All the others have a birthday

 We also celebrated Sissy, Bubba and Little Bro. birthdays. For Sissy and Little Bro. we stayed at home and ate cake and ice cream. Bubba was lucky enough to talk us into going to 
Chuck E. Cheeses with some of his cousins.  

Bubba excited about his Batman set

Enjoying Costco cupcakes

Bubba is my funny boy. He likes to make people laugh. He is easy to get along with and makes friends very easily. I love listening to him tell me about school everyday. 

Right now Little Bro is really into Trains

He wanted a Halloween cake

Little Bro. is so much fun. He is a talker and loves to play outside. I love spending time with him.

Hubby decorated her cake this year with Oreo cookies

I love Sissy she is a huge help. I am always asking her to do things and she hardly ever complains. 

The Baby turns 1

The Baby finally turned 1. He loved his birthday or at least enjoyed it. We went to my parents house and celebrated with them and my brothers family. 

Not at all a good picture of me. Look how happy he is with his present.

He is a true boy loves balls and cars. 

This year I let the older kids decorate the cake. They picked the colors

and the firetruck with sprinkles.

I am so blessed to have this little fellow in my life. He is so happy and such a joy to have around.

Big Bro. Turns 7

In our family we only do big birthday parties for the kids every 3 years starting when they turn 7. This year that meant that Big Bro. finally got his big party. It started out with him wanting to do a Halloween Carnival but then at the last minute he decided to do a Lego theme party. It was a lot of fun coming up with Lego games and treats.

Big Bro. Putting the head on the mini-fig.

The group working on building                                     

I made the Pinata myself this year. I think I will be buying from now on.
I am just not crafty enough to make it.

His Lego cake. Not what I pictured it would be, but the 7 year old boys liked it.

I love having Big Bro. our family. He is a very good example to his younger brothers and is very good with taking care of Little Bro. when I need help. 

A year really !!

I've looked at my blog from time to time thinking that I should update it, but just kept putting it off. I came and looked today and the last time was a year ago. Where has the time gone. I guess for the next few post it will be catching up on the last year (and what a year it has been).

Bisbee

This weekend we went on a family field trip. Okay we didn't really call it that but I think that's what it should be called because that's what it felt like. It was a day a way from the house and having to cook and clean and do the same old stuff. So to me it was a field trip. Anyways, We took a trip down to Bisbee to see the mines. Before going on the tour of the mine Hubby had mentioned that there was a hot dog place that sold the best hot dogs ever. After searching and searching we finally found it. It really did have the best hot dogs and chili cheese fries also. After lunch we headed back to the mine to go on a tour. With this tour you have get to wear a lovely yellow coat, a miners hat, and a big flashlight. Even with all that stuff it was still a lot of fun. When we arrived we got the usual comments of "wow you have a lot of kids". And the looks from people who were probably thinking "great we have to go with this loud group". However by the end we had people come up and tell us how well behaved our children are. I was very proud of my kids for being so good during the whole tour. The kids loved being able to have flashlights hooked up to them. Lil' Bro. didn't have a flashlight but he still loved just looking around. The Baby slept almost the entire time which was really nice although he was getting really heavy or at least that's what Hubby said because he was holding him almost the whole time.  After Bisbee we headed to Douglas to find the family cemetery of my great grandparents. It was a crazy to try and find the cemetery because the only directions we had were written in 1973 and a lot of the names of ranches had been changed since them. But with a little luck we were able to find it. Finding the cemetery was amazing it has been the families since 1906 and although I don't personally know anybody buried there it was nice to think of them all as family.

Me and the kids

John and the 2 oldest boys

The family after the tour

My great-grandmothers headstone

my great-grandfathers headstone

my great-great-grandparents headstone. She was born on the same day as me.

The best hot dog place ever.

2 months old

In November The Baby turned 2 months old. He is such a cute little guy. He loves to smile and "talk" to everyone.  At his well child check he weighed 15lbs. and was 23 inches long. He loves his Sissy, she is able to calm him down by just holding him which is such a help to me. On Sissys' birthday he was blessed at church by his dad. It was a great day.

Sissys' Baptism

In November Sissy turned 8. She was so excited that she was finally old enough to be baptized. She had lots of cousins and grandparents come down and spend the special day with her. I am so proud of her and the choice that she made to be baptized.

Halloween

This year for Halloween Sissy got to chose the theme of what we would all be for it. She of course chose the theme of princesses. She wanted the boys to also dress up as princesses but I thought that it might be just too cruel for the boys so they went as knights instead.  Lil' Bro. went as a dragon and The Baby went as a baby.

This was the first year that we have ever gone to the Tucson Zoo for some trick-or-treating. It was a lot of fun and the kids got a lot of candy and other stuff. My sister and brother were there with their families as well as my mom and dad. I really believe that my family are the only ones who celebrate Halloween as a family. 

