Midwest Keech

We had a great time in sunny, warm Arizona for Christmas. We stayed with Bryan's brother, Alan, and his family. It was nice to spend time with them, because I feel like we sometimes don't get to see them as much. At some point, we had to go to see Grandma's new "puppy". First, the back-story...My BIL (brother in law), while living at home, got a DOG. This dog is a bloodhound named Jackpot. Well, Jackpot stayed @ my MIL's house when her son's moved out. Jackpot is a full-grown blood hound & quite big. I guess the plan is to move him after my BIL puts grass in his backyard. In the meantime, my MIL decided that Jackpot was lonely & needed a friend...Enter Roxy, her "puppy". She really is still a puppy at only 4 months, but as you can see, she's already a good size - Especially for my scaredy -cat little girls. Allison, however, seems to be an animal lover. She loved seeing the dog, and was only concerned that Roxy wanted her candy cane...

Well, I've become a victim of my life again, and have gotten caught up in the day-to-day activities. Yup, I haven't updated the blog in OVER 2 Months! Too bad this doesn't mean we've been living an un-eventful life. Here is a page that I did using the halloween pics I took this year. Adam came up with his own ninja costume & I bought him some cool swords. I actually got ambitious this year & made the girls' costumes. I was looking at a pattern (for dress-up clothes), and the girls decided that they BOTH wanted to be Rapunzel. - Therefore, the Rapunzel Twins were born, at least that's what they started calling themselves. I love how they turned out. Cute! For Thanksgiving, this year, we drove to Utah to spend the holiday with my parents & siblings. We had lots of fun with family. We took the kids to Temple Square. It was fun to see the girls point to the temple & know that they recognized it from pictures. I also loved spending the day wandering I...

This year, we went to the Haunted Trail (a couple weeks ago). There is a Nature (?) Trail that meanders through part of town. People walk, run & bike on this paved pathway. For Halloween, the town closes a portion so it can be decorated with displays & spooky things that transform it into the Haunted Trail. It is similar to going to a haunted house. The first weekend, they do a not-so-scary trail that is more kid/family friendly. We parked & rode a little shuttle bus over to the festivities. Then, we had to WAIT in line. It wasn't too bad, but it's always hard for kids to wait. It was a little chilly. When we left, I think I underestimated how chilly. We were OK in our sweatshirts, but I was worried about the kids being cold. Next year, we wear the big coats. The kids were entertained for quite a while by the little "Tiger" behind us in line. Finally, it was OUR turn. I carried Allison, while the other 2 girls held daddy's hand. Allison just stared wi...

So, this year I made the girls costumes (an experiment to see if I could actually save money, rather than spending $60-75 for 3 Princess dresses). More pictures will be forthcoming as they have a chance to actually wear them. Anyway, I decided a while ago that Allison would be a ballerina. I figured, "How hard could it be to make a tutu?" Well, it didn't turn out quite as I envisioned, but with some trimming & adjustments, it DID turn out pretty cute. The only problem, now Allison won't take it off. If she sees it, she takes it & (even though she still has trouble putting on NORMAL clothes) puts it on. So...Today she is wearing a pink tutu over her clothes, even though it doesn't match & it's NOT Halloween. Whatever. I guess I should be glad that she wants to wear it.

You would think that with 3 little girls, I would have LOTS of opportunities to do cute stuff with their hair. Well, more often than not, they are content with a simple headband or pony tail, sometimes 1 or 2. And occasionally, they will let me braid their hair. Often, if I want to actually "style" their hair, I am in for a fight. One day, while rummaging through my bathroom cabinet, Amelia found the foam rollers & decided she wanted curls. Isn't she cute in her rollers & nightgown? Unfortunatey, it was rainy the next day so the curls didn't stay as long as they might have. But, her hair turned out super-cute. Very curly & bouncy. I think the bounce was her favorite part. My favorite was watching her walk, so her hair bounced as she went. Funny. Isn't she sweet? Yes, we can't forget Allison's attempt at the spotlight. She thought she was so funny blowing spit-bubbles.