Christmas 2009

The most wonderful time of the year is finally here and almost gone. It has been a lot of fun and I'm glad its nearly over. It has been one very long exhausting day.

First I will start by backing up a couple days. We have been so blessed with such a good church community and friends. We've had so many goodies and treats brought to us. Monday we were surprised with Christmas carolers and Santa! All bearing goodies too. Then Tuesday we were surprised again with the young women group bringing us gifts for the boys and us. When Owen opened his (oreo snacks and a western gun and belt set) he said "how did they know this is exactly what I wanted!?". haha Alex and Brayden both loved their gifts as well and baby Billy loved opening his and Gabriel's gifts. haha! Gabriel got a bath set and immediately baby Billy started taking his shirt off saying "help, bath...help, bath..." until I stopped what I was doing and gave him a bath right then! Billy and I also got some gift cards. We appreciated this very much and wanted to send our thanks to the young ladies and the adults who helped them! :)

Christmas Eve I spent most of the day baking because we want to start a new tradition of delivering plates of goodies on Christmas Eve instead of staying at home and focusing on santa and presents. The boys had fun delivering all the goodies. All  my baking only produced enough for nine small plates which we delivered to the families that Billy is assigned to visit every month, so I apologize to those who didn't get a plate of goodies. Next year I plan to make a lot more!

Bedtime finally came and Brayden laid out cookies and milk for Santa. We discovered that we have a new little Santa's helper as Billy and I heard a sudden clatter coming from the area where the cookies were. Notice I said were. Lady, our dog, decided to help herself to Santa's cookies AND drink the milk too. Yep, she tipped over the milk and drank it all up after she ate the cookies. We didn't tell the boys. They just think Santa enjoyed the cookies and milk. :)

It took a while to get the boys to sleep but finally we did and we, errr I mean Santa, set up all the gifts and special Santa gifts (the ones that we set up and are not wrapped).  Ebay was our big life saver this year! We bought most of the boys gifts used on Ebay (saved tons) and if not on Ebay, then we got them discount on Amazon with free shipping. wohoo!
Billy and I realized that we both got eachother new computer chairs and so he brought both of them in the house and put them together. yay!

We finished early, around 10:30pm but decided to relax a little and watch a movie. Bad idea. At midnight we finally went to bed but I wanted to feed Gabriel because for some reason he had refused to nurse when he went to bed. So unlike him. I tried to feed him at midnight but again he was refusing him. At that time it had been 6+ hrs since he last ate. He shouldn't have been refusing to nurse. So I kept trying but it made him more mad. Now I was dealing with a cranky baby at midnight who wouldn't nurse to go back to sleep. uggh Finally I laid him back down and he wimpered a little but went to sleep. It worried me all night though. :( I didn't go to sleep until 2am.
Annnnnnd a couple hours later, 4:30am, the boys woke us up to go open presents. Seriously? We tried to put a movie on for them (we were all sleeping together downstairs since the presents were upstairs) and hold them off until 5am but it didnt work. Finally at 4:45 am we drug ourselves upstairs.

 

 

 

 

The boys were all very excited for their gifts. I was pleased at how well behaved they were being though. They each took turns and no one got impatient waiting for his turn to open a gift. Baby Billy squealed with each gift and demanded I take his picture every time he opened a gift. Gabriel just crawled around getting into his brother's gifts and pulling the wrapping paper out of the garbage box faster then Billy could put it back in. haha

Then we surprised the boys with their big family gift. We weren't planning on getting it but this Christmas season blessed us unexpectedly and our tight budget suddenly had more room even after we decided to share the joy and buy some presents for another family who we knew was also on a tight budget. (And no Joy it was NOT us! haha)   So for the family gift we got a Beatles Rock Band set with Lego Rock Band game. We told the boys they had one more gift but they had to find it. We had wrote a letter with clues that they had to follow to find it.
Once they found it they were SO surprised. They all gave Billy a big hug. :)

 

After presents the boys were off playing so happily and quietly. It was nice. I took a little nap with baby Billy. haha Then it was time to make Christmas dinner. Billy got a prime rib and found a recipe online that he followed. He invited the missionaries from our ward and another ward to have Christmas dinner with us. The prime rib was soooo good! We ended up having another two missionaries come join us for dinner also. But that big prime rib served our whole family and six hungry missionaries! After dinner Alex brought out his new Halo Wars Risk game and the four missionaries left were excited to play Risk with him. I wanted to take a picture but decided against it. Some people dont like their photos on public internet blogs. haha

