Christmas photo extravaganza

On the last picture, I finally got all the girls to look at me and smile! It was a miracle!!!
Beautiful, happy Chloe
I didn't get one of Autumn that was usable... only this one of her with her eyes closed. I better try again another day!
Our cute Ciera Marie
Beautiful Brookie Lou


I decided to take a photo shoot today of the girls before church to try to get a good Christmas picture of all the girls together. All of the girls did really well, except Autumn. She would NOT cooperate with me at all. After lots of screaming, tantrums and a time-out, she finally stood for me to take pictures. Most of them were of three smiling girls and one really frowny face. Finally, she decided to be happy, and I got a really great shot! I was so glad... it was hard to get all of them to look and smile at the same time! I think the photographers at Sears have a really hard job!

Thanksgiving

Are we really that big of a family that we need a "kids table"?
Yum! Yum!


We have so much to be grateful for. We had Suzanna, Jeff, Chadley and Dallin over for Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was really nice. After we got home from cutting down our Christmas tree, we got the turkey into the oven. I had everything scheduled... I knew when to start the different dishes so that everything would be done at the same time and we could eat everything nice and hot. Well, I should know better! The turkey was done roasting an hour early! I had not even started most to the sides. Luckily, Dave, Suzanna, and Jeff helped me get everything done quickly and, after our teamwork, we ate everything nice and hot (and 1/2 hour earlier than planned). After dinner we enjoyed some pie (my favorite part) and the kids played until it was time for Zanny's family to go. It was a wonderful day!

O Christmas Tree...

Here we are... out in the wilderness to chop down our own Christmas tree!
Ciera and Chloe being silly!
Cute Ciera...
Dave and I took turns with the little ones... it was his turn!
Paul Bunyan... I mean, Dave, cutting down our tree.
On Thanksgiving morning we woke up bright and early and drove into Idaho with our friends to cut down our tree. This was a new experience for my family... being from Southern California! The girls were so excited. We got there and looked around for a little while before deciding on the perfect tree for us. After we all cut down our trees, we loaded them up, along with the kids, and drove back home where we got our Thanksgiving Dinner underway! It was a great experience and a great day! I am grateful for my family and for the beauty all around us!

Brooke and Autumn's Photo Shoot

Brooke and Autumn got a hold of the camera while I was in the shower this morning. By the time I got done with my hair and getting dressed, they had taken 60 pictures. Thank goodness for digital cameras! I deleted the majority of them, but I saved a few to share...

Bring on the TURKEYS!

A great friend of mine was telling me of a fun craft that her family did for Thanksgiving... so I thought we would try it. Last week, Brooke, Autumn and I went a few places around town and collected fall leaves and pine cones. We laid the leaves out with books over them so we could flatten them and let them dry a bit. Tonight, for a fun family activity we made turkeys using the things we had gathered. It was a lot of fun to see each of the girls do their turkeys a little differently. Brooke glued her leaves in every direction all willy-nilly. Chloe put about 5 layers of leaves, and her turkey couldn't even stand up until she removed some of the leaves. Ciera was pretty meticulous about hers. (So was Dave, actually.) Autumn was not very interested until we glued on the face... she wanted to put on the "eye-balls". I think it was a successful activity, and the girls really had fun getting ready for Thanksgiving!

What do "The Wiggles" have that I don't?

Well, I guess I can't compete with four singing, dancing guys from Australia. Brooke (in her dress-up dress that "twirls out") and Autumn (in the fashionable hot-pink sweats) have been glued to "Pop Go The Wiggles" longer than I can ever keep their attention. Maybe I should try singing and dancing with an Australian accent... Well, perhaps it is because Autumn has been a bit under the weather, and ... maybe Brooke is just keeping her company. Whatever the reason, I should be grateful that they are happy and entertained!

Dance Recital Fun!

Our cute little Autumn... she loves to dance!
Brooke, showing off her flexibility.
Beautiful, graceful Ciera.
Chloe... sweet and sassy!
The ballet dance... Chloe, Sera, Ciera, Bailey & Gabi.
Brooke doing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" dance.
Autumn and Gabby... cute little girls!
This was the "out came the sun" part of the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Ciera, tap, tap, tappin' to the "Charleston" song.
Chloe doing the Charleston tap dance.
All the girls did such a great job!
Our Ciera Marie.
Little Chloe Elizabeth.
The girls have been taking dance for the last 3 months, and last night was their recital. It was so very cute. The big kids did tap and ballet dances, and the little kids did a creative dance. It was a lot of work (since I was their teacher), but it was worth it to see the final result of all the work. They were so cute. I am glad for my girls' talents and abilities. I love them.

My response to the TAG

Well, Suzanna TAGGED me... and this is what I came up with. This is my fourth picture in my fourth file in my pictures folder. Cute, huh? Luckily it wasn't some lame-o picture of me or something. This picture is about 3 months before Ciera turned 4 years old. Boy, she really has grown up since then. Now, I will TAG Amy Hamblin and Heather Burnham. You have to post your fourth picture in your fourth file. I will be excited to see what it is!

My Little Brooke

A happy face to see in the morning!
This is how my little Brooke wakes up about 90% of the time. Her hair is always WILD until I can get a brush to it. I just had to take pictures... before she starts waking up with normal "bed hair" like the other girls. I don't know why Brooke's hair is so prone to craziness, but it has always been like this! We always get a good laugh from how adorable she is first thing in the morning. It is just one more way that she makes us happy!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

It was such a beautiful fall day today. I think the weather got up to almost 60 degrees and the sun was shining... I am pretty sure it was one of our last beautiful warm days until next spring! After Ciera and Chloe got home from school, the girls went out back and played for quite a while. Ciera had piano lessons for a little while, but then joined her sisters for some fun outside. I felt like a really mean mom when I had to have them come in for their homework! With Dave gone, we had to do family home evening with just us girls, so we got pizza for dinner, played Barbies, had a lesson on charity and then watched Dancing With the Stars together. We had a great girls night!