The Phillips Family

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Grandpa Chris' Birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Chris! We celebrated Chris' Birthday Saturday night at Sandy and Chris'. It was quite the celebration. Our immediate family has grown to 20 people, it is a party whenever we are all together! Thanksgiving is usually the only time when we're ALL together. It was quite a night of fun and chaos. Now that the kids are getting older, it is much more fun for everyone. I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone played together. We have eight kids ranging in age from 10 months to 6 years.

Grandpa Chris, Hunter, Ally, Noah and Kent.

Keegan and Brayden

Grandpa Chris, Hunter and Great-Grandpa

Ellie and Ally

Noah

Owen and Uncle Pete

Uncle Kelly and Uncle Scott

Grandma Phillips (Sandy), Auntie Shelby and Great-Grandma

Auntie Sarah

Cousin Sarah and Noah

Pirate Ellie

Cowgirl Dani

Cousin Sarah reading books to Brayden and Keegan

Kent, with his brother, Kelly, sister, Shelby and sis-in-law Sarah.

Grandma Phillips (in the background) and Uncle Pete playing with ALL the kids.

First Snow!

We had our first snow Saturday morning! That is, enough where we got to shovel. The kids thought it was the best thing ever! Brayden LOVES to help shovel the driveway. Danielle quickly learned that it is not a good idea to run in the snow, especially with tennis shoes on. Ellie was right there with Dad and Brayden shoveling away and scurrying about. It was pretty dang cute. Now I can't wait until we can actually go sledding. More snow to come...????

My camera blurred most of the pics. because they were moving so fast... little worker bees.

Turkey Day

What a wonderful Turkey day! We were so fortunate to have Uncle Pete and "Cousin Sarah" (B has to call her cousin because he has an Auntie Sarah too) here for the special day. The day started with Kent getting up and taking down the stuffing for the turkey, to Kelly's at 7 a.m. Kelly and Sarah graciously agreed to host Thanksgiving again. (They do have two ovens). :) We figure it will be at their house every year.... since they had alot to do we asked if Keegan could come spend the day with us. The boys were so excited! Keegan waited patiently for Brayden to wake up and then they decided they needed to take a shower. I know this is probably very evil, but I couldn't resist their cute bums......

After Kent made all of us a yummy french toast breakfast we decided to decorate for X-mas. The kids were thrilled! A little too excited, there was a lot of running and screaming. Everyone participated and only TWO glass ornaments were broken! Danielle squeezed a ball in her hand and shattered it, but she didn't cut herself, amazingly enough.

Ellie checking out all the ornaments.

The boys insisted on putting the tree skirt under the tree, they did a great job. It was quite a success!

Ellie getting loves from Cousin Sarah.

YAY for turkey and pumpkin pie!

Dani having so much fun playing with her cousin's toys.

I didn't get any pics. of the adults, or the wonderful dinner. We had a great time and at the end of the night we took shifts playing the wii. I think Kent was the reigning champ, with me being the biggest loser, I didn't win any rounds. As we were going home we finally let Brayden play :) he boxed Kent and did a pretty good job! Notice Kent's glistening skin, he was soaked with sweat. The whole room smelled like B.O. thanks to him and Kelly. :)

Hunter, Ally, Ellie, Brayden and Dani, only 5 of the 8 kids. We were lucky no one got knocked out with all the swinging that was going on!

Too much fun! We are so thankful for our wonderful family and friends!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

First Haircuts

The mullets had to go. I was very nervous taking my baby girls in to get their haircut. It was long and scraggly and in their eyes. Kym and Noah inspired me to take the girls in. Noah sat in the chair for at least 10 minutes without a peep. My girls didn't have quite the same experince. I had Ellie go first because she tends to be more outgoing and fearless, not so much with the hair though. She was saying owie before we even started. (this may be because she had to get her flu shot a couple of weeks ago from a stranger). I held her in my lap and tried to keep her arms pinned to her sides. Not such an enjoyable experience, but now she can see.

Danielle opted to not even get out of the stroller. She stayed in the stroller and screamed instead. Luckily the lady was quick and just trimmed it up. It's amazing how different they look with just a little bit cut off the front and back. They still have mullets, but maybe not so scraggly?

I tried to get their pics. after, but they didn't want any pics. taken. They stood on their heads and ran away from me. Ellie tackled Brayden and wrestled for a while, avoiding me.

Last minute fun and a sad good-bye

We had such a fun weekend with Kym and her boys. It was sad to say good-bye and think that we won't see them for a year and a half! There were hugs all around, which was so sweet to see. The kids had a great time, but I think they were all getting tired of sharing and/or negotiating everything, especially Brayden and Elijah. Being the same age made it difficult to figure out who the boss is. :)

Elijah giving Ellie squeezes.

Noah even gave up hugs to Kent.

Before they left we decided it would be good to take all the kids to the park and let them RUN! It took at least 20 mins. to track down enough coats, hats and mittens, but we made it!