Five

Harper playing with his piano.  Which he would totally chew on if he could lift it.

Harper is 5 1/2 months old now.  Wow, time flies.  I guess that's what happens when you're not really sleeping a lot.  Anyway, he is generally an amicable baby when he sleeps well during the day and his eczema isn't flaring up.  I think he may have inherited his father's itchiness and weird stomach.  Time will tell. :)  He also LOVES Helena.  When she's talking to him and he's 'talking' back, his voice gets really excited and actually kind of goes up an octave.  It's hilarious.  It's like he has a 'phone voice' for Helena. Ha!
 

I'm also a very messy cereal eater.  I love to grab the spoon and smear everything all over my face.

Other 'milestones'-- kind of sitting up, no teeth yet but lots of chewing and red cheeks, just slept 12 hours straight last night, so we'll see if we can make that a habit very soon!

We're very excited to see everyone at Christmas!

-Emily :)

Miss Manners

So yesterday we went to my neighbor's house to play and Helena immediately zoned in on some toy cars from Cars, the movie, and stated playing with them.  She was very excited....and always likes all of the new toys at our friend's house. 

Anyway, after about 15 minutes of intense playing with Lightning McQueen and Mater she comes over to where I was sitting with the other moms and says, "Hey Mom, can  you put these in your purse??"

I really hope they don't think we're shoplifters.

-Emily :)

I heard about lake effect snow in Meterology class...

All I'm going to say about this is that it's not even December yet.  Hold me.  Or someone please get me a babysitter so I can go skiing. STAT.  Oh, and Santa, Ash needs a snowblower for Christmas.  That's all.

-Emily :)

Best Snow Day Ever

We got about a foot of snow overnight on Saturday....leaving a winter wonderland all around us.  Helena woke up at 7 a.m. asking Ash (who was still in bed) to go play in the snow with her.  He obliged by around 9 a.m., and they spent nearly all day (minus a very forced lunch time and nap time) frolicking around.  We have a snowman in our back yard as well as a little fort, and a small sledding hill in the front made from the snow shoveled from our driveway.  I think Helena had more fun yesterday than any other day in her life.  They were so cute playing together.  At the end of the day Ash said, "Today is exactly why I had kids."  Adorable.

Snowball fight!

First romp in the snow-- it's all the way up to her thighs!

Not so sure about this snow angel thing.  She was calling them snow butterflies. :)

The only thing that saved me was that I had the very nice camera around my neck.

Oops!  Dad hit me in the face.  Still hilarious....

And...he hit me in the face again.  But I didn't really care.

With mom by the snowman.

Before round 2, Ash duct tapes Helena's gloves to her sleeves. "This is what we do in Michigan." he says.  I proceed to tell him that in Kansas we used to sled behind a pick up truck because there weren't any hills.  He tells me this is illegal or something in Michigan.  Lol.

Not wanting Harper to completely miss out on the action, Ash built him his own snow seat by the fort. (Helena is starting to melt down by this point.  By the way, she was asleep in bed by 7:15 last night.)

...And we made him his own snowball.  :)  He's obviously thrilled.

With this storm I think I'm officially ready to hit the slopes after my pregnancy induced hiatus from last year.  Hooray for snow!

- Emily :)

Mixing it Up Mealwise

Mainly just to amuse myself, I've decided to do theme weeks for awhile around here for dinnertime.  This week - Grandma Millie recipes.  Which basically means we'll be eating lots of beef.  Next week, my mom's recipes, which means we'll be eating a lot of casseroles. ;)  Ash has proposed a week of dips, which I'm not so sure about, but maybe we'll give it a try.

So tonight's recipe is Vegetable Soup -- perfect for what is turning into a very rainy and snowy day.  A long time ago my grandma wrote out a lot of her recipes for me and my sister -- definitely something I cherish more and more as I get older.

Anyway, looking over the recipe this morning I noticed 2 things:

One -- this recipe is for 5 GALLONS OF SOUP.  Ummm...I think I'll cut that down a bit.
And two -- you'll noticed that the first ingredient of this vegetable soup is 10 lbs. of stew meat.  Ha!  That is farm girl awesome right there.

Also on the menu this week at the Galbreath's is Smothered Steak, Chicken Fried Steak and Shrimp.  I'll try not to make a pie because we're on a diet around here, but I might be too tempted not to.  And really with all of the frying going on the diet is really out the window this week.  And, many of these meals I've probably never had without a piece of cherry pie finishing it off.  So, it sounds like I've convinced myself to make a pie.

- Emily :)

Snooki vs. Buzz Lightyear

I've neglected to mention here that we've made some friends (gasp!) here that are also from Kansas/the Midwest.  And mostly KU alums.  :)  So nice to immediately have some things in common with folks-- you know like drinking, sports and skiing!  Ha!  We first met almost everyone at a KU Alumni get together two years ago.

Anyway, we attended Amanda and Brandon's Halloween party with the kiddos and dressing up was pretty much mandatory.  I'm not usually a fan of dressing up, but this year I think we did it up right. 

Me, as Snooki from Jersey Shore:

 I can't explain to you how much bronzer I'm wearing.  I'm not meant to be as tan as the real Snooki.  And come to think of it, no one is, really. I tried to get out of being DD since drinking heavily should have been a mandatory part of my costume, but I did not win that one.  In reality, good sleep is more important to me right now than a good buzz.
And speaking of a good buzz, Ash went as a very not scary, kid-friendly Buzz Lightyear.  Helena thought it was the greatest.  So cute.  I love how she's looking at him in this picture.

 Party hosts Brandon & Amanda.  They went all out!

 Oh, and look! there was another Snooki at the party.  Her hair is real, though.  :)  Funny that I was 'pajama' Snooki and she was 'clubbing' Snooki.

Fred Flinstone, Mouse, and Kermit.  All of whom had matching partners.  Even a little Pebbles! :)

 The girls -- every one was so festive!  :)

 A big thanks to Amanda & Brandon for inviting us and for letting us bring the kiddos!  :)  We are very excited to keep hanging out with our Kansas transplant group of friends in Utah!

-Emily :)

My Crafty Debut Halloween Style

A few months ago I casually asked Helena what she wanted to be for Halloween.  This was when her & Ash were doing a lot of fishing and she told me she wanted to be a "FISH! A PINK AND PURPLE ONE!"  Kind of like I trout, I guess.  Anyway, after scouring the Internet for something that would suffice that we could buy, I figured I'd better just suck it up and make it myself.  I enjoyed putting it together for the most part (my first time), as it required very little sewing and a lot of glue, but was very nervous people wouldn't know what she was.  But....we had great success with the pink and purple fish costume and got tons of compliments on it. :)  Yay me!  So anyway, here's a photo run down of the kids on Halloween!  Next up, the adults in the household!

Helena breaking rank during her school Halloween parade.  Makes it hard to get good photos! ;)

Helena & her ghost sucker after the school parade.

Helena & her best bud Apollo.

Helena's teacher from last year - Miss Holly - as Sully from Monster's Inc.  SO IMPRESSIVE!

The fish right before official trick or treating, which was Saturday night here because we don't want to make God mad.  Don't get me started.  It rained, though, which I felt was God saying it was OK to just do it on Sunday next time.

Harper as a bat, or as Ash said, "someone who likes to wear bats on their clothes."  I ignored him on that one.  Such a cutie pie!

Happy Halloween everyone!!
-Emily :)