Halloween 2009

This was the day before Halloween as I tried Josh's costume on him to see how well he'd stay in his costume and to see how well it fit. He's the cutest Yoda I've ever seen!



Yoda strapped in his car seat and ready to go to the Halloween Party and Trunk or Treat!

Here are my Trick or treaters- pretty cute! Emily wanted to be a dancer. Jake was Flash, which I can't believe I found that costume- he loves Flash! Avery was my Princess Tinkerbell.

My girls get so excited to get make-up put on them they look forward to Halloween because of the candy and make-up! I'm not sure what's going on with that shirt. I don't want to discourage her from being modest but the costume would have looked a lot better if it fit her better and she didn't have a shirt underneath. She's beautiful either way!

None of them were ready for this picture but whatever. Look at Flash's expression: are you done taking pictures so we can go to the party?

Flower Power

OK so a little history behind this Gerber Daisy: a precious friend gave me this potted Gerber Daisy for Valentine's Day and I decided to see how long it would last if I planted it. Well I'm happy to say it's been nearly four years since I planted that little flower in our front yard. I'm so glad I did too because every time it blooms I always think about Elena and what a sweet friend she has been to me over the years!


This was last year, the first time it was the talk of the house. Spencer took a picture of it because it was hard for us to describe and we wanted to remember it. I was pregnant with Josh when this flower bloomed and we were both convinced it was twins. This flower was definitely dividing and it was on one stem- which we thought was so cool!

Well, this year it's in the shape of a heart. This is a close up of the middle, yea I don't know my flower parts. But I am familiar with my shapes and that is a heart!

This is another shot of our heart flower. Isn't that the coolest? The kids love to look at it. I was honestly amazed at it and was excited to show it to them. I show it to everyone who comes over- look at our flower I'd say. Yes, it's the little things that excite me!

Who couldn't use a little flower power?

A Learning Process

When Heidi came out to visit from Idaho she inspired my to try harder to work on my photography skills. I'm terrible and should have paid more attention to my photography class in high school. But since that was a loooong time ago cameras have since gone digital and I never learned how to take pictures with a really nice camera with a fancy lens. And plus there's all the things you can do with the computer to enhance and change. Enough with the excuses, I am excited to improve my photography skills and get some amazing pictures of my kids. They are growing up too quickly as it is and I want as many pictures as possible.


I love the action pictures when they are not expecting their picture to be taken.

Emily was reading to Josh and he decided to bring his own book up to the table and flip through the pages.

I love Emily's bright eyes and cute round face. She's growing up really fast especially being the oldest one at home during the day now. She's a great helper!

I took these next two pictures a while ago when the older kids were already in bed and Josh must have taken a late nap. He was playing and crawling all over me when I get down on the floor with him

He's just too cute for words! We love Josh so much!

Lovin' Harley

So Emily had a facination with the dog this morning. I asked her to feed Harley and she did and also watched him eat very closely......


I had to tell her a few times to back up and give him some space.

He's such a good dog! He waits patiently on his bed while we fill his food bowl and tell him "Food Harley." He might drool a bit while waiting but still waits for the ok, even from the kids.

I was checking on her while she was playing outside and had to take some pictures of her sitting on Harley. When ever the kids go out to play he wants to be there too. He doesn't always stay outside but it's almost like he's checking things out to make sure it's safe.


Sweet Emily petting his head

scratching his back

still scratching....(someone needs to clean that window! Yuck!)

Laying on Har...., sorry about the dirty window.

PP & FF & BFF

So I'm ignoring my 100 unread emails and having to re-download all my music on iTunes to post more things we've done recently.

Spencer went "camping" at a four star lodge with a group of high school buddies this past weekend. It was a big deal! Four of them flew into town and t-shirts were made. Anyways I flew in my friend to stay with us and it was fun. I was really tired since Josh was getting in his teeth but we went to the Fire Fest and the pumpkin patch for a little while. The kids had a blast and I really like going to the Fire Fest! It had been in the 90s most of the week until Friday hit and it was cool and overcast. The past few Fire Fests we'd been to it was hot and with the fire demostrations they do- man it gets REALLY hot! I feel for the firefighters in their gear putting out the fires!

Two of the ladder crews had a competition to hit the target in the trees - it was pretty cool to watch.

This was new this year, they made a castle and demonstrated a saving of a princess, yes there is a real lady in the tower window! The kids loved that! She was yelling, "Save me! Save me!"

