going to be an embarrassing story about my graceful self and a good trip. Well, that has indeed happened to me more than once, but this post is actually about the season. You know, Autumn...it was months ago. Here's my attempt at catch up. Warning: This one's super long with some picture overload.

Matt and Rachel started back to school. Okay, Matt started back and Rachel just plain started. Matthew is in 6th grade this year which is in the middle school. He was super excited (and is doing awesome), but I was having issues with it. Middle School?? When did that happen?!



Rachel started preschool. She was super excited as well and had her outfit picked out days ahead of time. She goes to the afternoon session and we all just thought we might spontaneously combust before noon came. Bailey was very sad to see her sister go to school without her -- in fact she cried for a good 15 minutes after dropping Rachel off and kept asking me to go back and get her. Rachel did fantastic. For those of you who may not know, our Rachel just started going to Primary by herself this summer. She went through some serious separation anxiety and we weren't sure how she would do going to preschool. She hardly even took time to say goodbye. So proud of her!!
When I picked her up she showed me a self-portrait she made. There was a big O-shaped mouth that took up most of the face on her picture. She told me it was her yelling,"I love this place and I never want to go home!" She came right home and sacked out on the couch. Totally worn out, but happy.



Our Rachey turned 5 in September. Again, How did that happen? One of the things that she was very most looking forward to was getting her very own library card. Ta-da!! (She doesn't look too thrilled in this pic, but she was so excited! She even did a special "I got my own library card" dance while in line at the library.)






Rachel started her birthday celebration with a big family party at her aunt and uncle's house in Ogden. We celebrated all the family b-days in the month. My uber-talented sister made a very cool Pac Man cake and the kids just played, and played, and played.



The Saturday before her b-day, was her party with her friends. We are so fortunate in that there are some really great families in our neighborhood with kids Rachel's age. She has some very sweet little friends. She chose to have a Princess and the Frog party. They started the party by making Mardi Gras masks.



They played a game like a cakewalk, but jumped between lily pads. They then had froggy cupcakes and lemonade.



The weather was wonderful, so we went outside to play a version of "duck, duck, goose" which Bailey thought was nothing short of hysterical! The girl laughed her head off! (Wish I had a picture) The kids then did a little obstacle course. I had it all set up for them to run though -- dodge crocodiles, escape the frog catchers, find Mama Odie, eat a bug, and hop back. I thought I was so clever, too because they had to wear flippers -- like a frog. So cute, in theory. The reality was that the flippers were too big and it quickly became apparent that somebody was probably going to fall and crack their head open. I tried to convince the kids that it would be way more fun without the flippers, but to no avail. They were so excited about the dang flippers. So, Steve and I ended up holding their hands and "helping" them hop through the course. "Helping" meaning carrying them through and letting their little flipper feet touch the ground a few times while we ran back and forth across the lawn. We were sucking air and dying laughing because of how out of shape we are, and because we must have looked REDICULOUS! The kids loved it and each had several turns.



It was a lot of fun, but as it always is after a kid's birthday party, we were pooped when it was over.





Cute cousins getting ready to go home after the party.



At least 6 months prior to Rachel's birthday, she began telling us she wanted a surprise party. Okaaay... Try to explain the lack of surprise in a self-planned surprise party to a four year old. :) You've totally got to admire a girl who knows what she wants, though. Well, we didn't have a surprise party, so to make up for it, we all waited at the bottom of the stairs with cans of silly string to surprise the birthday girl the morning of her birthday.

(Don't know why that last paragraph is showing as a link. I tried to fix it. I'm technologically disabled. Sorry.)




She opened her gifts from us.



Then we headed outside to take her to birthday breakfast. One of her presents was a new booster seat for the car. Notice the lovely purple seat. Also notice poor Rachel being totally blinded by the morning sun. Also, also, notice Bailey bawling her eyes out because she wanted a new lovely purple carseat, too.



We went to Angie's for breakfast. Rachey loves that place and the rockin' chocolate chip pancakes. They sang to her and she acted all shy, but told me later that she loved it. They even gave her a special birthday sundae -- 'cause you should eat an ice cream sundae with breakfast.






It was a fun birthday week. We love that crazy little girl so much and can hardly believe she's five. We've now had her for as long as we waited for her. It took us five years to get pregnant with Rachel and she screamed for the first year of her life because she had such horrible colic and reflux. We joke that the Lord knew that we had to want that baby pretty darn bad because she was such a difficult baby. :) Even so, she is so worth every second of the wait. She's worth all of the frustration and heartache we experienced in trying to get her here. Our Rachey is beautiful, strong, stubborn, gentle, kind, intelligent, and so funny! We love her with all of our hearts. Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Later that month we took a trip to the big city and visited Hogle Zoo. I love that place, and it makes me heart happy that my kiddos do, too. I grew up close to Hogle Zoo and went there often. I made the kids pose next to the primate pics because it's exactly the same as when I was little. There are just pictures you have to get. You know, drinking out of the lion-head drinking fountain, sitting on the big metal rhino... ya just do.



