I'm getting way behind again on my posts mainly due to the fact that my camera went in to the lake this summer so picture taking has been few and far between. :(  I dug through my phone's pictures and managed to get a few that weren't too blurry (my phone is old school).  Jen, Jackson and the new boyfriend Aaron came up to visit at the end of September. We had fun doing some fall activities with them and though the weather was a bit chilly we had fun.  Doughnuts, caramel apples,  and fresh apple cider will make any occasion better right? ;)

 

She is a nurse now and is busy so I have to enjoy her when I get her.....

 

My 3 girls      

 

All the kiddos playing and having fun.

 

 

Sporting the wax stash and lips courtesy of Aunt Jen.

 

 

In other news we have been having fun with this girl these past few months.

 

 She has gone from hardly moving to almost walking any day now. :)  She is so happy and fun all the time, loves her siblings to death and has now started getting a little sad when we wave "bye bye" to them as they head to school in the morning. 

 

 This is typically how I cook meals. :)

Gavin is loving school and is such a smarty pants he's already learning so much.  He's made some friends too and has had a couple play dates that he was SO excited for!  He has waited a long time to have his own friends to play with.  It's pretty cute I must admit. :)

 

His buddy Milo

 

All of the kids are loving school this year and are doing amazing.  Middle school has been very fun for Grace and a nice change of pace I think.  Haylee is a social butterfly with new friend stories every day and has started Solar Energy choir like Grace did last year and she loves it!  They have had four performances this past month that have been very fun to go watch and Haylee likes to have something that is just for her I think.  These girls love music and we have started talking about finding a piano so we can get them started with some lessons.  Maybe guitar or something as well.

 

Grace played volleyball for school and really enjoyed it.  She starts softball around March so that will be fun.  Haylee is starting tumbling here pretty soon after we get through the holidays and she works on her skills all the time so i'm sure she will do great.

 

 

For Thanksgiving this year we headed over to the West side to visit the family.  Paul and Whitney hosted a fabulous dinner then we did our family gift exchange. 

 

 

The other reason we wanted to make the trip is so we could have the family together for Paige's big first birthday!!! 

Cupcakes we did for the kids.

She had fun opening her gifts and eating her cake.  It's pretty sad that I made no effort for her party other than a simple cake and a few cupcakes but really by kid 4 it's a bit over rated. ;) 

 

She got her quilt from Grandma that is DARLING and she now sleeps with it every night. :)

My other kids' I didn't really use them too much for fear they would get ruined but I want this one to be used and loved because that's what it's for right?

Time for 1 year wishes!

All she wanted to do was pick off the frosting dots and eat them so neat and tidy like. ;)

 

She had a look of "why are you staring at me?".....silly girl.

 

We wanted to do something with the kids while we were in town so we decided to do the Portland Zoo lights.  The whole zoo is lit with thousands of  Christmas lights for the holidays and the weather was perfect.  We had a great time and wore the kids out!

 

Paige looked a little confused the whole time. ;)

 

Family portrait.

 

Haylee, Miley and Jackson

Zoey giving a high five.

All of the grandkids together for the first time in a while, it was fun.

 

These two never have a dull moment together either, they are a crack up! :)

 

 

I think this catches me up and now I can focus on Christmas!! Happy holidays!!

 

School year begins 2013

 School has finally arrived and this is a big year of changes for these kids.  Grace is off to middle school, Haylee is big man on campus at the elementary and Gavin is just beginning his kindergarten journey.  The first day of school could not come fast enough for these guys, they were so excited by the end of summer.

 Even Grace was excited though a bit nervous I think.

Outfits were laid out and all ready to go.  Haylee begged for the pink wedges (though they are not at all school friendly) to go with her ensemble and looked so cute and girly.

 

Workin' it!

Grace is officially done with stores like Children's Place and Justice, she has graduated to the juniors department and though the selection is much better the bang for your buck is not so much!  We had fun shopping though and she has a very fun sense of style and tries to teach me a thing or two about fashion.....luckily I don't need those pointers quite yet. ;)

 

This young man only cared about the ninja turtle shirt and hot wheels back pack. :)  He was so fun to take shopping and pick out his supplies.  However we learned at his back to school night that he was not too happy about the concept of sharing everything "family style", he wanted everything we picked out to be his and his only!  He is very particular we are learning and has an idea in his head how something is going to go and he'll be darned if someone's going to come in and change it!

 

BUT....he's dang cute and so smart and SO ready to be in school learning!!!  He is soaking it up and LOVING IT!!!!

His teacher is Mrs. Termath and she is new to Sunrise but has taught for many years.  She is good for him in that she's pretty strict and down to business but still tender and loving so it's a good mix.

We had the kids' pictures done again by a friend of the lady that did them last year since she moved out of state.  She did a fantastic job and was okay with us getting Paige's done also.  The weather was horrible that day, literally DUMPING rain the entire time but you cannot even tell in the photos I am super impressed. 

 

Sweet Haylee, 4th grade age 9

Gavin the big kindergartner, age 5

And little Miss Paige, 9 months

I can't even pick a favorite they all turned out so well.  Grace opted out of these ones since her school pictures were taken on the first day of school and she was happy with how they turned out.  I am wishing we would have done them anyway though and will definitely do them next year if she offers this again.

Last school picture before braces are on.....get a good look. :)  She is so excited to get them on and I feel bad because I know she's a bit self conscious about her teeth but I think she is so beautiful and is looking so grown up and mature it's just surreal.

So the school year is off with a bang and we are back to schedules and bed times and early mornings, oh my!  Grace starts volleyball pretty soon, Haylee started Solar Energy choir and will start tumbling, Gavin is just enjoying his half days and is a busy boy.  We still have our Y pass which we are loving and trying to get in to use that as much as we can.  We might start Gavin in swim lessons this winter too.  Other than that its just been enjoying what little bit of sunshine and nice weather we can get and raking......raking.....and more raking!  Happy Fall!!!


Just an fyi,  Amy Stinebaugh is who did the photos and if you need someone to take some pictures she is super sweet and does an amazing job.  This is a link to her face book since she doesn't have a website yet I guess but her email is on this page.