HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAYNIE!!

Here is our big 4-year-old on the morning of her birthday...this is a day she has looked forward to since last January! and it FINALLY came! We love you Laynie! Happy Birthday!

Dawning the sweet crown that her preschool teacher gave her...Laynie actually got 3 parties, one for friends, one for family, and one at pre-school! Could life be any better?

Make a Wish!

Decorating aprons at her friend party! I found these apron kits on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids- they cost me $1.49 each...but the original price tag said $29.00!! I mean, they were cute...but definitely NOT $29.00 cute!

The 2.2 seconds of JOY that come from opening presents!

We LOVE you Laynie!!!

Christmas Cheer!

Only 10 little days til' Christmas and we're real excited at the Ditto House!

Addison visited with Santa at the ward party and told him he wanted a stuffed T-Rex ? okay, that's the first I've heard of that...

I'm pretty sure Laynie told Santa she wanted a Barbie...no problem :)

Last night we decorated ginger bread houses...trying to keep up with Pickett tradition. Grannie came over and showed us all up!!- Some took it very seriously (Kelly!)...

Addison decorated a plate (?)

Laynie decorated 1 WHOLE side before getting bored with it!

And Hailey tried to be sneaky...

But mostly just ate the whole time :)

And our Houses turned out lovely!

My hand however, not so lovely!! I was reading a mom's idea about using melted sugar to stick the houses together instead of icing, and I thought that sounded like a great idea! It worked pretty good too, until I dripped melted sugar across my fingers!- And I must be on self-destruct mode because today, while playing with Hailey, I ran forehead-first into the door jam! It looked like something was growing on my head the bump was so big!- Good thing we took Christmas pictures LAST week!

Wisemen

All the Ditto families are doing a portion of the nativity story, and Logan will put them all together...here is our portion "The Wisemen"- I hope this works! If not you can got to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grmfVTOnr6s to see the video too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Picture Extravaganza...

Will there ever be a day when everyone is looking/smiling at the same time? That seems like it would require a pretty hefty miracle at this point! Here is one of the shots that 'almost works...' we had lots of those, but more shots that we just deleted immediately because they DIDN'T 'almost work!' Look for our Christmas card in the mail soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I AM T H A N K F U L ! !

Isn't Thanksgiving a GREAT holiday?!? I love it! I love getting together and thinking of all the things I'm grateful for... like this guy- isn't he handsome in his headdress??

Seriously though, I am so THANKFUL for Kelly! He works so hard and is a terrific husband and father. He gets to have Lasik eye surgery at the end of the month and I am so excited for him!

So, for Thanksgiving this year we drove to Utah to be with my fam. We decided to drive through the night, and that was a dream come true! The kids slept for 8 of the 10 hour drive!! When we finally stopped the car (at 4am) Addison said "Are we there already?!? Like I said, it was a miracle and I vote that we drive through the night for all future trips!

The first evening we went to a great place called Jump on IT! It is a warehouse with wall-to-wall trampolines! The 'kids' loved it! and by kids, I mean Kelly, me, and EVERYONE who went! Laynie obviously had a great time... this brings up another 'thankful'- I am an thankful for Laynie, and at this moment I am thankful that she waited to get sick until AFTER our trip. (Poor girl has been sleeping now for almost 17 hours with only short wakeful moments to get a drink!) Laynie is a wonderfully sweet girl and is such a big help to me! We love you Laynie!

Addison also L.O.V.E.D. Jump on IT! and jumped all of his energy right out! I am so thankful for Addison! He is becoming such a great reader and it is so exciting for me to listen to him read a book and not even have to help him! (very much!) He is a good big brother and so fun to have around!

Woo! GO Mama! This picture can represent my "thankfulness' for a healthy body- I even landed that back flip!!

Thanksgiving morning it is a tradition in the Pickett household to play Soccer...so here's a little husband-wife action on the field! Kelly doesn't love soccer cause he's not as good at it as all the other sports in the world, but he was a 'good sport' and played hard to lead our team to victory!!

Miss Hailey watched the big game from the playground! I am THANKFUL for Hailey! Could there be a better baby? She is happy and easy-going, she is SILLY and makes us all laugh! She is Snuggley!! and she just learned to sing "I am a Child of God"- It's ADORABLE!!

Nope, I'm not giving Mary a hug, I am totally doing an illegal hold so that she wouldn't get the ball. Soccer is way more fun without all the rules :) I am thankful for my sisters!...and my brothers! We have a great family and I feel blessed for that!

The aftermath- It was a beautiful day!

And a family pic- Got to take advantage of Dad at every opportunity! Thanks Dad! I am Thankful for you!!

Thanksgiving table with our cute crafty place cards...I am thankful for DELICIOUS food!

This is Mt Timpanogos temple, where Kelly and I were married 7+ years ago. I love it. We went as a family on Friday and It was wonderful to be in the temple with my fam! I am Thankful for the Temple!!

Next activity for Friday was to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ditto! Grandpa recently had a stroke and we were thrilled to witness his recovery and to give both he and grandma some LOVE! I am THANKFUL for modern medicine that is a miracle in so many lives!!

After visiting grandma and grandpa, we rode TRACKS to temple square to see the lights! Addison and Laynie LOVED riding a train!

SO BEAUTIFUL!! and so Christmasy! I am THANKFUL for Christmas and how easy it is to think of the Savior during the season!

