CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

After having surgery recently, I haven't really had time to post much.  
And much has gone on, but...  
I saw this video and thought you all might enjoy the spirit of it as well.
(Remember to turn off my blogs music, down on the left.)

Sweet Sixteen!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Friday, Macey turned a sweet sixteen. Unfortunately, she was sick the whole weekend. Bummer. However, she did go on her "first date" with her dad last night. Which is a good thing because she is going out on a real first date tomorrow night! Augh! Do all the Uncles want to come over and have a gun cleaning party at the dinning room table, say about 7pm?

When she was feeling better we celebrated her big day and she got a new Nissan...(it's a bit of a tight fit, but it's hers and she loves it. Thanks Katie. :)

We are having her Sweet Sixteen Party next weekend. She is so excited. She has been planning this for months! We'll let you know how it turns out. Feel free to dish out any dating advice...Happy Sweet Sixteen Macey.

Pumpkin Carving and Trick or Treat

We got a late start on our pumpkin carving this year. Usually we do it for family night but didn't get to it until Halloween morning. No matter fun was had by all.













Even our Halloween dinner had costumes. Our hot dogs were "pigs in a blanket." Then, Kenna decided to hide the carving utensils from the creative carvers that were not finished at dinnertime...

in a costume of a ketchup bottle. Macey, who was still frantically carving had to cut the bottle open to get them out.

It was all worth the wait. She carved Cinderella's pumpkin carriage.

Are Superheros always so serious???

Guess so.

Cute Kitty Kenna. (My deal of the season. $4.99 at a thrift shop!)



There's the superhero smile...behind the sugar surge!

And of course, with six kids, you never know what you might find in the laundry shoot.

It seems like this went by in a flash. I guess I better hold onto my hat because the holidays will be here before I can say "Happy Thanksgiving!"

And We Have Grass!

After a long and sometimes grueling work effort we actually have grass growing in the backyard!





We were once again under the gun trying to beat a deadline...this time the arrival of cold weather. Tucker worked many nights into the night shoveling very hard dirt, burying pipes and replacing sprinkler heads, that his forearm became so fatigued and sore he could hardly hold onto anything.

We had many family and friends come help out and put in some hard work themselves. We really appreciate all of you and your willingness to give some of your time to help us reach our goal. We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks so much to all.

Another Testament of Christ Video

I think the music and images in this video are so beautiful and moving. (Turn off my blogs music to the left before you start.) What a way to start the day. Reminds me to keep a little better perspective...

Back to School Again.
The kids were torn this year about going back to school. They were excited to see their friends but not so much for the actual school part. Oh, how I remember the same feelings.


This is Macey with her broken foot in her way cute first day outfit and her "lame" granny shoe. I just told her it would be a good attention getter for the boys.

This is Macey and Madalyn out in front of the house when they came home from school. It was totally out of the question to take one before school.

The three amigos- Braden, Cameron and Maren leaving for the bus stop.

There they go! Cameron was so happy to ride the bus and be going to Kindergarten.

I wasn't sure what to do first!
Take a nap...Run an errand...Take a hot bath...Finish a project...

I ended up trying to fight the fruit flies that have invaded our house. They are everywhere and are driving me crazy! Happy back to school!

So Long Summer...
It seems that it takes so long for summer to get here and then in a blink it's gone.
We started August off by going to the emergency room at about 10pm August 1st. Earlier that morning Macey was out helping Tucker in the yard and he asked her to get a tool on the other side of the fence. Well, not wanting to walk all the way around she jumped over the fence and proceeded to land on a small rock injuring her foot. Later that night, when she saw her Uncle David, who is an ER Doc, he said, "I'd be surprised if she didn't break it." And broke it she did. It's the second bone in her foot. She had to be careful so it wouldn't slip out of place and need surgery for the first few weeks. All is well now, just no soccer this season and a granny shoe for the first two weeks of school.
On to the more exciting stuff, we celebrated Cameron's 6th birthday. He is so excited to be going to Kindergarten this year. He gets to ride the bus with Maren and Braden.

We also celebrated Maren's 11th birthday. Who also celebrated her birthday with her cousin Katie who also turned 11, with a girls night at grandma's complete with fashion show and a movie on a big screen outside.

(Below is what happens when your 2 year old gets a hold of your camera takes a picture of your 6 year old.)

August was filled with some lazy days, along with some major wii sports competitions days and school shopping. Braden was so excited to get these shoes for school that he could hardly wait for me to take the picture of him wearing them. He wanted these shoes for his birthday in May but, I talked him into waiting until we could get them for school to hopefully get them to last all year. They way this guy grew last year that may just be wishful thinking. (See how short his pajama pants are?...)

Ok. So after all this time I still can't figure some of this blogging thing out. Like how to get this photo to stay rotated after I import it to my blog...Anyway, our chickens started to lay eggs! Oops! Maybe we should make some nesting boxes for them. I guess they can only cross their legs for so long!

You have heard of goat and sheep herders, well, we have chicken herders. It was so fun to see Cameron and McKenna try and herd them around. Tucker told them they wouldn't go anywhere but, they were not so sure....

...Especially when "the Rude Dog" showed up to help! Actually, Rudy could have cared less about them. We even found him enclosed in the coop one day and he was just sitting there like, "Get me out of here, please!"

Not such a bad dog after all. Good boy Rudy!

Last night McKenna decided to give herself a bit of a haircut. Not too bad, but bad enough. We have definitely seen worse in the hair cutting department.

Now that school starts on Monday, we sadly say so long to the lazy days of summer.

Joyous July!

Tucker's sister Jenny married Blair Wood and had their reception at their parent's home
on July 2. Jenny was a beautiful bride. She looked so peaceful and happy and gorgeous. (I could have posted a whole post with beautiful pictures of her and the granddaughters....)

(Jenny and Blair and the littlest granddaughters in Tucker's Dad's Model T.)
Blair is an impressive (and good looking) guy. It's so neat how much their love radiates for each other.

Aunt Jenny and our girls.

We had Tucker's family reunion over the 4th of July since we were all gathered for the reception anyway. This is Tucker's sister Kristin and her daughter Jordan. They made some festive red, white and blue drinks for us.




Later in the month, the Turnbulls so generously offered to have anybody join them at their time at their cabin on the lake. Well, they went from total peace and quiet with only three of them to total chaos since several families took them up on their offer. It was HEAVEN!!! Thank you Turnbulls!!
Here are the teenage girls soaking in the sun and doing their nails out on the dock.

Maren the fish.

Cameron, Maren and Braden on the tube.

McKenna playing in the sand by the water. She totally loves the beach. She would get up and first thing put on her swim suit.

There were lots of frogs and the boys and Maren had a blast catching them. They even caught minnows in a bucket. They were in paradise. So was I, watching them have so much fun without a TV! They really do love to be outside and by water.

One of the many happy and fun lovin' faces of McKenna.

Let's see... What is so fun about a dock and hot weather and a cool lake...

JUST GOING FOR THE LONG RUN AND JUMPING IN!!

Until next time....Ahoy, Maties!