Catching Up

This has been a very busy fall so I am going to let the pictures tell the story.

First Day of School

Tyson

Ryan

Justin

Abigail

Emily

Abigail's best friend from Preschool ran and gave her a big hug in the hall right when we got there.  This made it easier for Abigail to go.

Our annual No Manners dinner after the first day of school.  We usually have it outside but since we have a dog we did it in the house. 

Justin has discovered dutch oven cooking.  He loves to make dutch oven potatoes

Ryan lost his first tooth!!!!!

Abigail's first homecoming mum!

Abigail as Belle in the storybook parade

Ryan and Abigail at the pumpkin patch.

Abigail as a vampire for Halloween.

Justin as a soccer player for Halloween.

Ryan as a skeleton for Halloween.

Ryan and Abigail ready for crazy hair day.

Emily's All-Region choir concert.

Abigail with a cheerleader at the BYU- New Mexico State game.

Tyson playing on his middle school's basketball game.

Ryan's birthday.

Abigail as an airplane at her transportation parade.

Ryan's birthday party.

Ryan and Abigail at Ryan's birthday.

Emily taking pictures of Abigail at the pond.

 Christmas Piano Recital

Emily

Tyson

Justin

Some Christmas Eve hot chocolate.

Everyone in their Christmas Eve pajamas.

 Christmas Day

Abigail with her doll.

Tyson playing a video game.

Jeff with a sweatshirt.

Justin with a bow and arrows.

During Christmas lunch, our tree fell over. I guess it was ready for Christmas to be over.

 Happy New Year everybody!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays, and Birthdays!

Four of my five kids have birthdays within a month and a week of each other, and actually three of them have a birthday within two weeks of each other, so it gets a little overwhelming at times.  When you throw in the start of school, a family vacations, and a wedding with that it gets even more overwhelming.  This year Abigail had a birthday party, but the rest of them just had a family party.  Here are pictures from all the fun.

Emily turned 15 on July 11.  We redid her room for her birthday.  Her walls went from purple to a pretty sea blue.

Breakfast in bed

Opening gifts

Abigail gave her some quick hair drying towels.  They had to model them.

Annabell's birthday is the day before Emily's, so they always share a cake

Tyson turned 13 on August 10.   Tyson is starting a soccer league in Dallas this year so we decided we would get him a Kindle Fire for all of his long trips.  They play every other weekend.  We celebrated his birthday a day early because he was going to a soccer tournament, and we were going to our Nieces wedding on his actual birthday.

Breakfast in bed

We had to wrap the kindle in a big box to try and throw him off since I had asked him if he wanted one.

The Kindle

The cake

He was still able to blow out all of the candles.

Abigail turned 5 on August 20.  She got all kinds of things.  Her big gift from us were some princess Legos.  She had a carnival party at our house.  It was going to be in the back yard, but I got worried about the weather so I cleared out our family room and we had it in there.

Breakfast in bed

Legos

Hairstyling doll from Grandpa and Annabell

Her cake.  I was so busy that day I had to just go to the store and buy her a cake.

Carnival fun (Aimee Williams)

Tyson with his carnival face (I just had the older kids run the games.  They all painted their faces before it started).

Fishing (Benson Sparrow)

Blowing out the candles on her cupcake

More carnival fun

Abigail and Faith Sircable looking at her gifts

 Justin turned 10 on August 26.  This year school didn't start until the day after his birthday which was nice.  He decided he wanted a kindle fire too for his birthday.  I figured I would rather have him have that then some other electronic device.  He has been using it to read quite a bit.

Breakfast in bed

Opening gifts

Justin loves pumpkin rolls.  This isn't the first time he has chosen this for his cake.

Blowing out the candles.

I wish I was organized enough to do each birthday individually and to write a my thoughts about each one of them on their birthday, but maybe another year.  I love each one of my children.  It is amazing at how fast they grow up.  Being a Mom has been one of the greatest blessings I have ever received.  I love my children and I am always amazed at how incredible they are.  I love each one of them and I can't imagine my life without each one of them in it.