thawing out

Love this warm weather in the middle of January! Let's hope it sticks around (I won't jinx it by mentioning the muddy mess that has followed)



Making snow angels and posing with frosty
(we didn't have carrots, so the face is made out of oranges, celery, and pine cones)

Holiday Pics

The kids got a kitchen set this year
Ben got dinosaurs as well, and Avery got a new blanket

the girls the boys

the kids



trying to get one good family pic...unsuccesfully

christmas pj's


after swimming, the kids met max and ruby. Max almost dropped benjamin. Good catch brad.


so mischevious




the girls sneaking into the food on New Years before their big cousin sleep over



Happy New Years!

CANCUN!

So for Christmas this year, Brad and I treated ourselves to Cancun.
We left on the 15th of December, and got home late on the 22nd.

A full 7 days.

With no kids...



And yes, it was everything that I was hoping for...




Sorry for the overdose of pics...but Christmas pictures are soon to come as well

I woke up this morning to breakfast and a sweet arrangement of chocolates, cards, foot bath, candles and a vase filled with sweet memories and things that brad and avery had written. So cute. When brad asked avery what they should do for my birthday, she said "a bath" so brad improvised and did a cute little foot bath for me. Avery then said that it needed flowers, so they cut out little flowers to float in it, but she then informed brad that their flowers looked liked turtles. I loved it all. Avery and Ben's card had their handprints, and little pictures, and Brad did the full cut out. Every year he makes his card, and he's very creative. We also went out for an amazing meal Saturday night. Love the Ivy!

the floating turtles

Avery came into the living room all dressed up with things she found around the house, including brad's wool socks.

these pics are for you leah. Our christmas tree, and our "fireplace". I've now joined the ranks of people who put their tv on the fire channel. I can't help it. I love the crackling sounds, and I dream of having a fireplace in our house one day, so this is the next best thing. Is it weird that it always makes me feel warmer? And let's be honest, it's better than when the channel is devoted to a turkey sitting on a platter during thanksgiving time. I'm pretty sure that's a little odd. (although I'm sure it's less carbs if your looking for a turkey fix)

*note how the ornaments get more sparse at the bottom of the tree...due to child involvement, or winter thieving gnomes. I'm not sure which. Or maybe they're one and the same?

I know it's been forever. Quick post to update...

Brad's loving school, but keeping really busy (long hours of studying and classes) 3 1/2 more years to go. So let's get the gross stache photo out of the way. Brad participated in "Movember" with a bunch of friends. A FULL month. I was glad to see it go this last Sunday. At the movember party we went to, he won the "best magnum PI stache" and won a toy gun. Men and their facial hair.

Benjamin had his first birthday! I can hardly believe he's already one. He's been walking for just over a month, so pretty good on his feet, and he's getting to that wonderful stage where he wants to play on his own from time to time!

Avery is excited for christmas (as am I!) Our tree has been up since the day after Halloween, and we listen to christmas music everyday. She's so independent, it's adorable. She has quite the vocabulary, and will tell me when Benj is "fustrating her"

I know there's been no official post, but I'm most everyone knows that we're expecting again. We went to our ultrasound today. Halfway done already. They couldn't tell us the baby's gender, but I guess we have boy and girl stuff, so does it really matter? Due date is April 25th (during brad's finals he keeps reminding me) and the baby weighs about 11 oz? how the heck do they come up with these numbers?

It snowed a little bit this week. Not much, but enough. I'll be leaving to go back down to my parents this week, and Brad will meet us there when he's finished up his final exams, so Merry Christmas to everyone! I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner.

cabin 2009

{by guest blogger & sister leah}

friday:

2:00 pm. arrive at cabin. quick swim.

begin get-ready rotation for family dinner.

out to eat delicious thai food.

party of 42 please!

luckily, we were seated

en route to the public restroom.

good for us, not so good for everyone else.

the siblings

becky | holly | mark | john | dad | anne

ry & leah

{note the bright blue gum. classy!}

and as part of the

natural progression

of the evening,

late-night

crawdad hunting

caps off day one.

saturday:

a truly beautiful wedding {aunt becky & ken}

at an incredibly gorgeous location.

uncle mark & aunt beth

hosted at their montana paradise.

a lovely ceremony.

a lovely bride.

even lovely guests {us.}

having a lovely time.

enjoying lovely food

{a cheese platter to die for, truly incredible stuffed mushrooms,

hand painted chocolates - yum!}

& being ever so helpful cutting flowers.

melissa & tim

{aren't they so very cute together?}

how we really look when unaware of the camera.

{please note chelsey, dad & i.

what are we doing with our mouths?}

grandma r. & all her kids.

can you believe my grandpa made that canoe?

{and about 10 others just like it}

could this shot be any cuter?

and could brad look any cooler?

a garden nymph!

being jazzy.

to match the music.

it was all very cool. as -obviously- are we.

and relaxing after a long day of play.

which is harder than work.

and requires at least twice as much down time.

that's the ratio we were going for.

sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday

included a whole heap of the following:

i just love how avery is eating

with all the older yet single kids.

she can already tell they are the coolest.

pirateering & buccaneering.

{this is what happens with 2 rafts and 10 grown siblings.}

favorite quotes:

"arrgh, the one in black be mine." -brad (about chelsey)

"aargh, she be the first to walk the plank." -jordan (about me)

"aargh, relax!!!" -tim (about tara)

every night something new was lit on fire.

here it was a fire raft, sent out to sea.

or lake in this case.

our underwater glamor shots.

{katelyn & leah}

jonny's HUGE sliver

ryan caught avery a turtle.

she named it froggy.

and she let him go,

so he could go home & sleep.

such adorable children.

with such funny things to do & say.

lest we forget our biathlon.

and chelsey & brad oh-so-close to winning.

{fantastic final push chels!}

curses on tim and his freakish athleticism.

can you tell we love going to the cabin?

can't wait for next year!

home

So after 4 wonderful, long, and arduous weeks, we are finally home and ready to get settled. Brad starts school next friday, so we are on overdrive trying to get things into order, and run random errands that need to get done before school starts. So in light of the current situation, I thought it might take me a while to post a decent post about our vacation, so I asked my sister (who had a wonderful post about the first half of our vacation) if she would post hers on here...lazy I know, but I figure I'll get the second half done soon after. Anyways, so look forward to her update. Thanks leah...