Signs of the Season

I get a little excited over Christmas. I thought I would post some of my favorites.

This is ode to Mom. I know everyone is jealous that I ended up with this. My mom painted this when we were kids to decorate at my Dad's office. I really love it. The lights have since burned out but I'll be replacing them so that it can live on.

There is a cutie gift shop at the Christmas tree farm we go to. I got a few really fun decorations this year. You know, I have to support my local craft-ka-teers.

So pretty...

This one was only $2.

The sweet sweet magic of Christmas. If you are in the neighborhood stop by for the lights show and a cup of hot coco. Merry Christmas!

Just another Sunday...

Zoey and her trusty steed.
Cheesy Em

Pretty pretty Rugby

Sweetie Z

Who Cut One?

That's right, we cut one-- a Christmas tree that is. It's that time of year again. We set out on the day after Thanksgiving every year to catch us a tree.

Here's this year's gang all ready for our annual chilly walk.

Timmy is cutting our tree down. (Sorry no butt crack this year Dad.)

Chloe in her new winter hat-- cutie tootie!

The boys wanted to get a real close look at Barlow's technique. I just love those little men.

Timmy and Barlow doing all the hard labor.

Of course, what's a tree shot without the chainsaw? This is one of my favorite days of the year. Welcome Christmas-- I've been waiting for you!

girlie twirlies

The girlies did not want to be left out of the photo shoot. So here's a little girlie attitude for you.

Z is totally into her style right now. I think it's pretty cute.

This is my tree huggin' animal lovin' girl. She sure is a sweetie.

crafty mama

Cheri and I have been into crafting it up lately. She is my main inspiration for doing some daring things. I had some ideas and I got to craftin'.

This is a really simple flower that you can pin on a shirt or coat or you can even clip it in your hair. All you do is cut out some random circular shapes, sew them together and add some beads to the middle. I burned the edges to seal them and add some character.

This shirt was my first try. I just used ribbon (cause I've got a lot of it) and sewed it randomly on the front. I didn't like the sleeves on this shirt so I just cut them off and used the extra material to make leaves. I added a few fun buttons-- and wah la, new shirt.

This one was perhaps my favorite to make. I sewed on some satin stripes and then added a few flowers. I used three different kinds of material to create the flowers and it adds a lot of texture to the shirt.

You don't have to be a great sewer to do any of this. You just sort of messy sew things on and it's a whole new shirt. I'm loving it. There will be lots more to come I assure you. This is just too fun.

Happy Little Chef

I got this apron and hat at the dollar bin at Target and spruced it up a bit for little miss chef. I think she likes it.

Another Rugby Photo Shoot...

Rugby comes home from school with an assignment that he is to bring in one of his pictures to hang up at school. They are writing a little thing about themselves and they need a picture to go with it. So I tell him I'll just print off one that we already have and that'll be easy. Ah.... no, it's not that simple for Rugs. He wants me to do another photo shoot to get just the right shot to share with his class. OK, so I indulge my baby diva yet again cause it gives me the giggles.

This is the face I get from him when he really really wants something like gum or a treat.
This is his "all siblings beware" face.

This is his daily cheese.

This is him as Tim's clone.

This is him trying to be super cool. This kid just kills me. I love his new found passion for pictures.

enough said...

Toothless Sally

You may notice that something is missing from this picture of Rugby. He has been trying to wiggle his tooth for almost 2 years now. In the last few days it has become validly wiggly and it finally took it's last ride yesterday. Rugs lost his tooth at school over a crunchy snack.

He is so funny about his style and what not. He asked for a photo shoot to share his good news with all of you. He likes to call the shots and do all the posing himself. I'm just the dork with the camera that he bends to his will.

He wanted a brothers shot.
The boy and his fearless pup.

The close-up evidence...

Finally, the glamor guru himself-- Rugs. This kid is one of a kind. He has style and good looks. Oh, the girls that will be swooning him in years to come. Congratulations toothless wonder!

Field Trip

Yesterday Em's class went on a field trip to our local hospital. They teach the kids all about germs, handicaps, diseases and hygiene. It's a fun field trip because they send the kids home with lots of samples of soaps and they get to try out crutches and wheel chairs. Each one of the kids came home from this, when they were in kindergarten, pumped about getting rid of germs. It's pretty much my dream field trip. Em came home yesterday with this "future nurse" hat. My little goober is just so cute.

Taylor Tots

Last night the kids were messing around before bed and I got a few shots of them together.

They are my silly crowd.

They are all getting so big that Goober is having a hard time getting his head over the top.
This is what I see every night before bed. They are all in jammies with wet hair and tired faces. Tonight I let them watch some cartoons before bed for a little down time. They sure are working hard these days. Between tests and activities, they crash hard at night.

Ninja Pirates...

The kids have been treasure hunting in the forest a lot lately. My mom gave me the idea to hide some real treasure out there just to spice things up a bit for them. It was a raving success.

I just bought these head socks for the winter and they all thought they were super cool ninja masks. Whatever works I guess. They wanted to wear them all weekend long. I drew the line at going to church with them on.

They found a little case with real gold money inside (a.k.a. gold chocolate coins).

This ninja used her shovel to assist her in the treasure hunt. We also hid some change in a metal treasure box. I think we had just as much fun hiding it as they did finding it. They also found some foam and a few pieces of valuable trash that they hid in their secret spot. They have decided to stop bringing the treasures to me since most of them end up in the trash. Instead they found a secret hiding spot to keep it all in the woods. Although I did manage to confiscate some blue foam board pieces that Rugby was rinsing off in a bucket at the kitchen sink. I'm not sure what he thought he was going to do with it.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! The kids are just getting warmed up to start the big trick or treat! It took them a little while to settle on some costumes but we finally made it. I hope your haul was as big as ours ended up. If you feel like a candy swap give us a call. The kids are all over that this year.