Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We just celebrated a great Halloween.  The weather was warm, and beautiful and it was a fabulous night. 

This year the kids chose to be; mummy, witch, fireman, and lady bug.  All the kids were happy with their costume choice and excited for Trick Or Treating!

We started celebrating Halloween last Friday with the school parade, and carnival.  It was a lot of fun, but I took no pics.  Saturday we carved pumpkins, and Sunday we had a "Spooky Dinner" at G & G Shields.  It was all so much fun! I am really missing my camera, and wish I still had it!

So for Halloween we had a fun dinner with all our neighbors and friends, followed by trick or treating, and ended with scones & Hot cocoa  at our neighbors house.  It was a fantastic night and everyone was tired and worn out.  Taylor & Emily got plenty of candy and were happy with their goodies. 

Here are some pictures from our Halloween celebration. 

Taylor trying to be scary in his mummy costume.



Lizzie seemed happy in her lady bug costume.  She loved pulling at my black wig, and pulled out tons of hair!  She was great in the stroller while we took the kids trick or treating.



Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Birthday party

Emily celebrated her 6th birthday!  She started her day with her breakfast choice of "Lucky Charms". 

I told Emily she could have a friend party this year and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to do.  She chose to have a "Cooking Party" with her friends, so that is what we did to celebrate!

We passed out recipe cards for the birthday invitations.  Emily invited 11 friends/cousins and all of the girls came for cooking fun! 

We stared by decorating chef hats and aprons for each girl.  Then we made pizzas, played games and decorated cupcakes.  It was a lot of fun and all the girls seemed to really have a good time.

Here are a few pictures from the party.

Aunt Natalie came to be "The Master Chef". She helped coordinate everyone and really saved me!  It got a little crazy cooking, opening presents and playing games, dealing with two brothers etc..  It was also a huge help that Grandma Shields had Lizzie and Isaac during the party,

Thanks for your help Natalie & Mom!

After the party we had dinner with the cousins and family.  We all made more pizzas and then had more cake and ice cream with dad and G & G Shields. 

After we sang "Happy Birthday" and Emily blew out the candles, we told her to make a wish.  She said " I wish for nothing"!!!
I guess that means she liked the party and had a fabulous Birthday.  Whew- I am happy if she was happy!

Overall if was a fun, crazy & exhuasting day, but it was great to see Emily with all of her cute friends.  They were all really nice girls and well behaved. 

After the second round of cupcakes we had FHE. We all talked about Emily and told our favorite things about her and looked at her scrapbook from when she was born. 

We love our six year old girl!  We are so happy you are in our family!
Happy Birthday!



Fall Break!

We had a wonderful Fall Break in St. George.  The kids had school off on Thursday and Friday, we went left town to have some fun!  We stopped at Cove Fort on the way, and took the tour.  It was good to learn about that area, and all abou the fort.

The kids did well on the drive.  Lizzie got grumpy and yelled a lot.  She has found her voice and she's not afraid to use it, to get attention or food!

It was hot and sunny in Southern Utah, and we spent all our time outside. We went hiking, swimming, played at the park, saw the temple and hot tubbed too!

We spend most of the day Saturday in Snow Canyon.  We played in the sand dunes and then did two hikes with the kids. 

It was a gorgeous day, and the red sand was pretty and so scenic. 

We hiked in to this slot canyon.  The kids loved exploring and making their voices echo.

Elizabeth was good in her backpack.  She seemed to have fun, she loves being outside.  She didn't get any decent naps the whole trip, but she did great, even being so tired.

Our second hike was to the top of these petrified sand dunes.  The kids loved climbing the rocks, and getting a good view from on top. 



Danny helped Taylor try to catch lizards.  We saw a lot of lizards and even caught a few.  Taylor was in heaven doing this, he wanted to stay all day and look for lizards.  He loves those reptiles!



Isaac was a stinker on the trip.  He was being really high maintenance and whiny.  But he loved doing the hikes.  He emptied about two cups of red sand out of his shoes after hiking. 

We asked Isaac what his favorite part of the trip was and he said
" I really liked looking at the map." 
We all laughed, because he held a map of Snow Canyon in his hands all day, and kept pointing to it and asking "Is this where we go?" 

Lizzie managed to get a little rest while sitting in her backpack on the grass. 

We stayed in a hotel, so we had to eat out a lot.  This is tricky with four kids, but everyone did pretty well.  We all love burgers!

Here's the crew all snuggled up ready for bed.



The St. George temple is gorgeous,

It was a nice, relaxing weekend!  We love southern Utah in the Fall.  I dread the cold, snowy winter weather!





Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Today is Emily's 6th Birthday!!! 

I can't believe she is six years old already!  We were remembering her birth and it was fun to think about the day she was born.  I was induced early Monday morning.  Grandma Shields had come to Boise from SLC to watch Taylor while we were at the hospital.  Her labor went easily and she was born at 3:30 in the afternoon.  I was so thrilled when Dr. Jones announced "It's a Girl!" She was the cutest little baby girl I had ever seen.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Emily.

1.  She is very smart and is always ready to learn new things. 

2.  She has a contagious adorable smile and laugh.  She really gets giggly sometimes, and when she does everyone around her laughs too!

3.  Emily has a lot great self esteem and believes in herself.  I attribute a lot of this to her amazing dance teacher Miss Julie.  She really helped Emiy gain confidence and become self assured.  Her personality has really blossomed and she has done great in new surroundings  like school, gymnastics, primary class, meeting new friends etc...

4.  Emily LOVES to eat!! ( She has an appetite like her mom's! )
HA-HA

She has always been a great eater.  She will try new foods and likes most fruits, vegetables etc...  She never leaves home without eating a snack, or bringing a snack with her.

5.  Emily is a peacemaker.  She is very unselfish with both of  her  bossy brothers and with her friends and cousins.  She helps others when she can.  She is so great with Elizabeth and is a wonderful older sister. 

6.  She is happy girl most of the time!  She truly is a happy mellow almost all of the time.  She is a joy to have in our family and we are so happy to spend time with her!

We love you Emily and we are so happy to have you in our family!!!

Dinner for Lizzie!

Lizzie is a serious eater now!  She has recently discovered that she lkes real food now.  She is tired of not eating with the rest of the family. So now if she wants food, she yells and sreams until she gets a bite! 

At 7 months old she has tried carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, green beans, mashes potatoes, as well as applesauce, peaches and more.  So far she likes everything but the bananas. 
She loves "Baby Mum Mum". crackers.  She devours them in a short amount of time and then starts screaming for more food. 

It's funny to feed her, because she is so intense.  She follows each spoonful of food into her mouth and then whines until she gets another bite. 
 It's a messy, crazy process- but I love it!

I love her smile, it makes me happy!

Lizzie is great at sitting independently now.  She rolls all over the place, but doesn't crawl yet. 

She can clap her hands, and likes it when the kids sing "If you're happy and you know it".  She gets really happy when they sing this, and she starts wildly clapping her hands. 

She is grabbing everything and will yank on hair, paper or whatever she can get her hands on.

She can pick up cheerios, or baby puffs and eat them with a pincer grasp now.  This makes her happy and it keeps her busy too. 

If you are sitting near her and not giving her the attention she wants she does a shrill high pitched scream, or she will fake cough.  It's hilarious to see her demand attention from the family.

She normally gets smothered with hugs and kisses, and always has someone wanting to hold her. 

We ate dinner outside last week because it was a nice warm night.  She was so happy that I took a lot of pics. 

I feel eteranally grateful to have Elizabeth in our family. 
I love you Lizzie!