Trees...

This year we put up two trees. We have a small 4 foot artificial one that we used for all of the kiddos ornaments...beads...and handmade stuff! Paige especially enjoyed laying underneath this tree and playing!



It's amazing to me that she is almost 6 months already...I love watching her carefully take in everything around her!

Christmas Parade

As usual, I have not posted in almost two weeks; and what a crazy two weeks it has been for us. We have had a blessed Christmas with activities, friends, food, and celebrating the birth of our Lord!

The local parade was the beginning or our Christmas festivities!



The weather was threatening rain...but that did not dampen the boys' enthusiasm for the parade!



Beads...candy...and Vexcon was the talk of this parade. We hadn't heard of Billy the Exterminator until we moved here. But he is a local and probably starting to be national celebrity. We thought we were taking a picture with him. Turns out this was his brother...



The boys were so excited that we could still get one with Billy! We are hoping this is our ticket to fame! On the way home, there was a lot of talk about "meeting someone famous" between the older boys.



Even Paige enjoyed most of the parade. She did not, however, care for the loud sirens compliments of the local police, fire, and ambulance stations.



Even though the parade was very lengthy, the boys never really lost interest - especially Eli!



Paige got pretty tired of staring at me...and was happy to have Daddy hold her so she could face out and have a better view! Don't blame her for her mismatched outfit...she needed her hat, but didn't have a clean matching outfit...Mommy's fault!

It's All in the View!

I love looking out my back windows in the morning and seeing this view. With this view I feel like I live out in the country by myself...when in reality I live in mini suburbia with hundreds of other people! With this view I forgot that there are construction workers (and outhouses) all around. With this view I forget that my life is crazy busy!! With this view...if only for a few minutes...I feel calm, peaceful, and serene!



I especially love seeing the three crosses to the right. Not sure what they mean to our neighbors, but I know what they mean to us! We are so thankful for this view!!

Bobcat Badge...

Zach was so excited to receive one of his first awards at Scouts...the Bobcat Badge...



Unfortunately Daddy didn't get to see him receive it. Not quite the same to have Mom there!!

Fall Festival...

I just realized that I hadn't posted any of these pictures from a Fall Carnival that we attended. The base has a very active home school group and this was one of their events. The kids had a great time!!



There were about 15 games set up. Each had candy for a prize. We let the boys get candy on their first round, but after that they had to for go the prize!





This is the first time the boys have been interested in face painting...it was very exciting for them. Zach chose the "Vexcon" symbol. Which for those of you who don't know is a very popular pest control company here in Louisiana...also a very popular reality TV show...







Eli was dead set on orange hair paint...thankfully it washed out easily! I'm not sure how orange hair would have gone over in Sunday School!





Nothing exciting for Paige to experience. She slept in the baby carrier for most of the time...the boys would have like to see her have her hair painted...but that might have been a bit excessive!



Eli won most of his games...not sure if he was cheating or not?

Baby's First Christmas...

Thanks to a friend from Mississippi this sweet little girl will be right in style here in the South!!



This little smocked dress is the perfect addition to her wardrobe...especially when it is what ALL the little girls are wearing around here! I'm not sure that we wouldn't be wearing this if we lived in Colorado, but "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," right? I do have to admit it is VERY cute!



The only thing missing is a red and green bow!



We are so thankful for this little sweetie! She will make our Christmas extra special this year! One more "Baby's first Christmas" ornament to hang on the tree this year!

Shoe Box Packing Party

Last year we started taking part in Operation Christmas Child. A Samaritan's Purse program that packs shoebox sized boxes of Christmas gifts and then ships them all over the world to children who otherwise might get nothing. We were so excited to learn a few months later, that our 3 boxes had reached 3 small boys in Mexico. What an easy way to bless others!

This year we wanted to make our effort a little bigger so we planned a small packing party with a few of our close friends. With the help of 5 other families, we were able to pack 25 boxes!!



A couple of our supplies...



The kids were really excited to be a part of that...for about 10 minutes!



The boys packed boy boxes...the girls packed girl boxes...



Organized chaos...



The finished products...

