Halloweeeeeen!

Well, Halloween came and went. And now we have an ungodly amount of candy in our house. How about you?? It's such a funny holiday, isn't it? Walk around and gather sugar that we don't need which just makes our kids cranky and onery! Oh well... I did adopt something very clever from my mom - the 10% candy tithe to mom! Like I need it too!

Anyway, the kids enjoyed dressing up and trick or treating with some friends.... In case you can't tell, Ashlyn was Jasmine (kind of - she was really supposed to be Little Bo Peep from a costume she wore for dance last year but when she got it on, Josh said it looked more like something from Aladdin so I put her hair in a high pony tail and we left the shepherd's staff at home!),

Luke was Superman and Ian was Batman. Gotta get the superheros out of the way before they get too old! We tried to get Luke to let us put rolled socks in the arms of his costume for muscles but he would have nothing of it!

From the left: Avery, Ian, Ashlyn, Reagan, Taylor, Kennedy, Luke, and Connor

This is from Ashlyn's school Halloween party. She had lots of fun with her friends in her class.

Our Humble Abode

Carrie, this is for you exclusively. Just kidding - everyone else can view the pics or our house, but Carrie has been REALLY interested in them! You know I love you, Carrie! :) You know... I haven't seen pics of your house.....

Out front. We have a huge front/side yard that goes to the left of the house.

This view is from when you first come in the front door. The area behind the couch (that I want to get rid of!!!) is what we're using as our office - it's really the dining room which is why the chandilier is crookedly hanging from the ceiling. Some day it'll be a regular light!


This is in the kitchen from the back sliding doors. You can see the front door in the open space above the sink (our favorite part of the house!)

Ash's room - very girlified!

Our Bedroom.

Hope you enjoyed!!

Overdue Update!!

Are you shocked? Are you surprised? Have you fallen on your rear in amazement that I'm finally getting around to updating my blog? I AM TOO!!! Really, I have great intentions, just not much follow through. My friends Tracey and Gretchen ask me periodically if I've updated and I hang my head in shame, "No...." Well, here I am to reclaim my name and my reputation!!! I really have some cute pictures so if you bear with me, please travel back a few months in time so I can show you what's been going on in our family's life.


This was a family outing to a local park that is very fun. The kids had to throw a penny in the fountain as we left. If I remember right, it was SOOOO hot that evening! I'm sure they had fun but I was ready to leave long before they were!


Lots of fun times in the backyard enjoying popcicles and fudgecicles.

Yum, look at that mess! That's why they eat these OUTSIDE!!


After all the playing, running around... and fighting, Luke was finally plum tuckered out. Naps don't happen all the time these days but I guess he finally gave up on this day. He's at the end of our bed wedged between the mattress and footboard. What a character!


Ian is turning out to be the ham of the family, never missing an opportunity to do something silly. Instead of Batman this Halloween, maybe he should be a linebacker!

And yes, his shirt rings true (it says "It Wasn't Me). Well, the opposite, actually.


The tooth fairy has visited our house for the first time! Last week Ashlyn lost her first tooth. It was loose for a couple weeks but she was scared to have me pull it. I finally coerced her to let me try real quick and out it came! The tooth fairy deposited 4 quarters under her pillow even though I lost the tooth earlier that evening! What a bad mom!!!! It was on the counter when we left for church and gone when we came home. Maybe the tooth fairly came a bit early! :) I told Ash the tooth fiary knows where the tooth is and you don't really HAVE to have it under your pillow. We were right!!

Next on my agenda for blogging is pictures of our house and the whole fam together since there are several (one in particular, and you know who you are!) who've been asking for that for MONTHS! So sorry! They're coming!!!

The First Grade Scholar

Well, I took Ashlyn to her first day of 1st Grade this morning. Can't believe it's already here and the summer is gone! She was extremely excited even though she only knew 2 little girls in her new class. She'll probably have new best friends by the end of the day, though! It'll be hard to get used to her being gone 8 hours a day again. And taking that next step in "letting her go". Kids don't realize how hard this is on parents!! Here she is at home with her backpack heavy laden with school supplies.

And at school at her desk! Thanks, Papa and Graney for the cute new outfit!

Summer Fun... but not for long!

Since I've been reminded that I haven't updated my blog in quite a while, I thought I'd fulfill those requests! We've had some really great memories this summer. The kids and I have spent a lot of time at the community pool - mainly to get us out of the house, get them more tired and keep them from tearing each other's hair out at home! (or to keep me from tearing out my hair which I came close to several times!)

Ashlyn took swim lessons and she went from being afraid to put her head under water to swimming like a little fish! She may grow scales pretty soon. I know she'll miss the pool until next summer. We'll have to make use of the indoor pool at the Y until then.


This is my fav picture of Josh and the kiddos taken on Father's Day. Love them!


I think my favorite day of the summer was the day we became cows. What??? You may say! Here's the story... Several weeks ago my Mom told me that Chic-fil-a was having "National Cow Appreciation Day" and if you dressed up like cows, they'd give you a free sandwich. So... on that particular Friday morning after breakfast, the kids and I colored black spots, I cut them out and safety pinned them to white t-shirts. They had headbands with black ears on them and we were all set!

