First Rally

I finally got to go see the kids play tennis the other night and got so many cute videos of them. Here is another one of their first rally... well, at least with each other, and at least that I was there to see. :) They were excited!

Aubrey hitting Daddy

Aubrey loves tennis. His favorite part is when he hits Tony with the ball. :) I love that little laugh!

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, we went on our 5th annual pumpkin patch trip with the Karrers.  It is getting to be so much fun with all of the kids, and to look back on how much they've all grown since that first year.  :)

Here are the big three, Jaden is a little reluctant to pose since just a few feet away his friends are all playing.

The fantastic five.

I love this one with all of the big kids.  Especially Caleb, he cracks me up.  :)

They got quarantined while I was taking pictures of the Karrers, this one actually turned out the best I think, and as an added bonus, no one got lost.  I think I might have to invest in one of these, it is quite handy to keep them all together.

Our family, it is so much fun!

Brenna and Livie were extremely tired because this was around 4 pm and they had not napped at all this day.  (We were at the buddy walk earlier in the day)  They were troopers, they are such good girls.

I love this one, Aubrey is so relaxed.  :)

Never thought I'd have 3 girls.  Never thought I'd spend so much time doing hair!  They sure are cute though, eventually I'm sure Baylee will help me.  She loves her little sisters.

The boys think it's more fun to stick things in the girls' hair.  They are good entertainers. though.

Princess Lulu

Our little peanut, eating as much grass as she can get away with.

 

The Buddy Walk

Today, we walked in the Buddy Walk, a charity event to benefit children with Downs Syndrome.

When we got there, we were greeted with this stressful sight. Grandpa always makes things interesting. :) He looked at me like I was crazy when I told him the kids were not allowed to go up there.

Here are my little walkers. Excited about sporting their Buddy Walk shirts.

They have been talking non stop about it. They thought that it had something to do with Uncle Buddy (their nickname for Steven.) They were not sure what though, they also kept calling it the "Jay Walk". It was a good opportunity to start to introduce them to Downs Syndrome though, as they saw lots of kids with it there. They have never known anything about Chase having it, he is just baby Chase.

Aubrey insisted on walking along the curb, one of the reasons we were the last to finish the mile. :)

Some of our group walking ahead of us.

These two probably walked two miles, they ran ahead and ran back, ran ahead and ran back... oh to have that energy again!

Afterwards, conveniently situated by the exit, we met Bobo the clown. He made Jaden a sword and holder and helmet.

Baylee got a funny hat and pink poodle.

Our sweet (tired) man.

Of course, by the time Aubrey decided that Bobo wasn't that scary after all, a huge line had formed. He had to have a sword too though, so Grandma took one for the team and waited with him.

It was worth the wait though (and better than my plan of just popping Jaden's.)

Sisters

Nursery

(A snapshot in time)

I love to look back at my kids when they were small, and it is fun to have pictures of their friends at those stages too.  I took my camera with me on Wednesday night to snap a few pictures of the nursery kids.  I have just a couple like this from when Jaden was a baby and they are treasures, I have to remember to do it more often!

Sweet Baby Elle

Baylee and Brenna

Reese and Livie

This one just cracks me up!

The girls being little mommies.  :)

Baby Dax, 1 year old already!  :)

The big boys were much to busy to have their pictures taken.  They were having a big battle with all of the blocks as their soldiers.  It was fun to spend time with all of the little ones, they are ALL growing way too fast!

Kid Quotes

I've been noticing lately that Aubrey has very specifically been asking for green apples. He has talked a little bit about red and green apples, but I never seemed to hear the whole thought because he is always being interrupted or overshadowed by a louder sibling. I assumed that he had developed a preference for green apples, like Jaden and me. (I mean, they really are better.) Anyway, today at lunch he asked me, "Mommy, do you like red apples?" I could tell this was a serious question that had been bothering him, so, assuming that he really liked red apples better but had been choosing green because Jaden and I always do, I answered with, "Of course, red apples are yummy!" He went on, "Well, I learned in Sunday School that Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden and they ate RED apples and God did not like that." I laughed, and was impressed that he took so much of his lesson in and let it affect his eating habits. It was neat to see his little heart convicted about something and to see him try to do the right thing. I told him of course, that God was unhappy because Adam and Eve disobeyed. They ate from a tree that they were forbidden to eat from, however, the trees from Pulford's orchard are not forbidden and we are free to enjoy red apples all we want. He had a red apple today for a snack. Jaden and I had green ones. :)

What's New?

Not a whole lot of interesting stuff has been going on around here lately.  My lack of blogging can be boiled down to two things: I have been extremely busy (obviously) and I ran out of room on my CF card which I never erase, and it took me a few weeks to get a new one... so... no pictures for a few weeks. There have been a couple of things to note, so here they are:

I have been trying to teach the babies how to hold their own bottles after observing a 4 month old do it at a party recently.  Tony says that maybe if the babies were bigger than your average 2 month old, and if I didn't give them glass bottles full of 8oz of formula, I might have better luck.  However, he underestimated my persistence.  Now, Brenna can do it, which makes life so much easier!

This one, we will just say is a little stubborn.  Or, as I call her, is a little princess.

Speaking of princesses, I broke down and got Baylee princess pajamas, which she loves.  I detest the whole "princess" thing, but you have to pick your battles I suppose.

