October 24 - Red & Props

Today was Drug Free Day at school.  Everyone was supposed to wear red as a reminder.  Andlie chose her red pants & wanted red bows in her hair so we made it happen!

 

We bought some photo props for our upcoming Halloween party.  Haze immediately fell in love.  He tried each prop and had me take a picture every time.  Then he did the same for me with his pretend phone.

Nora reeeeeeally wanted to hold the props.  I snapped a super quick pic of her wearing the witch hat before she tore it in to tiny bits.

October 23 - Sucker, Feeties, & Blankies

Someone had her first sucker today!  She cried & shook when I took it away.

Playtime feet!  Andlie takes her shoes & socks off the minute she walks in the door.  She learned this from her Mother.  She is like a little monkey & curls her feet around things and is always moving them.  She is becoming super creative in the arts department and has a great imagination!  Haze is driving a "brace car."  He loves trucks & cars.  And his feet are a reflection of his personality.  He is usually pretty concentrated on whatever he is doing.  Nora's socks are falling off because she crawls turbo fast everywhere she goes.  She has pulled all of the toys in reach out of the cupboards and is moving quickly from toy to toy shaking & banging each of them and happily yelling along the way. 

 

Each of our kids have a favorite blankie.  They have all chosen them when they were tiny.  Nora snuggles hers right up by her face when she's ready to sleep.  Tonight after she fell asleep in my arms, I stroked her tiny, chubby hands and watched while they clung to her beloved blankie.

October 22 - Communicating

Nora is starting to be really good at communicating!  She plays copycat really well.  She especially loves to wave & say, "Bye-Bye!"  And she is pretty good at, "Dad!"  She'll say, "Mamamama," but only if she's in the mood.  She still loves to nod her head "no," especially if someone does it back to her on command.  She grunts when she is proud or thinks something is funny.  And sometimes, she'll just let out a happy little shriek just because and follow it up with a pretty cute grin.  She looks you right in the eye during conversation.  And it melts your heart.

October 21 - Because

Because Nora looked too cute in her new outfit from Grama & Grampa to pass up a photo opp, we had one.

Because Hazey was such a good boy at WalMart today, we stopped to ride some rides at his very sweet & polite request.

Because the leaves outside of Andlie's school are bright yellow, I had to snap a pic before they all fall off!

 

Daddy left for a work trip  yesterday and won't be back until tomorrow.  We kept ourselves busy today by grocery shopping, cleaning, and looking cute!  Oh and we went to the ward Halloween party tonight with Bryce!

October 20 - Fun With Grama & Grampa

More fun with Grama & Grampa today!  Halloween store, the park, lunch together, the mall, and playing outside in 70 degree weather!  We were sad to see them leave!

October 19 - Grama & Grampa

Guess who got to our house tonight?!  Grama & Grampa!  The kids were so happy to see them!  And at bedtime, they shared some snuggles with Grama.  Love.

October 18 - Homemade Family Pics

We took some family pictures today - by ourselves!  We bought a tripod & headed up the canyon.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!  (And I'm not ashamed that I had to bring Santa in to the conversation so we could get some smiles.)

It was a loooong two hours, but we got some great pics!  Plus, Nora always laughs at my jokes at the end of the day.  This particular joke was me saying, "Oh!" with a very exaggerated "O" shape to my mouth.  I love her.

October 17 - Fall Break

Since Andlie didn't have school today, we took advantage & spent most of the day outside.  This morning, Andlie & Haze put on "shows" for me.  I was the announcer & would say, "Presenting the amaaaaazing Andlie/Haze Allen!"  And then narrate each trick and at the end as them to take a bow & then clap.  They were getting a kick out of it!  Nora loves being outside too!  Today, she got to try sitting on the outside baby toy for the first time.  She was pretty proud.  She thinks she's one of the big kids most of the time.

Daddy took the afternoon off and we went to the farm!  We rode tractors, played in corn, went down huge slides on potato sacks, rode horses, rode a train, saw & fed lots of animals, rode a hayride, and much more!  We had a great time as a family!  (And then we came home & went straight to the bath.  I am a total city slicker.)

October 16 - Reactions

Nora's reaction when she saw herself on my phone:

And when I called her name after watching her throw books around & pull remotes out & almost tear pages from books:

October 15 - Superhero & Frankenstein

"This is what Iron Man does!"  Haze hung out in his new superhero costume the entire time Andlie was at school.  Naturally, I took on the role of Hulk per his request.

Me & Andlie drew some chalk drawings this afternoon because Nora & Haze (!?) took naps.  It was nice to be outside with just her.  I think our Frankensteins turned out pretty good!

October 14 - Little Things

Andlie submitted her artwork for the Relfections contest today!  She spent lots of time & thought on her work.  I think it turned out pretty cute.

Nora learned how to rip a notebook apart today!  In case her face didn't make it obvious, she loved every second of it.

I gave Hazey some shredded cheese while I was making dinner.  He lined the pieces up one by one & turned it in to a track for his cars.

October 13 - Firsts

First school picture!  I am so happy with how it turned out!  I love her happy, confident smile & beautiful, smiling eyes!

First time at the new museum!  We went with our friends, Isabelle, Hayden, and Lyla.  We spent 4 hours there.  We could have easily spent 8.  Haze LOVED the train room (upper right pic) and cranked the train around the tracks about 100 times.  Andlie loved every room, but her favorite was the Vet Room.

October 12 - Day in Pics

We were ready for church 20 minutes early.  Twenty.  Had to take advantage of the time & snapped a few pics.

I got the full treatment at the Allen Children Hair Salon.

So did Nora.

And then we ate dinner.  Nora had spaghetti and blueberries.

Good thing it was bath night!

Hazey loves his new superhero jammies!  (And he is getting so big!)

October 11 - Family Day

Someone is pulling herself up to furniture now!  She is pretty proud of herself too!  (Get a load of those legs & bum!)

We spent the evening as a family at the outlets tonight!  The sunset was beautiful from the point of the mountain!  The one store that we bought something from was Rocky Mountain Chocolate.  And it was worth every calorie. 

There is just something about baby feet in footie jammies that makes my heart happy.

October 10 - Apples Don't Fall Too Far From The Tree

I've been making lists since I could write.   She is her Mother's daughter for sure.  

"Start your ninjas!  Ready, set, GO!!!"  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  It's a boy thing.

October 9 - Fixed Bike & Happy Bathing

A couple of weeks ago, the van ran over Haze's bike & bent the back wheel in half.  We've been meaning to get it fixed for a while.  Last night on our walk, Haze looked at Daddy & said, "Dad, can you fix my bike?"  Bryan went to WalMart & bought a new bike after he went to sleep.  He was SO HAPPY to have it fixed today!  We spent most of the day outside riding bikes. 

Nora loves her a bath!  She just squeals & smiles & splashes the entire time.  She is pure joy.

October 8 - Growing Up

As I was bustling around the house trying to get things ready to get the day moving, I peeked around the corner & saw Andlie reading a book to the two younger babies.  She was very focused on the task at hand.  Haze was focused on not letting Nora out of his sight or trying to make her giggle.  (He also, of course, had a truck in his hands.)  Nora was just taking it all in with a smile on her face.  I wish I could freeze time sometimes.

Poor Nora crawled right out the back door this morning.  She got a little shiner (her upper right head), but by the time I got to her, she was just happily playing on the top step of the porch.  She's a happy one.

Andlie put a credit card & her phone in her back pockets today.  I don't think I could have done it better myself.  What more does a girl need?

Someone thinks she is getting big!