Then on Saturday after Christmas we drove up to Billy's mom's house for our Christmas with them. It was a lot of fun and the boys had a blast. Billy brought Rock Band and it was a huge hit. We all (well maybe not me lol) played Rock Band for a couple hours! Beki got me this awesome family sign for our house. I think its my favorite present! We already hung it up: (I blocked out our last name for privacy reasons, afterall this is a public blog. But our last name is on the bottom of the sign)

Thanks everyone for the good time and I look forward to next year!

Brayden's piano recital

I've also posted this on Facebook but I know some people who come here do not read my facebook page.

So here is Brayden's first public debut! haha

He did great, although against his teacher's advice he memorized the song. Of course he can read the music too but its faster to memorize it then play along with the notes I guess. Still though I think he did great having only just started playing the piano 5-6 months ago (I can't remember if he started in June or July!), and also that we have no other piano players in the family.

Brayden has always been the type to just get an idea in his head and run with it. I think its a good aspect to have. I wish I was more dedicated to learning new things and putting my mind to things like Brayden does!

Okay here he is....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUv6DXL9MKg

First Snow

The boys are SO excited. I was dozing on the couch while watching a movie with them when I woke up to shrieking, first from Alex, that it was snowing. Then all the boys got into the celebration and I had boys running outside in barefeet, and Owen putting on the first pair of snow boots that he could find so that he could be the first one to run through the snow.
The first thing he did was grab a big handful and EAT it. He told me a month or so ago that he was so excited for it to snow because, "snow is his favorite lunch". hmm? I guess he just loves to EAT snow.
I told him to stay away from the yellow snow... haha

Also I neglected to update and put pictures up but Billy and the boys put up the Christmas tree last weekend. The pictures of the boys decorating the tree are too fuzzy, my flash was not on because the flash washed out the pretty lights. I need to figure out my camera settings better...
But I DID manage to get a picture of all the boys sitting in front of the finished tree. What the picture thankfully didn't show is that immediately after it was taken Alex, Brayden and Owen started hitting each other again and Billy Jr threw Gabriel off his lap. *sigh*.  That's just life in a house of five boys!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. More and more I'm hearing bad news around us. Suddenly our little issues seem so trivial and we're just thankful to have each other, a roof over our head, food in our bellies, and friends and family all around us.

And now the pictures.....

The boys after decorating the tree and before World War IV (lol)

Alex first discovering the snow. P.s. don't you love his shirt? So true...

The other boys running to the back door to see the snow.

Alex throwing out the first snow ball

Owen the first to run outside in snow boots

A happy Owen with his favorite lunch!

All I want for Christmas....

I just have to brag about my sweet little boys for a moment...

The boys really haven't told me much of what they want this year, except for a few ideas they've casually tossed out. However in the past it seems they've had this one special toy that they couldn't stop talking about and really really wanted.

I'm at a loss for what to get them, although I have a few ideas, and so I asked each of the boys individually what they were really looking forward to this Christmas. I asked them when they think about Christmas, what are they really excited about, or what do they really really want.

I asked Owen first and after a long time of thinking he just said, "I just want my family."

I asked Brayden next, and he said "a hamster!" after two seconds of thinking.

Then I asked Alex later when he got home from school and he thought for a long time too and then said, "I just want to be together with my family".

What sweet boys I have! :)

On a sad note, I've gotten a lot of bad news just within the last week about friends and family. So all I want for Christmas this year is healing and comfort for those who need it.

Just a photo post...

I took some photos of the boys quickly last Sunday morning while we waited for Billy to return from his meeting and pick us up to go to church.  They rarely are dressed up nicely, so I wanted to take advantage of it!

We didn't do school pictures this year because, well, it gets expensive for three kids in school now! I miss having an updated school picture on my wall though.... :(

So I took some photos myself, and while they are not professional and not the best...they'll do. :)

Here they are....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Bold New Look

So our goal is to get the house, interior, painted soon...probably in the spring. *crossing fingers* However something else always comes up.... haha

Anyway, I'm excited again about planning for my new "look" in the living room mostly. Originally I had thought of doing light tan colored walls with a dark brown accent wall. However, with the cream colored couch we bought, and the new wood floors...that was just too many shades of brown.

