The Rest of November

So, this is going to be long because I've left it for so long. Sorry about that... again. Anyway, one day, Timothy came home for lunch. Emma wanted him to handcuff her (not really sure why...). As soon as he said he would, she turned around and put both hands behind her back. She's four. How many times has she had to do this before? How on earth did she know that's how they cuff you? She cracks me up. Anyway, we ended up binding the girls together, you know, to help them bond. (Emma cannot take a picture without trying some kind of pose...)

Next up, my birthday. I had a great day. Timothy had the day off work so I got to sleep in. It was awesome! When I came downstairs, this is what I saw.

The girls had made lots of pictures and cards (with just a little help from Daddy). It was really sweet. Emma asked if we could leave them up forever. Do you see the red headed princess, middle right? That's me, I'm told. We had the whole day to play and then some friends of ours showed up unexpectedly (to me) and Timothy and I went on a surprise date. He took me to see the new Christmas Carol. I had been really looking forward to seeing it. I thought the animation looked incredible. It was really good but I have to tell you, I don't think I like 3D movies. My eyes were really strained by the end of it. But it was a pretty good time besides that. Anyway, when we got home, the girls had made this. (with help, of course)

It's a hippo. I was like, what are you trying to say? I've put on some weight. I get it. (Not really. It was a really cute cake.) Speaking of, here's the first profile shot we've taken this pregnancy. I think that I need another because Timothy said that this one doesn't do my justice (in a good way, or a bad way?). I feel smaller this time around. Or at least, I did last week.

I think maybe the shirt is too tight. Not that I'm looking at it, I really don't look that big. This was taken on my birthday, so that's two months to go.

Next up comes the tree. The unwritten rule in this country is that you don't set up your tree until after Thanksgiving. We set ours up a few days before but only because our neighbors had theirs up and we really wanted to. Plus, we weren't having Thanksgiving at our house so we figured it would be ok just this once.

Here we are building the tree. (don't you miss the days when you didn't build your tree? not me. never been a fan of the real trees. I was always scared the house would burn down.)

The girls put all the decorations on this year and I made myself let them. Guess what? I haven't even tried to change them. I'm slowly overcoming my OCD. Or at least pretending to. I still sometimes twitch when I look at the tree. But it is really cute.

I caught this one as a snapshot but of course that meant Emma had to pose...

And that paper is an ornament that Emma made. Isn't it lovely? (and it's still on the tree. I'm really proud of me.)

And the finished product. There are a lot of ornaments on the bottom, and lots on the top (with help from Daddy), but not so many in the middle. They did a really good job.

Now just a couple random pictures of the girls being super cute.

Emma got all dressed up and so of course, Kaylee had to put the same things on when she was done.

Ya gotta love static hair in the winter. At least, I enjoy it.

And Emma, dressed as Mary. One of her favorite games. And yes, she plays it year round.

I'm really going to try to post again soon. I started painting in the baby's room and need to get those pictures taken. Anyway, this was long. I tried not to talk too much.

Swingin'

I know that you're shocked I'm posting again so soon. I figured, if I do it now, while I'm thinking about it, it'll be easier in the future. I have to apologize because I have no pictures of Halloween. I charged the batteries in the camera and everything. Not a single picture. So, I'll just tell you that Emma was a butterfly (please feel free to look at last year's picture. She was the exact same thing.) Kaylee was a cowgirl. We had a cute little horse that she wore so it looked like she was riding. I was an oven (get it?) and Timothy was a baker. Anyway, we had fun. Sorry no pics.

I just wanted to share this picture because the girls were so cute, pushing each other on the swings. However, there must be something going on with my camera because it is so dark. Sorry. Just peeked out at them playing one day and found Kaylee pushing Emma. Too cute.

October at a Glance

Do you ever just get overwhelmed with how much you have to post, so you don't post anything...ever? Well, that's where I'm at now. So, I decided just to bite the bullet and do it. I'm going to post a whole month in one post. Sorry for the length, I will try to control my comments.

So, the first week in October, Timothy was supposed to be at training. The girls and I planned a trip to visit cousins! Yeah! (I say he was supposed to be at training, it was moved, but we went on our trip anyway.) We had a ton of fun visiting the Whitehead gang. Thanks for putting up with us Jeff. I haven't been to Calgary in a long time, and not for a visit like this since I've been married. Sorry to all the friends that I didn't get time to see. For some reason, we were crazy busy. Jen's got a busy life and we tried to blend in.

We managed a trip to the zoo, a highlight for me, I love that zoo. However, I took like, 5 pictures. I'm definitely not a photographer. Timothy was disappointed in me. I took zero pics of animals. Oh well. Here are the two year olds eating lunch.

