Pirates and an Indian

Happy Halloween from down under!!

Our celebration consisted of pictures on the beach. I think that's about as much as we'll get here. The Kiwis haven't caught on to the "importance" of this holiday yet.

I have to admit these are two of the cutest little pirates I've ever seen. Despite there best efforts to frighten me with their swords and arrrghs I remain in love with them both. And, of course the Indian princess, Pocahantas, is probably the most beautiful I've ever seen.

Eat some candy for us!!!

Cookies & a Halloween Party

A little Halloween party at Grandma and Papa's house. The kids were so excited! They had been looking forward to it for weeks.

And, a little cookie decorating at home to do a little "spooking!" Kids, frosting and sprinkles. What a night. And, John, well he just tries to take it all in.

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween!

I love them!

I love that 2 of the 3 picked their own costumes this year!

I love that they're all mine!


Katie-Tinkerbell John- dalmation Joey- brown dinosaur

Drastic measures...

I'm officially frustrated! This kid is a thumb sucker. Not all day, but definitely during nap and bedtime. After the last dentist visit and the ever rising future orthodontist bill for this guy's severe overbite I'm taking drastic measures.

We got an elbow brace. Works great at night, but he can Houdini out of it during the day!

So, I ordered the nail polish. Super nasty stuff. It smells super strong and tastes terrible. The first day I put it on I could hear him gagging and choking on it in his room. He screamed and hollered about how horrible it was and that he just wanted to suck and go to sleep. Next thing I know the kid has thrown up from the stuff. By this point I'm thinking we have hit the jackpot.

Boy, did I celebrate too soon.

Yesterday, he asked for the nail polish and said he liked it. Apparently, he is stubborn enough to just man it up for five minutes until all the stuff is off his thumb.

So today, he screamed and threw a fit about me putting the nail polish on. And just to be sure today, I added the elbow brace thinking I was going to win this battle. When I went to remove him from his crib he had managed to remove the arm brace and suck all the polish off leaving a very pruned thumb! ARGHHHHH!

I'm going to keep at it another week or two and then I'm going to the "shark tooth" dentist. Supposedly, he can put some sort of retainer on the roof of his mouth so when he tried to suck it will poke his thumb. We shall see. In the meantime I'm certainly open to suggestions!

I have to admit I feel like the meanest mother in the world when I look at this picture. My child is restrained in two different ways. You can just see the edge of his baby jail otherwise known as his "housebed" and then there he is with his awesome elbow brace! Nice.







































And, his attempt to put that stupid thumb in his mouth!

Warning: Picture overload!

Bet you can't tell who was a total pill during the shoot?!

The State Fair

I love the State Fair! I remember going there with my family when I was little and just being in awe of everything there is to see at a fair. In fact, in the summer when we would be on family vacations we would hit every fair and rodeo we could. It really was so much fun. We used to harrass my dad that he planned our summer vacations soley around fairs.

This was acutally the first time we have been to the State Fair in the four years we have lived here. The kids were so excited. We checked out all the animal barns and then some. Katie wanted to pet everything while Joey observed safely from the stroller. The bunnies were absolutely adorable and Katie and I were dying to get this one. He was so cute with his little floppy ears. I kept having to remind myself that we are moving in 9 months and then what we would we do with it.

I couldn't believe how expensive everything was. I thought fairs were supposed to be cheap. You expect to pay a little more, but seriously 8 dollars for a funnel cake, 4 for a lemonade and 3 per ride. Yikes! We stuck with a small slushy for a 1.50 which was still a total rip off, but you can't go to the fair and not have something! If you can't tell, Joey had a blue slushy that took a very aggressive washcloth and soap to remove!

What is it about fairs that draw out such unique people. I was having a hay day people watching. Oh, and the booths. There were some crazy booths with some very crazy looking people. Like this one for wholistic medicine one. They were selling some "fabulously natural product" to make you more healthy and prolong your life blank amount of years. The woman pedaling this looked like she was about 500 years old, but I know she was only about 50. She reminded me of the poison apple lady on Snow White. She was totally leaning out of her booth waving her product at me! How in the world do you think your going to convince me to buy that! She really was quite scary looking. And then, there was this guy for the funeral home dressed in his fancy suit with his coffin next to him. Dude, I'm at the fair! Why on earth would I want to be talking about my future coffin! And I can't forget the magical cleaning products for carpet, tile etc. I could go on and on.

Really, there's nothing like the fair!

Behind the 8 ball

Wow!

I am so behind the 8 ball with my house cleaning, laundry~by far, the worst household job on the planet, school clothes shopping, grocery shopping, picture editing, birthday party planning, and of course...blogging.

WHERE HAS THE SUMMER GONE?!

I can't believe John is already 3 months plus! He continues to melt our hearts and get chubbier by the second. I'm actually dreading the four month appointment in a few weeks when I will be expected to report that my child is on a schedule. He's NOT! He's just John eating every hour in the evening, sleeping whenever and nothing I can do will change his personal preferences! Trust me, I've tried. So, I'm not looking forward to the lecture from the pediatrician about how important it is to get him on a schedule. I know it's important so I'll keep trying, but in the meantime I'm holding my flight pattern to survival. Seriously, the kids eats every hour in the evening. BUT, HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!

My baby girl, who is not such a baby anymore, will start Kindergarten a week from today. What?! How do I have a Kindergartner? Of course, she is so excited she can hardly stand it. It about killed her today when all her little neighbor friends went to their first day of first grade today and she wasn't going. She's going to be one of the oldest in kindergarten and I know it's a good thing, but my heart ached for her today when we were there for her testing and all of them (church and neighborhood buddies) walked by on their way to recess. Her face was so so sad. I'm sure she'll be fine because she's so social, but at the same time it's hard to not be with your friends. She can't wait to start her new ballet and tap class in a couple weeks. I'm totally thrilled that it is across the street. No driving with three kids! And, she's going to be six in a couple weeks and I really can't believe it. She is counting down the days until her birthday. I'm wishing I could slow down the time. I can do babies and toddlers, but I'm so nervous about the school age. Yikes! Hopefully, I don't screw the poor girl up too bad!

Joe is growing like a stinkin' cute little week. Full of jokes, smiles and a full mop of hair! He has a new best friend, Adam. Every morning he checks on John and then looks out the window for Adam. They really are hilarious little buddies. For the first half hour of every play date they mostly look at each other and act shy. Then it's all giggles, bikes, bubbles and toddler whatever. I really dread the day we move to New Zealand and have to say goodbye to him. He is still horribly frightened of any living creature. In fact, yesterday evening I took the kids up to some historic white barn in Park City for some pictures and he was absolutely terrified there would be ducks, horses, pigs etc. there. When we got there and he discovered none of these frightening creatures were anywhere to be found it became his new favorite place. This morning he even asked if we could go to the, "fun white barn with no animals" today. What a hoot!

Anyway, I've been really busy with photography jobs lately~ check them out! I really do love taking pictures, I just wish I had the time and money to really get good at it. I love the creative outlet and challenge it gives me, but at the same time I have to sacrifice the "me" time in order to get to a session and then edit. I'm going to be doing limited family sessions (email me if interested) this fall so I don't get sooo busy I can't enjoy the holidays because this really is one of my favorite times of the year. And, I have some of the sweetest and most adorable little people to spend it with!

Trout Farm

She still loves as much as she did the first time she went 5 years ago!







































Him....not so much!