I NEED COLOR!

So I got the new Lowes project idea magazine in the mail and fell in love with one of their living room ideas. Its so bright. So colorful and so NOT what I would usually go for! However, for some reason I just love it.

I can see so many possibilities with decorations on the walls (which I don't really have now because I suck at decorating haha) and some green plants here and there would go really nicely.
The color scheme would be green/cream/dark brown with some gold accents here and there, darker gold. I already have dark brown coffee tables and a built in china hutch that is the same color as the walls right now-basic brown. However I'm wondering about refinishing it to a cherry wood brown. hmmm
The possibilities!

Anyway, here is the new wall color that I fell in love with and so far, unless I change my mind again, I think its what we'll go for!!

Updates with photos and video!

Well I am a slacker when it comes to blog updates. Here it is starting the 2nd week of November and I haven't even posted about Halloween yet!! I guess I've been hanging out at Facebook too much. oops!

Okay, updates...

Well we're done with soccer, so that is very nice! :) I posted already about Alex missing his last game and trophy party. :(

Now we are just busy with school, work, and church stuff. The usual!

In exciting news...Alex won an XBOX 360 at his school's Halloween fun night! Wohoo! He was SO excited. We picked him up just a couple minutes early, while they were still announcing winners of various contests, and then there was no school for three days due to conferences. So he didn't even know that he had won it until he came back to school on Monday and friends were congratulating him. He ran to the office...and there it was, with his name on it! When I picked him up from school that day he starting pointing at this bag he was holding before I even had parked the car. I had no clue what was going on! He was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. haha

Other news - Gabriel has finally started scooting! He just scoots a few inches backwards, but in about an hour he'll go halfway across the room. I have a little short video of him scooting once, it was the best video I could get. I also got a video of his cuteness laughing, babbling, and grunting at me. :)
(Cant figure this video thing out - so bear with me!)

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/bethanbabes/?action=view&current=gabriel_scoot.flv

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/bethanbabes/?action=view&current=gabriel_9mo.flv

Brayden is still practicing for his Christmas piano recital this December. I don't know when it is yet, but when I find out I will let you know! This is our first year doing piano, so I have no clue what to expect or what a recital is usually like. So far though he's learned three songs. Well he knows Jolly Old St. Nicholas by memory now. He also can play the first two lines of Silent Night and Deck the Halls by memory. He's still working on learning the rest of those songs though. Deck the Halls he actually taught himself. He started practicing the song by himself at home, and learned the first two lines before he even went back to piano lessons the next week.
Here is a video of him playing Jolly Old St Nicholas, although he messes up a couple times. He was flustered by the camera, and although he played it perfectly a second time - my battery ran out. So I only have this one to post for now:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v331/bethanbabes/?action=view&current=bradyen_piano.flv


Now about Halloween...it went well! We just took the boys around a local neighborhood to trick-or-treat for a couple hours. Billy Jr really figured it out and LOVED running from house to house yelling "trick or treat!" We had a hard time keeping up with him. He only lasted about an hour though and he was done. haha
So the boys dressed up as - Alex: a soldier with camo paint on his face / Brayden: a "spider king" with web on his spider king robe, but he wanted a zombie face too. Then he got hold of the red paint and went crazy on his face. grrrr / Owen: a vampire / Billy Jr: a pumpkin, just like last year. He didn't care though, and we were at Grandma's last year so no one here got to see it yet haha / Gabriel: a horse...although he pretty much stayed in the stroller for the first 30 min and then in the car with me.

 

 

I'm just looking forward to all the candy being GONE from this house...its not good for me to have it accesible. haha!

Those are all the updates I can remember for now. More to come later!

Beginning to sound a lot like Christmas....

Brayden has been practicing his Christmas songs for his piano recital this winter. He's mastered Jolly Old St Nicholas and plays it over and over and over again ALL DAY LONG from memory, doesn't even need the book anymore. LOL
Now though he's supposed to be working on his new song, Silent Night. He's got the first line down but is struggling on the second line. I think his sickness got him behind a bit because he couldn't practice for a few days and forgot how the second line is supposed to go. He's almost got it though. :)

I will get some batteries in my camera and post a video of him playing Jolly Old St Nicholas. :)

But all these Christmas songs, all day long, is really making it sound a lot like Christmas around here! My favorite time of the year. :)

Sick

Uggh I write this now as I have almost a 102 temp so forgive me for not making sense if I don't! haha

I just wanted to warn everyone to stay away from now because ALL of us, with the exception of Gabriel, are sick..most likely with the swine flu. I asked Gabey's pediatrician and he said all the symptoms match and since its too early for the "regular" flu, they are just assuming any case with those symptoms of a flu are the swine flu because its spread like wildfire here.

