Special Delivery!

My new friend, Angela, gave me this amazing idea! I am excited to see if it works. We had a special delivery today from Santa. He sent his special elf, Frank, to watch over my kids. He included a letter that explained that Frank will be watching the kids everyday to make sure they are making good choices. Each night he will fly back to the North Pole to let Santa know if they should be on the naughty or nice list. Then everyday, Frank will be somewhere else in the house watching over them. (I guess they make real "Elf on the Shelf" products, but I just went to Target and bought an ornament/angel thing, hopefully it will work). Dani getting excited

Brayden can't wait to open the gift!

Ellie is all smiles!

Brayden processing all of this information! Is this a good thing?

Brayden deciding where Frank should spend his first day at our house.

Way up high, so he can see everyone! (He's on the Santa's feet).

Thanks for the great idea Angela, I may owe you BIG time! Will this work throughout the year? We may have special Frank appearances!

As I'm typing this downstairs Brayden is still thinking.... He asked, "Can Frank see us when we're downstairs?" I said, "Probably, he is pretty magical!"

Homework

Brayden LOVES to draw, paint and color. He tells us, "I am going to do my homework now." This could range between all or any of the above. Last night after he finished his homework he showed me how he had written his name all by HIMSELF. I didn't even know he knew all the letters in his name. I know some of the letters are backward, but they all go left to right! We were very impressed! He said, "I had to make a capital E because I forgot how to make a lower case e." Too funny.

Yesterday it was my turn to work in B' s preschool class. It is always so fun! I love to see all the kids interacting and learning so much. Ms. Jenny sent me home with a poster for us to work on. It is an "All about ME" poster for Brayden. He was very excited to have real homework. He insisted on painting on it, so Ms. Jenny could see how beautiful it is, and how "crafty" he is. This kid doesn't miss a thing. A few things included, favorite things: beautiful pictures, and Mickey Mouse. Doesn't like: when people fight with me, lions and mean animals. Wants to be: a firefighter. Favorite color: red and blue (NOT yellow anymore). It is so fun to see his mind at work, something new everyday!

The girls INSISTED on "helping!"

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!

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.