Saturday, November 17, 2012

.:Fall Festivities:.

We normally get out and do more in the fall – especially October – but this year, with the move and trying to just be home more meant we didn’t do quite as much. But we still managed to have a few fun outings!

My mom was in town at the beginning of October, so we headed to Cornbelley’s with her, my brother and his family one Saturday. It was such a fun time! We’ve never been before, and that is a mistake! There were so many fun things for the kids to do!

Sitting with Gramzee

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Playing with the little pumpkins

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Riding in the little cow train. Yes, even the adults got to ride. Weee!

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There were potato sack slides, which surprisingly, all of the girls liked. We also went through the kiddie corn maze, which proved to be too difficult for even us adults – we were in there way longer than we should have been!

After the corn maze, we had a snack break to watch the singing chickens.

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We watched some pig races and went on a little ride through the corn field.

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The kids all got some balloons. Crowns for us, of course!

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I have to say that the hit of the day for my girls was the princess land. There was an area full of dress ups that they could wear.

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They could dance on the stage…

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and sit in a princess carriage.

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It was princess heaven for our princess loving girls!

We also headed up to Boo at the Zoo with my brother and his fam later in the month.

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It was super cold at first, but then turned into a beautiful day!

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The kids all had a great time trick or treating, eating candy, and seeing the animals.

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Fall is my favorite!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

.:Harper–One Year Old:.

We have a one year old! I can hardly believe it. This past year has absolutely flown. And before I start gushing about how wonderful Harper is, can I just say, this is the first time I’ve made it to a first birthday without being pregnant! And while I am certainly not ready to be pregnant again right now, there is a little bit of baby itch trying to break through….

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When you’ve got kids as cute as ours, it’s hard not to want more sometimes! :)

Harper is just so good. I say that every month, but she has seriously been the easiest baby with the best temperment. Which is good because she has been the most horrible sleeper, so I guess she knows she has to make up for that.

Harper is such a busy body. She is always into everything! Her new latest find are the dvds. She is constantly pulling them out, pushing the button to open the playstation, and pulling the dvds out of there. Harper has also discovered the trash cans in our bathrooms, and likes to pull random things out of there, too. Yeah, gross. She still crawls all over – a lot with her funny spidey crawl – and doesn’t seem to have much interest in walking. She’ll walk with a walker toy, or push a little chair around, but she doesn’t really want to try to walk without holding on to our hands or something else. She has more balance than she realizes, but doesn’t really do much with that either. Once she figures it out, she will be running all over with her sisters; it’s going to be crazy!

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Harpie is still super loud a lot of the time. She loves to squeal and shout, and often all three of them get going with a screaming contest. Harper can say a few words: mama, dada, uh oh, and peek-a-boo that I’ve noticed. There may be more that I just haven’t realized she can say yet. Even her babbling seems to have taken on new meaning lately; more inflection and sounds. It’s pretty cute!

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Harper is still an amazing eater. She’ll eat just about anything we put down in front of her. She hates waiting to be fed, and if I ever leave the pantry open, she will get in and find something for herself to eat. We moved Harper to milk about a month ago when I went out of town and decided to wean her. She had no trouble with weaning at all, and loves her bottles.

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These three girls just adore each other, and are always playing together. It is fun to see all three of them play together, but also to see them pair off from time to time. It’s fun to see that they will all have their own relationship with one another. Sisters make the greatest friends!

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Harper has four teeth. I love when she flashes her toothy smile! The teeth and the dimple, well, she’s pretty stinking cute I’d have to say!

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The past couple of weeks have been a little rough for poor Miss H. She had roseola, which started out as a fever for about a week with no other symptoms. She was super snuggly (which I loved) but also lethargic and so not herself. It was so sad. She's battling a fever again right now (teething maybe?) but I'm ready for her to just be healthy!

We just adore our sweet girl and can’t imagine our lives without her! How did we get so lucky???

