halloween take 1

since halloween is on a sunday, i thought it would be fun to dress up twice :) so we found a local church doing a trunk or treat. we dressed up and went! to my surprise they not only had trunks, they had free hot dogs, face painting, and a hay ride! we were very glad we went!!
you will see most of the same costume tomorrow (for halloween take 2)! 2 of the 3 girls will be in the same outfit! :) i do love dressing up my cutie pies in costumes!!

madeline, the lady bug, pre outinghana, sleeping beauty, and brooke, MINNIE MOUSE, pre outingall 3 :)
walking to the trunksmadeline with her pumpkinbrooke getting her face painted
brooke and daddy on the hay ridemommy, madeline, and hana on the hay ride :)

fun times!!

more to come tomorrow :)

family picnic :)

since brooke is now in preschool, she gets to do all of the fun things that hana once did. today was family picnic day. since the preschool doesn't do anything for halloween, they do family picnics instead. it is quite a cute idea. the kids make the lunches for the parents. then everyone eats outside on blankets. since we had been to this celebration in the past, last night jack and i prepped brooke what to make for us. turkey sandwiches. with mayo or mustard we didn't care, just turkey. brooke got it close to right for daddy, he got ham and mustard. madeline enjoyed her jelly sandwich. what did mommy get you ask??? cheese and mayo. yummm. needless to say i pretended it was wonderful... but did not eat it!
i went back to see what hana had made for us, knowing it could not be near as bad as what brooke made.
thanks brooke ;)

our chefmom's yummy sandwichdaddy and madeline :)

updates :)

• i have run 12 miles so far... only a week and a half until my race! i think i am ready!
• i have a lot of photography sessions coming up in the next month. so i don't know how much this blog will get updated :(
  
• madeline is still walking and talking up a storm!
• hana is doing great in kindergarten! i help once a week with reading groups. i love to be in the classroom. i get to know her friends and see how she is doing in relation to everyone else.
• brooke is doing great in preschool. she loves it and has lots of new friends!
• jack got another car. if you ask him why, you will definitely NOT make fun of him for having yet another new car. (the 3rd one this calendar year!)

that is all for now... i will leave you with a brooke-ism

about a month ago i bought brooke a minnie mouse costume on ebay. i paid more than i wanted to, but knew that she would love it! then a week or so after i bought it, i found one a walmart for about half the price. i tried to resell it, but couldn't. i didn't worry too much about it because i knew brooke would LOVE being minnie mouse so it was all worth it. when brooke saw the costume she just loved it and couldn't wait to be minnie. so last week, to get her excited once again to be minnie, i asked her what she was going to be for halloween. she thought for a minute and said "a dragon" to which i answered "no, you are going to be minnie mouse, remember." she said again... "no, i am a dragon"... i told her she could be a dragon dressing up as minnie mouse... ugh! that is what i get for planning ahead!

madeline... my little mamma

since madeline is baby number 3, she gets swept up in the whirlwind that is our daily life. sometimes she gets overlooked. not forgotten. but put on the back burner while i am juggling, kindergarten reading groups, preschool snacks, photography business, moms small group... that i lead, couples small group, play dates, friend phone calls... just life. but, at least, for now i want to spend some time on my precious baby. my last baby.

she is truly a joy. every time, and i do mean every time, i leave her in the nursery at church or the gym or with babysitters at moms group, they always say how sweet and wonderful she is. she is a joy to be around. everyone loves her.

she is also becoming very verbal. since my last post where i listed what she can say. she has added a good number of words to the list... she can still say "mommy" "poop" "dawg" "wooof" "hi" "daddy" "uh uh". she can now say "dat" (asking what something is) "baby" (baby doll) "boook" (brooke) "door" "bye". she will also repeat a lot of what you ask her too... i just asked her to say bubble... she did "bubbbw" she asked me what was in the cup (by saying "dat?") i told her water. she said "wawr". she is just exploding with communication! and she is only 13 (close to 14) months! i am super proud!!

