Hiking the Tunnels

Preslyn walking with my friend Missy and her daughter Riley
Aaron lagging behind with Casey Hulet

Demarie recording what she sees with her notebook

Preslyn waiting for Mommy to go through the tunnel

Me and Aaron

For Veteran's Day, we went with the Mecham and Hulet families to hike the tunnels out by Lake Mead. It was a fun hike. The tunnels were really neat and we got some good exercise! Maybe this will become a yearly tradition. Afterwards, we drove out to see the new bridge by Hoover Dam. It is pretty amazing! Hopefully next time we can snap some pics of that masterpiece!

ASHA Conference

I have been a practicing speech language pathologist for over 10 years now and have never went to the American Speech Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention. This year it was held in San Diego. My friend Heather that I used to work with at NEIS moved to Florida a few years ago and called to see if I would like to go with her. I didn't think it would happen, but in November, I found myself on a plane headed to San Diego with another SLP, Kim. The three of us got a hotel room and had a great time! It was fun to be at the Conference and learn in that environment. I missed my kids, but I think they had a great time with Daddy.

Bikes! Bikes! Bikes!

Look!!! No training wheels!!!
Preslyn riding her new birthday bike...so brave!!!

Broyden wheelin' it up on his pink and purple tricycle (thanks to the hand-me-down from his sisters!)

Love these kids and all their individual accomplishments!

November 11th was a miraculous day in the Harris family! I didn't know I would get so emotional watching Demarie riding a bike all by herself, but I found myself trying so hard to hold back tears of excitement. We have been working with Demarie for awhile to ride her bike all by herself, but to no avail. Something just kept holding her back. She has been SO CLOSE for a long time! Well, on Saturday morning, Demarie's school had a Walk-and-Run morning activity. As part of the events, kids could bring their bikes and learn how to cross the street safely with their bike and participate in a bike rodeo. Demarie did not want to bring her bike and refused to ride another bike that a lady offered to her because it had training wheels. She promised me that she would try to ride her bike at home later that day. So, I made sure to hold her to her word! Later that afternoon, we all went outside and once again Demarie attempted to ride her bike. First, Aaron held onto her seat for a few rounds up and down the street. Then he told me it was my turn. I could tell she was ready, but I just couldn't get myself to let go. After a few rounds, I told Aaron that it was his turn and that she was so close. He put his hand behind Demarie's bike and told her that he was holding on. I turned around and started walking to the sidewalk and when I turned to watch Demarie I almost died!!! She was 10 feet away from Aaron... riding ALL BY HERSELF!!! I couldn't believe it. It was so exciting! I could tell Demarie was so excited and proud of herself too. She could not stop grinning from ear to ear! During the summer when we were staying with Uncle Daren and Aunt Cathy, we had tried to teach her to ride her bike with her cousins. Aunt Cathy had told Demarie that she would buy her a shake if she rode her bike all by herself. So, to celebrate, Aaron took Demarie to Dairy Queen to get her own Blizzard... she chose M&M. She was very excited to call Aunt Cathy and tell her the exciting news!

Preslyn also got a new bike for her birthday. It is absolutely darling and she loves it, but was scared to death to ride it. The first few attempts, she would scream her head off! Slowly but surely, Preslyn overcame her fears and is able to ride her bike all by herself (with training wheels, of course). It is so fun to see her riding around like a big girl!

And then there is Broyden...daredevil, no fear, 100% boy! Happy as can be pedaling around on his hand-me-down pink and purple tricycle with his blue helmet that is three times his size! We love to go in the front yard now and ride our bikes up and down the cul de sac. On Saturdays, we load the bikes up in the van so the kids can ride around on the tennis courts while we hit the ball back and forth. Good times!

Dance and Gymnastics

Demarie has been taking gymnastics at the Rec center. When she first started, she could hardly even stand on the balance beam. It was a great accomplishment for her the other day when she walked across the tall balance beam! I'm so proud of her! She's come a long way. Go Demarie!

Preslyn has been taking gymnastics, but the teacher made her cross the tall balance beam all by herself and scared her to death! So, she requested to take dance instead:) This the dance routine they have been working on this session. She really enjoyed it, except for the circle part.

Can you tell I LOVE Halloween???

Yes, another post about Halloween:) Can you tell it is one of my favorite holidays? We like to celebrate all month long. For Halloween night, we had a ghoulish dinner before going trick-or-treating. It was a fun night!

My hungry little monster!

Boo enjoying the Halloween dinner

Yum! Yum!

Green Ghoul Enchiladas
Monster Hearts with Scarecrow Fingernails and Bat Eyes

The Trick-or-treaters!

Demarie insisted on being an Indian this year. I went to JoAnn's Fabric to get some fabric to make her a costume. There was a little rack of clearance costumes and there was one indian costume on the rack! Just her size! I bought a witch wig and braided it and then made a hair band with feathers. I thought she turned out to be a pretty cute little indian!

Preslyn wanted to be a pretty fairy princess so we used her birthday princess dress for her costume. I found some flowers at Michael's and made her headband. Isn't she cute?

I wasn't sure what to dress Broyden up as but I found this costume on the clearance rack at JoAnn's too. He was really excited to be a frog. Don't you just want to kiss him? He was so cute trick-or-treating. He kept hearing us say, "Thank you. Happy Halloween!" to the people as we left their doorsteps, so at one of the houses, he says, "Thank you... Happy... Birthday!" He almst got it right!

Enjoying the candy after trick-or-treating. I loved coming home when I was little and dumping my bag of candy out on the floor to see what I got. My siblings and I would sit and eat our candy and trade with each other. It was fun to watch my kids do the same thing!

Daddy scored BIG!!! He raided all the kid's baskets for the Snicker Bars and Reese's!

Ward Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

Indian and Daddy enjoying the yummy chili
Flower fairy princess

Silly froggy!

Enjoying dinner with the Kalina Family

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween Parade at Gold's Gym

Gold's gym had a little Halloween party so I let the kids wear their Halloween costumes. The workers in the daycare played different Halloween games with the children and then took the kids that were dressed up on a parade through the weights so that the parents working out could see their cute costumes!

Pretty Preslyn the Princess!
Broyden the Frog and Sadie the Cowgirl Princess