The Bride-to-be

Emily had fun trying on my wedding dress the other night. :)

Here are all the girls. :) Aren't they cute? I'm in trouble, I can't get any pictures to download off my camera! Maybe it's a sign that I should be unpacking instead of playing with my computer. :)

Halloween

Luke had a legitimate tough guy look on for his costume. I'm not sure why Travis was looking so serious. Maybe he just couldn't wait to go get CANDY, CANDY, CANDY...and mom just wanted to take some pictures. :)

This is HIGH SCHOOL Football!?!

We have been having fun supporting the local football team. Their stadium is nicer than my college stadium. They had fireworks and the cheerleaders even ran up the aisles throwing t-shirts and little orange footballs out to the fans! The town practically shuts down for the games, especially if they are far out of town, everyone evacuates as soon as possible on Friday afternoons. The football players are a huge presence at the schools. A.J. came home with autographs last week. They visited his classroom and helped them write stories.

No Fear

Oh boy, the tarantulas in New Mexico sure are huge! :) Helena has no fear, it's just something else to play with. Her heart is doing well, surgery is going to wait for at least six months.

Just for Future Reference

Should you ever wash your hair with hair removal gel instead of shampoo, here is the cure: First, hide all evidence when your mom peeks in the bathroom and says, "What is that awful smell!?!" When she figures it out, try to look cute and hold still while she scrubs the tar out of your hair with shampoo and 10,000 rinses. Hold still and tolerate your mom and your older sister rubbing conditioner on your hair every few hours throughout the day. Keep that shower cap on so you don't get conditioner all over the place. Surprisingly, after a day and a half of the conditioner/shower cap treatment, Sariah's hair is looking healthy and I don't think any fell out. Now, maybe Emily and I should just stick to shaving our legs.

Luke Loves to Shop

Whenever we go to Fry's, Luke makes me visit the lobster tank. He loves to look at them and say "Hello." I set him loose at the play store and guess what he bought?

Only in dreams

This wasn't the last dream I had, just the most memorable. I was torn between two men. I couldn't decide between Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. It was agonizing trying to choose. I kept having the same dream for a few days. I told Terry about the dream and he was quick to interpret it for me. He said, "I'm obviously Robert Redford and Luke is Brad Pitt." That night, I started having the same dream again, but decided I could keep them both! :)

Alien Playground

Only in Roswell! We found this great park today, we will go again soon, the kids had lots of fun. They think they can read more signs around town with this new knowledge. :)

I Just Can't Keep Up!!!

Sorry about not posting in sooo long! Life just gets busy, busy, busy... I've also been spending too much time on facebook. It's been fun catching up with people I haven't seen in a loooooong time. It's so easy to keep in touch, if you aren't on facebook, I can't make any promises to stay in touch with you, sorry! Now, I can't remember where I've posted pictures and videos, so sorry if I duplicate.

Good Helpers

Luke and Sariah have noticed everyone helping me out. This morning, I heard Luke "reading" directions to Sariah. They were trying to put Helen's new high chair together. :)

Get these dumb wires off of me!

At least that's what I think she's saying in her mind. She did finally have the apnea monitor removed after six weeks of lugging that thing around! Thank goodness for technology, but what a pain!

Lukisms

Luke has come up with some great words and phrases. Many are regulars in our conversations now. He was running around in the backyard without shoes and I told him to put his shoes on. His response was, "If I step on a pokey, will I get a flat leg?" He also labels cars while we are driving around. There are big and small cars, slow pokes and fast pokes. Helen is the cutie-est baby in the world!

