Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Kids Christmas Program

This Sunday the kids had their long-awaited Christmas program at church. They have been practicing their songs for a couple of months, and the day finally came! I was so excited to see them up in front of the crowd showing off all their hard work and being cute. First was the "Baby Parade"... all the parents with little babies do a circle and show off their little ones. Sadie was a crowd pleaser...



Avery was really into practicing her songs the last few weeks, but about three minutes into it, she began to experience a little stage-fright...
Daddy steps on the scene in a futile attempt to keep her on stage...
Not really working...

Avery exits the scene...
Meanwhile Charlie is singing his little heart out... The kids had memorized about ten scriptures put together and three different songs... It was pretty impressive!

... And Avery re-enters the scene to finish out the last song after much coaxing. It was precious.
Charlie is beginning to look more and more like Paul. My handsome boys!!!

Santa Train!

This was our second year on the Santa Train as a fun family tradition... although we did skip last year because Sadie was still so small. The kids had a great time, and Grammy, Papa, and Uncle Craig joined in the fun! Grammy is Avery's favorite person in the world. I think maybe Avery is just a little mis understood, and Grammy really gets her!
Sadie has a baby crush on Uncle Craig. Whenever he is around, she wants him to hold her, or she will crawl up on his lap. She basically hung onto him the whole morning! I think he secretly loves it.
Charlie was ecstatic... this is the first year that he REALLY gets Christmas.
Cookies and Cocoa on the train...

Grammy and Papa
Bunnies go everywhere with Avery...
Isn't this the strangest Santa you've ever seen? If I were a kid I would be frightened.


Friday, December 4, 2009

Molbacks Tradition!

Avery-Charlie-Benjamin-Shep-Luke-Ava-Sadie
When Charlie was a baby, my girlfriends Elizabeth, Autumn, and I started the tradition of taking our kids to Molbacks for holiday fun and photo ops together. We have gone back each year since, and this year we had seven kids to try and line up for our yearly photo! They were actually very well behaved and so excited to be together. I can't believe they are all actually looking at the camera for this one!
Don't be surprised if you see this in your mailbox this year ... Christmas Card???



Such a fun tradition, and so fun to see our families grow and change.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

"Avery Scissor Hands"

Before....................










After.



And that is about all I have to say folks.
In other news...... Our house has been hit with the flu in full force. Sadie had the flu two weeks ago, Paul and Charlie had strep this weekend, and now mommy has the flu. Yep. Pretty sure its swine flu. Pretty sure we're going to have to cancel Thanksgiving. At least we can entertain eachother!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Avery!





I'm not usually one to be short on photos... but it seems that I didn't get many pictures of Avery's birthday this year! She had a wonderful day. Tinkerbell was the theme of the week, and Daddy put together her special dollhouse the night before to surprise her. She is the quirkiest, most unique, messy, happy, imaginative little girl and she colors my life! Happy Birthday Avery!


Happy Halloween!

I am very behind! Here are pictures from Halloween. Avery was Tinkerbell, her favorite.
This is how Avery spent most of her evening. She made it trick or treating to two houses before she got spooked and wanted to go home to be with Grammy and Papa, who were manning the door. She was perfectly content to miss out on the festivities and sit in Papa's lap all night!


Before hitting the neighborhood, we stopped over at the Gates' across the street where buddies Brock and Jackalyn live. Sadie was so excited to be in with the big kids!

Sadie was the cutest ladybug ever. She is so miniature! It was a hoot to see her toddling around in her costume... it looked bigger and heavier than she is, and I kept expecting her to tip right over.

My power ranger...



Carving pumpkins with Daddy!