Twas The Night Before Christmas

For the past couple of years Grandma and Grandy have spent the night with us "the night before Christmas", and Grandy would read two books before the kids went to bed and Santa came. He would read "T'was The Night Before Christmas" and "The Wondrous and True Story of Christmas" by Gordon B. Hinckley. It was awesome. This year Emmy has already asked who's going to read our stories to us. That's a good question. One we haven't answered yet. Grandy is going to be hard to replace, but I know whoever steps in that our dear sweet Grandy will still be there with us reading along and as always enjoying his grandkids. Merry Christmas to all...

One Bad Babysitter

The other day I was busy doing something upstairs and I heard Parker talking. This was not something I wanted to hear because I knew that she had at least another hour for her nap and Ally had at least another 30 minutes. So I was planning on at least 30 minutes to an hour of free time. I thought I would give her a few minutes and she would settle back down. After about ten minutes I came downstairs and found this waiting for me in my dinning room(yes she sleeps in the dinning room, by the fourth kid you put'em where ever you can).

Apparently Ally had gotten out of her crib and climbed into Parker's craddle. I can't believe it held them both. Thank goodness for that.

She looks all proud of herself, like she's the best babysitter in the whole world. If anyone needs a sitter I know where you can hire one cheap, cheap. Heck, I'll let you borrow her for free, just don't count on her being a lot of help. But she will cutsie up the place for you.

Friday Favorites

A Father's Love....

and no I'm not talking about the ball game he's watching, I'm talking about the baby he's lov'n on.  Who says men can't multitask.  Have a cold, but great Friday.

Friday Favorites

This has got to be my kids favorite Christmas present EVER! It's the John Deer Gator. Charles-Allen got it for Christmas when he was two (I think) and it is still going strong and in pretty good shape for a three year old toy. I've seen it hold up to five kids and keep on moving. It's been rammed into cars and fencesand has run over tree limbs and kids. Yes, I did say kids, poor Al Al.
Here is Emmy trying to teach Ally how to drive. She wants none of it. She thinks she's Miss Daisy, or better yet my Grandma Ruby who has never driven a day in her life, but is always ready to ride if someone is going somewhere.

My what good l0oking kids;)

Happy Friday before Thanksgiving ya'll!

Charles Allen Is 5

Charles Allen turned 5 years old Sunday. He is such a fun kid, my favorite quote from the day is, "I've wanted to be five my whole life." We'll you got it kiddo.

He is the perfect boy for our family. He is into sports like a maniac, just like his daddy.

Our girls sure are lucky to have such a fun and loving brother.

I can't wait to enjoy the rest of our years with our little man. Happy Birthday Charlesie! We love you bunches.

Fall Fun

My kids decided that it would be a blast to rake leaves and jump in them. It must have been fun because they played in them for a couple of hours, even when it got dark and Charles-Allen hates to be outside when it's dark.

The first time Charles-Allen jumped in he got hurt. I think he overestimated the softness of a pile of leaves.

They loved throwing the leaves in the air, I think it made for really cool pictures too.

Happy Fall Ya'll!(Emmy's new favorite saying:)

I Want To Be Like My Big Sister

I totally love having a house full of girls. There's nothing quite like it. Last night we were outside, I was making my fall wreath, and the kids were playing. Emmy was walking her sassy walk and Ally was trying to mimic her. It was too funny. I so wish I had had our Flip video recorder. Ally so thought she was strutting like Emmy.

Oh my, could they be any sassier!

Notice the outfit. Ally has on two pair of brown bloomers and a shirt. Nut'n but style.

Charles-Allen even tried to join in the fun, but he quickly realized he was out of his league.

Marbles

I finally brought my camera with me to the famed Marbles on our last visit. I went with my bestfriend since 1st grade, Joelle and her daughter Ava, or Aba as my kids say. We had a blast. We try to get together once a week and Marbles is one of our favorite places, especially since we have a family membership. It was surprisingly not packed, I guess everyone with any sense with cautious minds are staying home trying to avoid the swine flu. They had some new exhibits since our last visit and one was the Mr. Potato Head exhibit. Mr. Potato Head came out to shake hands and I think literally about 80% of the children were terrified of him. They started running and crying. It was hilarious, mainly because they weren't my kids. Ava was terrified, but when she saw Ally hug him she decided he wasn't so scary.

Here they are driving the car.

Joelle and Ally smiling for the camera.

This was Ally at one of the new exhibits. Not sure what it's called.

The End of A Season....

and no I'm not talking about the fall season. I'm talking about my baby boy not being a baby anymore. Charles-Allen has always been attached to his sippy cup, he lovingly refers to it as his "bobbie". He always wants his bobbie of milk at nap time, but since Parker has been born her rarely takes a nap which means he rarely wants his bobbie. I can't hardly stand it. One day last week he decided to take a rare nap and he asked for his bobbie. I had almost forgotten about it until I saw him on the couch and realized that it had been a while and this might be his last time with his bobbie so I started snapping photos. My sweet baby is growing up.

I love the way he has always rubbed fabric with the back of his hand when he's trying to go to sleep.  When he was a baby and a toddler he would rub my shirt, but as he's gotten older he rubs his pillowcase.  That's how he chooses his pillow, not by the size, but by the softness of the pillowcase.

SPENDING THE DAY WITH GREAT GREANDMA

We took Parker down to spend the day with her Great Grandmothers.  They haven't seen her since her birth and have been wanting to so badly.  We went to see Grandma Mobley first.  She's my dad's mom.  Parker didn't know what to think of her.  She was fine until she couldn't see her brother and sister then she would start crying.  It was too cute.  But when we went to see Grandma Ruby, my mom's mom and the woman that Ally is named after.  She sat with her the whole time without crying.  Of course that could be because Grandma Ruby is famous for rocking babies and she did a number on Parker.  She slept most of the time.  I'm so glad we got to spend the day with our grandmas.

Farewell to October

October, my favorite month, is finally gone and I miss it already. Charles-Allen keeps saying that he misses Halloween and I know how he feels. But I 'm glad for November, Emmy tracks out and it's usually the only time we don't go somewhere during a track out. I feel like November is a time to slow down and just be thankful for what we have, and what we don't have that we don't want.

We had a blast at the State Fair with friends and family.

Somehow, Ally managed to get even sweeter during the month of October.

We went trunk-or-treating at church and trick-or-treating at Aunt Kristen's house.

And through it all Parker tagged along and was probably wondering what kind of crazy family she had been born into.

Farming

Our kids had a blast with all the free stuff that they could do at Mike's Tree Farm . It was nothing like our experience at our local corn maze and if you didn't read about it and want to you can go here.

Emmy got to pick cotton and bring it home. Cotton is a popular crop where we grew up. I don't see much of it around Garner.

Charles-Allen is in the collard patch. At least I think it's collards, Neal's mom said it was turnips.

They also had a blast feeding all the cute little animals around the farm. It was a perfect day.