Happy Baby, Dates & Snow

I think Penny has finally decided to become a happy baby. This little Michigangster has gone a whole week without any of her awful crying fits. This is not to say she doesn't cry, she still does, but now she cries for a reason. She is starting to get into an eat-wake-sleep routine so she fusses when she wakes (hungry) and fusses after she's been awake for awhile (tired) so I now officially know why she's crying and how to fix it. Makes life easier! She has also decided that all naps are to be done in the car or in her swing which I am ok with, I just want to her to be happy! 

Lucy has decided that this week she is officially 2. I thought she was good at throwing tantrums before she turned 2 but I apparently was naive to what a true Lucy tantrum is like. This week I saw them in all their glory and honestly, I could do without them. 

Yesterday, Tyler was off work (because for some reason GM doesn't believe in giving a day off for Veterans but they do believe in giving a day off for the start of hunting season) and so I decided to take just Lucy down to Kohl's with me to do some shopping- have a little date with her. That was stupid. She threw an epic tantrum that ended with her throwing up all over herself when we finally got in the van. Ugh, motherhood.

After my awful date with Lucy I came home, had lunch and regained my sanity. And this time using my brain (because obviously I wasn't before when I decided to take a 2 year old shopping) I came up with a brilliant date idea for me and Ben. We took a walk in the lovely, brisk 30 degree weather down to the bakery and had cookies. This date was much colder but much more successful. I don't think you can go wrong with monster cookies!

Since Steven was at school he didn't get a date with me but he did get something else this week, an inhaler! I am so glad because it seems much more effective then his Nebulizer. Normally even with the Nebulizer it takes him weeks to kick a cough but the cough that started last weekend is already gone and he seems to be breathing just fine. Yeah for medicine done right!

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And this week we've had a few moments of light snowfall, nothing major, just a dusting. It is pretty but boy is it COLD! I'm back to layering up and avoiding the outside. I am so excited that next week we will be in sunny AZ. Warmth!!! 

November Days

Steven's front tooth had been on the verge of falling out for WEEKS. Last Thursday he told Tyler that he could pull it out that Saturday. Saturday came and Steven claimed he didn't say Saturday, he said Sunday. Sunday came and Steven avoided the subject at all costs and so the tooth remained. Then Wednesday morning he was pushing at it with his tongue and *pop* out it came. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief and Steven became a dollar richer. 

Here he is sporting the gap in all it's glory and decked out in his awesome Tiger Cub Scout Gear:

Penny started out the week awful- lots of crying spells for no apparent reason. But she has ended the week with lots of smiles. I really wish she would make up her mind to be a good girl. She is so much cuter when she's happy. Plus I feel a lot less psycho when she's happy. 

She does seem to be growing though- newborn diapers are actually getting tight and she is starting to not be drowned by her 3 month clothes. That's progress my friends!

Lucy went had her 2 year check up this week and it was funny to see how different she is from Penny. She is in the 90th percentiles for her weight and height. She also had to get her finger pricked and she was so tough. She didn't cry at all and just sat there and watched as they dripped it into the vial, she even laughed during it- maybe she'll be a nurse like her Aunt Keshia...

She is also loving all the dress up things she got for her birthday (she got a package with more from her Aunt Tara this week). I love to see her girly side and I get a little camera happy when she dresses up:

Ben is still making me crazy. He has decided that every sentence he speaks must include a potty word and this has landed him in his room a lot. Plus he really enjoys screeching like a crazy kid at the top of his lungs...I think his face below shows it all:

And me, I am counting down to our trip to AZ. Just 13 more days! This means I have to start getting things together for our trip. We've got 6 people to transport there for pete's sake! 

Tyler was off Tuesday for election day and that meant I got to go do some shopping kid free. It was the best 3 hours of my life and I found lots of fun things for the airplane ride! It's amazing how much more I need that alone time now that I have 4 kids.

And let's end with some more fun pictures. Lucy is shirtless because when Steven changed into his Scout Uniform, she felt the need to change too. Only she had nothing to change into...

Lucy's Happy Day!

My crazy fun, independent, smart little girl turned 2 years old Saturday! We started off her day by letting her open presents:

She got some "pwetty!" dress up shoes from us which I sort of regret buying. She loves them but she isn't the steadiest in heels and she always needs help putting them on:

From her Grandma & Grandpa Hatch she got a necklace, a coloring book and some "lowery's" (this is what she calls crayons, butterflies and flowers- I think they all get the same name because they're all colorful?):

From her Grandma & Grandpa Brady she got some "pwetty" dress up skirts:

And she also got some fun dress up accessories from us, like this Fedora and wand:

I think it's safe to say that all her gifts were a hit!

The rest of her birthday was pretty uneventful until after dinner. After dinner, we had our neighbors over for some cake and ice cream. Tyler, of course, did a wonderful job on Lucy's "Lowery" cake:

We told her to hold up two fingers but apparently she wants to remain one forever:

When it came time to blow out the candles, a certain someone decided to do it for her. This certain someone also stole a bite of her cake later on when she wasn't looking, pretty sweet guy huh?:

But even though the candles were already out she still pretended to blow them out so I could get a picture:

She got two adorable princess dolls from the girls across the street. Here she is with one of them:

And here are her 3 out of her 5 neighbor friends:

After chowing down on cake and ice cream, the kids had fun playing together and the adults had fun chatting. I feel so grateful to have such great neighbors!

Halloween!!

This week was Halloween! As per tradition we had Halloween themed food this week. We had mummy dogs, bloody eyeballs (spaghetti and meatballs), a sandwich shaped like a tombstone, ghost pizza and we had these fun spider sandwiches:

We also got a Halloween gift in the mail from Grandma & Grandpa Hatch that consisted of candy in a bucket, obviously the kids loved that gift. Here's Benny posing with the candy bucket: 

And Benny having some fun with the box it came in and the plastic wrap:

Halloween this year was absolutely freezing. It was 37 degrees when the kids first headed out and there was even some light snowing. Lucy had to wear pants over her tights and a coat in which we pinned her cape too:

Benny had on long underwear and a sweatshirt under his costume:

And to keep Steven warm, he had on long underwear and a jacket under his army costume:

I decided it was too cold for Penny to go out but I didn't want her to feel completely left out so I put on her Minnie Mouse hat and let her pose in the group shot too. Unfortunately she must have known that she was the only Hatch kid not in a real costume and that she was getting left behind because she was not happy:

So here's a shot of the kids without the crying baby:

Anyways the kids had lots of fun trick or treating and they even got full size candy from one house- made me feel like a cheapskate with my all my lame non-chocolate candy. But I had fun staying at home with Penny and passing out candy. I enjoyed seeing the kids in our neighborhood in their costumes and it was probably the most social I've been all week. But like our neighborhood of old, many people come to trick or treat here and we ran out of candy after an hour. So when the kids came home, we turned out the lights and watched a "scary" movie on Netflix ("Mutant Carrots") and of course gorged out on Halloween candy. A perfect Halloween!