Happy Halloween!

So despite the fact that I live in Colorado, have lived in Colorado for almost 31 yrs now (I was around 5 mo old when my family moved here) I just didn't feel like it was truly Halloween in Colorado. You see, Halloween to me always meant that it was either snowing, had been snowing or there was still ice on the ground from a snow fall a couple of days prior. Heck for years we would have had a snow fall by my birthday on the 18th! This year, we haven't even had a single snowflake hit the ground yet! Weird, very weird. As a matter of fact, it was so nice last night that JR and I only had to wear sweatshirts (matching I might add!) and the kids were fine without having to have layers on underneath the costumes! And typically, here in Colorado, we have to plan costumes for getting at least one warm layer under whatever you wear!

We usually trick-or-treat down our street and then one other street to the east of us. Don't know how we started going to the east except for maybe that you have to tackle a hill, albeit a small one, to go that direction and we didn't want to bother! Anyways, we obviously had Hailey in the stroller because I wasn't too interested in carrying her in the Bjorn. I debated on whether Emma should even participate since is only 2 and won't be eating most of the candy she gets. But I figured since she was able to say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" that she could go ahead and do it. We started her out in her stroller but as soon as she got out at the first house, she didn't get back in! I think she walked about 3/4 of a mile once all was said and done! And we didn't even do both sides of the other street because it was so late! Of course, Kayla and Eli could have kept going. But every year we go to Nana's house so she can see the kids all dressed up.

Eli's costume from the front view.

And then the side view. That is a green glow stick in the jar to make it look like his head is in formaldehyde. However, it fell out a couple of houses down the street so it was in his candy bag the rest of the time.

Here are all 4 of them all dressed up and ready to start walking! Or riding! Kayla is dressed up as one of those High Voltage boxes, Eli is a man carrying his head in a jar, Emma is a dalmation and Hailey is Tigger.

This was some hard work for Hailey! She had to take a nap after a while!

All in all, it was a good night. Nice weather. Happy kids. Well until the end of the night and Emma was up past 8! JR did have to run back home halfway through to poke some more holes in Eli's costume because it was fogging up from him breathing!

She's a ch-ch-ch-chunky monkey!

Hailey had her 4 month well-baby check-up this morning. I was really curious to know how much she weighed since she is such a chunk! So her stats are:

Weight: 17lbs 4.6oz (99th percentile)

Height: 26-1/4" long (99th percentile)

That just confirmed what I thought! She is not just a chunk....she is a TALL chunk! And it confirmed the fact that I will be shorter than all 4 of my kids. Don't you think I would have had better odds? Nope!

As for the birth mark, the Dr. feels like it has grown very fast in a short amount of time. At first, he was just going to have us go to a plastic surgeon here in town. But then he decided that it would be better to take her to Children's Hospital in Denver. Get this....they have a dept called The Birth Mark Center! So that is where we will take her simply because they should really know their stuff since that is their specialty! Now I just have to pray our insurance doesn't change in a couple of months!

Update on Emma and the big girl bed

Desperate times call for desperate measures....

For the last several days, I have moved Emma while she is sleeping from the crib into her big girl bed. She does wake up when I move her, but for the most part she will just accept where she is and go right back to sleep. So her track record so far is from 10:30pm-5:00am the 1st night, refusal the 2nd night, from 12:00am(ish)-6:30am the 3rd night and then from 10:30-12:30 last night. The nice thing about her waking up at normal time that 3rd night was that I was the one to actually wake her up (as opposed to her waking on her own) and pump her full of praise for sleeping there. And then she gets to brag to everyone at home and then to Nana about her accomplishment.

Tonight, before she fell asleep, I removed the drop rail from the side of her crib and put her rail from the big girl bed on it. I mainly did this to see if she would even try to escape her crib. NOPE! The girl loves her bed! As I said before, I don't know how to deal with this because Kayla and Eli both couldn't wait to get out of their crib or bed! It also made it much easier on me to move her because I just slide one arm under her pillow and one under her knees and scoop and move! Not easy when working around a crib railing!

