Joshy's pulling up!

Josh has discovered pulling up (a few weeks ago), and now he figured out how to pull up in his crib. I kind of encouraged it because I came in and found Josh staring out his crib with his finger in his mouth, and then I showed him the top of the crib and he pulled up! Smart guy!

Finally a smile!

It is so hard to get a good picture of Ashley. Usually it's because "I tan't smil-o because the mean witch locked me in the tower, so now I tan't smil-o." :) That's a little sneak peak of Dora Saves the Snow Princess if you haven't watched it yet. Anyway, she finally was given back her smile :) so I took a few pictures. The other picture is her when she fake laughs she sticks her hands by her face and laughs. This picture pretty much caught it so I had to post it. Mainly for Russ because he loves it when she does that! :)

Starting over with my dogs

I use to be a dog lover when we got Max (cockapoo). He is such a great dog! He doesn't shed, and he lets the kids do whatever they want, ALWAYS! The we happened on Jaggers our black Collie Mix of something I don't know maybe mixed with poo. Just kidding he has Blue Heeler in him. The first day we got the dog he tore up my porch swing and our trampoline net and pads! Anyway, I have at times had good moments, but they both really started irritating me the more children we added to the bunch the less love I've shown the pups (my kids have kept loving them). Then I went a few weeks ago to see the movie "Marley and Me," what a great movie! I cried so hard at the theater, I called my parents and cried on the way home about it, and then I cried to Russ at home! Pathetic huh? A little I agree, but it reminded me of what dogs are really truly here for. They really are a mans best friend. They are there for my kids when they are sad, happy, lonely, loyal, and always so forgiving! If you saw what my kids did to the poor things you'd be impressed my dogs are still happy to see them. :) That movie reminded me of what my dogs meant to me as a child and even though I don't want to cuddle with them now (I did after the movie though, Russ thought I was going crazy literally!) they really are great dogs! I am thankful to God for putting such great animals in my life and my children's. My New Years goal is to try to love my dogs. I'm sure I lost a lot of you here on this one, and maybe I really am going crazy who knows! :)

Nicky came to see me!

My sister Nicky came and saw me at the end of October 2008! My parents had some miles that they needed to use so Nicky came to console me after the hurricane. :) We had the weekend to just hang out! Everytime we get together we find a new hat. We got our brown hats in Washington, but we're modeling them today! :) I love it when my sisters are around me it give me a good pick me up! I love you Nicky!

Monday Night Football

Russ's attending gave our whole family tickets to Monday Night Football in December 2008. He even gave us his parking pass. (He has season passes for the Texans) We've never been to a NFL game before let alone Monday Night Football. We sat in the season pass section, and you could just feel the excitement of all the lovers of the Texans. It was really cute. The kids really enjoyed the game for about the first hour. They had in our season pass seats these cute Go Texans rolling signs that entertained them for awhile. Loren loved the game, but the others kind of started getting tired and cold by the end. At about 9:30pm we called it quits when we saw all of the kids except for Loren had already fallen asleep! The best or worst part was carrying all of them back down to the car. Russ had Ashley and Holden across his shoulders and hip, and I carried sleeping Joshy. Emily reluctantly followed us only because she wasn't sure if we'd leave her since she decided a fit was appropriate for the fans to hear. :) All in all it was a good time!

Grandma Helen

Grandma Helen, Aunt Betty, and Kent came and saw us from Utah! It was so fun to see her. Emily's named after Grandma so we took a picture with then together. Russ and his Grandma have a sweet bond. It's adorable. She really means a lot to all of us. She's a good, good lady. We love her!

Camping November 2008

We went camping the weekend before Thanksgiving as a family! The kids LOVE camping so we try to take them a few times a year. This place was a new location and so that was fun to explore a new place for them. It was really cold at night though. We had a heater on in the tent the whole night to keep warm. We saw deer all over the campsite on our hike. I found a few good places to take pictures of the kids, but taking 5 kids pictures is really hard. They all look every which way.

Thanksgiving 2008

My people (my parents) came for Thanksgiving this year! It was so nice to have them around for the holidays! We had a great time at the Zoo with them, getting Kolaches (a delicious sweet roll with food in the middle),playing new board games, cooking the turkey with Grandpa (what a hoot), and waking up way to early with all the other crazy shoppers after Thanksgiving day with my Mom.
Cooking the turky was the cutest part. Holden was so excited to cut this baby open and see what was inside of it! All the kids stood around Grandpa as he showed them the insides of the turkey. He pointed out every part. He was hilarious! I wish I had a video camera to rewatch that great moment. He lifted up the birds wings and would say, "does anyone have any deodarant?" He let them touch it, and we all ate the gizzard, heart and neck (my favorite part). It's a little sneak peek of what our delicious turkey will taste like. Loren and Emily didn't love the insides as much, but Holden LOVED it! He still talks about the gizzard! Even Josh army crawled over to get a view of the excitement in the kitchen. Grandma had to pick the little guy up so he could see. Ashley as I'm posting this says, "Grandpa was so slilly with that turkey!" Thanks for the wonderful time!

