Mallory's hair is so curly right now.  If there is any humidity in the air it is bouncy corkscrews.  This one on the front of her head is our favorite.

The video below is of Kinley being Miss Chin.  We stole this advent idea from my friend Natasha Perryman.  Josh started out as Mr. Chin and sang a couple of songs then Kinley wanted to give it a try. She is so silly.

Kinley is obviously the performer in our family at this point.  This video is her singing her favorite Christmas song this year. 

Our other Advent activities have been fun and the kids say doing Advent is their favorite thing about the Christmas season but they sure to give me a hard time about it.  One night we sat down to make a wreath out of the colors that represent the different parts of the Gospel, they were wild, disobedient, and completely annoyed with the idea of hearing the gospel again.  I was so sad and discouraged but I prayed out loud telling Satan to get out of our house and declared to him that I knew he didn't want my kids to know the gospel but by God's grace they were going to hear it.  They ended up listening and have been able to restate the information!  

The first weekend of November we went to a little lake outside of Tulsa so the boys could fish.  Our friend Derrick Henslee got the boys matching fishing shirts, aren't they cute and rugged?  We had a great time, we caught no fish and I knocked James and myself in the water but other than that it was nice.

James starte playing basketball at the Y two weeks ago.  He is doing really well considering he's had almost no exposure to it.  He asked me today if I would watch every game when he plays in the NBA.

Kinley dressed up at preshcool one day.  She looked so grown up.  It is breaking my heart to see her grow up.  Yesterday do she said to me "mom, you were totally incorrect.  Adult nail polish comes off just as fast as child nail polish"

Josh came home a few weeks ago wearing new glasses.  I don't have a picture of him in them yet but I wish I did because he so handsome in them.  Anyway, when Kinley saw him she said "Oh daddy! You look like a fashion star!"

We babysat the Butters youngest two children for 24 hours and while I was reading books to the older children Mallory and Caroline, both two year olds, were playing VERY quietly in James' room for about 10 minutes.  When we went to check on them this is what we found.  Look closely at their heads.  They had pumped out an exorbatent amount of baby lotion and wiped it all on the top of their heads.  When I went in it took all I had to hold in my laugh then I said "no girls" and took a few pictures.

This was the bath following the lotion incident. Caroline is teaching Mallory how to float on her back in the water.

Our home has been blessed with an Elf on the Shelf.  The children named him Nelf.  He has been a fun addition to Christmas.  So far he has made us elf sized pancakes for breakfast, brought North Pole marshmallows, hung from the ceiling fans, hid on the tree, and floated in the bath.

In October, Erin Goodrigh (James Wagner's sister), took family photos for us.  She did a wonderful job not only taking great pictures but putting up with us.  Mallory was a complete maniac.  Erin took a bag of gummy bears to bribe the kids with.  Mallory would literally smile for two seconds then demand her payment.  A funny side story...we had to climb and 8ft fence to get to the field and when Josh was going over he got his pants stuck and ripped a massive hole.  He has to work to keep his privates covered the rest of the session!

Check out Mallory's face!

The second weekend of October was the cub scout mom and me campout.  We went to Zink Ranch just outside of Tulsa for a one night campout.  This was the first time for me to meet anyone associated with  scouts.  There were at least five other boys from James' group there so I got to know them and their moms.  James got to do archery, BB guns, and leather stamping.  His favorite activity is pictured below.  He and the other boys at our campsite drug wood from all over to build this fort.  They worked really hard on it and were hilarious to watch.  The funny thing is, this activity wasn't even scheduled, they came up with it and worked together on it all on their own.  True Scouts!

 James getting ready to go off the zip line.  The boy in the blue helmet is Aiden and the other is Nevin.  I have a feeling we'll see a lot more of them.  James was pretty nervous about the zip line but he climbed to the top and went off like a pro pushing through his fear.  It has been really fun watching him become brave.  When he was two he would't even look at a worm and he didn't like to be swung around in a circle.  Now, he'll try anything.