she loves to give hugs. she will give brooke hug after hug after hug (brooke is closest to her size, i guess that is why she loves to hug her).

she is very easily distracted. if she is throwing a fit, all you have to do is play peak a boo with her and she is smiling in a second!

she is also slowly growing up. she doesn't nurse any more. she is in a front facing car seat, she no longer eats baby food, and she is a full time walker. my last baby is growing up.
i can't wait to see what kind of girl she turns into!

pumpkins :)

we go to the pumpkin patch every year... (2009)... (2008)... (2007). i enjoy seeing all of the pumpkins. it just reminds me that fall is here. even if our weather doesn't always lead you to believe it is actually here. it was quite packed on saturday. i guess everyone else wanted to wait until it felt like fall :)
this year we had 3 girls walking around picking out pumpkins!
ok here you go. pictures pictures pictures. (i hope you go back and look at all of the past years... i love to! i love to reminisce on the fun times of the past :)

madeline checking out the pumpkinshana's pumpkinbrooke's pumpkinmadeline's pumpkinour fam :)
(and yes, we do all match...
and yes, court... my pants are tucked into my boots!)what would a family outing be without SOMEONE pouting??today it was brooke!we did end with some nice sister hugs... well kind of nice... now it was hana's turn to pout!

yay fall!

how are they alike? how are they different?

as madeline has gotten older i have been able to compare the 3 of them. not because one is better than the other. but just how alike they all are... and how different they all are!

walking...
hana walked at 9 months and was running by her first birthday. brooke didn't walk until 15 months. madeline walked right at 12 months (on her birthday party day to be exact!)

talking...
hana didn't say maybe 10 words at 18 months. i was worried. then by 2 years old... she was a chatter box. she still is. brooke started talking about the same time she started walking. 15 months. by 18mo or so, she was saying a couple of words together. now brooke talks a lot. but she can be quiet for a while, then she says a lot all at once. she surprises us all of the time with what comes out of her mouth. madeline is saying a lot of words right now at 13 months. she consistently says "shs (shoes)" "hi" "dog" "poop" "woof (for what a dog says)" "mommy" "dada" "uh oh"

size...
they were all 3 right around 16 pounds at a year.

looks...
all 3 have blue eyes.
hana and brooke have red curly hair. madeline... that remains to be seen, but i am pretty sure it isn't red.
hana does not tan AT ALL. if she gets burned it turns back to white as if it was never there. brooke does tan, but we have to be so careful with her eczema that she always has a farmers tan (because she has to wear the shirt bathing suits). madeline out tans them all. she was more tan this summer than the 2 of them put together. her skin is just a totally different color.
hana and brooke have freckles. not sure about madeline :)

personality...
hana was a very high maintenance baby. everything had to be done at the same time, the same way. she doesn't love change. she was tough until she turned 4, then she mellowed out some. brooke was a totally easy baby. she would sleep whenever. brooke got more difficult at 2. madeline was an easy baby. not as easy as brooke, but MUCH easier than hana. she is coming into her personality now. she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to let you know. but she is easily distracted :)

they are all perfect and wonderful. each made by God to be unique and special. i love them all so much. i am so thankful that i have been blessed with the 3 of them.

oooooh the mountains!

last weekend i got to spend the most glorious 4 days in the mountains! one of the girls from my moms group, her parents have an awesome mountain house and they generously let us come up for a long weekend. it was an amazing time of laughing, talking, sharing, hiking, shopping, eating and just enjoying time away from our daily lives. we got to focus on God and our relationship with friends... i just can not say enough how wonderful it was.
ok enough of that... here are the pictures!

their back porch looked up to grandfather mountain!

our first day of hiking... we hiked down and back up these boulders

us at the top!
the first day of hiking had some small waterfallswaking up to the mountain :)day 2 of our hikes... linville falls
looking down into the valley at linville fallsus on the last night getting ready to go out to dinner

i love you ladies!!!