Family Pictures

Okay so I am really bad about taking pictures in general, but definitely family pictures.  These are the most recent pictures we had taken.  As you can tell one we are missing a child and the other Masyn is a newborn.

This was taken on the day we blessed Masyn he was only a couple of months old.

After being teased about it by my mom and my sister we finally got them done. Here is just one, if you want to see the others visit my wonderful sister's website. The password is ARM; and is case sensitive.

Camping

We went camping this last weekend and what a blast!! Unfortunately Doug has not had the chance to go yet this year (crazy work schedule). We had my parents, my older brother and one son, and my younger sister's family.

All of the kids loved to play with the dirt. As you can tell looking at Ayden. He was playing with a rock in the dirt. After rubbing it in the dirt he put it up to his mouth, of course mom got after him for that. Now look what happened!!!

My beautiful niece Aly! She is a cutie with her teeth. I couldn't get over her li'l hillbilly smile! 

Masyn thoroughly enjoyed "marmellow samwiches"  You can even see the dirt he still had on him.  I swear all of my kids tried to eat dirt at least once during the trip.  Poor Masyn had a runny nose so anytime the wind blew junk it stuck to his face. 

It was really warm on Saturday so we decided to let the kids play in the river a little.  The kids loved it and it served a dual purpose getting most of the dirt off while cooling down. 

This is my wonderful mother who apparently felt the need to rinse her hair out in the river.  Ryliegh decided that was a great idea and joined her!  Later on Ryleigh complained of a cold head.

Ayden showing how wet he got.

Everyone feeling cooled off and done playing in the water.

Like it my hat, Mommy!

Masyn has discovered his potty seat. . . . if he only knew what it was really used for.
(Good thing it hadnt been used yet!)

Tee Ball 2011

Tee Ball was a blast this summer.  With me being home now getting to practice was much easier.  Doug worked on some nights and stopped by when he could.  The kids loved showing off their Daddy in his police uniform to their tee ball friends.  This is a picture of their team (I am not really sure what Ryleigh is doing).  Ayden was one of the oldest on his team and Ryleigh was was on the younger side. 

I was too cheap to buy the big photo packages from the company doing the photos so I cheated! I wish Ryleigh would give a better expression.
 

Ryleigh kept saying she wanted to play but it took a couple of practices and promises of sitting on the sidelines for her to decide it was fun.  She had times where she didn't care about getting the ball and times when she tried the hardest.  It was cute to watch!

 

Ryleigh, Ayden and Adriana at their last game.

Getting Loves!

Doug was in charge of doing baths this night.  I came out from the laundry room and
found them all relaxing on Daddy fighting not to fall asleep themselves!

What's been going on . . . .

When I first came home we had lots of activities to do thanks to our wonderful daycare provider.  The kids were doing a career unit were only part way through the unit when they left.  Kimmy provided me with a few of career items that she had already purchased for the kids.  Here they are with their baker hats on while we were making brownies one day. 

Here is the constuction career. . . . . .

Who remembers playing with cardboard boxes when they were younger??  I sure do, and boy did I forget how cool they were until we had the box from Doug's gun safe.  The kids colored it for days, had me cut out windows and doors and then create a door handle for the door.  It is amazing their little imaginations, here are some pictures of their precious house and their progress. 

You can even see as their constuction hats off to the side, they wore these while I was cutting the windows and most of the time in coloring the house. 

The other nice thing with being at home is that we have had consistent Family Home Evenings.  Here are some pictures from a recent  FHE where Ayden asked to learn more about Moroni.   Doug did a great job, we talked a lot about Moroni and then made sure that the kids knew why he was on the top of the temple as well as why he looked the way he did.  As our activity we had the kids take turns standing on a kitchen stool and look like Moroni, Doug and I participated as well.  We forgot about the adult robe until my turn and I went last, but it was still a lot of fun.

I am sure that we will have many more fun activities as we go along, especially with school being out next week.

The Next Chapter . . .

