Let Christmas Begin!!

The day after Thanksgiving, we always go get our tree!  I LOVE black friday!! :)

Lane showing off his monkey hat!

macy was a trooper out in the cold!

Lane picked a great tree this year!

Daddy getting it ready to cut

cute Lucy

Dragging the tree up the hill!

the onlookers!

Going back across our bridge to the backyard!

Lane's pretty strong to be able to help carry the tree now!

The snow we had all melted, and it was actually somewhat warm out!!  So we played outside for a little bit.  This is our "finished" fort!  There are two slides, swings, a fort, a pirate deck and a swinging bridge!  Next year we'll put siding and windows on the fort part.....awesome!!

Playing on the trampoline!

The Christmas decorating didn't quite get done on Friday, I'm waiting till Lane goes back to school on monday, and the girls to take their naps to finish :) BUT the kids did decorate the tree, and it looks beautiful!! :)

First Day of Kindergarten

Lane started Kindergarten this year!!!! crazy!   He was pretty excited about his first day of school!   But he was NOT excited about taking any pictures :)

This is all I got!!

Cutie!

Lane especially did not want any pictures in front of his classroom!! :)  This was pretty much how the morning looked.  Me trying to convince him to take a picture,....AND to go into his class.  It was pretty funny walking down the kindergarten hallway.....this scene was re-enacted by about a dozen or more moms of Boys who did NOT want pictures....OR to go into their class :)

We finally did go in, and got his all settled at his desk, and they had some toys to play with before the bell rang! SCORE!

The girls missed their big brother ALLL day!  It was fun to go pick him up, they were SO excited to see him!  He came home and played a game with Lucy.  What a sweet big brother!

Last day of Summer

This was our last day of summer before school started!!! We tried to finish up the last of our "summer fun list"  

First item of business was making a "mud hole"

Then we played with our kitties

We got dirty faces!!

gave lots of hugs

lots of smiles!

blew bubbles

Tried to blow bubbles!

Dumped out the bubble juice...:/

It was a good day with great weather!!! I miss summer!! :) But on with the now I suppose

Apples!

When I was a kid, we had the COOLEST apple orchard down the road.  I loved going to pick apples!!  And they had an old bathtub hooked up to an underground spring that you could drink out of.....it was awesome :)  One of my favorite things after we picked apples was when my mom got out the apple peeler machine to dry apples, and it would make these giant apple-skin-snakes!! For some reason they always tasted better than the rest of the apple, and they were SO FUN!

I finally bought an apple peeler machine this year, so my kids could experience the magic of apple-skin snakes. :) I don't know if they were quite as enthralled with them as I was as a kid...but it was still good times!

Lane was the only one that would actually EAT them :)

The girls had fun turning the crank to peel and slice the apples though!

Even Macy was able to do it!

Big brother Lane to the rescue!  It's fun to see my kiddos working together on things....

We dried a whole box of apples, and I think it took approx 1.5 days to eat them all!!! :)  Not so much worth it for the food storage, but definitely for the memories!

One more Rodeo

I can't remember which rodeo this was.  I think it was the Newport Rodeo :)   it's been a while!!

But regardless, it was fun!  Lane got to ride a pony...

In his cowboy attire...

In the stands....waiting for the festivities!

Me and macy...

We love rodeos!  Too bad they don't do mutten bustin anymore.....I think Lane would LOVE IT!! We might just have to buy our own sheep.....haha

Crazy Olympics!

For one of our youth group's activities, we put on a crazy Olympics this summer.  The kiddos got to come with me and get in on the action.

Here's Lane in one of the many shaving cream events.

The girls decided to sit that one out :)

The cheeze puff-shower cap throw event!!    

Lane and Lucy made a good team! Lucy covered him in cheeze puffs...

Good, messy times had by all!  

Lost and Found!

YAAAY!!! Lane finally found my camera where he had "hidden" it weeks ago! Now I can post about the last half of SUMMER!! ha

This is a little camping trip we took with our friends the Miller's!  They were super troopers and we all had fun!!  We went up to MY favorite place, Metalline Falls and camped at a little spot off the highway...

We found a fun little river to camp on!! here's the boys crossing the river....which was FREEZING!!!

Macy navigating the rocks along the shore...

Lane guarding the cooler

cutie macy

the girls...

cute girls

Me and my May May

Macy chillin by the fire.....

this is where we crossed the river and there was a fun little rapid to float down...

Lane loved to cross this log....I think it made our friends nervous....:) But he's a good swimmer!! :)  hee hee

me and my buddy.....

we played snipes!!!

there are some caves up there, that are fun to see

Scott and Macy in the cave....

a big stalagtite thing....

Family photo in the cave....

Lucy found a hiking buddy :) This is the little trail that leads to Canada!

Apparently we've done this too many times....Lucy was the only one willing to take a picture with me at the border!

I love water...

This is the sweet creek falls....i just love this place!

Playing in the water

Our friend made some sweet little stick boats for the kids....they were a hit!

May may's boat

Ahhh, the ride home....

Happy girl!

Tired girl...

reeeeally tired boy :)

We love camping!  Next summer should be interesting with a baby again!!  Get ready baby Luke! :)