Halloween cont.

Reagan, 7 months, as a baby chick

Addison, 3 years, as Cinderella

Addison and Reagan

Addison and cousin Pagelynn

Pumpkin carving

On Saturday, before we went trunk or treating, we had my sister Whitnie and her family come over for some Halloween festivities including carving our Jack-o-lanterns.

Addison scooping out the guts

more pumpkin guts

so proud of herself for helping daddy create the design

finished product

our jack-o-lanterns lit up at night

Preschool Halloween Party

Addison's preschool had a Halloween party last week. It was fun to see Addison among her classmates. She talks about all the kids in her class by name, and so it was nice to have a face to go with the names. They went trick or treating to some stores in the area. It was raining that morning, but it stopped as soon as they started, so it turned out to be a nice day. I dressed Reagan up and she was mistaken for a boy about 90% of the time. I finally got tired of correcting everyone, so after awhile I just agreed that "he was a cute baby chick".

The class outside of the bank

Addison as Cinderella

at the grocery store, where they gave out sugar cookies from the bakery, and apples from the produce section

Addison in her classroom on the "circle time mat"

Fall= pumpkins

Fall is right around the corner, and it is pretty much my favorite time of year. What better to do in the fall then visit a pumpkin patch. There is a farm about 1/2 an hour north of here in Southwest City, Missouri, that I took Addison to last fall. We had so much fun that we decided to go again this year. We met up with some ladies from our ward and let the kids enjoy all the fun stuff that the farm offered.

They had 2 really fun slides. This particular one, you sit on a plywood board and the bars would roll you down the slide.

There was a really long, hayride that they stopped various times to "educate" you on how corn growns and how they plant it. Let's just say the kids didn't listen and threw hay at each other the entire time, I didn't blame them though, it was pretty boring.

Addison's favorite, the Cow Train. It was a train of cows that was pulled by a tractor

The pumpkin patch

We were there pretty much the entire day, and Reagan was really good to sit in her stroller the entire time. I had the sun shade down on the stroller, but sometime during the day the sun got her and she got a mild sunburn on her cheeks, nose, and chin. I felt so bad, but she didn't seem bothered by it. What a cutie all bundled up in her jacket!

Sidewalk drawings

The other day Addison wanted to draw on the cement with her sidewalk chalk. She loves to draw people, and if you can see, she does a pretty good job. (I know, I am bragging, but that is what mom's do best!)

Benton County Fair

O.K., so this is a little late, but we went to the Benton County fair a few weeks ago. At Addison's preschool they were learning the letter F and talked about various things that started with the letter F, including the fair. I thought that it would be fun to go to the fair since Addison had just learned about it.
The 1st thing she wanted to do when we got there was to ride the rides. Most of the rides were pretty old and looked like they were going to fall apart, so we stuck to the safest looking ones. The tickets for the rides were too expensive, $1 each and most of the rides took 2-3 tickets, so we limited it to 2 rides. The 2 that we swayed her to go on were:

The ladybug ride,

and the gunny sack slide, that I made Brad go on with her.

We also let her have a pony ride, which was a special treat

I didn't get any pictures of the animals, because that was our last stop, and by that point Reagan was ready for bed and got fussy. We ended up walking through the livestock building pretty fast, but I wish that I got a picture of a goat because they are my favorite.

Reagan, 6 1/2 months

I seem to only post about Addison, so I will change it up a bit and let you all know what is going on with Reagan. She is almost 7 months old, and is growing too quickly. When I say growing, I literally mean growning. At her 4 month appointment she was in the 60th % on her weight. Her height was only in the 30%, so she basically is short and square. We are behind on her doctor's visits, so when we go in for her 6 month visit, I will let you know on her stats then.

I have been feeding her rice cereal now for a few months. This picture is from when she first tried it, as you can tell by her face that it took her awhile to like it. She is now a pro at eating puree'd foods, and opens her mouth nice and wide way before I get the spoon to her lips.

No, she hasn't started crawling yet, thank goodness, and a predict that it won't be for awhile, because like her sister, she hates being on her stomach and doesn't even try to roll over on to her stomach. She will probably learn how to crawl from a sitting position, which brings me to my next subject....

Reagan is sitting up, yeah! It is so nice when the learn to sit up, because they are happy for longer periods of time as they play with their toys.

A few other things about Reagan, she loves her big sister and will only laugh at Addison. I can get her to laugh sometimes, but she really thinks Addison is the greatest! She is usually laidback and delightful, as long as she is napping well. She has finally gotten her 1st tooth, and working on a second, because heaven forbid my kids get 2 teeth at a time!

Addison's 1st day of Preschool

Addison had her 1st day of preschool today, and she was so excited. She woke up this morning and was wanting to go right away. The method of dropping them off at the preschool was great. The parents, just pull up to the door and the teacher comes out to get them and you drive away. Addison didn't even look back, until I yelled out that I would be there to pick her up when preschool was over. She had 2 kids in her class that she knows from church, so hopefully it will be an easy adjustment for her.
When I picked her up after school was over, I asked her what her favorite part about preschool was and she said that it was the slide in the playground. Hopefully she will continue to like it. We will know come Thursday when she goes back for day 2!

Addison, ready for preschool

After school with her teacher, Mrs. Schaffer

Vacation

Last week we went to Utah and Idaho for a friends wedding and to visit extended family. We had a really good time and enjoyed seeing friends and family that we hadn't seen in awhile. We stayed at my grandparents house in Preston, Idaho. We were suprised at how well Addison took to them, and she loved playing with their dog, Mitsy.

