A Happy Hawks Halloween - Part 2

After a fun afternoon at the school carnival, it started to rain. We were lucky because we weren't home more than 20 minutes before it decided to pour. Considering we walked, we felt a sigh of relief that we made it home without any of us getting wet.

We basically stood on our feet for 2 1/2 hours, so we decided to feed the baby (I did anyway) and rest for the remainder of the afternoon. We had an early dinner so that we could head out trick-or-treating before it got too cold with the rain. The kids were all giddy and had a hard time sitting still during dinner. We threatened numerous times that if they didn't sit down and finish eating, there wouldn't be any trick-or-treating at all. That was an empty threat as we never followed through. After trying to get them to eat a bit of dinner, we gave up and cleaned up. Jeremiah did most of the costume prep while I fed the baby again. I had wanted to take Tate and go out with them, but I decided to stay home to answer the door in order to keep the baby dry and warm. I asked Jeremiah to wait to go out until I finished because I didn't want the doorbell to ring while I was feeding him. The kids could hardly contain their excitement as they asked every few minutes "Is he done YET?"

Once I finished feeding Tate, I did Hailey's hair and then made them hold still for just a few seconds for a couple of pictures. You'll see the cowboy sheriff and pinkalicious (yes, that's pink hair) all decked out and ready to go.


We had some lighting issues, so I tried with and without the flash. I didn't particularly like the way this one turned out, but I kept it because Hailey has the most hilarious grin on her face and Zach's ears really stand out against his black cowboy hat.


Once I finished, they raced to get their coats on and out the door they went. They were so excited! Luckily, the rain decided to stop for a few minutes, so I was glad we were ready when it let up.


As you can tell, Jeremiah's thrilled to be taking them out.


I was a bit upset that we weren't able to take Tate out, but I didn't want to get all the way down the street when the rain started up again and have him get cold and wet. So I decided to dress him up in his lion costume anyway and answer the door with him. Everyone loved his little costume! In between answering the door, I took some pictures of just him. They turned out so darling, I just had to include a few.


I'm usually not very lucky at getting pictures of him smiling, but it seems my luck changed that night. I got a whole ton of them!


This one has to be my favorite though. He's the chubbiest little baby and that lion costume is just the cutest thing. He and I had fun for the little bit of time we were home.


Not too much later, the kids came back from trick-or-treating our neighborhood. The weather was still nice, so I decided to take all 3 kids and head over to the other neighborhood to trick-or-treat a few houses the kids wanted to do. Jeremiah decided to stay home and answer the door, I guess he'd had his fill of trick-or-treating. Actually he said he basically had to run to keep with with Zach and Hailey around our neighborhood - they would run from house to house and he could barely keep up with them!

Once we got home and the kids downed at least a pound of candy, we bathed, got on pj's, and put them all in bed. What a fun, but EXHAUSTING day! I love Halloween, but I'm glad it's over for another year!

Libby Lynn Cherry

My little sister just recently had her first baby (yes, this makes me feel old!). After a long, hard delivery, she delivered a beautiful baby girl. She was 7 lbs, 14 ounces and 20.5 inches long. They named her Libby Lynn Cherry - isn't that the cutest name?

Ever since Hailey discovered that Aunt Awa was having a baby girl, she has just been so excited for her to come. Secretly, I think it was a bit of a make-up for our little one being a boy. That's ok, this way she gets a little brother and a new little baby girl cousin.

They wouldn't let us take the kids to the hospital to see Libby, Awa, and Jedd, due to it being cold and flu season, so we patiently waited for them to come home before going up to see them. After a day and a half in the hospital, they finally came home on Sunday, so we decided to drive up to see them.

All day long on Sunday, Hailey kept asking if it was time for us to go see little Libby. During the car ride, she kept asking if we were there yet. And when we actually pulled up to their house, she literally jumped out of the car before Jeremiah stopped the car and ran up the stairs to knock on the door. Think she was a little excited?

Well, you should have seen her face when she saw Libby for the first time. She was so excited and the first thing out of her mouth was: "Can I hold her?" Of course she did and asked about 15 more times in the 2 hours we were there.

I think she loves her little cousin.


