Catching up

OK, so it's been almost 9 months since I posted last. Since I use this blog as a journal of sorts, you'll have to deal with the chaos of this long post. Here's the "catch-up"

March - NC house on the market (half our stuff packed up and in storage)

April - Graduation for Brig! A real dentist now.

May - Move to UT. Live with the in-laws.

June - Shannon working, Brig setting up his brand-spankin' new practice (see: http://www.slcdentalcenter.com).

July - NC house SOLD

October - move in to new UT house! We love it!

Someone asked me the other day if I had just recently cut Mia's bangs. No, no. Rest assured I did not give my 2 year old side-sweepy bangs. The mullet is all natural....
These two girls love books. So sweet when they read together. Scarlett loves to "read" -- she has a few books memorized and she'll recite them. It's the best.

Mia Jane turned 2 at the end of November! As always I was decorating the cake as my family was (literally) piling into the car to go to Grandma's house for dinner. I thought it turned out pretty cute anyway, thanks to Brig's birthday present to me: a cake decorating kit!
This picture was taken at a Halloween Party BEFORE Halloween, because the night we were going to go out trick-or-treating 1)We had just moved into our new house THAT DAY 2) Couldn't find the costumes (threw together some make-shift ones) 3) It started pouring rain 4) the kids fell asleep in the car on the way to meet our friends. That was the last straw. We called it quits before we even got there.

This picture of the fam was taken during a really ghetto-fabulous haunted boat ride. Our "pirate" tour guide pulled our "ship" down a "river" with a rope that was strung overhead. There really was water. And lit jack-o-lanterns along the riverbanks. Very homemade-y. Very hilarious. The kids still had fun.
No words.
Nathan's soccer team.
Then it was back to NC for our good friends' wedding in October! Mia was a fantastic dancer whenever there was music.

Nathan was the ring-bearer and Scarlett escorted him down the aisle. I wish I could steal some of the professional shots of them walking down the aisle. They were so adorable! They did a great job -- a relief since Nathan REFUSED to walk down the aisle at another wedding when he was 2 1/2. And Scarlett loved all the attention and was instantly best friends with anyone wearing a red dress (bridesmaid).
And to Jackson Hole with my family. I actually went with the kids myself (without Brig), because Brig and his mom went to NC to pack up our house there. I'm still trying to sort out how it is fair for me to go on vacation while my husband and his mother move us from NC to UT....all I can say is they are the BEST!

The Birthday Boy

Yes, he is now 5 years old. Yes, he is wearing 2 ties.

Thanks for coming to celebrate, guys!

Nathan overheard Brig and I talking about the cake as I was decorating it. Then he asked, "what does ghetto mean"?
So this year Nathan requested a "green turtle" cake. Remember the "green Q" cake last year? It wasn't until after I started to decorate it that he told me, "I mean I want a Ninja Turtle cake." Oh, great. Like I know what that looks like. Brig helped me with the logistics. If only I'd had a few more minutes maybe the eyes wouldn't be so lopsided and the rest wouldn't be so ghetto. In my own defense, that afternoon we had someone coming to see the house, Mia had to go to the doctor, then that someone who was coming to see the house while we left it vacant for an hour (with the beginnings of the un-decorated turtle cake stashed in the oven) decided to come late. While we were all home. While the baby was in the bath. While we were making dinner. If only they'd offered on the house it would have been worth it.

Happy Birthday big 5 year old. We love you!

Haircut

Scarlett has needed a haircut for a LONG time, but every time I mentioned it she would burst into tears. Then one morning I asked her if she wanted a haircut and she said, "and I will turn into Cinderella?" "Oh, yes" I agreed, "and you will be a beautiful princess." Then I didn't waste any time. I cut it immediately. Couldn't give her time to change her mind, which changes as fast as her moods.

Now she has a haircut. Now she thinks she is Cinderella.

Praying for dreams

Tonight Nathan said prayers before bed, "......and please bless me to have cool dreams and Scarlett to have pretty dreams."

"Dress-Ups" (for boys)

(Stoker family riding in the car, on the way home from Chick-Fil-A)

Nathan and Scarlett are jabbering about going on another play-date at Lilly's house. Scarlett wants to bring her dress-ups (Lilly has lots of dress-ups at her house) and Nathan says he wants to bring his only dress-up, his doctor hat: "I only have one dress-up to bring--I mean I only have one 'pants-up' (I'm a boy) to bring." Glad we got that straightened out. "Dress-ups" for girls. "Pants-ups" for boys.

In November...

Happy 1st Birthday Mia!

Thanks again to Sarah for the great birthday photos!

Sweet Mia--we just can't get enough of your: kisses and hugs, walking and running, talking and singing, and you tolerating pushes and pulls from two older siblings

We could do without: you getting out of your crib (falling or otherwise).

Still, we love you to pieces.