Prima Ballerina

This past weekend was Haven's first ballet recital.


She had no idea what she was in for but she has never had a problem being in front of people so we knew she would do great. Dancing is one of her favorite things and it was fun to watch her.



Here she is with one of her little friends from dance class. Haven is always admiring the girls with long hair and Brooke has got gorgeous long brown hair.

And TA-DA!! I finally learned how to upload video. Yay! Here is Haven doing her thing. So so so cute. Her favorite part of the whole thing was the curtsy at the end but as you can see she obviously had a 'nose itch" and missed out on performing that part. It's O.K. though because that's the part she continues to do for us every day. Good job Gracie. We loved seeing you dance.






P.S. These are the tutus we made for one of the classes. They came out really sweet. We were thankful for the opportunity to do them and hope we get to do lots more.

Christmas Fun

Sandra's husband is a Christmas lights/blow up freak and we get to enjoy the fruits of all his labor. So instead of driving miles to get to a lights display we packed up and drove down the road to Sandra's house and had some fun. All of the kids loved the whole thing.


It was also the same night that Venus and Jupiter were lined up so my little astronomers got to enjoy that too.



When we were done we came home and camped out in front of the TV to watch "Shrek The Halls" and then everyone was off to bed. Fun times. I put the slide show in so you could enjoy the fun too.

Happy Birthday Brayden Boy

It's hard to think my baby boy is six. Does anybody else think of their youngest of a specific gender like that? I know Brayden's not the baby. Believe me. Payten let's us know daily that she is the baby. (O.K. I keep reminding her and have her repeat it to me. "I da baby") But still there is something about my baby boy that makes it different. It's just one of his things. Unlike Rylan and Trevan, Brayden knew exactly what he wanted for his birthday. He is always into mechanical things that he can mess with and occasionally take apart and his knowledge of these things is usually way over my head so we usually have no clue what he is talking about. It always sounds like some kind of futuristic intelligence office tool but once we get walking around the stores we spot it and read the box and it's word for word what Brayden has said. Darn commercials!


So Brayden was very happy to have his own night vision goggles(he wanted them before Rylan's b-day was even close), his zero gravity remote control car(it drives on the walls and ceiling) and a bionic eye. (I'm not going to take the time to explain. I'll sum up by saying that it's a souped up magnifying glass.) His gifts always keep us all entertained for a while.


So Happy Birthday Brayden. Love you baby boy.

Tea time

Another one of those moments when I think... "so cute". Yay sisters!

Heat Breaking Highs to Freakin' Freezing

So yesterday was 85 and this is what we woke up to this morning. The kids were certain they would have a late start but alas... everything on the ground was still so warm from our summer day in December that it melted as soon as it hit the ground or road. But we got to see the snow/ice on the trampoline and deck. One day of this is all I need. Not that I want it to be 85 but 29 is very cold. Especially coming in on the heels of the 85. Crazy Texas.

No Go for B

Last night was Bryan's area to state auditions and they did not go well. He says that he knew it wasn't great but he thought he did pretty good. This time it just wasn't good enough.(finished ninth and needed to be top 5). It's a tough way to finish up his singing competitions his senior year and it's made him take a quick step back to look at what's ahead. He's really really really bummed about the whole thing and having a hard time regrouping so.... happy thoughts for B. We are so very very proud of him and know that there are many many more great, amazing and exciting things in his future. We've loved walking this path with him and can't wait to see the path he forges on his own. We're watching him evolve into this incredible man and I know he'll make his path one others will want to follow. Did I mention he's really really really bummed:(

Thanks Auntie Amber

My sister Amber is one of the best people alive at always remembering special days. It never matters the size of the gift or if the card is mushy or silly... we always feel loved when there is something from Auntie Amber.
We have had a gift sitting in our laundry room for about a week which clearly read, "OPEN ON DECEMBER 1". Much to the kids disapproval we waited and yesterday we got to open it. It worked out great for me as I centered our FHE activity around it and the gift was so fun. Thanks again Amber . We love you too.

New Baby In Town

A friend of mine had her baby almost two weeks ago and we finally got to meet her Thanksgiving night. Brooke Meeden and family came to hang out with us and I have to admit that I had a hard time sharing her with everyone. Payten was the baby hog but I guess that was to be expected since she's the one who's never been around such a little one. Each of the kids enjoyed loving on Brooke. It was funny to have each of them cuddle up next to me and sweetly ask me if we could have one more (to which the reply came the same to each of them... NO). Except Trevan. He was last to hold her and when I asked him if he was going to ask me if we could have one more he gave an assured head shake no and said, "We have enough people in our family." At least one of them gets it!
Anyways, she's beautiful and we love having her here. Congratulations Meeden family. We love you.

More pics of the girls

I just can"t stop myself! I'm loving the fall/winter clothes and the whole girl thing is just so fun.... yes... still.

Preschool Pilgrims

Haven's little preschool class took a field trip to a park last week and had a Thanksgiving feast. We met up with another preschool group; they were the indians and we were the pilgrims. Aren't they all so cute!


As I have mentioned before, Haven is hard to get a good picture of so I'm always happy to share a new one.


And of course I couldn't pass up little Ella. She was just happy to get to join the group this time instead of making our weekly Walmart and Hobby Lobby run. You know Mommy has been busy with the bows and tutus when every time you get in the car your two year old asks, "We going to Hobby Lobby Mom?"

Happy Birthday Jakey

Nine years old! Life's journey with Rylan has been an amazing experience from the moment we knew he would be coming. He's truly an indescribable joy to us that we thank God for every day. Rylan shared his birthday this year with Bryan's region concert so it made it a double special day. As noted in a previous blog, the whole fam went to B's concert but then to celebrate the occasions we went to a restaurant and ate dinner together. Nana, Grandpa and Auntie Rachael joined us where the staff sang "Happy Birthday" to Rylan and everything. We have never ever been to a sit down restaurant with all of us together before so needless to say, I was again nervous about the possibilities but was again just as pleased with the outcome. We had a really good time and just today Haven asked when we could all go together again. Yay!!! Memories!!


Afterward we went to make one last ditch effort to find Jakey's gift he had been asking for and luck was on our side. We found the Eyeclops night vision goggles at a nearby Walmart where Rylan cashed in on the perk of having Nana and Auntie with us. He was having a hard time deciding if he should just get what he wanted or go the frugal route and wind up with more in his checkout bag. The dalima was resolved when he so sweetly asked Nana if they would buy him the helicopter he found. So he walked out with two very cool toys, a heart filled with gratitude and love and happy memories. What else is there to say? Oh yeah... love you Jake.

Hey Amber! I Got One!

So Sunday before church the girls were being so cute together that it made me stop and stare. I was thinking about how much they've grown and how tall Haven is for her age right now. (I'm sure she'll bottom out like the rest of the little boys but I can't help but root her on in hopes she'll get some height to her!) Then I remembered that my sister Amber had asked me take a picture of them side by side wondering those same things. Taking pictures of Haven is never easy but I got one of them together and neither of them is crying or running away! I still remember what a shock it was to come to grips with when we found out that Payten would be joining our family but... for all the reasons A through Z... I love having her a part of all it. Especially dressing the sisters in such cute clothes! I still step back and think... They're just so cute!