And the Winner is....

Austin!!!

He got three awards at the assembly and he was even named "Student of the Month" for November!! That's my boy.We had a little too much fun at the awards assembly.
These are the three awards Austin got..."I Have Pirate Pride", Perfect Attendance, and Fantastic Report Card.

This wasn't at the assembly, but I have to put this sweet picture of Cali chatting with Peyton. It was so sweet and Peyton sure loves her big brother and sister!!

Marcus is on an Elk hunting trip in Arizona so I'm sure we'll get some fabulous pictures to share soon.

Halloween Festivities

Get ready for picture overload!!!

We had a great Halloween day, but the week leading up to the special day was set aside. Marcus' grandfather passed away the weekend before Halloween. It was very sudden and there was no way to predict how quickly it would happen. (It was sad, yes, but it was quick for him and better that he's not in any more pain...and reunited with his wife.) He lived in Arizona so Marcus, his brother and his parents hightailed it to Arizona to be with family for the funeral. We would have gotten our pumpkins and carved them, got all our costumes finished and had everything ready to party, but it got put on hold. It actually made Halloween day quite eventful. That morning we headed to a local pumpkin patch and let the kids pick their own to carve. And with it being the last day, they let us pick a bunch of little pumpkins to take for free! Cali was in heaven...she's been carrying around her little pumpkins since.

We didn't have much time during the day to carve the pumpkins, but we got them done before it got dark. Cali loved how slimy they were inside and Austin actually helped this year (he thought they were TOO slimy the past two years). We had a great time making funny faces on our pumpkins, but I forgot to take pics of the final products! duh.Here's our cute little pumpkin...with Austin trying to sneak into the shot. lolCali wanted to be a witch at first, but we couldn't find much to fit her. When we were searching thru many different stores, she found this set with ears, a tail and a little collar and she was sold. Cali the kitty...Calico Cat (marcus says) I know it's a little blurred, but I thought this was so sweet how she's trying to pose like her big brother even though he's trying to be scary and she's just too cute!

Austin is Megatron from transformers, if you couldn't tell. ;)My kids are shy....hahahaha!!She's been smiling for a while now, and "cooing" all the time. She's even started laughing recently. Oh, and she rolled for the first time last week...she rolled the earliest of all three. I can't believe that it's just as exciting with the third baby as it was with the first!I hope everyone's Halloween was eventful as ours!

Get ready for Thanksgiving. woohoo!!!

We Have a White Belt

I'm making a new dedication to my blog. I'm coming out of my newborn baby "fog" and I'm ready to share everything that's been going on. To start things off, Austin's been in kindergarten and started taking TaeKwonDo class twice a week. He just took the first advancement test and passed to the first level, white belt. He's in the group of the youngest kids, pre-k and kindergarteners, and their called "Little Dragons".

This is during the advancement test that they did as a big group,

all the kids testing for their white belts.

This is right after receiving his belt!! Yeah!!
And of course, Cali has to show us her skills.
Sorry about the blur but she couldn't stop moving long enough to snap a shot. ;)Miss Peyton was quite enthralled with the whole ceremony.We have had a lot more going on and I'm excited to share it all, very soon.

1 Month Old

I can't believe it!! We've made it a whole month and we're all still doing fine...sleepless nights and all. The days surrounding the birth of baby #3 I had a lot of help and got quite a bit done. My mom and step-dad were able to be here before I went into the hospital and the day of the birth. This was the first time my mom was able to be part of any of her grandchildren entering the world. I was really glad she was there and able to share that experience with me. (She was with my sister, but she had a c-section...not quite the same.) Thanks Mom for being there. I know it meant a lot to you and I want you to know that it meant a lot to me too.Before I had Miss Peyton, my good friend Stephanie came into town to be here with/for me. She was able to leave her 6 kids back in Oregon and stay with me during this time of transition for 10 whole days. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her. She was up with the kids in the mornings and let me sleep. I felt bad, but she told Marcus that having my two little munchkins was like a little vacation from her 6. They played games, did puzzles, and actually stayed fairly quiet till I emerged from my dungeon. Thank You Stephanie!!
Austin took this picture of me with his new baby sister. Not too bad! We may have a budding photographer on our hand. ;)

Cali finally decided to hold the baby by the end of the first day. Cali wanted nothing to do with her in the hospital, but after bringing Peyton home I think she started to like her a little. Austin comes home from school and loves on her and holds her for as long as he can...just no pics.
She likes her a lot more now! I think she likes her a lot...too sweet!
(I promise I did not pose her like this)
I did, in fact, pose them like this....but the smile is all Cali.This is how Peyton spends most of her day. She loves chillin' in her swing but she's not a fan of laying flat....not till bedtime.

We love the newest addition to our family!! Peyton Elise is a sweet little baby and her big brother and sister sure think so too. Getting enough sleep has been the biggest adjustment, but with Austin now in school it's not too bad and naptime is a necessity for all three of us. Everyday is girl's day in our house...at least until the boys return.

Happy One Month Birthday Peyton!!

Off To Kindergarten

With a new baby in the house, it's been a little tricky to be able to have the time to sit at the computer long enough to blog about our latest events. You'd think I'd have all the time in the world because she sleeps so much, but when she's sleeping there's so much to get done, or Cali needs attention, or I'm sleeping myself. Blogging hasn't been quite as high on my priority list as sleep lately, but I do feel the need to update a few special things that have happened recently, like my first born heading off to KINDERGARTEN!!!

At 7am he's up and ready, wearing his new school clothes and shoes and sporting his new green backpack he picked out (over transformers...weird!).

Cali didn't quite understand that she wasn't going to school, but she was just as excited as if she were. She had a hard time when I took Austin in and came out alone, but she's gotten better.They all lined up outside their class and got their own name tag...he was busy checking it out, but at least I got another smile. He was ready for me to go, but I just couldn't, not yet.
We found his seat and he was glad that he was facing the front of the class instead of sitting sideways like the rest of the kids in the group. The little joys. ;)

I knew Austin was ready for school, but I wasn't prepared for how NOT ready I was for him to start school. I managed to keep it together while taking pictures and I even made it out to the car before finally breaking down and shedding a few tears. The hardest part of the whole thing is that Peyton looks identical to Austin when he was born so it's like watching him grow up in a blink of an eye...he was just a baby and now he's in school!!! Where has the time gone?

Austin is such an amazing kid and I know he'll have a great school career. He says that the only thing he doesn't like about school is all the rules...rules, rules, rules he says. After three weeks of Kindergarten he still loves going in the morning and telling me all about it when he gets home.

We'll see how long it lasts, but I'm loving it for now.