This thing is SO contagious. First Alex got it and was home for a couple days and then Brayden and Owen started their fevers the same night, and Billy Jr the next night. Billy and I started feeling sick and feverish this morning. I just pray that Gabriel doesn't get it! ALthough his pediatrician said he qualifies as high risk because of his age and we could get him some meds if he starts having a fever, probably a tamiflu type thing.

Alex went back to school today because he was 48 hrs fever free but then the school called this  morning and he had a 99.4 temp. I don't even consider that a temp..and the school's own "rules of when not to come to school" sheet says any temp over 100 don't come to school. Some people just have warmer bodies. BUT it was a good call afterall because by afternoon he was up to 102. Great. He was my one well child! lol

We unfortunately had to cancel all kinds of fun plans we made this weekend, Alex missed his end of the soccer year trophy party and last game as well as the school science fair today that he was looking forward to. Owen is missing his pumpkin patch field trip tomorrow. :( And I am missing a fun weekend I had planned for months now scrapbooking with Joy. Sorry again Joy!

I just hope that we are all better by Halloween or the boys would be UPSET. haha

Okay...food is here, bgotta ruN!

General Conference Oct 2009

We haven't finished watching all of General Conference yet, but we are watching bits and pieces as time allows.

For our family home evening yesterday we watched a snippet of Elder Holland's talk. Wow!

I loved the way he spoke with such passion and confidence. The talk really makes one think. Being a convert to the church, there were things that I had to really pray about for guidance and for confirmation of its truth. Gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon is one of those things I had to really pray about.  I have tried to read it for a year and a half now, but I haven't quite got through it. However, when I do sit down to read (or listen on the computer) I can feel its truth in ways I've never experienced.
While folding laundry a couple months ago, I was listening to the audio files of the Book of Mormon. I was listening to the part of King Benjamin's speech. Suddenly I was just hit by this feeling...or a mix of many feelings - sudden truth, happiness..I can't really put it into words. Billy said later when I told him that it was the feelings of a broken heart and contrite spirit. I was moved to tears standing there folding laundry and listening to King Benjamin's speech...and I can't even say why or what exactly he was saying at the time that caused me to be touched so much...it was just a sudden burst of feelings and emotions.

Back to Elder Holland's talk...I loved all of it, but some of my favorite quotes was the one he quoted from his grandfather: “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.”

But the most convincing part of his talk was about when Joseph Smith and his brother were in jail and about to be executed. This is what Elder Holland said about that:
"Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor.⁹ Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon."

Anyway, I just had to share...and I'm all fired up to finish the rest of the Book of Mormon sooner rather then to continue putting it off. I feel the holy spirit when I read it, or listen to words from it, and that can't be denied or ignored...its just...the truth.

Not a happy monster...

I went to Goodwill today to see what kind of Halloween outfits I could put together for the boys. We're tired of spending $15+ on each boy every Halloween at Walmart or Target or whatever...we have too many kids for that. haha So last year I went to Goodwill and had each kid put together their own oufit for cheap.
It was great, they had fun, and we saved a ton of money.

This year I wanted to do it again, but we couldn't find the time for us all to go out together and look at costumes. SO...I thought I knew what the boys liked enough that I'd go out myself and find some costumes while the boys were in school.

I came back with what I thought was perfect for each boy...Alex is going to be a GI Joe or soldier, Brayden a "spider king" or spider wizard or something like that (dont ask! haha), and Owen a cute silly monster.

Alex seemed to like his, although I'm not done buying his outfit and still need a couple things. Brayden wanted to be something else but really warmed up to the spider wizard outfit and likes it now. However when Owen saw his....he fell apart.

He tried it on, and then cried and pouted and said he HATED IT! Billy and I couldn't stop from laughing. It was very reminiscent of the scene in the Christmas Story when the boy is made to put on the bunny outfit his grandma (or was it his aunt?) made him. LOL

So I HAD to take pictures....am I crazy, or was I right to think this silly monster outfit was super cute? Too bad Owen didn't think so...

