Happy Halloween

In the rush to get everything finished today I am going to post this blog tonight before the candy coma sets in and I forget everything. We spent the day watching the new "Tinker Bell" movie courtesy of Alicia, (a cute movie for all of you wondering)and readying ourselves for the Trick or Treat rush. The ward trunk or treat started at 5:30 and after we passed out the last piece of candy we packed up and headed home. Once we arrived we quickly lit the pumpkins and ran over to the "Youse House." This is the first time in four years that Joyce's husband Craig has been home for Halloween. He and Shannon had made a haunted house in the garage. Claire was scared at first but once she realized it was Craig she warmed right up. Zack then took Claire and Lance around the neighborhood and topped off their buckets, to the point that they were having to drag them along the sidewalk to make it home. Meanwhile Reese and I made dinner and manned the passing out of the candy. Now that all is quiet, I wonder why we make such a fuss over this holiday. Would it not be easier and just as fun for the kids if we simply gave them a bag of candy and popped in a movie and let them enjoy. I guess it would be nice if I commented on the pictures. Lance was a scary mummy, Claire a princess of course, and Reese was a China doll. The two additional kids in the second photo are Sidney (Jessie) and Kade (Woody). The other picture is of the neighborhoodlems Lance, Claire, Sidney, Kaden, Ben(man in the big yellow hat) and Joey (curious George). Last picture is off the pumpkin carving patch. Becky and the kid were here the night we carved pumpkins so the joined us in the festivities. That is all. Happy Halloween to all of you. I am bushed. I am turning out the lights and declaring this the end of Halloween at the Bailey House. Happy Haunting until next year.

Pumpkin Cookies

Becky and the kids came today for a visit and in my attempt to be a good aunt we made and decorated pumpkin shaped cookies. They were a sorry excuse for a pumpkin when they went into the oven and an even worse one when they came out. Slap a little orange frosting one the whole thing and you get the idea. The kids enjoyed it. And that is all that counts.

Baby Ireland

We went to see Jacob and Ember's new little girl yesterday. She is so pretty and unexpected. She has a great olive complexion and a ton of black hair. That is right, black hair. She is a sweet baby and since we got home Claire has talk of little else. When I was tucking her in bed last night I was asking her what she liked best about "baby Ireland". I asked her if it was "her hands, her tiny feet, her little toes, or her chubby, chubby checks?" To which she replied, "not chubby, chubby checks Mom. Beautiful, Beautiful checks." And she is right. She is a beautiful baby girl, who I am sorry to say Ember looks great in hot pink. (For you that may not know, Ember is not a real fan of pink. When I told her how good she looked in pink she replied "Or course, who would have thought my girl would look good in pink." I warned her that every mother of a girl warms to the color of pink no matter how much they may dislike it.) We didn't get a chance to take a picture of Claire and Ireland because Claire wouldn't stop cleaning up the toys long enough to sit down and let us snap a shot.

Princess and the "Pee"

Some may wonder at the title of this blog. Well explanation is as follows: When I asked Claire what she wanted to be for Halloween this year it was first a pink ghost. When I inquired further she decided that she wanted to be a "beautiful, beautiful princess". Great! I thought, and her and I made a trip to the fabric store (big big mistake.) The dress had to be pink. But being mom I had in my head a certain picture of what a "beautiful, beautiful princess" dress should look like. After some compromising (on my part) and a lot of screaming (on her part) this is what we settled on. I don't like sewing with patterns because it means following someone else's rules, but I managed to muddle my way through it and after a week of laboring we were rewarded with this dress. Which meets Claire's "beautiful, beautiful" standard.
Now for the pee part. We signed up to feed the missionaries the other night and while we were finishing eating the elders were playing with the kids and tickling Claire. Suddenly it got all quite, not just the kids but the missionaries too. I just had to ask the question and much to my horror the response was yes. She did it. Claire peed all over the missionaries, just his sock. I was embarrassed at first and then I laughed, cause I thought of the great story that the elder would have to share with his family, and friends. I think it was defiantly the first time on his mission that he had been peed on.

Reese's 1st Birthday

So I didn't think that I would have a difficult time with my baby turning one. I have never been one of those sentimental people who don't what time to move forward. But I must say that Saturday (Reese's Birthday) was not an easy day for me. I kept looking at Reese and wondering were the time has gone. It truly feels like just yesterday that I was sitting in the hospital holding her for the first time and marveling at how absolutely perfect she was. From her olive complexion, to her dark hair, to her tiny little fingers and toes. She was so little. Only 5lbs 10oz and 19 inches long. But then at the same time I can not really remember life without her. Reese has this way of calming me and bring a peace to our home, and I think that she does the same for most of the people in her life. She is such a social baby. She loves everyone and will smile readily at almost everyone she meets. Her eyes are blue, which is a marvel to Zack and I. She has the funniest face that she pulls just to make you laugh. She seems to be wise beyond her age, and in a rush for her body to catch up to her spirit. She is walking now, though it is not her main form of transportation, her fine moter skills are getting better as she is really is into taking things in and out of drawers. She can almost always be found sitting in front of the lid drawer emptying it contents. She loves to eat food, though she still doesn't have any teeth. She screams in protest if you think that you shouldn't have to share your food with her. She is defiantly my child as she prefers chocolate over anything else. I can ask her questions like; "are you hungry?" and she will nod her head yes or no; she is starting to communicate her desires. I love this little girl and I want so much for her to stay little long enough for me to enjoy it, yet I long so much to see the wonderful women she will become. It is hard being a mom, and watching all these changes happen so fast and wishing for it to take longer. I am told that I should cherish the time when I can still take my children in my lap and love them, when I still have a chance to help them decide what to wear, what to eat, and even what to play, because it will not be long before they will neither want or listen to my opinion and will no longer fit into my lap. So I think that I will try and stay still long enough to watch not only Reese, but Lance and Claire, enjoy their life's. I think I will try harder on days that are difficult to remember to cherish this time. Because it will be only a fleeting moment before they are grown and gone and I will wonder then, more than I do now where the time has gone.