A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer...

Happy Halloween everyone! Our little KitKat had a great time showing off her costume to both grandparents, Great-Grandma & Grandpa Hunter and Alicia and Ben. She was definitely tired after all that, but it was fun in the moment!  Last Tuesday we had our annual pumpkin carving party with our Salem friends  (the ones that could make it anyway!). We didn't actually carve any pumpkins because  knives + Lute children = DANGER! Haha...but we still had fun dressing the kids up and eating tacos.  On Saturday we finally carved our pumpkins with Youngi's help. She carved Cayden's name into Cayden's little pumpkin and apparently the babe approved because here she is clapping away!   Joe carved his first pumpkin too...and not too shabby!  And here's the finished products....Joe's, Cayden's, my goblin and Lauren's spooky house.  And, yes, I let my child eat leaves if it means she stays still while I take fall pictures of her.  Thi

We finally have grass for Cayden's little toes to wiggle in! This fall we tore up our whole yard with my grandpa's tractor and reseeded the entire quarter-acre yard (which is no small feat!). I was very mad when clover started growing en mass before my grass even had a chance, but the grass is coming up now too and hopefully the weed killer in the spring will take care of the clover.    In other news, Cayden is still not crawling, for the million people that ask me this every day!! Below is as close as she gets. She will rock back and forth like this, and then just flop on to her stomach.  I also discovered a trick to holiday pics (at least fall pics). Go to your local nursery....I went to Garland's on Hwy 20....they are all decked out in fall props just waiting for a cute baby to sit in them!  I love her two teeth!  It was semi-scary to take this picture because I put her inside the huge planters, but she held herself up just fine and the planters have such

This is a very busy time in our house! With me tutoring twice a week, church events 4 times a week, two hungry teenageers and a 7-month-old who STILL won't sleep through the night, life is flying by!  Occasionally, I get a chance to snuggle my baby like this...  She usually will not sit like this....she's really a wiggler, not a snuggler, but this night last week she had woken up from sleeping and had a little food and just wanted to be snuggled. Usually this happens in the dead of night when she wakes up and I feed her in her room, but this time I was downstairs and asked Bryan to take a pic. We also got to visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Ullman this week, twice!  And look, Grandpa didn't break her! As you can see, Cayden now loves to clap! Joe and Lauren also got to meet my Grandma's kitties...see more pictures below... We also got a visit from the Mendenhalls this weekend, and Carroll got to meet Cayden for the first time, sporting the Oakland

Somebody is 7 months old...yesterday.   What's the big deal guys?  Today was a busy day. Bryan is off on the college beach retreat and Lauren went to work concessions at the OSU game and Joe decided to stay home and do homework slash watch T.V. and I went to Salem. After dropping Cayden off at Bryce and Julie's, I met up with Melissa and Alicia for brunch and then went to visit Mal and Eden for a bit.  After that, Alicia and I went back to Bryce and Julie's where Cayden was sleeping like a dead person....she slept for 2 hours....sprawled out on her back, binkie on her chest ....just OUT. After Cayden woke up, Alicia went home and I took Cayden out to my parents' farm, where she tried out her scooter (first pic on this post), which used to be Shane's!    My mom's friend, Ann came out to pick pears with my mom. She and Cayden fed the neighbor's horse...named Angie! And btw, Cayden doesn't like it when you take her binkie away. But sh

Last night was Crrrraazzzzzzzy. It was pretty much a normal day until nightfall. I tutor on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7-9pm and Bryan stays home with Cayden and the kids. Bryan has a college retreat this weekend and wanted to go food shopping after I got home. On my way to tutoring, I noticed that the gas gauge was on E, which is NOT a good thing, especially in the white car. It takes two hands to count how many times I have run out of gas in that car. Once in college, my roommates and I had to push it down Lancaster to get to the gas station. So, mental note: get gas on the way home because I don't have time right now because I'm always late. Two hours later, when I finished tutoring, I called Bryan to see if he would rather me just go shopping since I was already in town. He said he'd rather just go shopping with me. The baby was sleeping, it was 9:30 pm and she should be sleeping for the night, so I told Bryan to come and meet me at Winco and leave the SLEEP

 Say no to crack.... or as Isla prefers: "Crack kills!" This week, Cayden has made great advances in cheerio dexterity.  Her rate of success is about 1 of 10. Macie's rate of success = 9 of 10 Can you see the teeth? don't worry, she's not always sad...  At Grandma Hunter's house, Cayden fell asleep like this...  If this were to happen at home, she would be freaking out, but not at Grandma's! She woke up happy and loves looking out the window from her crib.  She is also loving bananas....but I have to watch her closely because she literally bites off more than she can chew, therby choking herself.  At youth group, Cayden made some new friends....Violet and Joy.