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....)

The day my baby turned 2 months old...

Let's hop in our time machines and go back a couple of months when the baby was about to be two months old. She was exactly 8 weeks but I don't remember what she weighed or how long she was and I'm kicking myself for not writing it down. I've gotten so relaxed with each baby and I always think I'm going to remember things and I don't. But hey I got some cute pictures sooooo....

School Days, School Days....

It's that time of year again...yay!! This year I'll have a preschooler (Liam), 1st grader (Julianna), 4th grader (Elise), 6th grader (Brinton), and 7th grader (Ashlynne) and of course the babies at home. It seems so odd to me that I have 2 middle schoolers this year. I hardly feel like an adult most days so it really does just mess with my head sometimes.

This week has been jam packed with Back to School activities starting with a 6th Grade Welcome Night on Monday where the 6th graders got to go to the middle school and go to a pep rally, ice cream social and take some time to find classes and try opening lockers. Aidan tore Brinton's schedule and combo to shreds so we had to come back the next day and practice.  It was kind of nice to go when it was quiet though because it was less  chaotic. I'm so proud of Brinton because he was able to open it 9 times out of 10!

 It was also a special night for Ashlynne because it was the first pep rally she got to perform in as a 7th grade cheerleader. They got to lead the fight song and the crowd involvement cheers...I was so proud!(there is a little video of her doing the fight song on Facebook if you are facebook friends with me)

Elise and Julianna are my only two left at the elementary school this year. Elise has always had an older sibling with her in school and now it's her turn to be the biggest sister in the school. She was so protective over Nanna so I think she is settling into the role nicely. Tuesday night they had their Sneak Peek Ice Cream Social where they got to meet their teachers, check out their classrooms, drop off their supplies and of course eat ice cream. Elise was so excited that she woke up and got dressed at 6am but it didn't even begin until 5PM!!! Every so often she would let me know how much longer till we needed to be there and complaining about how slow the day was going. I was totally over the whole thing before I even got there but I'm glad she is so eager to learn.

Julianna and her first grade teacher at the Sneak Peek on Tuesday

Elise and her 4th grade teacher at the Sneak Peek

ICE CREAM!

 

Today, the 15th, was the actual 1st day of school for elementary and the 6th graders at the middle school. They like to give the 6th graders one day without all the 7th and 8th graders to get used to the school and relax. I don't think they even went to any classes today just got to know every one and had an assembly and lunch.

Here are their first day of school pics for the day....

More later because tomorrow it's Ashlynne's first day!!!

Brinton turns 11....

The 10th year of Brinton's life was by far the hardest.  He endured major spinal surgery, a stay in the Pediatric ICU, over a week in the hospital, 3 months out of school and in a halo, less activity/mobility than a 10 year old boy should ever, ever have to deal with, a move to a new school just as he was readjusting to life back at his old school and the list goes on and on and on....So it is with great pleasure that we say good bye to being a 10 year old and HELLO 11!!!!!!

Brinton turned 11 on May 2nd and after months and months of not being able to participate in any sort of physical activity he received a very special delivery.

He has been in HEAVEN with his new bicycle and I cry every time I see him get on it and ride.  Is this real?  Is this my boy who was just literally in a wheel chair and walking with a walker now riding a bike?!  Nearly a mile to school and back!  Every day!  Yep.  Sure is.

I'm so proud of him.  

May 11 years old be the very, very best year.  

I love you Bubba.  Happy Birthday!

Team Pink or Team Blue?

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming arrival of our 7th child

due on, or slightly before, or sometime after August 15, 2012.

Lucky Baby #7

We have 3 girls and 3 boys so our new baby will be the tie breaker....I wonder who will win? Team Pink or Team Blue? We had our ultrasound on Monday and sadly it was the first "twenty week/gender check" ultrasound for any of our children that Jeremiah was unable to attend because he has been working out of town all week. :(

We went and purchased a beautiful card which I took with me to the ultrasound appointment. I instructed the nurse that we wanted find out the gender but that we would like her to put the results in the card to be sealed and opened at a later date. She did just that. She took all her measurements, showed me the baby on the viewing screen, we listened to the heartbeat (153 bpm) and then she turned of the viewing TV so that she could check the gender. When she had looked and felt certain that she knew the gender she printed off some pictures, had me clean that sticky gel off my belly and sent me out of the room so she could write the gender down in the card and put the photos that showed gender in there as well. She sealed it up....came out of the room and handed it to me.

There it is...teasing me....taunting me....


Actually it hasn't been that hard. It just feels like the week has gone on forever and I can't wait for Jeremiah to get home tomorrow night so we can open it as a family and finally find out what we are having.

What do you think? Team Blue or Team Pink?

10 Photos from March....Part II

We are nearing the end folks, which means that soon we can get on with April. Yay! So here you have it, the last 5 pictures in the 10 photos from March:

#6. Ashlynne was in the middle school play "Kodiak Flapjack" she'd played the nurse "Kitty Entrail" She did a fantastic job.

#7. I'm not really sure what they are doing...again another stolen phone picture...

#8. During Spring Break it rained for an entire week! Not just normal rain...monsoonal, Kansas is insane, flash flooding type rain. When it finally let up the girls begged to play outside. They drew this cute little picture of me with blonde hair, eating ice cream. Interesting.

#9. The girls were all in a play through the Y's "Showbiz Kids" called "The Magic in Me" about a little wizard who tries to find her special magic. Julianna and Elise both played narrators and Ashlynne was a wizard named "Magnificent Mary." I was the stage manager for the show (call me crazzzzy) and I also taught the 4-5 year old "Showstoppers" that did a 12 minute musical pre-show before The Magic in Me. They were so dang cute!

#10. and a funny picture of our Little Boys....