Happy Birthday Daddy

Daddy had a birthday in early Nov. and we had a little party at the Ranch. I made a macaroon chocolate cake which was pretty tasty and we got to see lots of babies.

Matt and Genevieve.

Mera

Analiese

Big Bug

Darby found this guy hanging out in our porch and was so brave about holding him or her. It was the biggest walking stick I have ever seen.

Haloween 2011

Since it is almost Thanksgiving I better get Halloween up here. Darby was a purple monster (her idea) and Georgia was Pinkalicious (popular kids book character). I went ahead and made Darby her monster costume but was able to buy Georgia's. We went to a party at a school friend of G's for dinner and then went and Trick-or-Treating with another school friend (whose dad I went to high school with).

Darby was great as a monster and stayed in character when she was thinking about it.

G was precious as always and had fun seeing all of her friends in costume.

Here is G and the monster, Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf.

Mera was supposed to be a cat but in my hurry to get out the door I forgot her costume:( Bad mama! So I painted whiskers on her and no one seemed to care.

The girls were so sweet together.

And Mera loved the candy. She had her first sucker and first M&Ms.

Darby got to see her best friend from school and was most excited.

After we got candy we went back and let the girls hand out candy. They loved it!

Richie and my baby and his baby.

The loot afterwards (luckily there wasn't much).

Halloween Preview

I have lost my will to blog for the night but I will throw up a couple of Halloween pics just to tide those loyal follows (Nanue) over.

Pumpkin Patch with Dad

Here are the pictures Matt took at the pumpkin patch with the girls. First is the hay bale maze.

And more pony rides.

These pictures crack me up because G loved the slide and it shows...

...again so much fun...

...Darby on the other hand, utterly horrified her first trip down. Does it make me a bad mother that this picture makes me laugh out loud?

But after that first ride all is well.

Pumpkin Patch with Mom

I took the little bits to the Pumpkin Patch one morning before Halloween and they had so much fun Daddy took G and Darby back the next day. Here are the pics from our trip.

Darby's first pony ride.

Wagon ride.

Peek-a-boo.

Mera loved this little car. I don't know how we have gotten through three kids without owning one.

Costume Parade

Darby's school has a costume parade every year before Halloween and this year Darby was very excited about it. Here she is in her class waiting patiently.

Here she is showing off her purple monster claws. I will talk more about her costume in my Halloween post.

And marching right along.

BTW in the House

One of my best friends of all time was in town recently so I hosted a little Booker T. reunion for some of our friends. Kim had not been to Tulsa since she was pregnant with her baby boy and so I had never met him and was so happy to do so. Here is the guest of honor, Gunnar, and his dad, Nick. Quite the ladies man in the pink car.

We had a celebratory cake denoting our high school mascot, the Hornet.

I took the kids on a Beast ride, or several Beast rides I should say, as every time we got back they all yelled, "Again!"

Kim and Gunnar.

Matt an Kiki were there with the twins since they both fall under the Booker T. grad category. Here is Genevieve having more fun than she has ever had.

And the whole motley crew along with kiddos.

It was so much fun to see everyone and reunite now that we all have spouses and kids. Having Kim there was the greatest part of course because I so rarely get to see her and miss hanging with her so much. Hopefully we can do it again next time she is through.

Mera

I love this little thing so much. She is the happiest baby and such a joy to have in my life. She is so smart and laughs all the time. She knows exactly what she wants and makes her wants known (usually by SCREAMING). She loves her Mama most of all. I sleep with her half the night and love snuggling her little body next to mine and just falling asleep next to her warmth. She has an amazing attention span and is content to play by herself when she has a toy that interests her, sometimes for as long as 30 minutes. I call her my little teeter totter because of how she waddles around the house just going about her business. (She started walking about a month ago). She loves to be held and loves to eat. There is nothing she won't try, especially if I am eating it. She loves to shake her head "yes" and "no." She loves to slide and spin and be thrown around. She says bite, bye, mama, wawa (water), ouch, uh-oh, dada, GG for Georgia and some other things I can't remember right now.

I have three amazing and very different girls and Mera, some days, is my saving grace. Even on my worst of worst days, and as a mom we all have them, she is there smiling and laughing and loving me above all others. Some days she is all that keeps me sane and the only thing that reminds me to be kind.