I wanted a shot of the kids outside on the wall that says Hogle Zoo. My error was taking it at the end of the day. It was pretty funny. There are only three kids. It shouldn't be too hard to get one decent shot of all three at least looking in the general direction of the camera. I took quite a few trying to do just that.



One look at this one told me it was time to go! Seriously, look at their faces. Gives me the giggles. At least Matt and Bailey are trying...




As the warm weather was coming to an end, we finally decided to give in and make the clothing changeover. Am I the only one who loathes that? You know, putting away all the warm weather clothes. Deciding what is too small or will be too small by the next time they'll be worn, passing down small stuff, and stowing away okay stuff (aka stuff you hope will still fit in the spring, but will probably be too small by then). Then comes the job of taking out the winter clothes from last year -- a portion of it, remember, is too small this fall even though you hoped it would still fit from last year. Whew. So, I don't so much enjoy this task. Matthew hates it. Yep, hate's a strong word, but it works here. He can't stand it because it means he has to try on tons of clothes -- ones being put away so we can guess whether they'll still fit next year, and the ones being taken out from last year to take up residency in his drawers. Well, folks, as much as Matt dislikes it, Rachel and Bailey LOVE it! They dig into those bins of "new clothes" like it's Christmas. It's all "ooohs and ahhhhs" and an all day fashion show.

To add to Rachel's excitement, some sweet friends of ours who have a girl a few years older than Rach gave her some hand-me-downs. Now, we have been super fortunate with Matt because we have boy cousins who give us hand-me-downs. It's a great big boy circle with us handing back down to other cousins after Matt outgrows things. For Rachel, on the other hand, we've never really had anyone to hand down to her. So, for her to get two big bags of clothes at once was like pure heaven to my little fashionista.



On Oct. 10th we figured we needed to celebrate and have a 10/10/10 party. We proclaimed it a Foster Family Feast of Favorites. We all chose our favorite food and ate it together in one meal. This isn't the best picture, but our feast consisted of beans and rice, french toast, chocolate milk, cheetos, and banana cream pie.



This year Rachel played indoor soccer again. It was her second year and it was fun to see how she's changed over the year. She's still quite a bit more concerned about being by her newly made friend on the team and having a bow in her hair that matches her shirt (just like her friend on the team), but this year she actually cared about the game and wanted to score a goal. She still didn't care who won, in fact, I'm not really sure she even really understood the concept that one team technically wins and one loses, but she did want to score a goal. The first time she did, you'd have thought she won the lottery. It was awesome! (Yep, and we were all cheering like she'd won the lottery, too.)



It's one of those things that isn't very convenient -- it was kind of late in the evening, the parking at the rec center is terrible and you end up parking a block away and hoofing it, dragging everyone out of the house, trying to contain a two year old AND watch the game -- but one look at her big old smile that was pasted on her face the ENTIRE time made it more than worth it. We can't wait until next year!





There is a really great place here in the valley where we go to buy our pumpkins every year. This year was even better because our sweet girl cousins from the Salt Lake area came to town for the weekend (with their folks, who we adore, too) and they went with us to pick our pumpkins.








Bailey and Rachel both painted their pumpkins this year.




Matthew chose to carve his.



It has become a Fall tradition of ours to go to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk. There is a theme every year and then different organizations, families, groups, etc. create scenes using pumkins. It's always fun to see how clever and talented people are.




We actually went twice this year; as a family and with Rachel's preschool class. I'm not really sure about the funny little head tilt the gals have going on here.



My brother and his wife are super dooper talented and creative and were the activities committee leader people in their ward until very recently. So, at Halloween they invited us to their ward Halloween party. It was awesome - because those guys totally know how to throw a party, and because my oldest brother and his so cute family were in town from California and we got to see them too! This pic was at my sister's house on the way to the party. I wish that we'd have gotten one of all the cousins together at the party, because they all looked amazing!



Another thing we look forward to every year is the USU Homecoming Parade. Steve and I both graduated from USU, so we tell our kids that they were born Aggies. I do realize they may very well choose other schools to attend when that day comes (and they know that as well), but we will always be Aggies at heart. :) We love the parade and the kids always come home with loads of candy and treats.


Whew. That was a long one. Thanks for hanging in there with me.