A hunting we will go

 Briars first duck hunt

They all got some shots but no birds

.

.

maybe next time

.

.

In the mean time back home the girls and I...

 cooked some dinner,

visited a friend,

Watched some cake boss,

Painted nails,

finished homework

& played on the computer.

.

.

now...

Its time to finish up our day with a little relaxing family time.

 I HOPE!!

 

Brrrrrr......

Baby it's Cold Outside!!

A few shots of our first adventures in the snow this year.

imagination

Seriously?...

what an imagination

{chalkboard/x-ray machine}

 

After vitals and an x-ray of daddies hand...

 Doc. Cloe says he needs to use a sling.

(;

I love young minds!

here birdie birdie....

A little last minute late afternoon hunting before dark.

the boys and dogs were ready but the birdies didn't wanna play.

just the beavers.

 Copper is afraid of the gun shots.

sorry B no bird dog for you.

good thing dad and Tay have one. 

Me and the girls tag along for fun.

Tay hasn't got her hunters safety done yet ):

Duck faces are safe on this hunt...

they were hunting Pheasants.

(; 

passing the time

While Izzy does this 

Tay and B do this

 {Tay thinks B stinks after practice}

   

{B rocking his freaky new glasses}

P.S.

I never said we were normal

rules suck...

Magic of the Moment

.

.

This years Reflection contest theme

.

.

Cloe asked if she could do it and wanted to do photography.

So.. we took her out in search for her Magical Moment.

And I quickly found that to my Izzy girl...

 EVERYTHING is a Magical Moment.

She is so fun and Loves life.

And...

This is the shot she submitted.

not bad right!

NOW...

On to writing why she chose this.

Knowing why was the easy part for her.

{freedom to choose what she wants to be. etc...}

Writing it down is where the problem came.

 I wrote what she said on an extra piece of paper, 

then told her that she had to re-write it on her form.

not hard right?

well apparently it is...

It is too much.

I told her it was exactly what she told me and it really wasn't that much.

And that it had to be her work.

it was the rules.

"Rules are STUPID!"

but....

after a rest a cuddles, she got it all done.

and is now waiting anxiously for Mon.

she says that's when they will announce the school winners.

fingers crossed for Izzy!!!

Loud ...

But not very good.

Yup that would be our singing the other night.

Me, Tay and Iz had a girls night, 

while Aaron had the boys were at the pool conditioning.

We decided on treats and Karaoke.

We thought we were pretty darn good.

Until.... 

Taylor played us back.

OUCH!!!

We had to hurry and turn it off.

It was hard on the ears and ego.

But...

It was to much fun to stop,

  so...

 we agreed to NEVER play it back again.

And to keep on thinking we rock. 

 Matching mossy oak sweats and mis-matched socks

 

 multi tasking

 

Izzy rockin out the tunes

.

.

Girl time rocks!!

Halloween 2012

Have no fear...

BAT GIRL is here!!

 Is she not the cutest?!

And she got to dress up lots this year.

.

 the day before Halloween,

the first graders had their Halloween program so they got to wear their costumes to school.

They sang lots of cute songs and each had a speaking part.

Cloe did so good and also had to give the part after hers because they didnt show up. 

But no worries she had it down.

She spoke loud and clear.

And she even paused between parts so people would know.  

she's so funny.

then...

On Halloween,

 her school has a costume parade.

So she got to wear it again and march down the hall and through the gym for the parents.  

It was fun to see them all dressed up including the teachers.

After school we spruced her up a little before hitting the neighbor hood and heading to Mantua to meet up with cousins for some good old fashioned trick or treating.  

Caleb and Cloe our little twins...

Bat Man and Bat Girl

Bransen our Rodeo Clown

Abi our Ninja Turtle.

and... 

Aunt Tara...

the girl who swallowed the seed.

{baby seed that is}

   

 

 I am glad Cloe has cousins to trick or treat with.

Tay and B are so good to her but as they get older they do their own thing.

Briar had his own party to go to,

and unfortunately Tay had to get some homework done and study for a big test.

{The joys of wanting to be something after high school}

I am proud of her for knowing whats important.

And to finish it up...

A couple of days later, Cloe had a Halloween birthday party to go to.

They decorated cookies, bobbed for apples and played pin the something on the something.

{I forgot.... forgive me}

What a fun and SPOOKTACULAR  week!
 O yea!
This is how it left my Izzy girl feeling

Poor girl! 
   She fell asleep while I was doing her hair.

party time....