We can't wait to do it again next year!!

A Few More...

Just a couple more pictures from last night! Have I mentioned how excited I am to have a new tripod...something I should have bought a long time ago, but never have. I happened upon one at the Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. Not only has it come in handy for pictures, but it also makes a VERY FUN weapon for the boys to play with!



I adore these boys...some days they certainly make me want to tear my hair out...but I wouldn't trade them for the world!



And this sweetie isn't too bad either!



I especially like how Zach posed himself for this picture. Who would have known that just 30 seconds prior he was having a big melt down!!



I've been playing with Photoshop again...this is a favorite!

Picture Outing

It is that time of year that everyone is starting to think about Christmas cards. It's funny how time gets away from me. When we first moved here I had planned on sending out Change of Address cards...but I didn't. So the next best thing would be to send out our new address with Baby Announcement cards...but I didn't do that either. Now I MUST send out our new address...with our baby announcements...with our Christmas cards! Yikes...

We headed out tonight in hopes to just be able to grab one nice family picture for those much anticipated Christmas cards...it was basically a success...nothing fabulous or professional...but a nice picture. Don't kid yourself...I won't be showing you that picture now, you will have to wait until your card arrives! However I did get a couple pictures of the kids that I wanted to show...



We went down town to a local art gallery. There is about 30 acres of pure beautifulness (I'm sure that's not a word). The boys were pretty excited...as was I. Justin on the other hand cringes when the words "take pictures" come out of my mouth!



This is our first official "all 4 of the kids" picture. Don't worry despite the look of fear in Zach's eyes, we didn't endanger Paige's life here. I finagled my way out of the picture as best as I could!

All in all we had a great afternoon...enjoying the beauty that God has created....and the boys LOVED their Mc D's Happymeal that was their reward for behaving so nicely for Mommy!

Our Little Super Heroes {October}

Our little super heroes were ready to take on the neighborhood...on a top secret mission to retrieve the most candy they could find. Justin and I were on our own mission...to get out to meet and greet some of our neighbors. We also left a big bowl of candy out for kiddos who stopped by while we were gone.



I know the boys succeeded on their mission (we are still suffering the consequences). I'm not sure if Justin and I did!

Colorado Trip {September}

We were so fortunate to be able to spend two full weeks on the road with Justin. It was the beginning of a 6 week stretch of travel for him...which we have finished now. Yea! We have a 10 day break and then back to it again...

The boys do wonderful in the car...but they certainly lived for our quick (30 minute) stops...E especially enjoyed this one in Mansfield, Arkansas.

Catch Up!! {September}

Growing...growing...growing...She has melted our hearts and fits so neatly into our family!

Our Big Cub Scout and Outdoorsman!!

Zach has been looking forward to the first Cub Scout Camping trip of his young scouting carreer. Dad flew into town at 2, packed and left the house about 5.

Seth and Eli were excited to have Zach out of the house and even came with us to make sure he was going to be gone for a little while!!



During marshmellow cooking, Zach comes up to me and asked me to hold his marshmellow cooker...then proceeds to hand me his FIRST lost tooth! He was very excited when everyone (all the adults) gave him kudos for pulling his first tooth on his own. They said the tooth fairy would get lost with 1400 pillows to look under...but Zach wanted to lock it up so he could take it home and put it in a jar.




Here is Zach and his Tiger Cub...and the leader Mr. Chad!




A "little" Grasshopper captured the attention of the rambunctious kids very quickly...and for probably 10 minutes!!





The boys got to learn about a TON of different aspects of the Civil War Era, but while Zach had a good time with most of them, the ammputation was a little much for the little guy!




Zach and daddy at the last stop (the CALVARY) prior to lunch...he was worn out, and we skipped all of the afternoon stops...except for BB guns!











He was a Crackshot!





Zach's favorite part of the reenactment (in spite of the LOUD shots...) was the cannon.



After coming home a day early, I promised to take him fishing in our own pond...so here we go!




After Seth and Eli went home with Mommy...we got a little lucky. Not sure what the big fish was, but then Zach pulled in a nice little bass. Both of them went back in the pond to be caught another day!!