Weekends are our favorite!

NAT AND MOM MATCHING IN OUR BOOTS!

DADDY MADE TONS OF BEEF JERKEY...EVEN A HEART FOR NAT.

BABY BRETT AND DADDY IN THEIR BLUES.

NAT LOVES TO PLAY DRESS UP

ALL SMILES!

AND HERE GOES THE SEARCH FOR THE THUMB

It's always fun here in the Auker home on the weekends. This was the first weekend we have had in SIX, yes six weeks, without company. Don't get me wrong....we LOVE hosting. We just have never experienced six weekends in a row of having company. It started in the very beginning of October: my folks, the Horton's from Prescott, John John, Jaime and Steph, my folks again and Chad's folks. It was wild.....so it was nice to do not much of anything this weekend. We had some funnies:

The kids and I were hanging out and Natalie was playing with her toy food....she offered me a plastic strawberry, and it dropped on the floor and rolled under the bed. When she pulled it out it had a dust bunny stuck to it (can you imagine?) Well, she panicked....I told her to chill out and "brush it off." "Brush it off?" she asked me. The next thing I knew she was in my vanity drawer, had pulled out my hairbrush and was brushing the strawberry! LOL LOL It was so cute.

Her new thing is singing praise and worship songs. I heard her last week singing to herself...."Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save." It was precious....made me cry actually.

Nat got invited to spend a few days in Phx with her Nana and Papa...and we made the mistake of telling her so. She is sooo excited....she WILL NOT stop talking about it...and the trip is a month away. She cannot wait to go to the park, the pool, Zoolights, see Santa and "Kissmiss" trees. The very first thing she said this morning when we go her up was, "Did you know I am going to my Nana's in December?" Chad said, I love your folks, but we should never have told her so early....she won't let it go." LOL LOL She constantly asks us if she is still going?

A few minutes ago she comes up to me and says, "Gary, my baby has an owie." Yes, Gary. Who the heck is Gary? I asked her if she called me Gary and she confirmed it.....really? The imagination of this little girl. I am apt to think it might be because Charlotte (her best buddy) has been insisiting on us all calling her George this week. LOL Funny little girls.

Chad has spent the majority of the weekend making jerkey.....15 pounds of elk jerkey. His folks brough us almost 50 lbs last week.....so he has plenty to play with. Anyhoo, Nat loves it. She is a salty girl. He made her a piece in the shape of a heart. It was really sweet.

This morning we went to church and Nat got to wear her new boots.....with a dress. We decided to be matching...and I wore my boots. She got a real kick out of it...she told her teacher and friends at Sunday School we were twins. See pics. Daddy and Baby Brett happened to be in blue too...and Nat pointed out that they too matched. Nothing gets by her.

Baby Brett is three months old as of yesterday....such a sweet baby too. I took him to a church meeting yesterday morning and most everyone at the meeting didn't realize I had a baby with me...he didn't make a peep. He is so so easy going and content. He has been sleeping thru the night for a few weeks now....still a great nurser...and just all around happy. He has been desperately trying to find his thumb....although he manages to get his entire fist in there...not just his thumb. And he is all smiles. He just brights up the room. We had our first "projectile vomit" exerience two nights ago. Go figure. Natalie was like that all the time for months....but not Brett. This is the first time he has done it. Just major major spit up. Gross....he covered me, the rocker, the walls.....he didn't get a drop on himself. HOWEVER: he is the kind of baby that makes you want four more if you could be sure they would all turn out as easy as him!

I Refuse to Let her Lose her Nap

I pride myself on keeping my kids on schedules. Ever heard of Babywise? It's gospel for us here. Natalie has been on a schedule her whole life...don't get me wrong, I can be flexible....but she is such a happier kid when we stick to schedule. Anyhoo...many people tell me about how their kids dropped their nap at age three. I refuse to let it happen. Don't kids nap in Kindergarten still? I look so forward to one pm.....Brett is already sleeping and Nat goes down. I used to nap too when I was pregnant, but now I love the time to get stuff done (emails, blogs, facebook-real productive I know).

Well, lately Nat has been playing me. She gets into bed, and every twenty minutes or so she has to: pee, poop, get a drink, pick up baby sister who has fallen off bed, hug and kiss me, tellme how much she loves us, etc. She will think of anything. I usually cater to the pee and poop requests.....don't want any accidents. But after a while, I am over it. Well, she is finally at the age where she understands Christmas and Santa Clause. And BINGO....that is the trick. I finally told her that I was going to give Santa a call and let him know she was being naughty.....and she panicked. "mommy, Santa wants to bring me a kitchen for "kissmiss", don't call him." Back to bed, and not a peep! Love it.

The other day we were telling Nat about how Christmas is Jesus' Birthday. We told her that we get together with family and celebrate. She got a real kick out of that. She immediately went to her table and made Jesus a Birthday cake, and then she took the ToyRUs toy catalog and started picking out gifts for Jesus' birthday! And this morning I caught her looking thru the book and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Fall is in the air

This weekend Nana came to visit and brought Natalie a tricycle from Aunt Duffy and Uncle Dan. She loved it....and learned really quickly how to ride it. She and Nana took many bike rides around the lake and neighborhood.

Got a couple of family pics.....although Baby Brett hasn't gotten the hang of looking at the camera yet.....guess I'll cut him a little slack since he is all of 11 weeks old.

Nat just loves her baby brother. She tells me several times a day how much she loves Brett. And I know he feels the same for her...If I am nursing him and she walks in the room, he hears her voice and he strains his little neck to get a glimps of her....all while keeping a lip lock on me. It's so funny. He is starting to smile more and more this week and he spends alot of his smiles on his big sister. And Natalie repeats everything we say to Brett. She gets in his face and says "where's your smile baby? how ya doing buster? hi bubbas," etc. And she strokes his little face.....oh it makes me melt.

Our little Muffin girl is just growing up so fast. She says the funniest things...and does the funniest things. She likes to nurse her baby dolls now. Shirt up, baby on boob, burp-rag and all. It is hysterical. She says she is feeding her babies "booby-juice." LOL And can the girl eat!!! Seriously.....she eats three packs of oatmeal each morning and still claims she is hungry. Where is she putting it all? Oh to have the metabolism of a three year old!!!

Halloween 2008

We had a fantastic time trick or treating for the first time this Halloween. The kids loved it. After a fun pizza party and a session of face painting we hit the pavement. Natalie was the kitty cat...Bella was the teddy bear and Char was the ducky! They loved their face makeup and their costumes kept them so cozy and warm on the cool evening. We tried to make it to the church's Harvest Festival....but three three year olds are a little slow! We made it around one block in almost an hour! LOL

Our pumpkins were a hit. Chad made one Cinderella and the other Snow White. Just perect for the girls.

The kids had a blast going door to door. They were so polite too....lots of "thanks yous" all around.

Natalie desperately wanted to take her candy to bed with her. Of course the first thing she asked for the next morning was her loot.

Poor Baby Brett.....he was a blob for Halloween....I at least got him into a cute Halloween sleeper...but do you think I could have gotten one picture of him??? Poor kid.