Utah Trip 3--Best of Friends

Apparently we had such a wonderful (very short) time at the Richardson's home in Ogden that we forgot to even get the camera out of the car.

(a petting farm in NC)...............(Halloween, 2007)
So, I decided to post some pictures from the past...mainly because Addellyn has been begging to see pictures of Cameron every day and it's easier to clump them all together.

(med school graduation, 2008)...(nov. 2007, true love?)

they play so well together, I've never seen Addellyn interact with anyone else in the same way...it's almost weird for 2 two-year-olds, but it's so sweet!

Addellyn also claims that Cameron is coming to see her for Christmas on his school bus...just a heads up for you, Meredith, you wouldn't want to dissapoint a two year old!

Needless to say, we loved spending time with good friends! I joined the kids in crying half way home after we said good-bye...partly because I was so tired of them crying and just tired, but mainly because it's sad to know we will be so far from these friends that became our family for four years, we really wish we still lived blocks away...maybe someday again!

Utah Trip 2--Whirlwind through Delta

We were so glad to finally be with Tyler's family...

...it was a long journey, but it was fun to be with Grandma and Grandpa, as well as Uncle "Turt" and Aunt Jessie. Of course, we found time to go to the "Busy Bee" library and the local burger joint.

The kids had a great time running around (for the first time in what seemed like days :), to Makinzie). Makinzie fell in love with the game of football and Addellyn just plain fell in love with "uncle turt." He is a common topic of conversation since our trip (just slightly ranked below her true love: Cameron!)

Addellyn is quite the mother to any and all dolls. I don't know if she feels like they are the only things she can boss around (since Coleson can definitely hold his own) or if she really loves them, but she loving lined up and then scolded Grandma's Raggedy Ann dolls.

Coleson was having a good time fixing Jessie's hair and trying to figure out how to walk through gravel. He also REALLY loved the kitty! "ditty, ditty, ditty" he would say every time he saw anything fluffly out the window (in a very HIGH squeaky voice).

Trip to Utah, stop 1--Leaves in Lindon

For some reason, I have had a lot of trouble uploading pictures the past few weeks...and now it is suddenly working again, who knows?
Anyway, mid- November Tyler ended up with 4 days off in a row, so we quickly loaded the crew in our AWESOME minivan and headed towards Delta...

We spent A LOT of time in the car with ScREamInG babies, but we spent some time in the car watching movies too. We drove as far as we could the first evening and made it to Lindon to see Gramps and Grandma Vivian.

We only spent a few hours awake with them, but the kids quickly fell in love and had a great time cleaning the leaves up in Gramps' yard. It was sad to say good bye after such a short fun visit...but we had to continue on our way.

Quite the CHarAcTer!

Nana likes to do the newspaper puzzles on days that she has the time. Addellyn loves to watch and talk to (or really bother...) Nana while she works on her puzzles. But, on this particular day, Addellyn told Nana that she wanted a puzzle too. So, we had to find her an older puzzle and a pencil.

And, as you can see, Addellyn got right to work...She sang the ABCs, she counted to 11, and then she sang "zipadeedoodah!" all as she wrote small symbols on the paper. She is quite the character!
Although it may have been counter-productive, I just had to take a picture of Addellyn in her time-out corner. She visits the corner often, usually, once a day...Every time I can't help but smile at her, and then I forget why/how she got in trouble because it is just too cute. She stands so still and with such a sullen look. She is quick to say "I sorry mommy" and give me a giant hug so that she can go back to bed/playing. She's too fun!

Making donuts...mmm YummY!

Grandma Reese invited us all over to have a welcome November party!

The girls got to roll the dough and cut out their very own donuts. Makinzie went first. She very carefully rolled, then cut out donuts all around the edge and placed them perfectly on the tray. The entire time Addellyn watched and wiggled with a lack of patience as she begged to have a turn.

As soon as Makinzie was done Addellyn stepped up and without hesitation she quickly rolled her dough, and pushed the cutter down right in the middle :). She had watched very carefully because she knew to twist and push hard, and then tap it in her hand to get the circle out, then place each donut and donut hole onto the tray. Grandma was very impressed with Addellyn's cooking skills! (We were amazed at how well she can copy something she has observed...because often times she doesn't even follow simple verbal commands!)

Our FuN Coleson

Coleson has begun to thin out a little with all of his crawling, and now walking, however, he still has a perfectly round little pumpkin head...and now we have the proof! (He was near the batch of pumpkins and we noticed that he came very close to blending in :))

When anything is slightly over Coleson's eyes, he believes he is invisible. He crawls around giggling and trying to sneak out of the room to play with things and try to eat things he knows he shouldn't...so when his pumpkin hat was over his eyes, he thought he could be sneaky and play with/knock over everyone's pumpkins.

The next day we found him stuck in his jumper because he was trying to sneak (with his blanket over his head, which fell off as he went under the jumber) between the couches to get to the kitchen :)...

Coleson had a little bit of birthday money to spend...we showed him lots of great choices, he chose the plastic food that can be cut and peeled, etc. It was definitely a good choice!

(More) Halloween Parties!

The girls got to go to a primary Halloween party at the church and I got to help the Young Women at the face paint station (which is why Addellyn was allowed at the party :))
Makinzie ended up in her friend, Nicole's, group of game rotations and it appeared that they came as twins together :). Two very beautiful pink princesses. (As you can see, Makinzie's cookie is CoMpLetELy covered in sugary goodness!)

Addellyn enjoyed watching the face painting and also ReALlY enjoyed her cookie that she decorated with all types of yummy sugar things. I really love the "pooch."

Happy Halloween

We went with cousin Kennedy trick-or-treating. She was a beautiful princess. Coleson was a very convincing gorilla. Logan passed out candy as Indiana Jones. Makinzie has been asking to be Rapunzel-the ballerina since March (and by some amazing chance Nana found this costume for Kinzie's Birthday). Addellyn was a "funny" pink monster (she didn't want to be scary).

Addellyn definitely was very funny! She would not let go of her pink monster bag for anything, she did not want to loose all of her free candy. Not only is Halloween super exciting, but, it is also Papa's birthday! The kids could not have packed more excitement (and sugar) into one night. Free candy plus a GIANT chocolate cake!

Tyler fashioned his very own "Empire State Building" so that Coleson could be King Kong with is blonde barbie and toy airplane :). The girls were very excited about knocking on doors, in fact, they were so excited that each girl had to have their own turn to knock on EvERy door. But, they were also all very good at saying trick-or-treat and thank you...Addellyn especially loved to say Happy Halloween!

Dr. Tyler's 1st successful lecture

Tyler had his first official "seminar" to give as a true doctor. It may have been to a rowdy group of 5 year-olds, but, he somehow managed to keep their attention for an amazing 25 minutes (and on a Friday). They were all engaged, excited and they asked lots of questions. You have a very promising future Dr. Tyler...If you can teach a bunch of kindergartners, then your next scheduled lecture should be that much easier :).