Introducing Baby Esther!

It has been brought to my attention that I never did mention on this blog that we have been expecting a baby (oops!) --- so, Suprise! There are now Four Little "Higglets"!

Little Esther made her arrival a few days ago and is now happily home and settling in just fine. Mike, Em and Natalie are fascinated with her and just love "helping"....

Here are a few pics of our little darlin's meeting for the first time:
And here is the little lady herself, ready for her first car ride (home from the hospital):

Costume Time!

For Halloween this year, Emily decided to be a "pink cowgirl" (costume courtesy of Grandma Haroldsen), Mike changed his mind last minute to be a cowboy, too (his usual costume from Aunt Jana), and Natalie announced she was going to be a ghost: "Whoooo!"

"Can we go yet, Mom?"

"Yee-haw and Yippee!"

(Emily & Mike, 4 1/2 yrs)

"Whoooo!"

(Natalie, 2 1/2 yrs)

Our community trick-or-treat was Sunday afternoon, but it was "wicked cold" so the kids probably went to about 5 houses, total.... We have a ward party and "trunk-or-treat" on Friday night, though, so they will have another chance to dress up (and get more loot).... They are still at the age to be more interested in dressing up than the amount of candy they get, anyway, so they are having fun!

Where Did Our Summer Go?!

Well, obviously the update-at-least-once-a-month hasn't been happening... However, in my/our defense, we basically spent the whole summer prepping our old house to sell (May-July), finally selling it late in July (yay!), house hunting like crazy, buying a house (Aug 29) and moving... I'm sure you can imagine the details have been tedious and wearisome...


Anyway, it really has been worth it --- our new house is wonderful! We finally have 2 bathrooms and enough bedrooms to go around (4, all upstairs). We also have a "living room" and a "family room" on the main floor, as well as an "eat-in" kitchen and "dining room". The basement is unfinished, but perfectly adequate for storage and laundry (and workshop space for Matt). The location is great, too: nice neighborhood, really good schools, 4 miles from Matt's job, etc. We did have to switch wards (at church), but we're still close enough to keep in touch with old friends, and the new ward has been very welcoming.


My camera disappeared for a while during our move, but here are a couple pictures outside the new house:

(Mike & Em (4 1/2) and Natalie (2 1/2) helping sweep up leaves, October 2008)

...In back of the house we have a nice patio (not pictured), a bit of grass, a built-in swingset (above) and a bit of a treeline.... (Our part of the trees goes back maybe 3-5 yards? I'm bad at guessing distances...)

Hmm... suppose I ought to post an update at least once a month....
Here's a couple pictures from our latest "jaunt" to the Betty Brinn children's museum:

And here are the kids helping daddy get ready for my birthday:

And here's the grand celebration: The kids helped pick the balloons and they gave me a book and a "lovey" (big soft blue blanket). Matt supervised the chaos, od course, and also gave me a new bowl and pouring shield for my mixer (which is more fun than it sounds - I really wanted those!).

March12: Piggie Time!

Natalie just turned 2 - and she Finally has enough hair for pigtails... she is quite delighted!