And the big kid table.

We went to the new mall just outside of the city that is absolutely huge. We didn't even walk through the whole thing and I think we went in 3 whole stores. But they have a great play place and of course, Tim Hortons....mmmmmmm. I miss it so much. Timmy's, that is.

These two were so cute together, so very 'two'.

And these four posed for this picture and asked that I take it. However, I had some better ones... I must've deleted them. We need a new memory card. I can only hold like, 25 pics.

We made sure to hit Ikea one day. So wonderful. I could spend a lot of money there. I took this picture because someday, I need to redo my kitchen cabinets and love this color. Nice, dark stain. Anyway, Jen jumped in because she's a nerd and I'm posting it because she looks like a nerd.

The only thing missing from the trip was a Peter's run. Ahhh, next time. We had a day planned and everything but got hit with a storm and decided the trek across town wouldn't be such a good idea. Not for a burger and shake. I think I regret that decision right now.

When we got home, we got to see the new school room. A couple other Mom's and I are doing preschool for the kids. I teach once a week and another Mom teaches once a week. It works out really well and is a super cheap way to do preschool! Anyway, we moved our room upstairs so the closet that we redid was just empty. Now, it functions as the school room. Someday, I would like it to be a den/library. Someday.

Yes, the table is an outdoor coffee table. But it's the perfect size and we definitely won't miss it for a few months. Plus, it's really easy to clean crayon, marker, glue, and playdough off.

One morning the girls asked if we could make 'shape cookies'. I assumed that meant sugar cookies. They had so much fun cutting them out and then decorating them. Oh yah, and eating the icing.

Another random. We were outside playing with our tenant's daughter one day and decided to rake all the leaves into a pile. This worked out great because the kids more than willingly did the work. I never got to do this as a kid. Please feel sorry for me. (Not because I have mean parents but because I'm allergic to everything outside. And some inside stuff too.) I'm really glad that the kids got to play. And everyone was fine after. I'm thinking that the outside allergies were not passed down. (We hope.)

So there's a farm (or something) outside of town here who, every year, does a corn maze and pumpkin patch. Last year I wanted to take the kids so bad but we never made it out there. We got there this year. I was really impressed with it. It's almost like a full carnival-type thing. They've got a huge corn maze, with a shorter route with fairytale clues for kids. There were all kinds of fun activities for the kids to do. There was not, in my mind, a pumpkin patch though. I would have thought that meant pumpkins on a vine. They had some sitting on hay bales that you could buy. Not quite the same thing. Oh well.

So, the first thing you see when you walk in is this huge hay stack. With a slide. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I'm allergic to EVERYTHING. So, I was a little nervous. But the kids were just fine. They loved the slide and did it for ever. Their favorite thing though, was...

the cow train. This was the funniest thing. The kids loved it though. It was actually pretty cool. Some of the cows even moved up and down as the train drove around.

Kaylee's first ride. She's a little bit nervous.

And Emma's first ride. We managed to get her in one that moved. She thought it was so great.

I had to get a picture of this because it was so cute. The girls were just standing, waiting for their turn on the cow train and they put their arms around each other. Of course, by the time I got the camera out and turned on, Kaylee had stopped. Still, melt my heart.

Anyway, this has taken me forever to write and I'm tired of it now. So, for shorter posts, I'll try to post more often. Chances are I'll update again in a month. Sorry folks.

The Ultrasound

So, I just realized that I have not posted the outcome of the ultrasound we had on the 14th. Sorry. We didn't get pictures of the important stuff but everything is looking good, baby is healthy. I have posted this on facebook already so probably most of you know. But, for those who don't, we're having us a baby BOY! We're super excited and I am so nervous! That's about all. Good to be short, sorry no pics.

Labor Day Weekend

We went to visit Grandma Allred for Labor Day and had a ton of fun. We were able to get tickets (thanks Mom Allred) to a football game for Timothy's all-time favorite college football team, the University of Montana Grizzlies. Since marrying into a 'griz' family, I have learned to really enjoy their games too. College football games in this stadium are crazy. Being from Canada, I'm not really used to how big sports are here, even on a high school level. I remember at BYU-Idaho seeing cheerleaders in real life for the first time. I really thought the guy had dropped the girl until I realized that's just how they get down. Anyway, these games are a lot of fun. It's a smaller division school but their stadium has been ranked nationally as one of the loudest, and their mascot is always getting awards for being one of the best. All in all, a great time. It helps that the team is really good too. So, here are some pictures, mostly for those of you, who, like me, can't wrap your head around how huge they do things here.

So, they start every game with three parachuters, who land right in the stadium and all carry 'griz' flags, and the like. (I think every game... I've been to three and they started all three that way.)