So she has been in her big girl bed for almost 2 hrs now! I'm hoping I only have a week or two of this before she finally decides to sleep in the bed for good. Poor Hailey is too big for her little bassinet!

I think it's safe to say that I get less sleep because of Emma than Hailey! Thank God Hailey sleeps through the night! Not sure what I would do if she didn't!

Halloween Partay!

We had our annual Halloween party at work last night and as usual it was a blast. The kids always have such a great time at these things. They had a dessert contest again this year so naturally Kayla and I had to participate in that! The sad part is that Kayla made a cake that dropped right as she was about to put it on the table at the party! So I let her submit my ice cream cake. See what a nice mom I am?! My original intention was to compete against her! :) So she took 2nd place again. She rocks! And I rock! :) The girl that won made these really yummy chocolate chip pumpkin bars. They didn't do the costume contest like they have done in the past. But all the kids ended up in some kind of ribbon.

I forgot to get a picture before we left the house so this was the best I was going to get at the office. As you can see, Emma was a little distracted. This picture doesn't really do Eli's costume justice. I will try to get better pictures on Halloween. Emma is a Dalmatian from 101 Dalmatians, Kayla was a fairy, Hailey was Tigger and Eli was a headless science project!

Mrs. Claus put Hailey to sleep! Eileen is who we can thank for doing these parties.

Emma's bff Morgan as a giraffe. Emma just loves to see Morgan and that was all she could talk about until we finally left the house last night!Eli getting ready to hit the pinata. He had to shed his entire costume just so he could play games. Trick-or-treating will be fun for him!

Track Banquet

Kayla is officially done with track for the year! They had a pot luck/banquet and award ceremony for all of the girls. There was lots of yummy food to start and then a quick ceremony afterward. Here are a couple of pictures.

This is the girl that lives across the street from us, Megan. She is a 6th grader so she got her letter this year.

Kayla getting her certificate and bar for her letter.

Emma's new boyfriend. She was holding hands and kissing him by the end of the night!

I've been tagged!

My friend Valerie at Just Another Day gave my blog some luvin and has tagged me! So I suppose I should oblige.

The rules are to answer the following questions with one word and then pass it on to at least one, or as many as you would like (though its technically supposed to be seven).

Where is your cell phone? Unsure

Where is your significant other? Errand

Your hair color? Brown

Your mother? Sleeping

Your father? home

Your favorite thing? Family

Your dream last night? Forgotten

Your dream/goal? reachable

The room you’re in? Comfortable

Your hobby? Reading

Your fear? Spiders

Where do you want to be in 6 years? unknown

Where were you last night? Shopping

What you’re not? Well

One of your wish-list items? Eventually

Where you grew up? Colorado

The last thing you did? surfed

What are you wearing? comfies

Your TV? boring

Your pet? sleeping

Your computer? Laptop

Your mood? blah

Missing someone? always

Your car? minivan

Something you’re not wearing? Socks

Favorite store? Target

Your summer? rocked!

Love someone? Several

Your favorite color? Green

When is the last time you laughed? Today

Last time you cried? Tonight

And now I am tagging:

Jerrie

Angie (no it isn't me!)

Shellie

Carmen

Cheryl

Manda

Crystal

Happy 2nd Birthday Jordan!

Today is my niece Jordan's 2nd birthday. She lives in Delta, CO so we don't get to see her on her actual birthday. But we were lucky enough to have her visiting (along with her mom and dad) all last week. My step-brother had her party on Friday at Nana's house. Yeah, I don't know what any of us would do without Nana's house! It was a nice little (kinda) gathering of family. As I have said before, our family is huge no matter how you slice it so any family function can only be so small. I love that we have so much family around though. I didn't get the privilege of growing up with ANY extended family. We would go visit some aunts, uncles and cousins periodically but that is not the same at all. Anyways, it was fun and nice to spend some time with Jordan. Especially for Emma since they are only a month apart in age.

Joey looking very excited for the cake....but where is Jordan to blow out her candles? I just love how happy he looks in this picture. Oh and for you cat lovers....that is Little John and he must have been feeling brave that night.
Blowing out her candles

A bag of loot.....the bag is almost as big as she is!

