Hot Dogs Update

Look what I just found....this is a picture of the "hot dogs" apparently paused while the kids were at school.....ah good times!

Hot Dogs

This game is lovingly called "hot dogs" by our boys. Greg and I just smile and laugh inside when we see the socks come out to play hot dogs. We don't know quite how this game came about, but I love their creativity in it. So, the "hot dogs" are the socks. The white plastic spoons are used as the "flippers". These tool boxes are sitting at the bottom of the stairs in the entry way and they try to flip the socks (from upstairs) into the tool boxes. So, if you look closely you can see the socks on the stairs to the left...but they usually sit at the top of the stairs to the right and flip the socks down.... :)

Kind of weird, but so funny! The other day I went upstairs to get something on a day that both of the boys had gone to school....and I found socks all over the stairs and realized they had been playing "hot dogs".

Greg asked me to take a picture so that we would always remember....glad I took the pictures because I'm smiling now just remembering!

How City Girls Roast Marshmallows....

After trick or treating on Halloween night, we decided to make some smores. Papa was out of town on a hunting trip with his brothers (or this would have never happened). Mom started to go outside and light the fire pit when she got this idea. And I have to admit, I don't blame her for doing this. (Greg, this may explain some of the things I do).

So here is my mom and Grandy...blowing out their burning marshmallows over the gas range :)
Two peas in a pod! When I saw this, I ran and grabbed my camera. Love you mom! You are so much fun!

Funny faces

Okay, so we got lots of great pics, and some really funny ones. These pictures make me laugh because it's just a time in our life that photos of all of us smiling at the same time are just hard to come by! This was towards the end of our "photo session" with aunt Dallyn...and you can see Luke has lost it (and he never recovered) and crazy Sutton at the bottom seems to have made a gun with his hand....or something! I am cracking up at him....of course, Greg and I didn't know the faces he was making until we got the pictures back, so that made it even funnier! What a nut!

Notice sweet Max smiling perfect in every picture....and crazy eyes Sutton!

It gets better........oh I hope you got a good laugh!~

Thankful

I love this picture! Hello sweet family of mine! I am so thankful for all of my men....

This picture was taken by my talented sister in law, Dallyn. She did a great job! We met her in Stillwater for Homecoming and made a quick change out of our OSU clothes into something better for pictures. Thank you Dallyn for helping us! It was funny trying to get all of the kids not only looking in the same direction, but smiling. So, this was the best I could do. I will post some others soon. There are some that I love but Sutton is squeezing my neck so tight that it's not too flattering :)

We have been busy enjoying life. The boys are all growing so fast...too fast. Luke is 6 months old now, and has just started going to his "school" a few days a week. He seems to like it, and I love his teacher! He has two teeth on bottom...and has started saying "da da" and "ma ma". It's few and far between when he talks, but we've heard it!

Sutton is doing well. He loves preschool and his teacher Ms. Staires told me yesterday that she just can't punish him because he's so darn cute. She said he gives her that look...(I knew what she was talking about). He is such a good little guy...and goes along with most everything. But, he'll put up a good fight if he needs to!

Max is learning to read...it's great to watch him learn. It's like we are watching the wheels turning in his little mind. Today he is staying late at school to do art class. He has really been into art lately and was excited to get to do this special class. He still is in soccer, and last week had his first soccer goal! I wasn't there because I was home with the younger boys...sad to miss it! But, so proud of him! He wants to play basketball, so we are signed up for our church!

Sutton just woke up from nap, so gotta go!

Kindergarten Picture

Where has the time gone? I can't believe Max is in Kindergarten! We just got back these pictures last night and I am amazed at the young man Max is becoming. He is learning so much at school. He told me his vowels the other day, and I apparently forgot that "y" is a sometimes vowel! So he is already teaching me. :) Max is playing soccer again and really seems to like it even more than last year. He has become more aggressive (in a good way) in wanting to follow and kick the ball. He gets to play with some of his good buddies from school, so that is also fun. And, Greg and I have loved getting to form friendships with these parents.

Oh we have got to get Max into some type of music or instrument. He can still listen to a song a few times and know it. His current favorite is, "While I am waiting". It's a song about praising God or serving Him while we are waiting on Him. Max literally belts it out. He told me the other day that he wasn't going to practice it again because he didn't want to make me cry!

I love seeing how God made each of our children so different. Greg and I often dream about who they will be and what gifts God has given them. Whatever they do or become is fine with me, but I do want to build confident men.

Love you Max...and I love seeing you grow and change over the years. It's hard to swallow and I do get a little sad watching you grow so fast. But my mom & dad always taught me to look at the good...and the good is that you are growing into an amazing little man. Your dad and I are proud of you!

Best Buddies

I was going through my pictures and found this one....oh this is good stuff. So let me explain...Blake and Molly were over and Blake was going to take all four boys to the splash park so that Molly and I could have some quiet time with Sadie & Luke. Our boys are constantly asking to do things just like the other one. For instance, sweet Owen wanted to cut his hair short like his cousin Max...and it does look adorable on him. And this day, Max asked me if he could go to the splash park without a swim shirt on like Owen gets to. So, I told him yes he could but he needed to put on sunscreen. Apparently, I got a little carried away and when he stepped away from me, I realized he had WAY too much on. Molly, Blake and I just died laughing...the kind where you almost wet your pants...tears were rolling down our eyes. Oh, and Owen insisted he had on sunscreen on too! You can see sunscreen on the wall behind them...it was rubbing off on anything they got next to. So my next bright idea was to put them all in jackets (in the middle of the summer) so they wouldn't get sunscreen all over my car. So off they go to the splash park with their heavy sunscreen and jackets! Poor Max, he can't see he has so much on!

I love that these boys are friends, and that they have life to share together. I think it is such a special blessing that my best friend and I have sons so close in age...and even more that they love each other so much. The last few times they have left one another, one of them cries. Molly & I always tell them that we understand how they feel....we remember crying when I went to college, or came home for a weekend...or even today when I get to see her and then have to leave her again. It's a bummer to say goodbye but I am thankful that she is so close and we get to meet up again soon!

Cooper and Sutton are good buddies too, but their little personalities are different and they play more independently. I think Sutton more wants to compete with Cooper...it's funny because he talks about Cooper all of the time. The funniest part is that Cooper is so coordinated and athletic so Sutton will try to make comments about how Cooper can't do this, or that. But in all honesty, Cooper can swim laps around Sutton, ride his bike in circles around him, etc so it's funny that my little man is talking smack!

I love you boys....what a blessing you all are! And with Greyson and Luke right behind you....gosh I am scared what you four might do to those young ones!