Cooper Mountain over Thanksgiving

ISABELLA, ORION, BRETT, HUNTER & SABRINA

ISABELLA

HUNTER

ORION

HUNTER, ME & SABRINA

My kids and the animals

Showing their goats

My nieces and nephew did a great job this year at the fair showing their goats. It is so much work throughout the year and we blow into town and get to enjoy the best part - the county fair.
Thanks for sharing with us.

Visiting with family

We drove to Brett's brother & sister-in-law's house on my father-in-law's birthday. Orion had purchased a special birthday present for his grandpa. My father-in-law collects unique egg-shapes. Back in March when I took the kids to the Museum of Natural History in Denver each kid was allowed to pick out one (reasonably priced) souvenir. Orion picked out this egg to give his grandpa for his birthday. We saw my in-laws' three times between March and this day. Each time Orion debated giving the egg to his grandpa and then decided to wait until his birthday. Then . . . we forgot the egg in Colorado when we drove to Indiana, so Brett saved the moment and mailed it to us. Orion was SO excited to give my father-in-law this present. It was really cool.
Sabrina and Isabella love playing with my sister-in-law's dachschunds. Brett has a dachschund growing up.

Hunter talked my brother-in-law into a game Uno.

At the county fair

The kids really enjoyed the county fair. They liked going to the free-tent (tent full of merchants giving samples away), the rides, the junk food and running around more than they liked watching the animal showings. But we did watch their cousins show their goats and walk through all of the other animal barns.

Bad picture, but funny

You can't really tell from this picture because of the shadow, but the sheep is being bathed with . . . Woolite. I just thought this was really funny. It could be used for a commercial.

Putnam country 4H parade

Swimming & Jumping

We spent this afternoon at Aunt Marla & Uncle Mike's house. We swam in their pool and jumped on the trampoline. And no one fell off the trampoline. I was surprised.

We lived in or near the pond for two weeks!

Mass of kids

The kids love playing in the pond when we visit Brett's parents.

Isabella's 7th birthday

We arrived in Indiana (from North Carolina) the day before Isabella's birthday. She was given the opportunity to pick what she wanted for her birthday. My mother-in-law very graciously took care of all of the plans!! Isabella chose to swim in my in-laws' pond with her cousins and have a family birthday dinner. It was really fun! She had a great time!

Hunter and the Beach

It is so much fun to see complete and total joy in my children! Hunter so completely loved the ocean that I think he may have to move close one day.

My four beach bums!

Trying for a group shot

Any of you who have tried to get a "nice" photo of your kids can probably identify with these pictures. But . . . there is more to the story. Hunter was running around like a crazy man, playing in the surf. I asked Isabella to carry him over to where I wanted them to sit. When Isabella picked Hunter up, HE BIT HER - right on the chest. The top picture is right after Hunter bit, hence the crying from Isabella. So then I suggested to Hunter that he needed to apologize to Isabella which led to the bottom picture. At least Orion and Sabrina look sort of happy. I know the song is "Two out of Three Ain't Bad", but I only got 2 out of 4.

WakeMed Hospital

This summer we had the opportunity to take Hunter to the hospital where he was born. We drive by the hospital where the other three kids were born at least weekly, so it was really cool to be able to make an event of seeing Hunter's hospital. He was very cute about it!! Hunter grinned from ear to ear. It was a little strange because the hospital has built an additional building - right on top of where the old entrance used to be, but the inside looks the same. In the bottom picture, the kids are sitting at the edge of a koi pond that I used visit almost daily. Next time we're in North Carolina, I really hope we can visit some of the friends that made a huge difference in my stay there, but seeing the hospital was pretty cool - especially for Hunter!

Our "house" of kids

We shared a rental house at the beach with my uncle & his wife, my cousin, his wife and their toddler. The kids got along really well. My girls hovered over Taylor's EVERY move ;-)

The First Day of school

Today is the first day of school for three of our kids. Orion started 3rd grade; Isabella started 2nd grade and Hunter started kindergarten. They were all very excited to go to school this morning. I thought for sure Hunter would cry, but he didn't. He has Isabella's Girl Scout leader as his kindergarten teacher, so I think because he already knew his teacher, he wasn't nervous - just very excited!! I cried though. Sabrina has been very jealous of the school stuff the kids have done this week. She insisted that we take pictures of her. She starts preschool next week, so she'll get the spotlight then.

Fishing and the Aquarium

Time in the surf