HARD-HEADED!!

Eli is in every way...hard-headed! He is VERY stubborn and his skull is VERY hard, too! He fell on the patio the other night while running into the house to tattle on someone (*news flash!). He already had a healing bump and bruise in this same spot on his head and I guess since it was already protruding, it hit the ground first. It hurts me just to look at it...even in pictures. He has at least one blatantly visible "ouchy" a week. I am sure people think we beat him. So, this is his latest injury...after 10 minutes of forced ice-ing. He is a trooper though, 20 minutes after it happened, he was outside playing. That's a boy for ya! By the way, a sucker can soothe and distract a toddler like nothing else...it is magic!!

5-6-7-8...DANCE!!!

These pictures were taken at one of Ansley's last performances for football. Now it is time for basketball season. She is on the middle school dance team and she is doing a GREAT job!!! I never had any idea that she had so much natural ability...don't ask me where she gets it because it ain't me!! She looks so grown up (and so beautiful) out there with all those older girls (most of the girls are in 7th and 8th grade), but she fits right in. She loves every second of it. The team practices 3 days a week after school and they perform at the various school sporting events. She is dedicated and she dances CONSTANTLY...without even realizing it. I had no clue this whole "dance world" existed, but now I find myself saying things like: 8 count, and leo (short for leotard), and walk-on/walk-off, and messy bun. It is a whole new world for us, but Ansley loves it so much that I can't help but love it too!

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES....

Halloween Night 2007

This year for Halloween, the kids all chose their own costumes (well...I chose Claire's). Ansley is in that awkward stage of being almost too old to dress up, but wanting to. She decided to be a baby. She just wore some pjs and used one of Claire's blankies and an old pacifier. She was cute. Nate was a hippie. Kyle and I tie-dyed a batch of shirts they night before Halloween and let him pick which shirt he wanted. The tie-dying was pretty easy and they turned out great! Josh was a vampire which is the cheapest and easiest costume in the world. We even sprayed his hair black. He was a very scary vampire and hardly recognizable with his black hair. Eli was Batman (with muscles). He really took on the persona and loved every second of Halloween. He was sneaking candy every chance he got and a week later he is still asking me where his candy bag is. Naive little one...doesn't he know that mom and dad already ate all the good candy? Claire was beautiful butterfly. The costume was adorable, but a pain logistically. It was hard to hold her and she didn't want her stroller so I ended up carrying her around all night. The kids trick-or-treated in our neighborhood and then we headed to the church for the trunk-or-treat....TONS of candy, TONS of fun! The weather was wonderful and the kids were well behaved (for the most part...when I say kids that implies Eli, but it doesn't include him...he was the usual Eli). Kyle's parents were here for the week. They come every year at Halloween and the extra help and hands were a blessing!

Kyle thought that a good after-school-pre-Halloween-night-full-of-candy snack would be a giant pickle from the hardware store. Have mercy!

Madame Butterfly. ADORABLE!

A very scary vampire trunk-or-treating!



Eli getting some candy from some ward-lings at the trunk-or-treat. I believe this was his second go around.

Couldn't resist adding one more shot of Claire. Man, she is cute!