We saw a jib jab on my sister's (Auntie Em) blog and knew we just had to do a Christmas one of our family.

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Happy Birthday Bubba!

Yesterday was Caleb's first birthday!  We gave him his birthday present in the morning.  It was a ride on Speedy the Turbo Turtle.  It is on casters so he can drive it wherever he wants, well when his legs get a little longer.  For now he just pushes it or gets pushed on it.Caleb was so excited he couldn't wait for JD to get it out of the box.

Later that night we had the traditional birthday party with our extended family.  We just let Caleb open the presents as family showed up.  It was fun that way because he could play with it for a minute or two and then of course Madelyn and Hiett would come and steal it but he was a good sport about it.

Then came time for the cake.  While we sang to him he was snickering a little and then he got the cake and had a little taste and then just dove in.  He loved it.

Madelyn and Hiett did too.  We could not keep them away from the cake they just kept running up and stealing little tastes.

We had a great time visiting with our family.  It is so much fun to get together.  Thanks to all for your unconditional love and support.  We really appreciate all of you and what you do for our family!

Just look at those boots

I have been so excited to get these boots for the kids since I saw them in the landsend catalog.  I knew they just had to have them.  Good thing we got a good deal on them.  I ordered them almost 2 weeks ago and they finally came today.  They are so cute and they love them.  Hiett calls them his "Swiper the Fox" boots (from Dora).  Now all we need is a little bit of snow.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween.  We sure had alot of fun and got way too much candy.  But isn't that the way it goes with that holiday.  Auntie Em was our lifesaver this year, JD had to work and so Em came and helped me out.  I don't think I would have survived without her.  Thanks Em :)  Madelyn was so excited to wear her costume so for about a week before everyday she would have to put it on.  I let Hiett try his on the morning of and it was a fight to get it off.

Madelyn was a cute bumble bee

Hiett was Spider-man. I painted his mask on with black face paint. Thanks Bowbie :)
When he looked in the mirror and saw it he sighed and said "It's perfect"

Caleb was a monkey.  Which anyone who knows Caleb would know that a monkey is a very fitting costume for him.

We had so much fun running up to the doors and saying trick or treat!  The hardest thing was getting back in the Van after we were done at each house. We were so happy that we had no tears from scary costumes this year:).  All in all we had a great Halloween!

The Play House is complete at least till spring

The playhouse is done and the kids could not be more thrilled.  They are always in it playing something.  It was alot of work but I wouldn't trade the experience.  It has taught our kids that you have to work for the things you want and it doesn't happen all at once. 

This is what the kids did while dad put the roof on the playhouse

 They had a lot of fun going down the "ramp". They got going pretty good too and kept trying to make it steeper so they could go faster.

We have a few minor things to do to it, like metal roof and paint or stain but that is going to wait till spring.  We figure that we will be just over $100 for all the materials and everything, which I am pretty happy with that.

Madelyn can swing by herself

We have been working with Madelyn for quite some time trying to get her to push herself on the swing. She would get so close and the loose focus and start making herself go crooked and standing up or jumping out. But now she finally has it. Here's the video to prove it:

The Play house project

For two years Madelyn has been bugging us to buy her a playhouse. Every time we go to a store with play houses she has to go see them and try to convince us that she needs one. But they are so expensive and we couldn't possibly ever afford it
Well one night I was surfing the internet looking for things to do with pallets (since JD has a lot of them at work) and I came across this website
where the guy built a shed out of pallets and I thought that we could probably make a playhouse out of pallets too. So yesterday we started on the pallet playhouse.
It is not built completely out of pallets. JD wanted it to have a sturdy base so we used 2x4's and wafer for the floor and posts to support the roof when we get there.

We ended up taking apart all the pallets and using the wood off of them for the walls. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to remove all the nails and disassemble the pallet. It didn't take very long to screw the pallet boards up to form the walls and the kids were so excited and willing to help with this part of the project. Hiett handed me the boards and I put it in place and then Madelyn handed JD the screws and he screwed the boards to the 2x4's.

There will be more posts to come as we finish more on the playhouse.