Marah's Wedding

We were so lucky to be included in our neighbors daughter's wedding on Sunday. The kids were so excited to go to Marah's wedding. Tanyon had never been to a wedding before and was so funny when the wedding started. Tanyon: "Mommy Miss Jackie is here!" (as Jackie walked down); Tanyon: "What! Haven is here too!!"; He was so excited to see Marah and then when he turned back around to the front he says "Why is Scott here too Mom?!" So the whole wedding thing was a bit new to him I guess. :) The location was beautiful, the weather was perfect, it was such a great day for a wedding for such an awesome family!!


One of our favorite ladies, Miss Jackie!


Another one of our favorite ladies, Haven. Beth is often at our neighbors also, so the boys were excited to see her too!

Mr. Doug and Marah! She looked so beautiful!!

One of the boys took this picture. Not bad, huh?!

I tried to take advantage of the beautiful location and get some pictures.

My boys! I sure love them!!

Picture of all 3, not so easy!

So in order to get the boys cooperation, every once in a while I have to agree to a silly face picture. :) I think this silly face picture the boys said to do a mad face.

Doesn't he look so innocent?! If only this were true. :)

My Addie girl is stuck in the goofy cheesey smile face these days.

We don't go far without baby.

The location was like heaven on Earth for the boys. They spent a large amount of time trying to catch one of these salimanders. They were everywhere.

Tanyon in action. I think the lizard is right on the top rock.

Not quite brave enough to reach down and pick him up.

Bryson telling me a joke.

Addie and Haven!

Miss Jackie and Addie

Haven and the kids! They just think Haven is the greatest!

We tried to get a creative family picture. Check out Tanyon's face!

We now have a new updated family picture. Now I'm motivated to give my blog a new look with our updated pic.

Newest Member of Our Family

Last year when we moved into our house, the pleas for a dog started. The kids love dogs, Adam loves dogs and well, I tolerate dogs. To buy myself some time, I told everyone that when Addie was potty trained we could get a dog, totally not thinking that she would potty train by 2 years old! So in celebration (not so sure if I was celebrating) of the end of 5 CONSECUTIVE years of diapers, we went and got a dog on Saturday.


Meet Duke, the newest member of our family.

He is a German Shorthaired Pointer mix with Australian Shephard. We went with the name Duke because I love Duke basketball and Addie can actually say Duke. It's very cute how she says it with her nose all scrunched up!


We drove almost 2 1/2 hours to get the dog because Duke was "on special" at the Humane Society there. We got him with all his shots and nudered for $34- part of the reason I agreed. The boys wer so excited when we finally got to the shelter.


Tanyon throwing a ball to Duke at the shelter. Duke really warmed up to us right away at the shelter. The picture isn't the clearest, but click on it to enlarge it so you can see the sheer glee on Tanyon's face.

Right away he listened to Bryson when he told him to sit, if he had a toy in his hand.

Duke was so kind with the kids. Considering this, that he was almost $100 dollars cheaper than any other dog we looked at and that we drove 2 hours, how could I say no?!

Duke is about 2 years old and he still has a lot of puppy in him it seems. He has been good to the kids and seems to recognize us as his family. Problem is, he seems to be very protective of visitors. After doing some research, that seems to be the Aust. Shephard in him. So we'll see. I'm really not so sure what I think. He has brought a lot of extra responsibility on me right now, but he seems like he can be a great dog. Everyone else in the family LOVE him. Does this win me an award for putting my kids wishes above my own?!

Please Pray!

Please be praying for the Chatterton Family! They lost their special little girl Olivia today. My heart breaks for them right now. Olivia has fought a hard fight in her short life, one that was similar to my brother's. I've never met this little girl but you can tell from reading her mom's blog that she was special! My heart aches for her older brother and sister. I was around 6 years old when we had a night that my parents were told that Craig wouldn't make it through the night. I remember the uncertainity and scariness and also not totally understanding what was going on at the same time. It was a result of the uncertainity of my brother's life that I choose Jesus to be my Savior because I wanted to know that I'd see him again in Heaven if he ever died. So please be praying for her parents Julie and Zac, I can't even imagine going through this as a parent and for Jack and Brooklyn who have lost their sister. If you haven't read their blog before, please click the pray for Olivia button on my sidebar. She touched many lives and now she is without hinderance in Heaven!

Baker in traing

Our awesome neighbors had Addie yesterday morning and were brave enough to have her help bake cookies with them. The report was that there was dough everywhere (exactly why I don't bake with the kids). I posted the video because I thought it was super cute but you can also hear that Addie's trying to talk more (you'll hear more towards the end of the video). This girl is growing up too fast!

I Hate Mud!!

I've been alright with the fact that it has rained pretty much ALL week long. Monday the boys hounded me so much about riding their bikes that I let them go out in the rain to ride for a while, I was ok with the mess. No pics, because I really was ok with them being wet and muddy- we got some exercise.

Tuesday we had a break in the rain, so we all went out for a while. I was working in the flower bed and the boys got a hold of the hose, but I was the good mom and let them have fun. Boy did they have fun. Here's the proof:

We have a large hole in the ground were we dug up a bush and the boys filled it with water. As soon as I thought no big deal, this is the idea Tanyon got. Check him out in action.