Christmas 2008

The kids had a their best Christmas ever! They each got about 3 things each from their Santa lists. They thought that was so great! The three older kids all got MP3 players. They were singing at the top of their lungs all day. Russ and I laughed when Lore and Em got mad at Holden for singing really LOUDLY "Feliz Navidad" over and over again. We tried to tell them we have heard them do that all day, but they didn't or wouldn't believe us. :) Ashley got a kitchen. One day when she was watching Dora on tv during the commercial a princess kitchen appeard,and I heard her say, "Oh, tool, tool that's what I'm getting for Tismas!" It wasn't really in the plans, but after that and seeing the after Thanksgiving specials it became our plan! Loren and Holden got bakugans! They love these things. It's a little ball that rolls around and turns into other creatures? You know what I have no idea what they turn into, but they are pretty cool things. Emily got her "American girl doll" it's Target brand, but she calls it that. My parents bought her and Ashley the pj's that match the doll and that match them too. It was Emily's favorite thing ever to wear her pj's with her doll! I had to tell her to take them off after 2 days of wearing them straight. Josh we thought would be preoccupied by the Christmas paper all over the floor so I didn't have Russ put together this giraffe ball toy my parents got for him, but man he bypassed all the papers that covered the floor and went over to the box with his toy into it! It was really adorable.

Emily's Piano Recital

In the first week of December 2008, Emily had her first piano recital! This is HUGE for Emily! She hasn't ever had or wanted to have her own thing to do, but she has loved the piano. She did so great. She played "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." She practiced so hard for them and memorized Jingle Bells because she liked it the best. She borrowed her friend Jaden's dress and felt like a princess. Thanks Jaden! :) She was nervous, but didn't shy down once. We were all so proud of her. I think I caught Russ tearing up a bit, although he won't admit that he was. It was very sweet to see how proud he was of her. Yeah Emmy!!

My boys

Being from an all girl family I love boys! They are so stinkin' cute! I don't know if it's because they look exactly like their Dad (especially Holden) or if it's that I've never experienced this before.
We got very lucky and had our son Loren first. Buddy is an excellent oldest son and brother. Very caring and loving to the boys. I always tell him, "I always wanted a brother just like you." He really is so great.
My puppy, Holden, knows how to turn his puppy blue eyes on me in a flash. He looks so much like Russ that if he cries it's like seeing Russ cry which happens so rarely so I quickly hug Holden. He loves bugs and won't walk away from any of them. He has a soft heart for nature. :)
Joshyboy is such a sweet little duder. He will follow the boys with his army crawl as fast as he can to be with them. We'll see if he walks early just to keep up.

2nd mother

Ashley fell and got hurt and she totally passed me up and ran to her 2nd or apparently first mother, Emily! :) Emily from day one has been such a sweet sister to all her siblings, but the bond that she has with Ashley is something special. It's adorable. Coming from a family of all girls I know that bond between sisters and I'm so glad that they have each other. Sisters are so important!
I always catch Emily playing and entertaining the babies! Their eyes light up when they see her walk into a room. Josh can't wait to see her smile at him in the morning! He just waits for it. It's great to have a wonderful, bubbly helper around.

Another monkey!

Joshua has already figured out at 8 months to almost climb out of his highchair! We lost the seat belt 5 little people later (go figure) and so I can't even restrain the little duder! Anything he finds that he can pull up on he will, and the highchair is one of those things I guess. :)

Ashley's "na, na"

Today's been a big day for our little Ashley. She's a thumb sucker and I don't let her take her special blankets (na, na) with her when we go places, but at home it's always been around just incase.... but today I put them away in a closet.
She could only have them when it was naptime and bedtime. We had a few drama moments because she is use to the thumb and her blanket to console her. She did really great though! Although I did catch her laying in her blankets sucking her thumb a few times. I couldn't help but take pictures, which only encouraged her behavior. I will truly miss the blanket to the nose and the thumb in her mouth, but she needs to be weaned.

First time blogging

Well here goes. My very first blogging experience ever! I am so excited to start doing this so that it will be like I'm writing in my journal, which never happens, so maybe now it will. Nothing really exciting has happened this week just the normal day to day events. The kids are finally adjusting to returning to school and so am I. :) Well I'm not sure what else to say so see ya!