Wordless Wednesday....

Behind the masterpiece....

We have an amazing photographer (Hi Steve!) that we have used for the last 12 years. He has documented the life's of all the children in our family! Today was no exception...time for the family shoot and it came with all the usually challenges!

Picture 1...from 'behind' the scenes! :-)

Picture 2...what a great backdrop-can't wait to see the proofs!

Picture 3 - a man who LOVES his job! :-)

Picture 4 - OMG...what they will do for a smile!

It was a great day!

An early birthday party....

for Hayden! In honor of opening race day, we got her a Jeff Gordan birthday cake!

blowing out her 12 candles...the loot...

She received a trip for she and her friend Kayla to Washington DC in 2 weeks from us (and with us). As I did last year, I disguised gifts and she had to try to guess the location. NO luck this year guessing....

She and Kayla reading the itinerary for our trip.

Sad day....

Inked....

We spent New Year's Eve at a Tattoo Parlor! Hayden was our 'artist' and Pete was her 'apprentice'! We all got one! Some got more then one....

James getting one of his three....

Sarah getting her one...... Brent getting his one.....

and what kind of ink artist would she be if she didn't get one herself... BTW...I got one also and it was on the top of my foot but my toenails looked so bad I couldn't post any pictures of that.....

Merry Christmas....

We were in Charlotte for Christmas this year and as always we have had a great time. I got a new camera for Christmas but will write more about that later. :-) In the meantime, I thought I would share a few pictures from the day and the camera.
Picture 1) one of my favorite ornaments (it's hard to find things with her name)

Picture 2) Her Santa loot....

Picture 3) One of my favorite expressions of the day....

Picture 4) the other great face of the day.....

We hope that you and your family enjoyed your day together as much as we have!

Ellen...

Family/Wedding...

As I mentioned earlier, the 3 sisters went to Albuquerque for my cousins wedding! This is my moms (who's deceased) side of the family who we do not get to see as much anymore as we used to...we had an amazing time! It was fun to cut up and carry on like we always have before in the past!

Picture 1- Our Grandmother(my mom's mom)

Picture 2 - Deny and Randy(brothers of the groom)

Picture 3- Susan (sister of the groom) and Dan

Picture 4 &5 - Drew (cousin) and Andrea

Picture 6 - My Aunts, Lynda and Robyn! (Mom's sisters)

Picture 7 - My sisters.....

To be 4 again....

We have had my 2 nephews this weekend and have been VERY busy with fall activities! As a matter of fact, we are still in the middle of one those activities right now so tomorrow I will post all about the weekend! I thought the following pics of Pete needed a place of their own...typical sillies of a 4 year old!
I will return back to our trips from last weekend in a couple of days (there is still plenty more).

Split weekend....

This last weekend was unusual for us because we were on separate vacations. My sisters and I went to Albuquerque for my cousins wedding and Brent and Hayden went to Norman, OK for the Oklahoma football game! I have plenty of 'stuff' to blog about this week so stayed tuned....

Our favorite game....

Quelf has been a huge hit in our house this last year! I highly recommend it for families with older kids! Hayden and Kayla always wanna play when they together at our house. They have a website so you find where to buy it. www.quelf.com
Let me know how you like it....

Below is an example of stuff that was going on:
1) Hayden couldn't use her hands
2) Kayla had to keep a snorkel in her mouth the rest of the game made from something in the house hence the straw
3) Brent had to keep pointing to pretend objects on his forehead and asking if anyone knew anything about them
and 4) Brent and Kayla had to hold hands because they were sharing a space on the board
These are just a sampling of the crazy stuff you do!