Easter '15

I was hoping for a great Easter like last years was but I was forgetting one thing. Last year Scarlett was a cute little 4 month old who was just content to be held, this year she runs around and gets into mischief. It was still good, just a bit more stressful.

Saturday evening we dyed Easter eggs. Miller was so excited and got really into it. We all wore our bunny ears except Scarlett. They were off as soon as they pictures were taken.

Every egg Scarlett got her hands on went into the blue.

This is about as perfect as you can get for a family picture with these two. I really love it!

Two days before Easter, we were over at Luke's house and Miller figured this out. For the whole day, this was his spot in the jeep. No other could would attempt it. I am really worried that this is foreshadowing out future in 14 years.

This picture started with only Isla and I was pregnant with Miller. We have 7 kiddos now and will be adding more to this crew next year.

I am so glad we take this big group shot, and this was such a good one. (Please notice Miller peeking over my head on the bottom right. He was making a different face in every picture we took.)

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween from Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf!!!

You know I love comparison pictures so I could not resist looking at our Halloweens of the past. I get a little sentimental with this holiday since it was the first one we had Miller for and he was only 3 weeks old.

We have been in full force Halloween mode this month. We have done lots of activities that are themed for Halloween and I think Miller has really enjoyed it. Here we made a spider web out of crepe paper for Miller to climb through. It lasted about a day until Scarlett destroyed it.

We also used crepe paper to make Miller a mummy. He loved this one but it fell apart with every step he took.

He said that this bat was a broom so he practiced flying around the room.

She was wearing one of the props from Miller's party.

The weekend before Halloween, we planned on going to Boo at the Zoo. We had to run to Knoxville last minute so we decided to go there. We had heard it was packed but we were shocked when we found that traffic was backed up on the shoulder a mile before the exit to the zoo. We decided to skip it and go find something else to go to since by the time we would get there, it would be over. We got off at the next exit and decided to just go by the main entrance to see how busy it was. We had to take some side roads because of construction and ended up just arriving in the parking lot and bypassing all the traffic. It was awesome!

Earlier this week we carved our pumpkins. I LOVE this part of the holiday but I can not wait until the kids are old enough to help. It was mostly me doing everything while the kids ran around the deck. This is the extent of Scarlett's participation.

Here is how our pumpkins turned out. Miller has a book that goes through the typical Halloween monsters (witches, vampires, frankenstein, etc.) in a cute way but his favorite has been the "musty dusty mummy" and the "boo boo boo oogity ghost". We decided to do our white pumpkin as a mummy and he insisted on doing a cat for the other one.

Happy Halloween!

Happy St Patricks Day 2014!

I love St Patrick's Day. With a bunch of things going on and just getting back from a week in TN, we are not really celebrating properly but I still love it.

You have my permission to kiss her because she is Irish (and super cute). 

They definitely give me the side eye when I set them up for mini shoots.

Happy Valentine's Day 2014!!!

Happy Valentine's from us and our two loves! 

She was so over taking pictures. 

Miller was puckering up for a kiss. 

January Happenings

Since we came back home, we started bathing the babies together. Scarlett hated them at first but after a couple, she realized that the bathroom was nice and warm (we turn on a heater in there before bathtime) and she liked being free and nakey.
 

Okay, but she hated getting wet. After this bath, she hasn't cried during the bath. She just cries when she gets out and is cold.

I love a post bath baby, especially one this fuzzy. She looks like a little baby bird.

Our holidays and birthdays get so messed up since we are always traveling for them. I hate that we miss doing things in out own home. I decided that we would start celebrating with a mini Christmas the next weekend that we were home.

We joked that this is us. Miller is all lovey with Scarlett and she is not enjoying it and just wants it over with. 

This was their big Santa gift. I was definitely not going to take it to Knoxville so "Santa" brought us a special delivery a week later. The one on the left is a sensory board that is for Miller but for Scarlett as she gets older. The one on the right is a texture board for Scarlett. There are two missing because I bought out one Joanns of the hoops and mine never got them back in stock last I checked in December.

I always want to make pretty Christmas cookies but I never seem to have the time or patience in December. So I took the opportunity in January to make a homemade cookie dough that would hold its shape, home made frosting in different colors and gave Miller a few to decorate with sprinkles.

Of course the first thing he did was stick his hand in a Christmas tree, so daddy cleaned him up.

This made me so happy.

It was a small celebrating but we are hoping next year we can do a bit more since we will not be so preoccupied with a 3 week old, and Miller will understand more.

Thanksgiving '13

When I found out that I was pregnant, we looked at the year ahead and realized that we were not going to get to go back to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. It was not the biggest deal but I would really miss some of our traditions. I would miss seeing family and there would be no Fantasy of Trees on Friday. I had been every year since I was 2 and I hated that I was missing a year, even if it was for a good reason. Of course, this is also when they decided to schedule my 10 year high school reunion.

I started to think about it and my doctors advice was not to travel 2 hours away, well this was only 3 hours. I brought it up a few months back and my doctor said she was very comfortable with me going as long as everything checked out alright at my appointment that week, especially since I was going home to my labor and delivery nurse. Of course I had made no progress at my appointment on Tuesday so we got ready to go.

However, that evening I was woken up by Ben throwing up. Miller had been sick on Monday so I was not surprised but I was upset that this might mess up our holiday plans. He ended up feeling okay to ride in the car and I drove us up to TN that afternoon.

On Thursday morning we went to the hospital to visit mom and got our hair cut. That evening we went to my dad and stepmoms house. As soon as we got there, Miller had to run and find his red truck.

It was my nephew Silas' and Ben's birthday. Bobbie had gotten each of them a cake. Ben had to show Silas how to blow out the candles.

The next day we went to the Fantasy of Trees and this time Bobbie, Silas, Leslie and Lisa, Leslie's moms came.

Miller was so excited to play in this train.

Our first main goal was to see Santa. Ben stood in line while we walked him around. We were almost at  the front of the line but he lost patience so Ninny went and made him a cookie.

He would not sit on Santa's lap by himself so Daddy had to join them.

Silas was not really wanting to sit with Santa either. At least they are not crying in this one.

We tried to get Miller to get his face painted but he would not. He was fascinated by Daddy getting his face done and kept looking for it after Daddy washed it off.

Decorating his second cookie of the day.

He said that he wanted to go on the carousel but when we got closer he clammed up. He got all clingy and would not let me put him down. I got him on the ride and his feet on the horse.

He eventually relaxed and let me put him on the horse. He had so much fun and kept saying, "Whoa".

It was a crazy weekend because neither Ben or I felt good. We barely ate the whole time. We had events for my high school reunion on Friday and Saturday night and those were alright. I felt majorly anti social because everyone was up and socializing whereas I was 9 months pregnant and had to sit my butt down to rest. I did get to catch up and see some old classmates.

We headed out on Sunday and unfortunately by that time, mom was sick. We found out that later that a bunch of people got sick but it was all from other sources. That is one nasty bug going around but at least it is a quick one.I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!