Mr. Full of Character

Couple shots of Oliver... in his sunglasses and super cool hat. Love that smile...

Here he is dancing and jamming to "Do You Love Me?" while blowing his duck sounding whistle...thanks to Grandma Rosie.

Christmas Chaos...

Well, this was our first Christmas away from family. We decided it would be too crazy to try and travel again this year so we stayed in Texas and began our own family traditions. Grandparents sent gifts to be wrapped in the mail and by the time everything was wrapped and under the tree (or in front of the fireplace) it looked a little ridunkulous! It was different having all the gifts in one place as opposed to going to a couple different Christmas gatherings and opening presents. We were very blessed to say the least. Missed family like crazy, but enjoyed our family Christmas and the memories that were made.

The abundance of gifts...

Here the kids are trying to sort them out...

Oliver's bright eyes and tacky Christmas outfit.

A peek at the mess...

Grandma Rosie actually sent us the kid's stockings from her house and we waited to open them until the day after Christmas when they were opening their's back in Indiana.

Couldn't pass up posting this picture of Emma trying out her new strange moon shoes...I tried them and uh...it didn't work out so well...you won't be seeing any of those pictures :o)

And poor little Ira...overstimulated!

Old Pictures

These are some old pictures of my my Mom's side of the family. I love old pictures. My Mom was one of eleven children...seven boys and four girls. I don't know how my Grandma did it.

This first one is my Grandma (she was so pretty) with my uncles David and Bill.

Here's the four Hunt girls...Barbra, Patty, my Mom (Lisa), and Kathy.

This is a picture of my Grandma's dining room table...looks so cool.

Here is my Mom's dog when she was little...his name was Snoopy...

This is my Mom's grandparents on the left and her Mom and Dad on the right holding her brother, David.

Here is a shot of my Grandma and my Mom's dad with the seven boys.

My Grandma and her son Jim...check out their hairdos! Love it.

My Grandma. By the way, her name is Mary.

And my Mom as a little girl, age 9. My niece, Raeni, looks just like her!

Red-Headed Woodpecker - Nature Study

Nature study is a part of our homeschooling and I thought I would share some of the kiddos journal entries. We have a few trees in our backyard that house various noises that we can't help but enjoy listening to. One of them has a couple red-headed woodpeckers living in it. So we decided to "study" them. They are quite the beautiful bird and fun to watch and listen to. After we observed and read up on them, the kids made journal entries. They all decided to draw a picture of the woodpecker. They did a great job.

This one here is Elise's....

Avrie's...

and Emma's.

Family Pictures

We decided to do family pictures to send back to our family and friends in Indiana. We went to our good friends house, the Millers, and they took most of our pictures for us. I think we're going to do this more often...the kids grow too fast not to...enjoy!

Mini-mommy Elise with Ira

Emma - 6 yrs. old

Elise - 8 yrs. old

Oliver - 2 yrs. old

Ira - 8 months

Avrie 10 yrs. old

My hunk-a-burnin-love and I

I can't believe I have FIVE children! I am blessed and so undeserving of it.

We had to seize the opportunity and get pics with our dear friends too.

My best friend, Jessica Love and I :o)

Jason and Travis...tough guys.

The beautiful Miller kids...love em' all!

All the kiddos...such sweet friendships.

Welcome to the Family Sir Winston

We surprised the kids with a new puppy for Christmas this year. We got to go pick him up this past Saturday. The kids had NO CLUE...as we drove up to the ranch where we were getting him from, they all had thought maybe we were going horseback riding....little did they know their lives would never be the same. They were thrilled to say the least. So, I know have 6 children...three that poop in toilets, two that poop in diapers, and one that poops on the ground :o) The little guy is a Mini Blue Merle Australian Shepherd. We named him Winston Baxter. He's 8 weeks old. He hasn't went to the bathroom in the house once! It's amazing. During his first day home, he quickly made note where the back door was and let's us know when he's gotta go. Sweet little ball of fur...and thankfully he will only get to be between 13" to 15" tall. Here are some shots of our picking him up and his first day home.

Oliver is usually afraid of dogs...even little ones, but he warmed up to Winston quite quickly.

He's got two blue beautiful eyes and the most handsome coat.

This is Winston's crate...Oliver was just checking to make sure it worked...it does :o)

Such a Ham