Two Little Ring Bearers

Andrew and Zane were the ring bearers for Reece and Angie's wedding. I was confident that Andrew would do a phenomenal job and only 50/50 on Zane. I knew he could do a good job if he decided to. It was all up to him. Angie had asked for Lucy to be the flower girl for the wedding but frankly she is as much of a wild card as Zane is. To keep me from being a train wreck of nerves I told Angie that she could do it if she didn't care that she probably wouldn't drop petals. I think that she really wanted the petals to be dropped so Lucy wasn't the flower girl. However I still had to get Lucy and Gwen matching dresses. Seriously, it was super necessary.



The boys were all ready and set to walk down the aisle. Zane was prepped and ready to go. Then coming in right before the ceremony he fell down. I don't think he hurt himself, he just got scared but it put a total snafu into his whole attitude.

The wedding began and Zane started balking at walking down the aisle. I went with him because he wouldn't go without me but about halfway down he started walking with Andrew. Great! I snuck to the back. However, once he reached the front and realized I wasn't there he started shrieking that he wanted his mommy. So, mommy marched back down the aisle to the front so I could be with him while he waited for the ceremony to be over. Thankfully he stopped screaming as soon as I got back up there.

About midway through the ceremony I noticed that the ring (Angie's) on Zane's pillow was missing. This was not good as it was going to be needed in just a few minutes. Fortunately it had just fallen off and was on the floor but it gave me a minute of panic for sure!


Lucy was a bit overwhelmed for most of the day. There were a lot of people and it was easier (to her) to be carried around all night. Toward the end she seemed to loosen up though and started dancing with all the other little kids. It was super cute. The evening ended with Andrew catching the garter. He is ridiculously proud of himself. He wanted to take it to church this morning to show it off but Eric and I both thought that it might be in poor taste for him to take it with him.

I am very glad that the wedding is over! They are awfully stressful and an awful lot of work. So nice to have Reece hitched and be able to officially call Angie Auntie!

Marrying Off the Brother

Today my brother Reece got married. It was about time! I have been trying to get that boy hitched to that girl for 2 years now! Anyway, it was a long day and I am beat but I wanted to share just a few pictures tonight.

The Happy Couple: Reece and Angie

Me and my bro

Me and My Favorite Guy!!!

Andrew was very excited to catch the garter!

Come Do the Turkey Dance

Every year we do a turkey dance at our house for Thanksgiving. The tradition started the first year Eric and I were married and we turkey danced by ourselves but since then it has been something ridiculous we do each and every year. The kids really seem to enjoy it and it is fun to have a unique tradition to look forward to. To do the turkey dance there are a few simple steps. 1) Get your arms in wing flapping position 2) Bob your head like a turkey does 3) Strut in a self important way 4) Say "Gobble, gobble, gobble" as you strut around the house. Very simple to do. My kiddos are perfecting it each year. I am sure that by the time they hit the teen years it will be a mortifying thing that only Eric and I do while the kids look on in horror.

For your viewing pleasure I decided to photograph it this year. Maybe some year I will get up the nerve to video tape it and then share. Won't that be fun.

Yesterday we made hats in preparation for the turkey dance today. I thought they looked great. Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Two Buddies

Zane, Gwen and I all stayed home from our life group this weekend. Zane has pink eye. He was thrilled with some dedicated attention to him. Somehow he doesn't see Gwen as a threat. And she is one of his favorite people ever. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with these two!

Lucy and Gwen Pictures

Just thought I would post some pics of the girls. Since I just posted about the boys that is.

Sleeping in the snoopy.

Cheesy smile

Letters to Santa

This past week Andrew brought home these adorable "Letters to Santa" postcards. He brought home an extra one for Zane. So tonight they sat and filled them out. I really enjoy our local post office too. They have a nice little mailbox in the lobby where kids can mail their letters each year. I think I have Andrew finally convinced that we don't need to put a stamp on it.

Andrew is getting to have quite the nice penmanship. He is very focused while writing and pays attention to his letter formation.

Helping Zane write his letter. I thought it was super sweet that he wanted to help his brother. A nice occasion of teamwork at our house!

The Christmas letters. And since I know you want to see them larger than life I scanned them for your viewing pleasure.

Andrew's Letter

Zane's Letter

We will have to see what Santa comes up with this year!

Dedicating Gwen

Sunday we dedicated Gwen. Eric and I have dedicated all of our babies when they are about 3 months old. Dedication at our church means that we intend to raise our children using the Bible as our guide and tell them about Jesus.

Each one of our kids have a special verse. Gwen's verse is Philippians 4:5 "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." It is interesting how the verses come about. I can't tell you that I just sit and look through the Bible for the verses, although I don't see anything wrong with that. Usually I have a thought or idea, some type of characteristic that seems special to that child and I can either find the verse from memory or find it using a concordance. It is not randomly chosen. I really feel like God gives me the verse.

