Daisy

I'm getting really behind on blog posts -- maybe because these last couple of weeks of school are extra busy (plus it doesn't help when I go out of town for 3 days and then have other things like jury duty tomorrow).

We are now the proud owners of two dogs AND a little kitten. Who would have thought? We picked up the kitten last weekend. We've known we were getting her for a while and she was finally old enough to leave her mama.

We got the kitten from our friends, the Roberts, who moved about an hour away a few months ago. We still try to see them often, and they offered to watch our kids last Saturday while Brian and I went to the temple. So it worked out to be a good time to bring the kitten home.

Initially, the girls were going to name the cat Sugar, but when they heard that the Roberts had been calling her Daisy, they decided they liked that name even better and wanted to keep it. She is a cute little thing!


Here are the girls with their friend Audrey and Daisy.

She has a definite Siamese look to her with the dark ears, tail and feet.

Here's Hayley with one of the other kittens that the Roberts tried to get us to take home as well (we had to say no this time, despite our recent track record).

I has been fun watching the kids with Daisy. She is very cute and playful.

Plus she is a great snuggler too.

Don't tell, but I've even caught Brian in his office with the cat either on his lap or curled up on his shoulders. One of Daisy's other favorite spots is Hayley's bed (although we don't let her sleep there at night).

We're happy to have Daisy around! She is certainly not lacking in the attention department (although the dogs might be recently...)

Haircuts

We've been enjoying having my niece Ashley live nearby with her husband and two cute little boys. (Although maybe she hasn't been enjoying it so much since she's cramped in a little trailer for the moment...) Ashley happens to take after her mom (Brian's sister) and have some talent when it comes to cutting hair, so I offered her a trade of dinner for giving the girl's haircuts. Lucky for me she agreed!

Hannah still insists on having long hair and since she's pretty willing to brush and take care of it herself, I've let her keep growing it. So she just got a trim.

Courtney at first said she also wanted to keep growing her hair, but I convinced her that the longer it gets, the harder it is to comb (at least on her) and that she is really cute with short hair, so off it came!

Hayley was the main one that I wanted to get a haircut since the two of us had been having some major hair-combing battles recently. It seems like every time I would have to comb her hair (in the morning, after a bath, etc.) it escalated into a huge crying, running-away episode. Having the shorter hair certainly helps! Plus it's so cute!

Thanks Ashley!

McKay Memories

I was working today on finally updating the little journal files I keep for each of the kids. I started these when Hannah was a baby in order to help me remember some of the funny things the kids were doing and saying. I'm ashamed to admit that in the last couple of years I haven't done a very good job at keeping up on them. I need to do better!

Today I happened to read through the beginning of McKay's file, which I started when he was about 2-1/2 years old. I recorded a lot of stuff about that little boy! And some of it was just so funny. I'm so glad I did because there is NO way I would have ever remembered these things (and again, it makes me feel bad for Hayley who doesn't have nearly as many entries!)

Some of them made me laugh so hard that I thought it would be fun to share a few here and there. And maybe throw in a picture from when he was that age.

So here we go with the first installment of McKay memories.

Fall 2001 (age 2 1/2 - 3)

*McKay uses his little tape measure to measure things (my head, arm, etc.) – and everything is always "30 pounds!"

* McKay was playing “doctor” and was “fixing” various parts of me. I was barefoot and so he started working on my feet. I asked him what was wrong with my feet and he said I had some “fingernails,” then he paused for a minute and said “feet nails!”

* McKay sat down in my lap and I started to tickle him. He said “No. Only Dads tickle. Moms don’t tickle.” So I asked him what moms do. He said “Cook. Go places with McKay and Hannah. Go get the mail. Go anywhere you want to go with McKay and Hannah.”

* McKay uses the word “whobody” for “who” (i.e. “whobody dropped the paper?”)

* We were all outside working in the yard. McKay got the little garden trowel and was digging in the mulch. Brian asked him what he was doing and McKay said, “I’m doing something dangerous.”

It's a Dog's Life

Just thought I'd update the blog today with some recent pictures of the dogs. They seem to be doing well -- the vet guesses they are a bit older than we initially thought (probably more like 6-7 months old now).

Here's McKay taking Lupin out for a bit:

And then Hayley wanted a turn (but in her case, I think it's more likely that Lupin's taking her for a walk).

Courtney gets some puppy kisses from Bear.

We've let them roam off the leash a few times and one thing's for sure -- they can run FAST! For now, they mostly stay in the fenced dog yard still.

Hayley was trying to fit in with the dogs (the other dog with her is Toby, our niece's standard poodle).

I've just started taking a beginning training class at the local pet store with Lupin. We're hopeful we can accomplish some basic training with both the dogs -- wish us luck!

Saturday Outing

This last weekend I told the kids if they got their chores done by a certain time, I'd take them to the Discovery Center. It seems that we don't get to the Discovery Center much during the school year because we can only go on Saturday (they close at 4:30, which is just when the kids are getting home) and Saturdays are often busy with other things.

We knew they had some new exhibits to see, so it was past time for a visit. I love how they change their exhibits fairly often so there is always something new to see and discover, as well as the old favorites.

We only spent an hour or so there, but it was fun.

Here's Hayley checking out one of the new exhibits on time and speed (using strobe lights):

And McKay trying to figure out the different sports balls by feel:

Courtney and Hayley are working on some balancing:

Hannah walked past all the new stuff and found her favorite spot -- building towers with the wooden slats:

The kids played a bit with the quicksand effect:

On our way out, we stopped to take some pictures at the DHDC letters out front (which stand for Don Harrington Discovery Center).

"C" is for Courtney

"H" is for Hayley

And Hannah too!

Or just for Humpherys girls!

Or a Humpherys boy, who is all about making strange faces these days...

And his smiles aren't much better - yikes!

Since it was a beautiful afternoon, we decided to walk over to the nearby playground for a bit. And since I had my camera, I couldn't resist taking more pictures.

Courtney is queen of the monkey bars! (And cartwheels too, which she does everywhere she goes these days.)

More faces from this silly boy...

Finally a decent smile!

We walked down to the lake to see the swans and ducks.

When we got back home, Courtney and Hayley decided to get their bikes out for a bit. Hayley is just about ready for those training wheels to come off!

It was a lovely afternoon!