LOTS and LOTS

I love posting after I haven't posted for awhile. Everyone is always so enthusiatic about how much I post, what I just posted, and when I post again. Funny thing...I could post not much at all and everyone would think it was great!!

Lets see...I went to Arizona for a week last month. My friend from AK, Laura, had a time share in Scottsdale. So she invited me along. I talked another friend, Candy, into coming too. So the four (yeah I took Shea) went and spent some time basking in the sun. I loved every second of it. I did have Shea, but she is very low maintenance. I don't have to worry about entertaining. She just ate, slept, pooped, smiled, giggled, and laughed most of the time we were there. I have very few pictures. I was lazy. Laura documented the whole trip, beginning to end. I haven't gotten the pictures, so you will have to live with what I have. Avery and Tanner went to daycare for a week. Q had a full week of trying to battle Tanner at the end of the day. Tanner was a BEAR because he didn't nap. Avery was shuttled to and from school by our friend Rita. What a logistical nightmare...but worth it.

I got home and Quinton went out of town immediately. So that was a fun couple of weeks not really getting to see him. Oh well, I got to spend a week in AZ.

Tanner is so funny with his talking. After seeing the video of Avery when she was two, I wanted to make sure I had something I had to look back on when he was older. I finally have that video. He has a hard time enunciating. I haven't quite figured out which muppet he sounds like, but he would fit right in. I am not making fun of my kid (well not too much), but he talks in the back of his throat, like Ernie.



Shea is teething right now. She has been pretty fussy, but still nothing close to what I dealt with when Avery and Tanner were teething. I think her first tooth pushed through today, but I can't tell because every time I try to check Shea pushes my hand away. Can't blame her. I have been giving her good doses of tylenol. Shea is such a quiet baby. She does talk, I haven't gotten it on film yet. Every time I try to get it on film she goes silent. Shocker. Otherwise she is starting to get a good routine. I just wish she would nap longer. I will not complain, I am sure it will come. I just wish it were the whole time the other tricycle motors are sleeping.

All the kids and I have gotten our first cold of the season. I am not looking forward to winter. Not because of illness, because everyone wants to give me their opinion on vaccinations. I have to admit I never really gave it a second thought, however lately I have been bombarded with negative vaccination talk. I still cannot find a GOOD reason as to why I shouldn't be vaccinating my children. I am not looking for you to plead your case here. If you have an opinion I want you to open your own blog and write it there. This is my blog, and I think I have heard enough about the vaccinations. Unless you are my kids pediatrician or I ask, chances are your opinion will not matter to me. Sorry, but true. Sorry for the rant, but I just feel like I can be honest on my blog with my feelings. I just want Shea's first winter to be illness free. I know, good luck, right?

Last weekend was the festival here in town. It was called Hyllingfest. I think that is right???? Well, anyway, the kids and I went down for the festivities on Friday. Basically it was dancing. They did have some face painting, in old Swedish tradition...well not really Swedish tradition either...but they loved it. Tanner's was a shark, the sharks mouth was painted so it was his mouth. I am not sure how impressed he was. Avery's was a mask. She loved it. Shea didn't get painted. She doesn't care. Saturday was the parade. Yup it happened to be 30 degrees out there. So we all put our snow gear on to sit on the side of the road and gather candy. I like this much more than trick-or-treating. I don't have to walk to get the candy, it comes to me!! Tanner had a tough time getting to the candy and working his mittens around the frozen tootsie rolls. I also have now figured out what snow gear I need to buy for the kids. Avery is in DIRE need of snow pants. Good thing her boots were tall. Avery and Tanner need new gloves. His gloves were purple. Mostly because they were too small for Avery. Avery could only fit the top 3/4 of her hand into her gloves. Poor kid. Well at least they all had hats. Oh yeah, Avery needs a new hat too...shoot. I will have to check back here for my shopping list when I go. But it was a success. Too bad for my kids I am such a Nazi when it comes to candy. I hate my kids getting TONS of candy. Halloween will be interesting this year. Avery is finally old enough to figure out where her candy goes. Q is in for a real treat when it comes to her candy. He loves to eat candy. Any candy. All the time. She is going to notice.

Here is a quick video of Shea. She has the biggest (shocked) eyes in the world. A lady at church (who spent the last 20 years in Japan) told me that the Japanese people said that America babies look like their eyes are about to fall out of their head. This is especially true of my kid. Look at those things. Almost every picture I have of her looks like this!!! (I tried twice to get this the right orientation...deal with it). Oh yeah, Shea lost all of her long dark hair. She is now officially a blond. Weird.




Basking in the Sun!!



This is the picture of the hotel pool. Actually this is the big pool. There was a smaller one....


This is us at the Biltmore. The one next to me is Candy. The one all the way on the right is Laura.


Avery wrote her name on her belly using color tabs for the bathtub.


Shortly after writing her name on her belly, Q and I played Tic-tac-toe on her belly.
"Tanner, go get Shea a toy...." 15 toys later this is what Shea looked like...seriously, there were 15 toys in her lap.
Avery and Tanner with their faces painted!!


Do you see the concerned look on Shea's face?