I'm so glad when daddy comes home...

Life would not be half as fun around our house if it weren't for "DAD." My kids think he is the greatest! He's pretty patient even when he has all of them jumping on him as if he's a trampoline. I'm such a lucky gal!

I Love Babies!

I just have to say that babies are the best! For some reason if there is a baby, everyone seems to laugh more and enjoy life, at least at our house. I love to watch my babies (even as they get older) sleep. Grace was ticked when the flash woke her up! lol

P.S I promise to post more pics of the older kids later. I need to keep my camera where I can easily get to it!

I know these pics are a few days old, but I've been meaning to post them and haven't had the time. Grace has this adorable obsession with Jesus. (Or at least pictures of him.) Every time we say "Grace look....JESUS!" She starts kicking her legs and saying "je je." We usually put her up on top of our mantle and let her look at him. As you can say she plants kisses right on his face. I hope she always reveres him this way. :P

Our little Grace...

took five whole steps today!!!! I'm so excited. She's been taking a step here and there, but never that many in a row. I can't believe my baby girl is growing up so fast. You go Gracie! :)

I love these guys!

One thing I absolutely love in life is tradition. From the big ones at Thanksgiving and Christmas...to the little ones that make each and every family unique. I thought I'd share one tradition we have had for the last year, and hope to continue. Every Sunday after church and after we have had dinner, we spend time in the kitchen baking something that is full of fat and calories, and is oh so delicious. The kids love to get in and help, and really count on this every week. Today we made a homemade blueberry pie. It was sooo yummy! You know you have a big family when you can finish a whole pie in one setting! :)

I watched my friends daughter yesterday for most of the day. At first she was having a hard time and wanted to go home, but Christian and I surrounded her with baby dolls and that seemed to help. Christian was so sweet to her too, which kind of surprised me actually because he's going through quite the obnoxious stage (maybe it's passing!). I guess since they are only a year apart in age they could one day get married! lol. Tammy this is for you...I made fettuccine Alfredo for dinner and your daughter ate way more than I ever expected! She was going to town! Her face in this picture cracks me up.

Somebody call the fire department!!!!!

I completely forgot to post this. On Sunday we had a grease fire. Chris was home with Grace and Connor because they were all sick, and Chris had jumped in the shower while he had dinner simmering. Well....needless to say, a fire started and Connor started screaming as loud as he could, which scared the crap out of Chris! He thought someone may have broke in. He ran into the kitchen (in his b-day suit) and realized there was a fire. He panicked and threw a towel on it (he knew grease would further the problem) but a towel didn't help much either! After a few minutes, and after Chris threw on some jeans, the fire slowly died out. But not without a few damages. Here's my oh so lovely microwave. The stove and cabinet will have to replaced as well. Luckily homeowners insurance will come in handy! We are just happy no one got hurt. :)

Grace is pretty sneaky these days, and often times I'm searching the house high and low for her...well, this time I found her in my bathroom sitting on my scale. I guess I'm not the only one in the family who is conscientious of weight!!! Hahaha.

Fun Times

We went to the park Saturday and had a picnic. It was so very beautiful! The kids and I raced a few times. Austin kicked all our rear ends! Even Chris and I couldn't beat him! He was pretty proud. Grace is obsessed with swinging. We can't keep her away from those darn swings!

Halee and Austin racing. Halee was pretty hard to beat too! I must be getting old...

Due to the fact that we have a "no pet" policy at our house, our kids became obsessed with this stray cat at the park. They followed it forEVER!

Grace is SUCH a daddy's girl. She loves to be with me, but there are times when she is more content to be with dad. He eats it up! It's so sweet. :)

Scared Silly

One of the kids' favorite movies is Monster House. They hadn't seen it in a LONG time so for a rare treat I let them watch it last night (usually T.V is banned after 5:00 P.M.) Here's Halee snuggling Christian because he was a little scared. I got this shot before they realized I was taking their picture...those are the best. It made me happy to see Halee nurturing her little bro. Usually he just bugs her, but I guess they love each other more than I realize!

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

Sorry these pictures are about a week old, but I have been meaning to post them for my own records. The other day the boys were all playing "Missionaries." They have never done this before, so I thought it was so sweet. Here's Austin and Connor knocking on the door of the person they are trying to convert... you guessed it, Christian is the investigater. They played this for quite some time. It was heaven watching them get along (which isn't always the case) plus seeing them play something I hope will one day be a reality for each of them was really neat.

I also wanted to add this pic. Lately the boys LOVE, LOVE to wear Dad's shirts to bed. I think it's so sweet that they love their dad so much and want to be like him. :)

Cold Blooded Killer...

We bought the kids each a gold fish about a week ago, and the fish in the boys tank had a yucky smell, so this morning Chris threw the fish over the fence. The boys never payed much attention to them so I guess he didn't think it would be a big deal. BOY was he WRONG!!! Connor started bawling. Here he is with a broken heart. Chris claimed he never meant to make the boys sad....hmmm....

During all the crying from Connor, and the anger from Austin I noticed Christian was on the cell phone and had just said "Okay come now." I asked him who he was talking to, and he goes "I called the cops." I tried to suppress my laugh, and asked why, and he said "Dad killed our fish so they are taking him to jail!"

Okay so maybe I was wrong. Grace looks an awful lot like Halee too! Here's a pic of Halee at 11 months (the same age as Grace.) I came across this and realized that they look a lot alike too! Oh well, I guess that's why I always hear people say "She's one of the rest of you!" Hopefully that's not a bad thing. :)

Twins!

For all of you who have asked me who Grace looks like I think I now have the answer! CONNOR!!! She does look a bit like all the kids but I would have to say she favors Connor more than the rest of them. It's the eyes that are a dead give away that they are related. It's fun to have your kids favor, and yet have their own special quirks and personality's. :) In these two pictures they are about the same age. What do YOU think??