Sad news...

There is lots of news to catch up on, but that will wait. On Sunday, my little sister and her husband lost their baby. She was 37 weeks pregnant and 2 weeks away from a scheduled c-section. They still don't know why their little boy died. She wrote a very touching poem that is worth reading. I'm posting the link here (the November 24th post): http://mommyiscrazyblog.blogspot.com/

My heart just hurts.

Halloween

Only 2 of my kids trick-or-treated this year. It was cold enough that I kept Marlee home and the two older kids had a party in the barn with a scary movie on the 'big screen'. We had at least 30 teenagers over. It was a nice night for a party and the other kids had a good candy haul.

I am also posting a picture of Marlee that I took for the high school. They like the faculty members with babies to take baby pictures in school colors. So, here's Marlee in East orange:


My wicked witch and ninja:

THIS IS A TEST

Got to see Brig's play twice and was sad that I couldn't see it again (they only did 2 performances). The cast and crew did a great job. We did video tape it and here are some pictures:

Fall is in full swing...

Brig and Elaine


Andrew, Tracy, Reagan and Talara


Brig, Andrew, Justine, Reagan and Courtney


Reagan and Caden


Reagan and Brig


Justine and Brittany


Reagan and Talara


Wow - November will be here in a few days and we haven't carved our pumpkins yet!! We will today after school. But we are ready for Halloween otherwise. We have already had 3 fall parties and a trunk or treat with much more going on this weekend. Eric and Justine have also worked on a haunted trail to raise money for their show choir.

Last night was Brig's play at Central. He plays the main character, Alan, in a play called, 'This is a Test'. It was very funny and well done. A great debut for Brig! They have one more show tonight so I will probably go again. I will have some pictures to post of the play and Halloween costumes later, but for now the pictures above are from Talara's Halloween party (where the square dancing was the big hit) and the ones below are some updated pics of the baby.

Where does the time go?

Here are some new photos. Marlee is now over 3 months old and harvest is in full swing!! Things sure get busy around here this time of year. Brig landed the lead in his middle school play and Eric and Justine are preparing for their next play. Justine's choir trip to NYC/Carnegie Hall is next month! Not to mention Eric got his bagpipes - oh, and he's 18!! We've also had the flu here and I've been tuning like crazy. In other news, our neighbors of 18 years moved and we now have new ones.

Quick update

Had the baby in for her 2 month check-up this week. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 9 oz. and 22.5 inches. Wow!! She's about to double her birth size!! She was really not happy about the 4!!! shots she had to have. But she's ok now and seems to be eating all the time. She is sleeping better at night, but tends to be a cat-napper through the day.

That's it for now - I hate typing one-handed!

8 weeks old!!

Check out these photos! Marlee has grown so much!!

Sick girl(s)

Today Reagan is home sick from school. It appears she has what Justine had this weekend - ahh, the joys of sharing a bedroom! She is quite congested, so she wanted some medicine but she hates liquid cold syrup. I told her I had pills but she would have to swallow it whole. I'll be darned if she didn't get it down first try!! I guess I wasn't expecting it because Justine hates pills and would much rather have liquid.

So I have rescheduled my tunings for the day and will instead tackle the piano 'guts' I brought home the other day.

Marlee is doing well and growing fast!! I am posting some updated pictures compliments of Natalie Potter:

Catching some smiles!

Finally catching a few smiles on camera!

Baby update

It's been a whole month already! Marlee is changing and growing fast. She's awake a lot more and we're even starting to get a few smiles although I have yet to catch one with the camera. The first weekend in August was the Lykins reunion, so we blessed Marlee that Sunday. Special thanks to Shauna for FedExing me the blessing dress that mom crocheted! I am posting some pictures of that and a few other updated pictures.

In other news, we took the training wheels off of Reagan's bike this summer and Justine and I helped her learn to ride without them. I am posting a picture. Also, school starts tomorrow. We just got back from the elementary school open house where we met Reagan's teacher and saw the classroom. She's all set for grade one! There's not too much excitement about another school year beginning - I think Tracy is the least excited. I am always sad to have my kids around less, but the upside this year is that I might be able to get a little more rest through the day since my nights are still pretty long thanks to the baby (things are slowly getting better).

Sunday, Aug. 2:
















Reagan riding without training wheels and Marlee, Aug. 6: