Annie Mo.

She's got a knack for names, not so much for singing on tune.  But she makes up for it with her flair.

Real Life

Life around the house is great.  With three little ones it is pretty slow (especially since Norah won't give up two naps). Here's what's been happening recently.  

First up: Aiden.

I absolutely love whatever stage Aiden is in right now.  He is independent, but he still loves me and desperately wants to make me happy.  He spends a lot of time building Legos.

 

Annie still naps and likes it when I lay down with her, so Aiden keeps himself busy doing who knows what.  The other day I got up and he had combed his hair "all by himself and with gel!". This picture doesn't quite to it justice because it doesn't show how the hair was stuck to his forehead. It took some strength to peel it off.

 This is classic Aiden face.  Love this kid.

 

Annie.  She's three and we are clashing a little bit.  Let's talk again when she's a little older. 

 

 Noyrah.  She's a favorite at our house.

 Here's the classic one-year-old picture.  She dumped a good amount of hot chocolate on the counter/stool/floor.  And yes, she is covered in snot. 

 One thing I love about Norah is that she always wants to be outside.  And she always wants to be with her dad.  Raking leaves in the rain in 30 degree weather? Yes please.

 And her favorite part, stomping down the leaves in the garbage can.

 30 minutes later she was covered in yogurt and absolutely exhausted.  Time for a nap.

Anne Monique

You know how there are certain words or phrases that your kid messes up, but you can't bring yourself to fix them because they are so cute?  Aiden's was pinamano instead of piano.  Unfortunately he has recently self-corrected that one.  My new favorite is how Annie starts prayers.  During some family home evening a few weeks ago we discussed how to pray.  "First, we say thank you, then we ask Him for blessings".  Now Annie always starts her prayer by saying, "Heavenly Father.  First thank you then bless you.  Bless you for ____, bless you for _____, etc., "  I find it hilarious.  Also hilarious is that it took us about two weeks to figure out what she was saying.

The World According to the Phone

Here is the last three months in phone pictures.  Hence, the beautiful quality.  I didn't even vintage-ify them with a fancy app.  

This is the picture I sent to Landon 20 minutes before he was supposed to come home for dinner.  We ate at Five Guys that night.  

 Aiden and Annie took swim lessons together in August.  Aiden loved it and turned into a little fish. Miracles do happen.

 Annie and Norah played in the fountains at dad's work.  While Aiden likes swimming pools, he sees no reason to get wet while fully clothed- he gets that from Landon.

 We took Aiden to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  We had prepped him with the story and music for months beforehand so he was super excited and sat on the edge of his seat the whole time.  It was awesome. 

 Annie is now in dance.  Every day she comes home and shows me her new moves.  This cute backyard studio couldn't be more perfect for her. (She's the girl on the far end)

 We have been doing science experiments recently.  This is milk painting and it was awesome for all parties involved.

 Norah eats.  A lot. This is actually just one of many pictures of her eating.

 Aiden rocked Landon's mullet wig.

 A couple weeks ago I watched these four hoodlums (my cousins) for four days.  To make things even more awesome, Landon had to work late all four days so I was pretty much solo with seven kids. 

 Who looks better- Aiden as a cowboy or Norah in only a diaper and shoes (her favorite uniform)?

 It was a snow day on Saturday.  And the night before someone smashed our pumpkins.  But the girls didn't seem to mind.  Nor did they mind that they were playing outside before the sun even came up.

I have a few videos (think Annie dancing) that I may put up later.  Or maybe not.  I can't guarantee anything.

And the streets were paved with cheese

I'm still getting used to the idea of fall, but I admit that the leaves are beautiful.  Every time I drive down my street I want to sing a song from the classic An American Tale.  "There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese!"  We have the cheese-paved streets, but we still have cats.  And they happen to mate right outside our bedroom window.  But I digress. 

The view down our street.

 Another plus of fall is my rainboots.  Which are mainly an excuse to wear ridiculously cozy socks that don't fit in any other shoes I own.

 And I love walking down the sidewalk after Halloween.  I only wish that they had been kind enough to drop some good candy.

Halloween.

I don't mean to be a hater, but I simply don't enjoy Halloween.  I would love it if it lasted one day- I'm all for unlimited candy and dressing up one day a year.  But one whole week of candy and dressing up is not my thing.  I'm thrilled that it is over.  Absolutely thrilled.   Now I'm ready to move on to the holidays that have some redeeming value. 

Since I am a Halloween grinch I didn't even try to take pictures of all the activities.  Neighborhood party, party with friends from Charlottesville, Landon's office trick-or-treating, Ward trunk-or-treat, Grandpa's office trick-or-treat, and then last night's nieghborhood trick-or-treating.

I tried to get a picture of the three kids before trick-or-treating last night.  Impossible. 

I tried.  Then Grandma and Pampa showed up, and that was the end of that.

After a delicious dinner (rice with tuna gravy- trust me, it is wonderful) we headed out to get MORE candy. 

 One perk of bringing Grandma and Pampa- Landon and I got to hold hands the whole time while they wrangled the kids.  It was great.

At the end of the day, the kids picked out their favorite ten pieces of candy, then turned in the rest (one week's worth of candy) for a toy.  Here's is the remainder of Annie's Halloween loot.  She likes the sparkle, even with her candy.