November Part 1

aaaahhhh, christmas card pics. Every mama cringes a little when you say that. deciding what to wear, who will take them, will you and the hubs be in it or not, etc..... This year I have been without my camera for 4 months. Which is a long time. When my best friend (the ups man) brought my repaired camera to me around 6pm Friday, I got all fired up to get this picture done. Brad was working that morning - he totally owes me for not putting him through the torture of getting 4 kiddos dressed and in good moods. At one put I yelled, "nobody gets to yell but me!" fine mama moment right there. After one session - not to painful - I realized had had nothing. Nada. Not ONE of all 4 of them. Soooooo, after an absurd amount of bribery, everyone got back dressed and we headed out for photo shoot #2. Photographers are amazing people. They are worth every penny......While I missed my Ceresa Caudill pics this year, I think I ended up ok...Lots of great outtakes!

This is my fav. Big kids showing the little kids the airplane.

Are you feeling the excitement here?

AND we're done and headed to get a happy meal!

October

Griffin sporting PawPaw's hat. He had a big time sneaking into PawPaw's chair and stealing his cap off his head.

James and Granma. We had a quick trip to visit Granma. Thankfully my boys were rather tame.

Griffin was so teased. He actually buried his head in the couch and fell asleep. That has NEVER happened. I love this picture. Granma was having a big time getting him to smile.

At Mazzio's in Brandon. Griffin enjoyed the grated cheese!

You turn your head one minute......

Mary Blake joined 4H this year. Last week they had a fun night at Tellinis. They went in the kitchen and got to make their own pizzas.

Sometimes it works to your advantage being the little brother. Collins had to tag along and he got to join in the fun.

Tada! I'm pretty sure they raked off some of the cheese before they cooked it.

Wren followed Snoopy (our kitty) into the edge of the woods. When I said, "where's Wren Wren?" he did this.  Love this age.

Life just keeps going faster and faster! Please slow-down....

And I really miss my camera. It is at the Canon shop. For now, my phone pics will have to suffice.

Here is what is going on with us these days:
MB - in 5th grade, reading so much, I can hardly keep up with what she has/hasn't read. Many thanks to Mrs. H at school that lets her check out books on her own everyday after school. She also just got a hamster - lots of hard work earning the $ for that rodent. I have not, and I will not touch that thing. Collins - 3rd grade - completely and totally enamored with all things Lego. He is also great (both of them are) about helping me with the littles. I really don't know what I would do without them.
Griffin - this little dude has conquered getting out of the van for 3 year old preschool without crying. ALL the teachers and I are cheering him on as he waves bye with a smile - such a drastic change from going completely limp (40#s of dead weight) when he got out of the van crying for me to hold his hand. He LOVES school, and gets excited every MWF when he gets to go.
Wren - WREN THOMAS is a mess. The cutest, most lovie-dovie mess. He is into everything - laundry, the dishwasher, the cabinets, Collins' legos, my paints, etc....Besides cleaning up his messes, it is a joy having this little blessing. He is a great shopper and will let me drag him all over town as long as I give him a snack. Hey, I can handle that. He did recently lock himself in the van. It resulted in a call to 911, 2 firetrucks, and 4 men. When I say he had a blast, I am not exaggerating. Playing in the van is one of his favorite things to do while I am unloading groceries. This one time in particular, I left the keys in, AND he locked the door, AND I lost the spare keys a year ago. Anyway, he got to play in the van with lots of onlookers and enjoyed the rest of my coffee, teddy grahams, and emptying out a new package of diapers! After all was said and done, he was in there about 25 minutes. He gave all the firemen high 5's when he was "rescued".
Here are some random phone pics:

My sweet nephew James playing dress-up in the cutest lion outfit.

This is a pic of my brother Daniel when he was little. He reminds me so much of Wren

Love this face

My ninjas. I'm just a little proud of my walmart fabric ninja creations

Griffin in a tu tu a school!

Just some brother time. Clothing optional

Recently we took a trip to Nashville to vist Andy. I got to squeeze in a breakfast with one of my most favorite people - Christy!

The boys played a Dave and Busters while the girls shopped.

MSU Football!

RaNdOm PiCs

swing with the boys

fun friends at our kick-off supper at lawndale

mary blake, enough said

My cutie patootie nephew James

Griffin being an angel (yes an angel!) at the dr's office

future stars

Back to School! Mary Blake in 5th and Collins in 3rd