Disneyland!!

It's become a family tradition that we take Mia to Disney every October, as Halloween is her favorite holiday! This year Grammy & Papa were kind enough to arrange a trip for the five of us. Thankfully, Grandma & Grandpa were willing to drive in from Colorado and stay with the twins so we could enjoy our time away with Mia! It was an amazing weekend... We were in the park with Mia until after 11 pm on both Fri & Sat night!!! That is late for a little girl who normally goes to bed around 8 or 8:30. She was an absolute trooper! Long days of playing, leisurely mornings and incredible memories with our little angel. Momma spends so much time caring for all the kids these days that it was especially great to see her getting to relax & love on the midget! We had an absolute blast, but sure missed the twins... Thanks to two wonderful sets of grandparents we made some incrdible memories, and one little girl is extremely happy!

Quality Time!

It was so nice to get some quality time alone with the midget! We absolutely love & adore the twins, but sometimes miss the closeness of when it was just us and our little angel... Next year the twins will definitely be old enough to enjoy Disney with us, so this was sort of our last hurrah. What an amazing weekend of quality time for all of us...

Scary Dragon!

On Friday night they shut the park down early and reopened at 7 pm for a special night of trick or treating! Disney does an amazing job of decorating Main Street for the festivities, and they give out loads of candy all over the park... Mia has been anxiously anticipating the chance to wear her 'scary dragon' costume for months! She is expecially proud of her tail... Frightening, huh?!

Ketchup & The Dragon!

Mia & Papa got into the mood at for a little trick or treating at Disney! Needless to say, Papa was a celebrity for his inventive costume... Mia loved his enthusiasm!

Fire Station Visit!

This weekend we drove out to Globe, Arizona to take the kids to 'Apache Days'. This is an event where all of the remaining Apaches in the state come together for tribal dancing & singing. Mia was mesmerized by the festivites and is still talking about the outrageous tribal head dresses they wore for their ceremonial dances. On the way home we happened upon a fire station that was having an open house. The kids got to climb into a fire truck, and here they are aboard a helicopter! The high light for the children was watching the helicopter take off... It's such an amazing experience to expose the children to things they've never seen before.

First Day of School for Aubs!!

Well, the day finally arrived for our last child to begin going to school... She was a little slow in getting started walking, but boy is she making up for lost time! Aubrey hasn't gotten down and crawled a single time since she stood up and began walking a few weeks ago. Now that she's walking, it was time to join her siblings at school. And boy was she ready... She marched into that school with lunch bag in hand, ready to take charge. The best part was that she is so short that she had to drag her her lunch behind her! I'm happy to report that she had a fantastic first day and loves going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Handsome Devil...

Usually it's Mia's beauty that I'm espousing on this blog. However, I think this handsome young man deserves a little respect for his devilish way... What a cutie!

Nap Time!

The other day we were all playing in our 'family bed' during the mid afternoon. One minute we were all wrestling, the next minute Mommy & Big Boy were cuddled up and fast asleep... We crept out of the room and let them catch a badly needed cat nap! Aren't they sweet together?

The Fish Queen!

Mia is obsessed with gold fish. So much so that sometimes she dumps them all over herself! Ok, not really, but she sure enjoys those little crunchy things... Here she was right after she spilled a bag all over herself!

The Gang!

We are now clearly outnumbered by this roving band of crazy kids! Mia is the de facto leader, and makes certain to lead them towards trouble whenever possible... The twins are quite happy to defer to her, and in fact do their best to emulate her at every turn. They sure love their leader! So do we...

Intellectual Boy?!?!

I'm not sure who Big Boy is trying to fool, but we Lovell boys aren't known for our overwhelming intellectual prowess... Perhaps he'll be the first to change that! He sat down at Daddy's computer the other night and threw an absolute fit when anyone tried to prevent him from doing his work. What a ham this kid is!

Aubs Kisses!

Our sweet little angel just loves to give kisses! Only problem is that unlike her brother who gives sweet little kisses, she tries to shove her tongue in your mouth... She always finds her own path!

The Yarmulke Queen!

We all know how much Mia likes to pretend that she is a boy! Well, she took it to a new level last week at services. When she saw them passing out Yarmulkes to all the men & boys, she decided she absolutely must wear one... Who am I to ruin a little girls dreams?! So here she is sporting her beanie with her best friend Easton! Too cute...

Happy Holidays!

For the High Holidays we took the kids to Temple and then had a Tot Shabbat party in the auditorium. Mia had a blast dancing and singing along, while the twins... Oh yeah, they slept through the whole thing! You can see Big Boy lounging in his stroller above, next to his sister! It was amazingly loud in that room, and they snoozed through the whole thing... Those kids can sleep through anything!

SHE WALKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a very long 19 months, we are excited to announce that Aubrey is fully walking!!!!! For several months she's been taking a few steps here & there, and then quickly going back to her routine crawling. But this past week she finally stood up, started walking, and hasn't stopped... I know this may not sound like much, but it is huge for us! We're very proud of our little Aubs!

Mia's Fort!

Mia has been wanting to build a new fort lately. So Daddy & Mia spent some time at Home Depot designing a new fort, and gathering the necessary materials. Then today we spent the whole afternoon cutting & assembling the new fort. We used painters drop cloth for the walls and roof so that the kids would be able to 'grafiti' it. They were so exicted to take markers to the finished product and do exactly what they are always told not to do... It really turned out great, and Mia was very proud of her finished product. There's pretty much nothing she enjoys as much as working with tools, except maybe eating chocolate!!

Brandon's Baby?!

Brandon is clearly surrounded by too many women! He is now taking 'Honey Bear' for walks in his stroller... Good lord, we need to save this boy's dignity and manhood!