merry Christmas

What a beautiful, wonderful day! We just love Christmas so much. Even though half of the kids were sick, it was still a fabulous holiday.

Christmas Eve was filled with prepping and sickness. Baylor and Colbie perked up a bit, but were still borderline sick. After daddy got home from work, we packed up and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas Eve dinner... yummy soup (bean), wraps, veggies, spinach dip, cheese & crackers, Hawaiian bread, cookies, bon bons, pretzel bites, so much deliciousness.

We ate like champs, then loaded up for church. It was a nice low-key, simple service. Not very crowded either. Once we returned to open gifts, the craziness began! Heehee! The kids loved everything about opening presents. Averie was elated to open the Brave movie and Merida doll... Baylor loved his John Deere tractor set. Colbie fell asleep half way through gifts, but she loved her fairies set and Minnie Mouse toy. D loved watching and taking it all in. He loved his snail mirror toy and Elmo book. After all the craziness, we packed up and headed home. That took a while. We were home by 10:45pm, just in time for Bay to get sick in the car. :o( Off to bed everyone went...

The next morning the kids slept in til about 8:15am. It was nice not having anywhere to be right away. They opened stocking stuff first - water bottles, toothbrushes, flossers, candy, markers, tape, high heels (Colbie), chewy toys (Demsey), and a few other items I'm forgetting. The favorite gifts were probably from Santa. Aves and Bay each got a DSi and case and two games! So super exciting!! Colbie got Averie's Leappad and two new games for it. Demsey got two ducky-banks, his name letters, a train set, and a few other cute things.

Even with all the sicknesses, we had a wonderful Christmas! GG's was next- for food and a few gifts. Bay and daddy stayed home. Thankfully he was feeling better by then. Appetites finally have returned almost a full week later. And it is 2013! Wow! Hoping for a very blessed and magical year!!

4 month chair pics

Averie - 4 months

Baylor - 4 months

Colbie - 4 months

Demsey - 4 months

Sweet boy!

Chunky boy checking out his feet.

my baby boy

My Christmas Shopping buddy. <3 We have been super busy - Christmas shopping, having Thanksgiving dinner here, decorating for Christmas, we had a sleepover at a friends house, Demsey had his cardiologist appointment and well check.

His heart looks good, no new issues! He goes back in March. At 4 months he weighed in at 14lb. 8oz. (40th percentile) and 24.5" (45th percentile). My perfect sweet boy.

all things halloween

Halloween dinner was a wonderful success! It had Averie pretty creeped out. She wouldn't even drink witches brew!!

Snake bite pizza...
Orange fingers with blue slime...
Cheesy bones...
Witches brew...
Eyeballs...
Worms and mud...

It was delish! Can't wait for next year!

Friend sleepover-surprise-movie-night was last night. Delaney and Jett stayed over. Today we plan to make fudge, Halloween themed fudge. We will see if it turns out! Happy Friday!!

halloween dinner

We are starting a new FUN tradition!!

Creepy Halloween Dinner-
Snake Bite pizza
Cheesy Bones with Mummy Sauce
Bloodshot Eyeballs
Orange Fingers with Slime
Witches Brew
Mud and Worms for dessert

Muahahahahahaha!!!!! <------ evil Mama laugh!!!!

Pics of dinner will be posted tomorrow.
Here are a few pics of our fun from this morning and yesterday. No specific order... Our super cute pumpkin family, Colbie's melted crayon leaf, Bugga boy, snake bite pizza & Baylor's super tall tower.

fall fun this week

Monday- Here is what we are doing today and this week, which highlights some of the many reasons we love homeschooling- today we played catch-up from the weekend. Cleaned and organized the kids rooms (holy disaster!). They are better but not great, yet. Had homemade pumpkin seeds for a snack. Folded and put away lots of laundry. Watched a Dora show. And it's only 11:30! Next the big kids are going to organize and make lunch with each food group. After lunch we are going to make homemade applesauce. The applesauce turned out amazing! The kids did great helping me cut the apples. Their food group lunch turned out so good too- pb and banana sandwiches. Carrots. Yogurt and milk. Yummy!

Tuesday- We colored fall pictures and wrote a little story about them. The kids have been playing playmobil and we are about to do a fall leaf craft with crayon shavings and wax paper...

Later this week... Halloween fudge. Creepy Halloween lunch. Harvest wreath. Grandma day. Friend sleepover/day. More pics to come!

colbie is 3

3 YEARS OLD!!!

1 year old Colbie

2 year old Colbie

You are something else! You are smart, sassy, feisty, sweet, loving, energetic, and did I mention feisty? You are in constant motion and rarely sit still. You love tagging along with Averie and Baylor and are very good at pushing buttons. You love PupPup and still suck your fingers but only in your bed. You have preschool during the week, you're doing dot paint letters and watching Sesame Street (your leaning show) in the morning. You absolutely love Demsey. You want to hug, kiss, love on, hold, and be right by him every chance you get. So far he doesn't mind! But, I know eventually he will tell you otherwise. You know most of your letters and are starting to show interest in writing your name. You are left handed which we've suspected for a while now. You love to paint pictures and paint your hand and make prints. You love outside time and can pedal a bike with training wheels and a tricycle. You've also figured out how fun it is to lay on your belly and swing. You're growing up so fast these days. You do have a temper though...you don't like to ask for help, you'd rather just scream and cry. You have fits like we've never experienced before and are sometimes completely irrational! But, you have a reason I suppose. I will say though that the crazy meltdowns are getting better, we've been better about getting down to your level and figuring out why you're upset. Even though you have your feisty moments, you are still very sweet and loving.  XOXO, we love you sweet Doosie.  So so much!

Princess Colbs

My beautiful girl

Birthday lunch

Big girl bed!!

Blowing out her star candles

Big Bucket Tip Birthday!

Dora cupcakes at Big Bucket

bay's party

His tractor dirt cake.

I can't believe we have a 6 year old!

For your special day, we went to Great Wolf Lodge again!  You decided to be super brave and go down all the big slides this time!!  I was so proud of you!!  It was like a whole new experience for you.  We opened gifts, had cupcakes, dinner, and had so much fun.  We even invited your friends Bronsen and Kitsen and they were there to celebrate with you (and Colbie too).  After your Birthday, we invited GG, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brad, Aunt Shannon (your Godparents) and Delaney over for soup, salad, and tractor dirt cake.  :o)  You chose tomato soup, Patty's salad, and garlic bread. YUM!

Bugga boy, playing.

urban photo shoot