Thirty-one

Wow. It's official. I am IN my 30's now. No longer just 30. I can remember when I was Eli and Kayla's age thinking that 30 was ancient! Like life stopped at 30. Man. Thank God that isn't true! In some ways, I feel like life is only just beginning! I can certainly say that I never thought I would have 4 kids by the time I turned 31!

The day was very low key which is what I like anymore. The kids and I spent the day together just hanging out and cleaning up. Then JR and I went out for dinner in the evening. While we were out, his dad and step-mom came and sat with the kids. Of course, Emma is painfully shy but she did eventually open up to Connie. She still wouldn't totally open up with grandpa! JR got me an ice cream cake...yumm! And he and the kids gave me money to go shopping for badly needed post-pregnancy clothes! I also got a Shark hand-vac from my mom; New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn from my dad (completed my collection); a Starbucks gift card from mother-in-law. Good stuff!

End of Fall Soccer

Phew! We made it through another season of soccer with Eli. I have to say that I think I prefer fall soccer over spring because it was way warmer! We only had to deal with 2 cold days whereas in the spring, just about every game was freezing! Anyways, this was another great season for Eli. He definitely stepped his game up this time around. At this age group it is no longer coed which of course he liked! And because this is basically for fun and not true competitive soccer, I couldn't tell you how many games his team won or lost!

This team actually had a party for the end of season and it was held at Mr. Biggs. Kayla is the only one in the family that had ever even been there and that was only a couple of months ago for a birthday party. We just don't do that stuff a lot because we are a big family and it isn't cheap! So the plan was to go there, have dinner at their pizza buffet, get trophy's, eat cupcakes and then play! The cupcakes were cool because they were shaped like a soccer ball (all cupcakes stuck together like a cake). So after the coaches were presented with their gifts and the boys got their trophy's we were let loose to eat. I was so into making sure I got Emma food that I didn't really pay close attention to what Eli was doing. Lo and behold, the kid wasn't in the dining room....he had taken off to play! So it took a bit but we did finally catch up to him! Of course he was playing hard and having a good time with his soccer buddies! Emma had a good time too because there is a part of this building called Lil Bigg Town. It has a whole bunch of sections focused towards role playing different scenarios. And of course Emma's favorite was a big sand box. Kayla's favorite was the go cart's. She rode on those a few times. I forget about the patience a child will have when it comes to that kind of stuff. The girl waited in a pretty long, very slow moving line to do that each time!

I took a few pictures but the place was dark enough for my camera to not like it! Any pictures I did get have glowing eyes! The one good one I did get was this one with Eli and his trophy!

Oh yeah and Daddy and Hailey stayed home because Hailey had the stomach flu that passed through all of us a week and a half ago all the way through last week! So they hung out and some precious daddy/Hailey time!

Book Meme

I haven't participated in any of the Booking Through Thursday things but I kind of like this one! And I love these surveys!

What was the last book you bought?
I quite buying books for a long time but I did recently buy Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I had to buy the book because I was over #200 on the waiting list at the library!

Name a book you have read MORE than once

Most Dr. Seuss books! I don't typically read my books more than once.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
I can't say any one book has changed the way I see life but there are several books that have given me pause and caused me to think about that one "issue" the book is based on.

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews
I can be influenced to read a book in many different ways. Sometimes it is walking through the library shelves and a cover catches my attention. Though you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, they are typically a good idea of the kind of book it is! I also work with a lady that reads and recommends some of the most fascinating books that I wouldn't typically choose on my own. And I can be swayed by particular reviews such as those given by my awesome friends up in WA that do this blog.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?
Totally prefer fiction! I live in real life....I need something not so real to escape to!

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
For me, I need it to have a gripping plot. Otherwise, there is no point in me reading it!

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)
I think this one changes with age. I will answer with the first character that comes to mind. That would be Edward Cullen from Twilight Saga and that's because it is what I am currently reading. I can't get the image of the way he would stare at Ella in the beginning out of my head.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
Twilight is it. I am not one to read more than one book at a time. That is one area of my life that I cannot multi-task! And as far as unread books.....the list is way too long to list here!

