Santa Picture Time

The day before Thanksgiving we took the kids to Centerpiece Photography for their annual Santa pictures. I knew ahead of time that Taegan probably wouldn't do great, but I was hoping...

As always, the girls were so excited and had already planned out what they were going to ask Santa to bring them. Madison asked Santa for a Barbie laptop. I can't believe how grown up she is looking!


Lily was very excited too. She is looking so big. I can't believe my baby girl is 4!! Lily first asked for a "Santa beard" from Santa, but then changed to "flowers". I'm not sure where either of these ideas came from, so I guess we'll see what Santa does with that!


Taegan... well, Taegan didn't like Santa this year. He loved him last year and seemed excited when he was watching the girls talk to him, but not so much when it was his turn. This is what he looked like...

He did eventually calm down and we got some cute pictures of him with Santa sneaking in from behind. I can't believe he is 18 months old now! What a cutie and I love the blond hair!!!

This was one of the few good pictures we got of all 3 kids and Santa. Again, poor Santa had to be out of Taegan's view point, but at least we got a decent picture. I'm not sure that Taegan ever told Santa what he wanted, so let's just hope Santa remembers him on Christmas!!

Halloween 2009

Happy late Halloween everyone!! This year for Halloween Don and I "helped" Madison and Lily decide to be Hannah Montana when we purchased extremely expensive tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert. I thought if we bought them cute outfits for the concert, then they could use them again and be Hannah Montana for Halloween. So, we bought them each pink boots, a shirt, scarf and a Hannah Montana wig. It ended up that Miley got strep and had to postpone her concert to a night we couldn't make it, so they only used them as Halloween costumes. They both loved dressing up and were so excited that I even put makeup on them and some fake nails that Madison had received as a birthday present. They looked so cute!! Taegan's costume was picked by us too. Don and I saw the dalmatian costume at Old Navy and tried it on Taegan and fell in love. He looked so cute that day and was even cuter on Halloween when the whole outfit was on and I made a little nose with a black marker. We headed out to go trick or treating and met up with the Ross family. Madison and Lily knew exactly what to do. Taegan's first house was Bob and Lisa's next door neighbor and while waiting to get his candy, he fell off the porch and into the bushes. He wasn't hurt and it was actually so cute to look at this little puppy dog in the bushes!! I tried taking a picture, but I couldn't get there fast enough. Once he hit up a few house, he really started enjoying it. He just kept looking in his bag and couldn't believe that people were giving him candy!!! They all had a great time and then we came back home and had dinner with Grandpa and Grandma. The girls have already asked how many more days until Halloween. I've decided maybe we should count down until Thanksgiving instead!!

Madison as Hannah Montana~Lily as Hannah Montana too~Taegan from behind... I just love it!!!Taegan as a dalmatian - so, so cute!!!Spot - close up!My beautiful Hannah Montanas!!!All 3 kids ready to go!!!What a group!!All 8 dressed up and ready to get candy!Taegan stopping to check his basket. He was good as long as he could hold a piece of candy.Don and Taegan...They all had so much fun!!

Pre-Halloween Activities

Madison's Halloween parade at school was inside this year (it was so cold outside). Don, Lily, Taegan and I were there to watch and then I stayed to help with the Halloween party in her classroom. She had such a great time. They played all kinds of fun games and of course got some candy too! Here are some pictures of all the fun!

The next day we did our annual pumpkin carving at the Engel house. I helped Lily carve her pumpkin and surprisingly, I came up with something actually creative! I'm normally a triangle eyes, nose and regular mouth kind of girl, but she and I worked together and this is the creation we made. Lily really, really, wanted ears, so I made sure she had some. Madison and Don made her pumpkin - so cute!! (Notice that both of the girls' pumpkins have eyelashes!!) And then Don, who had never carved a pumpkin until I met him, made this interesting creation. The girls thought it was so funny!!! Mommy, Taegan and Reese's didn't get carved. We left them whole so we can save them as decorations for Thanksgiving. We all had a great time, as always and we all loved the result when they were all lit up that night!!!

The Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday when I was at a Tastefully Simple party and working at Gymboree, Don and his mom took the kids to the pumpkin patch. Don and I normally do this every year, but this year sickness had delayed our plans. Madison had been sick with the flu and we were all pretty tired of being in the house, so it was a nice change of pace!

Everyone got to pick out a pumpkin, even Reese got a baby pumpkin! They all had a great time with Daddy and Grandma! Now we just have to find time to carve the pumpkins!!

Uncle Eric and Aunt Tiya's Reception

Recently my brother married a wonderful girl named Tiya. She very quickly became Aunt Tiya and we (especially my girls) love her!! A couple weekends ago, they had a very nice reception in Carthage, Missouri. Madison and Lily got to be flower girls and we all had a great time. We had my cousin's wife, Annie, take some pictures and when I get those I will post some of them as well, but for now, here are a few of my snapshots of our night.

My brother, Eric and his lovely wife, Tiya cutting their wedding cake.

Here is a picture of my crazy son playing with his blanket during the reception!!

Don and his daughters. They were so excited to be flower girls and they did a great job!!!

Madison's Makeover Party!

A friend had told me about a makeover party her daughter had been invited to attend, and when I told Madison about it, she was SO excited to do that for her 7th birthday!! We had 8 girls there and they all got their hair fixed, nails painted and makeup put on. They all seemed to have a blast (I know Madison and Lily did!).

Madison really enjoyed spending time with all her friends and had so much fun getting made over with them!!

Here is a picture of Madison and Faith (her best friend from Kindergarten) getting their nails painted.

While some of the girls were waiting their turn to go to the next station, we took this picture. Here are Lily, KayLynn, Madison and Erica.

And here is the final picture of the whole bunch after they were all done. They all did so good and it was such an easy party for me!!!

Happy Birthday Madison! I hope you had a wonderful time!!

Happy Birthday Madison!!

7 years ago today at 7:00 in the morning I gave birth to a baby girl who weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces!! Madison Grace Engel, our first baby and first daughter. What a whirlwind it has been ever since! Now 7 years later, she is in first grade and learning all kinds of new things.

Tonight to celebrate, Madison chose Steak n Shake for dinner and then she got to open her presents. Here are the girls drinking their dessert after dinner...

And here are some pictures of Madison's gifts from us. The main item she really wanted (and what Daddy really wanted to get her) was a real, pink guitar!! Here she is learning to play it...

I can't believe 7 years has past already, and so quickly! I hope the next 7 slow down, but some how I doubt that! Happy Birthday Madison!!! Mommy loves you so much and is so happy to be able to call you my daughter!!!