Halloween Sneak Peek

As promised, here's a peek at dad's latest Halloween project. It's a zombie cooking on a barbecue grill. The light effect makes it look like this guy is cooking above real fire embers. So cool! He doesn't have the motor running in this video but the zombie continues to turn as if he's being roasted alive. Dad used our rotisserie motor from our actual bbq grill in the backyard for this one. There's a few final touches left to be done but you get the idea. Only daddy would think something like this up!

First Day of School

We are going on wk 3 in the 2010-2011 school year. Because we are year round, we start in July, the kids are already getting accustomed to their new teachers and classmates. This was a VERY big year for us, can you guess why? Matthew started kindergarten. He was soooo excited (an understatement- at the least)!!! Here we are kissing our baby boy goodbye!Once he got into the classroom, the teacher asked the kids to have a seat on the rug. Our boy ran to the rug as fast as he could so he could get a front row seat at his teacher's feet. His eyes were on her the whole time and he listened so attentively at what she had to say. I almost cried that morning but when I saw his behavior and his eagerness to learn I knew it would be so selfish of me to feel sadness for me rather than excitement for him. I think he has a lil crush on his teacher too (how cute)! But.... we all know that mom is #1 in his life, right!!!! I better set that teacher straight before this crush goes too far! We've all heard the media stories of teachers falling for their students before, haha. This boy's mine teacher, so BACK OFF!!!! (I'm really kidding, she's a great teacher and I love her sooo much)We're pretty lucky because every teacher this year is a past teacher from another sibling, so we already knew what to expect from them. Matthew's teacher was once Emily's teacher from kinder. Emily's new teacher was Elizabeth's teacher last year. Here's Emily grabbing her name card from the teacher. Elizabeth's 3rd grade teacher was once Brianna's 3rd grade teacher. This is the teacher that Brianna made the baby quilt for. She's still out on maternity leave but will be returning soon. Poor Brianna, got her SAME teacher again for the 3rd year in a row. He keeps moving up a grade as does she. I think it's because she is such a good student he doesn't want to let her go, so he follows her to the next grade! Bree wasn't needing mom and dad to walk her to class anymore, apparently she's soooo beyond that!!!! And, next year our 1st born will be a BIG JR. HIGH SCHOOLER! Scary-- for mom and dad!!!!

Flashback Friday

Why this pic, you're probably wondering. Well... daddy's been busy lately building some new Halloween Props. I'll have to post some teaser pics later. But because the garage looks like Halloween is fast approaching and starting to get us all in the mood, I thought this pic was picture perfect for today's Flashback Friday. This is Emily, 2 years old. She claimed daddy's halloween rat as her own and took care of this thing like it was her baby. She carried it around with her and wouldn't let anyone touch it. Gross, huh?! Apparently, daddy's halloween spirit runs in this child as well. She's her father's daughter. I loved Emily at this age! She had THE MOST GORGEOUS HAIR and big brown eyes and she was JUICY!

Beautiful Boy

Ben. My Beautiful.

Beautiful. Beautiful.

Boy!!!

Forf of July

I got home from work (yes, I worked. How sad, huh?) to find the kids in the pool and daddy bbq'ing. After enjoying some burgers and hot dogs we munched on a few cupcakes for dessert, thanks to this lady

Megan enjoyed eating ONLY the icing

There's nothing like celebrating the birthday of our country in the company of good friends and a few fireworks.

And lucky for us, the sheriff deputy who came to reprimand us and to enforce the No Fireworks Rule had a soft spot in his heart for children and didn't want to ruin their fun.

Besides, who could say "NO Fireworks" to these two cuties?

This was Ben's first fourth of July. He didn't seem all that impressed with the fireworks; he fell asleep in his auntie's arms.

Thanks to the daddies for putting on the show.

You know you're a mom when...

You open the kitchen drawer to get out a sponge and instead find a fresh, empty pudding container. And of course, nobody knows who did it!

10 Years of Marriage

We just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary! To mark the occasion, we renewed our vows in our backyard. It was perfect. Thank you to everyone who came. This is a video- if you don't see it on the screen, try refreshing it.

Summer is Here!