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin and I finished it about a month ago.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?
I have given up on books in all phases, in the beginning, middle and close to the end. I have so little time to read to begin with that if it just isn't gripping me, then I don't want to waste my time! Unless I have been previously warned to stick it out through a certain part of the book and that it will get better.

Bear Poop

So I think it's safe to say that all these trips to the zoo this summer have paid off in teaching Emma about animals. And the proof......

She was helping me wake Kayla up in the morning and I told her to give Kayla a kiss. She leaned in, stopped and came walking towards me with her nose scrunched up. I asked her if she gave Kayla a kiss and she said "no, she smell like bear poop"!

That woke Kayla up because it had us laughing so hard! Emma is a prime example of kids saying the darnedest things!

Air show

So while the girls and I went to the zoo, JR and Eli went to an air show. Both of my boys love things that fly and it was a rare opportunity for just the two of them to go do something without the rest of us. JR called me to let me know that Eli was going to get to ride on a helicopter! I was super bummed that I couldn't be there to see it so I made JR promise to take pictures. How exciting for Eli because he has never even flown on an airplane. And at some point he had been promised a helicopter ride sometime in his lifetime and he had remembered it.

Look at that ear to ear smile....I just love it! This was where they had to stand to wait for the helicopter to come pick them up. They were the last ride of the day because of the weather.

This is just before boarding the helicopter. That is their pilot Sterling behind Eli.

This was right after. I can tell by Eli's face that the kid came right off that thing talking. I'm sure he had lots to say!

There were no pictures when they were inside because it was a bit squished. They flew over Memorial Park and over my work. JR said they were so low that he could read the words on the sides of our trucks at work! And Eli got a big kick out of the headphone/microphones that they wore. He talked the whole time to JR.

Zoo with old friends

As I am sure you have figured out by now, we love the zoo! I think we have the best zoo out of all of the zoo's I have been to. And it's great exercise because there are lots of hills to walk up and down. It is in the mountains after all. So this trip to the zoo was with a friend of mine since 6th grade and her 5 kids. It was an overcast day so it kept it pretty cool up there for us. I took some pictures of all the kids together (minus one) and some cool pictures of the 2 grizzly bears wrestling. That was pretty cool to watch because they reminded me of teenage boys horsing around.

From the left: Christian, Zander, Allorah, Gabby, Sam, Kayla and Emma

This was inside this tree thing that has a bug display and let's you see a better view of the Pumbaa's (warthogs)

Here is a picture of the bears playing....couldn't get any closer because of that head..... :)

This mountain lion was not happy...you can't really tell by this picture but it was growling and hissing. There was a docent down below (outside of the cage) and I am guessing it was talking to her for some reason.

The hippo....it was eating but you can't see it's food.

They have a carousel at the zoo. This thing is from the 1930's and they restored it in the 1990's. I am not kidding you, this is the fastest carousel I have ever been on! So this was Kayla checking out what is holding her on it before the thing started.

This is Emma....by the look on her face she is only just now processing what she is about to do and isn't too sure of it.

I stood between the girls while the thing went so that I could hold on to Emma. And let me tell you, it isn't an option to hold on. If you don't you will go flying off!

So if you did the math, and read my note, you notice that there is no Eli. He and JR went to an air show at the old airport. Too cool!

Emma's 2 yr check-up

Today was Emma's well baby check-up and it was mostly uneventful. Which I LOVE! Here are the things I learned.

She now weighs 27.5 lbs. Which means she has only gained just under 3 lbs over the last year! I have explained before that the percentile thing is mostly meaningless to me, so I mainly use it to give people an idea of how the size relates to other kids in that age group. And to show me things like when Emma was 1 yr old and weighing 24.8 lbs, she was in the 94th% and now she is 61%! Of course, the girl eats only what is necessary to keep her alive (in other words she has much better stuff on her agenda than eating) and has really been that way for the last year!

