Do you ever get that feeling . . .

You know, the one where you are metaphorically running behind a speeding truck trying to catch hold of a rope to pull yourself in so that you can have a reprieve from the constant chase, but you never seem to be able to get a hold of that rope?

Well, that has been our life as a family these last two months. As the kids get older more stuff is going on and there are six of them after all, which multiplies everything:) So we will try to catch the rope now so we can ride in the truck for awhile. (At least until we hit the next inevitable pothole that pops us right out because of course we are riding in the back of a truck without proper safety restraints and the driver is very questionably incapable. Though I'm not sure who is driving this truck. It should be one of us right? How odd . . .)

This was not Anya's first recital, but it is her first medal. It was awarded for having had three years of piano lessons. Very exciting.

 We finally got some outdoor lighting. We are planning on more, but baby steps, you know.

 St. Nicholas Day morning, this is the most exciting December morning, since they get the bulk of their gifts this day.

 Pandimonious present sorting.

 The Annual Aunt Laurel Pajamas

 Seriously?? They even posed themselves:)

 It's like four cute little not-so-old-old-men.

I love having a huge mantel with plenty of room for the stockings and the nativity. This would of course be Christmas Eve.

Next comes the early morning company meeting at IHOP. Rumor has it that MandJ's is making some changes . . . 

This brings us to the close of the year 2012. It was an exciting year full of changes and new experiences and we are looking forward to 2013!

Reasons to Be Full of Thanks

With Mark having turned 12 recently, we took advantage during our Thanksgiving break to enjoy his first visit to the temple.  

He stood as proxy for those who had departed from this mortal life without having received the saving ordinance of baptism.  It was a great experience for us...and a tradition we hope to carry on with each of our children when they turn 12.  Our family goal this year is to determine what family history work has yet to be done so that we can take our own personal family names to the temple.  

Another fun event that we took part in was the Christmas festivities that occur in Old Town St. Charles.  The cobblestone streets add to the nostalgia.  The buildings are simply and tastefully decorated.  And there are Christmas characters from all over the world that walk the streets and talk with the children.  Plus, there are fresh baked goods and kettle corn.  Something for everyone!

We got there right in time for one of the many parades.  It looks so official with a police officer on top the horse.

There were drummers drumming and carolers and fairies and scrooges.  Every character you could imagine.

There were also a variety of santas from different parts of the country and world.  There was even a frontier Santa and a soldier Santa.  

And then the REAL Santa with Mrs. Claus concluded the parade in their carriage.  Luke's eyes opened wide as they passed and he said, "This is the closest I've ever been to Santa!"  He was so excited.  

So this Thanksgiving, we were thankful for the beauty of the eternities and the beauty of this mortal experience.  God is certainly good.  And we love this time of celebration.

Hallo-When?

Yeah, we know.

It's December, and we are just getting around to posting Halloween pictures. Better late than never, plus once we post this we can throw in Thanksgiving and eventually Christmas sometime around Midsummers:)

We begin our belated Halloween adventure with a Big Boys trip to a haunted house. 

 Apparently it was scary, but not all THAT scary:)

Next is the annual Halloween Party. We are sorry to all of our guests, who we are honestly experimenting on while we figure out how to throw a really fun party. Nonetheless, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 

 We had tons of food . . .

lots of games . . . 

and the everlasting doughnut eating contest. We always walk away from that smiling:)

Last but not least, the actual day of.

 The cast of Harry Potter

 And some animals

Yes, that is a dog, pig and panda.

What do they have to do with each other you might ask?

Not one darn thing. The end of an era has arrived, we are no longer able to coerce all six of our kids into wanting to dress up as a bug group for Halloween. So we did two groups this year. One matches and the other is just way to cute, not to mention they are dressed as their favorite animals. 

 Lest you think our baby girl odd, know that the pig won simply because it is pink. She loves and claims all things pink as her very own.

 How can you dress up as Harry Potter characters and not try some curses? They had a blast and raked in over 21 pounds of candy between the six of them. It was quite an event.

Our Yellow Comic

Genetics is a funny thing, hence two brunettes creating a dark blonde kid. That is our Peter, big ears, dirty blonde hair, a goofy smile and a love of silliness. This sweet boy had a birthday just last week and here is a taste of his humor:)

He is all about the silly face pulling.

     

We recently learned that a few of our children don't really care for birthday cake. So I, in my gracious laziness of not wanting to get arthritis decorating cakes that are not really desired, offered to make them whatever other dessert they wanted as their "birthday cake". Peter chose brownies. I love this kid.

  Not sure why the face, but you can see how well he has been tutoring his young girl padawan in the making of silly faces. I think they were going for fake sadness about the loss of the candles? Maybe? Who really knows.

Cute Luke

There is something about Luke that will just always be cute. Now that he has turned five, he has gone from super cute 4 year old, to super cute 5 year old.

Being all boy he loves spiderman, hence the cake:)

Just look at that face!

I think this one was "OOooooo!"

He is a sweet, happy and loving little boy. He has plenty of silly in him which is why he is so cute even when he is trying not to look cute:)

Mark turns 12

I know it's late, but at least that's better than not at all right? Besides, it's not like we forgot his birthday, we were just so busy enjoying it that we forgot to share it with everyone else:)

Because this was such an important birthday, and we had family coming to visit, we had to compromise on the cake. Mark really likes my ,ahem, homemade cakes, by Duncan Hines, but it's a lot of work to decorate, so this year, he got two "cakes". First was the Jello on his birthday, and then the Sam's Club cake the day after when all the guests were there. He loved having the jello, but we did learn the hard way that candles in jello is not such a, um, hot idea:)

The night of his actual birthday, our brave boy was all alone. He needed to do an overnight campout to complete a requirement for Scouts, so he went on his first overnighter with the other Scouts and no parents. What a trooper! (Seriously, he had a blast, no parents to tell him to go to bed, coyotes running around the campsite, yeah, I'm not sure he even missed us:))

On Saturday we opened gifts, which is always a family affair:)

We also decided that 12 was a good age to begin investing in suits for our boys. So here he is all dressed up and ready for his first General Priesthood Meeting with his Dad.

 David has been anxiously awaiting this day for about twelve years. They even stopped for ice cream afterwards.