Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had a fun night of costumes and trick-or-treating. This year Jaclyn was Tinkerbell (but in a different outfit she says), Ashlyn was a cat, and little Kendall was a blooming flower. It was fun!


Since we have a whopping 4 houses in our development, we went trick-or-treating with some friends, the Hunters. Here are our girls and Lydia and Elise (they were Hawkeye cheerleaders, much to my husband's dismay!)
(Ashlyn is sad at this point, cause she had just dropped Kendall and had gotten in trouble. You can see that Kendall was fine, but it took Ashlyn a while to get over it. At least she has a tender heart toward such things!)
We hope you all had a fun night with your own family. Now we're one step closer to Christmas. Yikes!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Happy Birthday, Baby!


Kendall had her first birthday last week, October 21st!
She was such a delight on her birthday, actually trying to blow out the candles on her toy birthday cake after her older sisters did it. This girl seems to be a little bundle of fun, and I can't wait to see her personality develop more and more.
So, let's see. What is she currently doing...
* Crawling around everywhere. She loves the back section of this little toy train that she has. It's small enough that she can pick it up and maneuver it, so she holds onto it and crawls around with it.
* She shakes her head "no" to almost any question you ask her. The girls love to ask her, "Do you love Mama?" and of course, she shakes her head, "no", and they roll over, laughing.
* She gives very good hugs and wonderful, open mouth kisses! I love them!!
* She likes to "read." She'll open a book, tap her finger on the words, and babble. So cute.
* She likes to put things in my hand. I'll just be sitting there, and she'll crawl over to me, open my hand and put something in there...and that something is usually nothing, just pretend, but I, of course, say "thank you" and give it right back to her. She'll do that over and over.
* She loves her family. She gives Mommy and Daddy the best welcomes when we come home. She crawls as fast as she can to us, or kicks her legs until we come get her. And, if her sisters are with her and then walk away, she has something to say about that too. It's definitely best when we are all together.
So, here are some pictures of her first birthday. I had to teach on her birthday, so Marcie brought her to school at lunch time and my class enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to her and eating sugar cookies. That was a lot of fun. Then, that evening, we celebrated at home together.

Then on Saturday, we had an extended family party at Grandma Pitcher's house in Des Moines. The girls always love being with their cousins, so it was a special day.



Here she is with her little 1st birthday cake. She is still not eating solid food (she gags a lot), so I wasn't sure what she would do with her cake. So, we sang to her and I put it in front of her, and she really didn't do anything. So, I decided to help her by putting a little bit of frosting in her mouth. Well, that didn't go over quite as I had planned. She gagged on it, and then threw it up! (Not a huge amount, but enough for me to feel bad!) So, she never did eat any of her cake. But, I did give her a fork and she enjoyed demolishing it. :)




Sunday, October 24, 2010

Time to carve those pumpkins!


Let the festivities begin! The girls had a lot of fun carving pumpkins tonight. Aunt Jill always comes and carves with them, and it's usually the adults who end up doing most of it, but it's still fun. Actually, I'd say this year they were both more involved than they ever have been in the past. I guess they're growing up!














Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pumpkin Patch Pictures


We had a chance to go over to the Bass Farms Pumpkin Patch today with Grandma Pitcher and Aunt Jill. The girls had a blast and just enjoyed being outside on this beautiful fall day. We got to take a tractor ride, pick out pumpkins, and look at some gorgeous fall plants and flowers.
Just a nice Autumn tradition.














Sunday, October 3, 2010

Someday



Someday...

I will only have to get one person ready in the morning: myself

We will all attend Daddy's volleyball games, and it will be enjoyable

I will clean the house, and it will stay clean for the rest of the day

Going shopping with my girls will be something that's relaxing

I will do dishes without a little one clinging onto my legs, and I will load the dishwasher without that same little one pulling out all the silverware

I will sit at the computer without that still same little one clawing up my leg and crying to be held (and then once I pull her up onto my lap, she pounds at the keyboard with intensity...it's actually kinda cute)

Yes, someday.

But,

Today...

I am hugged intensely by my sweet 11 month old, and she longs for me

I am the most important person in the lives of my girls (along with Daddy, of course)

I hear laughter and singing filling our home

I am my girls' teacher, confidante and best friend

I am blessed