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‘Nie Nie' shares story of the crash and her recovery

2009 School Pictures

Here are the kids' school pictures for this year. They wear school uniforms so that's why they're in blue polos :-)

Rylie - kindergarten

Kaeli - 3rd grade

Sam - 4th grade

Don't they look studious?

The Great Pumpkin Mystery

We have had such a funny experience with our jack-o-lanterns which sit on the stairs of our porch. Late on Halloween night just before bed I noticed there were 5 pumpkins sitting outside instead of 6. I realized Sammy's pumpkin had gone AWOL, all except for his lid, which sat right where his pumpkin should have been. I couldn't see any smashed pumpkin remains in the street so I figured his pumpkin met that fate on some other street by some thrill-seeking teenagers. On Monday as I pulled into the driveway and the kids and I noticed there were 4 pumpkins sitting on our steps instead of 5! This time Aaron's pumpkin had gone missing. I actually didn't mind. It's easier for me to have them stolen than for me to haul them to the garbage can. The next day, Kaeli's pumpkin met a different fate than the first two. It was EATEN ALIVE!!! Half the pumpkin lay in the flower garden in front of the porch, the other half undoubtedly in the tummy of a deer. The next day I noticed the three remaining pumpkins had their teeth eaten out, but the rest of the pumpkins remained intact. And finally this morning, this mystery really had me baffled! The three remaining pumpkins had been turned to face the house!!! So the backs of the pumpkins faced the street. How funny is that! And how the heck...? Or should I say, WHO the heck is messin' with me??? Garbage day is Friday, so I intend to keep my pumpkins where they sit and see how this mystery unfolds. And when Friday morning rolls around I will toss any remaining pumpkins, or pumpkin pieces away. I'll keep you posted :-)

Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween! I think my favorite part is dressing up the kids! Here are my little trick-or-treaters:

Sara the monkey

Rylie the witch

Kaeli the ghost

Sam the vampire

And what do my little monsters eat on Halloween night?

BOO-berry pancakes with green milk!

After trick-or-treating we sipped hot apple cider,
bathed the little monsters,
and put them to bed

...dreaming of candy :-)

Our little GHOUL is THREE!

Our sweet Sara turned 3 on Friday! She has looked forward to this birthday for the longest time! Her siblings all have birthdays in the first half of the year, so the wait for Sara to have her own celebration seemed like forever to her. At first she would say her birthday was "coming up", as her birthday got closer she would say it was "Halloween", and finally she was able to say her birthday was "the day before Halloween." Maybe next year we'll work on saying October 30th.

This birthday was so much fun for me because of Sara's sweet innocence of it all! She couldn't wait to have cake and she couldn't wait for us to sing to her! Having presents to open didn't occur to her until the day of. She would ask me if her "birthday" was in the fridge, referring to her cake. Her excitement for it all was through the roof and I loved every bit of it!

Of course Sara had to endure a photo shoot in a new and cute outfit.

Love dem BOOTS!

Sara loves to pretend to be a ballerina, so I couldn't resist this leotard, tutu, and slippers. I figure that out of four girls my odds of having a ballerina are increasing. Maybe it'll be my Sara Kate :-)

This little princess has captured our hearts. Here she is at just a few weeks old...with her crazy dark brown hair that I couldn't ever get to lay down :-) Who knew she would end up with "yellow" hair.

Breaking News!

We just found out that we're not having
a boy or a girl!

We're having a pumpkin!

How can that be?

Oh, this explains it:

Pumpkin Craze!

The kids had a blast cleaning out their pumpkins and sent pumpkin seeds flying in every direction! So much for my "O-kay kids, I only have ONE rule...no pumpkin guts on the floor!" This was the first year I let Sam and Kaeli carve their own pumpkins. Not because I trust them with knives, because I don't yet. But because I found a little carving kit with tiny saws. I didn't think they could do much damage to themselves with them, but the little saws had a different fate. They were broken before the carving was done.

Each kid wanted something different:

Sara wanted a silly face, just like her own! The similarities are scary!

Rylie wanted a mean face! How could something so sweet want something so mean?

Kaeli carved THREE different faces on her pumpkin! Here she is mimicking one of them.

And as always Sam went for the spookiest face he could dream up!

