I'm pretty sure this should be our theme song.

The Customary Christmas Shot

 Christmas morn:

Sunny's Christmas gift from Leia

Our little Whitetail

Stockings

Bison

Grandma Bonnie teaching Sho the fine art of photography!

Because who wouldn't want to be a bison for Christmas?!

Gaius with one of his favorites, Cassie (listening to The Christmas Story) 

Happy New Year!!

Dining Room Reveal

It's amazing what a little paint and paper can do! Seriously, wallpaper can be AWESOME!

Make Over!

It's the dining room's turn!! And let me say... It needs it (spoken from the girl covered in joint compound)!!

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October.Is.Gone.

October had come and gone with not a whole lot of excitement.

Xavier is playing indoor soccer now, which is a MUCH bigger commitment than I expected. But I do see a big improvement in his skills already (2 weeks in). 

Pretty much all of our leaves are gone, and it's been spitting snow for the last few days...sigh...I guess I can't complain too much, it at least waited until November. Now I just need my body to adapt to the colder temps, or else I'm going to be wearing gloves and boots around the house for the next 6 months.

 We've taught Sunny how to sit on command. 

Leia's working on some other circus type tricks for her!

 We've welcomed a new niece/cousin this month! 

I can't remember her exact birthday...I think it was around the 9th. 

There's 17½ nieces and nephews so far in our combined extended families 

so you'll have to excuse my forgetfulness!!

 I always knew having a sister would be AWESOME!! 

Shoshannah wants to do anything Leia does..even dishes! 

Gotta LOVE that!

We don't celebrate Halloween mainly because I don't really understand what exactly we're celebrating.

Is it the celebration of candy? Or dressing in costumes? I doubt in this culture it's about devil worship anymore, especially since I know a lot of families with solid biblical values who celebrate it. So what is it for your family? I'm not trying to force my beliefs or ideas on you, I just really want to know...What's the big deal with Halloween?

Big (and Beautiful)

Ha!

September Recap

I can't believe September slipped away already. It was very busy for us, as usual. Here's the cliff notes:

We played some soccer:

Went to a wedding in Virginia (my children's first experience with a hotel, and my first experience with Va driving *where red lights mean nothing!*):

And I got to take pictures of this sweet little boy and his parents:

With that September is over. 

Bring on October!

Life

Lately, I've been feeling rather uninspired for blogging. 

So I thought I would empty my SD card to see if there was any inspiration there. 

Here's what I found:

This is by no means a punishment. It's how I found them, honest!

Gaius' family pictograph. Girls row: Shoey, Leia, Mom. Boys row: Dad,  Xavier,  Gaius

Sunny's tuckered out! She's figured out how to climb the stairs this week. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

First Day of School (3 days later)

Wordless Wednesday

Look Who's Two

Spunky!

Outgoing

Talks..a LOT

 Loves Dora and Boots

Likes to sneak into her sister's bed every night

 Says the cutest bedtime prayers  

Loves candy, in fact you better lock it away if you don't want to share it with her.

Has a LOT of nicknames 

Adorable (obvi)

Happy Birthday, Be-bo! 

Thoughts: in no particular order

• Apparently the de-cluttering bug is hitting all of us, because it's all over a couple blogs I read and I've been a cleaning maniac the past few days. Partly out of necessity- school starts next week and we're camping all weekend. And partly because this summer has gone by in a whirlwind and I haven't had a chance to even catch my breath, let alone do much cleaning. 
•  Shoshannah turns 2 soon. In fact I think it was about this time 2 years ago that I had my very first and only panic attack from anticipating my c-section. Thankfully, all the worry was for nothing and the c-section was no big deal.  
• Having a puppy is very similar to having a newborn. Little sleep, a lot of constant attention, and a lot of messes. Thankfully, it's all Leia's and I just have to remind her to do it! It's really nice being a "grandparent"! :-) 
• It's soccer season! It makes life hectic, but it's my favorite and I wish it would last all year long...but I'm pretty sure we'd have to give up some of our other hobbies/obligations if it did. Oh well, I guess we'll just enjoy our 6 weeks of bliss while it's here. 
• I'm not sure I like the tween age, it's kind of annoying with all the bossing, and mood swings. Oy vey! 
• I finished all the wedding photos and the bride loved them. PHEW! 
• Marc is on a business trip again, which means sole possession of the remote control! Hello, chick flicks! 

Well, back to cleaning.

Toodles!

The Forecast Looks SUNNY!

 May I introduce to you the newest family member:

Sunny 

middle name TBD. 

With a couple suggestions being Sunny Rodriguez and Sunny the Beast  (ahh..Brothers!)

Sunny's first kiss! P.S. He didn't turn into a prince.

Child's [and Mama's] Play

Contrast

Leia , age 8, and Maggie, age 10, playing American Girl Dolls:

AND....

 ...Shoshannah, age ALMOST 2:

:-)

Girls Room- Revealed!

Before

WAY before! As in, moving in before!

After

I love the semi-muted (muted for me) color pallet!

I made the pendant garland out of scrapbook paper and ribbon, easy peasy!

 You can get this wall decal *HERE* It was really simple to put up, but definitely took 2 people. It took about a week for it to be shipped to us, but it was totally worth the wait!

I found these prints at a yard sale 3 days before we started painting!

They had silver frames (which I, of course, spray painted).

So what do you think?! 

Is it too ooey-gooey girly?

I have some ideas on how to "grow it up" with my girls, but knowing them we'll just end up yanking everything out and painting again by then anyway! :-)

Next up: Painting the dining room.

The Mama Files: Camp Week

This week our 3 oldest kids go camping with my parents for 5 days. It's always bittersweet to have them gone. This year I also have been working at my brother's furniture store, it's weird and quiet, and sort of peaceful in a totally losing your mind kind of way. After this experience it makes me find the whole "staying at home isn't working" statement completely absurd. Not that I ever really questioned it, but it's nice to have it's ridiculousness confirmed anyway. Shoshannah has had some quality daddy time all week and they seem to be enjoying it! Today she even told me goodbye when I left and didn't fuss at all. It's crazy how adaptive toddlers are. Well, back to work, a.k.a. watching Full House, working on lesson plans, and editing wedding photos, with a little bit of furniture sales thrown in. :-) I hope you're having a good week! 

Uh-Oh!

I loved it!

The End.

A Birthday Scavenger Hunt

The Directions

"Follow the clues to find your presents"

 Present #1

Shoes and nail polish

 Present 2

A water gun

 Present #3

 Present #4

Dog toys. "What?!"

 Present #5

A dog purse. a.k.a. a bag to carry your dog in.

 Last Clue

 Present #6

The announcement, telling her that she'd have to wait just a little longer for Sunny to be old enough to leave his mom.

 The Reaction!

"Dad!!! Mom got me a puppy!!!!"

That was LAST Saturday...wait until you see what we did THIS Saturday!