I DID IT

This is entertaining.  But you'll have to watch it all the way to the end to fully appreciate it.  It starts with some charming singing "La, la, la, la, la" while he is creating a "great wall of markers".  He's building them with the express purpose of knocking them over.  Which he does and then proceeds to do his "I DID IT" dance.  It's a little long but worth it....

A Night in Bethlehem...

We got to dress-up  like characters from Bethlehem for the ward Christmas party.  Check out the kids:

Gingerbread Houses

The building process.....

The finished product:

Robot number two...

We went to dinner with friends the other night.  They have a beautiful baby girl who loves her "bumpo".  Turns out Brogan loves it too...in a different way:

Thanks for the picture, good food and memories.

Robot Number One

Brogan has a current fascination with robots.  He calls himself "Robot number one" and does a rather charming robot dance.  Today, while I was out collecting the girls from school, he and Brian were busy making a robot costume.  We came home and found this:

The result of an artistic and creatively inclined daddy who adores his boy and will do anything to entertain him (especially when it allows him the opportunity to relive his own childhood).

I can't think of a cuter advertisement for Goldfish crackers.

BLACK FRIDAY

We had a  remarkable Black Friday experience.  We went to Wal-mart....with our 3 kids....at 9:00am.  This is a special Wal-mart though.  It was built in a small little town in upstate New York.  When they were building it, they took into consideration the population of the area.  Which seems like a reasonable way to determine how large the facility should be.  Well, this Wal-mart is HUGE but, here is the kicker, included in the population of the area is 2 rather large prisons (one of them is a maximum security prison).  Needless to say, although the inhabitants of these buildings count toward the population of the area, the residents don't get out much....especially for shopping expeditions.  So, the store was peaceful but stocked!  Some of the "big ticket" items were already gone by the time we got there (4 hours after the sales started) but we still scored a new Blue Ray player for $70!  Seriously!  We were so excited.  On the way home, we stopped at a New England classic: Dunkin Donuts.  This is a shot of the back of our car....notice the Boy's face?  He loves donuts!

Here is a close up...so you can fully appreciate his love for this sweet frosted treat:

So, even with 3 kids in tow our Black Friday shopping experience was pretty wonderful.  Who would have thought?

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We have much to be Thankful for this year.  Friends and Family just happen to top the list.

My monkeys were busy today.  We went to another story time at Borders.  Today it was "The Polar Express" and the kids went in their pajamas.  We had a wonderful bit of fun.  Then it was home for a play date with 3 giggling little girls and 1 very sleepy 2 year old boy.  The afternoon was a flurry of dress-up and activities.  They played games, baked and decorated cookies, and made cute little apple turkeys and charming fairy posters.  It was a day of smiles and cheers.  It concluded with a OH SO YUMMY smoked salmon dinner graciously made for us by our friends.  What a wonderful day.

Thanksgiving Hair Cuts....

Sweet Cassidy
Little Missy KK
And the Big Boy.....

A SPLENDIFEROUS Saturday

I took the girls to Borders Bookstore today for the Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Party.  It was a collection of giggly, sparkly, and oh so posh girls....and THESE little ladies were right in the middle of it all:

Happy Birthday BOY!!!!

2 years ago this cute baby boy was born:

Today he is still a cute little boy:

We celebrated his big day with THIS cake (made by mom. You can't tell in this picture, but it is a 3-D cake.   The car is actually sitting on top of the checkered flag):
He got a TRAIN TABLE, with lots of tracks and trains.....And took the CARS theme to a whole new level....THIS is one HAPPY BOY! Notice the cute pit crew jammies?  His Grandma Harmon made those for him.  They have little Lightning McQueen cars all over them.  SOOOO cute!

We want to say THANK YOU to the wonderful friends who came to celebrate this day with us.

We appreciate you.

Thank you for your company, friendship, and...presents.  :)

Brogan, WE LOVE YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A visit from Grandma

My mom was here this past week.  We had so much fun together.  The girls all enjoyed spending time with her.  She even went to Kayla's class at school and read a story.  She did a lot of sewing while she was here.  She worked on some cute tu-tus for the girls and some very fun PJs for Brogan.  We are all so glad she was able to come.  We miss her already!

Images from the photo shoot Tracey did for us...yeah, we have cute kids.

Want to check out my cute family?

So this link will send you to the UBER wonderful web site that my photog friend, Tracey, made for us.  She's amazing!

Check her out.  If you live in the Utah area or know someone who lives there and is looking for a good photographer, feel free to recommend her.  I can't recommend her highly enough.  Check it out:

http://samstowndesigns.com/clients/Schroyer/

Thanks, Trace!  We are so happy with our pictures! 

More to come, but for now....

My long-time friend, Tracey, was here visiting for a week recently.  She took lots and lots of pictures of my family...and my friends.  I've seen some of the pictures, but not ALL of them, although they are coming soon.  This was just a random picture she took the first day we went out on a recon trip for good photo locations.  KK is pretty photogenic...and Tracey is an amazing photographer.  So, it's no surprise that this image turned out pretty darn good, even for a "candid".  Thanks, Trace.  I'll be posting more pictures from the multiple photo shoots we had soon.  For now, this is currently the only image I have...but there are many many more to come.

F-A-L-L

          Check out the BIGGEST leaf pile EVER.  The kids literally tunneled through this pile.

Can you find KAYLA?

.....And BROGAN.....

And CASSIDY TOO....

We love Fall in New England.  So many colors!

Cass the NATURAL

Cassidy loves horses. L-O-V-E-S them. For a special treat she got to go riding this weekend with some of her friends for a birthday celebration. She is a natural and looks like she belongs on a horse. She is currently saving all of her money to go to horse camp next summer. It's a lot of money. But she's determined. Maybe it's time to teach her about an allowance, hu?
Enjoy the photos:






What a happy, beautiful little girl!

There be Monkeys....

KK's birthday party was this past Saturday. We had all the guests arrive and assemble on the living room floor where they were told that a group of Monkeys had broken into the home and taken all the toppings for the ice cream sundaes...but all was not lost....they left clues (written on drawings of bananas). Each clue would lead the kids to a different task (pinata, popping balloons, putting together a puzzle, water balloons, etc) and the final clue sent them back to the kitchen table where all the toppings had been returned for consumption. It was entertaining to watch them figure out the clues and do the tasks. Kayla denied me the opportunity of making a birthday cake...she only wanted birthday ice cream sundaes. It was a pretty easy party to do and I think everyone had a great time...I know Kayla did, and for today, that was the important part.


The Pinata....to begin with


Brogan gives it a try.....


Kayla's turn.....


The Lion's body breaks away from the head and I have to hold the body so the kids can finish it off


Sad, broken Lion...full of yummy goodies.


Ice cream sundaes and good friends too!