We are always so thrilled to have our family and friends come to the dedications too. They mean the world to us and it is so special for them to be with us while we dedicate our babies.

This time pastor Samuel was here from India. Our church partners with his church and it was extremely neat to have him and pray for Gwen.

Ice Caves with Daddy

I have a backlog of things to blog about! The computer power source died last Wednesday and it made it impossible to keep up. Anyway, on to the adventures! Wednesday Andrew did not have school for Veteran's day. Eric thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go hiking with Andrew by himself. Zane was still getting over that nasty flu bug so he was in no shape to hike. Special daddy time for Andrew!



I think it was a bit more snowy than Eric thought it would be. Andrew doesn't have hiking boots so he had to use his regular shoes. Regular shoes and sloppy snow are not a great combination. It would have been better if Andrew had his snowshoes but I guess he had a lot of fun even though his feet were freezing by the time they were done.



The older the kids get the more excited Eric gets about taking them hiking and camping. They camped quite a bit this summer which was great but Eric really loves to hike and it will be fun for him to have some buddies to do it with in the next few years.



I asked Eric very nicely to not let Andrew walk on the caves because it makes very nervous. I guess Andrew asked to walk on them and Eric said "Your mom will kill me if I let you, so no." Sometimes I am A-OK with being the bad guy!


So happy that Eric likes to go places and do stuff with his kiddos. What an AMAZING dad he is!!!

Gwendalyn Lily- 3 Months

Time flies when you have a baby in the house and when you are on baby #4 it moves to super-sonic speed. Today Gwen is 3 months old. It seems like yesterday I was complaining about being still pregnant. She is an absolute dream doll of a baby. I can not complain about her one little bit. Even on the days that she is cranky she is still the easiest baby I have had.

Gwen is quite enamored with her little thumb. If finds its sneaky way into her mouth at every given opportunity. This has led to wonderful long stretches of sleep at night though. I LOVE thumb sucking babies!

I took these photos of Gwen while she was on the couch. Funny thing about the couch, she rolled off it this weekend. I had her on her tummy and I turned around to go get some water and next thing I hear is a thump and she is face first on the floor. I have yet to see her roll but that has to be what she did. Don't know how else she would have fallen off the couch. She wasn't close to the edge.

The next 3 months are always the hardest for me with my kids. Between 3 and 6 months most babies get bored with the sights and positions they have been placed in but they have no ability to move around or do anything. It always gets easier for me when they are sitting. At least then I can toss some toys to them and go cook dinner. Anyway, Gwen is wonderful and lovely and my little sweetheart. I could just eat her up.

Hardwood Floors would be GREAT right now!

Eric and I really enjoy watching House Hunters. We think it is fun to see lots of different houses and talk about which one we would pick and why. One of the things we have never understood is when a couple looks at a house and has a problem with hardwood floors in the bedrooms. I grew up with hardwood floors in 90% of my house, including the bedroom, so it seems not strange to me at all to have hardwoods in where you sleep. As Eric and I have had more kids and as those kids have aged and become ill periodically I am seeing more and more the great wisdom in having hardwood floors.

Take this week for example. Zane woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. But he didn't make it to the bathroom. Instead he stood inside his room and threw up. And then was blocking the door so Eric couldn't get to him before he threw up again. Fun. So it is 1 am and we are trying to clean carpets.


Today was another fine example of where hardwood floors would have been preferred. Zane went to take a nap and woke up needing to go poo. He didn't make it and there was a trail from his room the the bathroom. Not very far distance-wise but far enough when it comes to cleaning it. So, as a word to those out there considering buying a home with hardwood floors in the bedrooms. Go with the hardwood. Much easier cleanup........ trust me.

Soccer Trophy and Random Shots

Andrew finished soccer this weekend. Halloween was his last game. I was very bad with my photo duty this year. I don't think I ever got any shots of him playing. Hmmmmm.... well, I guess I will have to be ok with that. Anyway, because his last game was on Halloween we had his party on this last Monday. We headed to Alfy's (is there another place to have sports parties?) for some pizza and cupcakes. Andrew really liked his medal that he got from soccer last year but I think this years trophy has even surpassed the medal in coolness.



This trophy has a bobble-head and in Andrew's mind it looks like him too. It is a cute trophy. The party was fun. It will be interesting to see if Andrew wants to play again next year. I know from now on the stakes get higher and the parental commitment is greater. Mid-week practices are par for the course. We shall see what he wants to do. As always it is a year to year commitment and Eric and I are pretty indifferent to whether or not he plays.

Since I was taking pictures of Andrew the other little monkeys needed to get theirs done too.

Miss Lucy Lou: Drama Queen Extraordinaire!

Zane Elliot: The King of Cheese

Park Poo

What do you do if you have a major diaper blowout at the park without any emergency clothing?



You put the kid in their Halloween costume! That's right. I let Gwen hang out at the park with me as a pea pod. It was just too nice of a day to let be cut short by a little poo. The sun is out all too often these days.

Two of my specials. Zane loves her so.