Well as many of you know, we have ventured into a new chapter of our lives.  Doug have being laid off last March from teaching has now finished his certification program at Red Rocks Community College for Law Enforcement.  He is now Colorado POST certified to be a police officer; after lots and lots and lots of applying for jobs he was able to join the Loveland Police Department.  This is a HUGE blessing for us, because we didn't want to move but would if we needed.  He started on February 22nd and has been loving every moment of it.  My last day of work was Friday March 11th-  this was a great relief.  I loved my job but have been awaiting the day to stay at home with all of the kids. 
Look for posts to be happening more frequently as I will have a little more time to keep up on things around the house.

It is time to Catch up!!

I will start by apologizing for no pictures, we have had a small run with our main computer and have yet to fix it.  But here is the link to pictures from my facebook albums.

Random photos from 2010
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198137&id=665441180&l=39325b8ca7

Staycation 2010
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=216522&id=665441180&l=2c75d49474

Lots has happened since I last updated my blog, so I am not really sure where to start so I will go down this line and see how it goes.

Ayden is doing well.  He just finished kindergarten and loved every minute of it.  As most of you know Ayden is an active kid and we were glad to have school be done just because we were out of ideas of activities for the bus.  Ayden is doing fantastic with his reading, in fact he loves to read Green Eggs and Ham and even Hop on Pop to his brother and sister.  He is constantly trying to find things to read, and sounding words out.  He also is enjoying writing, his attempts are great and sometimes very close; my favorite is when he drew me a picture for work and then wrote I luv u mommy.  Now the school is out Ayden is back into T-ball and loving it.  He is one of the older kids on the team, but still struggles with remembering when he hits the ball he needs to run to first not second.  It is thoroughly amusing to watch.

Ryry is such a goofball.  She will be turning four in October and is a burst of energy.  She loves her new "school"  and her teacher is amazing.  She is learning things quick as well.  Doug and I always talk about she would know so much more if we spent the time with her that we did with Ayden.  Ry has created that love of her babies.  Quite often we have to give her a "sicky" cup so that she can feed her baby.  A few months ago she was upset because I asked to put her baby down for a nap so that Masyn could sit in his chair for dinner, that didn't go over so well.  Recently we found at a garage sale a cute little doll size bunk bed for her babies; now they have to sleep next to her all night.

Masyn is the chunky baby he has always been.  He is now 18 months old and it is so hard to believe.    He loves running after the older kids and playing with them.  We can tell that he wishes he could communicate better with us as to his needs.  He can sign please and says "gank goo" and every so often he will sign water.  He is also loving the daycare that we use.  There is another a girl that is his same age at the daycare and they are best buddies.  Masyn has become our little climber; we have caught him standing on the coffee table, kitchen chairs, and the dining room table.  As long as he stays away from the bar stools for now we are okay. 

Doug as most of you know was not renewed for his teacher contract.  While this was tough news, it helped make a few decisions for him and for our family.  Doug has been thinking for a long time about a career change, this nudged him in that direction.  He has since gotten the okay to receive unemployment benefits while in going to school.  Yes, he is going back to school.  Doug was just recently accepted to Red Rocks Community College Law Enforcement Academy.  This is a great step and will get him certified for police agencies, hopefully making him more marketable.  He is also active with the Army National Guard.  They just had their annual state tour through the western slope, he had a blast. 

As for myself, I am plugging away.  Back in November I was asked by my district manager to transfer to our local Wachovia location to assist with the conversion and ensure that the employees were transitioned properly.  I went ahead and took the offer and it cut my commute down by about 10 minutes, but you take what you can get.  My job has kept me busy that is for sure.  About the same time I started at my new store I also received a new calling, primary sectary.  Needless to say my life always has something going on. 

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, Glad as I can can be

Doug returned from his military basic training and AIT in July. The kids thoroughly enjoyed having him home again, let alone it made things easier around the house and with the kids. 

This is a picture that was taken by someone at the airport after Ry found Doug.  The gentleman was so nice as to send a larger copy as well as a digital image.  It has become a favorite.

Adventures in waiting

Some of you may or may not know, Doug joined the Army National Guard last July. With joining he has had his drill weekends in Denver once a month to help him prepare for his basic training. Then the day came when it was time for him to report to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The kids and I took him do a hotel in Denver where he would spend the night and fly out the next day. That was March 30. After about a month of the kids not understanding fully why Daddy was gone let alone when he would be back I decided it was time to create something tangible, that they could understand. This is our beloved countdown chain to see our Daddy!. When we built it in FHE at the very end of April it seemed to far away to fathom the day we would reach the blue and orange chain you see hanging to the lower left of the picture on the wall. That was the coveted link, when that chain came off we would fly to see our Daddy. Each month had a different color to help the kids break it down. Ayden and Ry alternate nights as to whose turn it is to take the chain off. It has been wonderful watching the kids build up their excitement for our big trip.

