February 2014

This is Barrett's first year as a Cub Scout, and so far he loves it.  He has so much fun with his pack mates and seems to be learning a whole lot.  I'm excited for him that he has found an interest outside of baseball.  We all got to enjoy the Pack 52 Blue and Gold banquet.  This is a yearly banquet that is held to show off to family members what the boys have achieved thus far in the year.  Most of the boys receive their first rank advancement at this banquet.  Bear is receiving his Tiger award.

 

 

 

 Each boy is asked to bake and decorate a cake by themselves, that goes along with the theme for the Blue and Gold.  The cakes also are desert for the evening.  This is Bear's cake, to go along with the camping theme.

Here is a good portion of the boys with the Pack master shortly after skits.  The Tigers get to be at the front since they are currently the youngest.

Ben was able to go up with Bear as he received his new rank.  What a great moment for them together as father and son.

Here is a pictures of Barrett's who den.  They are a pretty big group.  And for the most part they all seem to get along pretty well.  A couple of the boys go to Bear's school so that helps and of course they get to act like little boys all the time.  What's not to bond of then.

Quintten turned 9 months old this month as well.  Look at the face, it's just too cute.  I'm sure he is going to be full of mischief as he gets older.

This boy loves to play with balls.  Might be because his siblings are always playing ball of some sort.  But if there is a ball in the room he will find it.

January 2014

I finally made it to the New Year.  Maybe I can get it all in before this year actually ends.  Wouldn't that be nice.  We'll see.

So to start off for January, it's super special we have Cooper's 5th birthday celebration.  We kept things pretty small this year and just had a family party, with a custom made Spiderman cake.  And by custom made I mean made by Mom.  So really it's not that cool.  All that mattered though was that he loved it!!  It's what he really wanted and I was more than happy to make it for him.  Cooper is a wild an crazy kid!  He keeps me on my toes all the time.  He constantly checks to make sure that we are there for him and that he is an important piece of our family.  How could he not be, just look at that face.  Too Cute!!  Well I do hope that he had a wonderful fifth birthday.

Quintten turned 8 months old this month and is always a go getter.  He has teeth now, crawls everywhere he can get too.  Although it is a little easier for him upstairs than down since, we have wood floors downstairs.  He can crawl up the stairs and back down without any problem.  He is growing like a little weed.  We just love him.

 

 

Kids Only New Year's Eve

That's right we are super crazy, but we also figure that with five (5) kids, we will never be able to have a sitter watch all those crazy kids.  So we host a New Year's Eve Party just for kids.  The kids all give me a list of their friends who they want to invite, and we see who comes.  This list usually involves all sports teams, a few classmates and other kids from scouts or teammates who have left. 

Even Ben got in on the hipity hop action.

A toast to the new year!
 

The kids had lots of fun, having hipity hop races, nerf gun wars, trampoline fun as well as playing on the Kinect.  The kids had a blast, they talk about all year long, and can hardly wait for the next party. 

December 2013

Cooper had his last Christmas concert at St. John's this year.  It's amazing how many lasts  he is having and how many firsts he still has yet to come. 

Look at how handsome he is!
 

 

 

Ahh, tree decorating. I love to do this with the kids, except that they go so fast.  I don't get a chance to see where stuff goes, since I'm the one putting it away.  Oh well, it's still lots of fun.  I love to see their faces as the kids see their ornaments from past years.  Plus this year is Quintten's first Christmas so he gets to place his ornament on the tree with a little bit of help.  The Snowman paint sticks were a huge hit and everyone loved them.  Plus they were super easy to make.

I could just eat up that little face.

 This year I was the photographer for a local day care, for when Santa came to visit.  So I got the idea to do in studio photographs of Santa for those who wanted them.  It was lots of fun, and my Santa did a pretty good job, considering I think he was doing it under duress.  Anyway, each of the really young kids did great.  Even Quintten, he looks a little sad but that's only because he really likes mommy.

Isabelle's birthday is always a dual purpose day.  We celebrate her as well as attending Christmas Eve Mass at church.  She always gets to choose the location of where we have dinner, and then we open presents while we are there and just have a great family day.  This year was no different.  She chose to go to the Café Sicilia just down the street from our house.  It was delicious!  She really enjoyed her day and it makes it nice that we don't have to cook before Christmas day.