 Our campout got really exciting around 4pm.  Thankfully we had just finished all of the activities and were going to the dining hall to wait for dinner when it started raining hard.  The next four hours proceeded with 70mph straight line winds and torrential down pours.  Most moms and sons got in their cars and left but our little group from Hoover toughed it out.  We decided it was more dangerous to drive on dark windy roads than stay put.  Around 8:30pm another mom and I went to the campsite and took up all the tents (completely soaked and disheveled) wrapped them up with all the stuff in them put them in the car and went to the dining hall to stay the night.  James and I had taken our little backpacking tent and I am proud to say it was the only one standing and our sleeping bags were the only dry ones!  I do not like camping without Josh but I was pretty proud of us for figuring it out.  The night on the concrete floor wasn't preferable and we were really sad we didn't get to sleep in the tent together but it was still fun and I don't think we'll ever forget it.

 The third weekend we headed to Beaver's Bend for our annual extended family campout.  Beaver's Bend is so beautiful and fun, we loved every minute of it.  We are thankful to report that there is nothing to report about this trip!!

 You'd never guess it is Oklahoma would you!

 Kristen McCullom (a friend from church) told me it was on her bucket list to run a 5k (3.1 miles) and asked me to run the Tulsa Run 5k with her.  Those of you who know me well know that I do NOT run.  She asked me at the end of September and the Tulsa Run was October 27th!  For some reason I knew the answer was yes.  I have been going to an intense work out class twice a week since January and I am so glad because I went for a run to see if I could even make it down the street and it felt great.  I was up to three miles after a week.  So, we did the run and finished at a pace of 10.5 min per mile.  We didn't walk at all! Now we are planning to do a 10k in March, I think we might be hooked!

 We have been taking Kinley's training wheels on and off of her bike to try to teach her to ride without them.  The last time we put them back on we had them tipping up a little too much and her bike was really wobbly.  Well she ascended the big hill on our street so she could come sailing down it as she's done 1000 times.  I of course was involved with Mallory and not paying attention to how wobbly she was.  I looked up in time to see her flying down the hill at least 10mph she hit a crack and started wobbling and before I could do anything she flipped over her handlebars and landed on her forehead.  No, she wasn't wearing a helmet, we are terrible parents.  All I know is that God was protecting her because what I saw happen does not match the wound that she has.  I knew we were going to be running to the ER.  I am so thankful it wasn't worse. She is tough as nails and only cried for a minute.  She has been bragging about it to everyone and she is loving the attention. 

I over heard her having a funny conversation with Mallory after the accident.  I had told her that it was my worst nightmare for her to fall off her bike on that hill.  I have dreaded it happening the last 5 years.  Every time any of them are coming down I have to close my eyes because I can't bear to watch. Anyway, we were at McDonald's and the kids climbed to the top of the play place and I made a big deal about how high they were and how brave they were and Kinley said "is this your worst nightmare mom?"  I said "no" and she said "it's my worst nightmare!".  You probably had to be there to think it was as funny as I did.

We had James' parent teacher conference and had our socks blown off.  Mrs. Farrell told us that in her 10+ years of teaching first grade she has never had a child that has not missed one answer in the first quarter of school.  She said not only is he intelligent and a hard worker but he has great comprehension and social skills.  She said he laughs and plays with the kids but is also very smart and attentive.  She gives the kids points for certain good behaviors and takes away points for certain bad behaviors.  James is the points leader by 15 points and looks for ways all day to get as many points as possible.  She said that she thought long and hard about what to tell us he needs to improve on and she couldn't come up with anything.  Of course we know he is great but wow, for someone outside of the family to think so was really fun.  James heard every word she said and was modest about it but I could tell it really scratched his itch to be bragged on.  We'll have to deal with the people pleasing issue down the road but for now we are enjoying his love for the "straight and narrow" and his excitement about school.

September was full of fun!

James started first grade and loves it.  It is much more self motivated and intellectually challenging so he is much more engaged than he was last year.  The teacher is giving points to each student for good behavior and hard work.  He and one other boy are jockeying for most points. I am getting to volunteer in his class again on Wednesday's and I love it. The girls started back to mother's day out and are doing great.

