Round One Of Cookie Making!

Today we made sugar cookies!! Wow, what an event!!! We had a great time and many a sugar cookie was consumed in the process! We had 15 kiddos, gathered around the table and it was pure, organized chaos!!! Whatever that means......

By the time it was all said and done, they made around 70 cookies! We realized we started the project before lunch and ended after lunch time but we forgot to actually eat lunch. I can't imagine why, but no one was really hungry after that!!

They were working hard! Everyone's head was down and they were serious about this!

Flour on the cheeks??? Yeah, I have no idea either....

Look how intently they are all working! Don't you love Isaiah's apron??

Having a great time!!! Wish you were here!!

And For Me......

I have never asked Scott to bring me anything on his world travels. All I really ever want is for him to come home safely. He always finds cute things for the kiddos and they love to see what he brings. This time however, he brought me something. It is a beautiful shirt/jacket. I fell in love when I saw it! I don't think I have ever owned anything so nice.

I wore it yesterday to church and didn't want to take it off. It was so comfy. I guess silk is like that. Scott said he almost got me silk p.j.'s as well. I'm so glad he didn't. I would have never wanted to get out of bed!!!!

Love you honey. I'm so glad you're home safe!

Yeah, a picture of me in it would have been nice huh......Next time. It was a little busy yesterday.

New Dresses Are The Best!

"Daddy came home from China and brought me this new dress! I love it!!!"

Ha Ha Ha......

Savannah, singing in the car for her baby sister: "Frosting, the snowman was a jolly happy soul...."

She sang some more and then Talisha broke in and insisted that she wasn't singing it correctly. "It goes like this: Frosting, the snowman was a jolly happy soul. With a corn cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of gold!"

Wow, now that's some snowman!!!

Normal.....Right?

Ok, this is all completely normal.

I'm sure every little girl carries around 4 babies at a time. So it should not seem strange or out of the ordinary to see one small little girl, arms loaded and yet perfectly content, holding 4 babies.




Ok, maybe only at our house........

Just waking up.....with her babies! She's going to need a bigger bed!

What well behaved babies she has!!

A Chuckle For The Day!

Talisha, singing Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer:....."then one hoggy Christmas Eve...."

She's got a few of those mix-ups in her Christmas carol collection. The funny thing is, she thinks those are really the words!!!

We Love This Kid!!!

Surprise visit!!

This was a story in a local magazine about Sam.

Click on this to make it bigger!

Sam is probably one of the best kids we have ever met! And each and every one of us fell in love with him the first time we met him! He touched our lives and changed us for the better. Even though he no longer lives here, we continue to stay in contact and love to hear how he's doing.

For those of you who have been with us here for quite awhile, you saw him in pictures a while ago. He moved out of state a few years back. Scott was on a business trip recently and was able to stop in and surprise Sam with a visit!

All of our kids used to beg us to adopt Sam (that's the only way they know how to get an older brother). We wish it was that easy. He is the type of young man any parent would be proud to call son.



We love you Samuel!

First Game!!!

Tuesday night, Samantha cheered at her first basketball game!! She was pretty nervous but I had a feeling she was going to be great! I went with a couple of the kids to see the game.....and watch Sam. We tried not to be to obvious but we wanted to take some pictures of her. We sat on the opposite side of the gym (since that's where the parents sit). The camera I was using is not hi-tech....or maybe I should say, I'm not hi-tech.....anyway, this pics didn't really turn out.

The good news is, she did AWESOME!!!!! It was fun to watch her and see the smile on her face! Way to go Sam!!!!

Sam is on far left!

She is 4th from the right in this one! Yeah, not a huge crowd, it was a pre-season game!

Hopefully we didn't embarrass her too badly......wait, but then again, isn't that my job????

Civil War!!

I have been dreading getting our family picture taken.....it's so much work, so much stress, so many tears, so much screaming and that's just from me!!!! Aww, I'm kidding but it is a ton of work.....and stress. But Scott had a great idea and I thought, why not???

Coordinating our outfits is the tricky part. He suggested we wear Oregon Duck shirts (if you don't live in Oregon or you don't care about football, yesterday was the Civil War. Oregon State and University of Oregon were the teams playing). I did a run to Marshall's and cleaned out their stock of Uof O shirts! And the result????

See for yourself!!!

Just the girls!

Just the boys!

So watch your mailboxes, our Christmas letter will soon be making it's way to your home with this adorable, crazy family picture enclosed!! If you don't receive our letter and picture every year and would like to, send me a note with your address, so I can add you to our list!

Sooooo Cute!!!

My very sweet, talented friend, Sarah came by yesterday. She brought her camera with her. I was still needing to get pictures of Talisha, Savannah and Isaiah and I was dreading taking them to the studio.

They LOVE Sarah and I knew they would smile for her, so I was thrilled that she was able to squeeze us into her busy schedule. We love you Sarah!!! Thanks for the pictures!!!!

SISTERS!

Miss Talisha!

Miss Savannah!

Mister Isaiah!

Gingerbread Kids Choir!!!

Vanessa and Talisha are part of a cute little choir called the Gingerbread Kids! They have been practicing Christmas songs once a week for 2 months. Tonight was their first performance!!!!

I'm such a good mom, I took a picture of them before we left, set the camera down on the counter and then a few minutes later, walked out of the house without the camera.........grrrr.

They have two more performances this week, so I will try to get a picture of them actually singing. They did a great job tonight and had so much fun.

The performance tonight was at a retirement home. It was the best audience!!!! I just love old people! When I grow up, I want to be one!!! Sorry, that was a little joke.......