At one year old, Harper likes:

- eating
- smiling
- laughing
- waving
- peek-a-boo
- dancing
- singing
- Frosty the Snowman stuffed animal that plays music (she cuddles it like no other!)
- standing
- crawling
- playing with Reece and Remi
- dvds
- pushing buttons
- treats
- toys
- pushing things as she crawls or cruises
- clapping
- screaming
- yelling
- talking
- babbling
- books
- tubs
- playing with her hair (or anyone else’s!)
- kneeling
- exploring



At one year, Harper does not like:

- diaper changes
- being put to bed (about half of the time)
- being confined to a stroller or shopping cart (learn how to walk then!)
- waiting for food
- being left alone for too long

Love this beautiful girl!

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Monday, October 22, 2012

.:Reece’s Fourth Birthday:.

Reece totally understood that it was her birthday this year. Starting clear back in about July. Every time we were at the store, she would inform me of the things she wanted for her birthday. Which was pretty much anything that caught her eye.

But it was super fun to have her so excited, and I think it’s safe to say that she loved every part of it!

We started off the morning of her birthday with a decorated door, decorated kitchen with birthday chair, and special cake mix pancakes, complete with sprinkles!

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We were able to open up a few presents before Josh had to go to work.

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And then playing with them of course!

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Then it was time to get ready for school. She wanted to wear her new necklace, and brought cake pops for her class.

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After school, we went to Target with some of her friends for her to choose something to buy with her birthday money.

We went out to dinner with Sam, Nikki, and fam to Noodles & Co. Sam and Reece share a birthday, so it was fun to celebrate with them. Plus, Reece got to have her favorite: mac & cheese!

Then it was home for more presents!

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We had her birthday party the following weekend. It was her first friends only party, and it went really well! Reece loves to help me in the kitchen, so we did a little baking party. I had planned to have the kids decorate their own aprons, and then decorate their own cakes.

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First the kids decorated aprons.

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After decorating aprons, it was time to decorate their own personal cakes!

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Then it was time for presents!  We snagged a group shot before digging in to some cupcakes and juice.

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Reece loved it and was spoiled by all of her family and friends!

Here are some questions I had Reece answer for her four year old interview:

What is your favorite color? PINK
What is your favorite food? MAC & CHEESE
What is your favorite treat? TOOTSIE ROLL
What is your favorite toy? PRINCESSES
What is your favorite book? WINNIE AND THE POOH
What is your favorite movie? ANASTASIA
What does Daddy do at work? BUYS STUFFS
What does Mommy do? GOES SHOPPING
Who do you like to play with? REMI
What do you learn at school? FISHIES THAT SWIM

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Sunday, October 14, 2012

.:Harper–11 Months:.

One month away from turning one? How did this happen? I feel like I’ve blinked and this entire year has flown by with the Harpster.

We sort of missed her 10 month post. That was right when we were in the midst of moving, so hopefully she’ll forgive me when she reads back on this someday.

What can I say about our little Harpie? She is still such a good baby. She is still stinking adorable.

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Harper is busy. She is crawling, exploring, and venturing into walking all over the place. She loves to climb up on the trundle bed and see what is going on up there. She still does her spidey crawl on the hard floors most of the time, and it is seriously spider like when she gets going fast. It’s kind of amazing how quick she is crawling like that! Harper has started to show some interest in walking. She can walk holding on to one or two hands, and has just within the past week started to enjoy pushing the walker around. She has pretty good balance when she squats down from standing to the floor, but I don’t expect her to start walking anytime soon. We’re in no rush, so whenever it happens, it happens!

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Harper is loud. She loves to squeal, shout, scream, and just make noise. Often her sounds are accompanied with a cheesey face/grin, and it’s hard to do anything but laugh when she does it. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that such loud sounds can come out of her little body! She talks and babbles quite a bit, and I think that sometimes she says ‘mama’ with meaning. But a lot of it is still just babbling. With her teething, she is often running her tongue over her teeth, and it sounds like she has an accent with a lisp. It’s pretty cute!

