So this year we were a little slow getting our pictures taken. But with everything going on I'm just glad to get them done. We really wanted to get them taken outside but just ended up going to Target. Everyone was in such good moods but for some reason Zach decided to be the teaser that he is and half of the pictures has him pulling faces in them. These are some of the ones that turned out ok.
So with going back and forth so many times we decided to go with an older Boxer because I REALLY hate the whole potty training stage and the chewing up everything in sight stage. So we named her Izzy and she is 2 years old.
So it was just to funny today. I was scrubbing the toilets today, not to mention the BOYS toilet downstairs that hasn't had any cleaning attention for about a week or so. Anyways as I was cleaning it I asked Nathan to run upstairs and grab some more toilet paper to restock their bathroom. Well as he was coming downstairs to bring it to me he was eating a granola bar and as he went to restock the paper he started to hand me a granola bar and told me that I looked like I really needed to have one too. I looked at him as though he just lost his mind, and then I told him how gross my hands are and that your not suppose to eat while scrubbing toilets, gross! Oh I felt so bad, all he was doing was looking out for me. Oh how you just gotta seriously love him, but really what was he thinking!
It's never easy to say goodbye, but today we found out that our Heavenly Father has another plan for us. I'm just very thankful for my family, my husband and for my 5 very wonderful, perfect little ones.
So what do you do when you ask your husband to PLEASE put up the Christmas lights and he looks at you like you just spoke to him in a different language. So then he tells the kids, "If I don't have to put up the Christmas lights this year then I'll personally call Santa Clause and tell him that he has to bring you way cool Christmas gifts this year". Well of course all the kids eyes light up and then they beg me not to put up the Christmas lights. No matter what I say to the kids they are so convinced that we are NOT having the Christmas lights up this year. Now what do you think about that? Can you tell Christmas lights are Mikes biggest pet peeves.
So Halloween was a little different this year for us. 4 out of 5 of our kids have coughs. So instead of sending them out to get even more sick we decided to stay in and have a Halloween party of our own. We first started off with dinner.
First we had some Mummies:
We then had some Monster Toes:
Mashed Potatoes with Spiders crawling on them, with some Blood Gravy:
And for Dessert, Forked Eyeballs:
And for our drink (that I forgot to take a picture of), we had Swamp Juice.
After dinner we then went downstairs to watch a couple of Halloween movies and we ate all the Halloween candy that our little tummies could hold. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a lot of fun and they didn't even miss the whole Trick or Treating thing.
From left to right: The little plain one is Brycelynn's. She just had fun watching everyone else make theirs. Next is Nathan's, then Jake's, Aliyah's and then Zach's.
Who ever said girls are much easier are SO WRONG!!! This is what happens when you leave your almost 2 year old alone for a few minutes next to your lap top... 
Notice all the keys she pulled off
And this is what it looks like after spending about an hour fixing it...
Why does she do the things she does?!?! This is how Aliyah's day has gone so far...
I was so emotional when I saw this that I knew there was no way I could fix it. I couldn't even look at her, let alone fix it, so I took Aliyah to Cookie Cutters. I have never paid for my kids or husband to get their hair cut but after it was over and I was paying the girl I gave her a huge tip and thanked her so much. Holy cow, who ever knew that you could be so attached to something as little as your daughters long hair. Luckily her haircut turned out really kinda cute.
There is nothing like getting a very loud scream from your 3 year old screaming of the top of her lungs, "get it off mommy, it's burning me". I go running into her room to see what was going on and she had taken a brand new tube of toothpaste and rubbed it all over her body from neck on down to feet, also covering her checks and lips. I grabbed her and ran her into the shower while she kept screaming, "hurry mommy, it's burning me". Poor kid, after I got it all off we had the once again talk about how everything isn't lotion talk. After all that we got her dressed again and got her all settled down this is what happened next...
You just got to love it when they fall asleep and for the time they are sleeping you just know that they can't get into trouble.
WOW! Where has the time gone? I can't believe that my Jake just turned 5 today! Happy Birthday Jake! You are such a fun kid and we are so happy that you are in our family. We couldn't even imagine life without you Jake. We love you so much! Happy 5th Birthday!
Jake right after I had Aliyah and right before I cut his cute curls off
Just this morning opening up some of his presents. All he wanted was legos and an XBOX game
So we took Nathan in to get his bandages off today and the doctor looked at his ear and then looked at me and said, "he'll need one more surgery". My heart just stopped. I can't believe we have to put Nathan through one more surgery. I hate this whole thing but we are so close to it looking so normal that we just can't stop now. I really believe that one more will be the best one yet. So cross your fingers. His 3rd and hopefully final surgery will be this coming February. We need to wait for 6 months for his ear to heel. I just feel so bad and as his mom I wish I could do more for him. Poor kid! So 3rd times the charm... RIGHT!!! I love you Nathan and thanks for being such a great sport about the whole thing!
Nathan and Zach were so excited they got up and got already for school and still had 2 hours to do nothing but wait for it to be time to go. Boy they thought those 2 hours were never going to end.
Nathan is now in 3rd grade and he came home with the biggest smile and said, "Mom, 3rd grade is going to be so much fun". I should probably remind him he said that when he gets a little more into school.
Zach is in 2nd grade and he was so funny when he got home. He comes in with a funny look and a huge smile and said, "So after lunch, I got lost in the school. LOL, it's the same set up as the school he went to last year (how does that happen). But what was funny is the whole class got lost and the teacher I guess had to come get them.
We went to Star Valley, Wyoming for a family reunion and it was a lot of fun. We went on a really fun hike up a canyon in Afton, Wyoming that took us up to a mountain that had a natural geyser.
We also went to Yellowstone but forgot my camera for majority of the trip but this is what I was able to take:
Brycelynn cried most of the time, 11 hours, well ok, at least 1/2 the trip and everyone trying to keep her happy. Mental note to self: TAKE EAR PLUGS NEXT TIME!!!
The only wildlife we saw was buffalo from a far
And last but not least sometimes when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! Could he have chose a pretter place to go? Don't worry, those people in the back ground are just his uncle, cousins and brothers.