Every year I go for the classic Jack-o-lantern face. I love his jolliness! Aaron couldn't resist his romantic side and gutted out my pumpkin for me. It truly was the cleanest pumpkin I've ever seen! Not a seed or stringy thingy left!

And Aaron's pumpkin isn't one I'd ever want to meet in a dark alley!

Sadly, our little pumpkins are outside braving a little snow storm! Hopefully, the cold passes just long enough for us to enjoy a night of trick-or-treating on Saturday!

Caramel Apples!

We decorated caramel apples!

They were a bit tricky to eat, but oh soooo worth it!

Yum.

where do WITCHES go on SUNDAYS?

To CHURCH of course!

Would you believe me if I told you that vampires do too?

Pickin' PUMPKINS!

It's that time of year again when we can't resist a visit to the pumpkin patch!

My little pumpkins!

A Question for YOU!

We have had all four of our babies use the same car seat. It expired in 2004. So Rylie and Sara both used it although it was past it's expiration. (And yes, we are cheap-scapes.) Do you think it's still safe to use it for our baby-on-the-way? It has never been in a car accident and never exposed to the sun for long amounts of time. I'm still confused how a car seat can expire. If it was safe in 2000, is it still safe in 2010? We honestly don't know, so please share your wisdom! I really don't want to fork out a hundred bucks if I don't have to.

Am I nesting too soon?

I went to the Baby Day Expo on Saturday! There were a ton of vendors selling anything and everything BABY! It was so much fun to see all the creative things for your little ones. I came home with a few ideas of things I can make myself. I can't wait to get started! But I also made a very exciting purchase...a baby SLING! Have you ever seen new mommies walking around with their baby in a sling? It always looks so natural and so comfy for baby. Any way, there was a vendor at the expo (my favorite one there) who was selling slings of all fabrics and colors. They were super cute! You can check them out at their website www.modmum.com. A baby can be carried in a ton of different positions too, not just in the cradle carry. I'm not sure why I am still so revved up over this purchase, but maybe it's because I can't wait to put my new baby in my sling and walk around all motherly-like! Are you catching on to my fantasy or is it all my own? Sadly, I still have 4 loooooooooooong months to go before I have a little one to fill my sling...

Mine is blue, although I'm having a girl. I just liked it the most, and I think that's OK :-)

Nothing welcomes Fall better than an apple pie!

DELICIOUS!

Unfortunately, our little family has BIG appetites and this pie only made it through one sitting!

Fall Photo Shoot

We took our annual trip up Butterfield Canyon to pose in all the autumn splendor! We were so excited to go up with Dawn's family (Aaron's sis) this year, and we took turns taking each other's family portraits. Our goal was to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time, with their eyes OPEN, and to avoid any unfaltering angles of the pregnant woman...not an easy task! Here are a few of our favorites, now it's your job to help decide which one to use in our Christmas letter:

#1:

This one was taken in the exact spot from last year's favorite.
#2:

#3:

#4:
And a few more of our crazy cute kids:
I love Sara's look:

Q. How do you know if you're BIG?

A. When you can reach the light switch!

Sara reminds me every day that she is HUGE! And I tell her every day that she certainly is!!! She may be itty-bitty in size, but she has a GIANT personality, and HUGE blue eyes, and the MOST sweetness you've ever seen! I am sad to think that her days of being my baby are limited. I want her to stay itty-bitty just as badly as she wants to be BIG!

Cousins...

...walking to the park.

The kids REACT!!!

We were lucky to have the sonogram on my birthday! What a perfect gift! When I picked the kids up from school they wanted to know if they were getting a brother or sister, but I told them they had to wait. They spent the afternoon excitedly guessing and then second guessing what they thought. Before opening my presents from the kids, I had a present for them. They were so funny:

IT'S A...

GIRL!

We had our sonogram this morning and got to peak in on our baby! She was very active and wiggly! It was comforting to see that she is right on track with her growth and very healthy. Now we can officially begin our hunt for baby names!

Got any ideas?

HOPE

Many of you know how much I love Nie Nie, although I've never actually met her. I've learned so much through her powerful story and incredible example. Here is an amazing video about HOPE. Nie Nie's story is one that could have caused so much despair, yet she continues to triumph through the power of hope. Her picture is one of the ones at the very beginning of the video with her daughter...before her accident:

What's your bet...BOY or GIRL?

??????

We will find out on Monday!!!