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Back in Harper’s nine month post, I was praising her for still sleeping well and being happy with her first two teeth coming in. I am eating those words, big time! She’s only had a few days where she has been seriously fussy with her top front teeth coming in, but her sleep…oh, her sleep. It’s been absolutely horrible! And I’ve just been compounding it by feeding her quick so that I can go back to bed myself. We might have to get tough this week and try to get her off this habit, but the past three weeks have been cursed with multiple night wakings. It’s like having a three month old again! I’m hopeful it will even out soon. I don’t usually need a lot of sleep myself, but I definitely need more than I’m getting!

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Harper is a fantastic eater! She’ll basically eat anything we put in front of her. Her sisters were both this way, and while I wouldn’t say they are picky eaters, they are definitely pickier than they used to be. I’m hoping we can steer clear of that with Harpie. She loves to eat and gets so excited when she sees me getting her high chair tray ready with food. Harper is also a champ with her sippy cup and bottles. She takes them no problem, doesn’t matter what’s in it or if it’s warm or cold, she’s just all over it. Weaning her will hopefully not be too bad.

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Harper adores Reece and Remi. And the feeling is quite mutual! They are always playing together, and it just warms my heart to see how much they love each other. I know they will be the best of friends growing up and beyond.

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We love our little Harpie, and just love the stage she is in right now.

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At 11 months, Harper likes:

- eating
- crawling
- standing
- dancing
- screaming
- yelling
- shouting
- walking with walker or holding on to someone’s hand( s )
- playing with Reece and Remi
- music
- clapping
- Mommy’s singing (still!)
- drinking out of cups
- chewing on fingers
- binky
- Baby Einstein
- books
- tubs
- toys
- kneeling
- exploring
- laughing
- being tickled
- playing with the dvd’s
- jumping
- grabbing
- nursing
- playing with her hair

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At 11 months, Harper does not like:

- teething
- being in car seat or stroller for too long
- sleeping through the nite (not cool!)
- being left alone for too long
- waiting for food

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Love this sweet baby girl!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

.:Remi–2.5 Years Old:.

Oh, how I love this feisty girl!

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Remi is just turning into such a little girl lately. Her speech has reeeeaaalllly taken off! She is speaking in sentences a lot of the time, and in general, is so much happier because she can communicate with us. I guess she really was listening and learning all the time! We still get some of her jibberish when she gets really excited about something, but overall, she is a talking fool! She’s caught us by surprise by knowing some of her colors and being able to count! Go Rem!

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Even with her improved speech, Remi still has plenty of attitude! She has started to swipe at people when she is upset about something, and often when you ask her to do something, she responds by blowing a raspberry your direction and running away. Such a little stinker! She did it her first day of nursery in our new ward, which made me laugh! Get used to it, nursery leaders!

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For some reason, Remi does not like to get her picture taken. Usually she will get mad at me, hide her face, or run away. She’s getting a bit more tolerant, but not usually to the point that she will smile. Mostly she’ll just stare at you like, “Get this over with already, would you?” Just fits our Rem!

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Remi is our shoe girl! She is obsessed with shoes! It is a constant battle to get her to stay out of the closet, switching out her shoes every ten minutes. She will often fall asleep wearing shoes, and loves to try on any adult shoes that she can find laying around as well.

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Remi and Reece are just the best of friends. I love watching them play together, using their imaginations, and having their little conversations. It is so cute! They love to dress up and ‘go to the beach’ or play house. Remi can often be found wearing a pair of shoes, a dress up dress halfway on, pushing the stroller around the house. She also loves to make Harper laugh and smile.

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We just love our beautiful, red headed Rem and can’t imagine our lives without her!

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At 2.5 years old, Remi likes:

- treats
- books
- shoes
- dressing up
- tubs
- playing with Reece and Harper
- climbing
- jumping
- dancing
- singing
- talking!
- movies
- princesses
- being dirty
- getting her back and arms tickled
- milk
- exploring
- wandering
- bags/purses
- pushing things (strollers, etc.)
- being silly

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At 2.5 years old, Remi does not like:

- being told ‘no’
- getting her head wet
- not getting her way
- being in a stroller or shopping cart

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