Mallory and Kinley are really enjoying each other.  It is so fun to watch them be sisters.  They LOVE to make each other laugh.  They also love to make each other cry but I'd say they laugh more often.  Mallory has learned to count to 10!  She knows several letters and their sounds.  She loves reading and singing.  I have been dreading the day I have three talkers and it is upon me.  She has just as much to say as the others and to prove it when the big two are talking to me at the same time she'll come up and be louder and repeat what they are saying as if she is coming up with it on her own.

Below she is helping me sew cafe curtains for our new kitchen makeover.  We painted the walls a color that was supposed to be grey but ended up more blue (it is the wall behind her in the pic) and got yellow and white chevron fabric to make curtains.  It turned out ok, not what I was going for but it's cute enough and the most important thing is it is clean and new.  No more fish oil or spaghetti hand prints on the wall!  We also painted the living room and hallway walls ceilings and trim (all the same colors they used to be).  I think I could live here forever now!  

Kinley was playing with these magnetic prince and princess one day when we got winter stickers in the make with a kids magazine subscription offer.  She was putting the winter stickers on their hands and feet and face then I walked by and saw that she took the red "yes" sticker (the only on one the page, the one used for saying yes to the subscription) and put it on the princes privates.  I mean really? ! She is the one that asked when she could get a "sepsy"ring. (Sexy ring which is the opposite of a purity ring)  Lately her ornery things have been to dig in candle wax, play with ceiling fan blades from the bunk beds, pick my gerber daisies, and dig holes in the yard.  Her sweet things have been teaching Mallory how to properly pronounce things, learn to count and say her alphabet.

Josh and I went to Lanai Hawaii Sept 10-17.  We stayed at the Four Seasons Resort.  It was AMAZING.  My favorite part and Josh's third favorite were the cabana boys that brought icy towels, fruit kebobs, salmon wraps, cool mists, and pina coladas!  We went on a 2 hour hike, snorkeled for about 30 minutes, took two sunrise walks, and did nothing the rest of the time.  Below is our view of the sunrise.

This was us at the top of the island after our hike.  We obviously didn't do the view justice but it was breathtaking.

This was the last night at the fancy dinner they have for us.

This is where we ate breakfast everyday.

We officially love Edward Jones trips!  We can't wait for many more years of free travel!

James also FINALLY (he and Josh have been looking forward to it for three years) started Cub Scouts.  This is him shooting his first BB gun and bow at the Scouting Fall Festival.  He is completely enthralled with everything scouting.  In two weeks he and I go on the Mom and Me campout.  I'll let you know how it goes without daddy.

I love Kinley's face!  We babysat Levi and Ezra for 4 days while their parents were in Dallas.  I love that we can do five to serve our friends but I love that I don't have five under 7 all the time.  You moms of many have my deepest respect!

This tickles my heart!

Do you see onery?  I do!

Today Kinley walked in the bathroom turned on the sink, plugged the drain, locked the door then closed it from the outside and walked away.  I saw her shut the door and walk away then I heard the water running.  I tried the door and of course found it to be locked!  I asked "is the sink plugged?"  She smiled and said "yeeeeessss".  I immediately wished I had had Josh teach me to break into the bathroom.  This is not the first locked door rodeo we've been to but luckily he's been here all the other times it has happened.  We also have not had running water on the other side of the locked door.  I called Josh and he tried to coach me through it.  I was having trouble so he got in the car and headed home.  He told me to get the wrench and go turn off the water main, well I couldn't find the wrench because if I'm honest I don't really know what a wrench is.  I grabbed something and went to the water main.  I couldn't find the thing he was telling me to turn.  So, I went back inside and tried the credit card on the door again.  With my feet in an inch of water I had more strength and was able to get in.  It was only about 15 minutes that the water was on but that was long enough to fill the vanity, bathroom, and hallway with water.  We've had a fun afternoon drying out.  James was a great helper but all the while he was imagining if it had been much worse and much more dramatic.  He kept telling me I should have just let him bust the door in with his shoulder.  He also said"well mom, what consequence to you think we should give her for this!?".  I asked Kinley why she did it and she said "I just wanted my ponies (two little plastic ponies) to fwoat.  I wocked the door so no one would go in and tuwn the water off.  I just knew if it overfwowed my wittle ponies would fwoat".  So cute yet SUCH A MESS! 

