Merry Christmas!

We are celebrating Christmas a little early at our house this year with the purchase of a long awaited Suburban. Trevor and Taylor went and bought the car yesterday (with the help of some friends to bring our car back) and it is perfect for us! Yesterday when Taylor and I went to try out the car when they got home I asked Taylor what he thinks of it and he responded “It’s a dream momma!” To celebrate all seven of us took a trip to Willmar today and went shopping at Cub. This is the first time all seven of us went shopping together. It was quite an adventure!

2005 Silver Suburban

Loaded and ready to go!

I am loving driving our new car!

We were quite the crew at Cub. This definitely won’t be an everyday occurrence, but it was fun for all of us to get out and they did so well.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and watch out, now that we are mobile we might be showing up at your door step!

A Great Way to Start Thanksgiving

Being we are in the onset of the holiday season and perhaps ready to give more than receive, I wanted to share my sister’s story with all of you in case you have not heard it before. She has been living in Mozambique for the past 20 months in hopes of adopting a beautiful little girl named Nede. Check out her amazing story at www.thereforego.blogspot.com

Nede and My Sister, Dara, about a month ago after she was granted guardianship of Nede. Now she is in the process of filing for adoption.

November is National Adoption Month and in honor of that our friend Carrie is hosting an auction to help bring my sister and Nede home! 100% of the proceeds from this auction will go to my sister. Several people have donated wonderful handmade items for the auction. The auction started at Noon today and goes until Nov. 30. Check it out at http://hyenacart.com/stores/mudbuttclothdiapers/ Happy shopping and thank you so much for the support! Hopefully our kids will (officially) have a new cousin in the next few months and Addilyn, Seth, Oliver, and Micah will get to meet their Auntie in person for the first time.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Chairs and More

We just got these new chairs from our neighbors whose children have out grown them. Our kids love them.

Our princess now has a throne!

Thank goodness the weather has been nice enough to still get out for walks most days. We may have to bundle up some days, but I am hoping to keep walking until the snow flies!

Taylor got a new winter coat and boots and he can’t wait for winter now. He loves his new coat because it has 12 pockets to hold all his treasures in!

Micah likes to try on Daddy’s shoes. Look at that pose!

Addilyn and Mommy have matching shoes (almost).

All for now, enjoy your Sunday!

Happy Halloween!

I have been meaning to blog for a few days now and haven’t gotten around to it. I will start with the pictures from tonight and work backwards.

We had a great night of trick or treating, the weather was great and we had great company. We have a perfect neighborhood for trick or treating and so we have some friends who have been coming here to trick or treat with us for the past five years.

Oliver Duck, Micah Duck, Seth Duck, Addilyn Duck, Taylor Duck, Momma Duck                                                           

           Momma Duck and Daughter Duck     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Jacob the Pirate and Taylor

Pumpkin carving

OK, so we didn’t carve the babies pumpkins, but as you will see from the bottom picture we did paint theirs. Taylor and Trevor had fun carving their pumpkins though.

Taylor wanted his pumpkin to look like Mickey Mouse.

Popcorn Balls

Taylor and Noah made popcorn balls today. They are very tasty!

Haircuts

Micah got his first haircut on Friday. He wasn’t too sure about it. He only really needed a trim in the back, nothing on the top yet, but it is a start! The rest of the boys got their haircuts on Friday too thanks to Abby! Taylor had his hair cut like Noah and has now discovered a little gel in the front can make a pretty cool haircut. We have put gel in his hair every day now. The picture of Taylor and Gromit shows the styled hair a little better.

Snack Time at the gym

We made it to the gym last Friday and the kids enjoyed a little time relaxing and eating their snack at the table.

I guess that wraps up October, where did that time go? Hope November is as mild as October was! Happy Halloween everyone!

Bluegrass Party

Our neighbors had a Bluegrass Concert on their covered bridge last night. Taylor was so excited to go to the party. Unfortunately it was a little cold and windy but everyone had a great time. ASOM were bopping to the music in their stroller and Taylor loved having a picnic supper on his gator.

Even Sweeter than the real M & M’s

 

Even though Addilyn wasn’t very happy to pose for this picture they really are sweet kids. We got these shirts early in the summer and I have been waiting to put them on the kids. It is finally cool enough where they need long sleeves, so they wore them to the gym yesterday. The bright colors worked perfect for me to just scan the gym and look for three yellow and one green shirt.

Our Boys

Taylorisms IV, V, and VI

Taylorism IV

?

Taylor calls the question mark a “mystery mark”. LOVE IT!

Taylorism V

For as long as we can remember Taylor has always loved hitches on vehicles. He would always look for them and ask people if their car or truck had a hitch. When I was in the hospital waiting for the babies to arrive he had to have his picture taken next to our daycare providers husband’s hitch. This is the picture from 19 months ago.

March of 2010

This past weekend Taylor and daddy had a project (build a hitch for his gator). The hitch is strong enough to pull our wagon and give the babies rides. All five of them love this! The babies giggle like crazy and Taylor loves pulling them. It is great until we have to switch riders or be done for the night and then we have four screaming 1 year olds. Yikes!

Taylorism VI

“Mom when I saw this sign I used to think it meant no papas (Papa is what Taylor calls Trevor’s dad) allowed, but it really means no parking.”

A Wedding, Play Time, and A Cross Country Race

 

Ready to Go!

The weekend of the 24th we were able to take a trip to Grand Forks for our friends Ross and Steph’s wedding. It was a beautiful weekend and all the kids did great.

I guess we were even too busy to take pictures of the kids.

Every Friday at the Early Childhood Building in Spicer, they have open gym in the morning. This past Friday we were lucky enough to take all five kids to play. I think that will be a life saver for us this winter when we can’t get out for our daily walks. Enjoy the pictures of our playtime!

I think we have another cross country runner in our family. The Willmar Cross Country Team had their home meet on Saturday and they always have a kids race after the teams have their races. Taylor has been looking forward to the race for a few weeks now. I have started running again (a few times a week) and Taylor has to go on his run with me too, to get ready for the cross country race. I love it! On Saturday he did awesome, he ran the entire half mile without walking and was so proud to finish the race and get a ribbon. I am so proud of him too!

At the starting line, I think the nerves are starting to set in.

He really looks like he is having fun!

Getting a little tired now.

Finishing strong!

One proud runner!

(His show and tell for tomorrow is his ribbon and the picture of him finishing the race.)