One day I went into get Ayden out of the bath tub and he wanted me to help him write a note to Doug. Here is what he wanted me to write.

Above is a picture of the opening ceremony of family day at Fort Jackson. It was really neat they had a presentation of what things they had been working on. There were hummers and mortar shells going off. After the presentation the colors were brought forward. It is hard to see but behind all of the smoke and the colors are the trees, the soldiers were "hiding" in. I had completely missed them, but Ayden was quick to notice them right away.

After the officers were done talking we were allowed to go onto the field and pick up our soldier. My Mom joined us on the trip and watched the kids while I went to get Doug. When I came back with him the kids were super excited. We had made signs the night before for the kids to hold up, so that Doug could find them a little easier. Needless to say it was a tearful reunion. Ry did take a little while to warm up to Doug, with him being in his ACU's not being something she was used to.

One of our family day visits was to the Fort Jackson Museum. Unfortunately the actual museum was closed for renovations. We ended up touring the outside where there were several tanks, a helicopter, a spotlight and many other things.

This is a picture of Doug's company while at graduation. If you look real close you can see Doug he is in the second row from the left and fourth down from the back.

While our traveling for the trip was the most stressful, and not because of kids, the trip was great. With Doug traveling to his AIT site he had a layover in the Atlanta airport right over the time we were waiting for our flight home. So the kids and I were able to get one more squeeze and spend lunch with him before he left for the next journey.

we have got some catching up to do. . .

Lots has gone on since I last updated my blog, but then life has been really busy. I have been back at work now for a little over a month. It is hard to believe but it has gone by fast. Work has been a difficult thing for me to do lately; partially because I would love to stay at home with the kiddos and live the dream. But the nice thing about work is that it fills the time and sometimes with good things!!

Since the last time I blogged Doug has since left for Basic Training. The time that he has been gone has been a definite challenge. I have learned many things about myself and about my kids. We have since created popcorn party night in Mom's bed on Friday nights. This has become a fun evening for all. We usually eat leftovers, so that I don't have to cook and dinner happens quicker. Then it is fast baths for all the kids and while Ry is in the bath Ayden will pick the movie, and while Ayden is in the bath Ry and I make the popcorn. We then go watch the movie on my bed and eat popcorn. Yes, it creates quite a mess in my bed but you know it is totally worth it having all three of the kids to cuddle with and watch a silly movie.

Saturdays have fondly become "stay at home" days because that is the day I don't have to work and the kids don't go to Candice's. While they love going there it is nice to stay and play at your own house. The kids sleep in to all of 7:15 if I am lucky, even after staying up until almost 10:00 the night before watching movies. Sometimes we will visit Grandma's. Last week we went down to the Savage's and spent the weekend with them. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Ayden and Ryleigh in their Easter outfits.

The kids with their Easter baskets

They had so much fun on Easter. We went to my Mom's the day before to dye eggs. It was a lot of fun. We had just about all of the grand kids there as well as my brother's girlfriend's three boys, let's just I am sure we set a record for dying five dozen Easter eggs. The morning of Easter the kids were so surprised the the Easter bunny came. It is so much fun seeing their reactions! As you can tell in the picture the Easter bunny didn't pull price tags off of the clothes, Ayden was sure to point that out.

Daniel with James, Masyn and Q

Just before Doug left we blessed Masyn. We had everyone at my house for a shin dig and Daniel wanted to hold of the new babies. . . you think he was a proud uncle or something.

Doug took this the Sunday before he left. Ry was loving holding Masyn so much we had to tell her that it is good to love him we just have to be soft so as to not hurt him.


Ry loves to hold and feed Masyn whenever the opportunity arises.

A lot of morning Ryleigh wakes up and says she needs wake up loves from Ayden, you see how thrilled he is about that.

Our Family!

My beloved sister is a talented photographer and took this photo. This is the most recent and taken just before he left for BCT.