Christmas

Decorating for Christmas...

Lincoln's love of all balls made for a very exciting time for him,

he just wasn't sure why we would put them on the tree when we could throw them!

Or on a chandalier for that matter. It was a good thing I took this picture because a day or two later, Lincoln climbed on the table and threw all the balls off shattering most. This is why we now buy only shatterproof ornaments.

Caden was much more helpful.

Brady was pretty good.

The last year for our artificial tree.

And our Chrismtas card

Snow Day!

The boys are loving the snow...except Lincoln who wants so badly to be outside with the boys, but really doesn't want to be outside. This was the first time he had gone out in it and he put his hands in it (before he had the mittens on) and DID NOT like it! Can you tell?

He got over it though and realized snow is serious business not to be messed with bare-handed!
Caden and Brady have been sledding, snowboarding and fort building.

All three together, but of course not all looking at me...that is just too much to ask.

Fall 2009...Finally!

I know it has been WAY too long since I blogged last. It has been a crazy couple months of travel, photo shoots and sick kids in addition to the regular life stuff that gets in the way of blogging!

The kids had fun carving pumpkins. (Notice Brady is unhappy/concerned)

Caden took this job very seriously...

It turns out Brady didn't like the insides of the pumpkins to touch his hands so....

Then he was happy!

Lincoln thought we were going to eat the pumpkin!

And just thought the whole thing was fun!

I wanted to get some pictures of Lincoln in this adorable costume and my sweet little giraffe just discovered his costume had a tail as I was taking his pictures!

Well look at this cool thing!

Now where did it go?

Has anyone seen it?

It was right back here wasn't it mom?

OOOOHHH! Here it is!

Found a worm!

And for the big Halloween night...

Caden was Spiderman (again)


Caden with Carsen and Tayler (his best buddies)

The little boys in the stroller

Brady was a dog (although I have never met a dog that doesn't like to walk so he was a bit unconvincing)

And Linc was a frog since the giraffe costume had a wardrobe malfunction (aka an explosive poop) He loved walking up to the houses and walked more than Brady did from house to house. But his favorite part was eating the candy.

Down by the pond...with my new camera!

I got a new camera last night (new to me anyway) and I am so excited! I have been booking quite a few photo sessions so it was time (my former camera wasn't really professional quality, but served me well in learning!). I have a session coming up on friday so I wanted to get some practice in, on the boys of course. Today we went down by the pond which is always enticing to them. I edited them with a 70s feel which I am loving lately, although I know some of you may not like it. Something different though. So here they are...

Best buddies

All 3 by the pond

Lincoln chasing the boys with a frog catching net (yes he is trying to hit them with it and instead of stopping him, I took pictures, but I like this one, check Caden out with his arms in the airplane position, gotta love boys!)

Caden goes to Kindergarten!

I can't believe my first baby is in Kindergarten! All day. From 8 til 4. Only 2 kids under my feet. Still feels like 10 though. We all survived the week pretty well. It was an adjustment for Brady and Lincoln not having Caden around. Brady kept asking why it was "taking so long" for Caden to come home. Lincoln was into trouble even more than usual.

It seems that Caden has done pretty well at school (from what he tells us) although he did tell us that he earned 4 stickers and would have had 5, but he lost one during quiet time. He wasn't being quite...I know this is a shock to all who know him. Maybe the bigger surprise is that he earned 4 stickers, yay! Yesterday he came home with a very scraped up knee with a BIG bandage on it. We got his version of events which went something like this. "What happened to your knee Caden?". "Oh, I was playing on the playground and I fell on some rocks. Then I went to the health room. I didn't cry though. And I still got to go out and play a little more before the bell rang." Later while we were on a walk we ran into Caden's friend Ellie who is our neighbor. (She by the way is in first grade and Caden professes to love her). She gives us more details of the knee injury. It seems that Caden made friends with Ellie's friend Tyler (also a first grader and who seems to have Ellie's attention...hmmm) and Tyler and Caden were chasing Ellie and her friend Mara on the playground when the fall happened. 4 days in and he is chasing older women! Somehow this is also not too surprising.

When Caden gets home from school he does well for about an hour and then things go downhill fast. He is so tired and just can't control himself, especially his mouth! He usually ends up in trouble and then we just send him to bed. We are hoping the 3 day weekend will get him caught up on sleep...maybe.

Most importantly Caden loves school. So here was Caden's first day in pictures (and one of Ellie at the bottom)...

Ready to go...

So excited and handsome too!

Brady really wanted to go on the bus too. He waited right next to Caden for it to come.

Not even a moments hesitation!

Getting on the bus...

Getting off the bus at school (most kids went & found their parents, Caden just waved and kept walking, much too busy for us)

Waiting for Mrs. Gokey (his teacher who he thinks the world of)

Meeting a new friend who thinks what Caden has to say is very interesting!

Lining up to go in to school

Going in to school!

His hook outside his classroom

Cute and spunky Ellie (from this summer)

Family fun at Beba and Popie's

I know it has been too long since I have posted, but it has been busy busy busy here! Last week we spent the week at Beba and Popie's with the whole family (only Uncle Kevin was missing). It was lots of fun! Here is the week in pictures (they are not in chronological order).

Building a Fort

Working hard...

Boys!

The 4th of July Celebration -

The King of the Fireworks and his adoring and excited wife!

The kids were so excited!

Sparklers help the wait go faster.

It's finally time and it was worth the wait! Thank you Uncle Eric and the worker bees too!

A Luau by Aunt Tamara is next!

Centerpieces made by the kids (they are palm trees).

Hula dancing

Sam in his Lei.

Shea likes his Lei!

The cousins gift exchange.

Aunt Tamara's scavenger hunt.

Hailey and Brady
Water Day!

One of the more interesting spectators.

A big water balloon and a naughty boy!

The babies have fun too.

A wheelbarrow full of water balloons!

Waterballoon toss that quickly becomes a waterballoon fight!

Some are getting very tired from too much fun!

A Birthday party for the 1 year olds!

Sam and Shea

Shea likes the ice cream cake!

Sam's not so sure about all the people staring at him or his cake!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Better now!

Spoons taste much better than ice cream.

Linc joins Shea in shovelling it in!

Kayaking with Uncle Brandon

Silly Shea

I love to eat!

How to survive 3 babies, 6 kids

Getting messy is fun!

Sad, but cute

The boys roasting marshmallows.

Jazzy works hard for her golden brown marshmallow.

Marshmallow lips!

Hailey loves smores!

Jetski rides

And for those who were there...like father like son!