This is a picture of the kids in a firetruck from the airport- they are HUGE! The tires alone are almost 5 feet! ok maybe 4 feet tall, but still this is a monster firetruck! There was a demo with this too. They showed how the firehose pierces the airplane and the water sprays the inside of the plane to put out the fire.



It's always been a challenge for me to get a good picture of my kids. I need to practice more with them. Practice makes perfect right? I also need to get them to lift their chins and smile looking at the camera.

My pumpkin climber!

The boys. I love the sound of that .....

my little blondie
We had such a good time with Aunt Heidi Romer and we were sad to see her go home. Next time I get to take the trip and leave the four children with Spencer. We're hoping and strongly encouraging her to move back. I understand she wants to live near family but we would have so much fun together and it would be so wonderful to have my BFF here! Move back Heidi!!

Constantly trying to ketchup

I feel awful for neglecting our family blog!! I have no excuse except for a busy life and trying to get priorities in order. Although I will say that our pc went out and that's thrown us a bit......I hope we didn't lose all our pictures!

So, for the past three months I've been loving my four babies who seem to grow up every time I look at them and it makes me cherish the time I have with them and that I'm still cool enough to be with (for the moment!). I've cut my hair but have yet to mail off the 10 inches to Locks of Love- this will be done next week. I love my calling in Young Women but it can be overwhelming at times trying to juggle the children with Spencer's work while keeping them on a schedule. I'm adopting the Eyre's parenting methods while reading three of their books in hopes to teach my children responsibility and values. I love the 3 Steps to a Strong Family and we're implementing the first step while I prepare for the next step. I can't say that I've done much else but try to keep up with the house(one reason I'm ecstatic about the 2nd step- chores to EARN allowance!!), keep the children on a routine, and yet still throw in a day at the park or something fun. I know really boring......but I do still love doing my girls hair.

Avery is loving 2nd grade and is doing really well. She and Jake ride the bus together and I love that! She has two boys who "love" her and I've received two texts from one of them. I don't remember having "boyfriends" in 2nd grade!!! That's just too young! She's also taking ballet classes. She's been asking for almost four years now and I'm glad we waited- she loves it and she had a chance to be a kid for a while and just play around. She is still my amazing helper with just about everything and still loves Josh to no end. She will be SO busy when she gets old enough to babysit. She's great with all little kids; she loves them!

Jake has really grown up a lot in the past few months. He's doing amazing in Kindergarten and loves his teacher. He's the best reader and enjoys reading just about any book; I got him a few of the Magic Treehouse books over the summer and he liked it but enjoys a few more pictures in his books still. He's such a good boy and loves having Josh in his room- now it's the boys room! He still is a bundle of energy but has a bit more control over it. He still has his moments when the monster takes over but again he's learning to get over it a lot quicker when he doesn't get attention for it.

Emily was all set for Pre-K this year but I decided to keep her home with me for just one more year. She's still my baby and I wanted some time with her to guide her towards a bit more independence from Jake and Avery. She's labeled the copycat because she does EVERYTHING they do and that's not always a good thing. It's been really great to have her as the big sister and as my helper. She will always be my little fireball and I love her for it.

Josh...Wow! Does time fly! He's doing great. At 9 months he's getting in his 3rd tooth; his bottom two have been in for about a month and his top left tooth is currently breaking through the gum- not fun!He's crawling, well mostly army crawling EVERYWHERE! I've noticed recently that he gets bored with some of his baby toys. He loves the Little People toys and cars! His hair is getting long but not changing color at all- he is by far my fairest, such a blondie!

Spencer is working as a paramedic still at 55s and deals with interesting people who are very familiar with the system and work it. He goes to calls at 3 am which have consisted of: a crying, screaming newborn that hadn't been fed in four hours- Duh!! and this was NOT their first baby. Another call was to a pregnant 14 year old who was in labor and her 16 year old sister due the same day (this was NOT her first child!). Mom was proud! Really?! His latest was to a stabbing. Mom stabbed her son twice for not turning off the tv and doing the dishes. (Glad I'm not in that family!)

He's starting a second job through Baylor at telemetry(sp?). He'll pretty much be the middle man between the hospitals and ambulances. He starts that in a few weeks. With this job we're planning on paying off debt and selling our house in the spring since we're outgrowing our current home. We are all excited about that!