Random

I took the kids out the day before Thanksgiving to take pictures.  Next thing I know they are all grabbing pets to have their pictures taken also.  They turned out to be some of my favorites!

Amy is an Anatolian.  They are used to guard livestock.  We got rid of the livestock but got stuck with her because Mark bawled and bawled the day I tried to sell her.  Yeah, I gave in.  She refuses to come into the house which I am VERY grateful for because if you’ve ever seen our lawn when the weather warms up it looks like it snowed.  Seriously!

Teyla is a Cocker Spaniel.  She is dumb as a brick.  She drives everyone crazy, but is still very loved.

I told our vet that while we loved our other pets if anything ever happened to this dog the entire family would be devastated!!  He said, “so she’s in the will”?  Absolutely.  We have had Sydney for nine years this February and she has been the best dog.  She is half Blue Healer and half what looked like Australian Shepherd.



Justin, “put on your serious face Mark”.  A little too serious, but I love this picture.  We don’t have many good pictures of Sydney because she is afraid of the camera.  So this will be nice to have.

Halloween 2011

Alex and Mark getting into ‘character’.  Alex is a serial killer and Mark is a Zombie.

Mark’s face make-up turned out so cool!  It was even more awesome when his face started falling off toward the end of the party

I think Alex forgot what ‘character’ he was supposed to be.

This is Rebekah and her cousin as newborn vampires.  Yes, think ‘Twilight’.

Justin got home from work sometime after the party started.  Very proud of his Angry Bird in a Santa hat!!!

Mark’s pumpkin was a combination picture.  On one side he freehanded the Batman symbol and on the other he freehanded ‘Minecraft’.  It is a game.

Rebekah painstakingly traced this from a book we had and yours truly got the job of cutting it out.  First, we grew these pumpkins and the flesh was about two inches thick with a hard outer crust.  Second, it is kinda cool that you cannot tell that I lobbed off one of his horns and that his lower jaw was barely hanging on!!!

Oil Change

I was letting Teyla out when I looked over and saw Mark "helping" change the oil in the van. I thought this was really cute. I don't think you can tell, but he was pulling grass out with his toes. You can't see Alex in any of my pictures as he was completely under the van.

Mark's Haircut

I found them!!! It was hidden in some random folder by John's camera. I so miss my camera! I lost it sometime before Thanksgiving. I think it was at our Branch Thanksgiving Dinner. I know I had it in my purse and I know I pulled it out at some point and put it down. That is the last I've seen of it. :(

Please Vote

We are trying to take pictures of the kids for their "school pictures". John and I were able to come to an agreement with the other three as to which one to use, but we can't decide on Mark. I like the last one the best even if his head is cut off. John likes the middle one because his head isn't cut off. We both think that the first one would be a close second.

What do you think?

Who's Taller?

As we were walking into church yesterday I was looking at Mark's pants yet again. I had bought him some new pants around his birthday and then when I bought Alex pants, I passed his down to Mark. For the past couple of weeks or so, as we have walked into the church I've wondered what the heck the problem was. Alex had just grown out of them, Mark should be fitting in them better. Then it hit me (yeah I'm a bit slow). I made them stand next to each other right then and there, I couldn't believe it. We have been warning Alex that this would probably happen, that he was definitely going to be shorter than Justin and probably shorter than Mark, but here it was and I all but missed it. Alex is cool with it. He is a pretty laid back kid anyway.

Krammy Boy turns 12

When Mark was in the 2nd or 3rd grade he created Krammy Boy. (Mark spelled backward). It was just something fun to write about since he had to come up with something everyday for homeschooling. Later Benjy Boy was created by his friend Ben. Anyway, he struck this pose today while I was taking pictures for his birthday (this is his new shirt from his Dad), and it reminded me of Krammy Boy. They grow up so fast.

So, on the boys' 12th birthday we compare how tall they are to me. It started because Justin was growing so fast that a couple of months before he turned 12 I said that he would be as tall as I was by his birthday. Sure enough he was exactly my height. Alex was several inches below me. Mark is maybe, maybe 1/2 an inch shorter than I am. Can you believe it?!

Happy Birthday Mark!!!!!

What have we been up to?

I saw this idea in a Better Homes and Gardens, only they used real pumpkins. It is to hot here in Texas to use real pumpkins, they rot. So I came up with the idea of plastic pumpkins, I thought it looked cute.

This is my entire front porch.

For Justin's communication Merit Badge he had to conduct a Court of Honor. This was held in the middle of September. I really wanted to get his merit badges on his sash (which I've had for several years now). You'll notice Alex does not have his sash, that is because it took FOREVER to do Justins. I swore that I would never do another one - I've calmed down since then :)

Alex got his Life Scout Rank, along with a pile of merit badges. He had 3 campouts and 2 merit badge fairs that he was receiving badges for. And yes, Alex did finally get a hair cut.

Mark got his Scout and his Tenderfoot Rank along with his first merit badge, fingerprinting.

Mark's Rabbit

Mark caught his first rabbit today. Actually, he is the only one of the boys who has. Not that the other two have any interest or inclination to catch one. He asked for an air rifle for his birthday (last month) back in July. When John came home tonight, there was a rabbit under the tree in front of the house. I have no idea why it stayed there as long as it did because Mark couldn't find his pellets right away. Rabbits mistake!!! John just informed me it was eating an apple out there. I threw the apple out there this morning!