Highlights of the trip:

Visiting my uncle and aunt's diary farm, which Addison didn't like too much because it was stinky!

Going to Willow Flats with my grandparents. The weather was so much cooler in the canyon, we loved it!

Attending my childhood friend's wedding. Addison loved seeing Rebecca's dress so much that she wants to marry Brad, so she can wear a white princess dress!

We also did few other things, but didn't get pictures of. We met up with one of Brad's friends from high school, and his family. We stayed the night at one of Brad's cousins' house, and also stayed at one of my aunts. All in all we had a fun time and want to thank all that took us in and allowed us to have such a great time.

"That Little Devil"

One day, a couple of weeks ago, Addison was in the living room watching a program while I was taking a shower. After I got out, I decided to check on her. When I found her on the couch she had quite a chocolate smudge around her face. When I asked her what she had been into she replied with a nonchalant "nothing". I knew she was lying (where do they learn that?), so I asked her again, with which she replied "nothing", this time a little bit louder and annoyed. I proceeded to tell her that I needed her to tell me the truth and that I wasn't going to be mad at her, and that I just wanted to know. She then started to smile and pointed to the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and looked around for some sign of mischief. I couldn't see anything. Addison then ran into the kitchen and stopped in front of me, and says, "Don't say bad words to me mom!". What the heck! I paused to figure out what I have said to her in the past that she might consider bad words. I was speechless, and couldn't help but laugh inside. She apparently didn't want to get in trouble at what she had done, and was afraid that I was going to get mad at her. She finally pointed to the cakestand that was on the counter. I walked over to it, and removed the glass cover to find the top layer of icing, from the cake I had made for Brad's birthday, had been scraped away with little finger swipes! I was just amazed that she got the cover off and put it back without dropping or breaking it. What a funny kid! She never ceases to amaze me.

Garden

Last year was our first year at trying our hand in gardening. It started out well, and looked so pretty. Then, in June, it started to get really hot and we didn't water it as often as we should, so the corn dried out (or maybe we didn't pick it on time), the green beans didn't grown enough to can and the tomatoes did o.k..

This year we attempted it again. We decided to plant carrots, watermelon, and cucumbers (random, I know). The carrots didn't come up at all. I think I planted them too deep and too sparse. The watermelon and cucumbers did great. We had cucumbers comming out our ears for awhile and had so much that we gave quite a few away. Addison loved just having me peel the skin and she would eat an entire cucumber by herself. I also, made pickles out of most of them.

The watermelon too, did very well. Altogether we had/have about 10. All in all I would say this was a successful year for gardening. We will see what will come of next year.

Addison's 3rd Birthday

Addison turned 3 years old last Saturday. We celebrated it with a princess birthday party, that she has been waiting to have for the past year. We are blessed to have so many friends that have children close to Addison's age, and that she was able to have them come to her birthday. We are also blessed that we have family close, and that my family was able to come to the party. We ended up having quite a few kids, because Addison just kept naming off all her friends that she wanted invited, including the cousins.
Addison is getting to be such a big girl, and it makes me sad to see her so grown up! She is such a good big sister to Reagan and always wanting to hug her and kiss her. It has been so fun to see her grow up these past three years and watch all her accomplishments, and as so many parents do, we think that she is too smart for her britches! We love you Addison, and we look forward to watching you grow into a beautiful young lady.

Addison, the morning of her birthday, opening her present from G. & G. Nielsen

Just before her princess birthday party
opening her presents durning her party, pictured with cousin Aspen

blowing out her candle

all of the birthday attendees

Tanyard Creek

We have lived here in Bella Vista now for three years and we had heard about this creek, but had never been. Last Friday was our first time, and we don't know why it took us that long to go. The funny part is, that it is less then 10 minutes from our house! We will definately, go again.

Eeeeeek!

We pretty much love where we live, but there is one bad thing about living in the sticks....the bugs and creepy crawlies. Yes, the chiggers and ticks are gross and you don't want to get bit by them, but even worse than them are all the spiders that we have. The other day we found this big guy outside our garage door! In case you can't see the RED hour glass marking, staring you in the face, it's a BLACK WIDOW.


It was dead, (at least we think it was, because it wasn't moving) and I am glad because it was just waiting for the garage door to open so it could go inside and make a nice nest, in say.. the baby stroller or our shoes!!! Even though it was dead I could just picture it jumping out and biting someone, so I wouldn't let Addison get too close.
As I was leaving to go to town I made Brad direct me, so that the tire of the Pathfinder would run it over and smush it to smitherines as I was backing out. Let's just hope that their isn't babies or it's mate running around lurking outside my door!

My house key beside it to show it's actual size

Too cute for words

Addison found Reagans headband and decided to try it on. What a cutie!

4th of July

On the 4th we went up to Missouri to spend it with my family. We started off going to my sister's house to swim in their pool and have a BBQ. Afterward we went to a local park for a fireworks display. It had been overcast all day, and sure enough as we were waiting for the display to start a big storm cloud rolled in. Of course it waited until the fireworks started before the rain came, so we all had to dash to our cars as it downpoured and we ended up watching them from inside our cars. It was still fun and we had were able to get some cute pictures while we were waiting.

Addison with her cousins, Pagelynn (2) and Kailey (4 1/2)

Addison with a sparkler

Addison and Reagan (yes, my baby eats well, hence the chubby cheeks)

from front left- Pagelynn (2), Addison (2 1/2) holding Reagan (3 1/2 months), Kailey (4 1/2) holding Jaden (2 1/2 months)

Back left- Braxton (6), Keaton (7 1/2), Kelsey (10) holding Emma (3 months) and Kaleb (6 weeks)