Christmas 2014

Christmas was pretty simple and laid back this year...I love to spoil my kiddos, we don't buy them a lot of extras throughout the year so birthdays and Christmas has always been my time to spoil them. However, my kiddos have incredible imaginations and just don't need a lot of stuff. We have plenty! So this year we did 3 gifts: Something they want, something to wear and something to read. Then, of course, Santa brings them each a fun toy. (Not to mention they each get a gift from grammy, nanny and aunt natty then Grandma and Grandpa come visit from Idaho and bring fun family gifts.....so they are not deprived!!!!)

We had to decorate cookies for Santa!

Remember me mentioning my kiddos awesome imagination....well every year they put on a show for us, they put it all together themselves and practice throughout December. They sing Christmas songs, serve a refreshment during intermission and Katelin even sang a solo this year...."Let it go"! They perform their show on Christmas eve in their Christmas pj's.....and we all love this tradition!



Santa and the Reindeer enjoyed the milk, cookies and carrots!

Santa filled the stocking and left some goodies :)

The 4 big kids all got Ipods from Chet and I and the 2 little ones got a toy.

And from Santa:



 He loves his little red car!

Going through their stockings....

She would have preferred to still be asleep so after a morning crying fit she finally calmed down and joined the fun!

Super Evan!

Opening presents!

Then the Brandin, Natalie and their crew showed up with their newest family member.....Rogue.....

How cute is he?!?!? We also have a new Rottweiler joining our family, she is still with her mama but will be here soon.....i'm so excited, I love the breed and miss my Brooke and Jake so much! And Captain really needs a playmate!

We went to Nanny's in the afternoon and she was so excited for Luke to get his little red rider.

A quick family photo!

 And I have to share our picture with Santa!

It was a good year, we are beyond blessed. The business grew, fun adventures with our crew who are all happy and healthy and of course our family became complete with the birth of our sweet little Luke Dylan....by far the highlight of 2014!



Just a dress up doll.....

One of the many reasons it is so much fun to have little siblings, Rylie will sometimes decide to dress a kid up. She got Kinley dressed, did her hair (at least did something with the little bit she has) and put make up on her! Then she took her outside to take pics and quickly learned my frustration when trying to take pics of Kinley.....it is difficult, she does not cooperate or hold still but here is what she got back in August.............

 

 

Some candid shots but what matters most is they had fun together!



Attack of the “kids”

I would be referring to the big kids here…..Captain and Daddy! They like to play as much as the others do and it makes my heart happy!

 

Rylie and the Beast!

This is Beast....

 

She is vicious looking huh?!?!? And yes Beast is a she, the kids named her before knowing that and didn't want to change it.

 

 

She has quite the personality and most everyone who meets her loves her! But probably no one quite as much at Rylie! She oohs and ahhs over her little Beasty kitty aka her baby!

 

 

Halloween 2014

So I know what your thinking???

It’s December! Christmas not Halloween!!!

Yes I know, however, between life being busy and having trouble uploading pics on here I haven’t blogged much lately so now I am playing catch up.And we will start with halloween!

First we had school parties!

And we can’t forget that this was a special halloween because it was Luke’s very 1st one ever!

 

The best pic I could get of the entire crew (surprise....a certain little 2 year old wasn't cooperating!)

 

Rylie left us after this, she went with some friends. Her friends were Dorothy and the Tin man and she was the prettiest scarecrow that I've ever seen. Love her costume so much!

 



My boys.....Batman and Robin! Evan loves Robin....he kept saying "i'm the sidekick, Robin"

which makes since because he loves being Owen's sidekick....he adores his big brother!

 

This girl was so indecisive but finally decided to be a monster high doll, the hat is my favorite part of her costume!

 

This girl! I did not buy her a costume because I knew she wouldn't wear one so we borrowed from a friend. She wore it a few times for a few minutes for a few pictures.....and that was good enough for me!

 

And my sweet sweet baby boy...not your traditional 1st Halloween costume but he made such a perfect biker baby that I couldn't resist. And I could dress up with him! We shaved his goatee shortly after this because slobber and marker do not mix!

 

We went to our friends Paul and Debbies house. It was cold cold cold so while the dad's took out the bigger kids we stayed in with the littles! No Ry in this pic but it's a sweet picture!

 

They love being with their friends!

 

And since it was October when my sweet baby turned 5 months I had taken a few Halloween themed pics......

 

So here's the deal.....I got my blog cooperating again so I am going to blog and post as much as I can to catch up before Christmas (which is in 1 week) so stay tuned to hopefully quite a few post this week!

Rylie's new do!

 Rylie looking absolutely gorgeous with her highlights!

I'm thinking it may be time to lock her in the house, she is growing up way way too fast!

Polar Express 2014

 So Polar Express was a success this year......we started out by going for a train ride in Baldwin City.

The kids!

 She wasn't too sure at first and didn't want to get on the train but once we were there she was okay!

The boys watching the scenery! 

Luke snoozing.....absolutely adorable! 

Santa and the Mrs. were on the back car and we got to go visit! 

Guess who woke up? 

Yeah she was comfortable now and wanted to hang from the handles over and over again!

We went home had beef stew, opened jammies and ornaments from Grammy and watched polar express, of course!