November Wrap Up

  Saturday after Thanksgiving Daryl and I threw the kids into the car and drove to Portland to see Brad and DeAnna in their new home.  They're so awesome that they watched our kids for us while we did some tax free shopping.  Well there might have been some child labor involved.  The kids saw the leaves and the backyard and wanted to rake them.  Brad was able to find a rake for each one of them and they went to town.  I think they ended up raking a pretty good chunk, and Avery mentioned that she needed to go back outside and do some more work at one point.  The rest of these pictures are just from different times this month.

Avery, Harper, and Emery raking the leaves.

Luke standing on a receiver so he can play with the dvd player.  Also that doll in the toy basket looks super creepy.

One day Emery indicated that she would like some chocolate whip cream, and I was more than happy to appease her that day. 

Luke hanging out in a box!

Emery is such a ham.  

Sisko and Dax are enjoying having the whole run of the house now.

One last picture of this little ham.

Hello Baby Ayva

  November 17th Daryl's sister Ashley had her sweet baby girl Ayva.  This last Friday after Thanksgiving we were finally able to meet her.  Ashley and Thomas were gracious enough to let our whole gang invade their apartment.  Avery did a great job not giving octopus kisses to Ayva and trying to get into every photo humanly possible.  Emery and Harper wanted to play with their old baby swing. Ayva is such a sweet little chub with a ridiculous head of beautiful hair.  We were so glad that we were able to meet Ayva, and that she and her parents are doing well!

Ayva is clearly in awe of her amazing uncle.  Nice pose Avery.

Avery wanted to pose with Ayva.

Luke and Ayva side by side.  Ayva's cheeks are so big!  

Thanksgiving 2015

  It was the Thanksgiving of meats.  Karl roasted a turkey for his first time ever, and it came out pretty much perfect.  Aimee made a ham, and Daryl made some ribs.  There was also a lot of pie and cinnamon rolls just as there should be.  My parents were also in attendance along with Aimee, Karl, and Tyler.  We had a great time and good food.

Karl's turkey

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A sweet potato dish that Aimee made.

This is low carb stuffing, or other words even more meat.

I'm pouring root beer.

Tyler and Avery would have happily ate nothing but the watermelon and the rolls of course.

Silly, silly Emery.

A random picture of my dad.

Harper bringing in the soda from outside.  She also sliced all the eggs up for the salad.

Avery asked me why I put seaweed in the salad in the foreground.  Thanks kiddo!

The Third November Birthday

  I don't really mention my birthday every year I think.  Mostly because there's a lot going on in the month with Avery's birthday and Thanksgiving, and then we had to throw another November birthday in the mix with Luke.  Usually we're a little birthdayed out by the time we get to meet.  Except Avery and Harper are never birthdayed out, and sometimes remark about the lack of a birthday cake even though we've had some other goody.  This year I made sure to line up a cake mostly for their benefit.  Avery and Harper were happy.  Daryl and I had a great day because he took the day off, and we were able to do some furniture shopping all by ourselves.  

  Avery and Harper were also hilarious when it came to guessing my age.  Popular answers were fourteen and seventeen.  I think someone said I was five or six once.  Harper also guessed forty once.  I love them so much.

Harper must have been too excited to stay still.

I must have been waving to Luke who's high chair is at the other end of the kitchen.

This is a terrible picture, but Tyler picked out this little flower arrangement for me.  He is so dang cute.

Avery made this birthday card in school.  It's a picture of me wearing a heart dress.

I forgot to rotate this picture, but this is the birthday card Harper made for me.  It's a picture of a dinosaur.

Avery Turns Seven!

  A mere six days after Luke's birthday we get to celebrate again with Avery's birthday.  Our girl turned seven this year, and she gets to be more fun each year.  Once again she asked for a strawberry cream cake,  We keep thinking that one of these years she'll want something different, but I am pretty sure this is the third year in a row.  She definitely has a creative mind!  Avery loves people and trying to make new friends.  She tells Daryl and I that we need to go say "hi!" to any neighbor she spies outside.  Avery loves school still, and loves life in general.  She is quite the whirlwind of activity.  

Harper, Emery, and Avery

Emery, Avery, and Tyler

Blowing out the candles.

I just loved Tyler's face in this picture.

Happy First Birthday Luke!

  My baby turned one yesterday.  We fall in love with our happy, giggly guy more and more each day.  It's exciting to see his little personality come out, and we are excited to see him grow up.  We had a small party at my parent's house with two of Luke's best baby buddies: his cousin Logan, and his friend Zander. (There parent's came too.)  He thoroughly enjoyed eating his Costco cupcake that stood in for his tiny birthday cake.  

  Luke still only has two teeth, and I don't know how much he weighs or how long he is.  We are going to find that out at his checkup on Monday.  He's not walking yet, but he can stand up unassisted just fine.  He is very, very ticklish, and loves sliding down the stairs with mom or dad.  He is a joy!

Sisko and Luke

Luke walked all over the kitchen with the help of this stool yesterday morning.

Our last monkey picture.

Luke loves to get the broom out and drag it all over the floor.

Playing with Sisko.

The cupcake actually said 12 because it was a Seahawk cupcake, so we took off the 2.  Now it was a 1 year old cupcake.

The aftermath.

Emery inspected Zander in his seat for a while before he left.

Halloween 2015

  This Halloween was a little different from the usual because our nephew Tyler was baptized today.  His birthday was last Saturday.  We were so glad that we were able to share in Tyler's special day and feel the Spirit there. Poor Daryl has had the flu for the last couple of days, and has  barely been able to get out of bed.  He was able to make it to the baptism, but we went straight home afterwards. 

  Since Daryl was sick and stuck in bed it was a pretty quiet day.  We ordered a pizza for an early dinner, read books, and watched television until it was time to go trick or treating.  I took the girls around our neighborhood which isn't for the faint of heart.  Our little subdivision sits on a hill, and many of the houses have steep drives you have to walk up to reach the many steps up to the front porch.  It was great to meet our neighbors though.  We really live in a very nice neighborhood.  The girls were happy with their very modest amounts of Halloween candy.  They can't really complain though because last weekend we not only went to our ward trunk of treat, but Aimee and Tyler's too.

Tyler, Avery, and Harper.  Before I took the picture Avery called out "baptism!"

Tyler kept trying to bunny ears on everyone.

I put Luke's pumpkin costume on last night, so I have a picture.

Emery was Minnie Mouse, but I just left the dress she wore to Tyler's baptism on her along with the ears. 

This is the best picture I could get of all three girls.  Harper is Cinderella, and Avery is a fairy godmother.

Avery, Harper, and Emery enjoying their spoils on the stairs after trick of treating.  You can see Harper's pant legs got soaked from a puddle she walked through.  It was a wet, miserable night.