Merry Christmas!

I know it has been a while since my last post. I'll blame that mostly on my computer's memory. It is gone, so I can't download any pictures to blog about. I keep meaning to clean up the computer, but I just haven't gotten to that. Hopefully, once our house is done, I can move all of those files, and that will clear up some space, but until then...

Still, with Christmas just around the corner, I needed to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas! I hope you are all ready. I hope I am ready for that matter too!

I had a funny little story to share too. A couple of days ago, KL was being quite the stinker. Ok, she was being naughty. So much so that I had to break down and call the man in the red suit to see if she had officially been put on the Naughty List. Lo and behold, she had, but I was told I could tell her if she started listening to her mommy and started behaving, she could go back on the nice list. This didn't have quite the effect I had hoped for. She really didn't turn things around. A couple of hours later, we went down to our new house to show it to a friend of ours with Jill (my sister). Of course, as soon as we got there and stepped out of the car, I got a call saying that someone was coming over to look at our house in 10 minutes who was interested in renting it, so I threw the baby back in the car and tried to get KL to join me. She really didn't feel like coming, so Jill said she would bring her home. I said great and raced home to get it as clean as I possibly could--after all it was laundry day. Of course the guy never showed up, but oh well. At least I got a clean house out of it, right?

Well, after I left, apparently KL had some sort of shoe malfunction walking into the house and got upset and refused to do anything except sit out in a pile of dirt in the front yard and pout. Jill allowed her to do this until it was time to go at which point, she tried to gently coerce her to get in the car. At first, KL refused saying, "I only want my mommy." This sounded highly suspicious to me, but still Jill responded by saying, "Great! I am going to take you there right now." That got her and she said, "Actshawy, I don't reawy want my mommy." Ahh....that sounds more like it. Still Jill got her in the car and which point she sat down and started just glaring at everyone. Eventually, our friend, and KL's primary teacher, turned and said, "KL, you don't want Santa to see you like this." KL quickly looked up at her with all her attitude and said, "Well, my mommy alweady called Santa,and I'n alweady on da naughty list, so it doesn't even mattew!"

I am happy to report that she did finally do as I asked and clean up her room. We did call Santa back and he did confirm that she was back on the nice list, but I have still had to remind her about how close she is to the edge a few more times!!!

Merry Christmas!

Birthdays!

10 years can really go by fast, can't it!?!? It is just so hard to believe that my little twosome have it their double digits. They are each so special, and so different from the other. I love them so much, and just can't wait until they realize what a blessing it is to come to this world with each other!!

The twins had a busy birthday this year, but hopefully they still had a good time. We had a game for both D and B, so when those were over, we came home and opened presents.

Here they are together. Aren't they cute!?!

L:

D decided to give B a special present... a coupon book--complete with a coupon for a free hug. Here he is trying to deliver on that promise.

More Baseball and Basketball

It is true that I already blogged about the boys sporting adventures this fall, but I came across some more pictures, so I decided I should post them in all their athletic glory.

B, up to bat (pretty sure he hit a triple this time!)

D tearing up the courts:

Money Making Schemes

It is the dream of every young kid to have some sort of major sale, be it Kool-Aid, Lemonade, Garage, or whatever, that will rake them in an enormous amount of money that will allow them to go and buy that dream toy that their parents just aren't willing to pony up the cash for.

Well, a few weeks ago, B and some of his friends decided that they would try and sale all their prized possessions, in hopes of striking it big. They went and found a folding table and chairs and spent a few hours out in front of the house.

This was pretty much at their peak selling moment. Unfortunately, they didn't achieve their financial goals, but I think they still had fun.

Progress!!!

A while back, our house hit an absolute stand still. The lovely town inspector decided he didn't like my brother (he admitted this to another superintendent in the neighborhood), and as a result, they refused to let us pass a major inspection for over a month an a half. It was so frustrating, but eventually, we got our pass. It was such a momentous event, that the next day, we got donuts and had breakfast down at the picnic table across the street.

Here is A enjoying her yummy breakfast

B and L (our house in the back ground)

A, KL, L, D, Dave, CK

Here is our house...as it looked the day it finally passed its frame inspection

B, D, and A

A and Dave

After we had breakfast, we were walking to look through our house. As I got closer, I saw a little something walking along our back fence line. I could tell it wasn't a bird, because it wasn't going fast enough, and it never flew off. Sure enough, it was a little turtle!!

Not sure where it came from, but it got quite nervous when the kids gathered around to watch. As soon as I was able to get them to back off, the little guy high-tailed it back the direction it came from. Hope it found its home!!
I'm happy to report that the house is still moving forward and is being painted, even as I type this. It is so exciting to see the progress and imagine what it will be like to live in this beautiful dream house. We truly are blessed!!