Me and Hailey waiting for the Train to take us back to our parking spot...Haley had a blue dum-dum...and then a blue tongue!

Friday night was our gift-exchange with the Picketts since we won't be together on Christmas... My mom gave each of us an ABELSKIVER pan!! Kelly and I were trying to look Danish...not sure why the look on my face equaled a Danish look in my mind...but we are REAL excited about our Abelskiver pan! I made them yesterday!

My mom made the girls these great nurses uniforms...almost identical to the ones she made for me and Becca 25 years ago! Laynie and Ella LOVED them and went around 'fixing' everyone all morning!

Saturday morning we went bowling at the Wilkinson Center! I am THANKFUL for BYU! It was so fun to be back on campus and walk through the Bookstore and all around the campus that was mine for 6 YEARS! It was a wonderful time of my life and I loved it!

Speaking of BYU, one of the highlights of the trip was going to the BYU vs Utah game! Not only did we go, but we got to sit on the front row at the 45 yard-line!!! (Thanks Casey!!) It was an exciting game and SO fun to be there with all the other screaming fans!!

Thanks family for a wonderful Thanksgiving trip!! Can't wait to see you all again at Casey's wedding!!

Oh how I LOVE a GREAT Deal!!!

I have been a little obsessed lately with good deals. There are 3 blogs I check most every day (http://www.fabulesslyfrugal.com/, http://www.fistfulofcoupons.com/, and http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/) to see what great deals I just can't miss. Today, as I left Rite Aid I was positively giddy! I just realized, maybe I have an addiction to good deals!! Every time I get one, I definitely experience a "high"-- oh great...I need counseling! But back to the deal- Rite was having 'Buy one get one free' on all Herbal Essence products, and from a blog I learned that there was also an Herbal Essence coupon for 'buy one got one free' in the paper. I don't even get the paper...but my ultra-couponer friend Sarah gets 4 newpapers!...she gave me her 4 coupons since she doesn't use Hearbal Essence. So, I bought 2 huge boxes of fruit snacks (75% off because they're Halloween shapes), one package hair bands, and 8 herbal essence products, all for $3.82! Amazing right?!? I almost felt like I was stealing! I love it!

In other news... Congrats little brother Casey!! He found his true love, Katalyn, and they are getting married in December! Yay!! That means a trip to Pennsylvania for the Ditto Family! We love you Casey and are so excited for you!

TRICK OR TREAT...

The new Faces of the Ditto Family!

Laynie and I were witches...interesting though that she had to wear a mask to be an ugly old witch and I, well I think I look just the part! Kelly was the Riddler from one of the batmans...Addison was a sweet skeleton, which costume I bought at a garage sale for $1 and Hailey's costume was even cheaper...I found at the consignment shop's $.25 sale! Oh how I love a good deal!

This picture demonstrates Hailey's OBSESSION with her daddy!! She L.O.V.E.S. daddy!! She is reaching out for daddy cause he's taking the picture...even two seconds away from him is clearly too much!

Hailey and our next-door neighbor were both little lions! So cute!

Here is the not-so-great-picture of the cousins just before we walked out the door to go trick-or-treating...no one wanted to hold still in that moment...wonder why?!?

Some of the Halloween treats at our hoppin party! YUMMY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Dancing Queen!

Laynie performed her Halloween dance for us yesterday...it was a delight. She certainly does not mind being in the spotlight.

Why is she the only one spinning you wonder? I asked myself that question also...

She and her friend Kate were both witches!

And a bow at the end of course!!

In other news...can I just say that I am so thankful to have a friend who is a pediatrician who calls me in August to tell me to sign up for the H1N1 study THAT DAY! I did, and Addison and Laynie got the swine flu vaccine in the first part of September! Now almost everyone we know has had it (or something like it...) but my kiddos, nothing! Even KELLY was sick this week-- he was sure our house was freezing at one moment, and then he was sweating the next! He could do nothing but sleep for two whole days! But I still have healthy kids (knock on wood!) So, not only did the kids get vaccinated, "they" also got money! and no, I did not give it to them OR put it into their college funds (does that make me a bad mom?) but we DO contribute to their college fund every month :)

WE *** LOVE *** FALL!!!

We are soaking in the last few days of warm-ish weather! Hailey is obviously particularly happy to be outside! She continues to be the best and happiest baby around! She has started talking just like any other girl: non-stop! She has quite a few words that are very clear (At least to her family!) She LOVES her daddy and says that word the most, she asks for her "binker" (pacifier), she tells me she is "all done" when we're eating, and she tells Addison and Laynie to "STOP" when they are bugging her! But my favorite thing she has learned is to sing "oh, oh, oh, oh, ooohhh" in 'Welcome to the sixties' from the Hairspray album- It's Adorable!!

Don't you just want to eat her up?

My attempt at an "artsy" shot...go ahead and critique it dad...

Laynie is doing great with preschool and ballet...next week is their Halloween performance in ballet. We have seen little glimpses of the dance this week- it should be cute! Pictures to follow I'm sure...

Addison was so excited when the leaves started to fall- every year of his life we have raked leaves and jumped in them! The leaves that fall in this yard however are a far cry from the amount of leaves that fell in PA. But that didn't get him down, he raked and raked and....

JUMPED! Happy Fall!!