Maren's Pictures!!!

I had two cameras, so I decided to give one to Maren, to help her develop an artistic eye for picture taking.  Here are a few results.

                                                      This is Pepper isn't she beautiful?!

this is Chili

 This is my cat take a very close look I think it might be my favorite

This is chili headless... AAAAHHHHH the cat is a killer!!!

Conner trying to act cool with his glasses

                    Brenna is cheering with all her might don't lose your voice!! :) i don't remember why she was doing that though

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THESE ARE MY SIBLINGS ARE MOST LIKELY TO HAVE TAKEN THEM ESPECIALLY CORBY, HE LOVES  MY CAMERA. AND DO NOT ASK WHAT THEY ARE BECAUSE I HAVE NOOO CLUE WHAT SO EVER SO GOOD LUCK GUESSING!!! :)

nice movie eh?

i think its my brother

PAPARAZZI AHH DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE IM TOO TOO... UMMM I'VE GOT NOTHING

feet with black socks my guess is conner

looks like a jumble of clothes

might be Brenna dancing in a strange way  i can  not tell what it is literally i have no clue where she is!!I don't know who took em but i have my thoughts and my suspects

Hop- along little frogs

One day Maren, Baby(the dog) and I went for a morning walk.  It was a bit drizzly, so we had our umbrellas too.  On our walk we saw about a million little tiny frogs hopping all over the street.  It was very difficult to walk, because of it.  We tip toed through them all, and seemingly avoided squishing any of them.  When we returned home, I brought all the kids, as they each woke up, out to catch as many as they could.  Then we released them into our back yard.  It turns out they are little toads.  But we are happy, none-the-less, since they will enjoy eating all those nasty bugs that like to live in our yard.  Hurray for cute little frogs and toads!!!

Can you see them?

Corby was the best frog catcher.  He had no fear of picking them up.  I was always afraid of squishing them, but he was definitely gentle enough, because they were just fine.  He caught the most frogs.  

Brenna was too afraid to catch them, but loved looking at them.

Halloween 2011

My camera has been acting up, but I wanted to post these pictures, even though they are blurry.

Brenna was Strawberry Shortcake, Conner was an extra strong ninja, Corby was Green Lantern, and Maren was a Vampire.

When we were looking around at costumes, Brenna very strongly wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake.  She was the highlight of the Church's Halloween party, and trick- or- treating everyone raved about how adorable she was.  Like always, cuteness wins it all.  ;)

Conner was a ninja last year, but he really wanted a "Strong" ninja costume.  At school they were allowed to wear their costumes if they could find a book that goes with it.  It was difficult, but we found one about the history of Karate, and in there they had a nice chapter about Ninjas.  I found good info about ninja, like they were like secret spies of Japan.  The Samurai were the soldiers for the kingdoms there in Japan, but the ninja, were secret families that lived in the woods and mountains hidden and were basically trained through the family, and were hired to kill people.  Not only were boys ninjas, but so were girls.  They were masters of disguise and stealth.  Awesome.  No wonder he wanted to be a ninja.  :) 

You can see my camera getting worse and worse.  Corby loves the Green Lantern, even before he saw the movie.  In some of the Justice League TV cartoons they show the Green Lantern and he was hooked.  

We had lots of fun putting the Vampiress costume together for Maren.  I wish the picture were better.  

This was the only picture that came out well enough to show of our Jack- o- lanterns.    It was an image of a cat.  We bought four pumpkins, and the kids, gutted them themselves.  Everyone tried to carve them themselves.  The only one successful enough was Maren.  The others are just not there yet.  But on Corby's pumpkin I helped him make a pirates ship, and Brenna's had a Cat, and Conner's had little images of bats, ghosts witches, and all of that, Maren made a spooky face.

Corby's 5th birthday!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Corby!!!  We had a great time on Corby's birthday.  We did just a little family party.  

I found this recipe on family.go.com. It is a Disney link and they have recipes and things there. Just click on the cupcake and cakes link and they have all kinds of fun thing. Corby loved his Cars cupcakes.  

Happy customers.  :)

We did something different this time for the presents.  I had seen somewhere a where someone put all the child's presents into a regular bag instead of wrapping paper.  I thought it was a great idea. A great way to save money, have less mess, and be green all at the same time.  We also played the "Thompson"  game of Beulah Beulah.  All the kids are requesting the same thing for their own birthdays.

Afterwards we went bowling.  Everyone had so much fun.  

I couldn't get a real good picture of Brenna bowling.  She kept on moving too much, and my camera is not too good with movements anymore.

New swing set and birds.

We have a new "used" swing set, so now we one of the fun spots for the kids in the neighborhood.  The kids are loving it.  Already since we have had it, both Conner and Corby have learned how to swing all by them selves.  Brenna is still in the learning process.  But I know it won't take long before she is swinging all by herself.  She is a quick learner.  

We also have two new parakeets.  Now each of the children have their own.  Sean loves birds, and wanted to spread the bird love onto the kids.  

Can you spot all four of the birds?

What about in here?

Here is Corby with his bird Chitter/ Lemon/ Sunshine/ Checkers/ whatever he decides to keep its name.

Conner has his bird Pepper

Brenna a Crystal

Maren and Chile

My camera is starting to show its age and is not working so well anymore, sorry for the blurry shot.  Here is a picture of  Lemon and Crystal.