Lollipop Kids

Preparing for the big candy day...

The Big Pool

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa we have a jacuzzi on loan for the winter. The kids call it the big pool (as opposed to their little blue plastic one from Walmart). Mom and Dad like swimming in this one much better than the little pool although Haylie and James would swim in it every night if they could...

Pumpkin Patch #3

Pumpkin Patch #3 was the annual required trip to Apple Hill. We were so busy in October that we barely made it there. We planned for the Tuesday before Halloween to take a little trip up in the morning. Unfortunately - it wasn't nearly as fun as we had hoped. It was FREEZING and windy and pretty much everywhere was closed. Guess we never tried to go up on a Tuesday morning before. We made the best of it and had fun but the trip was very short lived!

Started off with hot chocolate and apple donuts - YUMMY!!:

The kids ran around for a little while by the pond while we tried to stay warm. I was also experimenting with my new 85 mm lens:

James was working on this apple all day:
On the train ride:


This was spontaneous and uncoached. They were so cute walking back to the car together:
I really wanted to take some pictures of Haylie in the apple orchards with my new lens but there was no way - it was so windy and cold we jumped out of the car for a couple minutes and that was it:

I think she's done:

Crazy Hair

Forgot to comb it down after taking a bath one day...

Baby Boy James

I remember when my sister started reading one day and I couldn't figure out when she learned how to read. I always thought of her as my baby sister and I am still am not quite sure how she grew up and now has 3 kids of her own! Well - I think Haylie is going to have the same problem with James. She loves to baby him and take care of him. She especially loves to hold him like he is a baby. And I will say, most of the time, James doesn't mind it either.

Look how big he is:

Scooter Girl

As a follow up to the video, here are some pictures of "Scooter Girl". Haylie got a scooter for her birthday and wants to ride it everywhere. About a week ago we all went to the downtown area in our neighborhood one evening, to take a stroll and have dinner out on the terrace of a great restaurant. Haylie rode her scooter around time the whole time and she loved it.

So much to blog, so little time

OK so I have gone from once a day, to once a week, to once a month posts. I have folders full of pictures and a mind full of funny stories to blog but just never the time to sit down. Photography has been consuming me and I have made a vow to slow down next year and cut my # of sessions in half. Until then - things are just crazy!!!! I have to figure out how to divide my time between my family, my bank job, my photography job, my friends, my walk with God, and several volunteer projects Micah and I are working on and very excited about. All that leaves no time for blogging but I do want to get better so my remaining 5 readers can keep up to date with us! :)

For now, here is a video from a walk the other day with the kids. We go on a walk almost every day lately. They really love being outside and riding their bikes around the block. They mostly love riding or running down the steep driveways in our neighborhood. Here is Haylie challenging James to a race. He didn't quite get the concept. Ready, Set...

Pumpkin Patch #2

Pumpkin Patch trip #2 was with our Bible Study girls, while all the guys were away at a mens retreat. This was probably the most fun - this was a huge pumpkin patch and we could have spent all day there!!! Prepare for picture overload!

We decided to invite our Moms along for the fun and I was really excited when my Mom said she was able to go. The kids really loved hanging out with Momo and it was fun to spend some quality time together! The funniest part was that all day we were talking about how bad the garlic fries smelled and telling stories about how it comes out of your pores when you eat those things. Then at lunch time, my Mom disappears and shows up with a big batch of garlic fries. Apparently she missed the conversation and thought we might all like to share some - her and Raider ate them all. This was right before we were about to leave and the garlic smell filled up our car the whole way home!

Haylie and Momo watching the pig races:

Waiting for the train:

On the hay ride:

Haylie was obsessed with baby Addison all day long. She held her almost the whole hay ride. It was very cute - she just talked to her and kissed her and showed her the pumpkins. She is such a little Mommy:

Pumpkin Patch #1

We went to the pumpkin patch several times this fall. This actually would have been pumpkin patch trip #2 but we didn't make it to the first one- quick story on that: Our play group planning a little trip to the pumpkin patch and the kids and I were all dressed and ready to go. Meanwhile Micah was at the dentist with Raider while he was getting his wisdom teeth pulled. It ended up taking a little longer than expected so Micah had to run to a meeting and asked me to swing by and pick up Raider and drop him off at home to rest. When I arrived at the dentist they ushered us to the back where Raider was sitting in a chair...SOBBING... - his face was all red and he had so many tears. I asked what happened and they said the anesthesia affects everyone differently - he had been crying since the moment they gave it to him. Poor Guy!!! We headed out to the car and he was a wreck - he just kept crying and he could barely walk, I practically had to carry the big boy out to the car. I quickly assessed that he wasn't going to be ok at home by himself, so we all stayed home with him while he rested.

So, onto Pumpkin Patch trip #1. We went with Haylie's class again this year. Haylie and James really love picking out pumpkins and this pumpkin patch had lots of fun things to do and see.

James really loved the pumpkins:

He did NOT love the animals when they came near him:

Haylie's whole class:

On the hay ride:
Learning to brush the sheep: