This is Halloween....

Halloween? Wait but it's like January! Well maybe I like to be different or maybe I haven't been able to transfer the pics from my camera to the computer and I haven't sat at an actual computer in about 2 months so the only way I'm going to do any blogging is my phone app which doesn't allow me the flexibility to post the way I want and I've been boycotting it but I have family begging me to blog again so I'm just gonna do it even though it annoys me. That was officially the worlds longest run in sentence. You're Welcome.

So Halloween was pretty fun, as usual. This year the kids really didn't have a clue what they wanted to be until the last minute and some of their costumes wound up coming straight out of the dress up box. I was trying to take the low budget option this year so their indecisiveness was really helpful. I tried to do a theme initially but not all the kids were on board so I just forced the littlest ones into it....because I still can. The older kids got to go to a couple of parties/trunk or treats and then we had our trunk or treat at church. There were class parties for the little girls at school and grandma Colette was visiting from Wyoming so it was fun to have her here. Daddy was teaching on Halloween night so grandma helped hand out candy so I could take the kiddos out trick or treating with friends from the neighborhood.

*Ashlynne was a baby in footie pjs (like every other 13 year old we saw)
*Brinton's halloween costume was PSY the Korean Gangnam Style guy and officially my favorite costume of any of my children. It was his last minute, day before trunk or treat, genius idea. He walked around with an iPod in his pocket playing the song over and over again it was hilarious. His costume cost me nearly nothing. I paid $4 for the white duct tape to trim the jacket.
*Elise was Snow White and 50's diner girl.
*Julianna was a witch and Snow White.
*Liam and I were zoo keepers
*Aidan was our little elephant
*Camryn was our little Cheetah

And here are some pics (in whatever order blogger wants to put them in....)

Is it too late to post about Memorial Day??

I mean I know it was back at the end of May and stuff....but I kept putting off this Memorial Day post because I hadn't had a chance to look at the pictures and now it seems like if I don't do it now it isn't going to happen so.....

Memorial Day weekend was a 4 day weekend for us because Jeremiah had off the Friday before. He gets every other Friday off with his job and we've been lucky enough to have them fall on almost every 3 day weekend so far! Anyway, we had no plans for Memorial Day and then decided last minute not to be lame and to actually get out and do something. So on Thursday Night we started brainstorming and decided to go down to Table Rock Lake just outside Branson, MO, do some tent camping and rent a boat. Big plans with only a few hours notice. It was so late at night that we had to wait until Friday to actually call around and see if anything was even available. By noon Friday we lucked out and found a Campground with one tent site available and they also had a pool and hot tub...perfect. Then we found an evening-ish boat rental (4-7pm) available for Saturday...again perfect. So by 3pm we had packed up the van, gotten a cooler filled up with all our food, and headed out to Branson which was about a 5 hour drive since everyone else was headed out at the same time too.

Tent camping at 29 weeks pregnant was fun-ish. Uncomfortable at times but I made it through. Jeremiah and the kids had no problem sleeping...well except for Aidan. Aidan is one of those kids that has to have his own bed to sleep so he spent all night crawling all over Jeremiah and I the first night. The next couple nights we took long drives until he fell asleep in his car seat and then brought that into the tent and he stayed asleep in the car seat all night. Thank goodness for that! Also our camp area was a favorite spot for the millions of billions of daddy long legs that inhabited the area. The first morning Ashlynne, Brinton and Elise woke up in their tent and couldn't even get out because their were so many covering the front entry. We had to go out there and slap them all off just to get the kids out. It was actually so funny we were laughing so hard. What's nature without a bit of nature?!

We spent most of the day Saturday swimming in the pool at the campground. On Saturday evening we went Boating out on Table Rock Lake. Boating was a BLAST! Although trying to keep Aidan from jumping out of my arms and into the water was an awesomely fun 3 hour wrestling match. We rented a tube along with the boat and let all the kids take turns being dragged behind the boat (well everyone except crazy Aidan). We brought food and ate on the boat. it was really just a fun fun time.

So I'll quit boring you with all my blah, blah, blah-ing... I'll just leave this by saying that it was one of the most fun, last second weekend trips I have ever been on in my life. Even with all the Aidan drama.

So now for pics...pics...and more pics...

Easter Time...

We always celebrate "Easter Bunny Saturday" with a trip to Zona Rosa to visit the Easter Bunny, go to the petting zoo and do all of the fun easter activities they have for families. This year we had so many things to do on Saturday, not to mention it was raining, windy and icky most of the day, we didn't get to enjoy like we usually do. We did get out to see the big, creepy Easter bunny though...

And of course Easter Bunny Saturday is never complete without Easter baskets full of CANDY!! (all of our kids know this comes from mom & dad of course....)

Easter Sunday always starts by watching the short video "The Lamb of God" and discussing Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection. Afterward we head off to church. This year was our last Sunday in our favoritest ward ever. Sad Face. Our family was asked to sing the special musical number which was a wonderful privilege. We sang the primary song "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" and I was just so proud of my kids and my amazing little (big?) family. I always wanted kids who could sing! Ha!

It truly was a wonderful Easter and looking at these pictures just makes me so excited for next year when there will be one more girlie in the mix....even if the pics aren't perfectly gorgeous, professional pictures with an amazing background, and everyone being all perfect....it's my family and I love them just the way they are.