Christmas Time is here!

Yesterday we decorated the tree and made gingerbread houses.  It was a lot of excitement and fun for everyone especially the kids eating all that sugar right before bedtime!

I said we decorated the tree, but really it was the kids.

Working so hard!

Every one was so pleased with their houses!

In my defense my kids do not alway look like little (cute) orphans.  It's just when we get the camera out :P

This year for Halloween all the boys were werewolf's and the girls were witches.  Except for Carter, he wore the pumpkin costume that I made when Hunter was a baby.  (All of the boy's have worn it their first Halloween.)    We went to our ward "Trunk or Treat" at the church house.  We all had a fun time!  The kids were so excited for all the candy they got :S  Luckily they shared with aunties and uncles so the sugar overdose was kept to a minimum.

Hunter

Reese

Carter

Kaitlynne

Audrey

Mailea

Brian and Mary

Reese is 2!

Reese's  birthday came right in the middle of the second week of our garage sale.  (I am putting it in print that "I will never do another garage sale")  And it was the same day as our ward Halloween Trunk or Treat.  We did take a few minutes for Reese to open his gift from Grandma Sally, BANANAS! 

 

 

Since he was only turning 2 it did take some pressure off for having a "birthday party" with out too much "mommy guilt".  With all the Halloween candy I didn't really want to make a cake to have on top of all of that.  So he had a birthday cookie, and loved it.

Looking for a more exciting title than "Blog Post #2"

What?  There is more to this than just starting a blog?  You are suppose to add to it? 

  Since school has started we have been busier than ever!  About two weeks ago Brian had the bright idea that I should start getting out of bed earlier than 9:00.  I’m not sure why…  I mean the kids are only up at about 6… and now that Hunter and Kaitlynne are older I don’t come out into the living room in the morning to find them pouring pitchers of water onto the carpet trying to make a swimming pool.  Or three of them sitting around a big cooking pot eating cereal and milk out if it because they decided to get themselves breakfast.  But I had to agree with him and we decided to try it, so 6:30 here I come…  I have to say that it is amazing how much you can get done starting out earlier!  I’m finding time to do little extra projects.  Not to mention there is less arguing in the morning, the kids get breakfast before 9:30, and school is done before Brian gets home from school. 

   Hunter is in second grade this year, Kaitlynne in first, and Audrey in kindergarten.  It is definitely taking more time to homeschool three rather than just two, but overall it’s going well.  Hunter is the most difficult, some days second grade math just kills!  But now that we are a couple of weeks into it he is getting the hang of things and doesn’t freak out when he has to add four digit numbers.

    Now that we are finding more time in our days we have been really working hard on eating healthier and working out.  Brian goes to the gym every day after school and at home I do Callanetics, then Tuesdays and Thursdays we all go to the YMCA.  If muscle soreness is an indication on progress, we are doing great!

  

Since our last post-

We thought that we would take the kids to a Springfield Cardinals game.  Including walking there from parking, and walking back, our baseball game experience only lasted about an hour.  Afterwards we took them out for ice cream. (At least the tickets were free… ) 

Not everyone was cheerful on the way there.

And not everyone was cheerful when it was time to go.

 On the way back to the car Mailea's shoe fell of and got 

run over, you can kind of see the tire tracks.

Carter’s baby blessing- September 5^th

Carter and his Auntie J.

Audrey turned 5 on the 6^th of September which was a Monday, but since we couldn’t get her gifts until the next day we told her that her birthday was actually Tuesday.  It’s kind of nice since the kids are still young, and we have no calendars hanging in the house, no one was the wiser.

Blog Post #1

We have been thinking joining the world of bloggers for a while now, and after much thought and procrastination,  we have finally done it!

This year has been a busy one for us.  Brian started school in January, we bought a new house in April, and in July our newest Willden, Carter Eli, was born.

Our six wild, crazy, and wonderful children! 

The boys: Reese, Hunter, and Carter

The girls: Mailea, Audrey, and Kaitlynne