sophie solo....

Sophie has been working on her solo dance for the past 5 weeks and will be competing it next weekend. She is pretty excited about having the stage all to herself! We are anxious to see how it turns out?!

Taylor choreographed her dance to "cuz I'm a blonde" and it turned out pretty darn cute. She doesn't lack in the sassy department, so we will see how it goes.

photos of claire

My brother and sister~n~law came over on Sunday and I attempted and they trusted me to take their family Christmas pictures.

Here are just a couple of their

Baby Claire

Isn't she a little doll?!

She was having a great time playing in my "bubble filled" fountain ~ thanks to some tricky teenagers.

Her tiny red shoes were irresistible ~ I had to get a shot of them!

Thanks for letting me practice on your cute family

Halloween

B e W a R e ......

there are a lot of pictures

The kids had another successful year trick or treating. As usual, I was so sick from all the candy that I consumed. I love Halloween and will be so bummed when my kids are grown out of this stage and are no longer excited to dress up. It's so fun for me.

Sophie made the cutest little

T i n k e r b e l l

These shoes would light up with each step she took.... it was so cute!

At the last minute I talked the boys into dressing up as girls. I figured, if I have all the stuff in my girls closets, I mine as well put it to use. I couldn't believe that Cannon actually went for it. This is sooo not his personality to do something so daring. When I was trying to convince him with my idea he looked up at me and said with a straight face, "sure I'll do it, will you pay me 20 bucks if I do?'' Of course my response was, "heck NO!" But after some persuading and talking he decided he would do it. He is not one who likes to get his picture taken, so this is what I ended up with, after I finally found him half way through the night.

He sure made a CUTE little girl

Taylor as a W i T c H

I bought this witch hat and then we used what we had from our closets and just put it together. I thought it was so cute, she on the other hand, didn't! She is getting to that age where she thinks my ideas are totally cheesy and not cool!

She ate her words when all was said and done.

She looked adorable!

Brooke came over and looked adorable as Sandy from G r E a S E....

I love these cute girls

Here we have our other 2 little girls.

Cooper was told all night that he looked just like his sister Taylor. When I was putting on his make-up, I felt like I was putting it on myself. Taylor and I painted their nails and had so much fun decking them out. It was the best part of the night.

Aren't they cute?!?

They were hilarious

Cannon ended up ditching his wig, so Scott called him Jamie Lee Curtis the rest of the night. I couldn't help but to chuckle every time I looked at him.

Trick or treating

I love how small Sophie's shoes were on Cannon's feet.

Sophie going through all her goods...

Grandma came by to see us and brought Bella as a duck

the kids thought she was so cute.

I am always the lucky one who gets to go trick or treating with the kids and Scott gets to stay home and pass out all the candy. I don't know how this arrangement got started, but I think it needs to change next year!

Grandpa McCleve came by to see the kids and was pretty shocked to his grandsons as little girls! He was really happy when Cannon finally went and changed into his jammies.

Austin and Tyler stayed and helped Scott pass out candy, I guess they were a little to cool to dress up!

and last, but not least, it's me!

I had to sneak myself into one picture so the kids would remember that I was really there and a part of this event.

(and by the way... I know Scott looks different with his so called beard and YES... I'm not a fan! Let's just hope it is gone really soon?!)

Tink tucked her self into her bed and was out for the night, with make-up, bows and all!

She had a very long and tiring night!

taylor's life is a party....

One thing we love about our Tater - tot is that she is always having fun and 90% of the time she has a smile on her face. She reminds me so much of my sister Tiffany, always laughing and having a good time. Life always seems to be a party when Taylor is around.

Check out this video...

This is one

C r A z Y g I r L

Now let's hope she doesn't kill me!?!

famous pumpkin project

Each child in Cannon's class had to bring in their own pumpkin decorated as a famous person. Cannon thought through several different options and finally came up with his all time favorite Steelers' player....

Travis Kirschke.

His uncle.

He is sooo proud.

weekend happenings

As always.... our weekend was jam packed with so many places to be and so much to do. It never seems to let up. Friday afternoon was spent getting Cooper's last minute things together for his 4 mile hike into "fossil springs", with his deacon's quorum. He has been looking forward to this hike for some time now. He came back with sooo much to say and has not stopped talking to his dad about all the hiking trips he has planned for them. His Christmas list has already changed from the camera he has been googling and coveting to all new camping gear. He didn't think it was very fair that he had to use Austin's old pack and a few of Austin's used camping items. So, new camping gear is now all he can think, google, dream and talk about this week. I can't wait to see how many more times his list will change before the 25th of December.

Of course Taylor had a few friends over until she left to a birthday party for the evening.

(my favorite part of this picture is the smudged red lipstick all around their mouth)

Saturday started early and was crazy as usual.

Sophie had her Schnepf farms dance performance and her group of course did a great job to their new dance

"FAME"

(it was so cute)

Scott was unable to attend Sophie's dance performance because he spent his morning with Cannon, watching his football game and I wish I had a picture. It's a real bummer when your kids activities over lap each other and you can't be at both, it seems to happen every Saturday for us.

Taylor and Austin were left at home, still sleeping of course..... with a list of jobs that needed to be done when they woke up. I have forgotten how much teenagers like to sleep!

Thankfully, after a dusty and hot Schnepf farms experience, I was able to get home and help Scott and Austin plant all our flowers. They have been sitting for 2 weeks, waiting to be planted. So it felt really good to finally check that off of my to do list. In the midst of planting flowers, Cooper came home from his camp out, we got to hear all about that. Cannon had a birthday party to get to, that I of course, had forgotten about.... until the last minute. Then to add to all the craziness, Taylor and "the posse" were in and out of the house trying to scheme up something for the evening, who knows what. Needless to say, it was a crazy Saturday and I always have a list a mile long of the things that I want to accomplish and it seems I never get to. I was just so grateful that Austin and Scott helped me finish planting all of our flowers.

Thanks guys.

What a difference flowers make ~ I love this time of year

Finally, after all the yard work was done and it was dark, I spent the rest of the evening preparing my young women's lesson and cleaning up the inside of the house, since it had been neglected all day.....scary! I never made it to the grocery store or out for our date night. Thankfully, Scott was nice enough to do the Saturday night Bashas' run.... for our Sunday dinner.

Thank goodness for husbands!

I had to throw this cute little clip in of Sophie repeating her articles of faith. On Sunday we spent a little time on the 3rd article of faith, so bare with her... I just thought it was cute how she struggles through the last part of it. It seems she gets a little distracted with the computer charger or something on the desk that is keeping her from remembering what she is saying. Little kids are just so dang cute and I am trying to capture everything I can with mine.

They grow way to fast!

What am I going to do with her?

All I know is...... is that this girl is just a little to street smart for me. I just don't get how she knows this stuff at 6 years old and am I on a mission to find my phone or just totally checked out to what she is listening to and her dance moves?! I noticed she turns around when she is getting ready to bust out with a dance move that she knows

I don't like her doing!

she is such a stinker

She seems to really like to swing that hair when she dances

Scott might be right when he says... we are going to have to lock her up when she is a teenager!?