Another long overdue post

(Pretend it is October 1st instead of January 1st)
My little girl is not a baby anymore. I know that she hasn't been a baby for a long time but everytime I look at her she seems older and more grown up. I miss her bald head, big blue eyes, and bright toothless smile. But I love now seeing her beautiful smile and those same blue eyes as she changes from a little girl into a wonderful young lady. Her smile lights up a room and her laugh is infectious. She is a kind, helpful, intelligent, inquisitive, sweet spirited, funny, loving girl. People have told me you can tell how special and wonderful she is just be looking at her smile. I have to agree! Even though she is only turning nine, I feel like she is growing up way to fast. Thankfully, though, she still likes to snuggle, play with her sisters, and act silly. And she hasn't gotten to old to hold my hand our let me give her a kiss in front of her friends at school. She has gotten a little more picky about what she will wear and how she wants her hair fixed. There are some things I lover about her getting older. Taylor really loves to sit down with a good book and would read through the night if I would let her. She is involved in several after school activities that she loves. She is pretty self sufficient with her homework. She is an excellent helper at home. And she now is big enough to need this beauty:

Taylor has asked for a new bike for every birthday and Christmas for the past couple of years. Our neighborhood is not very bike riding friendly so we have held off. This year for her birthday, she once again asked for a bike and that is the only thing she wanted. So in the morning when she left to go on her birthday breakfast date with Daddy, this was waiting on the front porch.

She was just as happy and excited as I had expected and I love watching her ride it. Of course, I won't let her out of my sight and I freak out everytime I hear a car.

The other half of her birthday excitement had to wait a few weeks. We went to see High School Musical 3 and she got to bring Hannah along. We had to wait until the movie came out, which was several weeks after her birthday. The wait was worth it. She loved it and has already asked if we can buy it when it comes out on DVD. I am sure we will.

Let's start at the very beginning...

...A very good place to start.

When you read, you begin with A-B-C.

When you blog you begin with Halloween.

OK, I know those aren't the words to the song. But, it applies here. While I have lots of Christmas and Disney vacation pictures and stories to share, I am a little bit behind on the posts. So for the enjoyment of my #1 blog fan, Riley, I am going to start back at Halloween and work forward.

Taylor went as a 50's girl. You may remember that her and Bryan attended a Daddy/Daughter Sock Hop together back in August. Taylor wore her poodle skirt from that for Halloween. She looked especially cute with the new hair accessory she picked out. Payton was a Vampire Princess - not to be confused with just a vampire (like she was last year.) Ever since the summer when Riley let us borrow her beautiful boots, Hayden has wanted to be a cowgirl. Don't be confused by the Sheriff's badge she is wearing. It came in the package with the toys guns so she wanted to put it on. But she said she was still a cowgirl.

The girls posed for some pictures before we left for our Ward Trunk or Treat.

They had this little scenrio all made up for this picture. Hayden, the brave cowgirl, is protecting Taylor, the scared little sock-hopper, from Payton, the evil vampire.

We love the Trunk or Treat activity at church every year. It is usually held the Wednesday before Halloween which I really like. It gives the girls two chances to wear their costumes and gives a chance to hang with all of our church friends without forgoing regular trick or treat time on Halloween. It is really fun to see how creative everyone gets with their trunks. We don't go all out, but we do have our little set of light up ghosts we have used the past couple of years. But, I think it messed up the AV lighters in the van because now I can't even charge my cellphone in them anymore. We also have a Halloween music CD that we play. Our favorite song is Monster Mash, which we kept playing over and over. This was the first year that we let the girls roam around the parking lot by themselves. I passed out candy, took pictures, and roamed around while Bryan harrassed the Parkes boys and threw candy at the older kids.
Hayden was very happy with how her costume turned out. She was so excited that I was finally going to let her wear the beloved cowgirl boots out of the house.

She came up with this little pose and was cracking us up with her deep southern drawl and fake spitting.

Hayden and Grant are great friends and were happy to pose for a picture when I asked. I think they look so cute with their missing teeth.

Payton's makeup job shows my most advanced makeup skills. Makeup and hair are not my thing at all but she was happy with the results.

She got less candy than the other girls because she spent alot of time at the Fusiotti car. They are a great ER Dickson family that Lisanka invited to Trunk or Treat. Traci brought a Smores maker instead of passing out candy. That was definately the hit of the night. Next year I think I might just have to bring a cotton candy machine and snowcone maker.

Taylor enjoyed running around and acting silly with her sisters and Hannah. She has never been my child that enjoys being totally dressed up or wearing makeup. So, this was as far as she wanted to go. No extra scarf or make up or elaborate hair do. Totally my kind of girl. I think she looks beautiful.

As usual we had a great time at the activity and as usual my chili didn't win. That is OK though because I have never tried to win. I don't have chili skills. I just bring a pot of my chili every year because I know my kids will eat it. It isn't too spicy. It doesn't have a bunch of beans. It isn't made with deer meat. It is just plain old chili.