 

 

 Christmas Day is here at last!  The kids are all excited, even Q who does not really know what is going on but everyone else is excited so he must be as well.  The house has been decorated and the presents are all under the tree, except for those from Santa, since he dropped his stuff off at Oma's house.  He knows where all the fun is to be had this season. 

Tire swings, a repurposed kitchen, bikes and more!

Stilts for all the kids!

Setting up the tire swings required the truck, but I don't think
getting stuck was part of the plan.

Mommy and Quintten



Holiday Cards

I love creating new Holiday cards each year, that highlight our children and maybe sneak in a whole family picture.  Well this year as a little bit of a challenge but I managed to get it all done.  Just no family photo this year.  Oh, well maybe next year.  Each of the kids are just too cute and it was almost too hard to pick just one image to place on the card.  It is amazing how big they each get every year.  I'm pretty sure they should stop growing and stay little forever. 

November 2013

Not to be out done by October,  November was crazy busy just the same.  I guess it's just the time of the year.  At least all of the kids are having fun and are well. 

Let's start out with Cooper's last Thanksgiving Feast at St. John's.  Now that he is a big man on campus, he gets to have a big feast.  What a special treat.  He is always so much fun one on one, and today was no different.

When I dropped Cooper and that kids off in Sulphur Springs, Cooper had to go to the coffee shop to help Grandma Susie make scones.  He is a professional scone maker.

I had to come into Arlington, during Thanksgiving one to drop Miranda off at the airport and two to take pictures of one of my clients.  So while I was working Quintten got a chance to meet Uncle Adam and hang out with Oma.  He did a great job waiting on Mommy to finish up with her photo session. 

I like to nurse in front of Adam since it's makes him uncomfortable.

 The annual tree farm visit, is always something that the kids look forward too.  It's lots of good fun helping Grandpa and Grandma pick out a tree for their house.  The kids all pick out their favorite and usually get overruled but every once in a while their tree is selected.  Decllan even got to help cut down the tree this year.  He's getting so big.

Isabelle, Quintten and Gabby

Dec and Dad cutting down the tree

Our last baby has now had his Baptism.  What an event.  I should have nursed him before we started while we were waiting on everyone to arrive, because he was mad.  Since he was number five, we had to go outside the family for Godparents.  Leslie, Andy and Julie Powers are his Godparents.  Other than that he did pretty good.  We did a double Baptism with The Thompson's and their daughter Marley.

October 2013

I know why would I want to start updating my blog from over a year ago.  Well that way when I finally get around to scrapbooking my photos I will have some account of what happened to look back on which makes it a great place to start.  So here I go. 

October is always a super busy month.  With all of the holiday craziness starting up, a very active preschool as well as fall sports there are plenty of things to do and participate in.  This October was no exception.  Here are a few of the highlights.

I really wanted to get a good group picture of the kids at the pumpkin patch and then cute little individual shots of each of them because why not.  They are adorable and who would not want to capture that loveliness.  For the most part they all did great except for Decllan.  Big surprise there that the two year old did not want to take pictures.  Plus I needed to get pictures of Q for his 5 month milestone. 

Qunitten 5 months old

Bear doesn't he look mischievous

Ahh, Cooper

Dec only wanted to "ride" the pony

Oh boy, what are we going to do when she is older.

One of my favorite images of all my kids

Then of course we can't forget about the myriad of festive holiday fun, that can be had during the month of October.  Here are a few things that we did as a family, just a few of us and with preschool.

Country Critters Fun

Is that mom in a picture.  How did that happen?
 

Now you can't forget about pumpkin carving out at Oma's and Grandpa Don's house. Who would not want to carve pumpkins on the work bench with tools.

crazy kids and their pumpkins

Grandpa helping out.
 

Cooper's last pumpkin days at St. John's Preschool

He had to throw the ball left handed since he broke his arm.



The animals are always a big hit.
 

Halloween Fun!  This year we went to a party with some of Bear's baseball friends.  It was a good time.  One of the boys even had a broken arm like Cooper.

Pirate Fairy

Minion



Baby Owl

Zombie



Spiderman

The whole bunch

 

Then last but not least Bear's baseball team won 2nd place in their division this fall.  What a great run for these boys.  So very excited.