GOOD-BYE 2009

Oh My Goodness, where did the time go from July until December. Hmmm maybe I was running around like a crazy women after 3 kids....What a fabulous fall though. So lets recap, Clayton started school, Caden reminds me every Monday that he is mad at me for not letting him go to school ( he's still 4). In October we went to the pumpkin farm, carved pumpkins and looted a village. November brought us a trip to Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of our family, 18 people under one roof (WOW) lots of fun! December has brought us lots of cold weather and Santa of course. Now we are on to a new year and new things to discover....I can't wait!!!!

Just Keep Swimming

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming we are feeling a little Nemo"ish" here. The kids are so enjoying the pool this summer. Clayton is getting so daring and jumping off in the deep end, Caden walks to the deep end and then spits like a fountain. I have no idea what is up with that. And Miss Katie loves to cruise in her green floaty. Since we have been SOOOOOO hot here, its the humidity I have been told by our Arizona friends not the heat. Whatever it is, it is hot, temps have been averaging 103 and sometimes as high as 107. In that case we don't get out until the later part of the evening. I love this time, the kids have the most gorgeous tan and sun kissed hair and yes that is with plenty of sunscreen. This upcoming weekend is the 4th of July, the boys are super excited about the fireworks. Due to the economy this year, lots of places are not doing a big display, so we are going to create are own tiny tot show of sorts. The boys have counted how many fireworks stands there are between us and the grocery store. We have 3...I know Daddy will get in on this and go just a touch overboard, but its all in fun and we are always trying to build great memories with the kids. Until next week, stay cool and enjoy all the wonders of summer....

Summer Time!

Summer is by far our favorite season. There are certain things in a kids life that are "have to's" for summer a tradition of sorts. Swim until you are pruney, stay up late and watch the stars, eat a whole watermelon and then spit out the seeds, dance around a sprinkler, ride your bike just to feel the freedom, meet animals of all shapes and sizes, go fishing, make lemonade from scratch, roast hot dogs, eat ice cream for dinner, have a mud fight...oh my the list continues and its only the end of June. I can't wait to see what July brings. The kids are having a blast and so are we. I so made sure and got a refill on vitamins for our energy packed days. Our goal is to tire out the kids first and in most case we have succeeded. We are so blessed our children are the key to our paradise.

Spring news!

I can not believe that it is already April, this weekend is Easter soon May and then summer. The weather is getting warmer and the days are longer, we so enjoy being outside and take advantage of the longer days. Actually its been nice, no TV watching we are playing or planting our garden. Well I'm planting the kids are playing with mud. Clayton turned 6 on the 24th of March and he has grown a whole inch since then. T-ball has also started so we are at the ball field at least a couple of times during the week. Caden is busy being the mischievous one, bless him he can not help but enter a room with a commotion. He is at that stage of spilling everything he holds on too, falling or getting scrapped up or just being territorial with everything. The joys of a middle child I guess. Miss Katie is truly expressing what it means to be a girl. She is DRAMA written all over it right now. If she doesn't get her sweet way, she will sit and scream until attention to her is demanded. Even if that's a trip upstairs to time out. However her curiosity and discovery of things is quite neat. She loves to help unload the dishwasher, and throw trash or anything else on the floor away ,bath time is her favorite she can stay in there until she is past pruney. And I so love that when she gets sleepy she has her favorite blanket and her right thumb goes in her mouth, but only when she is sleepy no other time is she a thumb sucker. It is so sweet to watch the innocence. Andy has been busy with work, we had a bad storm pass through here about 2 weeks ago. So he is busy with checking on his buildings. The insurance adjuster came out yesterday and our whole roof is getting replaced. Plus the trucks got dinged up nicely and the windshield on mine will be replaced. It was just one of those weird spring storms we get her occasionally. Andy ran into the house when the hail was coming down, mind you he had doubled up his jacket for head cover. He still got nailed, and had quite the gash from it. He should have gone in for stitches, but he realizes that now. This Sunday was our palm Sunday picnic at church, it was cute watching the kids go on the Easter egg hunt. I loved eavesdropping on Clayton telling Caden how to do it, properly. Caden on the other hand had his own ideas. He would come to an egg, open it, drop the chocolate into the basket, toss the egg and go to the next. Well, why would you waste your time with empty eggs, go for the good stuff. Clayton racked up as always, game plan in hand paid off. Katie had the whole lawn to herself, so her pickings were plentiful. It was something to remember, the best things in life aren't things!

Caden turns 4!

Can you believe my once severely colicky baby is now 4. Has it been 3 years since I stopped walking the floors and taking drives to calm this little man. Now look, he has his own transportation to cruise around in. Boy, he loves his firetruck and he will not let any of his sibling within 5 feet of it. He is so cute playing, he gets all his "gear" on. Hops in and puts out all the fires around the house. I didn't realize I had that many. You get real jumpy when he barrels through the living room yelling, "Mommy your house is on fire!" One has a tendency to jump and look. Seriously I hope I don't have one, I may still be sitting when the real fire department come, I have heard it that much from him. And then on top of his fabulous birthday gift, he got his rocket cake. I am no Martha Stewart, but by george I made him his cake. It was a rocket and it had sparklers on the bottom. We had a real countdown, then blastoff. He was so excited! What a joy this precious child of God is to us . He is so full of life, we are always on our toes. You just have to love the adventure of what will be with Caden.

Dance Baby Dance!

Katie and Andy went on their first date Friday night. Our church hosted a Daddy Daughter Dance and they attended with several of our friends. It was a big party for the girls and their Daddy's. Katie and Andy stayed the whole time, she sure had a great time and it showed when she got home. Andy said she stayed on the stage the whole time, not on the dance floor. Several of her girl friends were there and they boogied down. How special that time is for a Daddy and his daughter, a tradition that is started and will never stop. Andy is setting the standard for her now, that way in the teenage years he will not have to "clean his gun" often as he says. Enjoy the pictures of their special night...

Caught in the Act

I love catching my kids in the act of something, not necessarily trouble. Just catching them being kids and using their imagination. I love hearing them play and laugh, mostly the boys are in the bossy stage of each other. There are those precious times of their play that my heart grows tenfold as I watch them interact with one another and love on each other. So sweet it makes me cry. Here are some cute photos of the kids caught in the act... Katie was caught taking all the Kleenex's out the box, a new box. I think she loved the act of pulling one out and then another, they just kept coming out for her. The boys were caught, just being boys. These are just some of the moments, I simply could not ask for more. Every single baby is a brand new idea from God and my do I ever love his creativity!