Santa...

We didn't expect Santa and Betsey to get along this year, and sure enough...we got to the front of the line, and she wouldn't even stand by Santa and hold Ruby's hand. Nope. None of it. So Santa waved goodbye and walked a distance away and the three kids sat in his chair for a picture...and Santa snuck behind them. Cute. Betsey almost wouldn't even cooperate for that...see previous post about what I want for Christmas. She doesn't cooperate for the camera. So with some amazing skills, the photographer got her sitting and smiling and she was oblivious that Santa was even there. THEN, we were going for the "drop her on his lap and take a few of her screaming" pictures. Only...she didn't scream! I don't actually think that she realized when I set her back down that she was on a lap...she just never looked his way and all was well...smiles ON SANTA'S LAP! Even the photographer was shocked. Secret weapon? An angry bird stuffed animal being tossed in the air. Who knew? Wish me luck on Wednesday because I'm going to try and get some pics of all three together.

Ruby's Birthday Party...

So Ruby is turning 9 on November 30th. I can't believe my baby is 9. I'll post more about that on her birthday. We had an insanely busy and loud and exciting and dramatic birthday party for her. Shoot, she had only a handful of friends at the beg. of the school year, but I started a co-op with a few of my friends and I recruited families that have girls her age and she had SIX friends just from co-op. She had Kiley, Ella and Shaylyn, her friends from church and another girl, Aliyah and a friend from up north, Mikaeli. She would have loved for her cousins, Sarah, Hailey and Mattie to be there, dont' think that she didn't express this even though she knew it wasn't likely due to the long distances. Anyway, we had a little, disorganized and non-themey party with no decorations but when you throw in 16 little girls, you don't need much more.

We started with pizza. Then we painted nails. Thankfully, my new co-op friend, Melanie stayed to help me because Chris was gone and I was WAY OUTNUMBERED! After nail painting, we opened presents and had cupcakes, then tried to settle in to watch one of Ruby's favorite movies, Secretariat...but there was just too much to be thrilled about and the girls didn't settle down. They just talked over the movie and ripped into Ruby's new toys and had a great time.

While we were waiting for all the nails to get done, some girls were done and getting out of control...so we had them play duck, duck goose. Phew!

Ella getting her nails painted by Melanie.

Cupcakes...I made chocolate filled cupcakes for the first time. Tasty and fun.

Oh, Ruby wanted a slumber party feel even though we don't do overnighters. Her friends brought jammies and changed after nail painting.

Make a wish...

Ruby was super excited about each one of her presents. People really nailed what she wanted and it all had something to do with earrings, jewelry, horses or more horses or other accessories and more jewelry. IT was perfect. She was thrilled.

Oh, and clothing with glitter and the word "Rock" or "Girls" is always a big hit.

What 9 year old wouldn't love some frangranced nail polish!??

A cozy pillow pet.

I was worried about kids having a hard time sharing Ruby's attention, as she usually plays with people one-on-one. Ruby initially didn't want a birthday party because she said that she feels bad at people's parties when she doesn't really get to play with her friend because they are so distracted by other people. She said she didn't want any of her friends to feel that way, so she just wanted a few special play dates one-on-one. I agreed, but after she saw the gift getting that Alice enjoyed at her party, she decided she could hang with a party. Hahaha. She is a super sweet girl, and she made sure her friends all felt special.

All I want for Christmas...

...is a gorgeous picture of my three gorgeous babies together. I shouldn't be greedy, I do have one gorgeous shot of them together, but it is over a year old and I want an update with Betsey all big. I have tried. A lot. It is a ton of work to prep three little girls for a photoshoot, and every time I get them all ready either I'm too late and up against nap time, or I'm so put out by the prepping process that I just don't have anything left in me (okay, if I was really done with it, I'd do it no matter what, but someone will be in the shower and the other will be in the hair drying process when the baby gripes so much and so loud I give up).

I had the goal a few weeks ago, and we went to my mom's house to get her help and nail something. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we were all ready pretty early, and it hadn't been too hard to accomplish due to dear mom's help. But Betsey knew what I was after and she WOULD NOT give it to me. She wasn't distracted or happy about any of the things we were ready with to make her happy. It just didn't work, and we knew it was an epic fail when we gave up. BAH!

 This shot would be cute if I had others to group it with, but nope.

 Close, but Alice and Betsey need to be looking up and happy. I don't even care if they look at me, but happy and eyes open and chin up so I can see their faces would be essential.

 Okay, these two would pose for me all day, every day. They are so good to me.

Below is actually the first attempt...The pics of the three girls together are mine, the others below are from another photographer, Tina Flores, who offered to try and catch some happy shots of Betsey, which I thought was impossible. She did get some stuff...

I'd say I might like that last one well enough to print it. It's pretty cute. She's walking, she's happy and I think it is a nice shot in general. YAY. One of Bets.

I haven't given up. I have a plan for November 30th when my mom is coming down for Ruby's birthday, and I may try again on December 5th by myself if I can't get anything on the 30th. We are doing it in the studio, so I'll be able to keep them warm, let them dress up and play and I'll just hope something good goes down. Root for me on the 30th.

Bronkin' Bruno...Buckin' Bronco...