Unfortunately Halloween was on a Sunday so the kids were not able to go trick-or-treating around town, however,  the school had a carnival that Saturday and we were able to take the kids to that. This year they had lots of games that the kids could play and they had a haunted horse carriage ride. We had a lot of fun this year and like always the kids are already planning out what to wear next year.

All the grandkids at the zoo

The boys favorite picture

The family ready for Halloween

We've got spirit how 'bout you

This last week was Spirit week at Sissy and Big Bro. school. The kids had a lot of fun(on most days) dressing up for school. Monday was tie day. I forgot to take pictures that day, but they both went to school wearing their dads ties.  Tuesday was Wacky hair day. Big bro loved his hair spiky and red. Wednesday they dressed up as nerds. Big bro. was excited about it until he saw what he looked like. He cried and cried over his hair so I fixed it to how he wanted it after I took the picture. Sissy was up for anything including wearing Lil' bro. vest to school. She is such a good sport. Thursday was retro day. I could think of a million ideas for Sissy but none for Big bro. Luckily we had found a picture on the Internet of a kid dressed for retro day and he loved it. I think he looks like the blond kid off of the original Karate Kid movie. Friday was school spirit day. I love how their school colors are red and black. It makes it very easy to find clothes to wear. It was a great week I can't wait to do it again next year (yes I am living vicariously through my children).

Wacky Hair day

Nerd Day

School Spirit Day

Retro Day

Number 5

I didn't really tell a whole lot of people that we were going to have baby #5. It wasn't a hard pregnancy I was just tired all of the time. Because of that I got behind in my blogging. At 20 weeks we went in and found out that is was going to be another boy. Sissy and I were a little dissappointed but we have got over it and realized that it will be fun to have another boy. I was induced Sept. 11th and had him @9:30pm. He weighed 7lbs 8oz. and was 21 inches long. He is a good sleeper and can sleep through almost all of the noises at home and the constant kisses from Lil' bro. The kids all love having him. Although we still can't get Sissy to change his diaper. We are so happy to have him in our home and love him so much.

Bubba and Lil' bro



Bubba at the doctors




Lil' bro with sissy

 Bubba and Lil' bro are doing great. Bubba has grown in inches but not in weight so we are still having to see a doctor every 6 months. He is now 4 and ready to go to school next year. He is at the age where he doesn't want to play with the lil' bro very much because he is into his own thing.
Lil' bro is now the monster of the house. He loves to climb and wrestle. He also has his sissy wrapped around his little finger. She will do anything for him. He is almost 2 and is so independent.

New School Year

Sissy on the first day

Big bro on the first day

Sissy started 2nd grade this year. I was so nervous for her. I can't believe she is already in the 2nd grade. This year she has more homework and the teacher actually holds her responsible for getting her work turned in. She is doing really good and still loves to go to school.
Big bro is in the 1st grade. He has a new teacher this year and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to keep him in the same school because of how they split the 1st graders. He loves it though and has made some new friends.

My Oh My

Okay its been a while since I've added anything here. So I'll just do a quick catch up.

• My camera broke (therefore we missed out on a lot of picture taking)
• Sissy and Big bro. finished the school year
• Big bro.  played t-ball
• Bubba and lil' bro started going to the pre-school library time
• Sissy and Big bro participated in activities from the city

This summer we decided not to go anywhere and just stayed home. It was nice not to have to pack or worry about going anywhere. The kids are now back in school and I'm back to just having the little ones at school.

Bubba turns 4

     March was Bubbas 4th birthday. I can't believe he is already 4 years old. This year we just had a small party at home with his brothers and sister. He was still excited about it though. Bubba is my funny little boy. He loves super heros and and swords, basically anything that has to do with fighting. This year he is also in Primary. He loves going to sunbeams and being part of the "big kid" group. At home he is a very big helper with Little Bro.  and cleaning up. Some days I don't know what to do with him because he is so active but truthfully I can't picture my life without him.                                             

Blessings Week 4

Okay so I said that I would think of a blessing every week and really only did 3 weeks but hey it's my blog and I'm really not going to feel too bad about it. For the past few weeks I've realized how blessed I am to live where everyone is so caring. When Sissy was 18 months old we found out that she is allergic to peanuts. Since then we are always having to ask what is in foods and what kinds of food will be at parties. This is something that I hate doing. I have fear of offending someone and would rather just eat what they give me than make a big deal of it.