Here's their mascot. Emma loves him. He is actually really cool. He does lots of flips and things and he is loved by the whole city.

This is prep for the team to come running out. Always a big deal. I'm sure that other schools are like this too, maybe even high schools. But I've been to professional games in Canada that don't even come close to the hype that they have here. It's crazy. (p.s. the stadium was totally packed, you wouldn't be able to tell from this picture.)

And some of the team, rallying the crowd.

We also had to go to the carousel, the girl's favorite place when we visit Grandma. Emma's favorite horse is named Paint, and he is a favorite of a lot of kids. She never gets to ride him because her mean mom always makes her wait her turn in line. But this last trip, she got to ride Paint twice. She was so excited!

Kaylee was just excited to be able to ride by herself for the first time. (This carousel gets moving pretty fast, she's always been with me or Timothy.)

And my three cowboys(girls). This picture didn't really turn out so great. You can't really see Kaylee but she is there beside Timothy.

Anyway, fun weekend.

I'm not quite sure...

This is just a couple of randoms that I thought needed to be shared.
A couple of weeks ago, Timothy's grandparents came for a visit. It was nice to see them and have them in our home. The girls especially love to play with them. Well, at least their canes. Emma asked Grandma if she could play with her 'candy cane'. It was pretty cute.

Then there was the 'backyard carnival'. Our neighbor had some serious digging to do. The girls thought it was great fun to ride around with 'Grandpa Ken' on the fun 'truck'.

My Four-Year-Old

Well, it's more than a month late, so, I figured I'd post about Emma's birthday. Sorry I have been so bad lately. Grandma Allred came up for the weekend so here are some pictures of our 'birthday weekend'.

Emma is quite friendly, very outgoing, and wants to include everyone. Which is great, except that she had to invite everyone she knows and half our block to her party. Which was supposed to be cake and ice cream with the family. Oh well. She had tons of fun and it was amazing to me how many people came or gave her a card. She was spoiled rotten and I think it was a good birthday for her.

So, that was that. Emma loves being the center of attention, she loves her family and adopted family and she loves her bike.

A Whole Lotta' Nothin'

I realize that I am not very good at updating on a regular basis. I'm not even going to apologize for that. I do actually have some stuff to post, however, it's probably only interesting to me. And maybe Grandmas and Grandpas. Oh well. So, here's some stuff that's happened for the rest of July.

This is one morning, Kaylee slept in and Emma just wanted to sit on the front step. Well, she had to have her guitar. I asked her what she was doing and her response was, "I'm singing to the birds." So cute, I had to take a picture for posterity.

One Saturday morning, I got to go out for some Mommy time. Emma has been talking about a lemonade stand for a while so she and KK and Daddy set one up. They just hung out in front of our house (we're not on a busy street) with signs that said "Free". Timothy didn't want to put a price on it because he thought it would look too much like he was trying to sell it instead of the kids! A couple of our neighbors came and were customers. Although, when I got home, all I saw was my new cooler with two "free" signs on it! I was wondering why we were giving it away.

A couple more shots of the girls playing outside. We love it when it's warm!

Let me tell you a funny little story. So, a few weeks ago, some friends invited us over for dinner. It was a Sunday and we were just having fun talking, kids playing, good food. It started to rain. Then it started to rain harder. I remembered that all of our windows were open so Timothy and our friend ran home to close them (we could have all gone but we weren't done with our party). So, after they were gone for a couple of minutes, we lost power. We're sitting there with 5 kids and no power. So then we get a phone call (thank goodness for cell phones!) and it's her husband. They've already been gone for like, 20min. He explained that we had some water in our basement. Awesome. So, we sat at their house, trying to entertain kids in the dark, for another hour. Finally the men-folk come home and here's what happened. One of our gutters wasn't really doing what it was made for. So, water was pouring right into the basement window well below it. That water had nowhere to go, so decided to go into our tenant's bedroom. Lovely. Temporary fix in the middle of a crazy thunderstorm (seriously, closest lightening I've seen in a long time...), grab the plastic kiddy pool and wedge it over the window well. My husband is a genius. Honestly, what else would you do at that point? Our neighbors had worse water than we did and their son (who's like, 25, don't go calling social services) was trying to dig trenches while Timothy's trying to fix our problem. Timothy said that every time the lightening would strike, he'd drop the shovel... apparently he was getting little jolts every time! Kinda funny. So anyway, our friend went prepared for a flood and decided to wade into our alley. This picture doesn't really do it justice. It was like, a foot deep. In the alley. One of the houses across the alley from us had a foot of water in their yard. I wonder what their basement looks like.

Anyway, that's all for now. I've got some more that I need to post soon. I'll work on that.