I think when I was little, maybe Buckin' Bronco was the original name for riding on dad's back like he is a rodeo horse, but all I know is we all called it "Bronkin' Bruno" my whole life. Chris doesn't get as crazy with our kids and my dad did with us, he's pretty convinced someone will break something...but they still have a good time.

I couldn't find a pic of me on my dad's back, though I know they exist. Here he is with Robb on his back, Jeff is on the couch. We liked to wear a cowboy hat, sometimes I put on some cowgirl boots. We took it pretty seriously.

Potty training...

Chris and I are a team, right? However, one of us is with the kids 24/7 and one of us is with them primarily when they are sleeping. What does this mean? This means that I, the one who is always with them gets to make certain choices about how things go down with the kids. It is true, Betsey does always seem to tell us when she is going to the bathroom. She will say, "pooh, pooh?" and that, we assume, means that she is either going number one or number two.

Chris suggested we put her on the potty every time she says that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No, I will not try and train my 20 month old baby to go in the potty. Diapers are a mom's best friend. No changes of clothes in the diaper bag, no running through the mall looking for the nearest bathroom with a child in my arms clutching her privates, no pee on the carpet or refusals to wear diapers...no. At least not until it is generally accepted that those things will lead to successful training. On average that isn't until age 3. I have plenty of time. Still, it was kind of cute to get her on the potty...oh wait, she didn't really ever even agree to sit on it. Still cute though!

I love that gut on my baby!

Ruby's First Book Recital...

 Ruby worked really hard at learning by memory the entire Suzuki Book One. She had her Book One recital the same weekend as the horse show while Jeff's family was in town. She played through all of her songs with confidence and we were all proud!

 Ruby and her teacher, Joanie Steck.

Ruby's Horse Show...

I am so glad I realized that I never blogged about this horse show! It is July of 2013 and I am blogging about November of 2011...so I don't remember a lot of details. Jeff and his family came down to support Ruby in her second horse show. She loves horses and she especially loves horse shows. She rode Blackie and did a great job in several events.

Ruby and Sarah

Molly and Betsey

Jump!

Ruby going over her course with her coach, Lori Reale.

Such a happy girl!

Jane, Nathan, Alice, Sarah and Ruby!

Alice lost a tooth...

Alice lost her first tooth on November 6th, at six years old! She was thrilled. She didn't even know it was loose until Saturday when she told Chris that she was bothered by something hard that was stuck in the gum behind her front teeth. Chris took a look in her mouth and found that she had the entire top of an adult tooth already through the gum. You can see it in the pic...she literally had already cut it through. When Chris saw the tooth, he knew her baby tooth had to be really loose, and he wiggled it and sure enough, it was hardly hanging on. She was THRILLED, and scared. The next morning, Chris asked Alice if he could grab onto her tooth and just pull up on it instead of wiggling it back and forth. She said yes, and out came the tooth. That was one really happy little girl!

Alice in Wonderland...

Alice's birthday was the biggest deal this year! I've never been a big birthday party planner, but my friend Jennifer is really passionate about the details and fun that go into a great themed event, and she and I did some swapping and next thing you know...she has literally pulled off the most amazing birthday party that will ever be had by any of my children!

So Alice turned SIX in style...

Party favor for each child...

These "marshmallow puffs" were tasty and super adorable!

There were french macarons (different from macaroons), cake pops, sugar cookies, cupcakes, sugar crystal sucker things, gumballs, lollipops...

These are not works of art, they are cookies. Amazing. Who knew you could make cookies like this?! Well, I certainly could NOT do it...but someone knows how, and that person made these!

The spread...Jennifer thought of everything. Everything.

Tea party food...

How cute are these Alice in Wonderland themed photobooth props?!

Jen with her masterpiece!

Party girl and party planner...

We had stations for the girls to make flower headbands and get their nails painted. Here's Oma with Kesley Reynolds.

Jen paints her daughter, Kaylee's nails.

 Finger foods shaped like hearts!

 We played ALICE bingo.

Photo booth fun.

Lauren Hudgins, Kesley Reynolds, Ella Reed, Stella Harris, Ruby Pierce and Kaylee Carver.

My girl, Jennifer Wilcox totally wowed us with her attention to Queen of Hearts detail. I had borrowed the costume, and thought she'd just throw it on for a little bit...but she came down as the best, in character Queen EVER. The kids were scared of her. It was hilarious! She was all about "off with your heads" and made them hold their tea cups with their pinkie's up in the air. She was peeerrrfect.

Story time with the Queen.

Take home...

More take home...all the kids got to fill these amazing Mad Hatter hat boxes with treats from the table full of sweets.

We played croquet! I loved this idea!

Does this table make your mouth water? Mine too.

A pic of Jen in her element. She has a great facebook page, Banner Events with many ideas that I would never, ever come up with. She has had her work featured on sites like, "Hostess with the Mostess" and "Anders Ruff". Go like her page! 

Elena really had fun with her role as the Mad Hatter! A trip to the thrift store, some serious hairspray and her amazing natural curl...and voila. Mad Hatter. Here is Ella...

Ruby...

Kesley...

Stella...

Lauren

Savanna...

Alice...

Eden...

Kate...

Kaylee...

The cutest thing ever was sweet Alice's reaction to each and every single present. It was so extreme, I took pictures of each jaw dropped grin.

So excited.

Seiously?

I can't get enough.

Soooooo cute!