In addition to the numerous times she held Libby, she was bound and determined to help out in whatever anyone was doing with Libby. At one time she even followed Jedd into Libby's room to help change her diaper. I'm sure this was about as helpful as it is when she helps me, but Jedd was so great letting her help (thanks Jedd!).

I couldn't resist taking a side by side of Tate and Libby - only 4 1/2 months apart, but look at the difference - Mr Chubb and little Miss Dark Hair.


I can tell these two are going to be great friends. In fact, Jeremiah jokes that Libby is Tate's BFF and I think he's right.

I teared up just a little bit thinking about our little niece Jaycee (who passed away in February of this year) as I saw these two side by side. She would have been just a week or two younger than Tate and wouldn't they have been the 3 little Musketeers? I really felt like Jaycee was there that day, I could really feel her spirit looking down from heaven at her two cousins and telling them to hurry back to her. We sure love you Jaycee and miss you!

Yes, it was a very special day. Thanks Aunt Awa and Uncle Jedd for letting us come visit. We sure love little Libby and we all can't wait to see her again (especially her cousin Hailey)!

Early Halloween Fun

With my sister due to have her baby this week, we decided to take last Saturday and get all our fun Halloween activities done before the baby comes. This year we started out at the pumpkin patch.

I loved the Happy Halloween pumpkins!


Our first stop was the hay maze. The kids just love running around this maze. Of course Ashton and Zach stuck together pretty much the whole time.


As did Hailey and Branson. These two are pretty much unseparable - if they did get separated, they seemed more intent on finding each other than they did trying to get through the maze.


The two older boys thought it was fun to run from the two younger kids, at one point they climbed up on the bridge and kept telling the younger ones where to go - it was hilarious since the younger ones had no idea what they were saying.


After playing in the maze for a bit, we headed into the pumpkin patch to choose pumpkins.


A lot of time was spent searching for the perfect pumpkin!



Even when we had already found that perfect one, we had to compare others we ran across, just in case they were any better.


Tate wasn't sure what was going on, but he was happy just being outside with everyone.


After getting the exact pumpkins they wanted, the kids played in the hay maze some more and then stopped for a quick picture with Nana and Papa. Tate was asleep, so we just pushed his stroller up next to Nana so he was in the picture too. Apparently watching those kids run around the hay maze tired him right out!


Next we headed back to Nana and Papa's to paint and decorate the pumpkins. Everyone chose a different color and the painting began.


Hailey chose a light purple color for her pumpkin ...


while Zach chose green and brown.


Tate hung out next to Papa while I painted his pumpkin for him (he told me he wanted his name in green).


While the pumpkins were drying, Nana had stuff for the kids to decorate their own trick-or-treat bags. They all were so different, but they all turned out great!


Once the kids finished their projects, the bigger boys began carving their pumpkins.


Zach and Ashton decided to help their dads out.


Jeremiah and Zach chose a Washington Husky for their pumpkin.


Tate hung out with Aunt Kylie during some of the pumpkin carving.


I think he's smiling because he knows when little Libby is planning to come, but he's not telling anyone!


He also spent some time in the new bumbo seat. Since he loves to sit up, he's really loving his new little seat. He kept looking at Kylie while he was sitting there, it was hilarious that he wouldn't even look at me long enough to get a picture!


Here's a picture of everyone with their pumpkins. The kids had added some foam stickers to make faces, so they were all finally completed. Don't they look great?


Of course the kids had to show their trick-or-treat bags!


After dinner, the kids got dressed up in their halloween costumes to trick-or-treat at Nana and Papas. We had a cowboy sheriff, hunter, pinkalicious, bear, and lion.


I had to grab a quick picture of our three kids.


And then individuals of each of them. Here's our cowboy sheriff complete with handcuffs, badge, and dart gun. What a handsome boy!


Pinkalicious was in pink from head to toe - including her clothes and even her hair! She was so excited about the pink hairspray we bought.


And here's our little lion. What a cutie with those chubby cheeks!


After the pictures were done, the kids all headed off to trick-or-treat at the different room at Nana and Papa's house. They loved all the treats and prizes that Nana had for them.