He would jump into the water and it would go up to his thigh. He would scream and yell (because it was freezing cold) and then laugh and laugh. Bryson was wise enough to sit back and encourage his brother to get wet and cold and allow him to provide the entertainment.

Look at that face of pleasure! Yes, he did try and go down the slide into the water several times, but I stopped that one because of the fear of hitting his head on the rock. And yes, his socks were white when he first went outside.

And then of course Addie had to get in on the action also. Her pink pants were also brown until they came in.

Wednesday I wised up and said absolutely no water hose! No worries right- WRONG!! They found the spot where the water came out from the sump pump. I once again let them have fun throwing rocks into the water, but it all went south. I would have NEVER imagined the could have gotten as muddy as they did. Craig was in on this one and he was all splashed with mud and his good sneakers were COVERED in mud. As I was scrubbing up his sneakers the kids got in the house without me knowing it. This is a sample of what I found in the bathroom:

There was mud EVERYWHERE. At this point I reached my breaking point and absolutely lost it!

This was Addie after the whole ordeal. Doesn't look too bad at first glance- look closer!

Check out that shirt!

And her hair was wet also! Besides the fact that I had a major mess to clean up, I was so made because this was their 3rd outfit of the day.

Today even though it ended up being a beautiful day they still managed to find the mud.

They were so muddy today that everyone had to get in the bathtub before naptime.

Yes those were once again white socks he was wearing at one time.

Just so you don't think Bryson has stayed completely clean during this week, this is what I found tonight:

Bryson just shows a little bit more self control than his brother. :)

Take a close look at his leg and sneakers!

After recovering from my breaking point yesterday, I decided it's just clothes that need washed- let them enjoy the mud and be kids. I couldn't help but snicker this afternoon as I was folding laundry. Tanyon's pile of clothes at least doubled Bryson's! Addie's wasn't too far behind Tanyon's though. :)

THESE DAYS WILL PASS RIGHT?!

Opening Day

Saturday was opening day for baseball season. All of the teams were announced and they sang the National Anthem and did a first pitch. The kids then got their pictures taken also. I was a little skeptical of this, but it ended up being a nice morning. I really was impressed with how patient Bryson's team was as the waited to be announced.


Bryson and his teammates lined up and waiting.


Bryson running onto the field after being announced. His team was the last team announced and I think he was the last player announced. Doesn't he look so professional?! I love the hand me down pants and cleats!!

Bryson the slugger

The Tigers 2009

My Husband Rocks!

So my bday was the other week and my husband planned the best bday present for me. I knew we were going out for dinner, however what I didn't know was that he secretly arranged for my bestest bud from college and her family to come stay with us for the weekend! We no sooner pulled in the drive from my race and Adam turns around with the cheesiest smile and says happy bday. I look up and there is Keith and Heather's van! Wow, I had no idea!! He caught up in the morning after I left for the race and tried to do a quick cleaning of the house, secretly went grocery shopping the night before and had not 1 but 2 awesome babysitters lined up so we could go out Saturday night. I was totally impressed!! And I must say that he was awefully proud of himself too! :)

So I got to spend the weekend with a house full of excitement. That's what you get when you have 7 kids in one house all under the age of 6! But I'll take it any day if it means I get to spend time with Heather! Since having kids, it has been difficult to find the time to visit each other like we did before kids. Thanks Adam for such a GREAT weekend!!

The gang minus Paige (who was taking her nap).

Addie, Tanyon & Ragen hanging out at the park.


Ellie- who is getting SO big!

Addie admiring Paige. When Paige was up, Addie didn't leave her side.

The girls over at the farm!

Gracie driving Addie.

I hope that our girls will be good friends too!

Didn't get too many pictures because I was too busy catching up with Heather. At least we did get a group picture.

Say Goodbye Barbie!

Last year in an attempt to buy the boys bikes I purchased Bryson a bike for $5 at a yard sale, problem was- it was a Barbie bike. The even bigger problem to Daddy was that Bryson LOVED his Barbie bike and was very proud of it. :) While at a random stop today at the GoodWill Store, the boys discovered a really nice "big" boy bike for $15. Daddy was very willing to purchase it, in hopes of hiding the Barbie bike away for Addie. Well this "big" boy bike was just the ticket to get Bryson practicing riding without his training wheels. He had been getting pretty good at not using his training wheels, but was reluctant to try riding a bike with out the extra set of wheels. Both Bryson and Tanyon, took off with the bikes this afternoon. I really was impressed! By the end of the time, Tanyon was pretty much totally riding on his own even without us giving him a push start. Bryson was also able to get started by himself, but was reluctant to try and was a little bit more wobbly.


No more pink! We've got . . .


a "man" bike!



Addie tried to fix Daddy's tractor while he worked on the bikes.

Daddy getting Tanyon situated.

Tanyon riding all by himself.

Trying to not be out done by her brother, Addie decided to show off a little too. :)

And so being the ding dong that I am, I turned the camera the wrong way (again!) while video taping them. The boys are doing so good though that I had to put the video on, even if it's sideways. Sorry! :)