Let the festivities begin!

Bella's fall concert at LCS. Our pics didn't turn out

so great, so I guess it's time for a new camera.

The concert included K-2 grades. Bella's on the front

row, left side of the pic wearing a fuchsia shirt.

More blurry pics for your enjoyment

Christmas Train!!!

We enjoyed a night out at Dry Gulch with the

Kemp Family. The line for the train wasn't too bad.

Our church did an incredible job renovating Dry

Gulch. Looking forward to many more trips out

there.

Woot!

Cristiano LOVES sunglasses. Hopefully
someday we can convince him that they
belong on his face and not his neck.


Dinner is served...
On the baby. Our kiddos after dinner.
C has mashed potatoes in his hair (and Bella
probably does too from him flinging it all over
the place). AND he's trying to take all his
clothes off. I'm not surprised...

Family work day - raking leaves!
Don't be fooled by the disenchanted look on
C's face. He LOVED working outside -
so long as he got to use mommy and daddy's
rakes. He got upset when we tried to get him to use
the pint size rake.


Our baby all grows up.

Bella writing sweet love notes to her

family.... very sweet.

Oh Christmas Tree!
Our annual tree trip with the Brisco's. Bella and Syd enjoying a chilly night finding just the right tree to trim.

We're looking forward to this Christmas season and decorating our biggest tree yet (in the background). Bella is such a great big sister and C loves her to pieces.

We have a walker!!!

Cristiano has been walking for the last month and

a half now and within the last few weeks he has

begun to show his newly found skills: walking while eating,

walking and talking on the phone, walking and eating,

walking and picking up his toys... and walking and eating.

Loves daddy's shoes and phones...

Almost running...
and of course it's away from mommy

Bella and I at Sydney's Rootin Tootin

Cowgirl birthday party

I love daddy....

Bella and Syd

C and I doing what we like best... eating!

Falloween

It's finally fall.. We have been enjoying the

unseasonably warm weather and watching the

kiddos grow.

Shawn, Ballerina Princess and Yoda at the office.
This is the 1st year Bella trick or treated...

and she LOVED it. Amazing - only took

6 years and a little brother.

Yoda trying to levitate and eat all the candy...

when that didn't work he decided to use his chunky

tippy toes and outreached hands

Me and C at the last home football game.

Go BULLDOGS!

We're in the playoffs... so more football pics to come.

B and a rootin tootin Cowgirl birthday party.

Our little deputy.

Doesn't he look like a Woody doll from Toy Story!

'There's a snake in my boot'

Yoda wondering aimlessly through the pumpkin

maze. I can't believe he actually liked wearing

this costume. It was 80 degrees outside!

Bella

Posing... posing.... posing

Kisses for Yoda

'Hey guys this doesn't tase like an apple... but

I'll eat it anyway.' -- C

Taking a break from the duties of keeping the earth

safe... and trying to see if he could eat an ant.

I need a diaper change...

Bella and BFF Molly have a sleepover.

They read their Bibles together before going to bed.

Very sweet!

Earlier in the evening... the girls painted, played dolls

watched Polly Pocket, had manicures and made brownies.

Oh yes... and made TONS of jewelry!

Happy Birthday Cristiano!

We had a small cake for Cristiano on his actual

birthday last week. He LOVED the chocolate and

tried to eat the candle several times.

Always the giving little boy --- feeding

mommy. YUM. Chubby fingers with chocolate

fudge cake. Does it get any better than that?

Trying to force feed daddy!

I think he was trying to see if he could fit

his fists in Shawn's mouth.

C's weekend birthday party! Thanks to the Brisco's,

Patterson's, Kemp's, Mulders, Mutalik's and Evan's

for coming!

Pic above is Shawn and Bella enjoying the jupiter

jump before the party started. That contraption

was awesome. It reminded me of how much I really

need to start working out.

C's Ferrari F40 cake and mini cake


The 'clean' pic. Bella and BFF Allie are excited

to see if Cristiano will actually try and

eat his mini cake...

Hmmmm.....

Using tools to get to the goods.

Needless to say, he LOVED his cake. And so did the
walls, floors, tables, chairs and anyone within 10 feet
of him. Cake was flung in every direction for a
good 15 minutes. I'm still finding bits and pieces on the
walls and shutters.


C and the girls (Natalie and Sydney). He was

showing off his mad skills at the xylophone

He received some awesome presents. We've been

entertained by his alligator xylophone in the wee

hours of the morning, enjoyed watching him get

tagged by little balls from the ball popper thingy :),

he loves the bi-lingual driving toy (bi-lingual F1 driver

in the making), and he loves to be pushed around

on his alphabet train (einstein watch out). Thank

you all for making his day so special!

3 Little Monkeys at the Zoo

My best friend Sarh and I took our little monkeys to the

zoo a few weeks ago and had a MARVELOUS time!

In just a matter of 5 hours we were able to throughly

exhaust ourselves (not including the kiddos - they

were ready for more - AMAZING).

Aunt Sarah treated the girls to 3 consecutive

rides on the carousel. Needless to say they

were a like weeble wobbles when they walked off.

Bella feeding the birds.

Cristiano took bite of the bird food

too. He will eat anything!

Bella and Sydney acing like monkeys


... kissing a catfish that's bigger than they are

... and of course, posing for the camera

Finally... one little monkey takes a snooze

(for 15 minutes)

Then off to the water park we went!

A great end to a great day

Art Show

We enrolled Bella in a 2 week art class at a local

Art museum and these are a few pictures from

her 1st ever art exhibit. She had an incredible

experience and can't wait to go to more summer

sessions next year. We are so proud of our little

girl.. she just may grow up to be an artist afterall.

This is her 'reuse/recycle' rendition of a chinese

house (pink structure). She also created a cat

plate for our beloved Kobe.

More of her artwork - it took 2 large grocery bags and

assistance from her art teacher to get all her

masterpieces into the car. Above is a swan made

of paper mache. C wanted to take a lick (of course).

An indian pencil holder and (my favorite) a

mummy. She was also able to make

some clay beads!!

Working with clay. A few of Bella's creations.

From left to right: Mermaid in lagoon, bowl, mommy

(lovely), cat plate and penguin.

I had to add this little pic. She wanted to be sure that I had enough snacks during my workday so she quickly wrote me a note and left some goodies at my desk. So SWEET!