Christmas Vacation

  Four kids on a couch.  Christmas vacation means movies, right?  And lots of them.  It's taken Hayes a couple of week to come down off of his movie high.  

 Angel Lolee somehow convinced Hayes to be her dance partner.  Hayes didn't seem to mind--he even serenaded her as they danced.

 We're so glad to see Elyzabeth so happy.

 Christmas with the cousins is a little different in Michigan.  It means webcamming to span the distance.

 Christmas morning before opening presents.  Is anybody excited?!

 Our friends the Chapman's invited us to spend Christmas afternoon with them, four-wheeling and enjoying good food and great company.  I could almost pretend we were at Island Park, but quads are much more squirly in the snow.  At least they have the same smell.

 Lolee and Hayes riding on a sled behind the four wheeler.

 Our Christmas morning ritual of sorting the presents into piles.  This gives the anticipation time to build=)

 David got pushup thingies from Elyzabeth that we all had to try out.  Of course, Mom down low enough on her stomach is an open invitation for a dog-pile.  

 Even Myriam wanted in on the action.

 I made it look easy, but the expression on David's face shows how hard this really was.

Lolee spent the day after Christmas on the couch nibbling crackers and sipping water after throwing up all night.  Thus begins our winter season-of-sickness.

 My cute little blondies in their matching black sweaters from Auntie Jean.  I love when this is the attitude we see=)

 Yes, this is what it looks like--Myriam is sitting on her high chair tray.  If left alone for longer than about 2 seconds, she would end up like this.  Needless to say, the high chair is now out in the garage.

 Three little monkeys jumping on the bed.  Fortunately for us, none of them fell off or broke their heads.

 Thanks to his sisters, Hayes has the best wardrobe of anyone in town.  His hair is also to "dye" for.  In true Anne of Green Gables fashion, Hayes is sporting green construction paper hair attached to a lovely pink headband.  (they thought of all of this on their own.)

 So here is my question.  Why does he do this?  If anyone can enlighten me as to why someone as good looking as the man below would insist upon taking pictures of himself that look like the above, I would love to know.

 Our picture attempt with the kids in their Christmas clothes was less than successful, but here are a few of the better ones.

Pick a spot--any spot will do.  No need to look at the camera this time.

Happy Halloween!

Are anyone else's Halloween's as happy as ours?  I think we were in tears at least 24 times in less than two hours between the 4 little people in our house.  I'm proud to say I made it through without shedding a tear.

 Isn't she a cute little witch?  That sassy little tilt to her head and the smile make me think "bewitched."

 Super Hayes to the rescue!  He so loves the cape and the red underwears.

 Our Super Girl Lolee is going to be a knockout when she's older.

We're not quite sure how to show our muscles, but we gave it our best effort.

As Halloween fell on Sunday this year, we made our ward Trunk-or-Treat our big celebration.  Lolee's best little friend, Ava and her mom joined us for the party.

 Lolee got picked to be the magician's assistant for the entertainment portion of the evening.  Her cute, shy, little self did a very charming job.

Picking Pumpkins

We decided to go to the metro park to take a hayride to pick our pumpkins this year.  Our thought was, "what a great deal to pay for the hayride and get a pumpkin thrown in."  Yeah, so apparently we missed the 'fundraiser' memo.  I think we purchased the most expensive pumpkins in MI because we didn't realize it until the kids had already picked out their perfect pumpkin.  Live and learn, I guess=)

 Hayes didn't want to stay and play in the leaves; he went to buy tickets with Dad.  As you can see below, he has good news he can't wait to share.

We found this great cape at a yard sale earlier that day.  One or the other of the girls had it on every second for days.

Lolee's class field trip to Erwin's Orchard

 We took a wagon ride out to the orchards to pick our very own apples.  They gave each of us a 1/4 peck bag to fill.  Lolee's teacher had read them a story about picking apples, and you could hear 15 kindergartners chanting "Lift, twist, pluck. Lift, twist, pluck."

 We also got to choose a pumpkin to take home.  These may very well be some of the cutest pictures I've ever seen of my kids=)  Lolee got so many compliments on her hair that day that it has become her favorite hair style.  She asks me to do it that way almost every day.  To clarify, she says, "the way you did it for my field trip, remember?"

 It was so great that they allowed siblings to come.  Hayes had at least as much fun as Lolee.  The look on his face was pure ecstasy as he rode the big tricycle down the hill.  He didn't even flinch when the goat ate out of his hand.

 The kids were all playing on the haystacks when I looked over to see Hayes on top of one, reaching down to help this little girl up.  He enlisted Lolee's aid from below, and together they got the unknown little girl to the top of the stack.