Trick-or-Treat?!

The cutest little ladybugs EVER! We had a good Halloween. I finally put all the pieces of the girls costumes together and I think they turned out pretty dang cute! Nena made the wings of coarse, and I made the tutu's the hair stuff and then of coarse there were the leg warmers. My favorite part! The pictures do NOT even do them justice, they looked unbelievably cute and we got a ton of compliments... although, the second we walked through the doors to the party Marlee informed me that she wanted to be a cat (Mind you,that was the FIRST costume I bought and returned for her this year!). Anyway, Collin didn't dress up, so he's not in any pictures. I was Angelina ( I know...I wish!) But, with my hair dark now, it made an easy costume! We took Marlee trick-or-treating for the first time and she absolutely LOVED it. She has SO much candy, I am gonna have to hide most of it tomorrow. Well, it is 11:58, so before I am too late...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

(Sorry one again for the overload of pictures, believe it or not, we both have out of state family who actually LIKE all these pictures of the girls...)

This was the best "Angelina" looking picture of the evening...

I know, it's a stretch (and my tattoos are on the other arm!)

Me and Jessica, and NO, she is not an 80's prostitute.

Ava and Marlee

Marlee and the triplets

4 for 1

I find myself needing to catch up before Halloween, so this is gonna be several posts all rolled into one. Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. Collin had a BIG paper due today so he hasn't been around much the last 2 weeks or so. That leaves the girls and I to find our own fun! As I mentioned in a previous post, I took Marlee to go see High School Musical 3 on Saturday in Sioux City. It was nice to have an afternoon just the two of us. We had lunch, walked to mall, and saw the movie. She LOVED it. I think I enjoyed watching her, more than I liked the actual movie (though, it was pretty cute!). Here she is in all her HSM gear:I can't get a nice normal smile out of this child to save my life!

Kenna is still growing like crazy. She is LOVING being able to crawl for real now and getting into all sorts of trouble. Eating EVERYTHING in sight that I didn't manage to catch with the vacuum and starting to pull things down off shelves and tables. She is doing a little better with the ear infections, but I can still tell she is feeling tender. Last night after her bath I set her on my bed and combed her hair. As an infant she had that natural faux-hawk. But, now her hair is getting so long it doesn't really to it anymore...unless it is wet. Hope nobody is offended by these, but I am SO in love with her rollie-polly chubby baby body. I think she is so perfect.

She even has knee fat! Now, how can you not love this?

And this....my little toothless wonder. Still no sign of any teeth in this gummy little smile.

As we all know, Marlee loves to play dress up. I put her down for a nap last week and when I heard something about 30 minutes later I came upstairs to find her in this...in my closet. I don't even know what to say about that...And last but not least, we had FHE at the church with some friends on Monday and carved pumpkins. According to Bianca's Winner Board I came in 3rd. (I won't mention it was out of 4, Ha!) Anyway, here are all of our pumpkins. Mine is the one on the end on the right. And no, it's not a Monkey (thanks a lot Collin) its a CAT!

Wish Granted

Ok, so I got what I asked for. I slept ALMOST all night. I got up to feed her at 5:00 a.m. and as a matter of fact she is still sleeping! Well, it is almost 11:00 now, so I am gonna go wake her up. Thank you Kenna!

Sleep?

Poor Baby

Today was a long day. Last night, I went to bed about 11:30. Makenna woke up at 12:00 for the first time, screaming. I got her back down about 12:45. She woke up again at 2:00, screaming, got her back down at almost 3:00. Then AGAIN, screaming, at 4:00. What the??? For any of you who know my daughter, she is NOT a cryer...EVER. She is the most quiet and mild-mannered baby I think I have ever met (I am NOT complaining). Needless to say, I knew something was wrong. This morning I took her in to the Doc and he told me she has a double ear infection. Poor thing, of course she couldn't sleep. This is her first ear infection and first time on antibiotics. She looked so sad today, well behaved, just sad. She has those "sick eyes" that are kinda teary and red all day. It breaks my heart and I hope she feels better tomorrow. To top it off, I decided to take a nap while Marlee napped today to try to make up some sleep, but OF COURSE, she wouldn't go to sleep, so no nap for me either!

It is now almost midnight again and I just got home from the YW sleepover. I am REALLY hoping we both get some sleep tonight.

Tomorrow is "High School Musical Day", Marlee and I are going to Sioux City for the afternoon to see it. She is SOOOOO excited, I have been hearing about going the the theater all week! She was even self-dressed in a dress, shoes and hair done today when I got back from the Doctor and said, "Mom, I ready for the theater!" It was cute. I am excited to take her, she gets so excited for this kind of stuff.

The Pumpkin Patch

My pumpkinsYesterday afternoon we packed up the kiddos and drove out to the Pumpkin Patch. There were a few of our family friends that went with us. We got there and it was really cute, they grow apples there also, so they had jam, apples, pie, salsa, dip mix... all sorts of goodies! We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch (which I think was Marlee's favorite part) and Marlee found "the pumpkin". Makenna loved it just because we were all together and having fun!