My Favorite Pastime

My kids think feeding Helen is my job, so I decided to measure how much time I actually spend "working." I was shocked to realize that I do spend about six hours a day feeding her! She eats so slowly that I thought maybe I should try using a faster nipple, but then formula dripped all over her chin, worse than with the slow flow, so I'm sticking with the slow flow and making sure I have a good book to read or something to watch while endlessly feeding her. I'm going to try rice cereal again next week. So far she eats just like Sariah did, I put some food in her mouth and she pushes it all back out with her tongue. Although Helen has added a nice gagging sound to the whole game. :) She is in the 90th percentile for weight, so I guess I'm doing a fine job, maybe I'm overachieving even, because she certainly isn't in the 90th percentile for height. Emily is my only overachiever for height!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We arrived at Terry's house to find that many large clover-like weeds had grown in big tufts all over his backyard. They've been hunting for leprechauns nearly all day. :)

Leilani's Cakes

This is my birthday cake from my neighbor. She makes the most beautiful cakes! They taste even better than they look! The "frosting" is homemade whipped cream and the cake just melts in your mouth. She puts all kinds of different fruits in the center and on top. Strawberry and pineapple are my favorites. She made a big sheet cake for my friend's wedding and it looked like a stained glass window. Anyway, if you are ever in my neighborhood around your birthday, be sure and drop a few hints to get your very own Leilani Cake. :)

Sariah's Photography Skills

I have a problem with my camera sprouting little legs and running away. While most days I'm amused by pictures of someone's legs or nose, today I was pleasantly surprised by a great photo of Helen. The lighting was excellent, the camera was held steady and even captured the subject in the center of the frame, I didn't crop this! :)

Phantom Gardener

After some dumb car ran over our lampost and took out about a third of the bush, I decided to start removing the bush rather than trying to make it symmetrical again. I guess "someone" noticed my little chopping and filling of my trash can each trash day, and decided to finish the job.

All the Nancy Drew skills in the world could not uncover my Phantom Gardener! :)

I have great neighbors! :)

Bam Bam

Here a great Thanksgiving leftover photo. :) Luke is a little carnivore, he ate the whole thing!

Birthday Boy

Make a Smilebox greeting

Helen says...

"Please stop giving stickers to my siblings!"

While I was sleeping on this lovely recliner at the hospital, Emily helped Sariah and our neighbor create lovely pinkalicious cupcakes. They didn't even use a boxed mix! They saved me one and they were quite tasty. I don't even want to know how many they ate. Thank you to everyone that helped out while I was up at the hospital with Helen. The Callahan Funeral leftovers fed us for days!

<<<<<<< Video Bar

Look to the left. Do you see the video bar? Check it out! The boys have a birthday message for Uncle John, it's pretty old since they are reminding us to vote, but still cute. I know that no one has watched me swimming with the dolphins or there would be a bunch of rude comments about how white my legs are!

Sariah was being extra cute at lunch one day. She carefully arranged her little chicken strips and said that "Daddy was holding her." I can see it, do you?

She's Four!!! :)

We all survived the princess party. Grandma and Grandpa bought Sariah a bike and I overheard her telling her friend that Grandma made it and Grandpa painted it! Such talent! :) Unfortunately, all the cutesy helmets are too small for her big head, so she has been wearing one of the boys' helmets that is black and has flames on it. It doesn't quite go with the princess theme. She loved all her gifts and remembered to say "Thank you." I think my homemade salsa was the biggest hit with all the adults. I thought 8 cups might have been a little too much, but at the end of the day, it was ALL gone!

The Bumbo Seat

Helena loves her Bumbo seat. She looks so comfy, like it's her own little La-Z-Boy. :) She had her apnea monitor removed a few weeks ago, so she is much more portable and snuggly. I've been having fun painting things lately. So far I've only painted pieces of rooms and furniture. When I actually finish painting a whole room, I will post some pictures.

It's Been Too Long!

This would be my excuse. Everything takes ten times longer to get done. Helen wants to thank Grandma for giving Luke stickers, by the way. Terry has been in New Mexico since Halloween and my computer was broken for several weeks, so I do have some excuses. :) Well, this is it for today, but I have tons of pictures downloaded now, so I will try to go back to posting something everyday. :)