After a trip to the gym, we donned on our white t-shirts and ears (yes, I participated too! my ears were on a black baseball hat) and walked in to our local Chic-fil-a. Needless to say, there were many stares and I felt quite sheepish as there were NO OTHER people dressed up like cows. We got a few snickers because they were probably wondering what in the world we were doing - obviously no one outside California knew about it!! There was not a sign in sight! As I approached the counter with my three calves beside me I said, "PLEASE tell me it's Cow Appreciation Day!!" After smiles and assurance that we got the right day, we received 4 free chicken sandwhiches and 2 free drinks!

Even though I felt silly we had a great time and giggled through it all. The kids had a blast and thought it was so fun. Worth a 1/2 hour making cow costumes?? I'd say so!! I'm sure it's a day they'll remember!

Here's the kids outside the building. Sorry, you don't get to see MY cow shirt. I know, you're missing out, but really, it's okay!

Then there's the day the "6-Pack" decided to go to King's Island (a themepark in Cincinnati for you out-of-towners).

We set off with great intentions but were quite disappointed later when we got rained out about 3:30.

Matt tried his hand at climbing the rope ladder to win a stuffed animal the size of our van. Don't know how we would have gotten that one home! Sorry it didn't work out for you, Matt! Considering we only rode about 6 rides and a couple water slides, we felt jipped. Plus, I almost died (okay, slight exaggeration!) from motion sickness coupled with heat and humidity. I almost threw up and passed out but with a little food, I felt better - good enough to go on some water slides! After running through the pouring rain, we decided take our soggy selves to dinner (we were really styling!) and a movie - The Happening. Wierd movie but I guess good in a VERY disturbing sort of way.... Overall, a day that we didn't go as planned but we made the best of the circumstances!

Random Pictures

Here's some cute and/or quirky pictures from the past 2-3 weeks I have to share...

Ashlyn on her last day of Kindergarten with her teacher Mrs. Finch. She loved her and loved being in Kindergarten! But now the real fun begins!!!

Blanket Boy.

Ian - a.k.a. Mary. I guess you can tell he likes his blanket.

This is the "I refuse to be awake from my nap!" look. These days don't happen very often so I take advantage of how funny and grumpy he wakes up when I can. He'll love me later for it.

Ash shares a cheesey smile.

Father's Day

It was a great day spent at Josh's parent's house after church. Josh is such a great Dad for the kids and I just love this shot of them.

Out for a wagon ride.

Brothers...aren't they cute??

"I'm Two!"

Ian turned two last week and is a whole new kid these days. I say this carefully, but I believe he's coming out of his screaming phase and is learning how to communicate in a world that uses words instead of high pitches. His vocabulary has exploded in the last couple weeks are we are ever so thankful! One day he couldn't talk, the next it seems his vocabulary had 20 words in it! So much fun! My parents taught him how to say "I'm Two!" and he graced us with that all evening.

Here's his birthday party. I'm so glad my parents were in town to celebrate. They came over as well as Josh's parents and Josh's Aunt Kay. He got a basketball hoop which as you can imagine, all the children enjoyed!!

What is taking so long for this cake you've promised???

Finally!! Now what??

Yummy!!

Three Days in a Row!

The kiddos and I on Mother's Day. It was freezing outside - probably could have had a fire in the fireplace! Okay, maybe not, but it was too cold. I wore a sundress anyway even though I topped it off with a short jean jacket. I love having a pic with the kids on Mother's Day! It's a tradition....

Okay, Okay!

Alright! I get it, I get it! I know I've been overly delinquent in posting new pics of the house and family. So here I am! No new pictures of the house today (I haven't taken any) but a few new ones of the family and such! Those of you (and you know who you are!) who've been bugging me can relax for a little while! I say that lovingly.....


I went with Ash a couple weeks ago to the Lousiville Zoo. We had a blast - it was a beautiful day and we saw just about everything there. We were tired at the end of the day but overall, it was very fun.


Luke had his eye surgery on May 7th. Luke's eyes began to cross again with his glasses on a couple months ago and his doctor said this time a stronger prescription would not help - he needed surgery. So! almost 2 weeks ago they operated on his eyes, moving the muscles that were pulling them in back a tad and they are straight! He will still need to wear glasses for his far-sightedness but no more crossing. This picture was before he went in to surgery. He did fairly well - the hardest thing being that he could feel the stitches and he wanted to rub his eyes. He's doing much better now and they're hardly red anymore.


Ash had her end of the year dance recital last night. It was very cute. The theme of the whole recital was Disney and she did a tap routine to "You've got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story (which is what this outfit it for - she was Little Bo Peep) and a ballet/jazz routine to a song from Lilo and Stitch. All very cute and we were very proud of her!


Brothers... obviously, Ian was not into this photo shoot!


Come on, Ian!!


Nope! Not now!