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!!

Puppies!!!

My friend's dog had a big litter of adorable chocolate lab puppies so I just couldn't resist taking the girls to go and play with them. Jill and I loaded up Lily, A and KL and headed down. Lily is absolutely obsessed with animals and she was just beside herself with Joy. KL really loved them too. A thought that they were great, but she enjoyed looking at them from a distance more than when we tried to help her pick one up or even pet it.

Sisters

As always, as I was downloading pictures off my camera, I found SEVERAL pictures that I didn't recognize and were clearly taken by the girls who had snuck off with my "off-limits" camera. While, publicly, I am totally against them touching the camera, I have to admit that as a mom, it is fun to see proof of them having fun together! I do love all my beautiful little girls!!!

And So It Begins...

The house is coming along...

As such, I decided it was probably time to start packing now, so as to save myself more of a headache later. Also, so I could have it ready to show as rental. I started this little cutie's bedroom.

After I got it all cleaned out, it looked great...

And how much stuff can possibly come out of 1 small bedroom?

It was really hard to imagine that I found space to keep all this in there! And this was only 1 bedroom...the smallest bedroom! Heaven help me as I work my way through the rest of the house!

So...if anyone knows of anyone looking for a rental in the next couple of months...send them my way!

First Day of School

It may have happened almost a month ago, but it still happened! The kids are back in school. D started 8th grade, the twins 4th, and CK is now in 2nd grade. Even KL will get to go to a little joy school that starts tomorrow, but she doesn't know it yet. She will surely be excited when she finds out! Here are some pictures from the first big day.

A, walking the kids to school

The boys didn't feel the need to be walked to school by me. :)

The girls heading off to find their classes.