Family Life

Just a few random pictures of us enjoying our life together.

A

Our own little sleeping beauty, KL

KL and Dee. KL showed him how they could make a "heart" together.


Here are just some pictures taken as we were all enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon at home.

We definitely have another Daddy's Girl. Dave was laying in bed watching a game, when A climbed up next to him to watch with him.

Cardinals vs. Broncos, 2011 Preseason

Back on Sept 1, there was a preseason game between the AZ Cardinals and the Denver Broncos. This was obviously big news for our family! We were so excited to be able to go down to watch Spencer play here on a lovely Thursday evening. It got even more exciting when Annie called me the night before and told me that Spence had been chosen as a team captain and would be a part of the "coin toss". Naturally getting there on time became a top priority. I was feeling pretty good about getting in time until we hit the parking lot phase of our drive. It was such a mess that we drove around for over 30 minutes before we finally found a place park. Once we found a place (at least 1/2 mile from the stadium) we jumped out and RAN for the stadium. It was me and 5 kids. They did a good job keeping up. I would turn and check to make sure they were with me from time to time. By the time we got through security, I wasn't sure if we would be there for the big moment, but we were determined. We were pushing our way past crowds on the escalators. Once we got to our level, D ran over to check the field and saw the toss was taking place, so we ran over to where we could see and took a few pictures.

Spencer is #46 and standing in the back of the group (Far Right).

Here, he is again, the far right, standing at the end of the line.

I'm glad that we got there for that, because as soon as that was done, he put on his lovely orange baseball hat (as seen here on the sidelines, in the middle of the pack), and that turned out to be the only time he was on the field all night. Glad we didn't miss it!!!

Even though Spencer didn't play in the game, we still all had a great time there together.

Brody, Sam and Kyle

Katy...she had to go back to school just a few days later, so we were really enjoying our last little bit of time with her.

Josh, D, and our neighbor, Key.

L had fun watching from down--a little bit away from us. :)

After the game was over, we found out there was a special place for family members to go and see their players. While were were waiting, the kids found this little thing you could go and stand in front of to take pictures.

D

L

Here we all with Spencer

Carson (0ur neighbor) and L (with Britton Colquit--a good friend of Spencer's and the punter for the Broncos)

To put the icing on the cake for the kids, it turns out John Elway came for the game and stopped to sign some autographs and talk to some fans.

Carson breaking down

Baseball

While D was enjoying playing basketball, B decided to try his hand at Baseball. We have 3 other boys in our neighborhood the same age (including BFF cousin, Zach) and all 4 of them were on the team together. They were so funny to watch and listen. One source of great pride for those guys was that they were required to wear a "cup." At first, B was a little unsure, but before long, it was quite a cool thing to have. They would get in the car and be asked if they remembered everything (glove? yes! hat? yes! bat? yes! cup? *knock knock*--rather than respond, they would let you "hear" that they were covered.)

They all really made some big improvements and it was fun to go and watch them. They really came together as a team and I know they all would have been happy for their season to have gone on another 4 or 5 months!

Getting ready to bat

On First

Basketball

D was able to be on the 8th Grade Basketball team this year. Unfortunately, they didn't have the success they wanted this season, but they still made some serious improvement over teh course of the season and it was fun for me to watch. A was always so good to sit on my lap and watch with me and she really did know when her brother was out there and she would watch him run up and down the court. They didn't get to go to the tournament, but they still ended their season on a good note... with a win, in a game where D got a rebound, turned around and put it for a basket and even got a steal. Go Sharks!!

(#42)

Preschool

I have some wonderful neighbors who have set up a preschool where we each take a turn having it our house. I'm so thankful they included us so KL could go. She absolutely loves it and has so much fun learning her letters and sounds. Here she is on her first day:

CK's 7th Birthday

I'm only a few months behind in my blogging...so I'll do my best to catch-up.

First, one of the most significant events that took place in our home is that CK had a birthday!!! She turned 7 years old and was so excited for this big day. The real bummer is that she ended up getting sick and couldn't go to school or have her party as planned. It was a tough blow, but she handled it all right.

She was feeling well enough in the evening for some presents and cake. Here she is opening up her presents:

Little A with B

Blowing the candles out on the special cake that Daddy bought her to try and soften the blow of missing out on her planned birthday festivities.

She was eventually feeling well enough that she got to go to school and have her special crown for the day:

We even got to have that party! We just got pizza, played outside and did the girl's toes.

All in all, I think she had a fun time. She is certainly someone worth celebrating!!