Miscellaneous Claire cuteness

Let us never be accused of taking fewer pictures of our third baby than the others. For some reason I just CANNOT stop taking pictures of Claire. She is such a cutie! Sorry she's looking so old - I don't know how that keeps happening!

Some Winter Gorgeousness

Okay, I'm not really a fan of winter or anything, but we had this amazing day where every inch of every tree was covered with frost. It was breathtaking.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Well, there goes Fall. It was nice while it lasted.

Time to get used to a whole new lifestyle, wardrobe, and vocabulary. I have to wear big old boots to work and then change my shoes when I get there. So weird! I'm learning all about scraping my car, driving in the snow, and buying/wearing socks. Interesting.

Of course when you're a kid there's nothing not to love about the snow. The kids have been just giddy over it, and very devastated when a day goes by that they don't get to go out and play. The concept that it'll be here for the next six months at least just cannot compute in their California-born brains. Of course, they have a mother who doesn't understand the concept of socks, so I guess I can't be surprised.

Saturday we finally had the manpower to get all six kids dressed in snow gear and outside to play. Other than Claire, the kids had a great time! The backyard we share with my aunt's family has this great hill that is just perfect for sledding, and the kids entertained themselves all afternoon while we watched from inside the house. Now that's a win-win.

Getting the kids all ready to go out in the snow. Not an easy task, x6.

^^^ That's a picture of poor Claire crying her eyes out after she toppled over and faceplanted into the snow. It was awesome. Sadly, Marci took pity on her and brushed the snow from her face before I could take a picture. But at least I got the aftermath. :)

Since these pictures were taken we have gotten a TON more snow. Winter, here we come!

Halloween

So growing up my mom always liked to entertain us by telling us about Halloween in Alaska, and how it was always snowy and you had to wear all your winter clothes over your costume, so trick-or-treating was miserable and you couldn't tell what anyone was supposed to be. She loves to describe her amazement when we moved to San Diego and she realized that people actually spent time, money, and care on Halloween costumes.

So this year was our first year with a cold Halloween, and my what a difference. Not as bad as my mom described (this year), but COLD!!! Funny to go from worrying that your kid will be too hot Trick-or-Treating in the 80 degree heat, to worrying about their limbs actually freezing off.

First, a few of the kids in their costumes. Amazingly, we got decent individual ones this year. A picture of all of them together was a joke, like always. Take a good look at the costumes here, because the winter gear's comin' on soon!

On Saturday we went to Trick or Treat Street downtown, where the kids could go from store to store collecting candy. Fun, other than the fact that I think it was less than 30 degrees out. But look - no snow!

Halloween Fun

Despite the lack of a pumpkin patch (yes, I must mention that in every post) and the possibility of snow by Halloween, we still managed to get in some festive fall activities.

Marci and I had a Wicked party where the girls dressed up like witches and we listened to the Wicked soundtrack and made delicious caramel apples.

Kenley and a new little friend

The cutest little naughty witch there ever was

Taking great care with the apple decorating

Marci and I racing to decorate the "gourmet" caramel apples. One had toffee bits and milk chocolate and one had Oreos and white chocolate - YUM!

We also had to carve pumpkins, of course! I was looking forward to getting to carve the pumpkins more than a day in advance here. In California you always had to wait until almost Halloween or they would get all moldy. But sadly, we did wait until almost Halloween just because we are slackers, and then we kept the pumpkin inside afterwards so it still molded. Oh well. I've heard that if you leave the jack-o-lanterns outside then the moose eat them, so maybe here, it just never ends well. :)

 This is Parker's sketch of what he wanted for his pumpkin.

Sleep, please?

Claire has this new thing where she goes to her crib just before bedtime and sobs and tries to climb in. I thought babies this age were trying to climb OUT of the crib?

Fall Leaves

A few Saturdays ago, we decided to rake a bunch of leaves in the front yard and let the kids jump in them. That has been one of Kenley's dreams for many years now, so she was in heaven. I've had a few people ask for pictures of the house and the yard, so I tried to get some of those as well.