Everyday Life in Color

Lately whenever I think about blogging I completely blank on what to write about.  Luckily I haven't forgotten my resolution to be better about taking pictures, so I do have some documentation of our everyday lives.  The pictures spark the memories.

There are few activities that I can get Hayden to do for any length of time that are quiet.  Luckily puzzles will sometimes do the trick.  He can do 48 piece puzzles all by himself.  Of course it is a Lightning McQueen puzzle-he LOVES Cars.

 I often give Kyra a little snack bowl to work on when I need to get some serious work done in the kitchen without her "help."

 Hayden loves to run and race.  Dax took him out one day and they raced to the trees at the edge of our property and back over and over.  I caught this picture out the kitchen window.

 Kyra loves to grab anyone in the family she can get her hands on.  It usually hurts.  Poor Hayden.  We were just getting back from taking pumpkin bread to some of our neighbors, hence the chocolate-y mess on their faces.  Pumpkin bread is way too delicious...my figure has suffered this fall.

We read Kyra books in the glider before naps/bed.  Hayden has wanted to join in lately, so it ends up looking like this.  I tried to snap the picture without them seeing me, but no luck.

Finally, a full shot of our front.

Hayden went through a phase of wearing his cowboy hat and carrying around a rubber snake as his "whipper."  Kyra did not come out of this phase unscathed.  Rubber snakes hurt.  Daddy is a good sport about being his stallion.

Our ward trunk-or-treat.  Hayden was ecstatic about being Buzz for Halloween, and Kyra was the cutest bee.  Hayden made the connection:  Bee and Buzz.  Ha!

The Halloween loot.  This is just Halloween night, not even our trunk-or-treat, and we only did the couple of roads that make up our neighborhood.  People give out HANDFULS of candy, and as you can see, my kids didn't get smarties and tootsie pops.  They got a few regular size chocolate bars in there as well.  Kyra was a cat on Halloween night, I couldn't find the black leggings for the bee costume and Hayden was begging for her to be a cat anyway.  She had a hat, but it was off by this point in time.  Hayden had already crashed because I made him walk our road to get his energy out (a mile).

 Hayden is a budding photographer.  Unfortunately his subjects aren't always ready for the day.

 Sunday before church.  Church doesn't start until 11:30 so we sometimes scramble for things to do to fill our morning.  Don't they look adorable?!

 Dax brought this lawn mower home from his grandparents after his grandpa passed away.  It would start, but would not drive.  Several weeks, many hours, and $200 later HE FIXED IT!  I was so proud of him.  He had to disassemble the whole back to analyze the problem.  Fixed just in time for the last mow of the year.

 One of Hayden's recent adventures.  This is our front post.  Luckily I salvaged most of the stamps, and I learned to hide them much better.  His other "adventures" as of late:  squeezing desitin in Kyra's hair and on her clothes (thank goodness for Dawn!!), getting in the washing machine and filling it up with water, opening the back of the toilet to "see how it works, Mommy" and getting water all over the bathroom floor...I could go on.  Every day is an adventure with this little man.

Hayden is ALWAYS climbing on the counters.  Unfortunately it usually leads to climbing on top of the fridge and up on top of the cabinets.  BAD habit, but I've exhausted my ammo trying to get him to stop.  He needs a play set in the back yard to climb on.  I'm working on that.

 

 I found Kyra like this one day.  I don't know how she got up there without falling over, but she did.  I thought Hayden was a climber, but I have no doubt she'll match him as soon as she gets the height.

Same Sunday morning before church.  These 3:  MY LIFE.

 As luck would have it, Hayden was able to snap a picture when Miss Kyra was actually looking!

More of Hayden's photography skills.  He actually does a good job of centering the photo.

 We borrowed Grandma Jensen's Christmas classics and after watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Hayden jimmy-rigged a sleigh for "Santa" and asked for a red light and the lights off so he could pull the sleigh through the dark.  It was too cute.

 Another picture courtesy of Hayden.  If you zoom in you can kind of see Kyra's black eye.  Making 49 quarts of applesauce in a day comes with a sacrifice:  no constant eyes on the kids.  I'll never know what happened. 

 I am so glad Dax brought this baby home from his grandparents.  He called me from Idaho and asked if I wanted it and I didn't think I did, but he brought it anyway.  We got it cleaned up and it makes our kitchen feel more like a home.  Just got to get rid of the card table we eat on. :)

If you actually made it through all of that, I am seriously impressed!