Halloween 2011

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in so long!  Life just gets so busy and it is hard to make time for blogging.  I definitely need to make time to document special times in our lives.  Time just goes by so quickly!  This year, Brock did not trick-or-treat...he actually went to Ft. Wayne with friends.  This was his first Halloween not spent with us...it is hard to deal with the fact that he is growing up and having his own life experiences that don't always involve us.  Kenzie went to a Halloween party and the girls all went trick-or-treating together...so she didn't go with us either.  Definitely apparent that my kids are growing up.  I did get to take some pics of Kenz and her friends to remember the day. :0)

 Hay Ride

 Loved this cake that Sandy made!  It had "tombstones" with each girl's initials.  Super cute!

 Cass

 Laney

 Kenz - she cracked us up with this costume!

 Our little "Pookie"

 Ciara

 Paige (aka - P-Diddy)

 Maddie

 Lexi

 Kirty

 Kimber

 Brianna

 Derek

The whole crazy gang!  Love them!

Fun!

Several years ago, my mom and dad built the kids a playhouse in our back yard.  It is so cool and it looks like a mini version of our house.  The kids have enjoyed it, but have slowly outgrown playing in it.  So we recently converted the playhouse into an art studio for Kenzie and her friends.  She recently spent some time with her friend Jenna in the studio.  It was fun to watch them create, laugh, and make memories together!

First Day of School 2011

I actually think we were ready for the first day of school this year.  For sure, it was the least hectic first day morning to date, mostly because the kids are old enough that they can get themselves ready without any help from me (I like that, but I also kinda hate that...they are just growing up so fast).  As is our tradition, we took photos to remember this milestone.  Brock started seventh grade this year and Kenzie is in fourth.  I am so proud of these kids and I can't wait to see what the year brings for them.  I did think it was cute because I was taking the kids pictures when Cade and Gage came walking in (this was Gage's first year riding the bus!) and I heard Gage tell Cade, "See, I told you we had to come early...you knew Michelle would want to take our pictures!"  Well, I couldn't let them down, so we went out front and took some more!  Here are a few...

Brock: 7th Grade, 12 Years Old

Kenzie: 4th Grade, 10 Years Old

Kenz did her own hair...I was pretty impressed!

Kenz with her loaded backpack.  I was sure that I had taken one of Brock like this, but if I did it must have mysteriously disappeared!  Sorry Brock!

I am so thankful that my kids are respectful enough to never complain about these pictures.  They know how much it means to me and they do it willingly...and I never hear complaints about posing together.  I am thankful that they get along so well.

We started a new tradition last year of posing by Deb's tree with the Cougar sign, so we continued that this year.

Brock and Cade - 7th Grade

Brock, Cade, Gage, and Kenz - all of our bus riders.  This was Gage's first year riding the bus.

Of course, we had to get Dane in a picture.  It was so cute, because the older kids had to be ready for the bus by 6:45 and Dane didn't have to be ready til a bit later, but when he saw us taking pictures he hollered out, "Wait...I'm coming...I'm getting dressed right now!"  Love him!

One of the few things that we bought new for school this year was school shoes.  Here is everyone showing off their new shoes on the first day. :0)

And finally....just waiting for the bus with all of the anticipation and excitement that the first day of school brings!  It's going to be a great year!

The Camera Loves Her

Well, I love her...and I love taking pictures of my girl!  Of course, she is always a pretty willing subject.  Last week I took Kenz and a couple of her friends on a spur of the moment photo shoot.  We had so much fun and the girls loved coming up with poses!  When I look at these pictures I realize how quickly my beautiful little girl is becoming a young woman.  She will be in fourth grade this year, for goodness sake!  I am so proud of Kenzie and I just love the person that she is becoming...we are at a point where I can really get a sense of her personality and I like what I see.  She is kind, caring, funny, thoughtful, artistic, silly, sincere, and honest.  What great characteristics!  I can't wait to see where this next year takes her.  Love you, Kenz!

How Did This Happen?

I don't know how or when it happened, but somehow my little boy has grown to be a young man!  I had him in the yard today helping practice some things with my camera.  When I loaded the pictures on my computer I had no intentions of using the pictures, but he just looked so darn grown up that I had to keep this one.  Boy, I love this kid so much!

Happy Birthday Kenz!

Kenzie recently celebrated her tenth birthday with a camping sleepover.  We allowed her to invite several of her friends to come over and camp out and help celebrate her special day.  We are very pleased with the group of young ladies that Kenzie has chosen to form friendships with.  They are such a fun group of girls!  We love their sense of humor (some of them are hilarious!) and they are all respectful when they are over, which, as parents, we really appreciate.  We had fantastic weather for the party and I think it is one that she will remember for a long time!

 We decided to do a fun "photo booth" where there were some props that the girls could use to take silly pictures.  I have been seeing this for awhile on different blogs that I read and I thought they would enjoy it.  They LOVED it!  They were jumping in and I was taking pics as fast as they could move.  We laughed at some of the hilarious poses that they came up with...wish I could have posted them all on here!  So fun!!

 A picture of all of the girls getting their pose on.  There were a lot of attitudes (in a good way) in this group!

 Most of these girls are regular visitors to our house and they all know that Chuck is going to give them a hard time...he has so much fun with these girls!  And they all look forward to whatever nickname he decides to give them...no one comes to our house without getting a nickname!  So, it only seemed fitting that they get him in on one of the pics...and he was more than willing to oblige!  What a great dad!!!

 We had Kenzie's cupcakes made by Tiffany Spray and she absolutely LOVED them!!!  Kenzie loves to look on her website and see all of her creations.  They tasted every bit as good as they looked!! :0)

 My parents gave us their old camper when they got a new one earlier this year, so it worked perfectly for our camping party.  One thing we did was to let the girls play "Just Dance" on the Wii...they had so much fun singing and dancing!  That was Chuck's idea and they enjoyed it for quite a little while.

 We ended the night by letting the girls get in their sleeping bags to watch "Diary of a Wimpy Kid...Rodrick Rules."  My mom had popped her famous kettle and regular popcorn, so the girls had plenty of yummy snacks for the movie.  I would say the the party was a great success!!