Pancakes and Snow

So, another week, and another post, it takes me a little while to gather enough pictures for a posting :D It was a good week, though, had an outing to a friends house for some fun fellowship and playtime for the kids, and got back into a semblance of routine for school. Carolyn is down sick now though, Kay Leigh too, but not too badly, just a mild cold.

Chocolate pancakes. I hate the idea of the kids eating syrup, and I don't need to be eating it, so I try different things to help pancakes be yummy without corn syrup and preservative infused artificially flavored syrup. Ok, so this is barely better, but sometimes we sprinkle them with raw cane sugar, or my favorite, yogurt and chopped nuts. once in a while I make fruit sauce with frozen fruit, some cane sugar, water and corn starch. Love that one! And the chips were chopped up and sprinkled on top, so there's not as much chocolate in these as it looks like!

I promise :D

She has top teeth now, but the way she smiles, you can't tell!

Kay loves her big brother! Can't say I blame her :)

Two things here, first, SNOW!!!! Just enough to be exciting, it was gone by the end of the day. Second, notice anything missing in Beka's smile? Yup, another tooth, a front one, I pulled it out last Sunday for her, it was barely hanging there, just grabbed it with a napkin and out it came!

What a poser!

Did I mention that she knows how to swing herself? She does eventually get both legs on!

This boy loves his dog, and the dog likes him. It's a mutual affection :D

The tiny fashion plate. Not. Generally she has the glasses on upside down, she does LOVE her monkey pj's though, she would wear them all day every day if allowed!

New Toys

So here are some more pictures of the barley table. They are having great fun with it! And look close at Beka's legs, you'll see where the puppy likes to hang out :D He's really doing well, I'm very happy we got him!

Making roads in the barley.

Mom, not another picture, what, do you have a blog or something????

Oh, ok, I'll smile I guess...



I also got this cool toy from Oriental Trading. It's a thick cork board, pre-holed wooden shapes and a hammer and tacks. They can tack the pieces on in pictures, or just randomly, and they love it! Good cheap fun!

Trying something new!

Yes, I can do that! I'm trying a video on here. The kids are playing with their new toy, actually Carolyn's b'day present, but I like toys that they can all use. It's a sand table, filled with pearl barley, which is easy peasy to vacuum up and they can play with it inside! They love it so far, and I'm going to add more barley to it, I just wanted to try it first to make sure it was the right consistency. I've got some pictures to post too.

Birthdays, Illness, and Leaves

I thought I was all done being sick, after I was sick before and during my parent's visit, not so. The cruel plague returned with a bite, I came down sick Tuesday afternoon, and it lasted a long six days before finally starting to subside. No one else seems affected yet, hope it stays that way. And I'd really like to be done with it myself :D I was sick for Carolyn's birthday, but Travis helped me make the cake and I went, just sat in a chair the whole time. But she had fun, and we were able to surprise her Aunt Tiffany (who refuses b'day celebrations, but is part of our family now, so that doesn't fly :) with some gifts and a mention on the cake. So now things are better, I still feel run over, but that'll pass I'm sure. I just hope Travis doesn't get it, he's been so busy , poor guy, it would kill him to get sick right now. I think he's really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks! So are we!

All I wanted was a blanket, I was freezing, and this is what Travis did to me!

First try blowing out candles!

Didn't work, try harder! Took about five tries before she figured it out :D

What's in here?

Neat presents, and you can see Kay Leigh very happy with the wrappings down below. I didn't get very many present pictures, my batteries ran out :P but monkeys were a recurring theme, she LOVES monkeys!

Sisters in profile.

Waiting to open presents.

Close up of you know who!

Looking for snowflakes, and yes, we had our first snow last week, nothing stuck of course, but the kids thought it was fabulous.

Enjoying the leaf pile, and making weird faces.

Hope you all have a nice week!

Hats, Pouts, and Moustaches

Kay Leigh happy playing with her plethora of toys!

Beka doing her favorite thing, drawing pictures.
She'll do this for hours if allowed.



Greg and the puppy, Greg loves curling up on the floor with him and petting, petting, petting.

They all have their hats and gloves on now! It's cold today, and chance of snow flurries. So they had to get a tad more bundled up.

After putting fingerprints on cards for science, we couldn't resist mustaches for all, excluding myself and the baby. Carolyn wanted purple so her's simply looks like a Koolaid stain :D

Little Miss Pouty. It's naughty, but I need at least one picture for posterity.

I was taking pictures and Kay Leigh really tried to eat the camera. And she's waving now! Thinks it is absolutely hilarious, so then her whole body starts wiggling and then she waves both hands! I'll try to get a video of it to post on here soon.

Playing outside!

The blurry hand!

Normal?

No.....

Not a bit!

This look tells you a lot about Greg!

It's beautiful right now, fall weather, chilled but warm enough for just long sleeves. The kids are loving it. My mom got them all new hats and they wanted to wear them, I don't think it really was cold enough for them, but hey! Why not? Carolyn wasn't that hot, in these pics, she'd been wearing her hat though, and Greg too. I'm sure you'll see more of their hats this year!

Our Weekend...Was Great!!!

So, my parents came Saturday, and stayed until Wednesday afternoon, and it was no where near enough time, but I was so glad for it. I hadn't seen my dad for a year...he hadn't seen Kay Leigh yet. We had a great time, ate lots of food, and went to a playplace with the kids, took them swimming at the hotel pool, and played lots of card games. And did I take pictures of all this? NOPE!! I am incorrigible! I took some pics right before Dad and Mom left, so at least I'd have a record of their visit! And I gave my dad a hug...ok, so the story. My anniversary was October 20th, while they were here. Eight years ago, I got married to Travis in Yuma, and left after the ceremony for San Diego. But I forgot to give my dad a hug, he was standing there watching me leave and my heart was wrenching, but for some odd reason, I didn't go give him a hug goodbye, I got in the car and we left. And to this day, I regret that, and think about it, and wish I had, etc. I should probably let it go, I know, and it's getting better, and I make sure to give him hugs now :D And of course since he was here on my anniversary, I remembered it all over again :P Anyway, now that you are bored to tears, I'm happy again! So here are some pics of them and the kids.

My Dad really does smile a lot, but this was the best we could do, he was busy tickling the kids and cracking jokes.

And of course one with just my mom.

Mom stuck her gum on the baby's nose, ewwww.

Mom and Kay Leigh, who by the way,was a good baby, and didn't cry and let mom and dad hold her. And even enjoyed it I think!