 Party pizza time that is!

and a little pink lemonade.

We don't get the boys very often,

 but...

we always have fun when we do.

 

finally....

Cloe finally got to go swimming with her dad.

That is after a few broken promises to go.

Which were totally not our fault.

but...

still broken promises that she tearfully reminded us of daily.   

So.... 

Aaron, Briar and Iz hit the Nat. for some splashes.

Total perks of going when they first open...

 pretty much had the pool to themselves.

 

Conditioning

With Football over and wrestling season quickly approaching these boys hit the pool to build up their endurance and a little more strength.

Wall sits and push ups after they swim the length.

 

 

 Then its off to the deep end for some more work.

lots of different pull ups.  

with some deep water push ups after another length.

The one day you don't practice

 is the day you get weaker

as someones else gets stronger 

the one day you don't use to its fullest

is the day someone else is going to beat you.

droopy

Monday Briar and Cloe had a dentist apt. up in Idaho, So I checked them out of school and headed up.

Cloe is not worried at all and is telling Briar how good they are.

Not like our other one.

{she didn't care much for the other one}

Anyways...

We get up there and they pull them both back and get right to it. 

Cloe gets the Bubble Gum gas this time.

  sorry B no gas for you.

your a big boy, 

unless ...

you really need it.

 Briar got done first and headed out to wait while Cloe got a little more comfortable.

 Cloes wasn't as easy as she had hoped for.

They had to stop and give her another shot, because she could feel it.

I felt so bad she started crying and moaning when they started drilling.

I'm not sure if she could still feel it a little after that or if she was till scared and upset because she cryed through the rest of it.

I couldn't wait to pick her up and hold her when they were done. 

She cried for a while and made brother sit in the back with her till we stopped for her fries and ice cream in Logan.

By then she was feeling a little better except where they pulled on her cheek.

After all the shots, she was numb for quit awhile. till like 7ish.

it was pretty funny.

When we went to get Tay from school she started laughing at Cloe because her whole right side was still asleep and drooping.

It totally crushed her heart.  

but in the end she found a little humor in it and let me get these shots. 

love her to the moon!!  

 

 

Hello... Goodbye... :(

The other night I came walking into the kitchen and saw something out the corner of my eye jump across the floor.

A couple of screams and jumps later I see that its just a little cricket.

The kids have come running at this point to see what is going on.

Briar falls to the floor trying to catch it while Cloe jumps on top of the banister screaming.

Taylor keeps her distance for awhile.

Once Briar has it captured Taylor creeps in for a better look.

Bad Idea...

Taylor is afraid of jumping insects  and Briar knows this.

So after a little chasing around he tosses it at her,

hitting her in the arm with it.

Yup...

The bar stool she was using for protection flew across the kitchen.

and she started screaming, dancing around crying.

me and Briar laugh as he scrambles to make sure its ok and catch it again while Cloe still watches from the banister.

Briar decides it is going to be his new pet.

So in a jar it goes.

Taylor still scared keeps her distance,

And now captured and safely in a jar Cloe makes it her new BFF.

You would think that the drama would be over right?

WRONG!....

Briar decides hes not done messing with Tay and hides it in an empty cookie bag.

Then opens the back door pretending to let it go.

Tay believes him and joins us again.

silly girl      

He then offers her the cookies.

It gets dumped out on the floor in the scare and thats when it happened.

.

.

.

She threw her ipod at it.

and

killed it.

.

.

.

over right?

WRONG again!

.

 Cloe is now sobbing,

{you killed my new BFF}

Briar is upset, frustrated, yelling and ready for revenge.

Taylor is proud and overjoyed. 

seeing how happy Taylor is, Briar decides that he is gonna get her back.

He told her he was gonna kill her dog/BFF.

YUP...

It worked.

 She started crying too.

All the while Cloe is trying to take care of her new BFF. 

All of a sudden in her Happy, Startled, Still half Crying voice, she starts screaming...

ITS ALIVE.... ITS ALIVE!!!

ITS MOVING!!!  

and all I could do was laugh.

BAD?!

maybe but it was pretty funny.

and NO... He didn't live.

{it was just the last couple twitches} 

 so... here are the few pics. I got of it all.

    

We just can't help it, its what we do.

Teasing... Laughs... and even some tears!

and in the end..  

we still LOVE each other.