This is one of my favorite traditions. As the kids are getting older, they want to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood, so we don't make it up Halloween. It's fun to have an early trick-or-treat where the kids get to dress up and trick-or-treat Nana and Papa.


It definitely was a fun, but busy day! Thanks Nana and Papa for all the fun activities, candy, and prizes - WE ALL HAD A BLAST!

What's That???

It's 8:30 pm.

All 3 kids are in bed and asleep.

Husband is at the church.

Laundry's done.

House is cleaned.

Toys, clothes, and everything else is picked up and put away.

Homework is finished.

Work is done.

There's no one needing snacks, juice, to watch a movie, to be fed, a diaper changed, or any one of a thousand things I get asked or need to do during the day.

And hear that? That's right, quiet. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??? I've almost forgotten what quiet sounded like.

After a rough couple of days, it's nice to finally have a few minutes to sit and think. Wish my husband was here, but he should be back soon. In the meantime, I'm going to sit and just enjoy the peace and quiet. Heaven knows that starting at about 6 am tomorrow the quiet won't be anywhere near here!

Four Months Old

Today was Tate's 4 month check-up at the doctor. That's right, I said 4 months. WHERE ON EARTH DID THE TIME GO??? Well, it must have passed correctly, because Tate has definitely grown. Hard to imagine considering how big he has been, but he has gained in every category. As of today, here are his stats:

Height: 25 3/4" (77th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs (93rd percentile)
Head Circ: 42.8 cm (62nd percentile)

I've had a lot of people ask me how Tate's measurements compare to Zach and Hailey at the same age. Well, I've been meaning to compare all 3 side by side for a while, so here goes:

Height at four months:
Zach: 26 1/4"
Hailey: 25"
Tate: 25 3/4"

Weight at four months:
Zach: 19 lbs, 4 ounces
Hailey: 13 lbs, 9 ounces
Tate: 18 lbs

Amazingly enough, Zach was heavier and a little bit taller than Tate at four months. Hard to imagine since Tate seems SO HEAVY and I don't remember thinking that about Zach. Maybe it's just that I'm much older and my muscles aren't what they used to be. No comparison in weight with Hailey - then again she's always been a skinny little squirt, even when she was little. I still remember us celebrating the day she hit the 10th percentile. All three of them are pretty similar in their height measurements - they're all very tall, although that's no surprise is it?

Here's our chubby little Tate at four months:



Check out those chubby cheeks! Despite the fact that he has acid reflux and spits up all the time, he's still one chubby baby! No worries about him wasting away!


Those last pictures just didn't do the chub justice, so I had to include these ones of him in just his diaper to show the chubby belly, arms, and my personal favorite - those chubby thighs!


Check out those chubby rolls under his arms and at his chest.


And of course that double chin!


I love this child! He just cracks me up!

The other day he was getting a big fussy in his highchair, so I had Hailey run over and grab his binkie to help him settle down for a minute while I finished cleaning up the dishes. We have started setting a few soft toys on the tray for him to play with now that he's actually started grabbing things. One of his favorites is a little bear/blankie toy that he can easily grab and of course put right into his mouth! But with the binkie in there, he basically just grabbed the bear and held it up to him. It was so cute, I couldn't help snapping a few pictures of him cuddling up with his bear.


Is that not just the sweetest thing?


By the time I was done taking pictures, he was actually smiling and giggling - so I guess if nothing else, that not only helped settled him down, but actually made him happy.


It sure has been a fun and wonderful four months. I sure love this little boy and continually wonder how on earth we ever lived without him!?!

Three Cute Kids!

Check out the three cutest kids ever:



What more can I say?

Takin' a Little Nap

You know that silence that is so quite it's almost too quiet? When I hear that type of silence, I know that one of two things is happening:

1. Someone is doing something they aren't supposed to (9 times out of 10 this is the reason at my house) or
2. Unplanned napping is going on.

After a long morning full of football and some lunch, Zach and Hailey headed outside to play and Jeremiah sat down with Tate to watch some college football while I did some work on the computer. After a few minutes, I heard silence from the recliner behind me. As a mother, I was naturally curious what was going on. So I got up ...

And this is what I found:



It was so cute, I HAD to take a picture of these two napping buddies! Don't they look a lot alike?