I'm kicking myself...

Yesterday a church friend of ours (thanks Eric!) was doing family photos at Ohme Gardens to practice his photography skills and get referrals. Just FYI, he did a great job! It was fun. :) We had never been to Ohme Gardens before, so that was really fun for us.

BUT I'm kicking myself because I DIDN'T BRING MY CAMERA!? Oh no! Even Billy couldn't believe I forgot, I always bring it everywhere there are going to be good photo op's. haha It was just so busy yesterday that I didn't even think about it.

The boys had a blast though running around all the trails and making wishes in the wishing well and looking out over the city. They couldn't believe how high up we were.

We have made plans to go back when its warmer next year and bring a lunch, and just hike around and check it all out for the day. I'll make sure to bring my camera then!

Just some updates...

So I realized one of my posts on my blog was missing that I made last week!! I then realized I accidentally posted it to my other blog, my personal journal blog. Sheesh!
Make sure to scroll down to see my soccer picture update below this post.

Here is my missing post of our family updates:

--------------------------------------------------

No pictures...I need more "Kodak moments"!

So just some family updates since it's been awhile...

Me - Just loving school season. My days are quieter, although baby Billy is giving me a hard time! He's getting bored I think and I can't let him out of my sight at all.
Today I'm getting caught up on mountains of laundry. I just don't get it - I get ALL caught up and its not even a week later and I'm days and days behind. If I even miss two days of doing laundry, it's like a domino effect...trying to get caught up on the laundry I'm behind on puts me more behind on the new laundry! haha So I'm having a folding party at my place, wanna come?
I think by the end of the day I should have all the laundry clean...now I just will work on folding and putting it away the rest of the day.
Oh and I've sort of gotten over my fear of public speaking. I seriously had major anxiety about it, about any public speaking. I know that in our church everyone gets to take a turn eventually and give talks on various topics at some point. Especially now that our church has split into smaller wards, it means that we get to talk more. aaack! The only public speaking experience I remember is from high school, giving reports. I would literally almost pass out, sweating, bright red face, and could feel and hear my heart pounding. haha
BUT I had to give my first talk at church a couple weeks ago. It was just on our story of coming to the church and our temple experience. Then this last Saturday we had our stake conference which is when all the churches in our area, our stake, gathers and has one big huge church service. Saturday evening is an adults service and Sunday morning is a service for everyone. It is usually so big that they have to open up the gym and the entire gym also fills up - sometimes extending to the stage. Aaack! However I was asked to talk at the adults service Saturday evening and it was way less people. Only the chapel was filled up, with the overflow (an area in the back of the chapel that can be opened if more space is needed).
I did just fine, way less nervous then my first talk two weeks ago. I did get a little emotional during my talk, but less then the first time. Just like the first time, I ended this talk feeling like I just didn't say enough. I felt like there was something more to be said and I didn't cover it all. You'd think I'd feel RELIEF that I was done, but instead I felt like I wanted to say MORE. haha

Okay on to more updates...

Billy - Is feeling better, I think he's past whatever he had going on. We're hoping it wasn't swine flu, but all the symptoms fit. It wasn't bad enough to be hospitalized for so he never went to the doctor. He rarely goes to the doctor anyway - he's as stubborn as a mule. haha But he is better and the boys got a mild version of it, and not all of them!

Alex - Is loving middle school I think. He's got the locker situation under control now. yay! He's in band but has yet to start learning to play his instrument - which he has chosen the trombone. haha We are still waiting for it to come in at the music store.

Brayden - Had a bit of an accident at soccer practice the other day which most of you all read about on facebook already! But AFTER soccer practice, while waiting for Alex's practice to finish, Brayden was racing a group of boys. He is very fast! Suddenly a little girl was there in the way and he couldn't stop in time and ran right into her. She, however, was the lucky one. I think her knee came up and hit Brayden's nose. Immediately he ran over screaming to me and his nose was just gushing. I took off his shirt to help with the bleeding and thankfully practice was over so we went right home.
Then he kept complaining of his head hurting too and he was very sleepy. We called the on call pediatrician but we were only on hold for 30 min and then we had to hang up, but they never even called us back. :( At about 10:30pm however he starting throwing up. :( That is usually a sure sign of a head injury. Billy thinks it could have also been from the pain of the nose injury, I don't know. But Billy took him to the ER and they said to just treat it like a head injury and wake him up every 4 hours. I also kept him home from school for a day and he had to miss his Saturday game.
BUT he's okay now. Just a bit of bruising around his eyes from the nose injury, but the ENT doctor said that it's okay - not broken. Kids have lots of soft cartilage still and it just crunches and rearranges when bumped. OUCH But it usually doesn't actually break. Good to know!
I guess that's what we get with all these boys...injuries are bound to happen. *sigh*

