Visit with Santa

Santa came to visit at YaYa's house! The kids ate pizza, decorated cookies and waited in their pj's for Santa to arrive. So fun! Jackson, Heston and Jack were beyond excited to see him and Ella and Lawson were not quite as excited. They both screamed when they sat with him and gave us the classic kid on Santa's lap photo. Why do we do this to our children?? I think the adults had as much fun as the kids did. Kids make Christmas time so fun!

I love this little angel...

Eating ice cream

Here are my babies eating ice cream. We have a lot to post but no time to do so. Things are crazy around here. Will post when things settle down.

Big Russ

We are so sad to say that our sweet lab, Rusty, passed away on Wednesday morning. We found out about a few weeks ago that he had liver disease and he quickly went downhill. We did not expect it to happen so fast, but are thankful that he did not have to suffer for long. We were able to hold him and be with him until the end. We are heart broken and feel like a huge part of our family is missing, but we have such wonderful memories of him. I gave him to Jason in college so he has been with us through many years and many things that we have been through. He will be missed dearly but remembered sweetly. We love you Russ Man!!

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend was so much fun, although we got off to a rough start! On Friday afternoon, we were outside playing with the kids and Jackson was pushing Ella in her big car. He accidentally pushed too fast and she went flying down the driveway and began spinning out and went over the ledge to the neighbors stone pathway and fell on her face and split her forehead open. We spent 6 long hours in the ER and walked away with 17 stitches, 5 internal and 12 external! Not a fun evening. She was a tough baby girl and was so tired by the time that we got the stitches that she fell asleep and slept through being stitched up! She got her stitches out on Wednesday and is healing great. We are so thankful that she was not seriously hurt and that the CT scan was negative. It could have been so much worse! After we moved past that, we had a great weekend. Dad came to visit and we went to the farm to see the Irons. We cooked out, played with the horses, sat by the fire and spent many hours talking and watching the kids play. It was a very relaxing weekend despite the drama of the ER!


Sitting by the fire


My sweet and very dirty babies :)





Jackson sittng on the fence watching Cookie


Heston in Grandpa's boots


Pop


Strike a pose Ella


I love this one - each boy in one of Grandpa's boots

Colorado 09

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First day of school

Well, school is back in full swing and Ella and I are joining in. I am teaching a 3 year old class and she is going for the first time. Jackson loves his new class and responded by yelling, "It was GREAT!" when I asked him how his first day was. He loves his new teachers and of course was thrilled to see all of his friends. Ella had a difficult first few days, she cried a lot and was only soothed by a certain baby doll...this makes me laugh...some of you know why :) She also has wonderful, loving and patient teachers that she also loves. I had a crazy but good first day, 3 year olds are busy bodies, but so precious and so much fun! I love them all and am looking forward to seeing them learn. Here are a few pictures from the first day. My babies are getting so big!!

Boys, boys, boys...

I have a ton of catching up to do so I thought I would start small with this one. We had our first broken bone a few weeks ago :( Jackson was climbing up the bars at the park and missed his footing and fell about 6 feet and broke his arm. When it first happened, I thought it might be broken, but then he moved it around some so I thought it was ok. We went to the doctor and sure enough it was broken. It was not fun, but he is doing great and is actually not even bothered by the cast. He is a tough little guy! Boys will be boys!!

Who needs a spoon?

Sam came to play

Sam and Sara came to play today! Jackson and Sam played so well together and he introduced her to Star Wars and light sabers ( or "life savers" according to Sara).





Sam wore her tutu today so it was so cute to see her in her girlie outfit playing with swords :) They made tents and played so well together while Ella was busy talking on the phone and wandering around.
After playing, lunch and more play time, Jackson and Sam were in the dining room and got very quiet...never a good sign with kids. Sara and I wondered what was going on but did not immediately go to check. This is what we found...


Apparently Sam decided that she needed some lipstick and Jackson thought he would help!

We had a fun day and loved spending time with our friends!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great 4th at the Irons this year! We had some friends come out along with our family and it was a perfect evening. The kids played and swam, Scotty and Cindy made a fabulous meal and Jason, Jared and Brad put on a fireworks show and with only one slight malfunction (ahem...almost caught the house on fire) they managed a great show! I love the 4th of July, it is one of my favorite holidays!

My babies


Happy girl in the Ironhorse


Heston


Jared & Lindsey (& Carter)


Ella's first time to eat corn on the cob :)


Brad


Kolbie & Jason


Family pic...do you like my husbands white trash t???


Silly Boy

Visiting with Nana

This past week we went to see Nana and had a fun time! The kids loved being able to swim whenever they wanted and we spent lots of time doing so! Jackson is a little fish and Ella was swimming by herself (with floaties) by the end of the week. Nana loved watching them and it was fun for me because I have memories of being little and swimming all day in that pool just like they were doing. Nana loved playing with the kids, watching them swim and reading to Ella. It is very sweet to see her with my babies. I love any time I get to spend with my Nana and feel so blessed to still have her and have the close relationship that I do with her. I hope that my children are blessed with as many years with their grandparents as I have been with mine.

We took the kids to Fiesta Texas one day with Pop and Uncle Ron and had a ball! Jackson loved the roller coasters that he was able to ride and he especially loved the waterpark. He even rode of the big water slides by himself! Ella loved the little rides too and was a trooper in the heat. It was a fun day!