Anyways. Sissy has had the same teacher for the past 2 years in school. The other day her teacher and I were talking about the different kinds of chocolate that we like. I told her that I love anything with peanut butter. She said that she also likes peanut butter but doesn't want to risk it at school with Sissy being around. Right then I realized that I am pretty blessed that they go to such a small school. The school doesn't make such a big deal of it that she feels like a "wierdo" but they are protective enough that they take extra steps to keep her away from the peanut butter. When they have any peanut butter in the school lunches she "gets to" eat with the teachers she thinks that it is the best.

It's not just the school either. Many of her friends are careful when she visits their houses and everyone at church looks out for her. I am very blessed that everyone doesn't make it such a big deal and is willing to sacrifice a little when she is around.

Blessings week Three

Okay I forgot to do this on Sunday. This week our family has been blessed with having 3 vehicles. I've wanted to sell the truck for a long time but Hubby is always saying that it would make a good back up car if we needed it. This week it finally came into use. Hubbys' car that he takes to work was having issues. Major issues because we thought that the transmission was going out. So for the last week he has driven my car and I have had the truck. We were also blessed by the fact that Hubby took in his car and they replaced a filter and now it seems to be working alot better. It might even last until this summer which would be wonderful. Sorry no pictures this time my camera needs new batteries and truthfully I don't think anyone wants to see a picture of Hubbys' car anyways.

Blessings week TWO

This week when I was trying to think of something that I have been blessed with I would look out my window and just kind of stare of into space. I have always loved where we live because there aren't alot of houses around us. We are lucky enough to be able to see wildlife outside almost everyday. Usually just quail or roadrunners, but on occassion we have seen deer and javelinas. Today at church most of the lessons were on the creation and how the earth was made for us. I came to realize that I am lucky enough to wake up to Gods creations every morning rather than mans.

Blessings week ONE

I have a friend who is taking a picture for everyday of the year. I thought that this was an awesome idea but I didn't hear about it until the 4th or 5th day of the New Year and well me being me, I figured I couldn't do it for every day of the year if I already was missing a few days so I tried to think of something else to do. I thought about the song "Count Your Blessings" and realized that I am usually one to complain more than to appreciate what I have. With that being said, I am going to make it a goal to "Count My Blessings". Every Sunday this year I am going to blog about what I am thankful for. Hopefully by doing this I will grow a greater appreciation for the things in my life.

This week I realized how thankful I am to live in Southern Arizona. My kids are able to go outside and play almost year round. I don't like the snow at all. It's too cold and wet and just makes me miserable. This week the highs were in the high 60's to low 70's and the kids were able to go outside with just light jackets or long sleeved shirts. I've been very blessed that John was able to get a job down here where the weather is great.

Plays

November was filled with lots of plays. By lots I really only mean two and a movie. Hubby took me to go and see Phantom of the Opera. It was so good. I have always loved the music from it and I love the movie. To see it in "real life" was awesome. I can't wait to go and see it again. Okay so I don't know when that will happen but I'm still excited. I also loved getting to dress up and leave the kids behind at my parents house. The second play I went to was pretty funny or at least it was to a mother. The kids did a Thanksgiving play about the first Thanksgiving. I really couldn't hear any of the kids but they had fun dressing up in the paper hats. After the play their class served soup and pumpkin pie that they had made. Then over Thanksgiving break I got to go to the theater and watch New Moon. Wow oh wow. Loved it. SO much better than the first and I'm not just saying that because Jacob doesn't wear a shirt for almost the entire movie. I could have stayed there and watched it again but Hubby was nice enough to watch the kids so I had to go back.

Sissys' Birthday

In November Sissy turned 7. Wow I can't believe that she is that old already. Time has gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday Hubby was taking care of her and rocking her to sleep. Yes, Hubby did a lot of the work with Sissy. She has always been daddys' little girl. This year she wanted to have a big birthday party with all of her friends. I decided that since I talked her out of it last year that this year I would go ahead and let her have a big party. After looking at different blogs(Okay mostly one) I thought that having a Fancy Nancy birthday party would be so much fun. I brought this idea up to Sissy and she said no that she wanted to have a pirate birthday party. I then said okay maybe a girl pirate with the pink and black, again she said no because she wanted to also invite the boys in her class. After thinking about it for a while and Hubby telling me it was a good idea I decided that she could have one with boys and girls. I'm glad I came to my senses because it turned out to be a lot of fun. With the help of my parent, brother, sisters family, and some friends we were able to make it into a carnival with a bunch of games. At each game the kids would win another part of a pirate costume. However, in order to play the games they had to search for buried coins and each game would then cost one coin. If they played each game then at the end they would have a bandana, eye patch, hook and necklaces. They could also win tattoos and stickers. The last game was with everyone all together, it was a big treasure hunt and at the end was a pinata treasure chest. The kids had a lot of fun. There ended up being about 17 kids at the party. Our boys loved it just as much as the school kids and played pirates for days.

Sissy and her pirate friends

The cake I made for her