Sweet little baby feet.  :)

Here is Aubrey being silly.  (as usual)

In other news, how long do you think it takes for one family to outgrow a table?  6 months?  Yep, that is about right.  We were getting tired of trying to cram everyone into the very small breakfast table we bought when we moved here.  Part of the problem was that the table was just too cheap and one of the chairs broke after only a couple of months.  That ended the baby seats being a permanent fixture at the table, and they got moved around constantly.  (which was very annoying.) Then of course, we found out that we would be adding an eighth person to the family soon who would not fit at the table at all.  Next, another chair started to be extremely wobbly and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.   We learned our lesson about buying cheap small tables.  That is just not going to work around here anymore.  So, (still being cheap) we found a great deal on this table on Craigslist.  It is perfect.  Much more sturdy and room for all of us plus 1 visitor!  :)  Well, until next summer when the new baby will need that seat.   I can't believe that our breakfast table now seats 8 (the same # as our formal dining table!)  It is what I always dreamed of, I just never imagined it would happen before I turned 30.

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Livie made herself right at home at the new table.  This is becoming her trademark.  She is always kicking back with her feet up, usually in the stroller or in her carseat.  It cracks me up.

This one never relaxes.  She is always at attention, ready for the action.

They are just SO cute.  They are coming alive with their own little personalities and quirks.  They make our home so much fun.

Angel Baby.  :)  I think that I might switch them though, this one says Daddy's Angel and has the adorable little wings... the other says "Princess of Everything".  I think that definitely fits Livie more.  

A funny (scary?) picture of Baylee.  It was way over exposed, but cute, and this is what became of it when I tried to fix it.   Her hair looks like fire, it just cracks me up.  She is definitely a little firecracker!

So, that is life around here.  Just the same old stuff for the most part, we are very blessed.  I am reminded of that many, many times per day!  :)

Tony and Brenna have this game they play. She totally knew she was being taped and stopped doing it as loudly as she usually does, but she sits on his lap and leans forward (meaning: lift me up!) and he lifts her up and she screams. She then turns around and makes sure I saw it and says, "Dada." Like, "Dada is so fun." :) We think she is so funny, they do this every night and it never gets old!

Kid Quotes

I had a meeting this morning with Jaden's resource teacher. She always has funny stories to tell me about Jaden in class and today was no different. One of the stories she told me though was so funny and also embarrassing that I thought, "of course that needs to go on the blog, right?" I will start by saying that when we got to school, one of the teachers from his enrichment classes walked up and very enthusiastically greeted Jaden. He very sweetly said, "Hi Mrs. Culbertson! How are you doing today?" They had a great dialogue and she made it clear to me that she adored him. I walked away feeling very good that she liked him so much and that he was doing so well in her class. THEN... Becky said at the end of the meeting,

OK, I have a funny Jaden story, but you have to promise that you won't be embarrassed or upset with him because it was pure innocence and honesty. We all love him and have been quoting him all week." What kind of thing is that to say to a parent? Nothing strikes fear into my heart like hearing, "You will not believe this thing Jaden said!" (Which, I hear constantly!) So, I said, "Um, ok Becky, but you are making me nervous." She laughed. By this time, Mrs. Culbertson was out of the room thankfully. Her story went like this: "Jaden was standing at the front of the line in Mrs. Culbertson's classroom. He kept bumping into her and he finally said, "Hey, Mrs. Culbertson, you keep bumping me!" She replied, "You keep bumping me Jaden, I am standing still." He said, "Oh, well, it's ok, you are just a little fat." ---------------- WHAT??? I could not believe he would say that, nor could I believe he said it to the same lady that came up to him and complimented him so generously. Becky said, "Mrs. Culbertson was actually happy that he said she was just a "little bit" fat. We have been quoting him all week when something goes wrong, we just say, "it's ok, I'm just a little bit fat." What in the World?? What am I going to do with this child?

While I'm at it... there was another day when we saw Mr. Owens as we were walking out of school. Mr. Owens is the ag teacher and Jaden adores him. He always tries to get his attention if he can. He sees him, but Mr. Owens doesn't have on his signature cowboy hat. So, what else would Jaden yell out across the campus but, "Hey Mr. Owens!!! You look really cool with your hat...... on."

For more of what's been going on with school... check out our school blog. :)

Happy Birthday to Grandma!

Kid Quotes

I overheard Jaden explaining to Baylee and Aubrey how Jesus heals people, "And sometimes people get REALLY sick and only Jesus can heal them. They turn into leopards! They get wrapped up in cloth and put in prison because they are dangerous, but Jesus likes to heal them."

Apple Picking

We went up to Pulford Family Orchard last week for our annual field trip/apple picking adventure.  :)  Here is Farmer John explaining to the kids how to graft a tree.  Tony wanted to know if I took advantage of the opportunity to tie that into our spiritual grafting into the body of Christ... obviously he has never taken 3 small children on a field trip with all of their little friends.

Next, they learned how the apples are cleaned and sorted and stored.  They even got to go into the giant refrigerator which was a nice break from the heat.  (Yes, we were a little over dressed!)

Jaden was excited to get the apples!

I still made them take a couple of pictures with the inevitable results.

Then, they got to start.  We were thrilled this year to find some tart green apples.  (Last year we only got sweet red apples, which were still wonderful, but we much prefer the green ones around here!)

Aubrey had fun and managed to find every apple in the orchard that had been eaten by a bird or bug.

Jaden did much better this year  though and found lots of huge flawless apples.

Baylee and Matt :)

They were very excited to get home and make some yummy apple recipes.

Especially Aubrey!  It is hard not to just eat them all up plain, but we have a few pies and breads planned that everyone is very happy about.  Happy Fall!!!