Portraits by Lacie..

This is a sneak peak of some portraits we had taken last month. Miss Lacie Verret came out to our place and had a great time snapping pictures of us. Here are some"behind the scenes" shots and the outcome...

(BTW - visit Lacie's photo blog - what a talented young lady !)

This cute shot resulted in...

This adorable photo - what a handsome guy!

and this little scene

turned out like this!

Random Update

So we finally did it - traded in the good ole red suburban in for a bigger van..
Ahh - I miss my suburban.. but in the van I can get up and walk around in the middle of a trip - that is until Will hits the brakes and launches me into the windshield. He and the kids think it is quite funny.

so here is everyone on the last day we had the old girl

and on the way to pick up the new van - can you tell I am a bit sentimental?

and now this nice shiny vehicle resides in our yard - in our yard because it is just a bit to big to fit under the carport.. please ignore the Ford symbol on the front - we are looking for a Chevy emblem to cover the shame.

and here is Jay - isnt he cute?

and Katie took this shot of Bella

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob Video

Really neat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

Floresville Trip Take 2

Down at the creek fishing....

Swimming.....

and shooting.....

Card headed out on his first hunting trip with PawPaw...

Katie also went

Headed out.....

Jay stayed with us and took a nice nap on Aunt Yvonne's very comfortable couch..


Jack in Uncle Charlie's boots and the gun PawPaw gave him - he is ready to go next year :)

Katie's Haircut

Before

After....

Kiddos

JayBird - this is what Katie calls "moon eyes"

Thomas enjoying his first time in the walker


Shear Fun

For anyone who might question me when I say that Jack really enjoys his veggies :)

Thomas in his seat

And Now...

A baby moment...

This happy little chunk of love is such a blessing to our home - I cannot imagine life without him!

Jack and Thomas

Jay helping Katie make bread

Jay taking mulch to the new piglets.. I will have to post pictures soon

Bella reading

Katie just entered this picture into a photo contest - wish her luck :)

Jack's 4th Birthday

Our little Jack Jack (aka - Jacky Alpaca, Jackie, and Monkey boy!) on the morning of his 4th birthday. He wanted cereal for his breakfast and since they don't get that very often it was a treat for everyone.
For dinner that night we had our friends Caroline and Daniel visit. Jack wanted spaghetti for dinner and he had a gluten free chocolate pound cake and ice cream for dessert.

Blowing out all 4 candles!

This was actually the morning after Card's birthday.

Since we had a few extra kids (Ezra, Daniel and Hannah) I made a special breakfast.

These are homemade donuts and fruit. The donuts did not turn out as I expected and Hannah mentioned that maybe the reason donuts have holes is so they can cook on the inside - who would have thought that! Does anyone know if that is why? These did not cook all the way through but were burning on the outside.

Card's 7th Birthday

Well , another year has gone by in the life of Richard "Card" William Boytim - he is now the expert 7 year old (as compared to the "know everything" 6 year old he was a few mere days ago..). We had some friends over to eat dinner with us - the Allison Family, Ezra and Hannah Barrett (though Hannah was here as another girl for Katie to visit with in an amongst the boys!), Daniel and Caroline, Dad-Dad, Mom-Mom, and Little Mom-Mom. Card chose pizza for his birthday dinner and Katie and Hannah made all the pizza's that afternoon while Mommy took a nap - sweet girls!

Lewis, Card, Ezra, Jack and Jay making ice cream

Everyone swinging - I think they played "duck, duck, goose" after this :)


Hannah made Card this beautiful cake for his birthday gift. He wanted me to make something like this but I don't think I would have had the patience :)

It was so cute I hated to cut into it - I actually did not cut it, I made Hannah do it!

Excuse the "frosty" looking M&M's, they were not old candy but were cold from the fridge :)

Dad's Project...

Quick Update

Little Thomas is the best baby! He nurses great - he is over 17 lbs now :)
He sleeps all night - goes to bed around 9pm and wakes around 4:30am (usually Will is getting up then and I think that wakes him and he is HUNGRY!) and then falls back asleep after eating. He usually wakes around 8am and eats again and then stays awake for a bit cooing at us. Then he takes a LONG morning nap - sometimes not waking until 12 or 1 - we get a lot done in that time. Then he eats again while Katie makes our lunch, everyone eats and it is nap time. Thomas is up with me for about an hour while the other little ones are down and then he and I go in around 2pm and take a little nap. Up again at 3pm with everyone else and we just do dinner prep, snacks, etc...
He eats again around 5pm (he usually snacks at 2pm when we go nap). He eats a good meal at 8pm and likes to nurse again at 9pm when I lay him down, but not a full nursing... just likes to be by Mommy really.
So are days just kind of roll by - he is so cute and easy - all the kids adore him. What a blessing he is to all of us - thank you Lord!

Nanny with Thomas - This is my grandmother, so Thomas' great-grandmother

Jay, Bella, Jack and Card pose for a quick picture before digging in - ignore the construction zone behind them... we are working on that.