The fourth of July we had a party with our lifegroup at James and Samantha Wagners house.  We ate yummy 4th food then went down to the river and watched fireworks.  We've have lived in Tulsa for8 years now and have never been in town on the 4th so it was our first time.  We had a great time.  Mallory calls fireworks fire cookies. Below is her fire cookie face. 

The weekend after the 4th we went to Duncan and had Birthday Palooza.  We celebrated the birthday's of our three kids and all of our siblings kids.  It is becoming a fun tradition and it makes it so much easier to celebrate all their birthdays together rather than get together for 6, now 7 (I'll get to that in a minute), birthday's each summer.  Granddad and Nana bought the kids some patriotic clothes and we tried to have a photo shoot but they didn't cooperate very well.

 I love the pic below because this is a fairly common sight when you look out the back window of Joe and Caren's house.  All the kids, granddad, and a dog fishing in the pond.  

Josh's big catch!  He had a couple of runs where he caught a fish every time he cast.  He says he really enjoys fishing but he is finding that he really only enjoys fishing at his dad's because the pond is full all the time and there isn't any competition.

James and Tristan are getting closer and closer.  They love each other and rarely ever fight anymore.  I love that he has a cousin his age.

There aren't words.

The girls got tons of new dress ups and Kinley is getting into it thanks to Polly. She has taught her to be a little more girly than she has been in the past.

 Mallory's turned 2 July 9th.  At every birthday celebration we had she cried her eyes out it was time to blow out the candles.  Usually the candles got blown out first by someone older than her so that made her mad and sometimes the song wasn't sung for her and that made her mad.  The day of her actual birthday Kinley was in Edmond with Gigi so Kinley refuses to say that Mallory is 2 since she missed her turning two.  We had our friends Sunday and Shiloh over for cupcakes.

 In the middle of July we had a party at Tulsa World of Gymnastics for all three of them and all their friends.  It was wonderful!  I loved that they did every thing for me! The kids played in the sponge pit most of the time and they got the best exercise.

They had the 18 guests sit in a line and watch all three open gifts at the same time.  It was crazy but someone we kept track of who got what!

Little monkey's

Right after the last blog post we were at church and Mallory got her head stuck in a rocking chair.  She tried to slink down the slit between the back rest and bottom rest of the chair and managed to wedge her head in it really good.  Several adults tried several things finally our worship pastor got a hammer and a crowbar and busted out slats until she was free.  She was stuck for about 15 minutes and never cried until he started hammering.  We are just glad we didn't have to call the fire department!  We got home about 30 minutes later and while we were fixing dinner she stood up in one of our kitchen table chairs and managed to tip it backwards which caused her to fall on her face and made the chair hit James' foot.  

Mallory is asking why! I think she is a little young for that.  The others did't start until they were two and a half or three.  We will tell her no about something and she will say why and sometimes why not.

Kinley got a cowgirl hat and boots and Mallory loves them.

James turned 7 August 4th.  He had asked a few weeks ago if his friend Joshua Butters could spend the night on his birthday.  I told him probably not and planned it with Alicia (Joshua's mom).  I picked Joshua up and brought him home.  I asked Joshua how he wanted to surprise James and he said "go in the back door, I'll crawl while you walk so he won't see me then I'll jump out at him".  So that is what we did and James was really surprised and excited.  Below he and Josh are growing crystals.  We got him a crystal growing kit for his birthday.  

 He's so into stones, gold, rings, etc that he asked for a diamond shaped cake.  Yes, Mallory cried after he blew out the candles.

Introducing Ezra Jude Morris! He was born to Jason and Emily August 4th at 3ish am and weighed 9lbs 14oz.  He and James are birthday buddies!  We can't wait to get to go to Dallas to meet him.