Lindsey Turns one!

Honestly I didn't think I would be this together, this at peace, this happy when Lindsey turned one. Back when we were suprised with my pregnancy with her I was PETRIFIED of what life would be like with 3 so little, so close in age. But I have SURVIVED--and what's better, I've THRIVED! Heavenly Father loves me so much, he knew exactly what I could handle and what would force me to seek his hand in ALL things. So here's to being blessed and for letting the MASTER PLANNER bless me with an amazingly sweet and snuggly and precious little spirit. I am SO very glad she's here!!

Have you ever been sick on your birthday? This little one was, on her VERY FIRST ONE! Poor little guy had raging fevers off and on all day the day before and now the day after they're still raging a bit. She was pretty miserable. Good thing we had lots of willing hands and arms to hold her.

Here she is with Aunt Ray-ray. She wasn't able to be here the night before for all the festivities so we appropriately got our kids back in their costumes to show them off. How fun!! (PS: Kaitlyn was talking in every shot, so this was the best one--she can be quite the motormouth!!)We had a casual family lunch and cake celebration. My parents and Stephen's sister Rachel came to celebrate with us. I remember Kaitlyns 1st birthday and what a fiasco I tried to make it, this was so much better, so much more relaxed and fun. Frankly I'm quite proud that my 3rd even got a 1st party. But hey it's a celebration for me and her right? Here is the obligatory eating birthday cake shot. So sweet!!

Happy Birthday Lindsey!!

Happy Halloween

Here is our wonderful crew on Halloween night. What a hoot! We were excited! Kaitlyn had been counting down the days and laid out her costume appropriately about 4 days early and gave strict instructions not to let anyone touch any aspect of it. Sheesh!

Lindsey thankfully fit into this old costume that Sam wore on his first Halloween. She was so snuggly and adorable. Too bad she'd woke up that morning with a fever and had a rather yucky day. Thank goodness her fevers cleared up for a bit in the evening to go trick or treating with the family.

For WEEKS Sam was telling everyone he was going to be "Just like Bob for Christmas". Man did that get some puzzling looks. But here he is, "just like Bob", for Halloween! He was a PERFECT Bob the builder, he even looks like him with round head and face! His shirt was this perfect 2nd hand clothing store find for $4! I totally scored!!

And finally our Kaitlyn, who was a PINK princess last year, informed me that she wanted to again be a princess, but not a pink one, a PURPLE one. She loved the crown, the wand, and of course, wearing make-up!

Okay, and can we just talk about the HAUL our kids made?!?! We just went one little loop around our immediate neighborhood. Lots of people had just left out bowls on their doorsteps and we were good only to take one piece, unless of course they had signs begging us to take "at least 3" (good grief--what are they--a dentist?). But even with many homes not even giving out candy, this is what our community family candy bowl looks like now:

And because we're mean parents our children have a limit of ONE piece of candy a day. We figure this bowl will last us until at least 5 years or something ridiculous like that.