Owen - Loves kindergarten and I think is doing very well. I'm excited for the first parent/teacher conference.

Billy Jr - Is very busy, very much into his terrible two's. haha I think he misses his brothers. I can't wait until he's old enough to start preschool. I think he would really like that.

Gabriel - Is almost 8 months old! Can you believe it!! He's eating cheerios and crackers already. He still refuses any bottle or pacifier though. We're not pushing the pacifier anymore, but he will eventually need to take a bottle! Maybe I'll try to find a beginners sippy cup instead.
He is starting to sit for small amounts of time, however I need to be working with him more and letting him down on the ground more, because he should be sitting well by now and even starting to try to crawl. I just hold him way too much I guess. haha

So that's about it! I hope to have a picture update next time...soon. :)

Soccer Season!

Soccer season is in full swing. We're busy with games/practice usually Monday through Thursday. I love Fridays. haha
Soccer is fun, but our evenings and weekdays are so crazy!

Here are some pix....

oh but first, here is a pic of Gabriel's eye after we assume he was stung by a bee or something at Brayden's soccer game. It was really painful for him the day it happened, but by the next day it was fine and the swelling was gone by about day four and is totally gone now.


And now Alex's soccer pictures:






And Brayden's:

First day of school

The first day of school was a success, for the most part!

The day started off well - everyone up early, got breakfast made on time (eggs, hashbrowns and little piggies), and got everyone dressed on time. However at some point it went downhill, probably when I thought Alex's school started at 8:40am when it really starts at 8:25am.
So I drop the little boys off at school first and that went well. Owen just got out with Brayden and didn't even look back once. They just walked to the playground and played. :)
However then I took Alex to his school (middle school!) and NO ONE was outside, no buses, no parents dropping off kids...uh oh. I walk Alex inside and help him with his locker and then found a teacher to take him to his classroom.
BESIDES that, the rest of my day was very nice and relaxing with just Gabriel and baby Billy. :) I got some things done and was in a great mood all day!

After school, Alex ended up missing his bus because he couldn't get his locker open. Apparently, he couldn't open his locker all day and had to have teachers help him. :( And then Brayden got a pink warning slip from school already. Owen had a great day though!

BUT it was all short lived...Owen came home with a headache and "burning eyes" and Alex said he felt sick. A couple hours after they got home, Owen was asleep on the couch with a fever and Alex's fever was brewing. He got his fever later that evening. :(
So now I have two kids at home, feeling better, but they've had fevers within the last 24 hrs so I didn't want to send them to school.

Here's to hoping that the second week of school goes better!

And to end this..just a cute picture of Gabriel that I love. That facial expression!

Fair Fun

Friday was free kids day at a local fair. In my mind I'm thinking...$8 for me, free for the kids, a small amount of gas to get there - good deal! However of course I had to get the boys some of the famous pronto pups (big hand dipped corndogs) and huckleberry lemonade. Still...about $14-ish dollars later that's not THAT bad of a deal!

The boys had fun and that's all that mattered. :)

I think the biggest hit was the free petting zoo with all the baby animals - pigs, cows, chicks, rabbits, puppies and kitties. :)

Okay I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

Alex had fun playing with the older chicks. They would all chase his finger from side to side.



Owen loved the bunnies:

A couple of the baby pigs to pet:



The big momma pig and her new "litter" (what do you call a bunch of baby pigs?) of piggies:


Sweet sleeping babies:


Baby chick up close:


Calf sleeping - is that a heart shaped spot on his head?

Mr. Tom Turkey


Owen was petting the pigs wet noses:


This pig LOVED being scratched behind his/her ear:


The boys all petting a friendly sheep:


This dog looked SO bored with her "fame" haha And then she barked after I took this picture!