As Requested

My mom sent my kids to pre-Christmas gifts this year. She found some aprons on clearance last year and bought a bunch and then altered them this year for all the grand kids. She then made some chef hats. She asked me to make sugar cookies with the boys. She said she wanted pictures of the boys and she wanted flour everywhere. Lets just say she got her pre-Christmas wish. My pictures are a little out of order but you can get the general idea :) It was fun and I am hoping my boys will remember it.This was the very end, oh what fun :)

Andrew loved the flour!

The only cookies that actually got rolled out. Thank you Ethan. (I didn't end up baking them I think they ended up in Ryan's hat) After I realized that we weren't really going to be making the sugar cookies I put my dough away so I could roll it out while the boys watched a movie :)

Ethan hard at work.

Jake concentrated pretty hard at the beginning too.

Ryan started it all (should we be surprised?)

Group shot #2

Jake

Ryan and Andrew having SO much fun.

Andrew finally made it on top of the table at the end. He was so proud of himself.

Mark was so kind to give all the boys baths while I cleaned up the flour.

Merry Christmas!

TOO quiet

That is never a good thing at my house unless its the middle of the night, and even then you can never to too sure. Mark and I were in the living room with Ethan and Jake. Andrew was down stairs toddling around. I realized we didn't know where Ryan was. I found him in my room (don't mind the mess) He immediately said "I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry mom" over and over. I asked what he was doing. Ryan's response "I wanted to be black spiderman for Halloween" I now need to go and buy some more mascara and eye liner. Thanks for the laugh Ryan.

Flour game

I just wanted to say Thank you to all of you who made a comment on my family pictures. We got our free 8 x 10 and we couldn't have done it with out your help. Thanks so much.

I have finally gotten around to updating so sorry about all the pictures but today both Ryan and Andrew took naps while Ethan and Jake were at school. The house is SO quiet and the blog is officially caught up.

For family home evening we taught our kids how to play the four game. Mark and I played this when we were first married for FHE one week. He ended up losing three times in a row and I don't think we have played since. Last night Mark never lost but I did. Mark has been waiting for this moment for 9 years. Here are some funny pictures of the boys.

Karate

Our elementary school has an incredible PTA. They have organized after school programs for the kids to do. The students can choose from Karate, choir, tumbling, dance, and a lego class. They run fro 10 weeks, just once a week and are only $20. We did Karate this time. It was so fun. On Friday night there was a little assembly for the parents. I couldn't find my camera I was so bummed. On Monday they had a school assembly. Ethan forgot to change into his Karate outfit. But I think he still looks pretty good. The videos aren't the greatest since I was trying to take care of Ryan and Andrew while video taping but you can get the point.

On Friday night Jake was SO nervous to break the board in front of everyone. After he did it, it was all he talked about for the rest of the weekend. When I told him there was another Assembly he asked if he got to break the board again. He couldn't wait.

Here is the video of Ethan breaking the board.

Fall

Our neighbors have a huge box elder tree. I take full advantage of it since some of the branches hang in my yard I have a couple of swings on it :) In the Fall we get TONS of leaves. (The only trees that we technically have in our yard are in the back, a peach and an apple tree, that my kids have tried to kill several times) Anyway, each year my boys look forward to the day that we rake up all the leaves. We had a lot of fun this year. Here are the pictures. (note Mark on the stairs, not really in the mood to play in the leaves... yet)

Ethan loved throwing them up over and over again.

Andrew wasn't too sure how fun the leaves were.

After all the throwing I buried each of the kids in the leaves. Here they are.

Ethan

Jake

Ryan

Andrew didn't get buried just a really cute picture :)

Me and Mark

Family Pictures

We just got our family pictures taken about a week ago. Quite the event seeing as how I have to prep Mark for about 6 months that it will be ok. I didn't want to spend a lot of money so we just wore what we had white shirts. Anway if you will go HERE and check them out and then leave a comment on thier BLOG. If we get 30 we can get a free 8 x 10. Thanks so much.

Mark Left Us (just for 4 days)

Here's what we did.

I like to plan things to do when Mark goes out of town it helps the time pass a little more quickly. On Tuesday Emily came over and cut everyone's hair. It was Andrew's first hair cut.

He is smiling here because he didn't know what he was getting into:) I also think in this picture he looks like me. Yeah! I just want one of my little guys to look like they belong to me.

Max was very entertained by the beaters.

I also decided to sew a new purse for myself. I had seen a few free patterns on UCreate and here is the one I decided on. I think its practically the cutest thing I have sewn. I love it. So fun to have something new to put the diapers in.

We are so glad to have Mark back. Ryan won't let him out of his sight. He actually cries every morning that Mark has to go to work.