Sleepy Snuggles

There is nothing I love more than snuggling with my baby before she goes down for a nap.

Sometimes I even get lucky enough and she'll fall asleep in my arms before I lay her in her crib.

Oh how I love this baby!  I wish she would stop growing up so fast!

Fashionista

My girl Viv loves clothes.  Oh, and shoes and cute jackets and accessories.  One of her very first words was "Cute!".  She wasn't even 2 years old yet, and when we would be walking through the stores, she would yell "Cute!" if she saw something she particularly liked.  Especially the shoes.  "Cute shoes!"  She has also been picking out her own clothes since she was 18 months old.  I didn't know quite what to think about that.  If I pulled something out of her closet that she was not in the mood to wear, she would say, "No!" then she would point to what is was that she wanted to be adorned in for the day and say, "That one!"  I honestly haven't chosen her clothes for her since.  I guess I haven't wanted to squash her artistic style.  And for the most part she does a really good job with coordinating her outfits.  There have been times here and there that I have cringed as we walked out the door to go out into public, but as long as she was confidant in her clothing choice, what the heck?

For the longest time (and of her own accord) before going to bed each night she takes a few minutes to lay her clothes out for the next day.  Down to the accessories even.  And she lays them on the floor like such...

I always love seeing what she comes up with.  I have to say, she did pretty darn good with this one.  Love, love, love my little fashionista.

Body Parts

Jillian has a slight belly button fetish.  And when I say slight, I really mean huge.  Any time her belly button is exposed, I guarantee you her fingers will be digging in it.  Sometimes she digs in it so much it looks all red and ouchy.  She doesn't seem to mind though, as long as she can poke and prod at it.

 Silly girl.  Do you love the farmer tan to boot?  These pictures were taken at the end of the summer.

She loves her nose too.  Still not as much as the belly button though.  Thank heavens.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

The end of September/beginning of October brought lots of traveling for Trent.  I felt like we were constantly driving to and from the airport.  Luckily we don't live too far away!

 This was a sight we saw a lot.

 We ended up driving the back way a lot so as to avoid toll fees.  We saw a lot of gorgeous sunsets.

And we definitely saw lots of airplanes.  Preston and I would always count them on the way home.  In one of our 25 minute drives, we counted 22 airplanes!  While we enjoyed all the beautiful sunsets and had fun with our airplane counting competitions, we were really glad when Trent's traveling returned more to normal.  We sure missed him!

Soccer Stars

We signed Preston up for Fall soccer this year.  It was his first time playing.  I love watching 5 year olds play sports.  They crack me up!  The first game, Preston mostly just watched.  He would follow the pack of kids as they ran up and down the field kicking the ball, just studying what everyone was doing.  The next game though, he got right in there with the rest of the kids.

 Preston and some of his teammates.  Aren't they so cute!

 Preston and his friend B did quite a bit of wrestling on the sidelines.

Jilly even got to hang out with her little friend Lucy.  They were sharing snacks with each other.  They are both food lovers.

We loved watching Preston be able to learn the sport of soccer.  I know he had so much fun playing.

Birthday Girls

8 years ago this past September, sweet little Vivian came into our lives.  And every day I am so grateful that we have her.  Not a day goes by that I don't think or say, "What would I do without my Vivi?".

She was almost born on my mom's birthday.  She missed it by a mere 35 minutes.  I guess she wanted to have her own special day.  ;)

My mom's birthday was on a Saturday this year.  We started off the day at Preston's soccer game.  After soccer, we all headed over to Olive Garden for some birthday lunch.

 Jilly was exhausted!  She slept on Trent's shoulder for most of the time.  It was lucky we saved a little food for her because by the time she woke up, she was starving, as usual.

 The birthday girls.

After lunch was over grandma decided it would be fun to go see a movie with everyone.  They all went to see "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".  Jilly and I went back home because baby girl and movie theaters are not a good combination.

 Once the movie was over, everyone came over to our house for some DQ ice cream cake, my mom's personal favorite.

 Getting ready to blow out the candles.  Grandma is always so nice to let the kids help her.

 Yay!

The next day was Viv's birthday.  Her special day landed on a Sunday this year, so it was a pretty chill day.  We went to church then had all the family over for dinner and cake and ice cream.  Viv chose her all time favorite, chicken pot pie, for dinner.  I always know what she's going to pick for her birthday dinner, but she likes to mix it up on the cake every year.  This year she chose a fudgy chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  We found the recipe on Pinterest, and honestly, it was the best chocolate cake I have ever had.  I haven't made it again since because I would probably eat the whole thing.

 (There's some Sunday football going on in the back ground.)

 Birthday wishes.

My sweet Vivi girl.  Love you little chica!  You are wonderful!

Shopping Fun

One day after picking the boys up from school, I had to run a few errands and dragged them and Jilly along with me.  We went to Joann's which is not the boys' personal favorite, but with Jilly with us, they ended up having a great time!  As soon as we walked in, Jilly spotted some giant stuffed animals, so of course the boys, who cater to her every whim, grabbed one and stuck it in the cart with her.  She was in heaven!

 She hugged and kissed on that bear like nobody's business!

I just love this picture!  The boys kept begging and begging me to buy the bear for her.  They kept saying things like, "But mom, she loves the bear so much!"  "She needs it!"  "Look how happy it makes her!"  Silly boys.  They would do anything for their baby sis.

 After spending a good ten minutes with the bear we finally went to grab the things I actually went to the store for.  On our way out though, the boys spotted some bins full of wind-up toys.  And of course there was no leaving until they had tried them all.

What was meant to be a quick 5 minute shopping trip turned into 20-30 minutes.  But at least we had fun!

Smoothy Mustaches and Chipotle

Jilly loves food.  I mean, she really, really loves food.  There is no getting away with eating or drinking anything around her without sharing.  One of her first words was "nummy".  And one of her first sentences was, "I want a bite!"  A while back, we taught her how to say please in sign language.  So now we hear her say all the time, "I wanna bite!  Pwease!" As she rubs her chest.  So cute!  Sometimes I'll ask her to say please several times just because it's so adorable.  Well, as I said, she loves her food, and here are a few pictures to show just how much.

 Partaking of mom's morning smoothy.

Eating dad's Chipotle burrito, which was pretty spicy by the way.  She didn't care, just so long as it's food.  :)

Track Time!

The beginning of the school year at middle school means track time!  We had two in track this year since we now have two in middle school.

 Colson, running the mile.  He competed in the mile at every track meet, and shot put at all but one.

Trenton competed in the mile and long jump at each meet.

I loved being able to got to all of their track meets to cheer them on.  Way to go boys!

Labor Day 2012

On Labor Day, we decided to enjoy the pool one last time before it closed for the season.

 

Preston and Vivi spent lots of times jumping from the side and swimming to their grandma.

 Daddy and his girl.

 Sisters.

 Buds loves nothing more than a day at the pool.

 Taking a little lunch break.  The boys spent almost the entire day flipping, jumping, and diving off of the diving board.  They sure worked up an appetite!

 Lou was quite content for the longest time to sit in her chair, eating her apple.  She loves her bapples! (As she so fondly calls them.)

After a few hours of pool fun, she had had enough!

This was a perfect end to a wonderful summer.