Her height....WOW....she is 35.8" tall. What that means for her is that if she follows the "golden rule" of figuring out how tall a person will be as an adult (the formula is to double the child's height at 2 yrs old) she will be 5'11! Which would make her a cool 7" taller than me and only 1" shorter than her daddy! Which now leaves me wondering if miss Emma is going to end up being my tallest kid! Of course I am thinking Hailey is darn tall too. And we won't discuss the fact that Kayla is officially taller than me already....ahem. ANYWAYS, Emma is a tall, skinny little girl!

She had to have one shot....the girl didn't flinch...didn't shed a tear! I couldn't believe it!

And, again, as I have said before, I really love the doctor. And here is yet another reason why. Emma is at the toddler phase of not really digging strangers. So whenever the Dr. comes in the room, she gets really still and really quiet. And despite that, this man can READ Emma. After he was finished with the exam, he sat back and said that he can fast forward to her being an adult and see that she is a confident, self assured woman. Not mean, not pushy, but knows what she wants and the right way to get it. Holy cow that man could not be more accurate with the way she is at 2! Nothing will get in the way of what she wants (let me tell you how un-fun that trait is right now!) She very much asserts herself with Eli and will not put up with any of his antics! And, I have to say that was a huge compliment to JR and I. That means we have done something right so far!

And speaking of her getting her way.....there has been a change in plans for the bed transition. She caught the stomach crud that Kayla and Eli had earlier this week and has been ill the last couple of days. Well I am not about to mess with the poor things emotions right now so the crib isn't coming down this weekend. However, after talking to Nana and Dr. Luebbert, we have decided to leave it up and move her to the big girl bed after she falls asleep. Then when she wakes up in the bed, we can partay and get her all excited about sleeping in the bed all night. Yeah I realize THAT is messing with her psychological state....but it's for the best! :)

Big Girl Bed

Last Friday was supposed to be the big day....Emma would stop sleeping in her crib and start sleeping in her big girl bed. We have had it set up in her room, well, for a really long time because it used to be Kayla's bed before she moved out of the room. But for Emma's birthday we gave her a Dora bed set for her bed to make the transition more exciting.

So Friday night rolls around and I have mentally prepared myself to go Supernanny on her. For those of you that do not watch this show, her rule is a step-by-step process to get the child to stay in their bed and go to sleep. The process is basically walking them to bed and telling the child it is time to go to bed and say goodnight, the next time you only say it's time to go to bed, and from then on out when the child gets out of bed you simply put them back in bed and do not speak a single word. So that is what I was all ready to do. Boy was I in for a shock!

Here is what happened....Emma FLIPPED out! She wanted nothing to do with her big girl bed. Even if I tried to lay down with her. She only wanted to sleep in her crib! I tried pulling her mattress out of her crib and that didn't work EITHER! So I didn't push the issue because I don't want her freaked out about the bed. You see, we had Kayla sleeping in our bed until she was about 4 and then Eli in our bed until he was about 6! It has been a couple of years since we have had a kid in our bed every night and I am loving it! I don't wanna go back! And because I have been such a stickler about Emma sleeping in her own bed, she won't sleep in ours. Even if she is super sick, if we try to bring her in with us, she only wants to play! And nope, not complaining at all! Anyways, I was brought to a complete halt and left with my chin resting on the floor with such shock! I have never known a child to NOT want to sleep in a bed with all that freedom! I should have known it would be Emma to change that!

I have received many great suggestions on how to work with Emma on this one. Unfortunately she doesn't really have much of an option because Hailey is ready to sleep in the crib and get out of our room. And buying a new crib is just not an option! So I think what we are going to do this weekend is take the crib down entirely and store it somewhere for a little while. In the meantime, Hailey will slowly move into Emma's room and she will start out sleeping in the pack-n-play! Because after talking to several people, I am thinking that poor Emma is tired of all of her stuff going to Hailey and she isn't about to give Hailey her crib too!

So all my dear friends and family, wish me luck this weekend! I am hoping and praying that with the crib out of site, out of mind, she will be game for sleeping in the big girl bed!