THanksgiving

This is where we were for Thanksgiving Day. It was so great, and so worth the early morning, standing around waiting, and paying $30 for parking.
This is the huge crowd, unbelievable. Thanks to the wonderful barricade made by our double stoller and camping chairs we were able to keep our kids around us without any worries.

Here are some of our parade favorites.

This is Miley Cyrus for those that do not know (Kent). She is a popular singer for little girls.

Before the parade I asked the kids to show me how excited they were. So who wins the cheesy smile award?

Thank you to Ryan for indulging my need to be brave and see big events. Thank you to Collette, Stan and Sallee for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that we just showed up for after. What a WONDERFUL day.

It has begun...

I knew this day would come and I would be spending more time than I would have thought on my knees scrubbing the carpet...But it will all be worth it when we put away the #4 diapers and she goes into the next chapter of her life as a newly potty-trained toddler...ANY support and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated.


We thought the pink would help...Ill let you all know.

My Boy-

I was so certain that this one was going to be a boy...the pregnancy was polar opposite from my first, and I just had thewoman intuition that this was our little man we were thinking it would be. Now I know that she was supposed to be here. Now 4 months have passed and I look at pictures like this and think why on earth I would ever hope she would have been a HE.

I think oh I have picassa, I should really "doll" that picture up. But I look at it again and again and think, I love her just the way SHE is...Why shouldnt everyone else?

As Jon was married in October and dang it, he had to get hitched in Hawaii. S we decided upon taking the girls and making a memory out of it. Too bad were not Jon and Kate + 8- we would've had the whole thing paid for and could of had 2 weddings (sort-of). If you're not a fan of the show- don't start to watch...It will only cause bitterness in the end. 

ANYWAY! Here are just a few pics of the fun filled 5 days on Oahu. 

Autumn

I love this time of year...I used to not like it so much; October, Fall, Halloween... Until I had her-

Now that she is a October born girl, this time of year means so much more to me. And each time I look at her, I feel the same way. She means so much more to me too.

Ryan did a fabulous job on our post. I am glad that he chose to take on the blogging duties for a change, however I just cannot let the pics. in the middle be passed over without saying anything. Mason did turn 5 this weekend. It was such a fun day. He chose donuts for breakfast and pesto chicken with brocoli for dinner. I was glad that it was not junk the whole day. He was so excited to open his presents. The complete look of surprise in the pic. is impressive since he has already snuck a peak of that present in our room a few weeks ago. Of course it is sad to see another year go, however I am glad that I still have him at home to enjoy (until next year anyway). He is growing to be so helpful with McKena being gone all day. He is even improving on his relationship with his brother. He will now actually let Spencer play with him which is so fun to watch. So Happy Birthday to Mason.

fall update

Halloween started a 6 o'clock sharp with kids coming by the house by 5min after. I got home a little late, so we were still eating dinner by the time the first of the trick or treaters showed up. The soup in the kids' bowls had barely been touched after about 10 minutes at the table. I gave them extra large servings so that they wouldn't be stuffing themselves of candy all night and I soon thought that this idea was going to backfire. After a quick threat of no trick or treating if their dinner wasn't finished they sucked up that soup so fast they all could have gone as Hoover vacuums that night. Needless to say they ended up getting into their costumes. McKena went as Fire Star (you'll have to google it or watch an old Spiderman and his amazing friedns cartoon), Mason as Spiderman, and both Spencer and Devon went as dinasours. Tonya actually made all of the costumes but Masons, which I bought for a good deal on Ebay. They all really liked their costumes and they all looked really good. I was "chosen" to take the kids out last year when it was cold and a monsoon outside, so of course Tonya thought it should be her turn this year with the 60 degree weather and no chance of rain. Tonya and the kids were gone for about an hour and a half while I gave out candy. I had a couple funny things happen. First of all, I had Devon so I had him in one arm and I usually grabbed a handfull of candy in the other hand and gave one mini-candybar to each kid. There were a couple of times where the kids (around 3-4) would just sit there and wait after I gave them their candy. When this happened I usually gave them another peice and then wished them a Happy Halloween. This worked on all of the kids except one who just sat there. I think that she thought that I was going to give her every piece of candy in my hand. After the second piece, third, and then the fourth, I had to tell her that was it and I needed the other candy for other kids. It was only after I started giving candy to some other kids that came up to the doorstep that she turned around and left. With the good weather the kids came in droves and I shut off the light about 10min before Tonya got home because I ran out of candy. Once the kids returned they enjoyed their spoils and then were off to bed. We don't allow the kids to take their bags to their rooms, so we kept them downstairs. After we looted their bags and ate the candy of our likeing we again survived another Halloween.

No, that's not an exceptionally large girl, it's just that Mason's so small. To his defense most of the kids that he plays against are 6 years old and he played most of the season at age 4. Even with his height difference he's the most fearless of the kids on his team. I think that he likes the physicality a bit too much even pushing a kid. I didn't get too upset about it because the kid was twice his size and Mason probably didn't get much past his waist. He was a bit suprised at a little kid being so aggressive.

McKena here looking good for the camera. She always has a smile on her face during the games even when she falls. She sometimes is more interested in what's going on outiside the field than the game in it.