They got to play in the hay maze and pick some apples. It was a gorgeous afternoon and was like 65 degrees. We had a wonderful day!

**I know there are a TON of pictures, but it was just such a fun day, and I can hardly pass up an excuse for pictures with the family all together!**

We LOVE having Daddy around for a fun afternoon. With him being in school we don't get to spend a ton of time together as a family. Thanks for sacrificing some school work to spend the afternoon with us Babe, it meant a lot. Love you!

Marlee-isms

*Forgive if this post seems a little scattered, I have been adding to it for several days*

Marlee has been saying and doing some of the funniest things lately. I thought I better write some of this stuff down to laugh at later on in life.

Last week I swear she was 3 going on 15. For about 24 hours she was totally acting like a teenager. I don't know what got into her. In that 24 hours we had the following conversations:

I am doing Marlee's hair for the day and she says:

Marlee: "Mom, I wanna dye my hair"
Me:"What did you just say?" (Thought maybe I heard wrong)
Marlee: "I said, I just wanna die my hair brown"
Me: "No, why would you want to do that"
Marlee:" Because I told you mom, I just wanna dye my hair!!!"

Later that day, we get in the car to go to the store and I see her pouting in the back seat:

Me:"What's wrong?"
Marlee:"Ugggghhh (rolling her eyes)....I just want to drive!"

As If I would just say ok, and hand over the keys!

Three days ago she woke up from her nap, got her portable DVD player went into Makenna's room, and woke her up. Climbed into the crib turned the movie on and then turned on Makenna's room heater. When I heard them, I went in and smelled something burning. The stuffed animals along the heater were singed. I tried explaining to her that it was not safe and she could burn the house down.

Me:"Marlee, if you turn on the heater it could start a fire and burn our house down"
Marlee:"Oh, and then we get a new house!" (smiling)
Me: "No, it's not that simple. We could get hurt, sissy (Kenna) could get burned!"
Marlee:"Oh.....its ok, I'll kiss it better!"

Today I was bathing her and all of a sudden she held her hand out (to shake mine) and said:

Marlee: "It's so nice to meet you..."
Me:"It's nice to meet you too"
Marlee:"My name is Rapunzel (ok, she says it "Compunzel")
Me:"Hello Rapunzel, my name is Cinderella"
Marlee:"Uh...no, you're mommy!"

Ok, one last one, just from this morning. I woke up thinking there was a bug on my face, but when I opened my eyes, it was Marlee:

Marlee:"You need some lipstick mommy?"
Me:"No, I'm ok, thanks"(it is first thing in the morning!)
Marlee:"But, I have lipstick, I'm so pweeeeettty!"

As soon as I opened my eyes all the way, I could see how "pretty" she really was. With lipstick all over her face! She looked like a clown, she's lucky I didn't try and attack her after waking me up looking like that!

She just cracks me up. Every day is such an adventure! I hope I can always remember this time in her life. I know this post probably seems silly and irrelevant to most of you, but I had to write it somewhere to remember how sweet, sassy and silly she is!

D-Days

Marlee...believe it or not, she was NOT posing. I just have to try and get kandids of her because she refuses to be a nice girl and actually look at the camera and smile for a picture!

Kenna with her Cheerios

Last week was Dakota Days at USD. Which for those non-coyotes is homecoming week. Every year they have a parade down on Main Street ,and this was our third year going. It was definitely Marlee's favorite year. She ended up getting quite a bit of candy. Maybe now she doesn't need to go trick-or-treating! Anyway, we had a great time despite the cool weather and I was sad to realize this would be our last one. In case you hadn't noticed, I am starting to get sad and sentimental about leaving this place... anyway here are some of the parade pictures.

Marlee and Ava watching the cheerleaders do tricks

Ava waiting for candy...This is what Collin thought of being in a picture....freakin' punk!
EmmersonMarlee and the Toby's chicken... or "big bird" as she would say

Brenda and Annie

Prentice Park

Every year (until it gets cold anyway) we enjoy going to play at Prentice Park. It is nice and big, not to mention beautiful this time of year. It has a ton of different things for the kids to do, and they can just run wild! We went this week with some of Marlee's best buddies here, and I got some pretty cute shots! Man, I am gonna miss this place...and even more, these people!

Marlee

Joseph

Eva

Annie

Eva, Jacob and Marlee

Looking at these pictures, I can't help but realize how much Marlee has changed since we moved here. Her entire life that she remembers so far. She was not even a year old when we came to SD. She has grown up so much, so fast. Too fast, if you ask me. I found these pictures of her on this same merry-go-round our first and second year here and had to laugh. What a big girl she has grown to be...

First Year

Second Year...

Third Year... Vermillion has been so good to us...what am I gonna do next year without all my friends and Vermillion "family"?